It was the Alex Kulev show in the EPT Monte Carlo €250,000 Super High Roller as he topped the 38-entry field to win a career-high €2,786,332 ($3,257,725), following a heads-up deal with Bryn Kenney.
Kulev hit a three-outer on the stone bubble against Biao Ding to survive and made full use of his second life, parlaying that into another incredibly successful day at EPT Monte Carlo.
In fact, three of Kulev’s eight best scores have come at EPT Monte Carlo, following his win in the 2023 EPT €100,000 Super High Roller (€1,036,287) and the 2024 €30,000 Warm Up event (€633,385).
Kulev’s bubble miracle
With seven players remaining and six players guaranteed €651,700, the stone bubble of the EPT Monte Carlo €250,000 Super High Roller was expected to be a long one after Stephen Chidwick, who finished second in the €100K High Roller for One Drop, busted in ninth place, with 2025 PokerStars leaderboard champion Enrico Camosci busting shortly thereafter.
However, it wasn’t to be as the players got right down to it in the fourth hand of bubble play. With the blinds at 25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 big blind ante, Alex Kulev went for the virtual all in from the cutoff with , committing 280,000 of his remaining 485,000 chips. Biao Ding woke up with and jammed for 505,000. Kulev called and was completely dominated.
However, the board ran out to give Kulev an unlikely double, leaving Ding with just 20,000 – 40% of a big blind. Ding would be eliminated on the very next hand to put everybody into the money.
EPT Monte Carlo €250,000 Super High Roller official final table
| Position | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 2,165,000 | 43 |
| 2 | Chris Nguyen | Austria | 2,095,000 | 41 |
| 3 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | 1,835,000 | 36 |
| 4 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | 1,590,000 | 31 |
| 5 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | 1,095,000 | 21 |
| 6 | Bryn Kenney | United States | 720,000 | 14 |
With all six remaining players with between 14 and 41 big blinds, the tournament was truly anyone’s for the taking. In extremely rare fashion, the final table leaderboard and the finishing positions were almost completely flip flopped.
Final table chip leader Artur Martirosian would end up biting the dust and finishing in sixth place. Martirosian lost a couple of significant pots to Chris Nguyen early on, which cut his stack in half. With the blinds having increased to 40,000/80,000, the Russian would suddenly be left about 12 big blinds.
Then came the final death blow. Martirosian jammed 995,000 from the small blind with and Nguyen called him off with . Unfortunately, the in the window was the end of him as the board ran out . On the plus side, Martirosian went back to his hotel room and won his record 13th GGMillion$ High Rollers, taking home about $500,000 for topping the 260-entry field.
Nguyen was the runaway chip leader but slipped after jamming from the cutoff into Kenney’s to give the all-time money list leader a full double up. All of a sudden, Kenney vaulted from fifth to second and wasn’t far behind Nguyen.
Two hands later, Orpen Kisacikoglu jammed from the small blind for about 8.5 big blinds and Kulev snap-called with . The flop came , giving Kulev a set but the Bulgarian still needed to dodge a deuce. However, the turn was a board pairing , giving him the checkmark and eliminating the Turkish businessman in fifth place for €837,900.
Nguyen continued to run bad and then jammed from the button for his final 11 big blinds, and Kenney called off with . However, he would make two pair and was back in second place.
A few hands later, Kulev and Aleksejs Ponakovs got it all in on a flop, with Kulev calling off with after the Latvian check-jammed his open-ended straight draw. Surely Ponakovs was disappointed that his queen wasn’t live. The board ran out , and Ponakovs had to settle for fourth place and €1,070,700.
Nguyen would be next out in third after a very mistimed error, which cost him any chance of winning the EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller title. With the blinds at 50,000/125,000, Kenney opened from the button, and Nguyen jammed from the big blind for 1,875,000. Kenney snap-called with a similar stack. Despite the optics, Kenney was only a 61% favorite to win.
An flop all but sealed Nguyen’s fate but a turn gave him an open-ended straight draw. But, as luck would have it, the doubled Kenney up and left Nguyen with a single 25,000 chip. Though Nguyen would win the next two hands to get suddenly back to 725,000. Kenney would dispatch Nguyen. The Austrian won €1,443,100, the third-largest score of his career.
Kulev went into heads-up play with a 42-33 big blind advantage and with so much money at stake, a €1,100,000 difference between the top two places, the pair reached a heads-up deal. This required the two players to leave 10% of the remaining money to play for, a total of €111,740. Kulev also got an additional 1% above ICM from Kenney, roughly €11,000, as part of the deal.
Therefore, Kulev agreed to take €2,674,592, and Kenney got €2,520,268.
The heads-up battle was short and sweet. In the second hand of heads-up play, Kenney opened to 275,000 with , and Kulev defended from the big blind.
The flop was , giving Kulev a pair of tens, but Kenney was technically the favorite with a pair of nines and a nut flush draw. Kenney c-bet for 250,000, and Kulev called.
The turn was the , giving Kulev two pair. Kenney bet 950,000 into 1,175,000, and Kulev jammed. Kenney called off his remaining 2,030,000, and Kulev was a 70% favorite heading to the river. Though Kenney had 13 outs, the river was the , and Kulev won the biggest buy-in event in European Poker Tour history.
Meanwhile, Kenney extended his lead at the top of poker’s all-time money list and now has just under $85 million in career tournament earnings. Going into the day, he could have been overtaken by Stephen Chidwick should the Brit have won and Kenney failed to cash.
€250K Super High Roller Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | €2,786,332* |
| 2 | Bryn Kenney | United States | €2,520,268* |
| 3 | Chris Nguyen | Austria | €1,443,100 |
| 4 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | €1,070,700 |
| 5 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | €837,900 |
| 6 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | €651,700 |
