Thought Lauri Saaskilahti’s Hero Call Was Bad? The Pros Think Otherwise…

It was Lucas Jumalon who walked away $10 million richer after winning the 2026 WSOP Main Event.

But, it could have been a whole lot different if it weren’t for one heads-up hand between him and Lauri Saaskilahti.

Reactions have been mixed regarding the pivotal hero call from the Finn with just two players left from a 9,208-player field, so PokerNews is here to run you through the action and take a look at some of the reactions.

The Hand

Just as he had throughout the final table, Jumalon sat in the chip lead. It had quickly become apparent, not just during heads-up play, but over the course of the final table, that Saaskilahti wasn’t going to let himself be pushed around by Jumalon, no matter how big his chip lead.

The hand in question came just after Saaskilahti had doubled, putting himself within touching distance of the chip lead. Jumalon limped with Q♠5♦ on the button with Saaskilahti checking J♦3♦ in the big blind.

The flop came A♠K♠4♣ and Saaskilahti checked. Jumalon continued for 4,000,000 into a pot of 12,000,000 Saaskilahti called.

The turn was the J♠ giving Jumalon both straight and flush draws. Saaskilahti checked and this time Jumalon bet double the pot — 40,000,000 into 20,000,000.

Saaskilahti called and the 6♠ completed the board, as well as Jumalon’s flush. Saaskilahti checked and Jumalon barreled again, with another overbet, betting 180,000,000 into 100,000,000.

“To hero or not to hero?”

That sent his opponent deep into the tank. Saaskilahti knew he would be left with eight big blinds and facing a 12:1 chip disadvantage if he called and was wrong. Essentially, his chances at the Main Event were on the line.

“To hero or not to hero?” Saaskilahti said aloud after taking a few minutes. “You have it?”

Saaskilahti studied his opponent while Jumalon sat still.

“I only have a jack,” continued Saaskilahti. “It could be good.”

After much thought, Saaskilahti called and was shown the bad news. The hand didn’t end his Main Event — that came two hands later — but it left many in the poker community talking up a storm over whether he’d thrown away his chances at $10,000,000.

The Reaction

“I made a hero call, it didn’t go my way this time,” Saaskilahti said about the hand. He still took home $6,000,000 for his second-place finish, and seemed at peace with his decision. “That’s poker. One key hand today.

“My goal was to win,” he continued. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t [achieve] my goal. This tournament is just an amazing tournament, so it’s been a really fun ride; a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“I cannot be too disappointed. Second place, six million dollars. It’s not too bad.”

While the vast majority of non-professional opinions on the internet tended towards seeing Saaskilahti’s call as nothing but a huge blunder, others had a more nuanced take.

Ben Lamb knows a thing or two about playing at a WSOP Main Event final table, having made two (2011 & 2017), and said that great players going with their reads is one of the things that make them great.

“Sometimes, that read is wrong, or they get lost in the sauce a bit,” he continued. “As Scott Seiver said, if the river is a blank and he calls a huge bet on the river with third pair, he looks like a genius.”

Seiver tweeted himself, and was backed up by the likes of Jesse Lonis.

Patrick Leonard, who had spent the build-up to this year’s final table coaching eventual winner Jumalon, had a typically theory-laden viewpoint. In a since-deleted post, he went into detail about the ranges both players could have had.

“The thing is every single hand that isn’t the Q♠ is the same hand, if he called 10♠ people wouldn’t really be so annoyed, and the funny thing is, Lucas’ hands that limp that have the Q♠ in them is Qx2x–Qx6x offsuit mostly, so blocking those with Jx3x is actually better than say a straight or two pairs etc.”

“Jack also pretty ok, he never bluffs with a jack in his hand on the turn. So the Jack is pretty nice and the 3 is pretty nice too. Probably better to call this hand than a lotttttt of hands, it doesn’t matter that we have “3rd pair” we have a bluffcatcher.”

Others took umbrage at the chanting and overall noise made by Jumalon’s rail as Saaskilahti was making his decision.

Never the one to shy away from telling people how he feels, Mike Matusow clearly appreciated the old-school approach taken by Jumalon.

The last word on this has to go to five-time WSOP Circuit champion and recent Borgata Summer Poker Open PLO Championship winner Brandon Mueller.

Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor.

He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.