Sports Editor
Andre Winkler won the €2,000 EPC Masters at King’s Resort in Rozvadov on Tuesday, October 6, taking the title at the first-ever King’s Million European Championship. He outlasted a 346-entry field and collected €99,600 after a heads-up deal with Marco Giordano, along with one of only ten King’s Royal Scepter trophies in existence, according to PokerNews.
The deal meant the winner did not receive the largest payout: Giordano took €118,400, while the final table split a €602,040 prize pool. Winkler’s result adds another major stop to a rapid breakthrough year at the same venue where he had already scored big in 2026.
A breakout year at King’s Resort
PokerNews describes Winkler as a recreational player. In May, he won a WSOP Ring, his first recorded live victory on The Hendon Mob; in July, he topped a field of several thousand in a €590 buy-in tournament at King’s Resort for more than €420,000.
That earlier win came at the same Rozvadov venue as the EPC Masters. Winkler said he had only really started playing live poker about two and a half years earlier, after playing online before 2024 and deciding he preferred the live game. His 2026 run offers a player-focused counterpoint to the scale of other European championship stops, including the WSOP Europe Main Event’s move to Prague.
From eight big blinds to the Royal Scepter
Winkler began Day 2 among the bigger stacks, one of 69 players returning, and made the 52 paid places. But with 13 left, he was down to eight big blinds and all in with king-three against MajikMike’s pocket eights; a king on the board kept him alive.
He reached the final table with 22 big blinds and initially stayed patient as the field narrowed. Four-handed, he called Pasquale Casella’s bluff with a low pair, then benefited when Casella lost the rest of his chips soon afterward. Casella finished fourth, behind third-place Tobias Peters, while MajikMike and Fatih Sen took fifth and sixth.
Giordano held a two-to-one advantage when heads-up play began, but Winkler doubled and took the lead. The tournament report said the final hand saw Giordano move in with king-four against Winkler’s queen-ten; Winkler paired on the flop and made a flush on the river to secure the trophy after a 12-hour day.
More live events on the schedule
Winkler said his previous European Poker Masters win had encouraged him to play more events than planned. He had originally aimed for about 50 tournaments in 2026, but expected to finish nearer 100, spending his time at casinos around the world and using online poker mainly to qualify for live events.
That growing schedule has already delivered two standout results at King’s Resort, including the July score and now a title with a coveted trophy attached. It is a compelling breakout-year run, and one that puts Winkler among the emerging live winners to watch, alongside players such as WPT Australia champion Thompson.
