British pro Liv Boeree has won €1,250,000 after besting a field of 1,240 players at the €5,300 PokerStars.com San Remo event in Italy. The 25-year-old astrophysics graduate won the biggest EPT event ever held in Europe after beating 22-year-old Swedish pro Jakob Carlsson heads-up. She is only the third woman to win an EPT since the tour began in 2004 and follows in the footsteps of fellow Brit, Team PokerStars Pro Vicky Coren, who won EPT London in Season 3 and German Team PokerStars Pro Sandra Naujoks who won EPT Dortmund in Season 5.

As part of her prize, Boeree also wins a seat to the EPT Grand Final which kicks off in Monte Carlo on Sunday, April 25.

Boeree has been playing poker for four years after competing in a reality TV show about poker. She used to follow the EPT circuit as a TV presenter but says she always dreamed about playing. She won her seat into the San Remo Main Event in a €500 live satellite at the casino.

She said: “Winning a major event is exactly what I’ve been working towards. I went round to all the EPTs as a host but all I was thinking was: ‘I want to play.’ I have been working very hard on my game but I can’t believe I have won. I’m over the moon, absolutely over the moon.”

Boeree is a well-known player and has notched up several wins including the European Ladies Championship, but her total live tournament winnings are dwarfed by the San Remo prize.

PokerStars player Carlsson, 22, from Jönköping, Sweden, known online as ”mendieta19”, takes home €750,000 for second place. He’s competed at three PokerStars Caribbean Adventure events in the Bahamas and around ten EPT tournament but this is by far his biggest win.

Entrants from 44 countries competed in the EPT San Remo Main Event creating a total prize pool of €6,014,000. A total of 184 players were paid out.