Over the last three years, Christopher Nguyen has stacked up serious high roller results across multiple major tours. He landed another major milestone at the 2026 World Series of Poker Europe festival, winning the €20,800 no-limit hold’em high roller for his first career gold bracelet and one of the biggest prizes on offer in Prague.
This triumph also saw Nguyen pocket $1,265,000 for his third career seven-figure live score. All three of those million-plus paydays have come in the last 16 months. The German high roller standout added this bracelet win to his 2025 EPT Malta €100,000 high roller title and his fifth-place finish in the 2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event, each worth well over $2 million apiece.
On his way to victory at the Hilton Prague, Nguyen defeated Ren Lin heads up. Lin’s latest close call is his sixth runner-up finish in a WSOP bracelet event, and third time doing so in a live setting.
This was Nguyen’s second qualifying result in the 2026 Card Player Player of the Year race, adding to a Triton final table in Jeju in March. With the 1,224 POY points that came with this title run, Nguyen now sits just outside the top 20 in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker.
A Massive Finale
This high-stakes affair took an extra day to finish, thanks in large part to a sizable turnout. A total of 242 entrants swelled the prize pool to $5,399,000, and added to the intrigue as the final table played out in parallel with the WSOP Europe main event.
It became clear by the midway point in day 2 that an extra day was likely. But there was still a lot of poker to be played, and a bubble to burst. Kayhan Mokri (34th), Johan ‘YoH ViraL’ Guilbert (32nd), Xuan Liu (28th), Shaun Deeb (27th), Patrick Leonard (16th), and Michael Watson (12th) were among the fortunate notables to make it into the money.
Niklas Astedt
When the action paused ahead of day 3, Swedish online poker legend Niklas Astedt held the chip lead with Nguyen just behind him. While the final table was technically an eight-handed affair, Ran Ilani (9th – $97,750) still got to play on the third day of the tournament. He turned J♥8♠ into a straight by the turn of a 10♠10♣9♥7♣10♥ runout, but the third ten on the river gave Espen Oeye a full house with his pocket fives.
Nguyen picked off Dejan Kaladjurdjevic in eighth ($120,750), as pocket tens held off pocket sixes. Andrija Robovic lost his last few big blinds to Lin in a battle of the blinds and went out in seventh place ($155,250).
A Bump In The Road
Nguyen claimed a clear edge in the chip counts heading into six-handed play and used it to exert maximum pressure on his five remaining opponents. Oeye soon woke up with pocket tens in the small blind, but they were no match for Nguyen’s A♦2♦, which found a deuce on the flop and an ace on the turn to knock the Norwegian out in sixth place ($207,000).
Just five players remained by the time the first break of the day rolled around. Nguyen had almost as many chips as the other four players combined, and only Lin stood within striking distance.
Astedt’s stack was left on fumes when Alex Anton’s K♣4♣ found a four on the turn to top his K♥Q♠. Astedt tripled up, and then, with newfound chips, Anton picked up a sizable double through Nguyen with pocket aces.
Lin also found a double, as the chips flew around the table. That gave him enough ammo to dispatch Astedt in fifth place, as Lin’s pocket queens held off Astedt’s A♣8♠. With those two pots and a few others that went his way, Lin had wrested the lead for himself. Nguyen and Anton were still close behind, though. Astedt earned $281,750 for his strong showing in this event. The 2024 WSOP main event third-place finisher now has nearly $10.5 million in career cashes to his name.
Just as it seemed Lin might run away with his long-awaited first WSOP bracelet, Nguyen found a crucial double of his own. His A♦K♦ turned a broadway straight and a royal flush redraw to smash Lin’s A♣Q♥. Nguyen’s resurgence continued with his elimination of Anton (4th – $391,000). Nguyen’s K♥Q♥ turned into trip kings, more than enough to overcome Anton’s A♦J♣.
Closing It Out
Ren Lin
The third-place finisher, who earned $557,750, has requested anonymity. Their departure set up the heads-up showdown for the bracelet. By that time, Nguyen’s lead had ballooned to over 5:1. Nguyen closed it out when his K♠7♥ beat Lin’s 10♣9♠, as it ran out A♠5♥2♣2♦K♥.
While Lin was once again denied the bracelet, he continued his strong start to 2026. Lin won three events over the course of a week in South Korea, and now has 3,048 POY points for the year, good for fifth place overall.
His success comes despite continued controversy stemming from his offering direct advice during a major GGPoker online tournament to another player. After being disqualified from a WSOP Circuit live event in Cyprus, Lin was suspended indefinitely from GGPoker and WSOP events. He subsequently ended his time as a sponsored GGPoker player and signed on with WPT Global. His suspension ended after just a few months, with Lin returning to action at the 2025 WSOP Paradise festival.
Final Table Results
| 1 | Christopher Nguyen | $1,265,000 | 1,224 |
| 2 | Ren Lin | $805,000 | 1,020 |
| 4 | Alex Anton | $391,000 | 612 |
| 5 | Niklas Astedt | $281,750 | 510 |
| 6 | Espen Oeye | $207,000 | 408 |
| 7 | Andrija Robovic | $155,250 | 306 |
| 8 | Dejan Kaladjurdjevic | $120,750 | 204 |
Photo credit: WSOP
