While European Poker Tour stops have come and gone over the years, one event has been a fixture nearly every year since the tour's incarnation back in 2004: the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. With the exception of Season 7, when the tour made a detour for Madrid, the EPT Grand Final has been held in Monte Carlo at all other times.

With that in mind, we dove into the history of the storied event. In the first part, we take a look at the winners of the EPT Grand Final Main Event from seasons 1 through 4.

EPT Grand Final winners

2005 - Winner: Rob Hollink (€635,000)

The first season of the EPT gave Dutch Poker Hall of Famer Rob Hollink his biggest win to this date. Hollink, still a very active player in 2018, defeated Brandon Schaefer heads-up to claim the first-place prize of €635,000, a prize that only grew bigger over the years. A total of 211 players put up the €10,000 buy-in and 27 of them finished in the money, with a young Eugene Katchalov and Gus Hansen among them.

Hollink, already a household name on the circuit back in 2005, has $3,540,620 in lifetime winnings and has won titles at nearly every major tour over his two-decade career.

2006 - Winner: Jeff Williams (€635,000)

The year after Hollink's inaugural win, the field grew to 298 and first-place prize money grew to a monstrous €900,000. After qualifying online under his alias "yellowsub86" at just 19 years of age, Jeff Williams burst on to the live poker scene with his first ever recorded cash. Needless to say, it was one of the biggest first-time cashes in poker history. Williams had another deep run at the EPT7 Grand Final, finishing in eighth place, and has racked up $2,201,607 over the course of his impressive career.

2007 - Winner: Gavin Griffin (€1,825,010)

With the poker boom in full swing and the EPT being a massive hit, the field in 2007 exploded to 706 entries. Eventual champion Gavin Griffin was one of the many qualifiers on PokerStars, parlaying his $240 satellite investment into a nearly €2 million first-place price.

It took 192 hands at the final table and 92 hands of heads up before Griffin could lift the trophy. In the final hand, with $800,000 in difference between first and second, the board read and Griffin raise-called a shove from Marc Karam with . Karam held with nearly equal stacks and remained ahead after the turn. The river, however, sealed it for Griffin. Interestingly enough, the Main Event victory remains Griffin's only cash outside of the U.S.

2008 - Winner: Glen Chorny (€2,020,000)

In 2008, records were shattered once again as 842 players forayed to Le Sporting Casino in Monte-Carlo, which pumped the winner's prize up to over €2 million. Glen Chorny from Canada was the one to receive this life-changing amount after conquering a final table that also contained Antonio Esfandiari and Luca Pagano. Although Chorny racked up a few more cashes after his astonishing win, only two of those came after 2009, with the latest in 2014.

Runner-up Denes Kalo's story is bittersweet, as the Hungarian also came second at the earlier EPT in Baden in the same season. Kalo noted just two more money finishes afterwards and hasn't recorded a cash since 2009.

In the next part, we take a look at the Main Event winners from 2009 to 2011, including the winner of the biggest first place prize.