Andre Moreira comes back with a bang to land EPT Malta High Roller
Portuguese poker has a new superstar as Andre Moreira completed a famous triumph in the €10K High Roller event at EPT Malta, crowning a successful return to the game he left about eight years ago.
The 42-year-old Moreira, from Porto, was a professional player until 2018, mainly online, before he decided to step away to focus on a business venture. That business, a tech and media group, began to stabilise sufficiently last year that Moreira thought he could come back and focus more on poker.
It was useful because one of the strands of the business is poker sponsorship, and he said, “I want to be in the field. I want to feel how poker is evolving.”
Well, tonight in Malta, it evolved into a maiden major tournament title for Moreira, earning him €485,300 for defeating a 237-entry field. He had to survive a final at which the PokerStars Ambassador Alejandro Lococo was a dominant figure for long periods, playing with his customary flair. And Moreira then also had to outlast one of poker’s form players, Klemens Roiter, the Live League leader, who nearly won the whole thing.
But Moreira held firm, stating of Lococo, “I was very careful against him.” He added of Roiter: “It was a tough one. He’s a very good player.”
But ultimately, Moreira had the chops to get it done, vindicating his decision to take a stab at the EPT. “I decided to come here to play the €5K and the €10K,” he said. “The €5K I lost two bullets and felt maybe it’s just because I’ll do a deep run in the €10K. And it happened. It was amazing. I had great support from the Portuguese guys here.”
Moreira celebrates with his supporters
TOURNAMENT ACTION
Although the High Roller was taking place on a side table away from the EPT Main Event streaming stage, the superlative line-up meant it was attracting tons of attention, particularly from the Spanish-speaking press.
It was Lococo they were all clamouring to watch. He had been the star attraction throughout the tournament, including during the stone bubble period, where, as chip leader, he was getting involved in huge pots against other big stacks. Most notably, Lococo and Jiaming Zhao were going at it hammer and tongs, with Lococo largely coming off the better.
The two survived all the way through the dangerous late stages, however, and lined up again at the final. The last nine looked like this:
Alejandro Lococo – 1,950,000
Masato Yokosawa – 1,765,000
Klemens Roiter – 1,715,000
Jiaming Zhao – 1,475,000
Tomas Jozonis – 1,045,000
Andrija Robovic – 975,000
Andre Moreira – 850,000
Danilo Velasevic – 550,000
Enrico Camosci – 515,000
Enrico Camosci was the short stack, but he actually sat back and watched as some of his neighbours started to tangle. Andrija Robovic scored a massive double up with aces through the nines of Masato Yokosawa. That put Robovic into the chip lead, but it was only temporary. Very soon after his double, he got involved in a five-bet pot against Lococo, with Lococo snap-calling Robovic’s jam.
Robovic’s A♥ K♦ never caught up against Lococo’s A♣ A♠ , and the Argentinian rose back into the overall lead.
It only got bigger, too. On the very next hand, Lococo found A♣ 4♣ and saw the two smallest stacks get all of their chips in. Yokosawa, who had been cut right down in that earlier pot, had the best of it with K♣ K♥ . Danilo Velasevic had just 2♦ 5♣ but was essentially forced all in.
“Looks like an ace is going to come here,” noted someone from the rail. “Yep, there it is,” they continued as the dealer duly gave Lococo the card he needed on the flop.
Danilo Velasevic out in ninth
Masato Yokosawa swept away as well
Nothing else of interest came and Lococo knocked out two in a single hand. Velasevic took ninth (€60,500) and Yokosawa eighth (€69,600). Lococo, meanwhile, reasserted himself at the very top of the counts–by a long way.
They were still all pretty deep, and when Robovic doubled, he likely thought he too could now make a charge. But he ended up losing a big pot to Zhao Jiaming, doubling up the Chinese player, and was back down to dust. He then handed that off to Camosci, with the Italian continuing his move up from the bottom spot.
Robovic ended on the rail in seventh, banking €83,500.
Andrija Robovic at a first major EPT final
Lococo was still the big stack, but both Camosci and Roiter took a couple of pots from him, prompting Lococo to complain that he had developed a new nemesis in Roiter. The Austrian leaderboard leader was continuing to grow his stack, even as the man in second place, Camosci, was still sticking around as well.
Camosci knocked out Zhao in sixth, leaving the last Asian player with the first six-figure payout, of €100,200. And that then turned the attention on Tomas Jozonis and Andre Moreira, two players who had avoided most of the biggest confrontations, but who were now the two shortest stacks.
Jiaming Zhao
At the next tournament break, Lococo had 4.3 million ahead of Roiter’s 3.01m. Camosci had 1.975m, Jozonis 1.425m and Moreira 1.135m. And it was Jozonis who was next to hit the rail.
The Lithuanian, a former EPT Main Event third-placed finisher in Monte Carlo in 2018, has subsequently been a regular force on the tour and no stranger to major final tables. But he hadn’t managed to get almost anything going his way in this one, and jammed for his last chips with A♦ 2♦ from the small blind. The only problem was that Roiter had A♣ Q♣ in the big blind, made the call and sent Jozonis home.
Jozonis won €128,300 for fifth.
Another near miss for Tomas Jozonis
Moreira was now some way distant from his three opponents, but picked up K♣ Q♦ at the right time to allow him to call Roiter’s small-blind shove. Roiter had a covering stack, but only Q♥ 9♠ and Moreira’s dominating hand held up. Moreira was not only back in the game, he was motoring. By the next break, he was Lococo’s closest challenger with 4.8 million to the chip leader’s 4.9 million.
Roiter had slipped to 1.34 million and Camosci had 785,000. The big blind increased to 100K, so was finally catching up with the stacks.
The next pot of note came along quickly. Moreira opened from under the gun with A♥ Q♠ and Camosci jammed from the small blind with only five blinds. Roiter then looked down at 9♦ 9♥ in the big blind and ripped in his last 14 blinds too, with Moreira snapping and putting both at risk.
Camosci only had Q♦ 7♦ and was in a world of hurt. The flop of 4♣ 9♣ A♠ left him drawing dead, and the J♥ turn sealed the pot for Roiter. He received more than a double up, while Camosci hit the rail. The Italian earned €166,800 for this one, as well as 308 Live League points. That would have been amazing in most circumstances, but with Roiter now certain to pick up even more points, Camosci may feel that leaderboard win slipping out of his fingers.
Enrico Camosci couldn’t spin up the short stack any more
Moreira was now third of three again, but he doubled pretty quickly with A♦ K♣ beating Lococo’s Q♣ J♣ . They got it all in pre-flop and Lococo flopped best with a jack appearing in the first three cards. But the A♥ on the turn saved Moreira and pushed this three-handed battle longer.
Lococo was now the short stack for the first time today. One more beat and he was on the rail, losing with pocket jacks to Moreira’s pocket sevens. This one was tough on Lococo, who watched his opponent flop a seven and catapult clear at the top of the pile. Lococo’s spectacular run ended in third for €216,800.
Alejandro Lococo’s dominance ended in a third-place finish
The remaining two players took a short break before returning to stacks of 7.93 million (Moreira) and 3.9 million (Roiter). That was 79 blinds against 39 blinds, with a €182K difference between first and second place.
Moreira proposed a discussion about a deal, but Roiter politely declined. “I would like to play,” he said. He went on to say the leader board race impacted his decision. Deal-making freezes the available points: Roiter would only be able to claim the points for a runner-up finish if they chopped it, and he wants to extend that lead as much as possible.
Moreira was fine with it and on they played, with Roiter gradually chipping back. In one pot, they got more than 1 million chips in before the turn, with a board showing A♣ 4♥ 7♠ 5♦ . Roiter bet 875,000 at it, which Moreira called, and then Roiter duly shoved for 1.875 million after the Q♥ completed the board.
Moreira backed down as Roiter built his stack to about 4.5 million, closing in on Moreira.
Klemens Roiter: Leader board leader gets even more
The Portuguese won a chunk back with pocket queens, getting a value bet paid on the end despite a king-high board. And he continued to chip away at Roiter, extending his lead. At the next five-minute tournament break, Roiter had only 2.275 million to Moreira’s 9.575m. It was 64 versus 15 blinds.
This was far from over, however. Roiter put his foot down and won a series of pots to draw up onto Moreira’s shoulder once again. The level ticked over and stacks were even. Without the benefit of hole card cameras, it was impossible to know what was going on, but one suspects it was high-level heads-up play from two crushers.
Part of the reason this was so obvious was because of the steady stream of chips now heading to Roiter. The Austrian is playing as well as anyone in the world right now, regularly making final tables against the toughest fields in world poker, and here was just another fine showing.
In addition to his lead in the Live League, he won a bracelet at the WSOP in the summer and a $30K event in Barcelona in August. He is purring like a well-oiled machine.
He had a dominant lead when the chips all went in for the first time heads-up. However, not even Roiter could do anything about Moreira’s 9♦ 4♥ flopping two pair to crack Roiter’s aces. That brought the stacks all but even once again and required Roiter to dig deep and retain focus. When they took another tournament break, Roiter had 6.3 million (25 blinds) to Moreira’s 5.55 million (22 blinds).
Roiter built up once again, but then the next big all-in confrontation went to Moreira. Roiter shoved with a comfortably covering stack and 8♦ 6♦ , but Moreira risked it all with Q♠ 10♠ and doubled. Roiter still had 18 blinds after the hand, but Moreira had marginally more.
Both players then hit a seven after a flop of K♦ K♥ 7♣ and they got 1.1 million apiece in the middle. They checked the 4♠ turn and Roiter put out another 500K after the 6♥ turn. Moreira called and his 10 kicker played, earning him another chunk. Two more big pots and Roiter was now on the ropes, with only five blinds (two of which had to go in in the big blind).
Roiter shoved and won those blind bets back. And he then found a double with K♠ 8♣ doubling through Q♥ 5♠ . That extended the match. But Moreira was the man with the momentum now.
With stacks incredibly short compared with escalating blinds, Roiter jammed for the last time holding J♠ Q♦ . Moreira knew that his 9♦ 3♠ was likely behind, but the shove was for less than five blinds and Moreira made the call.
The 4♠ K♥ 2♠ flop was blank, but the 9♣ turn hit Moreira. The A♠ river was the last card of the tournament, as this one was heading to Portugal.
“Vamooooos!” came the cheers from the assembled fans. And Moreira’s comeback to poker was complete.
Roiter, meanwhile, takes 390 leader board points alongside his €303,500. He’s going to take some catching in that particular race.
€10,300 EPT High Roller
Dates: October 10-12, 2025
Entries: 237 (inc. 64 re-entries)
Prize pool: €2,298,900
1 – Andre Moreira, Portugal, €485,300
2 – Klemens Roiter, Austria, €303,500
3 – Alejandro Lococo, Argentina, €216,800
4 – Enrico Camosci, Italy, €166,800
5 – Tomas Jozonis, Lituania, €128,300
6 – Zhao Jiaming, China, €100,200
7 – Andrija Robovic, Croatia, €83,500
8 – Masato Yokosawa, Japan, €69,600
9 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia, €60,500
See results page for full payouts
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