Pedro Carvalhas Faustino put together one of the most dominant performances imaginable at the final table of the 2026 World Series of Poker Europe monster stack event. He eliminated six of his final eight competitors, and snatched almost the entire stack of a seventh player just before they busted, on his way to victory.
The Portuguese player topped the 902 player field to win his first career WSOP bracelet and a first-place prize of $255,036. He defeated standout Korean player Hong Jin-Ho heads up, outdrawing the bracelet winner and longtime professional StarCraft player on the final hand.
Faustino’s victory is a breakout performance in every sense of the word. Prior to winning this €1,650 no-limit hold’em tournament, his biggest career live result was worth less than $5,000. He leaves Czechia and WSOP Europe with his career earnings multiplied many times over and a one of the most coveted pieces of poker hardware in hand. He also earned his first-ever qualifying result in the Card Player Player of the Year standings. Faustino secured 912 POY points as the champion, pushing him into the top 200 in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker.
This win continued a dominant trend for European players in the first half of this festival. Players from six different European countries have won the first seven bracelets on offer at WSOPE in 2026, with Germany doubling up on the gold.
Tearing Through The Monster
In a matter of two (long) days of poker, more than 900 entries were reduced to one champion inside the Hilton Prague. The bubble burst at the end of day 1, leaving 136 players to return to battle for the bracelet. David ‘ODB’ Baker (128th), Enrico Camosci (101st), Esther Taylor (79th), Blaz Zerjav (65th), Michael Mizrachi (64th), Olga Iermolcheva (52nd), and Rania Nasreddine (39th) all ran deep before bowing out short of the bracelet.
It was well into the evening hours before the field finally reached a final table of nine. Two previous WSOP bracelet winners were in the mix to add to their totals. Hong, at his third career live WSOP final table, previously took down the 2022 WSOP Poker Hall of Fame bounty no-limit hold’em event. He also won a $3,500, $3.5 million guaranteed tournament during the 2022 Wynn Summer Classic for a career-best score of $696,011.
🔥 THE FINAL TABLE of the €1,650 Monster Stack!
💰€221,770 for the winner of this beast of a field with a WSOP gold bracelet!
🔒 €16,590 locked for 9th place or better
📲 Check the results in the WSOP Live app! pic.twitter.com/g3p0Dnpxpl
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) April 7, 2026
Lukas Zaskodny was looking to win his third career bracelet, and second on home soil. The Czech pro won a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event at the 2025 WSOP in Las Vegas, and a 2017 WSOP Europe €2,200 pot-limit Omaha event in which he defeated Allen Kessler heads up. He also won over $1 million in the 2019 partypoker MILLIONS Europe in Rozvadov.
Lithuania’s Edgaras Kausinis (9th – $19,079) was the first to fall at Faustino’s hands, as his pocket eights couldn’t find a miracle against Faustino’s pocket queens. Zaskodny was one of the few players not to be eliminated by Faustino at this final table, but he did lose all but his last few big blinds to Faustino when a triple barrel bluff with an unpaired A♣Q♥ failed to push Faustino off of his pocket sixes, which was an underpair to the board.
Unstoppable Faustino
Andreas Goeller scooped up the last of Zaskodny’s (8th – $24,737) chips in short order, and Faustino quickly went back on the offensive. He spiked a river king with K♣9♥ to beat Valentino Konakchiev’s pocket sevens, eliminating Konakchiev in seventh ($32,660). Lukas Timko got his chips in good against Faustino, with pocket tens against A♣6♣. But two sixes on the flop spelled doom for Timko, who earned $43,884 for his sixth-place showing.
K♥9♦ was once again effective for Faustino, this time against Benjamin Stiefel. Stiefel got the last of his chips in with A♣7♣, but the German fell behind on a K♣Q♣Q♠ flop. There were no clubs or aces to save Stiefel on the turn or the river, and he became the next Faustino victim, in fifth ($59,996).A three-bet shove from a short-stacked Goeller, with 6♥2♦, did not go to plan. Faustino called with K♦Q♦, and flopped a queen. Despite a six on the turn offering hope of a runner-runner miracle, Goeller couldn’t find salvation on the river, settling for fourth place ($83,421).
Hong, who had managed to avoid the Faustino buzzsaw to this point, finally picked up an elimination. He, Faustino, and Stig Borg went three ways to a 6♣5♥3♠ flop. Borg shoved, and Hong called with A♥7♦. Borg was in a world of hurt with 7♣2♥, and ace-high was good enough for Hong to eliminate Borg in third ($117,956).
Hong had a window for a comeback, and found his chance to double into the lead. On a Q♦J♥7♦ flop, Hong checked, Faustino bet, Hong check-raised, and Faustino eventually shoved. Hong called, happily tabling top and bottom pair with Q♥7♣. Faustino was behind, but his 9♦6♦ connected with the J♦ turn, making a diamond flush. Hong needed a queen, seven, or jack on the river, but the K♥ completed Faustino’s sweep to the bracelet. Hong was awarded $169,556 as the runner-up, the fourth-largest score of his career. He now boasts more than $2.6 million in lifetime cashes.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | Points |
| 1 | Pedro Carvalhas Faustino | $255,036 | 912 |
| 2 | Hong Jin-ho | $169,556 | 760 |
| 3 | Stig Borg | $117,956 | 608 |
| 4 | Andreas Goeller | $83,421 | 456 |
| 5 | Benjamin Stiefel | $59,996 | 380 |
| 6 | Lukas Timko | $43,884 | 304 |
| 7 | Valentino Konakchiev | $32,660 | 228 |
| 8 | Lukas Zaskodny | $24,737 | 150 |
| 9 | Edgaras Kausinis | $19,079 | 76 |
Photo credit: WSOP
