Who Will Play at the WSOP 2026 Main Event Final Table

The battle in the 2026 World Series of Poker Main Event has entered the home stretch. A final table has been formed out of a field of many thousands of entrants, and its participants have gone on break. Play resumes on 3 August in the main television hall of the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas complex.

The road to the final nine was full of major upsets: from the elimination of Artur Martirosyan, who led confidently in the middle of the run, and Michael Mizrachi's early surrender of his championship title, to Chris Moneymaker's collapse right on the bubble. You can find the full chronology of these events in our World Series of Poker digest.

The organisers are keeping the three-day final format, which will help minimise the impact of fatigue on the quality of the players' decisions. Each of the nine participants has already guaranteed himself a minimum payout of $1,000,000, but the main fight will be for the world champion's gold bracelet and a cheque for $10,000,000.

1. Lucas Jumalon

The 22-year-old professional from Spokane, Washington, is the confident chip leader of the final table. Just three months before taking part in the Main Event, Jumalon graduated from Grand Canyon University. Higher education did not get in the way of his poker career — Lucas discovered the game at the age of eight, and as soon as he came of age he started grinding seriously. Right up until the start of the current WSOP Main Event, the American had played exclusively at micro stakes. His previous best career result was a payout of $22,945 for winning the $400 Daily Deepstacks tournament at last year's series. However, on Day Eight of the Main Event, Jumalon caught an upswing and personally knocked out Australian Malcolm Trainer. Should he win it all, Lucas will become the second-youngest world champion in history after Joe Cada, as well as the first title holder born after 2000.

2. Rami Hammoud 

The 29-year-old player from Montreal sits second in the chip count.
Hammoud is a certified specialist in actuarial mathematics, having graduated from Concordia University. Away from the poker tables, the Canadian has a serious career in the IT industry, working as an analytics manager at Roblox. His biggest financial success to date was a $123,386 win at the PCA series in the Bahamas. His mathematical background and his interest in artificial intelligence technology helped him coolly sit through the drawn-out stages of the pre-final table.

3. Jamie Shavel

The 36-year-old father of two earns his living exclusively by playing deep-stacked cash at high stakes in Los Angeles. Shavel is cashing in the WSOP Main Event for the 8th time in his career. Before this year, his biggest career achievement in MTTs was $31,200 for 100th place in the 2011 WSOP Main Event. His entire tournament experience is focused solely on the Main Event; he is completely indifferent to the other events.

4. Greg Mueller 

One of the most experienced and recognisable members of this nine. Mueller is a 55-year-old former professional ice hockey player who successfully switched to poker after finishing his sporting career. The old-school regular has three WSOP gold bracelets to his name, and his best live result to this day remains a record $460,841 for second place in the limit hold'em championship at the WSOP. Greg admitted to reporters that he had suffered from burnout in recent years, but this tournament run has fully restored his passion for the game. A powerful landing party of NHL stars is expected in the Horseshoe stands in August, coming to support the veteran.

5. Michael Gagliano

The player with the most titles at the final table by number of awards and a top regular from New Jersey, competing at a high level since 2009. At one point Gagliano made the resolute decision to leave his job as a school teacher to devote himself fully to poker. He holds four WSOP bracelets — three of which were won online, and one in a live tournament in 2016. Shortly before the series, Michael developed and released a completely free mobile app with the schedule of all the Vegas series, which went viral among regulars. In the community, people joke that the "karma points" he earned for the free software converted into a seat at the final table of his life.

6. Mario Boos

A 32-year-old French professional who started playing in 2011. Mario is from the commune of Vogelsheim on the border with Germany, where the population is less than 3000 people. Before this summer, his best career result was a 6th-place finish at the regional Italian Poker Sport tournament in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, where he earned $54,659. Boos calls himself a "survival master" — over the course of the 8-day tournament, he carefully avoided marginal all-in confrontations. If Mario wins, he will instantly rise to 6th place on the list of France's most profitable players in poker history.

7. Lauri Saaskilahti

Lauri has lived in Spain for many years and heads the sales department at a major international company. Outside of work, he enjoys chess, travel, photography, and polo. His best achievement before the trip to Vegas was $41,210, earned at the regional Estrellas Poker Tour series in Malaga. By reaching the final table, Saaskilahti created a sensation back home: previously in the history of the WSOP Main Event, Finnish players had never finished higher than 25th place. On the way to the final table, Lauri was noted by reporters as a master of traps and subtle river value bets.

8. Han Feng 

Han Feng is the only holder of an official Global Poker Index award at this table: at the end of 2024, he was named "Best Mid-Stakes Player of the Year." He also has a WSOP Circuit gold ring to his name — in March 2024, he set a new career-high cash by earning $144,413 for winning the Main Event in Tulsa. Han pulled off a miracle on Day 8 — he dropped to a critical mark of 5 big blinds at the final table bubble but managed to build his stack back up. Han later admitted that out of all 8 days of the tournament, that pre-flop all-in shove at 5 BB was the first time his tournament life had truly been on the line.

9. Evagoras Evagorou

Closing out the final table chip counts is a 43-year-old representative of Cyprus who works as a licensed optician by profession. Before the summer of 2026, Evagoras had never once cashed in a WSOP tournament in Las Vegas. This current series has gone well for him — first he cashed in the Mystery Millions, then made a deep run in the Mini Main Event and finished 15th in the Deepstack Championship, for which he earned his best payout at the time — $46,220. Before coming to Vegas, the Cypriot's only live tournament win was a $100 daily tournament at Caesars Palace, which brought him $1,324 in prize money. Now he has a chance to bring Cyprus its first ever world poker championship title.

The final table of the WSOP 2026 Main Event represents a cross-section of the modern poker world: the ambitious and dominant young chip leader Jumalon, old-school veterans Gagliano and Muller, cash game player Shaivel, and GPI award winner Feng. The European contingent, represented by Boos, Saaskilahti, and Evagorou, adds further intrigue to the final.

The three-week break will allow the players to fine-tune their strategy and rest, while viewers can prepare for the conclusion of the year's biggest tournament, which begins on August 3 at the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas complex.