'Lady Luck smiled on Lucas': 22-year-old from Spokane vies for $10 million grand prize at the World Series of Poker
Jul. 13—Two weeks ago, 9,208 professional poker players upped the ante and traveled to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker.
As of 5 p.m. on Monday, only 17 of them were still in the game.
And the player with the second most chips? A 22-year-old from Spokane.
Lucas Jumalon, a graduate of Ferris High School, has already earned a prize of at least $410,475, according to Paul Burke, a spokesperson for the World Series of Poker.
“Should he survive the day’s play and make it to the final 9 players, he will be guaranteed a prize of at least $1 million,” Burke wrote in an email. “With a $10 million prize and the title of poker world champion going to the outright winner.”
Once the number of players is whittled to nine, the tournament will be paused until Aug. 3, when players compete until there is only one champion deserving of the $10 million prize.
Burke said he’s not sure if Jumalon is the youngest competitor, but noted he is playing against some of the world’s elite, including 2019 world champion Hossein Ensan and 2025 World Series of Poker Player of Year Shaun Deeb.
“Already on Day 8, Lucas has been involved in some big hands,” Burke said. “Firstly he got his chips into the middle (all-in) holding ace, ten versus Will Given’s ace, queen. At this point, Givens would have been approximately 80% favorite to win the hand. But ‘Lady Luck’ smiled on Lucas, he hit two tens on the flop (‘flopped trips’) and doubled up instead of being knocked.”
In a later hand, Burke said Jumalon knocked out Givens. Jumalon held two aces, which is the best pre-flop hand in poker, while Givens had a king and a jack. The aces, which were ahead from the start, remained the best hand after all five community cards (‘the board’) were dealt, Burke said.
While there’s still plenty of talented players left to challenge Jumalon, Maddox Popp is convinced his friend and fellow Ferris grad has got what it takes to win it all.
“You’ll hear his name a lot in the future,” Popp said.
Popp said he met Jumalon when they were both attending Chase Middle School. The pair quickly became friends through their shared love of sports, particularly basketball.
From b-ball to board games, Popp said Jumalon excels at anything that has a winner and a loser. And most of the time, Jumalon winds up the winner.
Popp said his friend is good at thinking about the future and playing certain people differently based on tendencies.
“He’s great at getting little tells from people and trusting his gut and the book,” Popp said. “He’s super calculated and great at reading people. Very analytical with every move.”
Popp said there’s been more than one occasion where he’s played against and watched Jumalon, usually at smaller tournaments and at one another’s homes.
He said Jumalon, who recently graduated from Grand Canyon University with a degree in business administration and data analytics, is smart, generous, kind, competitive and passionate about stuff that’s important to him.
But Jumalon really didn’t start playing until around his senior year.
“He started doing tournaments with his dad at Lilac Lanes and was pretty good at it,” Popp said. “We played a few tournaments there. He went all in after a while and would study poker. Diving into books, getting a poker coach, really going all in on it. He played a lot with his dad. His dad’s a pretty darn good player, too.”
Brian Lawrence of Yakima said he’s played against Jumalon a few times, including at the Chinook Winds PacWest Poker Classic Tournament in Lincoln City, Oregon.
A former combat veteran, Lawrence said he turned to poker in 2008 as a way of escaping the PTSD he dealt with daily. By 2013, he had studied the laws of probability and was ready to take things more seriously. Since then, he’s taken home about $100,000 in winnings.
As for Jumalon, Lawrence said rather modestly that “he’s a pretty decent player” and that he’s watching his play in the World Series of Poker closely. So far, he likes what he’s seeing.
“He’s cold and calculating and he understands the game and he’s not a ‘luck box,'” Lawrence said. “He doesn’t get lucky. He strategically plays and knows when to pick his moments.”
Lawrence said he’s only seen Jumalon grin once or twice. Apparently, he never breaks character and has a solid poker face. He also understands the betting hierarchy.
“He’s got a very good read of the game and understands preflop domination on what’s called two-betting and three-betting, which is re-betting an individual,” Lawrence said.
If Jumalon makes it to the final nine players, Popp plans to fly out and watch his buddy compete for the $10 million grand prize. He doesn’t want to jinx his best friend, but knows, at least in this case, that Jumalon takes pride in making his own luck.
“He’s going to win. I have no doubt,” Popp said. “Nobody works harder than him in this realm. I know it. It’s the kind of mentality that got Kobe (Bryant) his rings. Lucas was a huge Kobe fan and I truly believe the ‘mamba mentality’ is something he has.”
