WSOPE Main Event: Mizrachi Eliminated as €13M Record Field Takes Shape

Mizrachi falls before the money as the WSOPE Main Event confirms the largest field in European poker history.

Published 2026.04.08
6 min read
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Michael Mizrachi’s bid to become the first player to hold both WSOP and WSOPE Main Event titles at the same time is over. The reigning WSOP champion was eliminated on Day 2 of the €5,300 WSOPE Main Event in Prague, busting before the money bubble.

WSOPE Main Event Day 3: Mizrachi eliminated from record-breaking €13M prize pool as Eychenne leads 356 players

The field that knocked him out was record-breaking. A total of 2,617 entries across three Day 1 flights generated a €13,085,000 prize pool, the largest in WSOPE history and the biggest major tournament field ever assembled in Europe.

Thomas Eychenne leads the 356 survivors into Day 3 with 2,010,000 chips. First prize is €2,000,000. Two more bracelets were awarded over the weekend, bringing the series total to six of 15, with Anca Eggenberger and Fahredin Mustafov joining four earlier bracelet winners.

Mizrachi’s WSOP Double Quest Ends on Day 2

Mizrachi had entered Prague chasing history. A Main Event win would have made him only the second player after Phil Hellmuth to claim both WSOP and WSOPE titles. His 344,000-chip Day 1C bag and double pursuit made him the headline story heading into Day 2.

It ended on a coin flip gone wrong. Robert Heidorn called Mizrachi’s shove, catching a queen on the turn to crack pocket nines. Mizrachi was eliminated before the bubble burst at 393 players, meaning no Main Event cash.

His Prague results were limited to two minor cashes: 103rd in the Opener (€3,350) and 24th in the Mixed PLO (€6,545). Hellmuth, the only man to have completed the WSOP/WSOPE double, had already withdrawn from the festival for personal reasons before it began.

Record Main Event by the Numbers

The 2026 WSOPE Main Event is now the largest major poker tournament ever held on European soil. The numbers dwarf everything that came before it.

  • Total entries: 2,617 across three Day 1 flights (previous WSOPE record: 817 in 2023).
  • Prize pool: €13,085,000 (previous WSOPE record: €7.76M in 2023 at €10,350 buy-in).
  • First prize: €2,000,000, the largest in WSOPE history.
  • Countries represented: 71, boosted by Prague's accessibility as a global travel destination.
  • Buy-in: halved from €10,350 to €5,300, widely credited alongside the Prague move for tripling the field.

The previous European record belonged to the 2022 EPT Barcelona Main Event (2,294 entries, €11,125,900 prize pool). Prague blew past both marks in a single event.

GGPoker’s WSOP Express satellite system fed a significant portion of the field, with qualifiers starting from $0.50. The same pathway is already running for the summer WSOP in Las Vegas through GGPoker’s rakeback deal and welcome bonus.

Main Event Bubble Bursts as 356 Advance

The money bubble burst late on Day 2 at 393 players, with all 393 locking up a minimum cash of €10,000. Daan Mulders, who finished the day second in chips, was the player who burst it.

Shaun Deeb survived a dramatic moment on the bubble. He was all-in with pocket sevens on one table at the exact moment Symeon Alexandridis was at risk on another.

Alexandridis fell (ace-king suited against 10♠ 10♣ held by Mulders), and Deeb’s sevens held. The two-time WSOP Player of the Year bagged 689,000.

Correction from our previous coverage: Deeb’s two heads-up bracelet losses to opponent quads occurred in Event #2 (Mixed PLO, quad fours by Koopmann) and Event #3 (Colossus, quad sixes by Silbernagel). He was not involved in the Event #7 final table.

Top 10 Chip Counts Entering Day 3

RankPlayerCountryChips
1Thomas EychenneFrance2,010,000
2Daan MuldersNetherlands1,721,000
3Giovanni ZanetteSouth Africa1,467,000
4Yuhan WangChina1,374,000
5Rokas AsipauskasLithuania1,350,000
6Gabriel Martini NobregaBrazil1,241,000
7Alex AntonUSA1,183,000
8Eimantas AdomaviciusLithuania1,168,000
9Niklas DeitmerGermany1,159,000
10Alex KeatingUSA1,150,000

Several big names are still alive deeper in the counts. Alexandros Kolonias, the 2019 WSOPE Main Event champion, has 854,000. Josh Arieh (812,000), Jeff Madsen (1,016,000), and 2022 WSOP champion Espen Jorstad (471,000) are all in the field.

Annette Obrestad, the inaugural 2007 WSOPE Main Event winner who returned to competitive poker after an eight-year hiatus, bagged 581,000. Her return has been one of the festival’s biggest stories: she delivered the ceremonial first shuffle on Day 1A and has been building steadily since.

Day 3 resumed at noon local time on April 7. The final table is expected on April 10, with Days 4 and 5 scheduled for April 8 and 9. Our full WSOPE Prague schedule and satellite guide has the complete remaining event list.

Two More Bracelets: Eggenberger and Mustafov

Switzerland’s Anca Eggenberger won the €1,000 Ladies Championship (Event #6, 197 entries) for €40,298, making it the first women-only bracelet event on European soil. The comeback was the story: she started the final day 23rd of 30 with 9 big blinds and fought all the way to heads-up.

The final hand against South Korea’s Eunbeen Joo was one of the festival’s wildest moments. Joo made two pair on the turn and began celebrating. Eggenberger stood up to leave.

The river completed Eggenberger’s flush. Neither player noticed immediately until Eggenberger sat back down and called it.

Anca Eggenberger celebrates winning the first WSOPE Ladies Championship bracelet in Prague
Anca Eggenberger after winning Europe’s first Ladies Championship bracelet from 9 big blinds at WSOP Europe Prague.

Bulgaria’s Fahredin Mustafov took the €2,200 Turbo Bounty (Event #7, 904 entries) for €142,420 plus bounties. He eliminated five of eight final table opponents and entered heads-up with a 4:1 chip lead over Iran’s Bahram Chobineh.

It was his second WSOP bracelet after the 2025 WSOP Online $25K GGMillion$ SHR Championship, but his first won at a live felt.

All WSOPE 2026 Bracelet Winners So Far

Six of 15 scheduled bracelets have been awarded, all from European nations spanning five different countries.

#EventWinnerCountryPrizeEntries
1€1,100 Opener Mystery BountyCorel TheumaMalta/USA€150,0002,195
2€3,300 Mixed PLOFrank KoopmannGermany€123,879181
3€565 Colossus NLHGilles SilbernagelFrance€165,0002,662
4€565 PLOSSUS BountyJules AyoubGermany€50,7801,120
6€1,000 Ladies ChampionshipAnca EggenbergerSwitzerland€40,298197
7€2,200 Turbo Bounty NLHFahredin MustafovBulgaria€142,420904

All six are first-time live bracelet winners except Mustafov (second overall, first live). Combined entries across completed events exceed 7,259.

What’s Next in Prague

The Main Event still has four days of play remaining. Day 4 runs April 8, Day 5 on April 9, and the final table is set for April 10.

Two high-profile bracelet events launch on April 8: the €20,800 Super High Roller NLH and the €1,500 European Circuit Championship with a €1.5M guarantee. The €5,300 PLO European Championship and €1,650 Monster Stack are already in progress.

For ongoing results from Prague, follow our poker news page.

Professional Poker Journalist
Mark Patrickson is a poker journalist with over ten years of experience. He writes for VIP-Grinders.com, sharing his deep knowledge of poker. He creates interesting content about poker strategy, trends, and news for poker fans worldwide.
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