The European Poker Tour is back in France, where its 2026 round of poker festivals will begin with two weeks in the center of Paris.
This year's trip begins with the PokerStars Open Main Event, where almost 3,000 entries worth €1,650 each piled in for a prize pool over €4.3 million. Six players now remain from the 2,992 originals with a finale on tap for Monday that awards the winner €551,090.
Sweden's Alf Martinsson bagged the lead with a hair over 27 million at the tail end of the 150K/300K/300K level. They return on Monday with a few minutes left before blinds kick up to 200K/400K/400K and France's Sebastien Seguin is on the short stack. Let's meet the final six:
Martinsson, Hu set final table pace
Alf Martinsson - 27,150,000
- Career earnings: $395,895
Sweden's Alf Martinsson went on a late run to bag over 27 million, passing Lulei Hu at the end of the night for the final table chip lead. It's a big improvement on Martisson's last trip to an EPT, where he ran to 17th in the PokerStars Open in Barcelona. His previous high score is a final table finish at the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2023, something he can improve on with a placement of fourth or better on Monday.
Lulei Hu - 22,350,000
- Career earnings: $1,180,591
Hu was the runaway leader until Martinsson closed the gap and took the top spot in the final hours, but Hu is set up for success on Monday with over 22 million in chips. Hu hails from nearby Italy, where he has over $1.1 million in career earnings on tours throughout Europe. His best win was the top prize at last July's Euro Poker Millions Main Event in Rozvadov and he finished seventh at the PokerStars Open Main Event in Prague. The two top finishes were among a long list of big finishes for Hu in 2025, who has picked up right where he left off in 2026.
Enzo Nicolas - 18,675,000
- Career earnings: $70,398
France's Enzo Nicolas was at the bottom of the counts when the tournament hit its final table of nine, but a late surge has put him in the middle of the pack with a very real chance at making a run at the whole thing. Nicolas is the least accomplished of the final group and he has already locked up a new high score, but this looks to be just the beginning of a very long and lucrative poker career in Europe for Nicolas.
Patrik Demus - 10,650,000
- Career earnings: $566,756
Hungarian Patrik Demus has cashed all over the world, bouncing around Australia, Asia, and Europe since 2013 to pile up over a half-million in earning in mid-major buy-in tournaments. His best finish was in a Super High Roller in Jeju, but he also has third-place accolades in the 2025 WPT Prime Championship at WPT Cambodia. It'll be a new high score for Demus, but he can double his earnings with a win.
Benoit Grobocopatel - 6,975,000
- Career earnings: $1,082,211
A recent set of cashes in Paris put Benoit Grobocopatel over $1 million in career earnings, which has been a long trip since his first in 2011. Grobocopatel is a grinder, and his million dollar earnings is made up of a pile of smaller cashes. His top score, a $94K runner-up finish from a Texapoker Main Event in 2021, has already been eclipsed by the final table pursuit.
Sebastien Seguin - 3,950,000
- Career earnings: $301,494
Sebastien Seguin enters the final day with just over ten big blinds and the shortest stack at the table. Seguin is another grinder with a long list of modest cashes all the way back to 2011, and his best used to be $46K before Sunday's surge. But Seguin will have a new high water mark now and his first six-figure finish, even if he doesn't spin it up at the beginning of the day on Monday.
All six players will return on Monday at 12pm local time to play down to a winner in Paris.
Images courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Jules Pochy/Rational Intellectual Holdings, Ltd.
