Marius Kudzmanas Wins the 2026 WSOP Europe Main Event for $2.3m

Conquering Europe in the biggest-ever World Series of Poker Europe Main Event was no small feat and this week, Lithuanian player Marius Kudzmanas won over $2.3 million and the biggest prize of his poker career so far. The WSOP Europe Main Event had an incredible 2,617 entries in Prague, trebling the previous record of 2023 and producing a final table full of action as players battled to not one but two seven-figure scores.

Opening Levels

As the final table began, nine players faced each other across the Czech felt as they fought to become the champion of Europe. Beginning with the lead was the Finnish player Hengtao Zhu with a massive 91 big blind stack of 25.8 million chips. The Frenchman Thomas Eychenne was Zhu’s nearest challenger on 65 big blinds but most of the chasing pack had around half the chip leader’s pile or less, with Spanish player Antonio Guimaraens (14BB) and Zhu’s compatriot Joona Nyholm (8BB) needing a lot of help to get back in contention.

With just nine players left from the record-breaking field of 2,617 entries which generated a total prize pool of €13,085,000 ($15.3m) when registration closed, it took little time for the eliminations to begin. As expected, it was the short stack, Finnish player Nyholm who began the exodus. Almost all-in pre-flop, the Finn committed the last of his stack on a flop of A-7-7 with  king-ten but was behind Chris Hunichen’s pocket eights. Drawing to two overcards, Nyholm’s lot improved on the queen turn, which added in straight outs too, but none came of the river of a three and Big Huni had scored the first elimination, with Nyholm collecting $164,250 in ninth place.

Soon, the field was down to seven players. British player Brandon Sheils qualified for the WSOPE Main Event through a qualifier but won an extraordinary $217,000 over the course of a life-changing week in Prague. All-in with ace-queen pre-flop, Sheils was way behind Nikolay Bibov’s ace-king and the cards didn’t help the British player at all across the T-9-4-3-J board.

From Chip Hero to Zero

Next to go was the French player Thomas Eychenne, who was very unlucky to lose his tournament life in seventh place. All-in with pocket kings for just over 20 big blinds, he got a call from the Lithuanian Marius Kudzmanas with pocket nines. That was the good news but bad soon followed, with a nine on the flop. No king or running cards came to save Eychenne and the former chip leader was on the rail with $287,500.

The overnight chip leader slid down the pecking order in a long period without an elimination and Finnish player Hengtao Zhu busted for $375,400 in sixth place. On a board showing J-9-4-3-3, Zhu moved all-in for 11 million chips. Kudzmanas made a brilliant call with five-four for third pair and took out the talented Finnish player with one of the best plays of the WSOP Europe series.

The Spanish player Antonio Guimaraens was the next to lose his seat, cashing for $499,000 in fifth place. All-in with ace-three, he started and ended his final hand way behind the Japanese player Akihiro Konishi’s ace-queen. A run-out of Q-7-6-Q-J was as safe a board as it could be for Konishi as the final four went off to the final dinner break.

Kudzmanas is the King

Down to four players, Nikolay Bibov got extremely unfortunate to lose his chips. All-in with ace-queen, the Bulgarian lost to Marius Kudzmanas’ ace-jack when a board of J-8-5-6-7 played out, reducing the field to four players, and sending the Bulgarian home with  $675,000 in fourth place.

Three-handed play went on for some time before Chris Hunichen ran short. ‘Big Huni’ shoved for 7.5 big blinds with seven-eight and lost to Konishi’s king-jack after a plain board of T-3-3-2-A ran out to send the Japanese player into the heads-up battle with 97.8 million chips to Kudzmanas’ stack of 59.1m chips. Big Huni cashed for a huge $938,500 in third place.

After winning an early hand with a straight, Konishi led by 3:1 in chips. A triple barrel bet with trips cost him the lead, however, as the Lithuanian made a call with jack-eight on a board of K-K-2-J-4 to out-pip the Japanese player’s jack-seven and grab the advantage. Although he fought back, Konishi’s final hand summed up his heads-up battle.

All-in with pocket kings on a flop of 7-5-4 against Kudzmanas’ seven-six, Konishi was ahead. But a seven on the turn and jack on the river once again gave the Lithuanian a fortunate win with trips to end the contest in his favor.

The Champion of Europe

“It’s nice to be with as many amateurs as possible left.”

While Konishi cashed for a superb score of, $1,408,000, Kudzmanas had the title of European WSOP Champion and the top prize of $2,346,000. After the nail-biting finale, the Lithuanian spoke to reporters.

‘I felt like ‘I’m the best player at the table’,” the Lithuanian said. “I just needed to not get any big coolers and just play my game as best as possible.”

The new WSOPE Main Event winner certainly did that, staying out of trouble and making trips in two vital spots. He credited a lot of the win down to two of the major players at the final table busting early.

“It was much easier after [Brandon Sheils and Thomas Eychenne] were gone because they are very good players” he said. “It’s nice to be with as many amateurs as possible left.”

After his victory, Kudzmanas was asked about whether this win meant he would pursue the title of WSOP Player of the Year, the leaderboard for which he currently tops.

“I actually never thought about it; I’m not playing that much live poker to chase it… but we will see.”

After a thrilling win in the Czech capital, Kudzmanas has certainly proven he has the skills to last a long time in any such race.