On the ultimate day of August in 2025, Thomas Eychenne emerged victorious from a discipline of two,045 within the PokerStars European Poker Tour Barcelona €5,300 no-limit maintain’em major occasion. The French participant earned over $1.4 million because the champion, the most important payday of his profession. Just one week shy of a 12 months later, at the exact same cease, the 36-year-old captured his second main title inside Casino Barcelona.
Eychenne topped 1,551 entries within the 2026 PokerStars Open Barcelona €2,700 excessive curler on Aug. 23, incomes $683,698 for the win. This is the third-largest rating on Eychenne’s résumé, which now boasts greater than $6.4 million in complete cashes.
This triumph got here with 1,620 Card Player Player of the Year factors for Eychenne. This was his first title and sixth final-table end of 2026. With 3,027 complete factors, he’s climbed inside placing distance of the highest 50 within the POY standings introduced by CoinPoker.
After closing out the win, Eychenne hopped into this 12 months’s major occasion hoping to defend his title. He ended day 1B with simply ten massive blinds.
A Dominant Performance
Eychenne scored 5 of the eight knockouts on the remaining desk, beginning with pocket nines outracing the A♣10♣ of bracelet winner Zdenek Zizka. The Czech poker professional and backgammon prodigy earned $62,826 because the ninth-place finisher.
The remaining desk started with Eychenne out in entrance, and he remained at or close to the highest of the counts as the sphere was narrowed to simply 5. He then ripped off the ultimate 4 eliminations to run away with the title. After busting Lars Tungel (third – $307,910), he took a 6.5:1 chip benefit into heads-up play with fellow Frenchman Virgile Turchi.
The final hand of the occasion noticed Turchi run 10♦9♥ into the pocket queens of Eychenne. The overpair held, and Turchi settled for $430,360 because the runner-up. This was a brand new profession finest rating for Turchi, who additionally completed second within the France Poker Series major occasion in Monte Carlo again in 2024 and fifth on this identical occasion on the EPT Paris earlier in 2026. He now has almost $2 million in lifetime cashes beneath his belt.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Thomas Eychenne | $683,698 | 1620 |
| 2 | Virgile Turchi | $430,360 | 1,350 |
| 3 | Lars Tungel | $307,910 | 1,080 |
| 4 | Marwan Salamoun | $236,779 | 810 |
| 5 | Christian Kaufmann | $181,772 | 675 |
| 6 | Gilles Simon | $139,246 | 540 |
| 7 | Hak-Hyun Lee | $107,346 | 405 |
| 8 | David Djian | $81,664 | 270 |
| 9 | Zdenek Zizka | $62,826 | 135 |
Photo credit score: Danny Maxwell / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
