WSOP Europe Ends with Drama as Christian Pedersen Wins First Ever Bracelet

The outsider Christian Pedersen took on the might of the Global Poker Index Player of the Year Punnat Punsri heads-up for a bracelet to close out the 2026 WSOP Europe festival last night. A nerveless display from the Danish player meant a first-time winner celebrated a victory worth $702,000 as the curtain came down on a hugely successful series.

The End of a Frantic Fortnight

The past two weeks inside King’s Casino at the Prague Hilton in the Czech capital have been very busy. Thousands of players packed the cardroom to battle it out for just 15 WSO bracelets, with several late winners celebrating epic moments. The German player David Wintersberger won the last event on the ticket, the $3,225-entry The Closer Turbo Bounty Event #15 but that event actually ended before Christian Pedersen’s victory in the $9,825 GGMillion$ High Roller, meaning the Dane won the last bracelet on offer.

After other winners such as Europe’s first-ever PLO Double Board bracelet event winner Richard Geyer and sole Russian winner Nikolai Ogoltsov celebrated winning gold in the €1,500 buy-in European Circuit Championship, attention switched to the closing stages of the last event to finish, where a 359-strong field had been whittled down to a final table of nine players.

With a total prize pool of over $3.36 million, there was a lot on the line too, with the top prize of $702,000 dwarfing many others over the course of the past fortnight thanks to its sizeable buy-in. With 17 players coming back for the final day, early eliminations included Jeremie Zouari, who busted in 17^th place before Eduard Anufriiev saw his ace-king shot down by pocket kings, the cowboys bulletproof.

Kanit Cannot Find It

The Italian player Mustapha Kanit had come into play fifth in chips as he hoped to win what would have been his first WSOP bracelet. However, the modern poker great’s luck turned sour yet again, as he exited at the hands of Zackary Estes. Kanit had pocket queens but ran into Estes’ pocket aces to crash out for $31,600 instead of making the final table.

Plenty of other players already had bracelets to their names but perished all the same. French professional Alexandre Reard was cut down in 13^th place for $31,600 and he was soon followed by Bulgarian players Boris and Yuliyan Kolev, whose duplicate ambitions of winning a third WSOP title ended in 11^th and 10^th place for two scores of $38,725.

Once the final table was set, there were exits for Mehdi Chaoui (9^th for $49,000) and the cryptocurrency social media influencer Jake Greenbaum (8^th for $63,000). They were followed from the felt by one of the best to ever do it, as Mike Watson left in sixth place for $83,000. ‘SirWatts’, as he is known online, was all-in and at risk with pocket queens in spades and clubs but was called by Pedersen with pocket kings in the same suits. As it transpired, the suits mattered, as four clubs came to give the Dane a superior flush, reducing the field to five.

Punsri Denied as Rookie Rises in Prague

The slogan for the 2026 World Series of Poker Europe was ‘Rise in Prague’ and after a stunning series where each of the 15 tournament winners were different, Christian Pedersen’s win in the Czech capital symbolised that ethic perfectly. After Watson’s departure, the Danish player continued to dominate, as players such as Mario Diaz Quilez (6^th for $111,000) and Estes (5^th for $153,000) both left the party.

The Belarussian player Aliaksei Boika was eliminated in fourth place for $216,000 when his queen-ten was unable to hit against the pocket threes of Pedersen, before the French player Miroslav Alilovic headed out the door too. Alilovic cashed for $316,000 when his king-jack fell to the Thai player Punsri’s ace-seven, with heads-up play starting with Punsri having just 28% of the chips in play.

Dropping slightly lower in chips, Punsri then doubled up, his king-jack hitting against the pocket threes of Pedersen. The Danish player had to sit back down and do it all over again but worked his way back into the lead. Getting his chips in with pocket threes again, Pedersen had to win a flip to take the title and although he couldn’t watch the river card fall, it failed to improve Punsri’s hand and the Danish player was stunned as he finally became a WSOP bracelet winner.

A Fitting Champion

“I’ve dreamed about winning a big live tournament. It’s a very nice feeling to finally do it.”

Taking home a top prize of $702,000, Pedersen’s win earned him his first-ever WSOP title against one of the best never to win one, the GPI Player of the Year Punnat Punsri, who took home $468,000 as the tournament’s runner-up. Pedersen, who only turned pro six years ago and switched from tournaments to cash games to suit his daytime work schedule, was thrilled with his win.

“For the past couple of years, I’ve mainly been grinding cash games online, but I still travel to stops like this to play live,” he said. “I’ve never really dreamed about winning a [WSOP] bracelet, but I’ve dreamed about winning a big live tournament. It’s a very nice feeling to finally do it.”

When he made the heads-up battle, Pedersen said he had no nerves despite taking one such an experienced live player.

“Obviously he’s a good player, but I was more nervous that I would make a blunder because it’s been so long since I played heads-up,” Pedersen smiled. “When we got into it and I got in the flow, I felt like my brain remembered the spots.”

After a superb 2026 WSOP Europe series, here are all 15 winners, and what they won along the way.