In 22-Year-Old Lucas Jumalon, Poker Has A WSOP Champ Excited To Grow The Game

At 22 years, four months, and 27 days old, Lucas Jumalon is the second-youngest World Series of Poker Main Event champion ever. And until he’s 23 years, four months, and 27 days old — or thereabouts, depending on the exact date when the 2027 WSOP ends — he plans to do everything he can to promote, represent, and grow the game.

“Hopefully I can bring some young people to the game,” the new champ from Spokane, Washington, told ESPN’s Jeff Platt moments after defeating Lauri Saaskilahti heads-up on Wednesday night at Horseshoe Las Vegas to secure the title.

Platt then asked Jumalon how much he looks forward to being a high-profile poker ambassador. “Oh, I’m excited,” Jumalon said. “Hopefully we can turn this into something like [Chris] Moneymaker did. If I can bring anybody to the game, I would love that.”

For some perspective: Jumalon was not alive yet when Moneymaker ignited the poker boom with his victory in 2003. The 2026 champ was born in between Moneymaker’s win and Greg Raymer’s the following summer.

But the young poker pro, who increased his lifetime live tournament earnings from about $180,000 to about $10,180,000 with his Main Event triumph over a field of 9,208 players, clearly loves the game and is ready to embrace his time in the spotlight.

Quick work

Heads-up play Wednesday didn’t last long — just 17 hands, spanning about an hour and 15 minutes. While certain stretches of prior play at the final table were slow because of the passivity of some players and their desire to inch up the pay ladder, those were non-issues when it was down to Jumalon and Saaskilahti, both of whom had proven willing all week to get aggressive and take calculated risks.

Jumalon came to the final table as chip leader and he never relinquished that status — although he came close when his opponent from Spain by way of Finland doubled through him on a roller-coaster heads-up hand. They got all-in pre-flop, which had Jumalon dominated with As-9c against the Ah-10d of Saaskilahti. An Ad-Qd-4s flop didn’t change anything, but the nine of diamonds on the turn put Jumalon in front, one card from the championship. Saaskilahti needed a ten or a diamond to keep the match going, and the six of diamonds arrived on the river, providing the Finn with a winning flush — and narrowing Jumalon’s lead to a mere 21 million chips. Jumalon had 287 million and Saaskilahti 266 million, and it was anyone’s game.

That threat lasted all of one hand.

On an As-Ks-4c-Js board, with 20 million chips in the pot, Jumalon overbet his drawing hand — he held Qs-5d, for a flush draw, a straight draw, and in fact a royal flush draw — by putting another 40 million into the pot. Saaskilahti, whose J-3 paired up on the turn, got stubborn (correctly) and made the call. But when the six of spades on the river gave Jumalon the nut flush and he again overbet — 180 million into a pot of 100 million — Saaskilahti remained stubborn (incorrectly), made a hero call, and was knocked down to near zero. The chip count was now 519 million for Jumalon, 34 million for Saaskilahti.

Two hands after that, Jumalon was the world champion of poker, his K-6 beating Saaskilahti’s A-7 after a six on the flop gave the American the lead and another six on the turn ended the hand.

Only 2009 champ Joe Cada, who was 21 at the time, won the WSOP at a younger age than Jumalon.

New king Jumalon turned his $10,000 entry into a $10,000,000 prize, while Saaskilahti pockets $6,000,000 for second place.

Full payouts for the final table: