Poker Pro Jonathan Tamayo Wins WSOP Main Event for $10M

The 2024 World Series of Poker gathered a whopping 10,000 players. Poker pro Jonathan Tamayo from Humble, Texas, humbled the record field and reached the pinnacle of poker on Wednesday night. 

Tamayo grabbed the 2024 WSOP main event gold bracelet along with the grand prize that reached no less than $10 million. 

Tamayop Entered the Final Table in 7th Place

The 38-year-old player managed to beat 30-year-old poker amateur Jordan Griff from Scottsdale, Arizona at the end of over three hours of heated heads-up play. 

The action unfolded at the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas and it started with Griff as the chip leader. 

The Texas native entered the final table from the seventh position. As he fought his way to the top, he eventually reached the moment when the final hand of 65 saw all the money go in while his flopped two pair against his opponent’s top pair snatched the huge win.

Tamayo became the first player to win from the seventh position since 2011 when German icon Pius Heinz pulled the same move.

Griff went home with $6 million.

“I Somehow Won It and I Still Can’t Believe It”

Commenting on his massive win and great night, Tamayo acknowledged that “Everybody who’s great at poker plays this tournament,” adding that while he “somehow won” he was still in disbelief. 

“I still can’t believe it,” he said, adding that many players start playing “for the money” and then, when they get “good”, they “start playing it for the prestige” adding it was both the money and the prestige for him. 

The player, who was boasting of $2.3 million in live tournament cashes prior to the final table, instantly saw his lifetime live earnings rise to $12.3 million.

He had previously won four different WSOP circuit events. The 2009 WSOP main event brought him $352,832 in cash for the 21st position. 

This had been his best-ever cash and finish before Wednesday’s magical night. 

Now, Tamayo also owns his first WSOP gold bracelet. 

The 55th iteration of the WSOP main event which featured a $10,000 buy-in freezeout hosted by Caesars Entertainment, saw that all final table players went home with at least $1 million. 

The main event collected a record total prize pool figure of $94,041,600 from 10,112 entries, going over previous records of 10,043 participants and a $93,399,900 total prize pool in 2023.