Dutchman Derk van Luijk has won the 2024 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event after defeating a field of 1,208 entries.
The 43-year-old is a relative newcomer to the tournament scene, appearing to have been playing consistently since only 2022.
But it hasn’t taken him long to get to grips with playing against some of the best in the business.
This amazing victory comes in the largest ever field in an EPT Monte Carlo and is Van Luijk’s second in his career. Incredibly, that win came in a €2,100 EPT tournament and was only his sixth ever cash.
Not bad for a man who claims to only be a “semi-pro”.
Speaking to the media after his win, Van Luijk said:
“That’s an amazing feeling. I cannot even realize still that I’ve won. It feels like I’m spacing right now. You don’t realize it yet, but it’s an amazing feeling.”
“I was very relaxed during my play. I was trying to have a good time, so I was really enjoying my play. I wasn’t really worried about busting.
“I got down to 10 big blinds, and that’s enough to spin it back up. I wasn’t really worried or anything like that. I was more trying to enjoy the ride that I was in.”
Derk van Luijk Takes Down the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event
There were only seven players remaining as the field returned to the playing hall for the final day of action.
Van Luijk had a shorter stack than five of his rivals. Bulgaria’s Boris Angelov was the man running away with it with Rania Nasreddine chasing hard.
Online qualifier Jonathan Guedes was the first to head to the rail. The Brazilian thought his luck was in after flopping a set of jacks but Angelov’s nut straight saw him scoop the pot.
Then quickly the rest started to fall by the wayside.
Rania Nasreddine, a lawyer from Tulsa, Oklahoma, only jumped into the fray as she was preparing to leave Europe following a holiday. By the time of the first break she was leading the way.
But it was the champion in-waiting that ended her great run after hitting a miracle river to draw a better two pair. The next hand Nasreddine was heading to the rail.
The heads-up battle looked like it might be a short affair with Van Luijk leading Angelov by more than 2-1 in chips.
But the Bulgarian wasn’t to be dissuaded from coming out firing, and before long he had overtaken his Dutch rival.
The battle was intense with neither player willing to give way in a series of hard-fought pots. But finally, after six hours of heads-up play, Van Luijk found the opening he needed to wrap it all up.
Angelov jammed his king-seven only to see Van Luijk snap-call with ace-queen. A queen came on the flop and that was all she wrote.
The Bulgarian must have been emotional after such a great battle where he seemingly had Van Luijk on the ropes. But that’s poker!
2024 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Derk van Luijk | Netherlands | €1,000,000 |
| 2 | Boris Angelov | Bulgaria | €620,500 |
| 3 | Rania Nasreddine | United States | €442,900 |
| 4 | Jovan Kenjic | Serbia | €340,500 |
| 5 | Jonathan Pastore | France | €261,700 |
| 6 | Niclas Thumm | Germany | €201,000 |
| 7 | Jonathan Guedes | Brazil | €154,900 |
| 8 | Jozef Cibicek | Slovakia | €119,000 |
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