2025 Greek Poker Odyssea

Wednesday, June 25, was a hot one in Thessaloniki, not only speaking about the weather. The cards at the Regency Casino Thessaloniki were absolutely burning; the deck was on fire during Day 2 of the €250 PKO. The first multi-day event of the 2025 Greek Poker Odyssea would see its conclusion, with all remaining players battling it out for the unique trophy and the €5,271 first-place payout, not counting the bounties. One particular card would prove to be crucial in the outcome of the tournament, but, in the end, victory belonged to one of the most experienced players in the mix.

Seven from Heaven

There’s really no surprise that one of the earlier events of the festival managed to score 190 entries; live bounty tournaments are crazy fun, allowing players to loosen up their game slightly when calling off an opponent’s shove.

Out of the 190 total entries, 33 players moved on from Day 1 (which was played June 24). This created a €41,800 prize pool, and €19,000 of that amount was up for grabs in the form of bounties. Needless to say, it was the wild west in Thessaloniki.

The 33 players took their seats at 14:00 on Wednesday, and ten more of them would have to be eliminated before the remaining competitors would be in the money, guaranteed a €263 min-cash. Nikolaos Valtatzis (2,465,000) entered the second day as a massive chip leader; in fact, he had more than double that of Ioannis Diamantopoulos and Konstantinos Daskalou, who tied in second place on the chip count with 1,130,000 each.

The field was packed with man skillful poker players, but two who stood out in terms of earlier results were Fotios Ntamaris and Theodoros Ampelikiotis. Ntamaris was the one of them two who entered Day 2 with the smallest stack. It wouldn’t take long, however, before he would double up Ioannis Atzaris. Ntamaris would go on having a few exchanges of chips with tablemate Glenn Brown; one of the very few players who didn’t wave the Greek flag.

In fact, Brown made an impressive call for his tournament life against Ntamaris on the bubble, just moments before Anastasios Kougioumtz would become the unfortunate bubble boy. Things didn’t slow down when the remaining 23 players were in the money. The CEO of poker.pro, Jason Glatzer, had survived hand-by-hand despite being relatively short. Eventually, he ran his ace-queen into the pocket rockets of his very good friend Ntamaris to be eliminated in fourteenth place.

Don’t get it twisted, though; it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Ntamaris. He had quite the rollercoaster of a tournament, and eventually, he was eliminated by Brown in tenth place. Such, the final table of nine players was set, and things were starting to get serious.

Christos Mekras entered the final table with a mere seven big blinds, and he was the first one to go as Vasileios Karagiannis finished him off in ninth. Shortly thereafter, Nikolaos Valtatzis, Michail Mitkoudis, and Vasileios Karagiannis all went out in fairly reasonable fashion.

When only five players remained, though, crazy things started to happen. The most crucial hand of the night, arguably, went down between Brown and Ampelikiotis. The two warriors were all in pre-flop; Ampelikiotis was the player at risk against chip leader Brown, but he hit a two-outer on the river to stay alive.

From there on, Ampelikiotis put the pedal to the metal. He picked up pocket queens on the button to eliminate Grigorios Thanos in fourth, and shortly thereafter, his 7♦5♦ cracked the pocket nines of Miltiadis Zografos. The three remaining players may have been somewhat shallow at this point, but nevertheless, Ampelikiotis was the chip leader.

After some pre-flop controversy, though, it was Brown who eliminated Stavros Kokotsakis in third place, and such, he evened out the stack sizes prior to the heads-up battle. It wouldn’t be too long of a duel, though, and when Brown shoved his two-pairs into the trip sevens of Ampelikiotis, it was game over for the Brit. He had to settle for second place, and such, Ampelikiotis was now the undisputed winner of the €250 PKO.

€250 – Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize	Bounty Prize	Total Payout
1	Theodoros Ampelikiotis	Greece	€5,271	€4,000	€9,271
2	Glenn Brown	Great Britain	€4,305	€1,395	€5,700
3	Stavros Kokotsakis	Greece	€2,750	€1,065	€3,815
4	Miltiadis Zografos	Greece	€1,897	€745	€2,642
5	Grigorios Thanos	Greece	€1,338	€680	€2,018
6	Vasileios Karagiannis	Greece	€855	€1,395	€2250
7	Michail Mitkoudis	Greece	€715	€350	€1,065
8	Nikolaos Valtatzis	Greece	€615	€805	€1,420
9	Christos Mekras	Greece	€524	€300	€824

It’s no news that there are small margins in poker. When they were five-handed, Ampelikiotis hit one of the remaining two sevens on the river against Brown to stay alive in the tournament. Then, funny enough, he eliminated Brown heads-up to claim the title with trip sevens. Don’t get it twisted; Ampelikiotis didn’t get his hands on the trophy thanks to Lady Luck. As previously mentioned, he was one of the most experienced players in the field, scoring impressive results at events such as the EPT and the Kings of Tallinn. He is a worthy winner, no doubt about it.

On Thursday, June 26, poker.pro will report from day 2 of the €450 Monsterstack Mystery Bounty. At 14:00, the 25 remaining players will take their seats. The poker.pro live reporting team will follow the tournament from start to finish, and the action will surely be mesmerizing.

After eliminating Glenn Brown in the heads-up duel, Theodoros Ampelikiotis is now crowned the winner of the €250 PKO. For his achievements, he takes home €5,271, plus a whopping €4,000 in bounties.

Thanks to everyone who followed the live coverage at poker.pro during the day. A full recap of today’s action will be posted as soon as possible.

Place	Player	Country	Prize	Bounty Prize	Total Payout
1	Theodoros Ampelikiotis	Greece	€5,271	€4,000	€9,271
2	Glenn Brown	Great Britain	€4,305	€1,395	€5,700
3	Stavros Kokotsakis	Greece	€2,750	€1,065	€3,815
4	Miltiadis Zografos	Greece	€1,897	€745	€2,642
5	Grigorios Thanos	Greece	€1,338	€680	€2,018
6	Vasileios Karagiannis	Greece	€855	€1,395	€2250
7	Michail Mitkoudis	Greece	€715	€350	€1,065
8	Nikolaos Valtatzis	Greece	€615	€805	€1,420
9	Christos Mekras	Greece	€524	€300	€824

Theodoros Ampelikiotis raised to 500,000 from the Button. Glenn Brown called from the Big Blind.

First to act, Brown checked on the 7♥7♦4♥ flop. Ampelikiotis continued for 700,000, and Brown immediately went all in. Ampelikiotis made the call just as fast.

Glenn Brown: 5♥4♣
Theodoros Ampelikiotis: A♠7♠

Brown was in need of a runner-runner scenario. He didn’t get it as the board completed 2♦6♣. Such, he bid farewell in second place for €4,305.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 19,000,000
Glenn Brown: 0

Theodoros Ampelikiotis opened to 600,000 on the Button. Glenn Brown called from the Small Blind, before Stavros Kokotsakis moved all in for 900,000 from the Big Blind. Ampelikiotis tried to raise to 2,500,000, but the floor informed him that he wasn’t allowed to open the door. Such, he only called, and so did Brown.

Action went check-check on the 6♣6♠A♦ flop. On the Q♠ turn, Brown moved all in for perhaps 5,000,000. Ampelikiotis folded.

Stavros Kokotsakis: J♠8♣
Glenn Brown: Q♥9♠

“I’m drawing dead,” Kokotsakis said before he turned his hand over. The river bricked, and he was eliminated in third place for €2,750. The stage was set for a heads-up battle between Brown and Ampelikiotis.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 10,100,000
Glenn Brown: 8,900,000
Stavros Kokotsakis: 0

Action folded to big-stacked Theodoros Ampelikiotis in the Small Blind, who pushed Miltiadis Zografos for 3,100,000. Zografos snap-called.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 7♦5♦
Miltiadis Zografos: 9♦9♥

Zografos was ahead, but Zografos has been running hot lately, and that wasn’t going to change. The only thing Zografos could do when he saw the board running out 6♥2♣7♠5♣J♠ was to laugh. He was sent to the rail in fourth place, and not counting bounties, he won €1,897.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 13,100,000
Miltiadis Zografos: 0

Theodoros Ampelikiotis opened to 300,000 UTG. Seated in the Big Blind, Grigorios Thanos moved all in for 3,950,000. Ampelikiotis couldn’t have made the call any faster.

Grigorios Thanos: A♣7♣
Theodoros Ampelikiotis: Q♥Q♦

No ace apparent on the 8♣K♥6♦2♥J♥ board, and such, Thanos was eliminated in fifth place for €1,338.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 11,150,000
Grigorios Thanos: 0

Here are visual chip counts that were made during a quick bathroom break.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis got his 2,950,000 stack in the middle pre-flop against Glenn Brown.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 7♠7♥
Glenn Brown: 8♠8♣

Brown, who most likely already was the chip leader, was set to take a commanding lead on the final table. The Q♥10♣5♦ flop didn’t feature a scare. Neither did the 5♣ turn. “No seven, no seven, no seven,” Brown preached, before the dealer revealed the 7♦ on the river. Brown lost a big chunk of his stack to Ampelikiotis.

Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 6,000,000
Glenn Brown: 2,750,000

The leader in terms of the most bounties, Vasileios Karagiannis, got his 750,000 stack in the middle. He was called by Miltiadis Zografos.

Vasileios Karagiannis: A♥3♠
Miltiadis Zografos: A♣K♦

No nasty surprises for Zografos on the A♦6♥2♥K♥7♦ board, and he eliminated Karagiannis in sixth place, winning a big bounty in the process.

Miltiadis Zografos: 2,800,000
Vasileios Karagiannis: 0

Grigorios Thanos opened to 250,000 from the Hi-jack. Theodoros Ampelikiotis defended from the Big Blind.

The flop came 9♦K♦Q♣. Ampelikiotis checked to Thanos, who continued for 175,000. Ampelikiotis called, and the 10♠ fell on the turn. Both players checked, and the dealer dealt the K♠ on the river.

Ampelikiotis checked again, and Thanos now sized up to 800,000. Ampelikiotis utilized two timebank chips before making the call.

Thanos turned over A♠A♣, and Ampelikiotis quickly threw his cards into the muck.

Grigorios Thanos: 5,800,000
Theodoros Ampelikiotis: 2,100,000

With roughly 450,000 in the middle, the flop read A♥6♣9♦. Glenn Brown and Michail Mitkoudis clashed all in; Mitkoudis was the player at risk, playing 550,000.

Glenn Brown: 6♥6♦
Michail Mitkoudis: 9♥3♠

Brown was far, far ahead, and Mitkoudis didn’t catch up on the Q♣K♦ runout. He bid farewell in seventh place, cashing for €715.

Glenn Brown: 5,000,000
Michail Mitkoudis: 0

Seated on the Button, Vasileios Karagiannis opened to 275,000. Then, Nikolaos Valtatzis moved all in for 1,400,000 from the Small Blind. Stavros Kokotsakis re-shoved his 2,200,000 stack from the Big Blind. Karagiannis contemplated a call for about a minute or two, but eventually, he folded.

Nikolaos Valtatzis: A♠9♥
Stavros Kokotsakis: A♣Q♦

The best hand held up on the 8♣7♠J♠K♠K♥ board. Valtatzis became the second victim on the final table for €805.

Stavros Kokotsakis: 3,700,000
Nikolaos Valtatzis: 0

Seated in the lo-jack, Christos Mekras moved all in for 525,000. Vasileios Karagiannis made the call from the button.

Christos Mekras: A♥10♦
Vasileios Karagiannis: Q♠J♣

Karagiannis hit a pair of jacks on the 5♥8♠J♦6♦9♥ board. Doing so, Mekras became the first casualty of the final table, going out in ninth place for €524.

Vasileios Karagiannis: 4,400,000
Christos Mekras: 0

The nine final players are now ready to begin the pursuit for poker glory on the final table. Below is the seat draw and the chip counts.

Just a few hands after doubling up against Glenn Brown, Fotios Ntamaris found himself all in with his 515,000 stack against the Brit once more.

Fotios Ntamaris: J♠9♠
Glenn Brown: A♣4♣

Brown’s ace high was good on the 2♣3♠8♦ flop. Ntamaris took the lead on the J♣ turn, but Brown put the nail in the coffin when the 5♣ fell on the river. Such, Ntamaris was eliminated in tenth place, which meant that the final table was set.

The poker.pro live coverage team will soon be back with the final table seat draw and chip counts.

‘Glenn Brown: 2,545,000
Fotios Ntamaris: 0

Seated on the button, Fotios Ntamaris moved all in for 195,000. Glenn Brown re-shoved from the Small Blind, and after the remaining players seated at the table folded, he was heads-up against Ntamaris.

Fotios Ntamaris: J♥J♦
Glenn Brown: K♠10♣

Ntamaris lives to see another pot, as the 6♦4♠A♠4♣Q♦ awarded him a full double-up.

Glenn Brown: 2,500,000
Fotios Ntamaris: 515,000

Seated UTG+1, Christos Karageorgiou moved all in for 490,000. Big-stacked Vasileios Karagiannis re-shoved from the Button, successfully getting the blinds to fold.

Christos Karageorgiou: 8♦8♣
Vasileios Karagiannis: A♦Q♣

The 6♠10♦10♣ flop didn’t bring a threat to Karageorgiou’s eights. He was good on the 4♦ turn as well. The A♣ on the river, however, ended his tournament life. He went out in twelfth place, cashing for €376.

Vasileios Karagiannis: 3,300,000
Christos Karageorgiou: 0

UTG, Konstantinos Daskalou opened to 125,000. Action folded to Glenn Brown in the Big Blind, who made the call.

First to act, Brown checked on the K♠10♥6♠ flop. Daskalut continued for 125,000, and Brown made the call.

Brown checked again on the A♠ turn. Daskalou then forced his opponent all in for 715,000, and Brown made the call in a heartbeat.

Konstantinos Daskalou: A♣9♦
Glenn Brown: 8♠3♠

The 2♦ on the river didn’t change a thing; with his flush, Brown doubled up and took a large chunk out of the Daskalou stack.

Glenn Brown: 2,100,000
Konstantinos Daskalou: 250,000

The remaining 12 players are now on a break. The will return to Level 21: Blinds 25,000/50,000, with a 50,000 Ante.

The poker.pro CEO Jason Glatzer shared numerous times one of the reasons he was excited to come to Greece was to visit his best Greek friend Fotios Ntmaris.

While Glatzer still plans to grab dinner with his friend, Ntmaris apologetically snagged his stack in a cooler of a hand.

Glatzer jammed from early position 615,000. The action folded to Fotios Ntamaris, who committed his 595,000 stack to make the call.

Jason Glatzer: A♥Q♣
Fotios Ntamaris: A♠A♣

It was far from the ideal scenario for Glatzer, and he didn’t manage to crack the Ntamaris aces on the 4♦J♦3♣10♣J♠ board.

Glatzer survived with 20,000; one Small Blind. Next hand he was UTG and threw in his four remaining 5,000 chips. Seated in the Cut-off, Miltiadis Zografos raised to 80,000. Nikolaos Valtatzis (Small Blind) and Glenn Brown (Big Blind) both made the call.

All three players checked on the Q♣4♥2♦ flop. Valtatzis bet 120,000 on the 5♣ turn. Brown and Zografos both folded; Valtatzis and Glatzer turned over their hole cards.

Jason Glatzer: Q♦10♥
Nikolaos Valtatzis: Q♥J♠

The board completed with 6♦. No Cinderella story for Jason Glatzer in 15th place.

Nikolaos Valtatzis: 2,390,000
Fotios Ntamaris: 1,300,000
Jason Glatzer: 0

While poker.pro are delivering continuous updates in English, Pokerland is also on-site, doing reporting in Greek. They’ve also been kind enough to share their photos with poker.pro.

Follow the Pokerland live reporting here.

Anastasios Kougioumtz and Stavros Kokotsakis got everything on the A♦Q♦8♠ flop. Kougioumtz was the player at risk, being all in for 325,000.

Anastasios Kougioumtz: A♥9♥
Stavros Kokotsakis: A♣K♥

No help for Kougioumtz as the board completed with J♦3♣. As he was eliminated in position 24, the remaining 23 players are all now in the money, guaranteed a €263 min-cash.

Stavros Kokotsakis: 2,000,000
Anastasios Kougioumtz: 0

The board read J♣5♦3♥ with roughly 150,000 in the middle. Glenn Brown checked to Fotios Ntamaris, who bet 25,000. Brown made the call. Brown checked again on the K♦ turn. Fotios now bet 115,000; once again, Brown made the call.

Brown completed the check trifecta as the river fell 3♦. Ntamaris now pulled the trigger; he forced Brown all in for 325,000. Brown looked troubled on the bubble, but eventually, he made the call.

Fotios Ntamaris: A♦7♥
Glenn Brown: A♣K♠

A sublime call from Brown on the bubble, who doubled up at a very crucial stage of the tournament.

Glenn Brown: 1,125,000
Fotios Ntamaris: 650,000

With the elimination of Pawel Ziemani in position 25, the remaining 24 players are now on the bubble, and hand-for-hand is being played.

Glenn Brown entered Day 2 with 18 Big Blinds, and he’s been involved in some pots already.

First, he picked up A♣A♥ and was all in pre-flop against Anastasios Kougioumtz’s K♣5♦. The 6♥9♥3♣2♣J♣ granted Brown the win and the full double-up.

More recently, he limped from the Hi-jack and got called by Fotios Ntamaris (Small Blind) and Michail Mitkoudis (Big Blind). Action was checked to brown on the Q♠A♥2♥ flop, who continued for 50,000. Ntamaris made the call before Mitkoudis folded.

Ntamaris check-called another 50,000 bet from Brown on the 6♠ turn. Both players checked on the A♣ river.

Fotios Ntamaris: A♦4♦
Glenn Brown: K♥10♠

“Where’s my money card?” Brown joked with Ntamaris, referring to the absence of a queen on the board. Ntamaris shared a laugh with Brown as he collected the pot.

Fotios Ntamaris: 1,320,000
Glenn Brown: 435,000

UTG, Yordan-Ivanov Dichev moved all in for 330,000. Konstantinos Daskalou re-shoved for about 1,000,000 from the Lo-jack, and everyone else got out of the way.

Yordan-Ivanov Dichev: 9♠9♦
Konstantinos Daskalou: A♥K♥

Nines were good as the board ran out 5♣4♥2♠8♣5♠, and Dichev doubled up.

Yordan-Ivanov Dichev: 700,000
Konstantinos Daskalou: 680,000

‘

Action folded to Fotios Ntamaris on the Button, who raised to 40,000. From the Big Blind, Ioannis Atzaris forced his opponent all in for 405,000 in total. Ntamaris made the call as fast as humanly possible.

Ioannis Atzaris: Q♠Q♥
Fotios Ntamaris: A♣K♣

Atzaris sighed heavily as he was the K♥K♠7♠ flop. The J♣J♥ runout didn’t help him and as Ntamaris doubled up, Atzaris was left crippled.

Fotios Ntamaris: 820,000
Ioannis Atzaris: 270,000

Yourdan-Ivanov Dichev min-raised to 40,000 UTG. Nikolaos Valtatzis called from the Small Blind, and the two of them were heads-up to the flop.

First to act, Valtatzis bet 50,000 on the 9♣2♠6♠ flop, and Dichev made the call. Valtatzis didn’t slow down on the 7♠ and now bet 55,000. Again, Dichev decided to stick around.

On the Q♣ river, Valtatzis checked. Dichev now took over the aggression; he bet 75,000, enough to make Valtatzis fold.

Nikolaos Valtatzis: 2,355,000
Yourdan-Ivanov Dichev: 1,070,000

Action is now underway in Day 2. Ten more players will bust out before the remaining players are in the money.

It’s Wednesday, and it’s the first day of the poker.pro live coverage from the 2025 Greek Poker Odyssea. The atmosphere is electrifying at the Regency Casino Thessaloniki; it’s an amazing venue that fits like a glove to the superb poker event that the Greek Poker Odyssea is.

The poker.pro team will kick things off at 14:00, with Day 2 of the €250 PKO. There will be a thrilling conclusion to the tournament today, after an intense Day 1 yesterday. Yesterday, no fewer than 33 players (out of a total 190 entries) managed to bag their chips for today’s finale. This means that the prize pool is an impressive €41,800; that includes the €19,000 bounty prize pool.

Play will resume at Level 17: Blinds 10,000/20,000, with a 20000 ante. All the remaining warriors are competing for the win and the €5,271 first-place payout. The top 23 will be guaranteed a €263 min-cash.

€250 PKO – Chip Counts Day 2

€250 PKO – Payouts

The poker.pro coverage of today will not conclude until a winner is crowned. Tomorrow, Thursday, June 26, the focus will switch to Day 2 of the €450 Mystery Bounty Monsterstack. From June 27 and onwards, focus will be on the €600 Main Event. Results from all tournaments during the 2025 Greek Poker Odyssea will be posted under the “Payouts” tab.

At noon every day from Thursday onwards, recaps will be posted of the previous day’s action.