Ottomar Ladva Rubberstamps Recent Rise with Super High Roller Win

Big names missed out on the money, while a chess champion claimed glory in Paris last night, as the Estonian Grandmaster Ottomar Ladva took down the €100,000-entry Super High Roller event at the PokerStars European Poker Tour stop in Paris. The French capital played host to a dramatic tournament as Punnat Punsri, Teun Mulder and Jean-Noel Thorel all made money while others missed out on the money.

Who is Ottomar Ladva?

Ottomar Ladva is one of the hottest talents in poker. A four-time Estonian Chess Champion between 2013 and 2018, Ladva’s recent exploits have seen him make the switch to poker. Becoming a Grandmaster in chess in 2015 at a round-robin tournament in Riga, Ladva started cashing in poker tournaments back in 2018, but soon started travelling to broaden his poker learning, while simultaneously representing Estonia in the Chess Olympiads.

While his first three results were fairly modest and in his own country, Ladva’s win in Tallinn on the MPN Poker Tour in only his second ever cash was an outright win. Taking the title and $15,295 up top, that early result inspired another win just three cashes and seven months later. In Barcelona, on the European Poker Tour, Ladva won the €550-entry EPT Cup, and a top prize of $248,168.

Barcelona was to become a happy hunting ground for the Estonian as he continued to win in the Catalan former City of Culture. One of his biggest ever wins and a signature result in his story was the $486,196 he bagged in the city in 2024, when he won a €25,000 EPT Super High Roller event for another ‘Spadie’ trophy.

Domination in 2026?

Back in action right at the top of the year, Ladva has already won his two biggest-ever prizes in poker. At the Onyx High Roller Series in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus, he took down the $25,000 NLHE Main Event for a top score of $1.15 million. The event had over 200 entries and what a field, with stars such as Daniel Rezaei, Jessica Teusl and Joni Jouhkimainen all making the money.

The final table saw Poker Hall of Famer Patrik Antonius make the last nine, but the Finnish player bowed out in fifth place for $270,000. Another top talent, Belarussian Mikalai Vaskaboinikau finished third for $490,000, but missed out on the heads-up match, which saw Aussie Geoffrey Mooney meet Ladva in a clash for the ages.

It was Ladva who reigned in Kyrenia, winning the final duel for a score of $1,150,000, with Mooney claiming $717,000 as runner-up. That was in early February, but there was no expensive holiday, no taking time off. Ladva travelled to France and was about to win his second seven-figure top prize.

Back on the EPT Trail

Ladva clearly loves European Poker Tour events and arriving back in Paris, he was straight into the action. Taking on the €100,000-entry Super High roller event, he was one of 17 original entries, with seven of those players re-entering to create a $2.66 million prizepool.

With four players cashing, some big names had to miss out and they very much did, with Daniel Dvoress, so strong the other day in the French capital, sliding out in ninth place. A final table of eight contained players such as Aleks Ponakovs, Alex Kulev, Orpen Kisacikoglu and Kayhan Mokri, but all of those luminaries lost their stack without making profit Mokri most painfully in fifth place.

Into the top four, there was only one home country hero left and Jen-Noel Thorel was that man. Sadly for him and other French fans, he busted in fourth place for $319,045. Third place went to Teun Mulder as the talented Dutchman added another feather to his cap with a score of $478,450.

Heads-up, Ladva had enough to see off the challenge of Thailand’s Punnat Punsri, who won $717,675 as runner-up and that gave him a win worth $1.14m, almost the same amount that he won in Cyprus earlier this month. This latest poker win elevates Ladva from 420^th in The Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List to the top 320 players in the world, with his inexorable rise looking certain to take him close to the top 100 in the next few years.

Lead photograph by award-winning photographer Danny Maxwell for PokerStars, the home of the EPT Paris festival.