Marius Kudzamanas was crowned World Champion at King’s Casino Prague this weekend, as he overcame a record-breaking field of 2,617 players to take home a €2,000,000 first-place prize and a custom-crafted WSOP gold bracelet.

This year’s WSOPE Main Event was a historic affair, as the Series decided to move the festival from its previous home in Rozvadov to the Czech capital and offer a €10,000,000 guarantee to the Main Event.

While many were skeptical about the event potentially failing to meet the guarantee, the massive turnout ended up shattering it, as a total of €13,085,000 was paid out to the 393 players who made the money in the prestigious Championship tournament.

WSOPE Attracts Record-Breaking Numbers

This year’s WSOPE festival was a complete game-changer, growing from a relatively obscure tournament series played almost exclusively by European players to a true international affair worthy of the WSOP brand.

Caesars decided it was time to move WSOPE back to a more attractive location in 2026, and their decision to hold the festival in Prague was a major hit, as players from all corners of the world flocked to one of the most exciting travel destinations in all of Europe.

A total of 2,617 entries were made in the €5,300 WSOPE Main Event alone, with players like Shaun Deeb, Texas Mike, Shina Okamoto, Anthony Zinno, and Chris Hunichen among those who made the trip across the ocean to attend the festivities.

Beyond the Main Event, WSOPE’s 15 gold bracelet events attracted a total of 15,779 players from 80 different countries, to create a total prize pool of €39,500,000, beyond anything we saw at this festival in the past.

WSOP Chief Executive Officer Ty Stewart said: “We are absolutely thrilled with the phenomenal success of this year’s WSOP Europe, which has set new parameters for poker on the continent. The enthusiasm and incredible turnout, particularly for the record-breaking €5,300 Main Event, has been unprecedented.”

This year’s WSOPE was a first taste of what we can expect to see from the festival in the coming years, as its renewed popularity and participation in the WSOP POY race take it to the next level.

Annette Oberstad and Shaun Deeb Make the Headlines

The 2026 WSOPE brought us 15 new WSOP champions, but it wasn’t all about the players who won bracelets, as interesting stories unfolded away from the winners’ circles as well.

One such story was the return of Annette Oberstad to competitive tournament poker, as the youngest-ever WSOP Main Event champion played her first major events since 2018.

After winning the inaugural WSOPE Main Event in London back in 2007 at just 18 years old, Oberstad was an icon of the poker world for about a decade before moving away from competitive play to pursue other ventures in 2018.

Now, nearly two decades later, the Norwegian came back to the festival that propelled her to stardom, played in the Main Event, and nearly made the final table again, as she was eliminated in 35th place to earn a €40,000 payday.

While no official announcement has been made, poker fans around the world will be hoping that Annette’s return to the ring was not a one-time thing, and that we’ll be seeing a lot more of her on the circuit in the coming months.

Another iconic player who made quite a stir at the WSOPE was the reigning WSOPE champion Shaun Deeb, who nearly added two bracelets to his impressive resume but was denied by four-of-a-kind on both occasions.

Deeb got to heads-up play in event #2, a small field €3,300 PLO Mix event, but was denied his ninth bracelet by Frank Koopmann, whose quads were better than Shaun’s full house.

The very next event, the €565 COLOSSUS, saw Deeb go heads-up against Gilles Silbernagel, after they both outlasted a field of 2,662 players. Unfortunately, Shaun’s full house would once again be defeated by quads in a somewhat bizarre streak of bad luck.

Despite all that, the 1,340 POY points that Shaun was able to accumulate at WSOPE will likely go a long way in helping him chase his third POY title this year, as he prepares to put in the grind in Las Vegas and Paradise over the summer and winter months.

Next Stop – WSOP Las Vegas

This spring brought us the most iconic WSOPE festival of all time, and now that it’s in the books, players will be preparing for the next leg of this year’s WSOP schedule, which plays out in Las Vegas from May 26 to July 15.

This year’s WSOP schedule will include 100 gold bracelet events, including the most prestigious tournament of the year, the WSOP Main Event, which will once again aim to shatter attendance records.

With just a couple of months left before the WSOP in Las Vegas kicks off, GGPoker is actively giving away dozens of $10,000 Main Event seats via its new WSOP Express qualification path, while WSOP Online offers qualification opportunities to American players.

After a long hiatus, the Main Event will once again be featured on ESPN this year in an effort to bring tournament poker closer to the wider mainstream audience across the US. The epic production should be one of the best we have ever seen from the WSOP, making it a real treat for poker fans worldwide.