EPT Monte Carlo: Final table player profiles
A field of 1,011 entries is down to its last eight. Learn some more about the players bidding to be the EPT Monte Carlo champion in our final table player profiles.
Seat 1: Jose Malpelli, 52, Bastia, France, PokerStars Qualifier – 2,300,000 chips
Jose Malpelli
Having qualified on PokerStars.fr for €250, José Malpelli is a recreational player who only recently returned to the live poker scene after several years away from the game. “I used to play a lot in the past, but I stopped for several years before coming back at the end of 2025 with a trip to Sanremo and then Cannes for the PokerStars Open Cannes,” the Corsican player says. “I even managed to cash there.”
Another Corsican player, Paul-François Tedeschi, went on to win that Cannes stop. “I don’t know him personally — he’s much younger than me — but I do know Anthony Apicella and his father, another Corsican player who has enjoyed plenty of success in PokerStars events.”
Malpelli lives in Bastia, in the department of Haute-Corse, and has worked in real estate for many years. He enjoyed a perfect end to the second level of Day 5, eliminating American pro Jason Wheeler with pocket Kings against pocket Nines. That gave him a stack big enough to get all the way to the last day, which he’ll start with 2.3 million.
Seat 2: Bernhard Binder, 27, Vienna, Austria – 7,200,000
Bernhard Binder
Not even a year ago, leading Austrian pro Mario Mosböck tipped his countryman Bernhard Binder as one of the hottest prospects in the game, just waiting for a breakout performance.
In recent months, Mosbock has been proven spectacularly correct.
In December, Binder won $10 million and his first World Series bracelet, and he added another massive seven-figure score in South Korea in March. Binder is now at a maiden EPT final table, which he’ll start as a hot favourite.
And he’s relishing the prospect of winning one of the most prestigious titles in his home continent. “It does mean something special, because it’s the only big title I don’t have,” the 27-year-old says. “I have won a Triton event, a big WSOP, and basically everything online.”
Originally from Oberpullendorf, close to Austria’s border with Hungary, Binder learned the game playing home games with friends, and is now best friends and room-mates in the capital with fellow pro Samuel Mullur. He also cites Mullur and the Vienna-based crew as his main inspirations. Though poker consumes most of his life, Binder says he’s also a fan of most sports and games.
With Binder having already beaten his best EPT performance to date, Austria has never had a better chance of claiming a first EPT title.
Seat 3: Roman Stoica, 31, from Saint Petersburg, Russia, represents Moldova – 3,200,000
Roman Stoica
Roman Stoica has been building steadily over the past year to this EPT final table appearance. He was 16th in Malta last year and 27th at EPT Prague in December. He is now sitting at the first EPT final of his career.
Originally from Saint Petersburg, the Russian player began his tournament poker career in Sochi, playing low buy-in events before becoming a regular on the EPT circuit starting with the 2024 stop in Cyprus. Stoica also holds a Moldovan passport and chooses to represent the country at the EPT, giving him the chance to become the nation’s first champion.
Stoica is mostly a live player and now boasts more than $1.6 million in live tournament earnings. The largest chunk of more than €360,000 came with his victory in the €3,250 Mystery Bounty event at EPT Barcelona in 2025.
Seat 4: Samuel Ju, 42, Berlin, Germany – 4,000,000
Samuel Ju
Entrepreneur and startup investor, Samuel Ju, only became passionate about poker a few years ago, after discovering the game’s strategic and competitive aspects. Since mid-2022, he has accumulated more than $3.8 million in live tournament earnings, competing in some of the toughest events worldwide.
Co-founder of an app that combines bankroll management, live event scheduling, and social networking, now with thousands of users, Ju has established himself among poker industry professionals and has also become one of Germany’s elite players.
He is still doing both: traveling for poker while working on various other projects, including the development of an artificial intelligence-related application. “I’m tired but super happy and focused,” he says.
Seat 5: Longmao Fan, 32, from Xi’An, China, lives in London, UK – 2,475,000
Longmao Fan
Originally from China, Longmao Fan moved to London for undergrad studies eight years ago and has lived in the UK ever since. He has now completed a PhD in electrical engineering and runs his own business, shipping fashion and other items back to his homeland.
Fan has previously come close to reaching an EPT Main Event final table, in Malta last year, but says he was a little intimidated by the tough lineup at the last two tables and fell short. “I was playing against Juan Pardo and those guys and I was very nervous,” he admits. “And I punted it off.” Several unsuccessful bluffs led to his downfall in 13th place.
But that experience has helped him. “Definitely, now I am much calmer and I’m doing much better,” he says. Still, he doesn’t look too far into the future. “In tournaments, anything can happen at any time, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself and think about the title.”
Fan traveled to Monaco with friends from China. They rented an apartment, and now he has support from the rail, having reached the final stages of the flagship event.
This year has already treated him well. Last month, he had a few decent results at the Irish Open, where he finished fifth in a €1,000 mystery bounty event, pushing his winnings to €34,680. On Sunday, he has a great chance to be walking away from the Salle des Etoiles with his first six-figure payout.
Seat 6: David Djian, 31, Paris, France – 3,625,000
David Djian
Parisian David Djian is living a dream. “I wasn’t even supposed to play this tournament,” the 31-year-old says, explaining that he came to join a friend in Monte Carlo, but decided to give the PokerStars Open and then the EPT Main Event a try. He didn’t cash the PSO, but has now made the final table in the even more prestigious event.
“I’m a huge poker enthusiast, and I had promised myself that I would play a major live tournament before turning 30,” he says. “I achieved that goal last year in Barcelona when I qualified for the EPT Main Event.”
Dijan was delighted to cash that event in Catalonia, but has landed an even bigger prize this time around.
“I watch every PokerStars France broadcast with Benny and Yu,” he says. “In fact, I told my wife that one day they’d be making jokes about me at the table!”
It’s another wish fulfilled for the Frenchman, who will be able to count on the support of his wife on the rail after she joined him in Monte Carlo with their baby daughter, who is only a few months old.
Seat 7: Oshri Lahmani, 31, Jerusalem, Israel – 2,950,000
Oshri Lahmani
With more than $1.1 million in tournament winnings, Oshri Lahmani is a seasoned veteran on the live circuit. The 31-year-old from Jerusalem plays poker professionally and mixes live and online environments. “I play a lot of PLO,” he says.
Lahmani first came close to reaching an EPT Main Event final table three years ago in Barcelona, but that run was halted in 13th place. Now he has another chance to battle for the trophy which has been previously hoisted by two Israeli champs: Uri Gilboa and Matan Krakow.
“Some friends told me this is the second-best thing to win after a bracelet,” Lahmani says. “But I told them no. The EPT trophy is much bigger for me.”
But he isn’t letting the pressure affect him. “I’m relaxed,” he says. “Taking it easy.”
Lahmani says that there is an Israeli Poker Championship taking place right now in Bulgaria, so a lot of friends and compatriots are railing him from there, watching the stream. He’s also been receiving a ton of support through messages.
When he’s not at live tournaments, he spends his time mostly with his wife and kids, a three-year-old daughter and a one-and-a-half-year-old boy.
“But I will for sure be in Prague,” he says. “Maybe in Barcelona, too, I will see about that.”
Seat 8: RaĂşl Mestre, 44, Valencia, Spain – 4,525,000
Raul Mestre
Raul Mestre is widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in Spanish poker having founded one of the first coaching sites in Europe and mentoring countless players to successful professional careers. EducaPoker is still going strong 17 years after it began, and Mestre is similarly proving to be a force still at the tables.
Mestre burst onto the scene during the earliest days of the EPT and made his first final table in Prague in 2008. Three years later, he finished fourth in Barcelona for what remains his biggest career tournament score. He moved away from the live tournament scene for the best part of a decade, focusing on both his growing family and business, as well as playing cash games online. But his recent return, now wearing the patch of Team PokerStars, has shown he’s still got what it takes.
“Back then I was so focused on the results,” he says. “I was grinding full time and it was harder to enjoy the process. Now, I honestly don’t care that much about the results. I try to play my best, I try to focus on what I think is the right play in each situation. And that’s the reward in itself.”
For all that, he’s still exceptionally keen to take down an EPT event. “It would be absolutely amazing to win the title,” he says. “My friends and I joke that this is like my second job, because it has been so long since I was here.”
He adds that he’s had to make a few adjustments after returning to the felt. “The biggest difference for me is the shot clock,” he says. “Back then, we didn’t have it. But it makes a much better experience for the players.”
Further reading
EPT information hub
Monte Carlo activities guide
Official EPT site
EPT photo gallery
Latest Articles
View Other Blogs
