Koon tops ‘toughest line-up imaginable’ to win €1M Invitational at EPT Monte Carlo
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Every super high roller final table these days feels like it’s been handpicked for our viewing pleasure. The characters, the history, the pedigree–it’s almost always all there.
But at EPT Monte Carlo 2026, we’re being treated to something very special indeed, because this table was quite literally handpicked for us.
To mark the final day of EPT High Roller coverage in Monaco before attention turned to the EPT Main Event, we witnessed perhaps the greatest line-up in terms of talent and winnings ever assembled.
Mokri, Tollerene, Badziakouski, Dvoress, Antonius, Koon, Ponakovs, Martirosian, Chidwick
The game? A €100,000 buy-in Sit & Go with a winner-takes-all €1,000,000 first prize. The line-up? Jason Koon himself called it “one of the toughest lineups imaginable”. And he went on to win it.
Koon had to beat Aleksejs Ponakovs, Stephen Chidwick, Ben Tollerene, Patrik Antonius, Artur Martirosian, Kayhan Mokri, Mikita Badziakouski, and Daniel Dvoress.
One table. One prize. An absolute murderers’ row of poker talent. A combined $429,609,824 in career earnings between them.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
The first to fall was the player who had been running the best throughout the opening levels. Mikita Badziakouski picked up premium hand after premium hand but never found an ideal spot to win a huge pot. In the end, it was one of those premiums–pocket kings–that led to his downfall, after Aleks Ponakovs called his four-bet with pocket tens and flopped a set.
Bad news for Badziakouski
A few hours passed before Ponakovs delivered another knockout blow, this time to Daniel Dvoress, and this time holding pocket aces to Dvoress’ pocket nines. But Ponaovs would quickly send most of his stack towards Patrik Antonius, doubling up with the Fin when pocket aces, all-in pre-flop, bested his pocket nines.
A frustrating session for Dvoress
Ben Tollerene bowed in seventh, three-betting from the small blind with Q♦J♦ over Stephen Chidwick’s hijack open with K♦K♣. Tollerene jammed for 815,000–16 big blinds–and found no help.
Chidwick delivered another fatal blow when Ponakovs–still short after doubling up Antonius–called Chidwick’s open with 2♠2♣ in the small blind off a seven-big-blind stack. He then led with a shove on the Q♦5♠8♠ flop but got the bad news: Chidwick had top pair with the A♣Q♣ and held.
Ponakovs runs into it
But Chidwick’s chances were demolished in a huge hand against Jason Koon, which you can read about later in this article (or click here if you can’t wait). It was one of the best of the day. Still, it was Antonius who fell in fifth when his Q♣J♥ couldn’t connect against Artur Martirosian’s A♠5♦.
Despite that pick up, Martirosian was the next to go. He turned top pair against Koon, but the American had flopped two pair and held.
Russia’s no.1 – Artur Martirosian
THREE-HANDED CHIP COUNTS
JASON KOON – 5.35M
KAYHAN MOKRI – 2.05M
STEPHEN CHIDWICK – 1.6M
Chidwick says his goodbyes
Koon was in a dominating position, but it was Mokri who ousted Chidwick when his Q♣J♦ flopped a queen against Chidwick’s 10♦10♠.
It was all over the very next hand. In the first hand of heads-up, Mokri jammed with K♦4♦ and Koon called with K♠2♠. It was very likely to be a chop pot, but not when the board ran out to give Koon a spade flush.
One hand of heads-up is all it took
With that, Koon was crowned the battle of the end bosses.
“Generally, a tournament like this wouldn’t be able to get off the ground, even with the smallest fees…so shout out to PokerStars for making this happen,” Koon said after his win, referring to the €100,000 added to the prize pool by PokerStars. “It’s a huge win for us as players and also really cool for the viewers who get to see the best guys show up and try to kill each other.”
Jason Koon, the champ
HAND OF THE DAY
Blinds: 40,000 / 80,000 (80,000 big blind ante)
Stephen Chidwick – 2,370,000 (29 big blinds)
Jason Koon – 2,160,000 (27 big blinds)
Chidwick opened on the button with K♣3♣ and Koon three-bet to 480,000 from the small blind with A♦5♣. It folded back to Chidwick and he peeled in position, taking them to a 6♦3♦Q♠ flop. Chidwick took the lead with bottom pair, while Koon had ace-high with the backdoor nut-flush draw.
Koon made a c-bet of 275,000 into the pot of 1,120,000 and Chidwick stuck around to see the Q♣ turn, pairing the board.
“It’s a little bit tricky for Jason because what did Stevie call the flop with?” pondered Sam Grafton in the commentary booth. “Seems like there’s a lot of queen-jack, queen-ten, king-queen and the like in Stevie’s range.”
Koon says Chidwick “may be the best NLHE tournament player to have ever lived”
Koon persisted, firing again for 325,000, and Chidwick stuck around. The 6♥ river counterfeited Chidwick’s hand, as there were now two higher pairs on board. Koon now had the best of it with his ace-high, but this time he checked.
“Do we want to turn this hand into a bluff now?” said Grafton. “Maybe we should just go for it.”
Chidwick did just that, sliding in 1,075,000, enough to almost put Koon all in. “Poor old Stevie was calling down, bluff-catching correctly down the streets, and now he’s forced to bluff,” explained Grafton.
Koon went deep into the tank. “The ace of diamonds doesn’t really matter because Stevie isn’t bluffing ace-high,” said Grafton, “so are there some other diamond draws? J♦10♦, J♦9♦, 8♦9♦, things like this. How many queens does Stevie have? How many sixes?”
“OK, I’m going to call,” said Koon, flipping over his hand. Chidwick mucked.
Koon calls and tables the winner
With that, Koon was propelled to the chip lead while Chidwick’s hopes were decimated.
“There are a lot of people in this world that I wouldn’t take two seconds to consider even calling that river against. Chidwick very well may be the best no limit hold’em tournament player to have ever lived. He’s going to find all the right plays and the right bluffs.
“The hand was tricky and I think I did pretty well. But y’know, the guess happened to work out in my favour that time.”
MEET THE PLAYERS
JASON KOON (USA)
Age: 40
Total live earnings: $72,117,655
Active since: 2008
All-time money list: #3
USA money list: #2
Biggest live cash: $3,579,836
PokerStars Ambassador Jason Koon says this is one of the toughest line-ups ever assembled
ALEKSEJS PONAKOVS (LATVIA)
Age: 34
Total live earnings: $37,375,635
Active since: 2011
All-time money list: #28
Latvia money list: #1
Biggest live cash: $4,750,000
Latvia’s finest, Aleksejs Ponakovs finished 4th in the Super High Roller
STEPHEN CHIDWICK (UK)
Age: 36
Total live earnings: $78,556,436
Active since: 2008
All-time money list: #2
UK money list: #1
Biggest live cash: $5,368,947
Stephen Chidwick: The best in Britain
BEN TOLLERENE (USA)
Age: 39
Total live earnings: $36,315,102
Active since: 2008
All-time money list: #26
USA money list: #16
Biggest live cash: $3,766,000
Ben Tollerene, known for years as the “lobby boss” for his domination in online cash games
PATRIK ANTONIUS (FINLAND)
Age: 45
Total live earnings: $32,466,694
Active since: 2008
All-time money list: #31
Finland money list: #1
Biggest live cash: $5,130,000
Poker Hall-of-Famer Patrik Antonius
ARTUR MARTIROSIAN (RUSSIA)
Age: 28
Total live earnings: $31,892,708
Active since: 2017
All-time money list: #34
Russia money list: #1
Biggest live cash: $3,271,666
Artur Martirosian has won so much and is only 28
KAYHAN MOKRI (NORWAY)
Age: 31
Total live earnings: $22,814,111
Active since: 2016
All-time money list: #55
Norway money list: #1
Biggest live cash: $7,725,000
With the biggest single cash of any of our players, Kayhan Mokri knows what it’s like to play for millions
MIKITA BADZIAKOUSKI (BELARUS)
Age: 34
Total live earnings: $68,308,522
Active since: 2010
All-time money list: #4
Belarus money list: #1
Biggest live cash: $7,114,500
Bad (meaning good) to the bone — it’s Belarus’ best, Mikita Badziakouski
DANIEL DVORESS (CANADA)
Age: 37
Total live earnings: $49,762,960
Active since: 2013
All-time money list: #13
Canada money list: #2
Biggest live cash: $4,390,000
Canadian crusher Daniel Dvoress completes the line up
HIGH ROLLING, HIGH RAISING
We’ve already seen some incredible high-stakes action this week at EPT Monte Carlo, and a lot of money raised for charity.
The €100,000 High Roller for One Drop organised by PokerStars and the One Drop Foundation raised €228,000 for the Foundation’s global safe-water initiatives. The tournament attracted 76 elite players, with 3% of every €100,000 buy-in donated directly to One Drop.
After battling through a field stacked with high roller talent, Lebanon’s Albert Daher finished on top, defeating UK poker professional Stephen Chidwick (you can watch again today) heads-up to secure the title and the €2,055,000 first-place prize.
One Drop Foundation founder Guy Laliberté said: “It’s so great for One Drop to be back in Monte Carlo with PokerStars as our host and partner, and with a record number of entries for the €100K at EPT. Many thanks to everyone who showed up at the highest level for the cause. Amazing players, amazing result!”
The high-stakes action continued with the inaugural €250,000 EPT Super High Roller, which drew 38 entries and generated another enormous prize pool. Bulgaria’s Alex Kulev emerged victorious, earning €2,786,332 following a three-way deal with American Bryn Kenney (€2,520,268) and Germany’s Christopher Nguyen (€1,443,100).
Further reading
EPT Monte Carlo information hub
Monte Carlo activities guide
Official EPT site
EPT photo gallery
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