10 Gold Power Path winners creating 10 EPT Paris stories

February 22, 2024

Poker

by Howard Swains

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4 Minute Read

Ten players cashed in their Gold Power Path passes to play the EPT Main Event in Paris this week. Here’s where you can track their progress and get to know a little bit more about some of them.

PLAYING DAY 2

Noa Chan, France

Began Day 2 with 261,000 chips

Chan is the French bartender and musician who told Victor Saumont, of PokerStars Blog, that his main aim from the EPT Main Event is to learn from the best and improve his game.

“The goal will be to take advantage of the opportunity, to learn from this type of event and, why not, if I run well also get to Day 2,” Chan said.

Chan has already done much more than that. Having played Day 1B of the Main Event, he bagged 261,000 chips, an eight-fold increase on the 30,000 starting stack. He sat in 12th place overall heading into Day 2.

Before play started, he was last seen posing behind a bar for the PokerStars TV crew. Look out for that video soon, but in the meantime read an interview from the eve of the event.

Noa Chan mixes some drinks before playing Day 2

Samuel Prieto

Began Day 2 with 139,000

The lone Spanish Gold Pass winner playing here in Paris enjoyed a prosperous Day 1 — so much so that Spanish PokerStars blogger Roi Gomez is now chasing him around the venue preparing for an interview. We’ll hear what Prieto has to say later today.

Samuel Prieto

Geoffrey Quenehen, France

Began Day 2 with 79,500

A full Gold Pass package winner from PokerStars.fr, Geoffrey Quenehen also battled through Day 1 and finished with 79,500 chips. He is also now in our crosshairs for an interview.

ELIMINATED SHORT OF THE MONEY

Leigh Swift, UK

We profiled Leigh Swift last week, and he is well worth learning about. Swift is the taxi driver who started his Power Path journey on Christmas Eve, and who used to play poker only while doing push ups.

“Someone once pointed out that I should concentrate on the game more… maybe they’re correct,” Swift admitted.

He wasn’t doing any push ups here in Paris, but he sampled his first major tournament. It only went as far as Day 1, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

Read the full profile.

Leigh Swift

Andrei Jambor, Romania

Like many Power Path qualifiers, Andrei Jambor didn’t have much live poker experience before coming to Paris. But he decided to make the most of the opportunity and bring his family with him to sample the delights of the travelling poker roadshow.

The realtor got a delicious taste for the EPT here in Paris and said, “I really hope I can qualify for more events, I really like it!”

Read the full profile

Andrei Jambor

Lawrence Penfold, UK

Some people drift in and out of poker for their whole lives, deciding to focus more or less on the game dependant on their circumstances. There was once a time when Lawrence Penfold did little else but play, enough to earn him Supernova Elite status.

But after leaving the game to work in tech for eight years, he is now just a recreational player — and took the recs’ route to EPT Paris via the Power Path.

Read more about how Penfold made his EPT debut nearly a decade after he was one of the elite.

We didn’t get a chance to catch up with the following four Gold Pass winners, but hopefully they can land another victory and come back to the EPT.