Battling his way through a 2,617-entry field and a difficult nine-handed final table, Lithuania’s Marius Kudzmanas emerged as the champion of the 2026 World Series of Poker Europe’s €5,000 Main Event. Despite starting the final table deep on the leaderboard, Kudzmanas was able to battle past such notables as European Poker Tour champion Thomas Eychenne and WSOP bracelet holder Chris Hunichen. To put the finishing touch on his run, Kudzmanas defeated Akihiro Konishi in heads-up play to earn the WSOP bracelet and a two-million Euro payday.
Going Up?
From the start of the final day of the Main Event, Kudzmanas had a difficult road ahead of him. Topping the field was Finland’s Hengtao Zhu, who had more than twice the stack (36.3 million) of Kudzmanas (18.05 million) at the start of play. France’s Eychenne and the U.S.’s Hunichen both had better odds with their stacks (25.825 million for Eychenne, 19.3 million for ‘Big Huni’). In contrast, others, such as the short stack Joona Nyholm (3.275 million) and Antonio Gulmaraens (5.7 million), had their work cut out for them.
Nyholm looked for something to battle with, so when he found paint in his hands (K-10), he decided to make the move against Hunichen after an A-7-7 flop. Turns out that Hunichen had set the trap for Nyholm; his pocket eights held the edge over Nyholm and, after a scare card of a Queen came on the turn (giving Nyholm a Broadway straight possibility along with his over cards), a meek trey would hit the river, eliminating Nyholm in ninth place.
Brandon Sheils would be the next departure after being cooled by Nikolay Bibov. Sheils jammed his stack in with A-Q, only to see Bibov make the call and show down A-K. A ten-high board didn’t change anything, and Sheils was out in eighth.
Eychenne had spent much of the tournament around the top of the leaderboard, so his departure in seventh place was a bit of a surprise. He would bleed chips through his stay at the final table, however, and he thought he had found his moment to get back into the tournament when he committed his final fifteen million in chips (or so) against Marius Kudzmanas. Holding pocket Kings, Eychenne had to like his chances against Kudzmanas’ pocket nines, but the nine in the window of a 9-6-3 flop changed everything. A deuce on the turn and a ten on the river completed the board, and Eychenne was done for the day as Kudzmanas zoomed to the top of the leaderboard.
The Battle Raged Onward…
With six players remaining, no one could really claim control of the tournament. Kudzmanas and Bibov swapped the lead between each other, but Hunichen would slowly begin his grind up the ladder. The bad news was for Zhu, who would bluff off his stack with Big Slick against the only player who could top him, Kudzmanas. Kudzmanas saw through Zhu’s bluff and won with a 5-4 on a J-9-4-3-3, sending Zhu out in sixth place and seizing command with 71 million in chips.
As Kudzmanas ruled the felt, the other players looked to rise to his challenge. Konishi would eliminate Guimaraens in fifth place, an A-Q besting an A-3, and Kudzmanas topped Bibov in fourth place, his A-J finding a Jack on the flop against Bibov’s A-Q. Down to three-handed play, Kudzmanas, Konishi, and Hunichen were nearly equal. Still, Konichi found a substantial chunk of Hunichen’s chips to take the lead after his pocket Queens defeated Hunichen’s pocket sevens. Konishi would deal the final blow to Hunichen when his K-J held over ‘Big Huni’s’ 8-7 to send Hunichen home in third place.
The heads-up match started with Konishi holding nearly twice as many chips as Kudzmanas (97.8 million to 59.1 million), and the battle raged on. Konishi drew first blood, but Kudzmanas would fight back to take over the lead after about an hour of play. Konishi would never see the lead again; after another couple of hours, Konishi opened the betting to 3.6 million and, after a call from Kudzmanas, saw a 4-5-7 flop. Konishi moved in a C-bet of three million and got the very response he wanted from Kudzmanas, who check-raised to 9.5 million.
Konishi moved all in over the top of Kudzmanas’ bet and, with surprisingly little hesitation, Kudzmanas made the call, and the cards were tabled:
Kudzmanas (big blind): 7-6
Konishi (button): pocket Kings
Konishi had trapped his opponent, but it was tenuous as Kudzmanas had outs to a win in an open-ended straight draw, any of the three sixes, or the two sevens in the deck. That is exactly what came on the turn, a seven, to give trip sevens for Kudzmanas. Needing only to fade the two Kings left in the deck, the Jack on the river didn’t help any, and the celebration was on for Marius Kudzmanas as the new champion of the European poker world.
1. Marius Kudzmanas (Lithuania), €2,000,000
2. Akihiro Konishi (Japan), €1,200,000
3. Chris Hunichen (USA), €800,000
4. Nikolay Bibov (Bulgaria), €575,000
5. Antonio Guimaraens (Spain), €425,000
6. Hengtao Zhu (Finland), €320,000
7. Thomas Eychenne (France), €245,000
8. Brandon Sheils (United Kingdom), €185,000
9. Joona Nyholm (Finland), €140,000