Poker Twitter has not stopped arguing about the hand that decided the 2026 WSOP Main Event. On Day 11 at Horseshoe Las Vegas, Lauri Saaskilahti tanked for eleven minutes before calling Lucas Jumalon's 180 million-chip river shove with J♦3♦ on a monotone A♠K♠4♣J♠6♠ board, losing a 460 million-chip pot and, effectively, the $10 million title.
The setup
Jumalon limped the button with Q♠5♦, made a royal-flush draw on the turn, overbet 40 million into a 20 million pot on the jack of spades, and completed his flush on the 6♠ river. During the tank, Saaskilahti muttered his own read out loud: 'I feel like you have complete air. I don't have a strong hand.' A moment later he asked Jumalon directly: 'To hero, or not to hero. What do you think, Lucas? Do you have it?'
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The verdicts
Doug Polk called it 'the worst WSOP play of all time.' Jonathan Little labeled it 'the biggest punt in poker history.' Ben 'bencb' Rolle wrote that 'for us online grinders it would have been better if Saaskilahti was right, because not a single bluff would have worked on monotone boards for months.'
Phil Galfond took the opposite side, arguing that people who cannot fathom the call 'don't have the hero-call gene and have no idea how alluring it is.' ESPN commentator Nick Schulman summed up the emotional read of the moment by calling Saaskilahti 'truly the man,' noting that he 'pulls up to the Main with his lovely wife and rail all dressed to the nines, plays great for weeks, and leaves town with six million.'
Scott Seiver kicked off the deepest analysis thread on X by asking Jumalon what he would have done had a non-spade river landed. Jumalon replied in a two-post thread that he 'would have snap given up river vs him, not vs population.' Sources: Poker.org, CardPlayer.
