Poker Leaderboard: European Poker Tour Main Event Earnings

The first-ever European Poker Tour Online main event saw Swedish player ‘WhatIfGod’ take down the 127th official EPT main event title, topping a field of 1,304 total entries in the $5,200 buy-in contest to win $1,019,082. The EPT first debuted in September of 2004, with the inaugural event being the EPT Barcelona Open. Alexander Stevic earned €80,000 as the first main event champion crowned on the fledgling tour. Since then, the tour has expanded greatly in size, with more than a billion in prize money paid out at its festivals over the years.

The all-time leader in EPT main event tournament earnings is Mike McDonald. The high-stakes Canadian poker pro (pictured above, center) known to many as ‘Timex’ has cashed for more than $3.4 million in EPT main events. His first big breakthrough on the tour came when he won the 2008 EPT German Open for $1,381,728 at the age of 18. His second-largest score on the tour came when he finished as the runner up in the 2014 EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event for $1,064,865.

The second-highest earner in EPT main event history is Glen Chorny. Like McDonald, Chorny (pictured above, right) hails from Waterloo, Canada. He secured almost all of his earnings for this leaderboard by topping a field of 842 entries in the 2008 EPT Grand Final main event for $3,193,822. The following year’s EPT Grand Final main event was won by Pieter De Korver. The Dutch player from Leeuwarden (pictured above, left) defeated a field of 935 entries in that event to cash for $3 million.

The EPT was forced to cancel several of its live festivals in 2020, but did return to the brick-and-mortar arena in late October with EPT Sochi. Ruslan Bogdanov earned $212,914 USD after outlasting a field of 637 entries. The tour only has one future stop currently announced, with a planned return to Sochi in March. ♠