Vasilis Nikolas secured the first live tournament win of his poker career, emerging from a field of 1,863 entries to lift the King’s Royal Scepter and claim the first-place prize of €123,850, alongside a five-figure haul of bounties.
The 2026 King’s Million European Poker Championship featured eight starting flights for the €1,000 Mystery Bounty, generating a €1,583,550 prize pool, with Nikolas navigating three full days of poker action to secure the title.
With Nikolas’ first recorded live cash coming in 2022, the €1,000 price tag represents the highest buy-in tournament of his poker journey, with today’s payday exceeding his total live earnings to date.
€1,000 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vasilis Nikolas | Sweden | €123,850* |
| 2 | Loris Greco | Italy | €103,000* |
| 3 | Luca Beretta | Italy | €84,770* |
| 4 | Axel Bayout | France | €89,280* |
| 5 | Andrea Marchi | Italy | €41,600 |
| 6 | Leandro Gaone | Belgium | €31,100 |
| 7 | Nik | Romania | €23,600 |
| 8 | Xerxes I | Germany | €17,800 |
| 9 | Emmanouil Chalkiotis | Greece | €13,395 |
*Denotes four-way ICM deal
Winner’s Reaction
“It is my first trophy. It’s been many final tables here, but it’s my first trophy ever. And it’s just the beginning. I have promised it to myself. It’s just the beginning!”
Humble in victory, Nikolas was quick to attribute a portion of his success to the unbounded support he had alongside his tournament run.
“I don’t know where to start. From my Greek friends, from my Swedish friends, from my family. I have big support from my family. And this is very, very, very important to be a poker player. If you have support from the family, you are free to do whatever you want. I have big support from my wife. She trusts me, and today, she knows I deserve this.”
Bounty Action
Day 2 saw the introduction of the Mystery Bounties, with each elimination giving the player responsible for the knockout an opportunity to draw for a prize of unknown value. Each bounty was worth at least €300, but it was the top prize of €150,000 that caught the attention of those fortunate enough to have a spin at the wheel.
Midway through Day 2, it fell to Axel Bayout to break the hearts of the remaining field as he became the recipient of the maximum bounty. With one pull, the French professional nearly matched the first-place prize, guaranteeing himself a hefty payday regardless of where he finished.
However, Bayout wasn’t done there. He converted his big bounty momentum into a deep final-table run, eventually finishing fourth for an additional €89,280, ensuring he had the largest financial gain of the entire tournament.
The only other player to turn their bounty into a five-figure result on Day 2 was Leonidas Georgopoulos, who secured the second-largest prize of €75,000 during the following break. However, Georgopoulos couldn’t replicate Bayout’s run, crashing out in 54th place for €1,970.
Final Day Action
Day 3 saw the return of 24 hopefuls, all with two clear objectives: win the tournament and become the recipient of the final five-figure bounty of €30,000.
The bounty remained unclaimed throughout the day and was still up for grabs deep into the final table, adding another dynamic to the action as players were willing to get their chips in wide for one last shot at the prize.
With the departure of Andrea Marchi in 5th place, the remaining four players elected to make an ICM deal, under the consideration that this one bounty was worth a substantial fraction of the remaining pay jumps.
With the payouts flattened by the deal, the action came thick and fast. Bayout was first to exit as his huge blind-versus-blind bluff was sniffed out by the eventual champion, who correctly hero-called with pocket kings on the ace-high board, besting the bluff of his French tablemate and sending him to the rail.
Shortly after, Luca Beretta lost the last flip of his deep run, falling to Loris Greco and triggering heads-up play.
The Battle Was Over Before it Began
The heads-up match lasted all but two hands; the pocket eights of Greco were in good shape against the ace-king of Nikolas. That was, until a turned ace saw Nikolas’ boisterous rail of friends and family erupt in cheers. With a blank falling on the river, the pair exchanged one last handshake before Nikolas rejoined his animated rail in explosive celebration; the first tournament win of his life.
There was one final twist. In the last bounty pull of the night, Nikolas claimed the remaining €30,000 prize, taking his total haul beyond €150,000 and capping off a tournament he’ll never forget.
