Sam Greenwood has some advice to share with Lucas Jumalon. We're not taking sides here, but $10M will definitely cover a roundtrip flight to Turkey.
Live Poker Updates & Breaking News
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5
Confidence level 100. Lauri Saaskilahti – "I made a goal for this year... to win the entire thing, and I'm very close to that right now."
Fourth-place finisher Michael Gagliano sends a message to his fans: "My goodness I cannot express how awesome it is to see such an outpouring of support."
We think Gags will have picked up a whole load of news ones after the way he carried himself through the 2026 Main Event.
Patrick Leonard reviews Lucas Jumalon's final table performance. Pads might be a bit biased as he's also Jumalon's coach, but the 77 hand checks out.
On a pure technical level it’s the best main event final table performance history since Jacobson and it’s not close.
— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) August 5, 2026
On an exploit level (not jamming 77 with 100bbs vs 20bb20bb. Btn/sb) when you are seen as a complete spewtard (jamming A2o yesterday) its one of the sickest…
Two celebrations – which one do you like? Heads-up play starts tomorrow on ESPN at 10.30pm ET.
It's Lucas Jumalon vs. Lauri Saaskilahti heads-up for the bracelet! Play has stopped for the night and the two remaining players will return tomorrow to crown a champion. Jumalon still has the chip lead but Saaskilahti has got himself back into it.
- Lucas Jumalon: 328M
- Lauri Saaskilahti: 225M
Greg Mueller eliminated in 3rd ($3,750,000): He laddered and laddered until he could ladder no more. Mueller chose to hero call his last 34 million chips with 
on a board reading 
. Unfortunately, Lauri Saaskilahti had kings.
Michael Gagliano eliminated in 4th ($2,750,000): Lucas Jumalon has played well but he is living a charmed life. He just beat Gagliano's 
with 
.
Daniel Negreanu is enjoying the show. And feeling like a poker fan.
Game on! Lucas Jumalon was running away with it, but Lauri Saaskilahti has just pegged him back with a massive double-up through the chip leader.
Jumalon put the Finn all-in on a 
board. Saaskilahti had tens and tank-called. Jumalon had . Saaskilahti had to fade 13 outs and won the 188.5 million pot when the river hit.
- Lucas Jumalon: 281.5M
- Lauri Saaskilahti: 188.5M
Han Feng eliminated in 5th ($2,250,000): He gave us the pink feather boa – and the poker gods can never take that away from us – but we'll never see what Feng was going to wear on Day 3. His end was brutal. We'll have a full write-up on that shortly.
Rami Hammoud eliminated in 6th ($1,750,000): After losing that flip to Mueller, Hammoud got his last chips in with 
on a 268 all-spade flop. He was up against Lucas Jumalon who had 
.
"We got outs boys," Hammoud said to his rail, but he couldn't find any of them. He took his elimination with class and celebrated with his rail. That was really nice to see.
Lauri Saaskilahti doubles through Han Feng: The chips are flying tonight and Saaskilahti just got a lot more to play with. He found kings and they held against Feng's AJo.
- Lauri Saaskilahti: 67M
- Han Feng: 76.5M
Greg Mueller doubles again: This time through Rami Hammoud with nines, which hold against the Canadians AK. Scotty Tickets' shirt came off again. Hammoud is down to 6bbs.
- Greg Mueller: 82.5M
- Rami Hammoud: 18M
Jamie Shaevel eliminated in 7th ($1,500,000): Lucas Jumalon takes his chips after KT > K6 on a 743JJ runout.
The ugly politics of the Poker Hall of Fame: 'Texas' Mike Moncek, like many others in the poker community, is wondering what else Shaun Deeb needs to do to make the cut.
One of Mueller's rail got a little carried away following that double. Or maybe he's just taking inspiration from Han Feng's Day 1 look.
Greg Mueller doubles through Lauri Saaskilahti. And Mueller had to get lucky with his KJo hitting a jack on the flop and moving ahead of the Finn's AKs. His rail erupts and he goes to celebrate with them.
- Greg Mueller: 59.5M
- Lauri Saaskilahti: 53M
Phil Hellmuth reveals the four players he voted to be inducted in this year's Poker Hall of Fame. One of them has been "mean" to him for 24 years.
Michael Mizrachi is in the house. And he got into a friendly game with Draymond Green before the NBA star moved into the comms booth with Ali Nejad and Nick Schulman.
It's time! And Draymond Green is on shuffle up and deal duty today. The atmosphere is electric in Horseshoe as the four-time NBA champ gets the action underway. We're expecting a faster start today.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4
Cards are in the air IRL: We're reporting with a one-hour delay and action on-stream will commence in five minutes. Lucas Jumalon is ready.
WSOP Main Event FT incoming: We're a little under two hours away from the second day of WSOP Main Event final table coverage on ESPN. It all kicks off at 8:00PM ET – so now's the time to sort out your viewing mechanism to avoid any frustrating delays.
In case you missed out on last night's coverage, read all about it from PokerOrg's Matt Hansen.
Hayley Hochstetler
There's more than one interesting thread carrying over from yesterday's play:
- Will Greg 'FBT' Mueller be the next player to hit the rail? He's got the shortest stack of the bunch headed into today's play, but anything can happen.
- Will Han Feng continue his ascendency up the chip counts? The Chinese-born American started the final table 8/9 before a late surge saw him bag up the second-biggest stack in play. And, how will he top yesterday's anime-inspired outfit?
- Lucas Jumalon navigated his way through highs and lows yesterday to retain his hard-earned chip lead. Will he stay in the zone? Or, will the pressure get to him?
- It was a cagey affair yesterday – will we see anyone take advantage of their opponents' unwillingness to play big pots?
Tune in later tonight to get the answers to those questions – and more.
Scott Seiver addresses Hall of Fame vote: In a post on social media, 2026 nominee Scott Seiver congratulated Jason Koon on his induction and then offered up his thoughts on not making the cut this year.
Seiver also identified a perceived flaw in the voting process and a logical solution to the problem – click below to read about it in his words.
WSOP x Solana Showdown: Want to watch 9 cryptocurrency influencers battle for $100,000 and a customized WSOP x Solana bracelet?
Roll the tape below – it's just the thing to keep us going until the WSOP Main Event coverage returns to the airwaves in a couple hours.
Koon gives thanks: Yesterday, Jason Koon ascended into the rarefied air of the Poker Hall of Fame as the lone inductee from the Class of 2026.
Today, he gives thanks.
"Poker is my life's passion," Koon wrote on social media. "I've truly given it everything I have. I love you guys, thank you."
Michael Mizrachi said he'd finish the Main Event final table off quickly in 2025. Here's what that looked like.
Not got ESPN? If you want to check out the hands from Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event final table, you can watch the Winamax stream. Speaking French would be a bonus.
'I almost didn't do it': More on Han Feng's outfit and his final table chip surge in our full story from Las Vegas.
Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event final table was a grind. Day 2? Michael Gagliano thinks it could be a short one.
Mike Matusow reacts to Hall of Fame voting: And he's not batting for himself but hitting out at gatekeeping.
Curtains: That's a wrap on the first of three days of WSOP Main Event final table coverage. We're down to seven players remaining as Evagoras Evagorou and Mario Boos departed in 9th and 8th places, respectively.
Lucas Jumalon retains the chip lead he started the day with, while Han Feng finds himself second after more than quadrupling his stack.
Hayley Hochstetler
We'll fill you in with a full rundown of the action shortly – and be sure to tune in to ESPN2 tomorrow at 8:00PM ET for more.
- Lucas Jumalon: 212M (85 BBs)
- Han Feng: 106.5M (43 BBs)
- Lauri Saaskilahti: 84.5M (34 BBs)
- Rami Hammoud: 45.5M (18 BBs)
- Michael Gagliano: 42M (17 BBs)
- Jamie Shaevel: 33M (13 BBs)
- Greg Mueller: 29.5M (12 BBs)
Mario Boos eliminated in 8th ($1,250,000): France will have to wait at least one more year for its first-ever WSOP Main Event champion.
Mario Boos got his chips in good with 
against Lauri Saaskilahti's 
but the 
flop left him drawing slim.
The 
turn and 
river offered no miracle two-outer and his run came to an end.
Hayley Hochstetler
Fighting Feng: After languishing on a short stack, Han Feng has picked up two clutch doubles at the WSOP Main Event final table.
First his 
outdrew Mario Boos' 
on a 
runout.
Then his held up against Lucas Jumalon's 
when the chips went in on a 
flop. The 
turn and river kept it clean for Feng and he's gone from 5 big blinds to right back in the mix.
The Hall of Fame takes are coming: As the poker community absorbs the news of Jason Koon's lone induction into the Poker Hall of Fame, reactions are coming in thick and fast.
Here's two cents from David Baker:
Hammoud doubles through Shaevel: With a raise and a call in front of him, Rami Hammoud moved all-in from the big blind with .
Michael Gagliano, the original raiser, quickly folded, but Jamie Shaevel had a much harder decision with 
.
After a long while in the tank, he slammed down a stack of chips for a call. It was a flip for 89M chips and the 
runout favored Hammoud to deliver him a massive double up and leave Shaevel with less than 15 big blinds.
Hayley Hochstetler
Voting results revealed for 2026 Poker Hall of Fame: Jason Koon was elected with 23 votes. Scott Seiver received 19 and Isai Scheinberg 17. A nominee needed 22 votes to be inducted. Justin Bonomo received three votes, suggesting some of the 33 existing HOF members weren't judging on poker achievements alone. 32 votes were unused.
Evagoras Evagorou eliminated in 9th ($1,000,000): And just like that we get our first elimination. Jamie Shaevel raised with 
and Evagorou shoved with .
Shaevel looked at Evagorou and asked, "Are you ready?" with a hint of a smile. He got the affirmative, and called to create a pot worth 51 million. Evagorou was at risk but if Shaevel lost he'd be down to fumes.
The flop was not good for Evagorou. He didn't catch up on the 
turn or the river.
Norman Chad sums up the final table so far: "It feels like everyone is waiting for everyone else to bust. These aren't nickel and dime pay jumps. If someone busts you make $250,000. Then if some else busts that's another $250,000... But I know this, you can't fold your way to the Main Event title."
We've learned a fair few things already tonight. We weren't expecting to learn that David Baker is allergic to feathers.
Big double for the Cypriot: With an increasingly-short stack in front of him, Evagoras Evagorou was waiting for a good spot to get his chips in – and his patience paid off.
Hayley Hochstetler
After defending his big blind with 
, Evagorou flopped top pair and an open-ended straight flush draw on a board. Lucas Jumalon bet big to all but force Evagorou to play for his tournament life – and he was more than happy to do so.
The 
turn added outs to Jumalon's arsenal, but the improved only Evagorou.
Han Feng now sits on the shortest stack, with less than half the chips of Evagorou.
Why only one Hall of Fame inductee this year? The 33 living members of the Poker Hall of Fame weren't required to use all of their votes. Jason Koon told us earlier that Phil Ivey called him to say he was the only nominee he voted for.
Hayley Hochstetler
Who wore it best? We knew we'd seen that outfit somewhere before.
Premiums only: Finland's Lauri Saaskilahti is off to a solid start at the WSOP Main Event final table.
Within the first few orbits, he's already picked up pocket kings and pocket aces. In both hands, he faced a raise in front and took down the pot with a three-bet – not exactly the full double he may have hoped for, but as they say it's always better to win a small pot than lose a big one.
Hayley Hochstetler
The rich get richer: Lucas Jumalon is over the 200M mark after an ill-advised three-bet from Mario Boos with K7o from the small blind was punished. "They don't want to take it to the streets!" Jumalon shouted to his fans after scooping the pot.
Jason Koon in the Poker Hall of Fame: Before and after.
Where's Greg Mueller's rail? Sarah Herring is on the lookout.
"What do you think I should wear to the Main Event final table?" Go with what makes you feel happy.
Jason Koon inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame: That's no surprise. The surprise is that he's the ONLY inductee in 2026 despite major changes to the voting process. Read the full story below.
Bruce Buffer gets things underway: The WSOP Main Event final table is live!
