WSOP Main Event Bad Beat: Han Feng’s Aces Cracked

A brutal WSOP Main Event bad beat at the final table

The 2026 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event produced one of those hands players remember for years. In hand No. 141 at the final table, Han Feng picked up pocket aces, got the money in against Lauri Saaskilahti’s pocket nines, and watched his tournament end in fifth place after a river straight.

With just five players left from a massive field of 9,208 entries, the hand carried enormous weight. This was not just a standard cooler. On a final table where every chip had real survival value, the result turned into a massive ICM swing and one of the most painful bad beats of the summer.

How the preflop action built a monster pot

Feng, a 27-year-old pro from Houston, Texas, had already survived a roller-coaster path to this point. He was nearly eliminated in eighth place on the first night of final-table action, then climbed back to enter Day 10 in second place in chips. But as the field narrowed from seven to five, his stack had slipped and he was close to the bottom of the leaderboard.

Under the gun, Feng made it 6,000,000 with A♦A♣. Saaskilahti, a 39-year-old Finn on the button, looked down at 9♠9♥ and chose aggression, 3-betting to 50,000,000 with a stack of just under 20 big blinds.

That size forced Greg Mueller into a difficult decision in the big blind with J♦J♣. The three-time bracelet winner tanked for a long time and ultimately made the correct fold. It was a disciplined laydown, especially with so much money on the line and ICM pressure squeezing the table from every angle.

Feng then quickly called off his remaining stack of roughly 25,000,000, setting up a classic high-stakes race between premium pairs.

The flop gave aces a near-lock, then the turn and river changed everything

The flop came 10♦8♦3♦, giving Feng an enormous lead with an overpair and the nut flush draw. According to Card Player’s poker odds calculator, he was just shy of a 93% favorite at that point. In most tournament spots, that is as close to a lock as you can get without being all the way there.

The J♥ on the turn added drama. Saaskilahti picked up an open-ended straight draw and extra outs to a set of nines. It also would have made Mueller a set of jacks had he not found the preflop fold. Even so, Feng was still expected to win the hand more than 84% of the time.

Then the Q♠ on the river completed Saaskilahti’s straight and turned the pot upside down.

Nick Schulman, calling the action from the ESPN booth, summed it up perfectly: “Oh my god… so brutal.” Saaskilahti’s rail erupted, while Feng’s run in the Main Event came to a sudden halt.

ICM turned one hand into a multi-million-dollar swing

At a final table like this, chips are not created equal. That is where ICM matters most. The difference between surviving and busting can be worth millions of dollars in expected value, even if the chip counts look relatively close.

If Feng had held, his 57,500,000-chip stack would have been worth more than $4.5 million in ICM terms. Instead, he locked up $2,250,000 for fifth place, a career-best score but also a painful reminder of how much value can disappear in one river card.

That means the bad beat cost him more than $2.2 million in EV. The result does not mean Feng played poorly. In fact, his line was standard and strong. Poker simply reminded everyone that even the best spots can end badly when only a few cards remain.

For players studying tournament strategy, this is exactly why it is useful to compare elite events with the grind in poker rooms and poker clubs: the deeper you run, the more every decision gets filtered through survival, payout jumps, and ICM pressure.

Expert takeaway: what players should learn from this hand

This hand offers several strategic lessons that go beyond the headline bad beat.

• Big 3-bets at short-to-mid stacks can be ICM weapons: Saaskilahti’s shove-pressure style attack forced the table into tough decisions.
• A strong fold can be worth millions: Mueller’s laydown with jacks saved him from a potentially disastrous collision.
• Aces are still vulnerable: even when they are far ahead, board texture can create enough equity for a comeback.
• Final-table poker is different poker: chip EV and money EV are not the same, and that changes how pros should construct ranges.

For serious students, this is the kind of hand that belongs in a poker school review session. It is also a reminder that managing swings, staying calm after a cooler, and understanding payout structure are just as important as preflop charts and solver outputs.

The broader industry lesson is simple: the Main Event remains poker’s biggest stage because it compresses skill, variance, and pressure into a single table. That is why one river card can reshape not only a tournament, but a player’s legacy.

Final table implications and what came next

Feng finished fifth for $2,250,000, while Mueller went on to place third for $3,750,000. Saaskilahti advanced to heads-up play against 22-year-old American pro Lucas Jumalon for the championship bracelet and the $10,000,000 top prize.

Jumalon entered the final duel with 328,000,000 chips, or 109 big blinds, compared with Saaskilahti’s 225,000,000 chips, or 75 big blinds. Both players were already locked up for at least $6,000,000, and the title match was set to air on ESPN at 7:30 PM PT.

For the poker world, this was another vivid example of why the WSOP Main Event still feels larger than life. It is the rare tournament where a single hand can decide millions, define a summer, and leave behind a story players will discuss for years. For anyone building a long-term poker career, studying spots like this alongside promotions & bonuses and working with a poker agent can be part of a broader plan to stay profitable and keep climbing.

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