The 2026 WSOP Main Event final table has the potential to be one of the greatest in poker's modern era. Among the final 21 players sit a former Main Event champion, a two-time WSOP Player of the Year winner, and the son of poker's best-known legend.
If you left it there, you'd have Hossein Ensan, Shaun Deeb, and Todd Brunson, and that might be enough to get you excited.
But that would leave out William Givens' "Fly, Phoenix, Fly!" celly, a young Aussie, Malcolm Trayner, climbing to the absolute top of the leaderboard, and names like Michael Gagliano, Greg 'FBT' Mueller, and Brock Wilson still in the field.
It's setting up to be a legendary final table, but before that, there is one more day to play.
Shot clock shocker leads to Day 7 lightning round
Even when the WSOP puts its foot down on unabashed pay jump stalling on Day 6, no one saw what was coming on Day 7. When the Main Event players arrived on Sunday, they learned they would be on a shot clock. The feedback was fast and, in part, furious. The speed of play followed suit.
After his 32nd-place exit, Patrick Leonard told Jeff Platt, “I used up all my time banks on my fourth hand. I was feeling somewhat emotional.”
Todd Brunson is still alive in his campaign to win the Main Event 50 years after his father won it in 1976. Sunday, Brunson played a big six-bet pot with pocket aces, and when it was over, he held up a time bank card and declared, “First time I ever used one of these in my life!”
A story in every seat
Givens calls himself the Phoenix. He compares himself to a lion. He growls like a dog. And he has secrets. If he's in a pot, you know, and if he wins a pot, people on Lake Mead know. He shows up late, but declares that under his philosophy, he's "on time." He leaves early, but he won't say why. He knows he's sitting fifth in chips, and he's acting like he's already planning for heads-up play in August. He's part Ali, part Mayweather, and 100% Givens.
Shaun Deeb has nearly stopped looking across the room for other tournaments to enter. Locked in a tight battle for 2026 WSOP Player of the Year, he has seemed, at times, somewhat annoyed that he's stuck in the Main Event. Now resigned to his station, he's played with every bit of skill he's exhibited over the past two decades of his career. When his rail (Crazy Mike and a few other tagalongs) goes wild, Deeb still cracks a smile. Unrattled and unbothered, despite what seemed to be a desire to punt in the early stages, Deeb remains with a deadly stack.
And save a moment for Spokane, Washington's Luke Jumalon. His X profile describes him as an "aspiring poker crusher." At times today, he seemed crushed himself. There were moments that looked like a disaster for both his stack and his heart. At the end, he won a big hand to keep him in the game. The joy shot him straight into the arms of an adoring rail. Though he has many poker results, he's never won more than $23,000 in a single tournament. He's now guaranteed more than 10x that amount.
After the day was done, he told PokerOrg, "I was at the main feature, and I wasn’t really feeling settled. I came back from the break with a lot of juice. The emotions are very high, but we’re moving on to Day 8. Without my people here, I don’t know that I would have made it through the night. I’m just so thankful."
Racing toward millions
The shot clock mandated quicker decisions and a markedly faster pace of play that reduced the field from 62 to 21 by the end of the day.
Day 7 claimed Day 6's top two chip leaders Tyler Gaston (36th - $215,000) and Blake Barousse (31st - $265,000). The field also lost its final female player, Congya Zhang (61st - $150,000), as well as Ralph Perry (44th - $215,000). You can get a clearer sense of how the rest of the field departed in our Instant News feed.
By 10pm, every remaining player was on the main stage and the outer tables were dark, and by 11:45pm, the chips were in bags, and the remaining 21 players were prepping for one of the biggest poker days of their lives.
Trayner returns Monday with a huge chip advantage over second place and the remainder of the field. Rami Hammoud sits in second, just in front of a tight middle pack
Final 21 of 2026 WSOP Main Event field
- Malcolm Trayner: 63,200,000
- Rami Hammoud: 41,500,000
- Lucas Jumalon: 40,800,000
- Evagoras Evagorou: 38,200,000
- Will Givens: 31,700,000
- Shaun Deeb: 31,300,000
- Tolga Karakaya: 30,000,000
- Hossein Ensan: 29,700,000
- Thomas Clack: 27,500,000
- Antonio Galiana: 27,200,000
- Mario Boos: 24,300,000
- Han Feng: 24,000,000
- Daniel Savas: 21,300,000
- Michael Gagliano: 19,300,000
- Jamie Shaevel: 17,100,000
- Romain Lewis: 15,800,000
- Lauri Saaskilahti: 15,600,000
- Brock Wilson: 13,600,000
- Greg Mueller: 13,200,000
- Dylan Smith: 9,600,000
- Todd Brunson: 7,800,000
The field will show up Monday at 11am and play down to the final table.
*Additional reporting by Matt Hansen. Chip counts from WSOP.
