After a frantic eight weeks of action in the World Series of Poker (WSOP), elite poker players have barely had time to catch their breath, unpack their hoodies, or put their AirPods on charge before another major poker festival is back. The European Poker Tour is back in action in just over a fortnight’s time and with the 2024 Barcelona Main Event winner Stephen Song representing PokerStake in the Catalonian province, could last year’s winner retain his title?

Will the Former Champion be on Song?

One player who is sure to attract plenty of attention when he returns to Casino Barcelona in mid-August is Stephen Song. That’s mainly because the American won last year’s 20^th anniversary EPT Barcelona Main Event for a whopping $1,425,651. In 2025, Stephen has been playing plenty of high rollers and is selling to three of them now via his official PokerStake selling page.

“I’m super excited for Barcelona,” says Stephen. “I looked at the schedule and saw they had some high rollers which were great last year, and I expect to be great again. ‘Stars is always generous to give reduced rake for the first on-time entry so that’s a major plus.”

Stephen’s biggest result on PokerStake remains the incredible $439,650 he won in an NAPT High Roller event, multiplying anyone’s stake in his $25,000 entry fee by 17 times. After the first World Series of Poker that actually lost him money, Stephen took a week off, but he’s now fully back in the rigorous routine his profession demands.

“It was my first losing summer ever, but to be honest it had to happen at some point so I’m not too disappointed,” he says. “I had some shots but in No Limit Hold’em tourneys but if you’re not getting top three in any tournaments, you’re not making any money.”

A Winning Visit to the ‘In-Laws’

After decompressing post-Vegas, Stephen was keen to fit in some family time with his fiancée and her parents. Drawn to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa, Stephen put down $2,500 to play in their $500,000 guaranteed event, coming second for $109,340!

“I typically train against the trainer on my free time to sharpen up [post-Vegas] and I’m playing in Florida and Cyprus coming up. I came to Tampa to visit the in-laws and got second in the $500k, so got some solid momentum for this long trip away from home. It worked out perfectly to visit my fiancée’s parents!”

With the trip to Spain looming large, Stephen is always grateful for the close support he enjoys.

“It’ll be a cool feeling returning to Barcelona yet again,’ he says. “It was such an insane and surreal moment I had last time winning the EPT main event. Coming with my fiancée, who is always so supportive and loving, makes my life ten times easier and better.”

Selling to EPT Barcelona

“Results wise, it’s worked out pretty well with a couple of wins and final tables.”

As he’s already hinted, Stephen’s excitement for his triumphant return to Barcelona, the scene of his biggest win in poker, is palpable. He’s selling to three high roller events already, at a markup of between 1.10 and 1.14 exclusively on PokerStake. That may not be the end of the action for armchair investors.

“I’ll possibly [be selling] to the big $10,000 high roller at the end of the series but we’ll see – it’s still a long way away. The next events after Barcelona will be some of the earlier Triton Poker Series events before I have to head home for a wedding.”

The last time we spoke to Stephen, he was ramping up his involvement on the Triton tour and in high rollers in general. It seems like that’s still the plan… although a certain ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ might have an impact on that idea.

“It’s been great so far,” Stephen tells us. “With the tax bill looming, I’m unsure if I’ll be playing high rollers next year unfortunately, so I’ve got to take advantage of the ones this year first. The high rollers are a much different feel than the regular Main Events. The intensity from the start of the tourneys is cool versus the ‘Day 1’ feel of the big Main Events – they can feel arduous or slow at times. Results wise, it’s worked out pretty well with a couple of wins and final tables, so hopefully I can keep that going.”

Stephen is far from the only player from the United States to head out to Spain in the next fortnight, as plenty of his compatriots are hoping to emulate his success in 2024.

“I’ve talked to a bunch of Americans who are also coming out to Barcelona,” says Stephen. “It should be a great group. The Americans crushed it last year hopefully we can all crush it again!”

With United States players such as Cherish Andrews, David Chen and Terrance ‘TJ’ Reid all  joining Norwegian Jon Kyte and Japanese player Kyosuke Nagami as PokerStake players in Spain next month, could there be a back-to-back victory for Stephen Song After his heroics in 2024, no-one would put it past him.

Here’s how PokerStake’s Stephen Song won the biggest-ever EPT Barcelona Main Event 12 months ago.