Dominik Panka Resurfaces at a WSOP Final Table Eight Years After His Bracelet

Dominik Panka won poker's most famous tournament at 23, collected $1.42 million and an EPT trophy, won a WSOP bracelet in 2018, and then virtually vanished from major final tables for six years.

Now the Polish pro is back. Panka leads the final table of WSOP Event #63, the $1,000 Mystery Millions No-Limit Hold'em, with 261.5 million chips and a shot at bracelet number two.

The Stack and the Table

Panka sits second in chips among nine remaining players. The outright leader is Thomas Hall, a British pro with one bracelet, two Circuit rings, and $1.76M in lifetime earnings, who holds 275 million. The gap between them is thin: roughly 13.5 million chips, a rounding error at this stage.

Panka sits second in chips among nine remaining players, holding 261.5 million with a shot at bracelet number two.

Behind them, the field is deep with experience. Leo Lombardozzi, an Irish player with $71K in career earnings, bags 189 million as the table's most unlikely contender. Matthew Higgins, a nine-time WSOP Circuit ring winner with $2.07M lifetime and 34 final tables, holds 187.5 million. Joey Weissman, who owns a bracelet of his own and $4.69M in career earnings across 17 final tables, bubbled the official nine in 10th place.

The Disappearance

Panka's résumé reads like two separate careers stitched together. The first act was loud: a PCA Main Event title in 2014 that announced him as one of Europe's brightest young players, followed by a WSOP bracelet in 2018. Fourteen lifetime final tables and $3.1M in career cashes back up the talent.

The second act was silence. No major final tables splashing across PokerNews. No deep runs generating buzz on poker Twitter. For a player who'd already won at the highest levels, Panka simply stopped appearing in the places where the poker world pays attention.

That kind of arc is more common than people think. Tournament poker rewards variance, and even elite players can go years between marquee results. But the gap between Panka's bracelet in 2018 and this final table in 2026 is long enough that most casual fans forgot he was still grinding.

What Makes This Final Table Different

The Mystery Millions format adds a wrinkle. At $1,000, the buy-in is accessible, but the mystery bounty structure means the prize pool distributes unevenly. It rewards survival and aggression in ways that favor experienced tournament players over pure grinders.

Panka's background fits the format. His career has been built on navigating big-field events with top-heavy payouts. And his chip position gives him room to play without desperation.

Hall is the only other bracelet holder at the table. Higgins brings the deepest final-table experience of the group (34 career final tables to Panka's 14), but his hardware is all Circuit rings, not bracelets. The rest of the nine lack comparable résumés.

The Line

If Panka closes this out, he joins a specific club: players who won a major international title, won a WSOP bracelet in a different year, and then came back after a multi-year absence to win another. It's not a big club.

Eight years between bracelets. Six years off the radar. And now 261.5 million chips with eight players standing between him and a second piece of gold.