Lucas Jumalon built a 194,000,000 chip stack on Day 8 to lead the final nine players into the WSOP Main Event final table on August 3. Competitors are guaranteed $1,000,000, but chase the $10,000,000 top prize.
The final nine players in poker's biggest tournament, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, have officially been set.
Twenty-two-year-old Lucas Jumalon leads the field after a stunning Day 8 performance that saw him build a towering stack of 194,000,000 chips. Jumalon will return on August 3 in pole position, sitting just eight eliminations away from becoming poker's newest world champion.
Rami Hammoud and Jamie Shaevel sit directly behind him to round out the top three stacks. The most decorated competitors remaining in the line-up are Canada's Greg Mueller, who holds three WSOP bracelets, and America's Michael Gagliano, who possesses four.
Fittingly, it was Jumalon who set the final table by eliminating reigning Aussie Millions Main Event champion Malcolm Trayner in 10th place, sending the raucous Australian rail into despair.
Jumalon's route to the final table was built on a dominant Day 8 performance. He successfully turned a third-place stack at the start of the day into a commanding chip lead.
While the remaining nine players have now guaranteed themselves a payout of at least $1,000,000, 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.
The eyes of the poker world will be on these nine players come August, but at the start of Day 8, a different batch of players held the spotlight.
The 21 players who returned for the day included nine-time WSOP bracelet winner and reigning Player of the Year Shaun Deeb. Also in contention was Dylan Smith, a tournament crusher who had just broken through with his first WSOP bracelet earlier this series.
Another notable contender was Wilson, who was establishing himself as one of the top tournament players in the game over the past few years, having already won four tournaments this year to add to his $13 million in career earnings.
Poker Hall of Famer Todd Brunson was making his deepest Main Event run in three decades as he tried to join his legendary father, Doyle Brunson, as only the second father-son duo to each make the final table.
Additionally, 2019 champion Hossein Ensan was in the field, 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. Todd Brunson earned a fortunate early triple-up when his ace-king rivered a pair of aces in a three-way all-in to crack Wilson’s pocket kings and Trayner’s pocket queens.
However, Brunson then fell victim to a cruel river himself, with Trayner rivering a flush to beat Brunson’s pocket aces and send him to the rail in 20th place.
The exits left the stage clear for the nine competitors who will return for the Main Event final table on August 3. The tournament action will pick up in a few weeks with 56:40 remaining in Level 39. The blinds will be at 1,000,000/1,500,000 with a 1,500,000 big blind ante.
Everyone left has already been crowned a millionaire, but the $10,000,000 first-place prize and the glittering diamond bracelet await just one of them.