Throughout the World Series of Poker Main Event, Lucas Jumalon wore a black “Have A Day” cap popularized on the YouTube golf channel Bob Does Sports.
Jumalon is an avid golfer but admitted he isn’t very good.
“Hopefully I have some money for some lessons now,” Jumalon said.
The budding poker pro from Spokane, Wash., bagged a commanding chip lead in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship when the final table of nine players was set late Monday at Paris Las Vegas.
Jumalon will have 194 million chips (129 big blinds) when the tournament resumes Aug. 3 at Horseshoe Las Vegas. Rami Hammoud of Canada is second with 79 million chips (53 big blinds).
All the remaining players are guaranteed at least $1 million but are aiming for the top prize of $10 million.
“It still hasn’t sunk in and I don’t know if it ever will. It’s just a surreal experience,” Jumalon said. “I know this may never come around again and I’m just soaking it all in. It’s really incredible.”
Boosted by a rowdy cheering section, Jumalon bounced back from an early hit to his chip stack and shot up the leaderboard on Day 8 thanks in large part to two pivotal hands.
The first came in a blind-versus-blind confrontation against Will Givens with 20 players remaining. Jumalon was all-in for his tournament life with ace-10 and was dominated by the ace-queen of Givens.
But the flop of 10-10-four put Jumalon in front, and Givens was drawing dead after a three on the turn. Givens was left with crumbs and went out in 19th place soon after when Jumalon took the rest of his chips with pocket aces.
“Ace-10 has actually been my hand,” Jumalon said.
Jumalon then won the biggest pot of the Main Event so far against Malcolm Trayner of Australia, who was the chip leader entering the day.
Jumalon was holding pocket jacks and behind his opponent’s pocket queens. But he outflopped Trayner on a board of four-ace-jack and made a full house on the river with another four.
When Jumalon pushed out a massive bet, Trayner made the call and was shown the bad news.
“Excuse my language, but they’ve been seeing me play a little bat-(expletive) crazy,” Jumalon said. “I earned the call.”
The hand gave Jumalon more than 125 million in chips, and he used his big stack the rest of the way to extend his lead. Meanwhile, that loss started a downward spiral for Trayner, who eventually was eliminated by Jumalon in 10th place for $750,000.
Jumalon is a recent graduate of Grand Canyon University. At 22, Jumalon would be the second-youngest Main Event winner behind 2009 champion Joe Cada, who was 21 at the time of his victory.
Greg Mueller, a three-time WSOP winner, reached the final table after scoring a huge double-up late in Day 8 and will start in fourth place. The resident of White Rock, British Columbia, is expected to have some notable NHL figures as part of his cheering section for the restart next month.
Michael Gagliano is the only other player at the final table with a WSOP victory under his belt. He owns three bracelets, which are awarded for tournament wins.
“This is obviously what every poker player dreams of,” Gagliano said. “I’ve watched this tournament for so many years growing up on ESPN so it’s pretty cool to actually have the opportunity to partake in it.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Lucas Jumalon: United States — 194,000,000
Rami Hammoud: Canada — 79,000,000
Jamie Shaevel: United States – 56,000,000
Greg Mueller: Canada – 48,500,000
Michael Gagliano: United States – 46,500,000
Mario Boos: France – 44,000,000
Lauri Saaskilahti: Finland – 37,500,000
Han Feng: United States – 25,000,000
Evagoras Evagorou: Cyprus – 22,500,000
