Three days will separate the greats from one poker immortal in Las Vegas, as the final nine play down to a winner in the 2026 WSOP Main Event. Over the course of the first of those days of poker action, just two players dropped out of the running as a dramatic opening session saw one big mover climb to second place on the leaderboard, while the overnight chip leader Lucas Jumalon remained in overall control.

Early Levels See Jumalon Dial It Down

The first day of final table action in the WSOP Main Event final table saw two eliminations as two short stacks busted but across many hours, there were still plenty of talking points as those in power changed positions with those on the comeback trail. When play began, Lucas Jumalon started with 129 big blinds and one of the biggest leads in recent Main Event final table history. He is still ahead after Day 1… but the gap has narrowed between him and the field.

Play was initially cagey, as you might expect at the biggest final table of all the nine players’ lives. Jumalon was the obvious beneficiary of that with the overwhelming chip lead and so it continued in the Paris Ballroom. By contrast, Greg Mueller played zero of the first 20 hands at the final table as the Canadian three-time bracelet winner fiund his feet at the felt.

The 22-year-old Jumalon’s run of winning hands stopped abruptly in an interesting spot as he bet flop and turn but backed off on the river only to lose to Michael Gagliano’s ace-high. Had Jumalon followed through with a river bluff to complete the triple barrel, it is likely he would have won the pot, but instead, his momentum was halted and he noticeably slowed down the betting frequency after the hand.

Two Slim Hopes Depart

It took three hours for a player to leave but when it came, the shortest stack headed into the final table made way. Cypriot player Evagoras Evagorou became the first Cypriot ever to reach the final table three weeks ago when he outlasted stars of the felt such as WSOP Player of the Year leader Shaun Deeb, 2019 world champion Hossein Ensan and PokerStake’s own Brock Wilson on Day 8.

All-in with pocket jacks, Evagorou couldn’t hold against the ace-queen belonging to Jamie Shaevel as an ace landed on the flop and no miracle jack came on turn or river.  Evagorou, embraced by his passionate fans on the rail, still became a millionaire, winning $1,000,000 in ninth place and hoped to inspire ‘the young generation’, especially in his home country of Cyprus.

“Take small risks and keep becoming better and better every day,” he said afterwards. “Your dreams will come true.”

Bedecked in an open white shirt, red and white trousers and a pink feather boa, Han Feng’s play was as full of flair as his $200 outfit. He started play in eighth, but after doubling through Mario Boos when ace-four hit a four against ace-queen, Feng was on the comeback trail, the opposite to the unlucky Boos.

The Frenchman Boos was virtually unbacked on Polymarket in the pre-match betting before the Main Event finale and that played out as a hive mind premonition when he left in eighth place for $1.25 million. The French quarter of the Paris Ballroom’s rowdy rail erupted as Boos was all-in with pocket eights but that hand proved apt as he left in eighth, Lauri Saaskilahti’s king-nine flopping a pair to eliminate the Finnish pro’s French rival.

Jumalon ‘Thankful’ to Remain in the Lead

After a thrilling opening to the final three days of tournament action, there might only have been two eliminations, but the drama was a constant. The absence of a shot clock at the Main Event final table was a masterstroke by GGPoker and the action flowed fast and fun throughout. When asked how he felt about his first day at the final table felt, Lucas Jumalon was bullish about his chances despite his chip stack going from 129 big blinds at the start of play to 85 bigs heading into Day 2.

“We’re just gonna go play cards, and whatever happens happens,” he said. “Let’s go get it done, though. This is why you build a stack like this. I could have sat and folded, that wasn’t gonna be my strategy obviously. I’m just thankful to still be in the tournament.”

Han Feng was even happier, freely admitting to a scrum of reporters that he never saw himself getting this far, let alone going from eighth at the start of play second of seven in chips.

“I didn’t plan to spin this many chips,” Feng said of his new 43-big-blind stack. “I would have had the sickest three-day outfit.”

Feng’s stack of 106.5 million chips only trails Jumalon’s pile of 212 million chips at the top of the leaderboard. With players like Finnish player Lauri Saaskilahti (84.5m), Canadian Ravi Hammoud (45.5m) and Michael ‘Gags’ Gagliano (42m) much shorter, the second day of final table action could well be a lot shorter. Cash game pro Jamie Shaevel (33m/13BB) and three-time WSOP event winner Greg Mueller (29.5m/12BB) will start Day 2 of the final as the two shortest stacks, with Day 10 of the WSOP Main Event sure to provide fireworks as the destination of this year’s World Championship bracelet becomes clearer.

WSOP 2026 Main Event Word Championship Chipcounts:
Place	Player	Country	Prize	Big Blinds
1st	Lucas Jumalon	United States	212,000,000	85
2nd	Han Feng	United States	106,500,000	43
3rd	Lauri Saaskilahti	Finland	84,500,000	34
4th	Rami Hammoud	Canada	45,500,000	18
5th	Michael Gagliano	United States	42,000,000	17
6th	Jamie Shaevel	United States	33,000,000	13
7th	Greg Mueller	Canada	29,500,000	12