Aleksandr Shevliakov has taken down the €5,300 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event for €1,000,000 after brushing off criticism over an angle shooting controversy.
The Russian came out on top of the 1,195-player field after defeating Ukrainian opponent, Khossein Kokhestani, heads-up, in what was naturally a tense affair.
Incredibly, his victory marks the first EPT win by a Russian outside of Russia since the event in San Remo back in 2011.
Both Shevliakov and Kokhestani are amateur players, which is great to see as a reminder that the poker dream is still alive. Put in some work and one of these titles could be yours.
Shevliakov is a 37-year-old IT professional who claims to treat poker like a hobby. But now his bankroll has been boosted significantly, he has one eye on some other titles, too.
“I don’t know. Maybe I will play some high roller tournaments, but I don’t think it will change. WSOP will be great as well, Triton too, but let’s start with this.”
He actually already has a second place finish in a high roller event from 2023 in Paris and made it to the final table stage in Barcelona later that year.
Action Recap
There’s no doubt that Shevliakov’s victory will continue to create debate following a thankfully rare incident where angle shooting accusations were being fired at the Russian.
Jamil Wakil, from Canada, was the victim of the unfortunate incident and busted out in sixth place for €199,750.
Firstly, to be clear, there is no evidence whatsoever that Aleksandr Shevliakov did anything wrong here.
The hand in question began with Wakil raising with Q♦ J♦ from UTG to 270,000. The blinds were 60,000/120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante.
The action folded around to Shevliakov in the small blind who pushed out 350,000.
This is an illegal raise size given that Wakil has already raised to 270,000. The floor was called over to make a ruling and Shevliakov was forced to put in a raise of 420,000 which is the minimum three-bet size according to the rules.
Wakil sensed weakness in his opponent’s actions and so decided to leverage the fact he was raising from UTG at a six-handed table by jamming his remaining 3,895,000 chips.
Shevliakov snap-called and flipped over A♥ K♥ leaving onlookers stunned at what had just transpired. Could this have been a deliberate ploy to induce a jam from UTG with a weak hand? Many people think so, although let’s remember that in poker people do have a tendency to be cynical.
Wakil was stunned and glared across the table at the Russian as the board ran out 10♣ 7♠ 3♣ 6♣ K♠ to give Shevliakov top pair and send Wakil to the rail.
Shevliakov was apologetic after the event, telling a reporter:
“Just check the broadcast. Because I open-raised from the small blind, and then I realised that Jamil had open-raised it. So it wasn’t an angle shoot or anything like that. I’m very sad for Jamil, but it is what it is. It’s my mistake, but he’s a victim. I’m very sorry.”
But Wakil thought otherwise, saying that Shevliakov had actually pulled off the same trick before.
A strange hand…
It's good game to Jamil Wakil. He's out in sixth place, good for €199,750.
👉https://t.co/SB357usSaR or https://t.co/ZarB0RN21O#EPTMonteCarlo pic.twitter.com/Z4XYmpZkJu
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) May 10, 2025
The stacks were almost equal when heads-up play began with both players sitting with more than 75 big blinds.
This looked like it could be a long, drawn-out battle and we think the fans got the show that they deserved with the lead switching back and forth plenty of times.
There were plenty of interesting hands, including Shevliakov laying down a king-high flush on a double-paired board to relinquish the chip lead.
But Shevliakov got his revenge after getting paid with two pair when Kokhestani called him down with pocket threes.
We then had the unusual treat of seeing two hands with full house over full house. Kokhestani won the first but came a cropper on the second.
Shevaliakov had the best hand and got paid handsomely when Kokhestani obliged with calling a river bet of 4,500,000.
The very next hand it was all over. Kokhestani limp-called with ace-six and Shevliakov called it off with king-deuce. A deuce on the flop was enough to seize the title
2025 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Earnings |
| 1 | Aleksandr Shevliakov | Russia | €1,000,000 |
| 2 | Khossein Kokhestani | Ukraine | €615,000 |
| 3 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | €439,200 |
| 4 | Enrico Coppola | Italy | €337,900 |
| 5 | Mariusz Golinski | Poland | €259,900 |
| 6 | Jamil Wakil | Canada | €199,750 |
| 7 | Miguel Capriles | Venezuela | €153,600 |
| 8 | Leon Zeaiter | Germany | €118,150 |
- See the best poker promotions
- View the latest poker news
- Get the best No Deposit Poker Bonuses
- Benefit from the biggest poker bonus
- Calculate your rakeback with the rakeback calculator
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org.
