Out of a record-breaking field of more than 10,000 entrants, professional player Jonathan Tamayo finally rose to the top of the poker world on Wednesday night, winning the 2024 World Series of Poker main event bracelet and this year’s $10 million first place prize in Las Vegas.
The Texan reached the final table in seventh place and worked his way to the top to become the first player to win from that position since Pius Heinz in 2011.
“Everybody who’s good at poker plays in this tournament, and somehow I won and I still can’t believe it,” Tamayo said shortly after his win. “A lot of us start out playing for the money, and then when we get good we start playing for the fame. This is both.”
After a full day of play on Tuesday, the final table of nine players was whittled down to three. When play resumed on Wednesday, amateur Jordan Griff flopped a set of nines to eliminate online poker virtuoso Nicklas “Lena900” Astead.
From there, Tamayo and Griff battled heads-up. In the final hand, Tamayo flopped two pair on 8-3 offsuit and Griff flopped top pair on 9-6 offsuit. Tamayo eventually went all-in, Griff called, and the board finished with Aces and 5s, giving Tamayo the win.
Tamayo has won four WSOP Circuit events, including a 21st place finish in the 2009 WSOP Main Event for $352,832, his highest ever cash and placement. It was also his first WSOP bracelet in the Main Event.
With the win, his lifetime live earnings increased from $2.3 million to $12.3 million.
Every player at the final table won at least $1 million, with Grif and Astead winning $6 million and $4 million respectively. Last year’s winner, Daniel Weinman, finished 1,357th and won the minimum prize of $15,000.
The 55th running of the WSOP Main Event, a $10,000 buy-in freezeout presented by Caesars Entertainment, attracted a record prize pool of $94,041,600 from 10,112 entrants, beating the previous record of $93,399,900 and 10,043 entrants set in 2023.
The 2024 tournament also set a new single-day registration record with 5,014 participants on July 6th.
