Jonathan Tamayo Wins World Series of Poker Main Event

From a record number of over 10,000 players, professional Jonathan Tamayo finally reached the top of the poker game on Wednesday night, winning the bracelet of the main event of the 2024 World Series of Poker and the top prize of $10 million this year in Las Vegas.

The Texas native entered the final table in seventh place and fought his way to the top to become the first player to win from that position since Pius Heinz in 2011.

“Everyone who’s good at poker plays this tournament, and I somehow won it and I still can’t believe it,” Tamayo said moments after winning. “A lot of us start playing for the money and when we get good, we start playing for the prestige. This is both.”

The nine-handed final table was reduced to three players after a full day of play on Tuesday. When play resumed on Wednesday, amateur Jordan Griff eliminated online poker great Niklas “Lena900” Astedt after flopping a set of 9s.

From there, Tamayo and Griff battled it out heads-up. On the final hand, Tamayo had 8-3 off suit and flopped two pair; Griff had 9-6 off suit and flopped top pair. Tamayo eventually moved all-in and Griff called, and the board ran out with an ace and a 5 to give the former the win.

Tamayo had previously won four WSOP circuit events and took home $352,832 for finishing 21st in the 2009 WSOP main event, his best cash and finish ever. This marked his first WSOP bracelet as part of the main proceedings.

The win increased his total live earnings from $2.3 million to $12.3 million.

All players at the final table took home at least $1 million, with Griff and Astedt winning $6 million and $4 million respectively. Last year’s champion, Daniel Weinman, finished 1,357th and won the minimum payout of $15,000.

The 55th edition of the WSOP main event, a $10,000 buy-in freezeout hosted by Caesars Entertainment, produced a record prize pool of $94,041,600 from 10,112 entrants, surpassing the previous records of $93,399,900 and 10,043 players set in 2023.

The 2024 event also set a record for single-day registrations by welcoming 5,014 participants on July 6.