Roman Stoica's poker journey began live in the 2020s. For the first year and a half, the St. Petersburg native grinded at Sochi festivals, occasionally punctuated by trips to Minsk.
Since 2023, he's expanded his reach to new destinations – Kaliningrad, Rozvadov, and Cyprus. He achieved his first six-figure finish at Merit in a whopping $15,000 tournament – third place earned him $105,900.
In August 2025, he achieved another breakthrough: first, ninth place in a $25,750 high roller tournament in Cyprus (almost five buy-ins), and then his first career title in an EPT side event, the Mystery Bounty in Barcelona. The victory earned him $376,826. After periodically returning to Sochi for the prize, he reached the Tritons, then the World Series.
Admittedly, the series' glamor has faded somewhat since the days of Peter de Korver, Glen Chorny, and Gavin Griffin, who each earned over two million dollars. But it's still hard to imagine a more satisfying EPT championship debut than Monte Carlo. Incidentally, this seaside town has been a lucky stop for Russian players for the second year in a row. Last year, Alexander Shevlyakov celebrated victory.
Roman Stoica achieved all of this success without any notable online achievements. The 31-year-old live poker reg, who grew up strictly in local tournaments, has proven himself to be more than competitive on the international stage!
His comment on our Telegram channel:
"It's really cool, I'm incredibly happy. This is truly a monumental day in my life, a legendary event. Incidentally, this is the fastest final table in EPT history. It's great that I managed to sort it out so quickly. I had a fantastic run at the final table itself – I was patient for an hour and a half, and then the machine gave up. Everything worked out, all my bluffs worked, and I got the maximum value. I was planning to fly to Triton after Monaco and play a couple of tournaments, but I'm incredibly tired, both emotionally and physically. I need to recover, rest, and accept my new status, so to speak. Thank you all so much!"
Roman started this tournament on Day 1A and progressed quite confidently. 41/111 after the first day, 25/151 after the second, 13/48 after the third, 3/20 after the fourth, and 5/8 in the final table.
Stacks and seating at the final table
- Jose Malpelli (52), France – 2,300,000
A Corsican amateur with virtually no track record. - Bernhard Binder (27), Austria – 7,200,000
A top pro with 13 million in prize money, whose successes we have written about many times. - Roman Stoica (31), Russia/Moldova – 3,200,000
Our hero for the article. - Samuel Ju (42), Germany – 4,000,000
Businessman and venture capitalist. He became interested in poker in mid-2022 and already has $3.8 million in tournament winnings. - Longmao Fan (32), China – 2,475,000
Lives in London, is an engineer with a PhD degree, and is involved in business. - David Djian (31), France – 3,625,000
Another amateur without a rich track record. - Oshri Lahmani (31), Israel – 2,950,000
Experienced professional, live and online player, Omaha specialist. - Raul Mestre (44), Spain – 4,525,000
Founder of EducaPoker. He's been playing for ages, but rarely makes it to the top ranks.
Blinds are 50,000/125,000, BB ante is 125,000.
As usual, this year the EPT was sponsored by PokerStars.
Let's look at the fastest final through the eyes of its winner.
on the button for Roman, who has 23 blinds. It's folded to him.
The commentators aren't sure if this hand is open, but the blinds are filled with vaguely similar Chinese amateurs—it's probably safe to play against them. He makes a minraise.
Longmao Fan defends the SB.
Flop (675,000):
Fan checks. Roman bets 225,000. Fan calls.
Turn (1,125,000):
Check from Fan, and Roman fires the second barrel of 375,000. The commentators rightly point out that Kx is a bit low in Fan's range, so they approve of Roman's bet. Fan reaches for his chips, then folds. He had .
Mestre open-raises from the button, gets three-bet by Binder, goes all-in, and gets snap-called:
Third biggest stack against first! Binder is pleasantly surprised.
River is a blank, and Raul Mestre is eliminated in seventh place.
“Bad news for everyone else,” the commentators say, hinting that the strongest player at the table has the dominant stack at his disposal.
Ju defends his BB and takes three barrels from Binder.
On the river, he thinks for a very long time, sighs heavily, adjusts his glasses, shakes his head, spends one time bank after another, throws up his hands, but still makes a call and doubles up.
on the button. Everyone folds to Roman, who makes a we min-raise. Fan in the BB checks the stack sizes and 3-bets to 750,000. Roman has 2,030,000 behind him and announces all-in. The opponent calls with .
They put it on the table , and the jacks win. Fan has only four blinds remaining.
Fan goes all-in for 775,000 in the hijack. Binder calls in the small blind. Roman's hand in the big blind isn't shown.
Binder holds , his opponent holds suited. The flop comes two diamonds, Fan has a flush draw, but the turn and river don't help him out, and he's eliminated in 6th place.
in the BB for Roman. Binder limps from the small blind. Roman checks.
Flop (450,000):
Check – check.
Turn (450,000):
Check – check.
River (450,000):
Binder bets 225,000. Roman folds with discipline. Binder had .
in the cutoff for Roman., who makes the minraise. Malpelli in the big blind quickly announces all-in for 2,675,000. More than half his stack needs to go into the call, so Roman spends his time bank card. He calls eventually.
A hit on the river, and the Corsican's comeback is over. Four players remain in the game.
Binder limps from the small blind. Roman has , and he checks.
Flop (450,000):
Binder bets 175,000. Roman calls.
Turn (800,000):
Check – check.
River (800,000):
Binder bets 700,000. Roman quickly calls. Binder has so its a chop.
in the small blind for Roman against Ju's short stack. Roman limps. His opponent checks.
Flop (450,000):
Roman bets 150,000 with his lovely hand, but Ju folds. .
from UTG for Roman Stoica, which is definitely good enough for a minraise. Ju, with 12 big blinds, calls on the button. The blinds fold.
On the flop Roman bets 225,000 into a 975,000 pot. Ju misses the flop again and folds .
Binder limps from the small blind. in the BB for Roman. A pretty quick check followed.
The board runs out and it is all checks until the river.
On the river, Binder overbet 675,000 (into a 450,000 pot). Roman quickly called.
Binder had and his trick failed.
Djian min-raises from the cutoff. Roman is in the small blind. is more than enough for a 3-bet to 1,250,000. In response, there is a 4-bet of 2,200,000!
Dynamics: There is a player at the table with a stack of 8 blinds, and Djian's stack is smaller than Roman's.
Roman announces all-in, and Djian's A4o is folded.
Roman Stoica becomes the chip leader.
ATo on the button and Roman minraises (400,000 – a new level). Ju in the small blind goes all-in for 1,250,000. The BB folds, and Roman makes the call. It's AJo.
Despite the flop being promising for Roman...
Ju doubles.
Binder limps. Roman has and raises to 700,000. We get a call.
Flop (1,600,000):
Binder checks. He bets 425,000. Roman lets go.
on the button for Roman. He puts in the minraise. Djian in the BB calls.
Flop (1,100,000):
Djian checks. Roman checks back.
Turn (1,100,000):
Djian bets 225,000. Easy call for Roman.
River (1,550,000):
Djian quickly bets 775,000. Roman thinks for about 10 seconds and makes a great call – his opponent was bluffing with .
"He's so good!" James Hartigan admires.
Binder min-raises from the button. We have 42o in the small blind – fold. Ju has tens in the big blind, moves all-in, and gets called by AQo.
This time, his wife's support doesn't bring him any luck. Samuel Ju is eliminated fourth.
on the button for Roman. He makes the min-raise. Both opponents call.
Flop (1,400,000):
After two checks, Roman bets 450,000. He takes it!
Djian raises to 450,000 from the button. Roman has on the BB, and he calls.
Flop (1,200,000):
Check – check.
Turn (1,200,000):
Check – check.
River (1,200,000):
Roman bets 1,700,000. Djian takes off his glasses and looks at the table with displeasure. He quickly calls with and frowns with great displeasure at the sight of the flush.
Roman's stack becomes larger than the sum of his opponents' stacks.
A7s on the button for Roman, and he makes a minraise. Djian, with a 5,930,000 stack, mulls it over in the small blind and reraises to 1,650,000. Binder in the BB takes an interest in the pot and spends his time bank! He then folds his eights, drawing admiration from the commentators. Roman quickly follows suit and receives his share of compliments:
– This guy is too good!
Djian has .
Binder limps. Roman's has . He raises to 700,000. Call from Binder.
Flop (1,600,000):
Binder checks. Roman bets 450,000. His opponent calls.
Turn (2,500,000):
Binder checks. Having strengthened, Roman continues the attack and makes a big bet – 2,350,000. Binder with sees that he is not ready to pay for it and makes a quick fold.
Djian min-raises from the button. on the BB for Roman and he makes the call.
Flop (1,100,000):
Check – check.
Turn (1,100,000):
Check. Djian bets 475,000 and takes down the pot with .
on the BB for Roman. Binder limps. Roman checks.
Board runs out . The flop and turn both check. On the river, Binder checks, and Roman bets the full pot – 600,000.
Binder folds. .
in the small blind for Roman, who limps, and Djian checks.
Flop (600,000):
Roman checks. Djian bets 250,000. Roman quickly reraises to 900,000. His opponent calls almost instantly!
Turn (2,400,000):
Roman blinks a few times and bets 800,000. A very quick call from the Frenchman.
River:
Roman checks his opponent's stack size, checks his cards and goes all-in.
The opponent calls almost immediately and very decisively.
A lucky two-out early in the final table catapulted David Djian into third place, but heads-up play in this tournament was reserved for players of a completely different caliber. He still needs to work on hitting the fold button...
There was no discussion of any deal, and the game resumed almost immediately.
In the first hand of heads-up, Roman has on the button. He minraises, Binder calls.
Flop (1,000,000):
Binder checks. Roman bets 400,000. He calls.
Turn (1,800,000):
Check – check.
River (1,800,000):
Binder bets 725,000. Roman, after considerable thought, calls and wins. .
on the button, and Roman limps. Binder raises to 800,000. Roman calls.
Flop (1,800,000):
Without further ado, the flop gives a gift to Roman. Binder checks his fist along the edge of the table. Roman shuffles his chips and bets a tiny 350,000. Binder calls.
Turn (2,500,000):
Binder checks again. Roman bets 1,100,000. But Binder tolerates that bet too!
River (4,700,000):
The effective stack is 3,230,000. Binder checks for the last time, and Roman moves all-in.
Binder takes off his glasses, clearly hesitates, and calls. Roman immediately turns over trips—and his opponent can't beat that hand!
Roman Stoica is the EPT champion!
