Only two players have ever won more than one title on PokerStars' European Poker Tour (EPT). British player Victoria Coren-Mitchell was the first to do it, and Belarussian Mikalai Pobal followed her. This past weekend, Canadian professional Mike “SirWatts” Watson became the third player in history to join that exclusive club.
Watson bagged his second title in one of the most exclusive stops on the EPT in any season, Monte Carlo. EPT Monte Carlo ran from April 26 through May 6 this year, including events from the France Poker Series (FPS) to kick off the series. Watson in the EPT Main Event drew all the attention as the series wound down.
When the Main Event kicked off, it was actually former chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen that was getting a lot of attention. The chess master jumped into the EPT Main Event just days after he elected not to defend his chess title, and it looks like he may be trading in black and white squares for green felt for good. He managed to book a mid-field cash in the Main Event.
As the Main Event progressed, the attention turned to “SirWatts,” making a solid run for the championship. Watson won €749,425 from the more than €5 million prize pool after he made a heads-up deal with Leonard Maue, who secured €697,175 in the process.
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Monte Carlo Main Event Gets Nearly 1100 Runners
EPT Monte Carlo was very well attended, with more than 10,000 entries recorded across the series. Those entries generated more than €31m in total prizes, including two prize pools of over €5 million and seven that cracked seven figures.
One of those €5 million prize pools was in the EPT Main Event. The big game saw 1098 entries by the time registration closed for a prize pool of €5,325,300. That was the biggest prize pool of the whole series, and the only other game to crack the €5 million mark was the €25k High Roller.
The FPS games to start the series also did very well in field size and prizes. The FPS Main Event got 2138 entries, while the High Roller for that series had 1234 entries. Both of those events posted prize pools of over €2 million.
Biggest Prize Pools from EPT Monte Carlo
| Game | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| EPT Main Event | 1098 | €5,325,300 |
| EPT High Roller | 211 | €5,066,110 |
| EPT Super High Roller | 37 | €3,589,740 |
| FPS High Roller | 1234 | €2,369,280 |
| FPS Main Event | 2138 | €2,052,480 |
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Watson Joins Exclusive Club
Watson’s win cements his legacy as one of the top talents in the modern game. The Canadian professional is now one of only three people to book multiple EPT Main Event titles, but he may well be the most accomplished of the three. In addition to the two EPT wins, Watson has seven SCOOP titles and three WCOOP titles under his PokerStars online handle “SirWatts.”
The latest win pushed Watson over the $19 million mark for live earnings, but it was not his biggest-ever score. That came during the 2008 Bellagio Cup IV when he booked a win worth $1.6 million. According to The Hendon Mob, this title marks his 16th win on the live felt.
