2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo

€5,300 EPT Main Event
Day: 6
Event Info

2023 PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
109
Prize
€749,425
Event Info
Buy-in
€5,300
Prize Pool
€5,325,300
Entries
1,098
Level Info
Level
33
Blinds
125,000 / 250,000
Ante
250,000
Players Info - Day 6
Entries
6
Players Left
1

Seat 4: Leonard Maue, 28, from Braunschweig, Germany, now resides in Vienna, Austria – 4,305,000

Leonard Maue
Leonard Maue

Leonard Maue started playing poker about ten years ago. For the last five years,
he's been a full-time professional, so he followed the same path as many other
German pros and relocated to Vienna. Maue plays tournaments exclusively and
prefers online over live games.

But traveling around the circuit provides a good balance for the 28-year-old, who has
been attending most of the EPTs lately. "I've always liked the EPT streams. I used to
watch them all the time," he said.

Now one of the main characters on PokerStars TV himself, Maue will pick up his first
EPT Main Event cash. But he already boasts an impressive live tournament resume,
headlined by a €25,000 tournament victory at EPT Barcelona 2022.

He would need an outright win here – or a favorable deal – to top the €653,160 payday
from last August. Should he really take it down, he would become the first German
EPT champ since Manig Loeser, who prevailed on the same stage in May 2019.

Maue is on a second bullet. He qualified online at PokerStars, but the first attempt
didn't go his way. So he decided to reenter at the buzzer, come back for Day 2 with a
fresh 30,000 in chips, and spin the 20 big blinds into a real shot at the title. He claimed
he knows all of his opponents on the final table. "I came prepared," he said.

Seat 3: Leo Worthington-Leese, 31, Brighton, UK – 8,270,000

Leo Worthington-Leese
Leo Worthington-Leese

We’ve put Brighton down as Leo Worthington-Leese’s hometown, but aside from
occasional visits to family, the 31-year-old poker pro is never there. He’s on the road
traveling for poker, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Since turning pro in 2017, Worthington-Leese has accumulated $541,784 in live
tournament cashes from various stops around the world, many of which your average
poker fan won’t know exist. His largest score came at the Battle of Malta in 2019 where
he finished fifth for €56,470.

"I like to go places I’ve never been before," he says. "I mix it up between mainstream
stops like the EPT and smaller, value-heavy stops. I just make it up as I go really."

Worthington-Leese discovered poker when some college friends invited him for a £5
rebuy. He enjoyed it so much that he sought out other nearby games and began doing
the rounds from his local pub to the cricket club. The natural progression was to
casinos and Worthington-Leese hasn’t stopped since.

He’s had a lot of close calls in big tournaments recently and feels like momentum is on
his side.

"I feel really good," he says. "Everything has been preparing me to be comfortable
here."

Seat 2: Mike Watson, 39, St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, now lives in Toronto, Ontario – 8,135,000

Mike Watson
Mike Watson

It would take a real veteran to remember Mike Watson’s first appearance in a PokerStars-sponsored event. He was one of four members of the Canada team that played the inaugural World Cup of Poker, hosted alongside EPT Barcelona, in 2007. The team, which also included Daniel Negreanu, finished fourth and the players picked up €4,000 apiece.

Even back then, however, "SirWatts" was making a name for himself at the online tables, and Watson's career has flourished in all environments in the subsequent 15 years.

Watson is now established as a regular in the very biggest games in the world and has $19 million in live tournament earnings to his name. That includes victory in the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event — remarkably, only the fifth biggest score of his career.

He has also won a €50k event at the WSOP Europe and a he has a WPT title from the 2008 Bellagio Cup. He has tournament results from across the globe.

His online game is exceptional too. SirWatts has won seven SCOOP titles in six different poker variants: badugi, 2-7 single draw, 6+ hold'em, PLO and PLO Hi/Lo, as well as no limit hold'em. He has three WCOOP titles as well.

Watson is by far the most experienced player at this EPT final table and brings the most exemplary reputation. He has the chance to join only two other players as a two-time EPT champion.

Seat 1: Samy Boujmala, 29, Marseillan, France – 3,675,000

Samy Boujmala
Samy Boujmala

Samy Boujmala is a real grinder. He has been playing in French-facing online card rooms for almost 10 years, using the screen-name "chlagito."

He qualified for this EPT Monte Carlo Main Event in a live satellite the day before Day 1B and the 29-year-old from South of France has had a dream tournament since then. He was overall chip leader after Day 1 and always close to the top of the rankings ever since.

"I'm putting all my focus on playing well and ignoring everything else," Boujmala says. “I'm almost surprised at myself for that."

Boujmala says he owes his trip to Monaco to another Frenchman, Virgile Turchi, who qualified online for the event. "He's been coaching me for three months and he brought me on board for this EPT," Boujmala says. “I also owe a lot to another Frenchman, Hedi Boussetta, who has helped me progress enormously.”

He’s also delighted to be alongside Arnaud Enselme at the finale. "It's a great pleasure to run deep with Arnaud, I could never have imagined that. We were playing €3 tournaments ten years ago online together and now we're in the final of an EPT, it's wonderful."

With $330,000 in live winnings, Boujmala has already smashed his best score from the 2018 WSOP Main Event. Guaranteed a six-figure payout, he will be aiming for his first major tour victory.

Who Will be Crowned EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Champion?

Mike Watson
Mike Watson

Can Mike Watson win a second EPT Main Event title? Will Leonard Maue or Joachim Haraldstad finally break through? Can Leo Worthington-Leese go coast to coast to finally capture a major title? Or will a Frenchman come from behind and reign supreme in their backyard? Those are the questions that will be answered on Day 6 of the €5,300 EPT Main Event.

The 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® is winding down as players return to Sporting Monte Carlo for the final day of the festival. There are just six players remaining with a shot at EPT glory and the first-place prize of €890,000 that goes along with it. Each player has locked up €180,900 but there is still some life-changing money up for grabs.

Final Table Payouts and Results

PlacePlayerCountryPrize (EUR)Prize (USD)
1st  €890,000$978,039
2nd  €556,600$611,659
3rd  €397,450$436,766
4th  €305,750$335,995
5th  €235,150$258,411
6th  €180,900$198,795
7thJason WheelerUnited States€139,150$152,915
8thArunas SapitaviciusLithuania€107,050$117,639
9thMaduka MeragalCanada€82,350$90,496

Watson, the Canadian poker pro, is all too familiar with the spotlight on the brightest stage having won the PCA Main Event back in 2016. He will be returning today with a stack of 8,135,000 chips and the hopes of adding another title to his poker resume. The only person Watson will be looking up to is Worthington-Leese who edged him out late on Day 5 with 8,270,000 chips.

Worthington-Leese was the man who brought the field down to six players and wrapped things up on Day 5 by eliminating EPT circuit regular Jason Wheeler. The British poker pro is looking for his first major title and will hope to go wire-to-wire on the final day in order to do so. Haraldstad (5,130,000) and Maue (4,305,000) find themselves situated in the middle of the pack and are looking for that breakthrough moment. Each player has been on the circuit for quite some time and have some results to back them up, but an EPT title today would be their biggest accomplishment thus far.

Rounding out the bottom of the pack, but certainly not out of contention, are the two Frenchman Samy Boujmala (3,675,000) and Arnaud Enselme (3,415,000). Boujmala won a qualifier for the event and is playing one of the largest buy-in events of his short career while Enselme has already locked up his largest career score already. Each player will be returning with over 30 big blinds but will have their work cut out for them.

Final Table Seat Draw

SeatPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
1Samy BoujmalaFrance3,675,00037
2Mike WatsonCanada8,135,00081
3Leo Worthington-LeeseUnited Kingdom8,270,00083
4Leonard MaueAustria4,305,00043
5Arnaud EnselmeFrance3,415,00034
6Joachim HaraldstadNorway5,130,00051

The cards are scheduled to go in the air at 12:30 p.m. local time with roughly 35 minutes remaining in Level 29 and the blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 100,000 big blind ante. The levels will continue to be 90 minutes long until just three players remain, where they will be cut in half to 45 minutes.

The PokerNews updates will be on a 30-minute delay to remain in sync with the PokerStars live stream that can be found on the Twitch and YouTube platforms. Be sure to tune in to find out who will be crowned the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event champion in just a few hours' time.

Tags: Arnaud EnselmeArunas SapitaviciusJason WheelerJoachim HaraldstadLeo Worthington-LeeseLeonard MaueMaduka MeragalMike WatsonSamy Boujmala

€5,300 EPT Main Event

Day 6 Started