The overlooked exciting storyline of the WSOP Main Event final table

When the games officially begin on Monday night, Michael Mizrachi will not be at the final table of this year's WSOP Main Event. Neither will Phil Ivey or Chris Moneymaker, and there will be no legendary comeback story like Stu Ungar's in 1997.

Moreover, the final table players are uncontroversial. There are no "bad boys" at this table. No Josh Arieh from 2004 or Mike Matusow from 2005. So why tune in to ESPN2 tonight at 9 PM ET (August 4th and 5th on ESPN)? There are many reasons—for example, a world champion is about to be crowned, and Jamie Shaevel, a cash game specialist who rarely plays tournaments outside the Main Event, is chasing the most prestigious title in poker.

While these are all interesting storylines that would excite any poker enthusiast on Monday night, there is one storyline that seems to be going undiscussed as the biggest final table of the year approaches.

Under pressure

The final table features several seasoned veterans, such as Greg "FBT" Mueller and Michael Gagliano—two pros unlikely to be swayed by the ESPN spotlight. But the biggest question before the tournament even begins is: how will the youngest player at the table cope with the pressure of competing for $10 million and the world championship title?

Lucas Jumalon is a favorite to win the title, and he's only 22 years old. The young man from Spokane, Washington, is in an enviable and rare position—he enters the WSOP Main Event final table with a huge chip lead.

Jumalon is the fourth player this century to enter the WSOP Main Event final table with at least 75 more big blinds than anyone else. The other three—Koray Aldemir (2021), Hossein Ensan (2019), and Joe McKeehen (2015)—all went on to win, and most of them did so without much difficulty.

Holding 35% in total chips during the ESPN-broadcast tournament comes with pressure and high expectations. The other large chip leaders mentioned above are all more experienced tournament players. Jumalon, meanwhile, had only $180,000 in live tournament winnings before the Main Event began.

If short-stacked players like Han Feng or Evagoras Evagorou (both with fewer than 20 big blinds) are eliminated early, no one will remember them. But if Jumalon squanders his 129 big blinds, for example, by finishing in sixth place—unless he suffers some brutal cold hands or a bad beat—he risks being remembered forever as a legendary collapse.

But on the other hand, he also has the opportunity to make history in a more positive way—becoming the second youngest Main Event champion in history. Jumalon could perfectly utilize his large chip stack to dominate the table and win the gold bracelet in a way that poker fans will never forget.

With the pressure of being a favorite and facing a $10 million prize, can Jumalon perform like a veteran? Or will he make some mistakes that could cost him the world championship title? These questions will be answered in the next few hours.

Regardless of the outcome, tracking his performance at the final table is one of the most compelling storylines and one of the many reasons why poker fans shouldn't miss the broadcast—even if the pre-tournament hype isn't as high as it was when Mizrachi had a deep run last year.