This College Grad From Spokane Won $10M and the Biggest Prize in Poker

Imagine being 22 years old and getting your hands on $10 million in cash.

That's the reality for Lucas Jumalon, a 22-year-old poker pro from Spokane, Washington, who took down the World Series of Poker Main Event on Wednesday night to capture the $10 million top prize and the most coveted title in all of poker.

The win makes Jumalon the second-youngest Main Event champion in history, trailing only Joe Cada, who won at 21 back in 2009. And he did it in style, holding the chip lead from the very first hand of the final table to the last, the first wire-to-wire Main Event victory since Koray Aldemir in 2021.

Despite his age, Jumalon reportedly started playing poker at eight years old, and those years showed during the final stretch of a tournament that drew 9,208 entries and built a prize pool north of $85 million.

Before Wednesday, Jumalon had banked just over $180,000 in career live tournament cashes. You'd never have known it watching him at the final table. Where the lights and the money make most players freeze, he kept his foot on the gas, putting opponents in brutal spots time and again. Once he took control, the bracelet always looked like his to lose. On his rail sat well-known high-stakes tournament pro Patrick "Pads" Leonard, who'd helped him prepare for the moment.

In truth, Jumalon's toughest test may have come before the final table was even set. To reach the final nine, he had to get through reigning Aussie Millions Main Event champion Malcolm Trayner, busting the Australian in 10th place and sending his boisterous rail home heartbroken.

Heads-up, Jumalon barely gave 40-year-old Finn Lauri Saaskilahti a look-in. The only real wobble came when his A♠9♣ ran into Saaskilahti's A♥T♦, Jumalon three-bet jamming and Saaskilahti eventually making the call. The A♦Q♦4♠ flop left Jumalon with just three outs, but he found one on the turn with the 9♦. That gift came with a catch: it handed Saaskilahti 15 outs to the river, and he hit one, the 6♦ bringing a fourth diamond. After the dust settled the two were near parity, Jumalon on 287 million and Saaskilahti on 266 million, blinds at 2m/4m with a 4m big-blind ante.

Saaskilahti, a recreational player who lives in Spain, played with flair, but that flair may have been his undoing. Because minutes later, he pulled off one of the wildest hero-call attempts in Main Event history.

Jumalon limped in for 4m with Q♠5♦, and Saaskilahti checked his big blind with J♦3♦. The flop came A♠K♠4♣, Saaskilahti checked, and Jumalon bet 4m into 12m. The turn brought the J♠, giving Saaskilahti a pair but putting every spade in Jumalon's range. Saaskilahti checked again, and Jumalon rocketed in an overbet, 40m into 20m. Saaskilahti looked visibly shaken before tank-calling. The river was the 6♠, and when Jumalon bet his flush with 180m into 100m, everyone assumed the hand was over. But Saaskilahti tanked. He looked back at his rail. He hunted for a tell.

“To hero or not to hero?” asked Saaskhilati to a stoic Jumalon.

And then he called, with just a lowly third-pair on a four-spade board, into a player repping the world.

It was a disaster. From that moment on, the young pro from Spokane may as well have already been wearing the bracelet.

For all the heartbreak, Saaskilahti didn't exactly leave empty-handed. The Finn banked $6 million for second place, a life-changing sum for a recreational player who came into the Main Event with just $138,453 in tournament cashes . Runner-up in the biggest tournament in poker is a hell of a way to announce yourself, even if the manner of the ending will sting for a while.

The recent Grand Canyon University graduate will now be looking to kick his career into another gear, with a win like this opening the door to the biggest buy-ins and most prestigious tournaments on the planet.

Expect to see the name Lucas Jumalon again.