The European Mixed Poker Championship is coming to town!
A massive treat is in store for poker players in just ten days when the European Mixed Poker Championship (EMPC)...
The European Mixed Poker Championship 2025 kicked off in style at JP Poker, with a familiar face taking down the first trophy of the week. Norwegian mixed-game specialist and EMPC co-founder Tobias Leknes outlasted a 47-entry field in the €300 Welcomer Big Bet Mix, pocketing €4,207 and making sure the festival started with a bang.
Leknes, who helped design the event structures himself, couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of winning his own creation.
“I’m just very lucky,” he said.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing on his way to victory.
“I was short at times. I had people bluffing me left and right, but I just started making hands. And when you make a lot of good hands and you play a little bit aggro, you often get paid, and then it turned out for me very well.”
A long-time advocate for mixed games, Leknes reminded players that formats like Big Bet Mix deserve more attention.
“First of all, they should get my BBZ course, of course,” he laughed. “But I just truly enjoy mixed games. I think more people should get their eyes out for these games because they’re truly fun, and I think Big Bet Mix is an underestimated part of the mix — playing a lot of different variants where you can battle often. I like this format.”
The final table was a tense one, with deep stacks and even chip counts keeping everyone cautious until the final flips went Leknes’ way.
“Yeah, it was pretty cagey on the final table,” he said. “We started on a bubble and then there’s pay jumps so people were pretty even in stacks for a long, long time. That’s just how it is. And then at the end, I just kept winning the flips and then it was all over in a hurry.”
Asked if he planned to win again this week, he grinned.
“Absolutely. I’m not gonna win any more tournaments,” he said.
Few around JP Poker are convinced.
Final Results – Event #1: Welcomer Big Bet Mix (€300 buy-in, 47 entries)
1️⃣ Tobias Leknes – €4,207
2️⃣ John D Parke – €2,800
3️⃣ Thor Morstol – €1,825
4️⃣ Benjamin Sweetman – €1,400
5️⃣ Nicolas Bokowski – €1,095
6️⃣ Dinish Khatti – €855
