When the final nine players return to the Horseshoe on Monday to play for the WSOP Main Event title and chance to win $10,000,000, 22-year-old Lucas Jumalon will be king of the hill.
Armed with a commanding stack of 194,000,000 chips, Jumalon is the player the other eight finalists must catch if they hope to capture poker's most prestigious championship and a place in poker history.
The loudest voice on Jumalon's raucous rail on Day 8 came from close friend Big Red, but the support that mattered most was his father and hero, Butch Jumalon.
“I've said this before – I’m super proud of how Lucas has handled himself,” says Butch. “People told me that they observed his kindness and compassion towards other players as they exited. I was already very proud of him a long time before this moment. But I’m super happy that some of his hard work is paying off.”
PokerOrg caught up with Lucas after his remarkable run to the final nine to discuss the heartbreak that nearly ended his poker career and how it prepared him for the biggest moment when the final table begins on August 3rd on ESPN2.
'My dad is my hero': How Lucas Jumalon fell in love with poker
When did you first fall in love with poker?
It was when my dad used to run home games with his friends. I started following in his footsteps because he is my hero.
How old were you then?
I was about nine years old. I think the very first one I played in I got second and won maybe $80. I was like, ‘Whoa, this is pretty cool.’ I started to win pretty consistently in those home games, and once I got older, I started looking for other resources to improve my game.
What strategy did you follow when you first started playing?
There used to be so much free info on YouTube, such as Jonathan Little and Alex Fitzgerald’s stuff. I gravitated towards that information and tried to soak as much of it in as I could. I really started to fall in love with the game watching those videos and learning the intricacies of poker and how super deep the game is. I'm still learning stuff every day.
How are you preparing for the Main Event final table?
There's a lot of work being done. I don't really want to specify how or with whom or anything. But I'm putting in a couple hours every day and trying to get better. I’m also trying to make sure that I'm prepared for everything that gets thrown at me at the final table.
I have a really good support system and team behind me. I think I'm going to be more than prepared for whatever spots the final table brings.
What was the most enjoyable part of going deep in the Main Event?
I don't think I can really point to one moment during those eight days and say that was it. But sometimes for me the smallest pots are the most fun. People lose sight of the small pots. They all mean something.
Do you see this as a once-in-a-lifetime thing?
This was my first Day 3 in a tournament ever. Most tournaments don't go outside of day five, so hopefully I can make another run like Joe Cada did. That's kind of who I've been thinking about throughout all of this.
It's one thing to make the Main final table once and one thing to win. But anybody can win a tournament. The real testament to true skill is taking on a behemoth like the Main Event twice. Cada getting first and then fifth was amazing. Even if I win this thing, can I get back to the final table again?
How will you mentally prepare this week for such a huge moment on poker’s biggest stage?
I've been doing some late-night walks, and kind of manifesting and visualizing. I think there's such a thing as putting good energy out into the air.
I overthink spots a lot, so I sometimes think worst-case scenario. But I think putting positive energy out into the air and focusing on all the good that's already happened, and all the good that can still come from this moment, is super important.
The job's not finished. We're not done. We still have a lot of work to do to finish this tournament.
How years of heartbreak prepared Jumalon for the Main Event final table
It doesn’t seem that you’ve taken any of this amazing run in the Main Event for granted.
Obviously, this is the biggest spot of anybody's career, but I know I wouldn't be here if I took it for granted. If people look at my Hendon Mob, I have probably ten to fifteen final two-table runs in huge MTTs.
There was a lot of heartbreak in those runs. There was a lot of, ‘Am I even good enough to do this?' But that kind of thinking just caused me to get better.
People see this one event, ‘He's twenty-two, he just gets gifted this spot worth millions of dollars.’ But I was in there competing in events after I turned eighteen. I was doing the Texas stops; I was doing the Florida stops. I was really trying to go for it.
From the start, I wasn’t playing the Main Event to get twenty-third or eighteenth. I'm playing this tournament to win the thing.
What would you tell young players struggling with heartbreak when a run falls short?
Honestly, handling it didn't come naturally. It really was a growth thing.
I used to cry after busting day twos. It really took a toll on me for a long time. Then I slowly started to realize that sometimes I have no control over the result. I can only put myself in the best position to succeed.
Players need to feel those emotions. But don't let it drag you all the way down. Don't let it kill the dream.
Did the volatile nature of the game ever come close to killing your dream career in poker?
A couple of months ago in Austin, I was having a really rough trip. I called my dad, and I said, "I don't know if I can do this anymore." What keeps you in it is realizing you are getting better, sitting down at a table, and seeing your edge.
I'm not even where I want to be yet. I'm not where I want to be poker-wise; I'm not where I want to be in life. But I have some goals that I want to chase down, and getting up and going after it every day is important to me.
There's truly something to be said for somebody who keeps getting knocked down over and over again and keeps getting back up. That's a dangerous person.
Lucas Jumalon reveals the mindset behind his $10M WSOP Main Event run
What have you learned during the Main Event?
This tournament allows you to survive being short for long periods of time. I had 5K chips in this tournament when the big blind was 500. I had 100K with 12 big blinds. I was short a couple times in this tournament.
The key is never to tilt chips off. By always trying to give yourself the best spot possible throughout any tournament you're playing.
The chips mean something. It doesn't matter if you have two bigs, and it doesn't matter if you have a hundred bigs. The chips really do mean something.
What was it like watching the streams on ESPN once you returned home?
I'm a big poker buff, so I've watched all of the old Main Event streams.
Getting the chance to be on ESPN and be on national television... who would have thought? I have ESPN coming to my house to tape a segment. What kind of dream world are we in?
I'm blessed to be here, and I'm super thankful. I'm going to make the most of the opportunity and hope to be around the game for a long time.
Additional image courtesy of WSOP.
