Germany’s Frank Koopmann won the first gold bracelet of WSOP Europe 2026 in Prague, taking down the €3,300 Mixed PLO/PLO8/Big O for €123,879 after rivering quad fours against Shaun Deeb heads-up. The festival at King’s Casino inside the Hilton Prague has drawn record fields across its opening days.

The €10,000,000-guaranteed Main Event launched Day 1A on April 3, the same day the €1,100 Opener drew 2,195 entries and the €565 Colossus attracted 2,662. This is the first time WSOP Europe has been held in Prague after eight years in Rozvadov.

Our full schedule and guide to the Prague festival covers the satellite pathways and event details.

First Bracelet Goes to German Recreational Player

Koopmann, a self-described recreational player with a 20-year poker career, earned only his fourth lifetime WSOP cash by winning the whole thing. The €3,300 Mixed PLO/PLO8/Big O drew 181 entries and generated a €543,000 prize pool, paying 28 places.

The final hand was a PLO cooler for the ages.

Deeb took home €81,784 for second place, extending his unwanted record of WSOP runner-up finishes. With eight bracelets and two Player of the Year titles to his name, Deeb’s struggle to close at WSOP final tables remains one of poker’s most persistent storylines.

Koopmann had also made quads to eliminate third-place finisher Blaz Zerjav shortly before. Dario Sammartino (6th, €20,682) and Rishi Amin (5th, €27,894) were among the notable final table finishers.

Record Fields Across the Opening Events

The bracelet result is only part of the story. The field sizes across the festival’s first three events have been enormous by WSOP Europe standards.

The €1,100 Opener Mystery Bounty (Event #1) smashed through with 2,195 total entries across four starting flights, generating roughly €2.2M in combined prize pools. As of April 3, the final 16 players were battling for the bracelet.

Eight-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser led the remaining field with 13,495,000 chips. First place pays €150,000 plus mystery bounties.

The €565 Colossus (Event #3) drew an even larger crowd: 2,662 entries producing a €1,331,000 prize pool. Day 2 began on April 3 with 258 players remaining. Deeb, back in action less than 24 hours after his runner-up finish, led the field with 2,005,000 chips.

To put those numbers in context: the 2023 WSOP Europe Main Event in Rozvadov, the previous attendance high point, drew 817 entries total. The Colossus side event alone has tripled that figure.

€10M Main Event Launches with Historic Guarantee

The headline event kicked off Day 1A on April 3 with the largest Main Event guarantee in WSOP Europe history: €10,000,000. WSOP halved the traditional buy-in from €10,350 to €5,300 according to the official WSOP Europe schedule, betting that a lower entry point would attract enough volume to cover the doubled guarantee.

Early signs are encouraging. Day 1A drew over 680 entries before late registration closed, already surpassing the entire 2025 WSOPE Main Event field of 659 in Rozvadov. Two more starting flights remain on April 4 and April 5, with two re-entries permitted per flight.

The tournament needs approximately 2,000 entries to cover the guarantee. With over 100 GGPoker players already qualified via online satellites and two flights still to come, the target looks achievable.

Hellmuth, Obrestad, and Mizrachi Lead the Star Power

Prague’s debut has attracted a stacked lineup, each chasing their own headline. We have profiles of the game’s biggest names featured below.

Phil Hellmuth committed to playing nearly every event at WSOP Europe, chasing bracelet #18. Hellmuth’s 17 bracelets and record WSOP career include a WSOPE Main Event title (2012), and the new $1,000,000 unified POY race spanning all three 2026 WSOP festivals gives him extra incentive to grind the full schedule.

The most compelling sub-plot belongs to Annette Obrestad. She won the inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event in London in 2007 for £1,000,000 at age 18, becoming the youngest bracelet winner in WSOP history. Her career live earnings exceed $3.9M on Hendon Mob.

After stepping away from competitive poker for roughly eight years, Obrestad returned to the felt in January 2026 with a small tournament cash in Las Vegas. In Prague, she will deliver the ceremonial shuffle-up-and-deal for the Main Event and is confirmed to play both the Ladies Championship and the Main Event itself.

Michael Mizrachi, the reigning WSOP Main Event champion ($10M, 8th bracelet), is already active in Prague. He cashed in the Opener (103rd) and the Mixed PLO event (24th). Viktor “Isildur1” Blom entered the Mixed PLO but busted before the money.

Czech local Martin Kabrhel made headlines for the wrong reasons when he was accidentally dealt five cards in a PLO hand. The floor initially ruled his hand dead, but later adjusted to a chip penalty after Kabrhel protested. He busted Day 1 but re-entered and advanced with 974,000 chips.

Inaugural Ladies Championship Headlines Remaining Schedule

The festival’s second half features several marquee events, led by a historic first for some of the most famous women in professional poker.

The €1,000 WSOP Europe Ladies Championship (Event #6, April 5) marks the first time a women-only event will award a gold bracelet on European soil. A ring event was held at the 2011 WSOPE, but no bracelet has been at stake for women in Europe until now.

The winner receives a specially designed bracelet with a unique gemstone setting.

Confirmed players include back-to-back WSOP Las Vegas Ladies champion Shiina Okamoto, Leo Margets, Vanessa Kade, Taiwan’s all-time leading earner Kitty Kuo, and UFC champion Mackenzie Dern. Obrestad is also confirmed to play.

Beyond the Ladies event, the remaining schedule includes the €20,800 Super High Roller (April 8), the €1,500 European Circuit Championship with a €1.5M guarantee (April 8), and the €8,400 GGMillion$ High Roller (April 9). The festival wraps on April 12 with the Main Event final table.

Players looking to qualify for future WSOP events can start for as little as $0.50 through GGPoker’s WSOP Express satellite ladder, which feeds into weekly finals awarding $10,000 Bracelet Passes.

With field sizes smashing expectations and the Main Event guarantee creating genuine tension over whether 2,000 entries will materialise, Prague’s debut as a WSOP Europe host city has already validated the move from Rozvadov.

Follow our latest results as the Prague festival continues through April 12.