Two High Rollers costing €25,000 to play have taken place at Paris on the European Poker Tour. With wins for Canadian poker pro Daniel Dvoress and British legend Stephen Chidwick, the French capital saw each man net $900,000 between them. With stars such as Adrian Mateos, Mike Watson, Niklas Astedt and Sam Greenwood standing between them, the high roller action was top quality as two of poker’s finest grabbed trophies.

Stephen Chidwick Wins Opening High Roller for €389,000

A dramatic conclusion to the opening high roller saw British poker star Stephen Chidwick claim the title and top prize of $420,200 as he beat Spanish poker professional and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Mateos to the title. Big names fell early as players such as PokerStars ambassador Sam Grafton, Portuguese pro Joao Vieira, former EPT Winner Steve O’Dwyer and British high roller regular Ben Heath all busted outside the money places.

Nine players made the final table but from 51 entries, only seven would be paid. The unfortunate ‘Bubble Boy’ turned out to be the Latvian WSOP bracelet winner Aleks Ponakovs. All-in with on a flop of , Ponakovs was called by French hope Jean-Noel Thorel with . The turn gave Ponakovs hope of a miraculous flush but the river ended that hope and sent Ponakovs home with nothing.

Daniel Dvoress cashed in the first high roller too, albeit a min-cash of $67,900 in seventh place. Sam Greenwood busted next before Jesse Lonis left in fifth for $110,000, the first six-figure payout of the event. Mike Watson had sent Lonis home but left himself in fourth place for $142,200 when he called when short in the big blind with and conspired to lose to Chidwick’s when the British player flopped a straight.

Chidwick’s was too good for Thorel’s after a board of had French hopes drawing dead after the turn. Thorel left with $187,500 as the two players were locked in a tight battle for the trophy, Chidwick marginally ahead on 2.7 million chips, Adrian Mateos the underdog on 2.4m.

On the first hand of the heads-up, all the chips were in the middle. Mateos was behind in chips but ahead in the odds with . Chidwick only had but that proved good enough as he leapfrogged the Spanish player after a board gave the British player two pair.

Daniel Dvoress Takes Title for €444,000

Canadian player Daniel Dvoress may only have min-cashed the first event but he more than made up for falling short in the second €25,000-entry High Roller in Paris, winning it for the best part of half a million dollars. There were 62 entries this time out and that meant eight players would make a profit. It was the Indian player Santosh Suvarna who bubbled the event, his unable to hold sway in a three-way all-in that saw Tamas Adamszki’s pocket jacks prevail to send the remaining eight players into the money.

Russian player Viacheslav Buldygin busted in eighth place for $62,850 before Italian Enrico Camosci joined him on the rail with $78,600 in seventh. The final six played during a mammoth Day 1, with Joris Ruijs busting in sixth when his couldn’t overtake Niklas Astedt’s . An entertaining board began with a flop that gave the Swedish player Astedt top pair and Ruijs second pair. The turn of changed everything, completing a straight for the Dutch player, who only had to fade one card to double up. That he couldn’t do, however, as the river gave Astedt a full house to send Ruijs home with $102,200.

Into the last minutes of the opening day, Mike Watson and Johannes Straver departed, the Canadian dominated to defeat and Straver losing with ace-three to Niklas Astedt’s pocket nines. Three players remained but an extended period of play couldn’t separate them on Day 1, and they returned to action the next day with Hungarian player Adamszki in charge, his stack of 28 big blinds more than doubling Dvoress’ pile of 13 bigs.

The last day of the event didn’t go the chip leader’s way, as Adamszki plummeted to short stack, busting with to Dvoress’ as the Canadian took a close to 3:1 chip lead heads-up. On a board of , Dvoress bet with and Astedt called with . The river left things as they were and when Dvoress shoved, Astedt used a time bank but eventually made a crying call, losing in the process.

Superstar Aram Zobian Adds High Roller Package

Want to back other players at the European Poker Tour stop in Paris? Why would you not when in recent weeks players such as Jonathan Little have made huge profits for PokerStake investors? Aram Zobian has joined the ranks of players selling their action on the official PokerStake EPT Paris staking page and will be selling to the EPT High Roller Event #35, which costs €10,300 to play. Selling a first bullet at a markup of 1.11 and the second at 1.07, Zobian is great value and has already returned profit in recent months on the site.

Others selling in forthcoming events include David Coleman and Bruno Fitoussi, both of whom have packages available to that event too, with Coleman at 1.20 and 1.17 for first and second bullets respectively, and Fitoussi at 2.0. Both men represent excellent value, with Coleman one of the most successful players in the past few months, starring in several PokerGO events. Fitoussi is, of course, a home country hero and playing on his home soil is sure to be an advantage for the bona fide poker legend.

Both Game of Gold star Olga Iermolcheva (1.15) and Stefan Jedlicka (1.15/1.10) are good value to the same event, with another recommendation of ours being British hope Tom Hall. He’s selling only to the EPT Mystery Bounty Event #26 at present, at a markup of 1.38/1.25 for first and second bullets. Hall has long been a very profitable tournament poker player – don’t let his package sneak under your radar.

Photographs by Eloy Cabascas and Danny Maxwell for PokerNews, official live reporting team for the 2024 European Poker Tour.