Hungarian poker player won a fortune in Paris

A Hungarian poker player has won over half a million euros in a major poker tournament in Paris.

He beat professional poker players from all over the world to become champion of the PokerStars Open Main Event at the prestigious European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris. 

Patrik Demus defeated a huge field of 2,992 entries to win the coveted Pokerstars Open Main Event title and the massive €551,090 first prize, the second-largest first prize since the PokerStars Open tour’s started last year, only beaten by the €772,000 won by Alexis Nicolai in Barcelona. 

“I didn’t expect it, I’m very happy,” Demus said when posing for the winner’s photos. His first live cash came 13 years ago, but he’s only played sporadically since then, preferring to play mostly online. He won two six-figure prizes last year, but neither have been as big as his PokerStars Open payday at the Palais des Congrès in the heart of Paris.

In the final showdown, Patrik beat France’s Enzo Nicholas who earned €346,090 for second place, with Italian player Lulei Hu winning €247,310 for third.