The latest WSOP Europe events ended with drama in Prague as the Hilton played host to Shaun Deeb’s personal Groundhog Day. Rather than being told six more weeks of winter, however, the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner was denied a ninth WSOP crown by quads when heads-up. In another bracelet event, Benny Glaser led late but finished as the PokerStake player nevertheless banked another strong score at the European felt.

Deeb Denied by Quads… Again!

Shaun Deeb got oh so close to his ninth WSOP bracelet for the second time in three events. The American, who had already lost to quads once this series in the €3,300 PLO Mixed Event #2 for €81,784, somehow contrived to do it again, this time reaching six figures but again falling agonisingly short of glory.

In Event #2, Deeb was denied by the first-time bracelet winner Frank Koopman, as the German got over the line to prevent the current reigning WSOP Player of the Year Deeb from kicking off this year’s WSOP Europe series with a victory. Vital in terms of the bracelet, but important too in the race to become 2026 POY, with Deeb admitting recently that this year’s additions of Prague and The Bahamas as venues where points count not helping him in the long run.

This time, Deeb’s opponent was Gilles Silbernagel, as the French player won the €565-entry Colossus NHLE Event #3 for a top score of €165,000. Deeb, all-in and at risk with queen-three on a board showing where he flopped top pair and rivered a full house, lost to the Frenchman’s queen-six that found all four sixes on fifth street (below).

While Deeb was clearly unhappy after the denouement of the latest bracelet event, saying on X: “Lost to quads again heads-up, this isn’t fun”,  two runner-up finishes in the opening three events of the 2026 WSOP Europe schedule have put him in the driving seat for Player of the Year before the Las Vegas series has even started.

WSOP Europe 2026 Event #3 €565 Colossus NLHE Final Table Results:
Event	Winner	Country	Prize
1st	Gilles Silbernagel	France	€165,000
2nd	Shaun Deeb	United States	€110,000
3rd	Przemyslaw Cebrat	Poland	€80,500
4th	Hrvoje Mitrovic	Croatia	€66,000
5th	Jakub Michalak	Poland	€44,500
6th	Davis Mihelsons	Latvia	€32,000
7th	Jerry Odeen	Sweden	€23,500
8th	Christoph Graze	Germany	€18,000
9th	Markus Schottes	Germany	€12,915

Glaser Goes Close to Glory in Bounty Event

The €1,100-entry event called The Opener kicked off this year’s WSOP Europe and while it wasn’t the first event to finish due to the sheer volume of players, it was a dramatic ending to the event on its third day. American Corel Theuma claimed the top prize of €150,000 after defeating the Russian player Maksim Paniak heads-up, who left as runner-up with a score of €95,000.

Also cashing very high up in the field of 2,195 total entries was PokerStake’s Benny Glaser. The British mixed game great was hoping to win his ninth WSOP bracelet just like Shaun Deeb was earlier but was also denied late in the game. Leading with just a handful of players left, Benny cashed for €35,100 in fifth place for his first cash of the WSOP Europe as he bids to finish just one spot higher on the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard.

With Benny skipping the first two flights of the WSOP Europe Main Event, his result in The Opener may well be important at the end of the race to become WSOP Player of the Year, which in 2026 won’t be decided until December in The Bahamas.

WSOP Europe 2026 Event #1 €1,100 Mystery Bounty Final Table Results:
Event	Winner	Country	Prize
1st	Corel Theuma	United States	€150,000
2nd	Maksim Paniak	Russia	€95,000
3rd	Janis Kulikauskis	Latvia	€68,000
4th	Mihai-Cristian Tabac	Romania	€47,100
5th	Benny Glaser	United Kingdom	€35,100
6th	Julien Stropoli	France	€25,100
7th	Cesar Veroez	Venezuela	€19,000
8th	Gabriel Chiva	Romania	€14,000
9th	Chenxiang Miao	China	€11,200

Boika Leads After Day 1a of WSOPE Main Event

Only one player has ever won the WSOP Main Event and the WSOP Europe Main Event – Phil ‘The Poker Brat’ Hellmuth, so how have the field started in the €5,300-entry European version of the world’s biggest poker tournament? Well, Day 1a was well populated, and ended with the Belarussian player Aliaksei Boika. He sits on a massive stack of 424,500 in the clubhouse as he waits for Day 1b players and beyond to join him in the Day 2 table draw.

Elsewhere in the Day 1a survivors, Erick ‘EDog’ Lindgren (356,500) made the top ten, with Nick Seward (297,500), Nacho Barbero (289,500), Patrick Leonard (247,500) and Niklas Astedt (237,000) all featuring in the top 50 players of the 697 who survived Day 1a. With 1,424 total entries already, it’s sure to be a packed poker room at the Prague Hilton as the $10 million guarantee promises to see thousands descend on the Czech capital.

Back your favorite PokerStake player by heading to our dedicated WSOP Europe staking page here and sweat the stars as they bid to win gold in Europe this Spring.

Photographs by Tomáš Stacha for PokerNews at the World Series of Poker.