Day 1 of the 2026 WSOP Main Event final table was a lengthy, grueling battle that ended with seven players remaining, all still with a shot at the $10 million first-place prize.
All eyes were on Lucas Jumalon during the ESPN2 livestream. The 22-year-old with minimal live tournament experience entered play with a massive chip lead, and it wasn’t all smooth sailing on the first of three days at the final table. But he finished the session in the same position as he started after telling PokerNews he started the day with zero nerves.
“Nah,” he replied ahead of the final table when asked if the nerves had kicked in. We’re just gonna go play cards, and whatever happens happens. Let’s go get it done, though.”
The nerveless player had one major setback, and that was against Michael Gagliano, one of the most accomplished players left in the field. “Gags” missed his nut flush draw in a sizeable pot and Jumalon had raised preflop, bet the flop, and bet big on the turn with six-high. But he couldn’t pull the trigger on a triple barrel bluff, which allowed Gagliano to take it down with ace-high.
That hand slowed Jumalon down for the next couple of hours. He had been playing aggressive but started tightening up. But Jumalon wasn’t phased after ending the day around where he started.
“This is why you build a stack like this,” he told PokerNews. “I could have sat and folded, that wasn’t gonna be my strategy obviously, but, you know, I’m just thankful to still be in the tournament.”
Final Table Chip Counts
| *Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 1 | Lucas Jumalon | United States | 212,000,000 | 85 |
| 2 | Han Feng | United States | 106,500,000 | 43 |
| 3 | Lauri Saaskilahti | Finland | 84,500,000 | 34 |
| 4 | Rami Hammoud | Canada | 45,500,000 | 18 |
| 5 | Michael Gagliano | United States | 42,000,000 | 17 |
| 6 | Jamie Shaevel | United States | 33,000,000 | 13 |
| 7 | Greg Mueller | Canada | 29,500,000 | 12 |
Tight Play at the Start
The play went mostly raise, fold, or raise, call, continuation bet, fold for the first couple of hours. Short stacks didn’t get involved much and Jumalon was able to increase his stack above the 129 big blinds he had at the start of play.
Nearly three hours into play, Evagoras Evagorou, the smallest stack entering the final table, moved all in with pocket jacks and was looked up by Jamie Shaevel, who had ace-queen. Evagorou would lose the race to bust when an ace landed on the flop and was out the door in ninth place for $1,000,000.
Despite the disappointing finish, Evagorou, who was the first player from Cyprus to reach the Main Event final table, was proud to represent “the small country of Cyprus.”
“It feels great,” he told PokerNews, “and I hope to give a message to the young generation — especially the Cypriots — you never stop dreaming. Take small risks and keep becoming better and better every day. Your dreams will come true.”
About an hour later, another potential elimination occurred when Han Feng moved his small stack in with Ax4x and was well behind the AxQx that Mario Boos held. But a 4x on the turn gave Feng a double-up to stay alive.
Feng stole the show with a flashy outfit featuring pink feather boa and an open-shirt showcasing the gym enthusiast’s abs. The fit cost him $200, but don’t expect anything as flashy in future days.
“I didn’t plan to spin this many chips,” Feng said during a media scrum. “I would have had the sickest three-day outfit.”
Experience & Visualization
Greg “FBT” Mueller, the most experienced pro at the table, played tight early in the session. He didn’t enter a pot during the first 20 hands dealt, but then picked up pocket kings and four-bet, which forced Rami Hammoud to fold ace-queen preflop.
If Hammoud seemed extra locked in at the final table, it may be thanks to his unique form of preparation. The Canadian told PokerNews‘ he made cut-outs of each of his opponents and sat down at the table against them to help with “visualizing this moment.”
“I would put everyone’s face standing up, I would sit down, I would have Jumalon’s rail in my headphones,” Hammoud said. “And I would just play it, and I would get so nervous. So now when I’m here, yeah, I’m nervous, but it’s not foreign. It’s not new.”
After several hours with no elimination, Mario Boos bowed out in eighth place with a fitting hand. The French grinders pocket eights were out-flopped by the king-nine of Lauri Saaskilahti, leading to an outpour of cheers from the Finn’s rail.
The six-hour session ended with Feng winning a huge pot with pocket queens against Saaskilahti, who folded to a three-bet on the flop. That left Feng at 106,500,000 chips in second place, trailing only Jumalon, who ended with 212,000,000, good for 85 big blinds.
There are still seven players left, and four of them will come back at 5 p.m. PT on Tuesday (6 p.m. when the livestream starts on ESPN) with under 20 big blinds. Jumalon didn’t increase his stack much on the first day of the final table, but he’s still out in front.
Mueller ended play with the shortest stack at 29,500,000.
Photo courtesy of WSOP.
Connor Richards
Senior Editor U.S.