Pros Split Over Lauri Saaskilahti’s J-3 Hero Call in WSOP Main Event
The second-place finisher called a huge river overbet against Lucas Jumalon, and the poker world argued whether it was a mistake or a bluffcatch.
Poker pros dissected Lauri Saaskilahti’s river call with J-3 in the 2026 WSOP Main Event. Lucas Jumalon had already won the title and the $10 million first prize, while Saaskilahti finished second for $6 million after a heads-up duel that came out of a 9,208-player field.
PokerNews broke down the key hand as Jumalon limping Q♠5♦ on the button and Saaskilahti checking J♦3♦ in the big blind. The flop came A♠K♠4♣, Jumalon bet 4,000,000 into 12,000,000, and Saaskilahti called.
The turn brought the J♠, which gave Jumalon both straight and flush draws. Saaskilahti checked again, Jumalon fired 40,000,000 into 20,000,000, and Saaskilahti called once more.
The river was the 6♠, completing Jumalon’s flush. After Saaskilahti checked, Jumalon overbet 180,000,000 into 100,000,000, and Saaskilahti called. He said the spot was basically “To hero or not to hero?”, and added that if he called and was wrong he would be down to eight big blinds and facing a 12:1 chip disadvantage.
Saaskilahti told himself he had a jack and that it “could be good.” After the call, he was shown the bad news, but the hand did not end his tournament. He bust two hands later, then called the result “an amazing tournament” and a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“I made a hero call, it didn’t go my way this time,” he said. “My goal was to win,” he added, before noting that second place and $6 million was “not too bad.”
The pro reaction was mixed, but several prominent voices leaned toward Saaskilahti. Ben Lamb said great players going with their reads is part of what makes them great, even if the read is wrong or they get “lost in the sauce” a bit, and he echoed Scott Seiver’s point that a blank river can make a third-pair call look brilliant.
Patrick Leonard went deeper into the ranges in a since-deleted post and argued that J-x-3-x blockers can be better than some stronger-looking hands. He also said the jack was “pretty ok,” because Jumalon never bluffs with a jack in his hand on the turn, and that it was “probably better to call this hand than a lotttttt of hands” because it was a bluffcatcher.
Pokerfuse also said many pros were posting their reactions on X after the Main Event wrapped, and that a majority did not think Saaskilahti’s call was that bad from a GTO standpoint. Others objected more to the chanting and noise from Jumalon’s rail, while Mike Matusow praised the “old-school approach” to the rail noise.
The hand came during heads-up play, which PokerNews said was only the third time the Main Event’s last day began heads-up. Jumalon entered with 328,000,000 chips to Saaskilahti’s 225,000,000, and PokerNews noted that since 2001 the player leading at the start of heads-up has lost five times.
