WSOP Final Table Determined, 22-Year-Old American Jumalon Holds 35% Of The Chips

One by one, almost all of the biggest names fell Monday during the World Series of Poker Main Event’s countdown to the final table. And million by million, it seemed their chips found their way into the stack of little-known 22-year-old American Lucas Jumalon.

Spokane, Washington’s Jumalon had previous career poker tournament earnings of about $180,000 and a previous career-high cash of just under $23,000, but now he’s guaranteed at least $1 million and is the favorite on paper for the $10 million top prize when play resumes Aug. 3. Jumalon has 194 million of the 553 million chips in play — just over 35% — and is 115 million chips ahead of his nearest competitor, Rami Hammoud. This, after coming into the day in third place with 40,800,000 chips.

While Jumalon built his stack, most of the more famous players hit the rail: bracelet winner Dylan Smith in 21st place; Poker Hall of Famer Todd Brunson in 20th; bracelet winner and slightly controversial Will Givens in 19th; Brock Wilson in 16th; nine-time bracelet winner and probable soon-to-be-Hall-of-Famer Shaun Deeb in 15th; 2019 Main Event champ Hossein Ensan in 13th; and finally bracelet winner Malcolm Trayner, the chip leader at the start of Monday’s Day 8 play, in 10th.

So who’s left? Two reasonably well-known pros with multiple bracelets, and seven relatively anonymous players ESPN intends to make much better known over the next couple of weeks of edited broadcasts.

Here are the final nine and their chip counts:

Seven bracelets in the middle of the pack

The two names close followers of poker may recognize are Greg “FBT” Mueller and Michael “Gags” Gagliano. Canadian Mueller (the nickname stands for “Full Blown Tilt”) was featured frequently on TV in the poker boom days and has three WSOP bracelets and about $3.5 million in career tournament winnings to his credit. New Jersey’s Gagliano has four bracelets to go with about $2.3 million in winnings.

But even if the two of them arguably possess the most skill at the final table, the chip deficits make them — and everyone else not named Lucas Jumalon — longshots to reach the top of the pay table, which ascends as follows:

• 9th: $1,000,000
• 8th: $1,250,000
• 7th: $1,500,000
• 6th: $1,750,000
• 5th: $2,250,000
• 4th: $2,750,000
• 3rd: $3,750,000
• 2nd: $6,000,000
• 1st: $10,000,000

Striking a happy medium between going straight into the final table and taking the four-month break implemented during the “November Nine” era, the players now pause for three weeks. During that time, ESPN networks will air edited episodes highlighting the action that got us here and spotlighting the nine players who will compete for the gold bracelet.

The final table will air almost live (on a slight delay to ensure the integrity of the event, since players’ hole cards are visible on the broadcast) beginning Monday, Aug. 3, starting at 6 p.m. Las Vegas time on ESPN2. The plan is to halt play for the night after three eliminations and resume Tuesday, Aug. 4, also at 6 p.m., this time on the flagship ESPN network, playing down to the final three. Then they’ll pick up play Wednesday, Aug. 5, starting at 6 p.m. on ESPN, until a champion is crowned.

When play continues, there will be 56 minutes and 40 seconds remaining in Level 39, with blinds at 1,000,000/1,500,000 and a 1,500,000 big blind ante.

The most pivotal hand of Monday’s play was almost certainly this one, which saw Jumalon, facing potential elimination in 19th place, get lucky in a 56-million-chip pot against Givens:

Poker is a skill game over the long haul, but in an individual hand, anything can happen. Starting Aug. 3, there will be eight players hoping awfully hard that Jumalon’s run-good takes a turn.