PokerStars Open Aix-en-Provence: Christopher Marcadet Wins the €1,100 Main Event for €130,000 From 859 Entries

When we last checked in on the PokerStars Open Aix-en-Provence main event, Vincent De Luca had the chips and the room was still full of possibilities. Four days of play later, the trophy belongs to someone few people were watching at the start of the week. Christopher Marcadet, a French player who now lives in Budapest, came home to Provence and left with €130,000 and the title. He beat Switzerland’s John Rezzonico heads-up on Sunday, November 8.

It’s the biggest live score of Marcadet’s career by a distance, and it closes out the first-ever PokerStars Open in Aix-en-Provence. Here’s the full final table, the numbers behind the 859-entry field, and where you can play the next PSO Main Event.

Who Is Christopher Marcadet?

If you don’t know the name, that’s because Marcadet does most of his playing online. According to Card Player, his previous best live result was second place in a $600 event at The Venetian in Las Vegas in 2022, worth $36,790. This week’s €130,000 (about $145,700) is almost four times that. It takes his recorded live earnings close to $350,000.

He also earned 912 Card Player Player of the Year points, his first POY-qualifying score of 2026. That was enough to lift him into the top 1,000 of the standings in a single weekend.

Speaking to PokerStars after the win, Marcadet admitted he was still struggling to take it in. He called the trophy a real milestone and praised the organisation and the structure. He also promised to come back to defend his title in Aix and to play more PokerStars Opens.

That point about structure is worth a closer look. Online regulars often find live €1,000-level events frustrating because the blinds rise too fast. The late stages then turn into an all-in-or-fold lottery. When a mostly-online player says the structure was good, it usually means there was enough play late in the tournament for skill to matter. For anyone weighing up a trip to a PSO stop, that’s a better endorsement than any marketing copy.

Final Table Results: PokerStars Open Aix-en-Provence Main Event 2026

#	Player	Country	Prize
1	Christopher Marcadet	France	€130,000
2	John Rezzonico	Switzerland	€87,000
3	Jordan Ayasse	France	€62,000
4	Dinh Nguyen	Vietnam	€45,500
5	Omar Lakhdari	Algeria	€34,000
6	Krzysztof Zapolski	Poland	€26,000
7	Laurent Lebar	France	€20,340
8	Arno Peronnet	France	€16,200
9	Chenxiang Miao	China	€13,000

Source: PokerNews and Card Player final table reports. One report gives fourth place as €45,000 in its text and €45,500 in its table.

How the Final Table Played Out

There’s little detailed reporting on individual hands from the final day, but the overall picture is clear. Jordan Ayasse, one of four French players at the final table, went out in third for €62,000. That left Marcadet and Rezzonico to play for the trophy.

The interesting part is what didn’t happen. With €43,000 separating first from second, a deal looked like the obvious move on paper. Plenty of heads-up battles at this level end with the players splitting the money. Instead, both players chose to play it out. For Rezzonico, €87,000 is still a superb result. For Marcadet, refusing to settle and then winning turned a good week into the best result of his career.

A few other names on that final table deserve a mention:

• Omar Lakhdari (5th, €34,000) arrived in excellent form, having recently won two WSOP Circuit rings in Paris.
• Dinh Nguyen (4th) banked his second five-figure score, following a €50,800 win in December 2023.
• Chenxiang Miao (9th) had the strongest record at the table, with more than $2 million in live tournament earnings. Even with that record, he couldn’t get past ninth, which shows how unforgiving a nine-handed final table can be.

And Vincent De Luca? Our earlier leader didn’t make the final nine. That’s the reality of early chip leads in a four-day event: they give you options, not guarantees.

The Numbers: 859 Entries and the €1 Million Question

Before the festival, the big question was whether a first-time stop could fill a €1,000,000 guarantee. It didn’t. Each €1,100 entry put €960 into the prize pool, so 859 entries make exactly €824,640, which is the figure reported after the event. That is about €175,000 short of the advertised amount. The published reports don’t say how the guarantee was settled. If that detail matters to you, check the official results on PokerStars LIVE.

Here’s how the Aix field compares with other recent Main Events:

Event	Buy-in	Entries	Prize pool
PSO Aix-en-Provence 2026	€1,100	859	€824,640
PSO Málaga 2026	€1,100	1,753	€1,682,880
PSO Campione 2026	€1,100	1,582	€1,518,720
PSO Namur 2026	€1,100	1,572	€1,491,828
PSO Cannes 2025	€1,100	1,202	€1,153,920
PSO Philadelphia 2026	$1,100	896	$860,160
WSOP Circuit Aix-en-Provence 2026 (same venue, April)	€1,500	783	€1,014,768

Entries include re-entries.

Put simply, Aix drew about half the field of the biggest PSO Main Events this year, about the same as Philadelphia. That isn’t a disaster for a debut. Pasino Grand already has a busy calendar, including the WSOP Circuit, the France Poker Series and Winamax events. Local players have plenty of chances to play a €1,000-plus tournament there, so a new brand has to earn its place.

For players, a smaller field has real upsides. Here’s how the prize money was split:

• 15% of the field cashed (129 of 859), which is standard for European festivals.
• First place took about 15.8% of the prize pool.
• The final nine shared roughly 52–53% of the money, so more than half of it went to the final table.
• Marcadet’s return: about 118 times his €1,100 buy-in.

That last point is the practical takeaway. In a 1,700-player field like Málaga, you have to outlast twice as many people for a bigger first prize. In an 859-entry event, your chances of reaching the final table are much better, and that’s where most of the money is. If you’re a recreational player choosing which €1,100 events to play, mid-sized fields like this often offer the best balance of prize size and realistic odds.

What’s Next: PSO Prague, Then Campione 2027

The PokerStars Open calendar doesn’t pause for long.

PokerStars Open Prague: December 2–7, 2026

The last PSO Main Event of the year runs as part of the EPT Prague festival, with a €1,650 buy-in. Expect a much bigger field than Aix. Last year’s edition drew 3,024 entries and a €4,354,560 prize pool. Bulgaria’s Yulian Bogdanov took the title after a three-way deal.

PokerStars Open Campione: January 8–17, 2027

The 2027 season opens at Casinò di Campione in Italy, on the shores of Lake Lugano. This will be the third PSO at the venue, and Campione has been the tour’s biggest success so far. The 2025 debut pulled 2,423 entries and a €2.33 million prize pool. The 2026 edition drew 1,582 entries for €1.52 million.

The key change for 2027 is price: the Main Event buy-in rises from €1,100 to €1,250. If attendance holds up, prize pools will grow. If you’re budgeting, though, allow for the extra €150. Look out for online satellites on PokerStars, which have usually been the cheapest way into PSO Main Events. The full schedule was still being finalised at the time of writing.

Final Thoughts

The first PokerStars Open in Aix-en-Provence didn’t hit its €1 million guarantee. It did produce exactly the kind of story the PSO brand was built for. A mostly-online player travelled home, played out heads-up without a deal and walked away with a life-changing score. Marcadet has already said he’ll be back to defend his title. On this evidence, plenty of others will want to join him.

FAQs