Mike Watson Makes History, Wins Second EPT Main Event Title

Mike Watson, the Canadian poker player who won the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, made history by becoming only one of three players to win two live EPT event titles after winning the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte Carlo Casino.

Coming from the Dead

Watson won the 2023 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event title against a pool of 1,098, bagging €749,425 ($824,368) out of the total prize pool of €5,325,300, but his path to the top was not straightforward after he was on the brink of elimination during Day 4 when he drew on his luck to hit a two outer.

Speaking to PokerStars reporters after the event, Watson outlined how happy he feels with his accomplishment, adamant that he would continue with his efforts to build on this huge result.

Winning two main events on the same tour is a really hard thing to do,” he said, considering this achievement as being “definitely right up there, maybe the biggest accomplishment” of his poker career and feeling “really happy with that.”

In the 2016 PokerStars PCA Main Event Watson beat a pool of 928 entrants to collect $728,325 of the prize pool and the EPT title. The Canadian poker player also has a World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event bracelet from the 2008 WPT Bellagio Cup which boosted his bank by nearly $1.7 million.

Watson’s win now placed him next to the likes of Vicky Coren-Mitchell, who was the first to win two live EPT titles in 2014, and Mikalai Pobai, who joined the two-time live EPT champions club in 2019. And he believes that the second EPT title is “a little extra special.”

A similar accomplishment was also achieved by Sweden’s “WhatIfGod” online after winning two consecutive EPT Online Main Events in 2020 and 2021.

Big Stack on the Final Table

Watson’s path to the title was not a straightforward one as he had to draw on luck and beat very unfavorable odds against him to avoid elimination during Day 6 of the Main Event. But from then on, he picked up speed and entered the final table with a big stack and second on chips.

I was lucky, obviously, to have a big stack for much of the final table and was able to leverage that to a good extent to help build a stack and just, you know, had some hands and big pots going my way as well.

Mike Watson

Once the final table was reduced to only two players, Watson and his opponent, the German Leonard Maue, struck a deal according to their current chip count and left around $36,000 to play for, besides the title.

Throughout the event, Watson had his wife and fellow Canadian Sam Greenwood supporting him from the rail. Greenwood and his wife were also present during his previous EPT success in 2016.