From a total of 2,617 runners, who all put up €5,300 to play the WSOP Europe Main Event, the field has been narrowed down to nine players after a thrilling Day 5 of play. After those at the King’s Casino in Prague generated a massive €13,085,000 prize pool, an incredible €2,000,000 sits up top for the eventual champion.
There were some unfortunate bustouts early on Day 5, including former WSOP Main Event runner-up Steven Jones. Jones finished 24th from the 25 players who returned after starting the day as a top-10 stack.
British poker legend, WSOP champion Tom Hall, was the unfortunate final table bubble boy. On a five-handed table, as he was in eighth place, he four-bet jammed from the hijack for 24 big blinds against former EPT Barcelona Main Event champion Thomas Eychenne, who had . Though Eychenne played most of the day with a minuscule stack, he rebounded late in the day and will start the final table in second place.
“It’s just tilting finishing 10th,” Hall told Jeff Platt afterward. “How am I feeling? Devastated. There’s not a lot else to say about that.”
Relative unknown Hengtao Zhu, a player with under $40,000 in career live tournament earnings, started the day with the chip lead and never gave it up. He’ll start the WSOP Europe Main Event final table with a blistering 91 big blinds.
2026 WSOP Europe Main Event final table
Players will return with the blinds at 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante. The average stack is 17,500,000, or just under 44 big blinds. Players on the felt and those watching at home can expect a very lengthy final table broadcast.
| Postion | Player | Seat | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hengtao Zhu | 4 | Finland | 36,300,000 | 91 |
| 2 | Thomas Eychenne | 1 | France | 25,825,000 | 65 |
| 3 | Brandon Sheils | 9 | United Kingdom | 20,850,000 | 52 |
| 4 | Chris Hunichen | 3 | United States | 19,300,000 | 48 |
| 5 | Marius Kudzmanas | 8 | Lithuania | 18,050,000 | 45 |
| 6 | Akihiro Konishi | 7 | Japan | 14,400,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Nikolay Bibov | 5 | Bulgaria | 13,200,000 | 33 |
| 8 | Antonio Guimaraens | 6 | Spain | 5,700,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Joona Nyholm | 2 | Finland | 3,275,000 | 8 |
WSOP Europe Main Event: Meet the players
1st: Hengtao Zhu, Finland, 91 big blinds
With just $39,361 in live earnings across just 12 scores, Zhu doesn’t have a single cash in a four-figure buy-in event live. However, the online qualifier has absolutely crushed the late stages of the WSOP Europe Main Event.
He’s a relative unknown with a unique style that gained the respect of Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen, who called him “too f**king good” in a hand that gave him the chip lead on Day 4. He has never looked back.
In a postgame interview with PokerNews, Zhu said: “I feel really good. I’m very happy and very grateful to be on the final table.
“I’ve been very lucky, I had good value hands, and I know that there are a lot of better players than me, but I try not to take too much stress on myself for tomorrow.”
2nd: Thomas Eychenne, France, 65 big blinds
Eychenne is a player who needs no introduction. Aside from Chris Hunichen, Eychenne is used to playing for huge money. He won the 2025 EPT Barcelona Main Event for $1.43 million, finished 7th at the 2023 PSPC for over $800,000, and has graduated to playing six-figure buy-ins.
He’s the player that all the players hoped to have busted when he was devastatingly short on Day 5, yet he spun his stack up to second position late in the day.
Though he has over $5 million in earnings and an EPT Main Event win, that’s literally his only career win. Winning the WSOP Europe Main Event to make it two would certainly be some story.
3rd: Brandon Sheils, United Kingdom, 52 big blinds
Sheils is one of the most respected names in all of UK poker and a true tournament grinder. The poker pro, coach, and content creator has an insane 365 career live tournament cashes to his name and pulled off one of the more impressive feats in the UK, going back-to-back in the GUKPT London High Roller and Main Event in two days for nearly $200,000.
For Sheils, a seventh-place finish would represent the largest cash of his career, eclipsing his life-changing partypoker MILLIONS Main Event win in 2018 for $236,979.
However, as a personal friend of his, I know he’ll want the bracelet more than the cash. He nearly pulled off the feat in the $5,000 6-Max event at last summer’s WSOP, finishing in fifth for $203,292.
Sheils is quietly ranked 153rd in the GPI rankings right now. With his stack, his smarts, and his foot on the gas, he’s one of the favorites to win it all tomorrow.
4th: Chris Hunichen, United States, 48 big blinds
If there’s anyone who’s a threat to the top three, it’s Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen. Hunichen’s $17.6 million in career earnings is more than the entire final table combined, with his career-defining $2,838,389 score coming in the prestigious 2024 WSOP $100,000 High Roller. Three days later, he won $2.4 million for a third-place finish in the $250,000 Super High Roller.
Hunichen is the last player who will be thinking about the money. He’s a super high-stakes regular with seven scores of at least $900,000 to his name.
Whether or not bracelet number two is coming in Prague remains to be seen. However, we do know that he’ll have more fans watching than anyone else at the WSOP Europe Main Event final table.
5th: Marius Kudzmanas, Lithuania, 45 big blinds
While Kudzmanas likes to keep a low profile, he’s played everything from EPT High Rollers to PokerGO Tour events to Triton Poker high rollers.
The Lithuanian is a two-time bracelet winner, winning super-large field events online in both 2023 and 2024. He has over $1.2 million in earnings in just three Triton cashes, making two final tables in three days in Monte Carlo in 2024.
This guy is a silent crusher and hasn’t taken a step wrong throughout the first five days of play. He’s certainly one of the bigger ones to watch.
6th: Akihiro Konishi, Japan, 36 big blinds
Konishi has been extremely active in the Asian poker scene over the last few years, most recently making a final table at Triton One Jeju in a $2,000 event, finishing fifth for $22,000.
This is his 50th career cash and will see his lifetime earnings of $278,450 absolutely soar.
The 101st-ranked player from Japan has already crushed his biggest live career cash of $34,096, which came from a 5th-place finish in an $1,100 event at the Wynn in Las Vegas last summer.
7th: Nikolay Bibov, Bulgaria, 33 big blinds
Bibov is no stranger to big fields, having finished 26th in the 8,809-entry WSOP Millionaire Maker in 2019 for $47,820, which remains his biggest cash.
Unbelievably, this is Bibov’s first cash since January 2020, when he won an €800 High Roller in Bulgaria for €22,775.
He only has 13 cashes across an 11-year span, so we don’t know too much about him. But that’s kind of what makes poker so great.
Oh, and he hit a one-outer for his tournament life on Day 3. He’s been freerolling for a long time.
8th: Antonio Guimaraens, Spain, 14 big blinds
The lone Spaniard in the field will have to operate as one of the two short stacks and will look to get that first ladder before doing anything else.
Guimaraens, with $35,109 in career live tournament earnings, only has six results to his name, with none of them being of much significance.
He had a nice week at December’s EPT Prague, finishing 26th out of over 1,100 runners in the €2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller for €12,840 before cashing the EPT Main Event, finishing 110th for €11,050.
He’s very fortunate to still be in the event after somehow winning in a four-way pot at the end of Day 5, which he got all in with on a against Sheils’ .
9th: Joona Nyholm, Finland, 8 big blinds
Bringing up the rear is Finlad’s Joona Nyholm, who notably found himself putting Thomas Eychenne in a pair of disgusting river spots on Day 5, getting the best result both times.
Unbelievably, Nyholm’s first-career live cash in a hold’em event has come here at the WSOP Europe Main Event. This is also just his ninth cash overall. With just $9,322 in career live earnings, he’s the least experienced live player on the felt. He’ll also have a ton of work to do as he starts with just eight bigs.
WSOP Europe Main Event final table payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | €2,000,000 |
| 2nd | €1,200,000 |
| 3rd | €800,000 |
| 4th | €575,000 |
| 5th | €425,000 |
| 6th | €320,000 |
| 7th | €245,000 |
| 8th | €185,000 |
| 9th | €140,000 |
