Last updated: Jul 14, 2026
Published: Jul 13, 2026
The final nine players in poker’s biggest tournament, the WSOP Main Event, have officially been set.
Twenty-two-year-old Lucas Jumalon leads the way after a stunning Day 8 performance saw him build a towering stack of 194,000,000 chips. He will return on August 3 in pole position, just eight eliminations away from becoming poker’s newest world champion.
Behind him sit Rami Hammoud and Jamie Shaevel, who round out the top three, while the most decorated players remaining are Canada’s Greg Mueller with three bracelets, and America’s Michael Gagliano, with four.
Fittingly, it was Jumalon who set the final table, eliminating reigning Aussie Millions Main Event champion Malcolm Trayner in 10th place, sending the raucous Australian rail into despair.
The remaining nine players have now guaranteed themselves at least $1,000,000, but all eyes will be on the incredible $10,000,000 first prize waiting at the end of the road when play resumes in exactly three weeks’ time.
2026 WSOP Main Event Final Table Counts
RankPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
1Lucas JumalonUnited States194,000,000129
2Rami HammoudCanada79,000,00053
3Jamie ShaevelUnited States56,000,00037
4Greg MuellerCanada48,500,00032
5Michael GaglianoUnited States46,500,00031
6Mario BoosFrance44,000,00029
7Lauri SaaskilahtiFinland37,500,00025
8Han FengUnited States25,000,00017
9Evagoras EvagorouCyprus22,500,00015
Jumalon Takes Massive Lead into Final Table
Lucas Jumalon
Jumalon’s route to the final table was built on a dominant Day 8 performance that saw him turn a third-place stack into a commanding chip lead.
The 22-year-old entered the day with 40,800,000 chips, but quickly found another gear after taking a huge pot from Trayner. Jumalon cracked the Aussie’s pocket queens with J♥J♣, making a full house on the river to claim a pot worth more than 50,000,000 chips.
From there, the American continued to apply pressure, steadily adding to his stack as the field dwindled. By the dinner break, he had climbed to 155,000,000 chips, and after eliminating Trayner in 10th place to set the final table, he finished the night with a massive 194,000,000 stack.
That puts Jumalon in a league of his own heading into the final table. Hammoud is his closest challenger with 79,000,000, while Shaevel sits third with 56,000,000. Mueller and Gagliano are also in the hunt, but both trail Jumalon by more than 140,000,000 chips.
Remaining Payouts
PlacePrize
1$10,000,000
2$6,000,000
3$3,750,000
4$2,750,000
5$2,250,000
6$1,750,000
7$1,500,000
8$1,250,000
9$1,000,000
Big Names Fall Short of the Final Table
The eyes of the poker world will be on these nine players come August, but at the start of the day, a different group held the spotlight. The 21 players who returned for Day 8 included nine-time WSOP bracelet winner and reigning Player of the Year Shaun Deeb. There was Dylan Smith, a tournament crusher who had just won his first WSOP bracelet earlier this series.
Wilson has established himself as one of the top tournament players over the past few years and has already won four tournaments this year, adding to his $13 million in career earnings. Hall of Famer Todd Brunson was making his deepest Main Event run in three decades as he tried to join his legendary father, Doyle, as only the second father-son duo to each make the final table.
And there was 2019 champion Hossein Ensan, trying to pull off the impossible and win his second Main Event title in seven years.
All of them, though, fell short of their ultimate goal. Brunson earned a fortunate early triple-up when his ace-king rivered a pair of aces in a three-way all-in, cracking Wilson’s kings and Trayner’s queens. But he then fell victim to a cruel river himself, with Trayner rivering a flush to beat Brunson’s aces and send him to the rail in 20th place.
Smith was the first player to fall during the day after Jumalon hit a runner-runner flush. Will Givens, the loud and gregarious WSOP bracelet winner, then had a chance to take the chip lead when he had Jumalon all in and dominated in a pot worth nearly 60,000,000, but Jumalon spiked trips on the flop to double up. Givens was left short and finally silenced shortly afterwards, having to settle for 19th place.
Ensan took the chip lead after rivering the nut flush against Hammoud. Thomas Clack then called Ensan’s turn shove with aces and fives, but Ensan had turned aces and sevens to win the pot and bust the reigning UK Player of the Year in 18th place as he continued to ascend the leaderboard.
French pro Romain Lewis was eliminated in an aces-over-kings cooler against Mueller, while Wilson, unable to recover from losing to Brunson’s rivered ace earlier, eventually fell in 16th. Deeb had Gagliano all in in a race with ace-jack against tens, but Gagliano’s pair held up to earn him the double up and leave Deeb nursing a short stack. Deeb then shoved for 13,600,000 on the flop with a straight draw, while Hammoud showed top pair. The turn and river were no help to the POY front-runner, and Deeb quickly headed off to fire a bullet in the $500 Summer Saver after finishing in 15th place.
Ensan, meanwhile, had dwindled down from his previous heights to just 26,400,000 when he three-bet shoved. Gagliano, though, woke up with kings in the big blind, and Ensan got no help with ace-queen as his hopes of a second bracelet came up short in 13th place.
On the last hand of the night, Trayner, left with just 7,500,000 after doubling up Evagorou on the first hand of the unofficial final table, shoved the turn with two pair. The turn and river counterfeited his fours, though, and Jumalon took the pot with his king-high to bust Trayner in 10th place.
That left the stage clear for the nine who will return for the Main Event final table on August 3. The action will pick up in a few weeks with 56:40 remaining in Level 39 with blinds of 1,000,000/1,500,000 and a 1,500,000 big blind ante. Everyone left has already been crowned a millionaire, but the $10,000,000 first place and glittering diamond bracelet await just one of them.
One of these nine will be immortalized forever in the WSOP record books, their names always associated with the title of world champion. But first, they have a few weeks off to prepare for the biggest moment in their poker lives.
The final table is set, and PokerNews will be back in August to follow all the action up to the crowning of a new champion.
Eliot Thomas
Editor, Poker & Casino
