Lucas Jumalon is the Runaway Leader at 2026 Main Event Final Table

The final table of the 2026 World Championship has been reached, after Lucas Jumalon built a vast lead on Day 8, acting as the Grim Reaper to many players’ hopes and dreams. Players will now go on a 20-day break between qualifying for the final table and playing it out, as Shaun Deeb, Hossein Ensan and Brock Wilson all came up short in Las Vegas.

Todd Brunson Busts after Bad Beat

Day 8 of the 2026 Main Event began with 21 players but soon lost a couple of big names. Dylan Smith busted in 21^st place for $325,000 before the Poker Hall of Famer Todd Brunson left in 20^th place for the same amount. All-in with pocket aces after a jack-high board by the turn had brought two clubs with it, Brunson lost out on the river as chip leader Malcolm Trayner made a nut flush with ace-jack of clubs.

Trayner had a big lead but soon he had a rival near the top of the chipcounts. Lucas Jumalon busted Will Givens in 19^th with pocket aces, before Thomas Clack lost with ace-five to the 2019 world champion Hossein Ensan’s ace-seven. Frenchman Romain Lewis soon busted to pocket aces too, as his pocket kings were crushed by Greg Mueller, with the three-time WSOP bracelet winner celebrating wildly after the runout kept him ahead.

Brock Wilson busted in 16^th place, shoving with king-jack but losing to Daniel Savas’ nine-eight. The experienced American would have been a big threat at the final table, as would Shaun Deeb, but the reigning WSOP Player of the Year was the next to bust. All-in with an open-ended straight draw, Deeb couldn’t overtake Ravi Hammoud’s flopped top pair of queens with an ace kicker. Cashing for over $410,000, Deeb immediately registered into  two events in his bid to become the first player ever to retain the POY title.

World Champion Waves Goodbye

Over the past few days, Hossein Ensan wasn’t just the most likely former Main Event winner to have the chance of winning his second World Championship, he was the only one left. The German player, who took home $10 million in 2019, got so close to winning his second title in the biggest tournament on Earth but busted in an unlucky 13^th place. All-in with ace-queen, the German couldn’t overtake the American Michael Gagliano’s pocket kings and left with $510,000.

After the eliminations of Antonio Galiana (12^th for $510,000) and Tolga Karakaya (11^th for $750,000), only one more player needed to bust to bring about the final nine. That player turned out to the overnight chip leader Malcolm Trayner. After losing a flip, Trayner was all-in on a flop of 8-8-4 with jack-four and was called by Jumalon with king-queen. Two nines on turn and river counterfeited Trayner’s hand and the Aussie was commiserated by the others before they then celebrated reaching the Main Event final table.

Players will now take a break for almost three weeks before returning to play down to a winner from August 3^rd as three days of action will provide us with this year’s world champion on August 5^th.

Jumalon a Runaway Leader

Heading into the final nine, Lucas Jumalon’s lead is massive. Sitting down with 194,000,000 chips, the equivalent of 129 big blinds, Jumalon has more than double anyone’s stack and more than treble any player other than second in chips Rai Hammoud (79,000,000).

Two dangerous players hover in the middle of the pack, with the three-time bracelet winner Greg Mueller from Canada on 48,500,000 chips, with the four-time event winner Michael Gagliano close behind on 46,500,000. The short stack at the final table is the Cypriot player Evagoras Evagorou (22,500,000), who will start on just 15 big blinds.

Lucas Jumalon will return on August 3^rd as the favorite to win his first WSOP bracelet and the World Championship in conquering one final table. However, with talented players lurking in his slipstream and no Main Event table in history going smoothly for any winner, everything is on the line. Somebody will become a poker legend in three weeks’ time and we’ll be bringing you all the latest from Las Vegas when it happens.