WSOP Circuit Madrid 2026: Pierre Calamusa Wins the €2,500 High Roller as Spain’s First Circuit Main Event Takes Shape

For the first time, the World Series of Poker Circuit has come to Spain. Casino Gran Vía in central Madrid is hosting more than 50 tournaments from October 23 to November 2, with 11 WSOP Circuit rings up for grabs. Those rings are the Circuit’s version of the famous bracelet.

Six ring events have now been completed. The latest went to one of the most decorated French players on the European circuit. Here’s how the High Roller played out, what the numbers tell us, and where the Main Event stands heading into the weekend.

Event #6: €2,500 High Roller Results

The High Roller drew 143 entries, building a €302,445 prize pool. Twenty-two players made the money, and 14 came back for the final day on Thursday.

Pierre Calamusa worked his way through the field to reach heads-up against Michael Liguccioni of Italy. He closed it out to claim:

• €77,000 in prize money
• His first WSOP Circuit ring
• A $5,000 package for the upcoming WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas

Full payouts: Event #6, €2,500 High Roller

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Pierre Calamusa	France	€77,000
2	Michael Liguccioni	Italy	€49,400
3	Aliaksandr Shylko	Belarus	€32,900
4	Norberto Lopez Rodriguez	Spain	€22,700
5	Arnaud Mattern	France	€16,300
6	Jose Aguilera	Spain	€12,100
7	Daniel Heredi	Hungary	€9,400
8	Serafim Kovalevskiy	Russia	€7,600
9	Alejandro Vazquez	USA	€6,445
10	Filip Milovanovic	Serbia	€5,750
11	Raul Martinez Gallego	Spain	€5,750
12	Abel Aspas Gongora	Spain	€5,350
13	Alfredo Zingales	Italy	€5,350
14	Steve Enriquez Gallo	Spain	€5,350
15	Maximiliano Vaccaluzzo	Argentina	€5,350
16	Vasileios Panagiotidis	Greece	€5,100
17	Andrija Cvetkovic	Serbia	€5,100
18	Nicola Spallanzani	Italy	€5,100
19	Mahersh Selvakumaran	Netherlands	€5,100
20	David Sacksick	France	€5,100
21	Reinaldo Pinedo	Venezuela	€5,100
22	Mauricio Madrigal Rivas	Costa Rica	€5,100

By the Numbers: What the High Roller Tells Us

• The winner turned €2,500 into €77,000, about 31 times the buy-in, plus the WSOP Paradise package.
• The top three shared 52% of the prize pool (€159,300 of €302,445).
• The min-cash of €5,100 was just over double the buy-in. Everyone who reached the money at least doubled their investment.
• About 15% of the field got paid (22 of 143), which is standard for Circuit events.
• About 85% of buy-ins went into the prize pool. 143 entries at €2,500 total €357,500, against a €302,445 prize pool.
• It was a genuinely international field. The 22 cashers came from 13 countries. Spain led with five, followed by France and Italy with three each.
• France took two of the top five spots, with Calamusa winning and Arnaud Mattern, another well-known French pro, finishing fifth.

Why the WSOP Paradise package matters: WSOP Paradise runs December 2–17 at Baha Mar in the Bahamas, with 20 bracelet events and $120 million in guarantees, including a $25,000 Super Main Event with a $50 million guarantee. A $5,000 package doesn’t cover that buy-in alone, but it’s a valuable start toward one of the richest festivals of the year.

The €1,500 Main Event: Spain’s First WSOP Circuit Main Event

While the High Roller wrapped up, the Main Event was building momentum. Whoever wins on November 1 will be the first WSOP Circuit Main Event champion ever crowned in Spain.

Flight-by-flight results so far:

Flight	Entries	Advanced	Survival rate
Day 1A	152	23	15.1%
Day 1B	248	38	15.3%
Total	400	61	15.3%

Day 1B drew 63% more entries than Day 1A, a common pattern as a festival builds and more international players arrive. With two flights still to come today, total entries will clearly pass 400, and the gross buy-ins already total €600,000.

Main Event top 10 after Day 1A and 1B

Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1	Ricardo Hernandez Montalvo	Spain	1,200,000
2	Andoni Larrabe Sanchez	Spain	764,000
3	Cesar Montanes Alonso	Spain	728,000
4	Youssef Aboussaad	Morocco	677,000
5	Jhonatan Felix Herrera	Dominican Republic	642,000
6	Borja Camara	Spain	628,000
7	Daniel Heredi	Hungary	625,000
8	Songming Chen	China	605,000
9	Luca Bernardi	Italy	563,000
10	Antonio Costa Alfaia	Portugal	552,000

What stands out:

• Hernandez Montalvo has a huge lead. His 1.2 million chips are 57% more than second place, a very comfortable cushion for Day 2.
• Home players are strong. Spain has 27 of the 61 survivors (44%), including the top three and four of the top six.
• The field is very international. The 61 survivors represent 24 countries, with Hungary (four players), Norway and France (three each) the biggest groups after Spain.

Players to Watch: The High Roller Crossover

Three High Roller cashers are also still alive in the Main Event:

• Daniel Heredi (Hungary) finished seventh in the High Roller for €9,400 and sits seventh in the Main Event with 625,000. He’s arguably the form player of the festival.
• Andrija Cvetkovic (Serbia) cashed 17th in the High Roller and is 23rd in the Main Event with 340,000.
• Michael Liguccioni (Italy), the High Roller runner-up, survived Day 1 but is among the shorter stacks with 67,000. He’ll need an early double-up on Day 2.

Main Event Schedule: What’s Next

Day	Date	Start time (CET)	Notes
Day 1C	Friday, October 30	12:30 p.m.	40-minute levels
Day 1D	Friday, October 30	8:00 p.m.	Faster 20-minute levels
Day 2	Saturday, October 31	TBA	All flights combine
Final Day	Sunday, November 1	TBA	Ring awarded

Choosing between Day 1C and 1D: Day 1C’s 40-minute levels reward patient, post-flop play. Day 1D’s 20-minute levels are much faster, which suits players who’ve already busted an earlier flight or who prefer shorter-stack poker. Expect more all-ins and more variance in Day 1D.

Other events still to come: The €300 Colossus runs to November 2, and the late schedule includes the €1,000 Deepstack, a €550 Pot-Limit Omaha ring event, the €400 Superstack and the €350 Bigstack.

Why WSOP Circuit Madrid Matters

Spain has one of Europe’s busiest live poker scenes, and Madrid already hosts major events like the Estrellas Poker Tour and EPT-level tournaments elsewhere in the country. The WSOP Circuit’s arrival adds a globally recognized brand and, importantly, rings that count toward the WSOP’s Circuit rankings.

The early numbers suggest the gamble is paying off: a 143-entry High Roller at €2,500 and a 400-entry Main Event after just two flights is a strong debut for a brand-new stop.

If you’re following the European tournament scene this autumn, see our coverage of the Malta Poker Festival Autumn 2026, which is running at the same time. For more on WSOP Paradise, check our guide to the 2026 Global Poker Awards at WSOP Paradise.

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