Lauri Saaskilahti Makes WSOP Main Event History for Finland
The Barcelona-based businessman locked up at least $1 million and heads into the final table with a shot at $10 million.
Lauri Saaskilahti is the first Finnish player to ever make the WSOP Main Event final table, and he will head into the final table with a guaranteed $1 million payday and a shot at the $10 million top prize when play resumes Aug. 3 at Horseshoe Las Vegas.
The Barcelona resident is not a full-time pro. According to Poker.org, he described himself as an amateur who loves poker as a hobby, even though he once played semi-professionally while studying.
That same report traced his Main Event goal back to a layover in California last year. Saaskilahti said he had about six hours to kill on a business trip back to Europe, found his way to Hustler Casino and sat in his favorite game, PLO $10/20/40.
He said he played for three hours and won almost $20,000. He then used that win as motivation to come back to the U.S. and take a shot at the Main Event the next summer.
Saaskilahti also said he wrote down one goal for 2026: “Win the WSOP Main Event.” He said he was already thinking about making the trip when he planned to turn 40 next summer.
His run was not all smooth. He said Day 2 and Day 3 were the toughest because he had a cold, although after that it was “more or less smooth sailing.”
PokerNews reported that he entered Day 4 with 224,000 chips and ran it up to 2.1 million, putting himself among the chip leaders with 533 players left. He more than doubled again by the end of Day 5, then entered Day 8 with 15.6 million chips as one of the shorter stacks among the final 21.
The biggest scare came on Day 7. Poker.org reported that with 35 players still in the hunt, Saaskilahti was all in and at risk for his tournament life against Brock Wilson, holding only 11% equity when he said, “I have some outs.”
PokerNews said the hand was ace-high against Wilson’s flopped top pair of kings, and Saaskilahti spiked an ace on the river to stay alive.
By the time the bags were sealed, he said he felt “surprisingly relaxed.” He finished Day 8 with 37.5 million chips, seventh among the final nine players.
That finish surpassed Finland’s previous deepest Main Event runs. Matti Kuortti’s 25th-place finish in 1997 and Miika Puumalainen’s 59th in 2009 had been the country’s deepest previous results.
Saaskilahti said the three-week break will be spent with family, first in Las Vegas and then in San Diego for Disneyland and Beverly Hills. He also said he wants to use the time for an in-depth review of his opponents and some scenario planning before the live final table, and after it wraps up he plans to return to Barcelona, where he lives and keeps an office.
