Jessica Teusl Dreaming of Paris Glory After Dramatic Day 3 of EPT Main Event
The Austrian PokerStake player Jessica Teusl has finished Day 3 of the EPT Paris Main Event fourth in chips after just 49 players remained from a starting field of 1,474 in the French capital. Locking horns with poker greats such as Felix Schneiders, Ricardo Alves and Pawel Wojciechowski at the top of the counts, can Jessica win big and give PokerStake investors one of their biggest wins yet?
Jessica’s Path to Day 4
With a bumper field of 1,474 total entries, the first bullet Jessica fired went less than ideally, as she busted on Day 1a. That’s the exact reason why many players on PokerStake make the sensible choice to sell more than one bullet to events when they see that they have an edge and Jessica did exactly that, returning the next day to take on Day 1b.
The second bullet went a lot better than the first, as Jessica ended Day 1b in 99th place with a healthy stack of 93,500 chips. Moving on to Day 2, Jessica survived the day but only ended on 126,000 chips, putting herself 132nd of the 179 survivors who made it through one of the quickest money bubbles in EPT history. Both Carlos Ribeiro and Daniel Custodio busted at the same time with the field two places from the money.
No bubble drama for Jessica, then, but on Day 3, she was front and center of the action. Earlier in the day, Jessica Teusl correctly snap-called with pocket jacks. Later on, she had an ace against two kings and might have been in trouble against the Day 1a chip leader Thomas Cazayous. But an ace landed on the flop and Jessica knocked Cazayous out of the event for a valuable scalp. Ending the day fourth in chips on 1.87 million, Jessica is on course to become the fourth woman ever to win a European Poker Tour Main Event, and the first female player to do so since 2014.
Who Else is Flying High in the EPT Main Event?
With just 49 players remaining, who are Jessica’s biggest threats? The chip leader is the Portuguese player Jorge Abreu but his stack of 2.25 million is not so far away that Jessica can’t reasonably attempt to overtake him as soon as is possible. Between them sit a Polish professional in Pawel Wojciechowski (2.18m) and France’s best hope, Hugo De La Fouchardiere, who has 2.04 million chips.
Elsewhere in the top ten, Felix Schneiders will hope to use all his experience to stop everyone in their tracks. His stack of 1.72m is the closest behind Jessica’s, while up and coming British player Daniel Moran (1.68m), Portuguese talent Ricardo Alves (1.5m) and home hope Julien Mariani (1.4m) will all have designs on the title.
Of the chasing pack outside the top ten, Finnish pro Casimir Seire (1.22m), Japanese player Tsugunari Toma (1.11m) and American high stakes cash legend Alex Keating (1.02m) all sit inside the top 20 and with genuine ambitions of taking away the top prize of €1,148,600 ($1.35m) by the end of the weekend.
Could Jessica Win Her Biggest Event Yet?
Jessica Teusl has enjoyed a superb career so far, sharing much of her success with PokerStake investors along the way. With over $1.4m in winnings, her biggest result to date is the $200,000 she banked back in August last year when she came 14th in an Onyx High Roller Series $100,000 event for double her money.
The win worth $166,975 was by far more satisfying for her, however, coming as it did in the 2022 WSOP, giving Jessica her first-ever bracelet and the title of Ladies Event winner. In the same year, Jessica came 8th in the Monster Stack event for a score of $120,455, meaning she topped $287,000 in winnings for two entries that cost her $2,500 to play in total.
Often playing in her native Austria, Jessica has six ranking event wins on her Hendon Mob page. Winning the EPT Main Event would be life-changing, however, and it would also leave her with a unique challenge – to win a World Poker Tour event. Should she do so after conquering France this week, Jessica Teusl would become the first female Triple Crown (WSOP, WPT & EPT) winner in poker history.
| European Poker Tour 2026 EPT Paris €5,300 Main Event Day 3 Chipcounts: | |||
| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Jorge Abreu | Portugal | 2,250,000 |
| 2nd | Pawel Wojciechowski | Poland | 2,180,000 |
| 3rd | Hugo De La Fouchardiere | France | 2,040,000 |
| 4th | Jessica Teusl | Austria | 1,875,000 |
| 5th | Felix Schneiders | Germany | 1,725,000 |
| 6th | Daniel Moran | United Kingdom | 1,685,000 |
| 7th | Lyudmil Ivanov | Bulgaria | 1,555,000 |
| 8th | Ricardo Alves | Portugal | 1,500,000 |
| 9th | Zdenek Zizka | Czech Republic | 1,455,000 |
| 10th | Julien Mariani | France | 1,400,000 |
Photography by Manuel Kovscar for PokerStars, the home of the European Poker Tour.