The 2026 WSOP Main Event promised immense star power, with Michael Mizrachi threatening another deep run in an attempt to go back-to-back after winning it last summer.
When he fell, Shaun Deeb – the unlikely hero – took on the mantle. He said he wanted to punt the Main Event so he could focus on winning the Player of the Year in other events. In the end, he nearly won Player of the Year right here, but was eliminated in 15th on a dramatic Day 8.
Hossein Ensan won the Main Event in 2019 and was looking to do the unthinkable – winning it for a second time in the modern, big-field era, but he dropped in 13th.
2026 Aussie Millions champ Malcolm Trayner was the player who missed out by one spot. The heartbreak was real.
The nine players that are left make up a classic Main Event final table mix of experienced pros and young, hopeful amateurs. One of them will write their name into the poker history books when the final table plays out August 3-5 on ESPN. Who’s your money on?
Read the full report from a dramatic Day 8 in Las Vegas by Brad Willis.
2026 WSOP Main Event final table chip counts
- Lucas Jumalon - 194M
- Rami Hammoud - 79M
- Jamie Shaevel - 56M
- Greg Mueller - 48.5M
- Michael Gagliano - 46.5M
- Mario Boos - 44M
- Lauri Saaskilahti - 37.5M
- Han Feng - 25M
- Evagoras Evagorou - 22.5M
Lucas Jumalon
- Chips: 194,000,000
- USA
- Career earnings: $180,888
Lucas Jumalon has only been playing poker a few years and recently graduated from Grand Canyon University with a degree in business administration and data analytics. He cashed twice at last year’s WSOP and doubled that with four cashes this summer. Before the Main Event his biggest cash was $22,945. He’s already guaranteed $1 million and could be looking at 10 times that.
The 22-year-old from Spokane had a wobble late on Day 7, but came through with a big hand and a lot of love from his rail. Talking to us afterward he said, “I was at the main feature, and I wasn’t really feeling settled… Without my people here, I don’t know that I would have made it through the night. I’m just so thankful."
Rami Hammoud
- Chips: 79,000,000
- Canada
- Career earnings: $512,438
Hammoud knows how to navigate his way through big-field events. He finished 12th in the $300 Gladiators of Poker event that had 20,647 entries, and then a few weeks later finished fifth from a field of 4,571 in the SALUTE to Warriors tournament.
Given that, it seemed natural that he turned his attention towards the Main Event. He hasn’t cashed it before but is now guaranteed $1 million, way more than his previous best cash of $123,386 for winning the 2023 Playground March Million in Kahnawake. In a WSOP interview he said, “My mantra ever since Day 1 has been, ‘I’ve got a flight to catch.’ I’m ready to go at any time.” His time hasn’t come yet.
Jamie Shaevel
Jamie Shaevel.- Chips: 56,000,000
- USA
- Career earnings: $451,177
Shaevel only has 35 cashes on his Hendon Mob, has no six-figure scores, and nothing on his resumé since 2024. One thing does stand out though – he’s cashed the Main Event eight times now, with his best finish coming in 2011 when he finished 100th.
That hints at deeper poker skills, and Shaevel is a much more experienced player than his tournament record suggests. He plays cash games almost exclusively at The Commerce Casino in LA, and the deep stacks he navigates there have obviously stood him in good stead here.
Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller
- Chips: 48,500,000
- Canada
- Career earnings: $3,540,270
Mueller is the old-school presence on the final table. The former pro ice hockey player won his first WSOP bracelet in 2009 in the $10K Limit Championship for $460,841. He won his second a couple of weeks later in the $1,500 Limit Shootout but had to wait 10 years for his third. That came in the prestigious $10K HORSE Championship where he came out on top of a final table that featured Phil Galfond and won $425,347.
His previous best run in the Main Event came in 2017 when he finished 191st for $46,096. We spoke to him during his run to the final table today, where he confessed that he had to have stern words with himself ahead of this year’s WSOP. People will be paying him to have stern words with them if he goes on to win the bracelet and $10 million.
Michael Gagliano
- Chips: 46,500,000
- USA
- Career earnings: $2,293,939
Michael ‘Gags30’ Gagliano might not be a household name, but he’s certainly well-known in poker circles and is likely the best player left in the field.
He’s played professionally since 2009, starting in online SNGs before moving through low- and high-stakes MTTs and eventually into the live arena. He’s already won three WSOP bracelets – one of them live in the 2016 $2,500 NLH event for $448,463.
He knows the game inside out – he’s been coaching since 2010, at Gags30Poker, where he says that “learning to play poker is a lot like learning a musical instrument” and boasts that one of his students has gone on to win the Main Event. Gagliano is now attempting to disprove the old saying that “those who can do, those who can’t teach.”
Mario Boos
Mario Boos.- Chips: 44,000,000
- France
- Career earnings: $239,888
Boos’ biggest cash before this was for $54,659 for finishing sixth in the Italian Poker Sport event in Rozvadov, but he's already starting to make a name for himself on the local circuit.
His previous best WSOP cash was for $6,702 in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event this year. A win in the Main Event in August would rocket him up to sixth on the French all-time money list, headed by the mighty Jean-Noel Thorel with over $30 million in earnings.
Lauri Saaskilahti
Lauri Saaskilahti.- Chips: 37,500,000
- Finland
- Career earnings: $138,453
Saaskilahti has already gone further in the Main Event than any other Finnish player in poker history. And he’s already gone further than he had any right to. With 35 players left, he went a bit crazy with 
after pairing his three on the 
flop. This was his hill and he was determined to die on it. He raised Brock Wilson’s 500K bet to 2 million, and then bet almost his whole stack on the 
turn. Wilson jammed, Saaskilahti sigh-called and hit the 
on the river.
He made a huge call with jacks today when Daniel Savas four-bet jammed 10s. That sent his stack skyrocketing to 79,300,000 and all but guaranteed him a spot on the final table in August.
Saaskilahti’s best career cash is $83,116 and all but one of his nine recorded cashes have come in Barcelona, where he resides. This is his first cash at the WSOP.
Han Feng.Han Feng
- Chips: 25,000,000
- USA
- Career earnings: $1,993,830
Feng is the only GPI award-winning poker player at the Main Event final table. He was crowned the 2024 mid-stakes player of the year, but if he wins the 2026 WSOP Main Event he may take things up a notch.
He currently has a Circuit ring but no bracelet, and his biggest cash is $159,805 when he took down the Champions Club Fall Poker Open in Houston in 2024. His previous best WSOP cash was in this event back in 2024 when Jonathan Tamayo won it. Feng finished 286th for $50,000.
He’s already done a whole lot better than that this year and nursed a short stack back to life and over the line today. Earlier in the day, after surviving an all-in he said it was the first time he’d been at risk the whole tournament. “True. F***ing crazy,” he said as he stacked his chips up.
Evagoras Evagorou
Evagoras Evagorou.- Chips: 22,500,000
- Cyprus
- Career earnings: $253,488
Evagorou hadn’t cashed at the WSOP before this year but has been steadily improving with each result this summer. He finished 480th in the $1K Mystery Millions for $3,650, then came 374th in the Mini Main Event for $4,650. In the $600 Deepstack Championship he almost made his first WSOP final table, finishing 15th for $13,848.
If these were all warm-ups for his shot at the Big One, they did the job perfectly. He’s now on the cusp of writing himself into the poker history books with a shot at the Main Event bracelet. He’s only won one tournament before, a $100 Daily at Caesars Palace for $1,324. This would be some second.
