Lucas Jumalon ended Monday night in the strongest spot at the World Series of Poker main event final table, finishing with 218.5 million chips as the field was cut to seven players.
The 22-year-old Ferris High School graduate started the final table with a 115 million chip lead over second place, but the night still had its swings. By 9 p.m., he had 27.5 million chips less than when play began and two more eliminations were still needed. Then, by 9:25 p.m., Jumalon won a couple of big pots and pushed his stack back up to 218.5 million.
Seven players remain after Monday's play
The first player out was Evagoras Evagorou, who was eliminated around 7:40 p.m. when Jamie Shaevel beat him with a pair of aces. After that, the final table kept moving toward the sport's biggest payout stage, with only seven players left by the end of the night.
That leaves the event one elimination away from the official final six and the largest remaining payout positions. For Jumalon, it is the latest step in a remarkable run from where he began: on July 4, he was the second-shortest stack among 759 players still chasing the $10 million grand prize.
From long shot to front-runner
The turnaround has been dramatic. Jumalon entered the final table with a huge cushion, holding about 35% of the total chips in play, and he was still the player everyone else had to catch as Monday night closed. With 212 million chips on one side of the table and 218.5 million in Jumalon's stack by the end, the pressure now shifts to the rest of the field.
The final table also carried its own atmosphere. Greg Mueller had a sea of red shirts and hats in support around him, while the lineup featured four Americans, two Canadians, a Frenchman, a Finn and a man from Cyprus. But with seven players left, all eyes were on Jumalon and whether he can turn the chip lead into the biggest prize in poker.
Jumalon has sounded almost overwhelmed by how far the run has gone, saying, "The world is yours" and comparing the moment to "winning the lottery." He also acknowledged how rare a deep run like this can be, saying, "even if you’re a good poker player, this happens once in every 600 lifetimes."
For now, though, the only number that matters is the one on top of the leaderboard. At the end of Monday night, Lucas Jumalon had it.
