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Marius Kudzmanas Wins WSOP Europe Main Event, Beating Akihiro Konishi Heads-Up

Marius Kudzmanas Wins WSOP Europe Main Event, Beating Akihiro Konishi Heads-Up
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Alex Sakuta Content Editor
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: April 11, 2026
  • Read time: 2 min

Marius Kudzmanas started the final 9-max in the middle of the chip counts. At the final table, Kudzmanas showed true skill, though of course not without some luck. Here’s how the action unfolded at the final table.

€5K Main Event WSOP Europe Final Table Chip Counts

PositionCountryPlayerStack
1Hengtao Zhu90 bb
2Thomas Eychenne64 bb
3Brandon Sheils52 bb
4Christopher Hunichen48 bb
5Marius Kudzmanas45 bb
6Akihiro Konishi36 bb
7Nikolay Bibov33 bb
8Antonio Guimaraens Garsiya14 bb
9Joona Nyholm8 bb

Watch the final table stream on YouTube (part 1, part 2)

Luck Was On Marius Kudzmanas’ Side For Most Of The Game

Joona Nyholm finished in 9th place, losing an all-in with K 10 vs 8 8 against Chris Hunichen, pot 14 bb.

Brandon Sheils unexpectedly finished in 8th place. Sheils made a 4-bet shove for 16.5 bb with A Q and got called by Nikolay Bibov with A K . Win by K-high.

Thomas Eychenne finished in 7th place after a bad beat. Kudzmanas made a 4-bet shove with 9 9 , Eychenne called with K K , and a 9 came on the flop, pot 43 bb.

Hengtao Zhu finished in 6th place. Effective stack = 14 bb. Zhu opened from HJ with A K , Kudzmanas defended BB with 5 4 . Flop 4 9 J . Zhu bet 1.5 bb. Turn 3 , both checked. River 3 . Kudzmanas bet 1.7 bb into an 8.5 bb pot, Zhu shoved. Kudzmanas thought for a minute and called.

Antonio Garcia finished in 5th place. He spent the entire final table as the shortest stack. In his final hand, he shoved 6.4 bb from the CO with A 3 and got called by Konishi with A Q .

Nikolay Bibov finished in 4th place. He made a 4-bet shove from UTG with A Q , Kudzmanas called with A J , pot 50 bb. A jack came on the flop.

Chris Hunichen finished in 3rd place. He made a 3-bet shove with 7 7 and got called by Konishi with Q Q , pot 72 bb. After this hand, Hunichen was left with 9 bb. He shoved again against the Japanese player and was eliminated.

Source: www.wsop.com/stories

Heads-up: Konishi started with 81 bb, Kudzmanas with 50 bb. Kudzmanas won about a dozen small pots in a row, but Konishi wasn’t ready to give up.

They played for another two hours. In the final hand, with an effective stack of 26 bb, Konishi opened K K , Kudzmanas defended BB with 7 6 . Flop 4 5 7 . Konishi bet, Kudzmanas raised, Konishi went all-in, Kudzmanas called. Turn 7 — Konishi was left with only 2 outs to win. River J .

€5K Main Event WSOP Europe final table payouts (2,617 entries total):

PositionCountryPlayerPayout
1Marius Kudzmanas€2,000,000
2Akihiro Konishi€1,200,000
3Christopher Hunichen€800,000
4Nikolay Bibov€575,000
5Antonio Guimaraens Garsiya€425,000
6Hengtao Zhu€320,000
7Thomas Eychenne€245,000
8Brandon Sheils€185,000
9Joona Nyholm€140,000

This is the third bracelet in Marius Kudzmanas’ career. The previous two were won online on GGPoker: $1K DOUBLE CHANCE NLH WSOP Online 2023 ($147.7K) and $777 LUCKY SEVENS Bounty 7-Handed WSOP 2024 NLH ($162K).

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Written By: Alex Sakuta Content Editor

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