EPT Paris: How to make comebacks in poker tournaments

February 26, 2026

Features

by Jack Stanton

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4 Minute Read

There’s an old adage for comebacks in poker tournaments: all you need is a chip and a chair. It’s an encouraging expression meaning as long as you’re still in it (‘it’ being a tournament), then you can still win it. Never give up, even if you’re down to your last chip.

But it’s not just a hopeful motto. It actually happens.

According to reporters from PokerNews, Kayhan Mokri–the high-stakes crusher who sits atop Norway’s all-time money list–was at one point reduced to a single 500-value tournament chip on Day 2 of the EPT Paris Main Event. By the end of the day, he was in the money with the fourth-largest stack, bagging 150 big blinds.

Mokri turned a single chip into one of the tournament’s biggest stacks

And who could forget Italy’s Giuliano Bendinelli, who came back from just one big blind to capture the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event in 2022, winning almost €1.5 million.

But for you to get down to a single chip, something bad must have happened. Either a move went awry, a flip was lost, or you took a bad beat. This can have a major impact on your mental state at the table, not to mention your poker strategy.

So, what’s the best way to proceed when you find yourself needing to make comebacks in poker tournaments? How can you dig deep when you’re feeling down and out? And strategy-wise, what’s the best way to play a short stack and give yourself a shot at a comeback?

TAMING TILT

When something frustrating happens in a poker tournament, like losing a massive pot and suddenly finding yourself short-stacked, the fallout is often even more costly than the hand itself.

Anger creeps in. Decisions get rushed. And instead of regrouping, players too often punt off the rest of their chips in frustration, when a little patience might have given them a real shot at a comeback.

This is known as ‘tilt’, and even the game’s greatest players would admit to feeling it from time to time. There are only so many times you can be all-in as a 90% favourite and lose before it starts to get to you.

The best course of action to counter it is to understand what tilt is and how you can avoid it.

The Mental Game of Poker is one of the most acclaimed poker books of the modern era

In ‘The Mental Game of Poker’ by mental game coach Jared Tendler and co-author Barry Carter, Tendler breaks down the seven types of tilt (yep, seven!) and provides strategies for not letting tilt negatively affect your game.

You can read a fantastic excerpt from the Mental Game of Poker here.

HOW TO MAKE COMEBACKS IN POKER TOURNAMENTS

Once you’ve shaken off the loss of chips, your tournament begins again. Only this time, you’re starting behind.

Short-stack strategy is crucial in poker tournaments, particularly when you’re near the money bubble or when the pay jumps become significant. Sometimes, outlasting a few more players can make all the difference.

At some point, though, you’re going to need to accumulate chips to make a comeback. That means going all in at the right time and doubling up.

But that involves knowing when to push all in and when to fold.

In the video below, Lex Veldhuis takes us through some short-stack play, showing us when to play aggressively and when to play passively as a player with few chips.

From there, it’s all about successfully manoeuvring your way through the rest of the tournament. Entering pots when it’s in your best interest. Sticking around when you have the right amounts of equity. Stealing blinds, using your fold equity, and hopefully, doubling up again and again.

In the next video from Veldhuis, he shows us how to manage the many decisions a short-stack player faces as they rally to win chips and put themselves in a position to win.

HOW TO SURVIVE WHEN CARD DEAD

Of course, it’s hard to make a comeback if you’re dealt no good cards whatsoever.

We’ve all been there. Hand after hand, orbit after orbit, you’re dealt nothing but bad cards. You can see your rejuvenated chip stack dwindling down once again as the blinds and antes escalate. You begin to feel the pressure.

And that’s when mistakes are made, and your tournament chances get destroyed.

So, what’s the best way to deal with a long stretch of being card-dead?

You’ve got to stay disciplined. You’ve got to pay attention and observe. You’ve got to think about situations, not hands. And you’ve got to know when to make your move.

Here are some tips for tournament survival when you’re card-dead.

Giuliano Bendinelli won the biggest EPT Barcelona Main Event ever after being down to one big blind

In a nutshell, when you’ve suffered a big loss in a poker tournament, the one thing you should never do is give away the remainder of your stack because you think you have no shot.

Because you do.

Like Bendinelli and Mokri, all you need is a chip and a chair.