EPT Paris 2023 Main Event: These Two Top Finishers Went From Rags To Riches

The Main Event of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris 2023 recently concluded after crowning Romania’s Razvan Belea as the champion. The event drew its curtains after six days of play between 1,606 entries.

The Event generated a final prize pool of €7,708,800, which was shared by the top 2399 players, who cashed a min-cash of €8,400. The €5,300 buy-in event saw the final five players making it to Day 6 to battle it out for the top spot.

The interesting thing about this Main Event was that the champion Razvan Belea, who took home the lion’s share of €1,170,000, actually qualified for the prestigious Main Event via an online satellite on PokerStars. After qualifying from an online satellite, the Romanian player took down the sixth largest Main Event in the history of EPT, to clinch his first-ever EPT Main Event title.

But hey, Belea wasn’t the only one who took home a hefty prize for a satellite entry at the ME. The second runner-up at the event, Fabrice Bigot, also has a similar story to tell. The Frenchman made it the Main Event after qualifying via a satellite that cost him €250. For his third-place finish, Bigot cashed a handsome €535,850. Yes! How cool is that?! €535,850 for investing just €250.

ALSO READ: EPT Paris 2023 – Main Event Live Updates

As amazing as it may sound, players qualifying via online satellites and taking centre stage because of their love and passion for the game is not alien these days. There are countless players like Belea and Bigot who make it to the biggest poker tournaments from online satellites, which have minimal buy-ins and end up cashing life-changing figures. Here, we cannot resist from mentioning the classic example of Chris Moneymaker.

An American player who qualified for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2003 Main Event via an online satellite and went on to register an iconic win. The win changed not only Moneymaker’s life, but also the lives of many other talents and the face of online poker at large. What followed was, what we all know as the ‘poker boom’, where online poker grew by leaps and bounds. Talented players who had the skill and talent, but were reluctant to invest in heavy buy-ins, found a ray of light that led to the revolutionary path – online satellites!

Recently at the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) 2023 edition, a construction worker named Glen Craigen, who qualified for one of the events via an online freeroll. The freeroll won him a PokerStars Platinum Pass, which enabled him to travel to The Bahamas to play and win $46,500.

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Amarylisa Gonsalves

Amarylisa Gonsalves is a Content Writer at Gutshot Magazine. Advancing from a marketing background, she found her calling in writing. She takes delight in exploring genres and is a curious learner. Patient and ambivert, she believes in letting her work speak for itself. Apart from content writing, she finds solace in writing poetry by expressing herself through words. Additionally, she adores indulging in anything that satisfies her creative self, like drawing and DIY crafts.