Lithuanian poker pro Marius Kudzmanas has been crowned the WSOP Europe Main Event champion after a stellar six days of action. Kudzmanas topped a record 2,617-entry field, which generated a massive €13,085,000 prize pool, to win €2,000,000 and his third-career WSOP bracelet.
Kudzmanas beat Japanese recreational Akihiro Konishi in heads-up play, cracking pocket kings with seven-six offsuit to win his first live bracelet. His previous two bracelets came in online events in 2023 and 2024.
For the 10th consecutive WSOP Europe Main Event, the winner came from a different country.
WSOP Europe Main Event final table action
The first hand of play at this year’s WSOP Europe Main Event could have been a disaster. The big screen at King’s Casino at Hilton Prague mistakenly showed players’ hole cards in real time.
Brandon Sheils opened with from early position, and chip leader Hangtao Zhu three-bet from the small blind to . It’s unclear if anyone on the rail who could see the cards actually said anything, but Sheils confirmed that his decision was not affected by any outside influence.
Sheils could have easily decided to four-bet bluff this hand, especially given the circumstances, but made a fantastic fold. WSOP’s Jeff Platt confirmed that the issue was immediately fixed.
Afterwards, the 13-hour marathon had plenty of shocks, including the top-three players coming into the day finishing in sixth, seventh, and eighth place.
9th: Joona Nyholm, Finland (€140,000)
Nyholm came into the final table as the short stack with just eight big blinds. He chipped down after the first orbit and was left with just 2.3 million chips with the blinds at 200,000/400,000.
He picked up in the hijack and went virtually all in, leaving a little over half a big blind behind. Chris Hunichen, with 50 big blinds, called from the cutoff with . The other short stack, Antonio Guimaraens, was in the big blind with with just 10 big blinds behind and left with a major decision. He ended up tank-folding.
After Nyholm committed his last 275,000 chips on the flop, he turned a load of outs on the turn, giving him a gutshot straight draw, two overs, and a flush draw.
However, the classic “too many outs” applied to the GGPoker qualifier, and the saw him exit in ninth place.
8th: Brandon Sheils, United Kingdom (€185,000)
Sheils came into the day in third place and had lofty expectations. Unfortunately, he had some bad early luck and wasn’t picking up many cards.
Then, he got involved in a hand with Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen, when Big Huni three-bet with aces and Sheils called with pocket eights, with a heart.
On the , Sheils check-raised and then folded after Big Huni jammed on him. After starting the day with 52 big blinds, he was left with fewer than 20 bigs.
A couple of orbits later, he was eliminated, in part due to some out-of-line actions from his opponents.
Hengtao Zhu, still the chip leader, opened from the lojack with . It was Nikolay Bibov’s turn to act in the hijack with , but before he had a chance to act, Antonio Guimaraens folded out of turn in the cutoff. Bibov then three-bet for the third consecutive time, which may have looked suspect to the rest of the table.
Action folded to Sheils in the big blind, with 15 bigs behind and . Sheils admitted on social media that at this point, he was leaning towards a fold. However, Zhu also folded out of turn, which had Sheils then leaning towards a jam.
Unfortunately, Bibov actually had him crushed, and he exited in eighth place, one ladder short of his all-time biggest score.
7th: Thomas Eychenne, France (€245,000)
The 2025 EPT Barcelona champion had an extreme spin-up at the end of Day 5 to start the final table in second place after having cockroached the short stack all day. He had claimed he needed a top-three finish to cancel out his post-EPT title downswing, but fell short as his rags-to-riches story came to an abrupt end in seventh place.
Eychenne was doubling up the short stacks, watching his stack dwindle from nearly 26 million to 12 million, with the blinds having risen to 300,000/600,000.
Then, the Frenchman found himself in a glorious situation when he three-bet Kudzmanas with and saw the Lithuanian four-bet jam with his suit-covered .
Unfortunately, the flop came , giving Kudzmanas an unlikely set. The board ran out to send Eychenne out the door in seventh place with less than a third of the money he was hoping to win to turn his downswing around.
6th: Hengtao Zhu, Finland (€320,000)
Despite never having cashed an event that cost more than €560 and having qualified via GGPoker for just €10, Zhu looked like an accomplished pro from start to finish. Although he was the chip leader since the end of Day 4, it was still a bit surprising to see Zhu finish in sixth. Zhu won’t be too upset, having nearly won 15 times his largest score and nearly 10 times his previous career earnings.
After losing a couple of hands to Nikolay Bibov and losing with against Big Huni’s pocket queens, Zhu moved into the bottom half of the standings.
Zhu won a big one with against the of Guimaraens to get him back to 21 million at 400,000/800,000 while Guimaraens was left with less than four bigs. The Spaniard would enjoy a remarkable spin-up to deny Zhu the extra pay jump, while Zhu would later bluff it off against Kudzmanas.
With the blinds at 500,000/1,000,000, Zhu raised the hijack off 14 big blinds with and Kudzmanas defended his big blind with .
On the flop, Zhu c-bet for 1,500,000 and Kudzmanas called. The turn went check-check.
The river saw Kudzmanas bet 1,700,000 into the 8,200,000-chip pot. Zhu, with the nut-flush blocker, went all in for 11 million. After using a timebank, the Lituanian called with his four to knock Zhu out of the tournament.
5th: Antonio Guimaraens Garcia, Spain (€425,000)
Guimaraens enjoyed a heck of a cockroach day, starting the day in eighth place with 14 big blinds and managing to ladder all the way up to fifth for a €425,000 payday.
His WSOP Europe Main Event run would finally come to an end after almost eight hours of play, when he pushed his final 6.4 big blinds from the cutoff with . Konishi, off a 24 big blind stack, called with .
The flop had Guimaraens needing running threes or a running five-four for a straight. However, the turn was a gutpunch knockout to send the WSOP Europe Main Event to four-handed play.
4th: Nikolay Bibov, Bulgaria (€575,000)
For Bibov’s lack of live poker experience, just 13 cashes since 2009 and none since 2020, Bibov was incredibly solid throughout, and his fourth-place finish was well deserved.
Despite this, many will argue that he should have won the tournament. At the dinner break, this is how the stacks looked:
- Nikolay Bibov: 49,900,000 (41 big blinds)
- Marius Kudzmanas: 49,800,000 (41 big blinds)
- Akihiro Konishi: 45,000,000 (37 big blinds)
- Chris Hunichen: 12,200,000 (10 big blinds)
Big Huni would steal a couple of pots to get up to 18 million (15 big blinds) before the biggest hand of the tournament.
Kudmanas opened from the cutoff with and Big Huni shoved from the button with . Bibov woke up with from the small blind, and Kudzmanas made the call. Big Huni would find an incredible jack on the river, and out of nowhere, the American became the chip leader.
Two hands later, Bibov was out and in cruel fashion. Bibov opened with from the cutoff, and Kudzmanas went with a commital half-stack virtual jam for 14 million with . The two players put the rest of their chips in, with Kudzmanas only covering by less than half a big blind.
Somehow, a jack in the window was the death of Bibov and gave Kudzmanas new life. While Bibov won €575,000, he’ll feel as if he could have won the tournament. It’s worth remembering that he was the recipient of a one-outer cooler that kept him alive on Day 3.
3rd: Chris Hunichen, United States (€800,000)
A few hands later, all three players had somewhat similar stacks when Big Huni suffered an insurmountable blow.
Hunichen raised from the small blind with and Konishi three-bet with from the big blind. Big Huni jammed, and Konishi snapped him off. The board ran out clean, and Hunichen fell from over 40 big blinds to fewer than 10.
The next orbit, Hunichen jammed his final 7.5 big blinds with from the small blind and Konishi called with .
The board ran out and Konishi went into heads-up play with nearly a 2-to-1 chip lead.
Heads-up play
With the blinds at 600,000/1,200,000, Konishi started with 98,000,000 (82 big blinds) vs. Kudzmanas’ 58,900,000 (49 big blinds). With the two players so deep, everyone expected a long, fierce battle. However, the WSOP Europe Main Event nearly ended in the first hand of heads-up play.
Konishi limped with and Kudzmanas raised to 5,500,000 with . Konishi called.
The flop came , giving Konishi an open-ended straight draw. The Lithanian fired 3,400,000, and Konishi called.
The turn was the , giving Konishi a pair. Kudzmanas fired a second barrel, this time for 11 million. Konishi called once more.
The gave Konishi a straight, and with 41 million in the middle and Kudzmanas left with just 38 million behind, he thought about firing the third barrel, using a time bank before giving up. Konishi fired a bet of 11 million and took the pot down, extending his advantage to a 3-to-1 lead.
Kudzmanas would claw back to a 2-to-1 deficit the very next hand, when his flopped flush draw turned into a flush on the river after Konishi flopped a straight draw himself.
Kudzmanas went on a run, winning virtually every small pot before he took the lead. The Lithuanian got a big boost, winning a 35,200,000 chip pot making kings and jacks with against Konishi’s , with the eight kicker somehow playing after the river came down a .
The Lithuanian extended his lead to nearly three-to-one when Konishi triple barreled on a runout with a missed flush draw. Kudzmanas picked him off with to go up 110 million to 47 million.
The blinds went up to 800,000/1,600,000 and Kudzmanas got his first opportunity to win the WSOP Europe Main Event, getting all in for 17 big blinds with against Konishi’s . Konishi held on the ace-high runout to get a much-needed double.
Konishi was not just going against the experience of a Triton pro and a two-time bracelet winner; he was on the wrong side of card distribution. The two-and-a-half-hour marathon finally came to an end when Konishi was dealt and opened to 3,600,000. Kudzmanas defended his .
All the money went in on the flop, and Konishi would take a slight chip lead if he could hold, though he only had a 54% chance to win.
The turn wiped the smile off his face, and he was down to a king to save his tournament life. The brought the WSOP Europe Main Event to a close, and Kudzmanas was to the moon, double fist-pumping and smiling as he collected his third bracelet and €2,000,000.
2026 WSOP Europe Main Event final table results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Marius Kudzmanas | Lithuania | €2,000,000 |
| 2nd | Akihiro Konishi | Japan | €1,200,000 |
| 3rd | Chris Hunichen | United States | €800,000 |
| 4th | Nikolay Bibov | Bulgaria | €575,000 |
| 5th | Antonio Guimaraens | Spain | €425,000 |
| 6th | Hengtao Zhu | Finland | €320,000 |
| 7th | Thomas Eychenne | France | €245,000 |
| 8th | Brandon Sheils | United Kingdom | €185,000 |
| 9th | Joona Nyholm | Finland | €140,000 |
WSOP Europe Main Event winners
| Year | Winner | Country | Prize | Entrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Annette Obrestad | Norway | £1,000,000 | 362 |
| 2008 | John Juanda | Indonesia | £868,800 | 362 |
| 2009 | Barry Shulman | United Kingdom | £801,603 | 334 |
| 2010 | James Bord | United Kingdom | £830,401 | 346 |
| 2011 | Elio Fox | United States | €1,400,000 | 593 |
| 2012 | Phil Hellmuth | United States | €1,022,376 | 420 |
| 2013 | Adrián Mateos | Spain | €1,000,000 | 375 |
| 2015 | Kevin MacPhee | United States | €883,000 | 313 |
| 2017 | Marti Roca de Torres | Spain | €1,115,207 | 529 |
| 2018 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | €1,122,239 | 534 |
| 2019 | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | €1,133,678 | 541 |
| 2021 | Josef Guláš | Czechia | €1,276,712 | 688 |
| 2022 | Omar Eljach | Sweden | €1,380,129 | 763 |
| 2023 | Max Neugebauer | Austria | €1,500,000 | 817 |
| 2024 | Simone Andrian | Italy | €1,300,000 | 768 |
| 2025 | Daniel Pidun | Germany | €1,140,000 | 659 |
| 2026 | Marius Kudzmanas | Lithuania | €2.000,000 | 2,617 |
