Lucas Jumalon is the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event champion. The 22-year-old from Spokane, Washington, outlasted 9,208 entries across 11 days of competition at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to claim the $10,000,000 first-place prize and the most coveted bracelet in poker. He is the second-youngest WSOP Main Event champion in the tournament’s 56-year history, behind only Joe Cada, who won at 21 in 2009.
It was a wire-to-wire final table performance that the poker world had not seen in years. Jumalon arrived on Day 1 of the final table with 194,000,000 chips, more than his next three opponents combined, and he never surrendered the lead. Not once. Not even when Finland’s Lauri Saaskilahti put a scare into him with a runner-runner flush to stay alive during heads-up play. Jumalon responded by winning the next hand and the one after that, and 17 hands into the heads-up match it was over.
Saaskilahti takes home $6,000,000 as runner-up, a result that makes him the fifth-highest earner in Finnish poker history. His previous best live tournament cash was under $90,000.
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How Jumalon Got Here
Jumalon graduated from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix earlier this year with a degree in business administration and data analytics. He grew up in Spokane, attended Ferris High School, and started playing poker seriously only in his senior year, learning the game at Lilac Lanes Bowling and Casino alongside his father. He hired a coach, studied hard, and worked his way up through local tournaments before taking a shot at the Main Event this summer. His total live tournament earnings before this week sat at roughly $180,000.
He nearly flamed out before it mattered. Jumalon finished Day 1b with just 7,400 chips, the second-shortest stack of his entire flight. He recovered through Day 2, bagged 146,000, and kept building. By Day 8, with 21 players left, he had climbed to third in chips. The turning point of his tournament came in a massive pot against reigning Aussie Millions champion Malcolm Trayner. Jumalon four-bet shoved with ace-ten off against Trayner’s ace-queen, spiked a ten on the flop, and the chip lead was his. He never looked back. It was Jumalon himself who put Trayner out in 10th place to set the final table.
He arrived at the final nine holding 35% of all chips in play. The next closest was Rami Hammoud with 79,000,000. Jumalon had nearly two and a half times that.
Night One: Two Out, Seven Remain
The final table drew immediate criticism from the poker community for its slow pace. Six hours of play produced just two eliminations. Evagoras Evagorou of Cyprus, who began the final table ninth in chips, managed one double-up through Jumalon when he flopped top pair and a straight draw with queen-jack against Jumalon’s ace-three. That lifeline ran out on Hand 40, when Evagorou’s pocket jacks ran into Jamie Shaevel’s ace-queen and an ace hit the flop. Evagorou was gone in ninth place for $1,000,000.
Mario Boos of France followed in eighth for $1,250,000. Saaskilahti sent him to the rail, and by the time the seven survivors bagged up, Jumalon had 212,000,000. Han Feng had been the biggest mover of the night, turning his short starting stack into 106,500,000 to sit second. The other five players, Saaskilahti, Hammoud, Gagliano, Shaevel, and Mueller, all had under 20 big blinds heading into Day 2.
Night Two: Chaos, a Bad Beat for the Ages, and Three More Out
Day 2 of the final table was everything Day 1 was not. It opened quickly: Jamie Shaevel, the Southern California cash game pro who had made his eighth WSOP Main Event cash, lost his short stack to Jumalon in seventh place for $1,500,000. Rami Hammoud of Canada followed in sixth for $1,750,000, also eliminated by Jumalon.
Then came the hand that will be talked about long after the rest of this final table is forgotten.
Five players remained. Han Feng, down to eight big blinds, picked up pocket aces under the gun and min-raised to 6,000,000. Saaskilahti looked down at pocket nines on the button and three-bet to 50,000,000, putting Feng all in. In the big blind, Greg Mueller found pocket jacks and folded them face up, a laydown that proved correct. Feng called for his tournament life. His aces were an 80-20 favorite.
The flop came 10♦8♦3♦. Feng held the ace of diamonds, giving him an overpair and the nut flush draw. Saaskilahti had no diamonds. Feng was now a 93% favorite to survive. The turn was the jack of hearts, which gave Saaskilahti an open-ended straight draw with seven outs in total. Feng was still an 84% favorite. The dealer burned and turned the queen of spades. Saaskilahti had hit his straight. Feng was eliminated in fifth place for $2,250,000, the victim of the worst bad beat of the 2026 poker calendar by most accounts.
Mueller was happy about the world that would have made him a set on the turn, but he would still have lost the pot had he stayed in. He was eliminated next anyway, sent out in third place by Saaskilahti for $3,750,000. Michael Gagliano, the four-time bracelet winner who had been coach-baiting Jumalon during the first night, left in fourth for $2,750,000 when Jumalon picked him off.
At the end of Tuesday’s session, two players remained. Jumalon and Saaskilahti. Just as they had half-jokingly predicted to each other back on Day 5 when they were tablemates grinding through the middle stages together.
Heads Up: Jumalon Survives a Scare and Closes It Out
Jumalon entered the heads-up match with the commanding lead, but Saaskilahti had shown all week that he was the one player willing to push back. He proved it again on Hand 166 of the final table.
Saaskilahti raised to 10,000,000 and Jumalon moved all in from the big blind. Saaskilahti called with A♥10♦ against Jumalon’s A♠9♣. The flop came 4♠Q♦A♦, leaving Saaskilahti in front with a better kicker. The 9♦ on the turn gave Jumalon two pair and the lead. The $10,000,000 was one card away. The river fell the 6♦, completing a flush for Saaskilahti and keeping him alive. Jumalon had 287,000,000 chips. Saaskilahti had 266,000,000. It was essentially even.
Jumalon responded immediately. The very next hand he limped with Q♠5♦ and Saaskilahti checked with J♦3♦. On the 4♣K♠A♠ flop, Saaskilahti checked and Jumalon continued for 4,000,000 and Saaskilahti called. The J♠ hit the turn, giving Saaskilahti a pair of jacks. He checked again and Jumalon fired twice the pot, 40,000,000. Another call. The 6♠ on the river completed a flush for Jumalon. Saaskilahti checked and Jumalon shoved 180,000,000. After a long tank, Saaskilahti said “I only have a jack, it could be good,” and called. Jumalon turned over his flush. Saaskilahti was left with fewer than 10 big blinds.
Two hands later it was over. Jumalon moved all in on the button. Saaskilahti looked at A♠7♦ and called quickly from the big blind. Jumalon tabled K♠6♦. The flop ran 6♠8♦J♠, pairing Jumalon’s six. The 6♣ on the turn gave him trips and left Saaskilahti drawing dead. The 4♦ river was a formality. The bracelet belonged to Lucas Jumalon.
“I told a couple of people this today, I was terrified,” Jumalon said after the victory. “Channeling Mike Tyson, this is a little cheesy, but he used to say he was terrified that he was going to die in the ring before he would go out and fight his opponent. I was terrified he was going to kill me today, in poker terms. I just channeled some of that and was pretty fearless today.”
“Poker’s given me so much,” he added.
The moment he won, Jumalon was engulfed by a chanting group of friends and family who had been sweating every card from the rail. World Series of Poker CEO Ty Stewart captured the mood in a statement issued after the victory. “Youth is served at one of the most spirited final tables of all time,” Stewart said. “The 2026 Main Event and its live television coverage reminded us why we love this game and the people who play it.”
2026 WSOP Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Lucas Jumalon | United States | $10,000,000 |
| 2 |  Lauri Saaskilahti | Finland | $6,000,000 |
| 3 |  Greg Mueller | Canada | $3,750,000 |
| 4 | Michael Gagliano | United States | $2,750,000 |
| 5 | Han Feng | United States | $2,250,000 |
| 6 | Rami Hammoud | Canada | $1,750,000 |
| 7 | Jamie Shaevel | United States | $1,500,000 |
| 8 |  Mario Boos | France | $1,250,000 |
| 9 |  Evagoras Evagorou | Cyprus | $1,000,000 |
The 2026 WSOP Main Event drew 9,208 entries at $10,000 each, generating a prize pool of $85,634,400. It was the fourth-largest field in the event’s history. Total entries were split across four starting flights. The final table was delayed 20 days after the bubble burst, resuming August 3-5 for a live ESPN broadcast, the first time since the November Nine era ended in 2016 that the WSOP had held back its final table for a broadcast slot.
