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Jonathan Tamayo Wins Historic 2024 WSOP Main Event

Written by Jennifer Newell
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The young, softspoken man from a place called Humble, Texas goes off to Cornell University and studies hotel management. As he graduated and headed out into the world, the poker boom captured the attention of many men of his generation.

Jonathan Tamayo played some online poker during and after college, even notching his first deep run at the World Series of Poker in 2007; he finished tenth in a $3K Limit Hold’em event. He cashed in several bracelet events the following year, coming so close as to finish in second place in a $1,500 Limit/No Limit Hold’em event for more than $140K. And in 2009, he made a deep run in the WSOP Main Event, finishing 21st for more than $352K.

That hotel management degree was on hold for the indefinite future, as poker became an increasingly important part of Tamayo’s life.

A few million dollars and four WSOP Circuit rings later, Tamayo found himself on the largest poker stage playing for the largest amount of money awaiting any winner in 2024. And he won it – the big one, the WSOP World Championship, the Main Event – for $10M.

To the Final Table

The 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event brought in 10,112 players over the course of four starting days and two more days that offered late registration. When all was said and done, the prize pool came to $94,041,600, with both the field and prize money setting new records.

Jonathan Tamayo was one of the 10,112 players who participated in the tournament. At the end of each day of the tournament, these were his standings:

  • Day 2D:  311th place (272,500 chips) of 2,068 survivors
  • Day 3:  144th place (823,000 chips) of 1,529 survivors
  • Day 4:  388th place (455,000 chips) of 464 players remaining
  • Day 5:  35th place (5,430,000 chips) of 160 players
  • Day 6:  19th place (13,300,000 chips) of 59 players
  • Day 7:  14th place (18,400,000 chips) of 18 remaining players

At the end of Day 8, Tamayo had a place at the coveted final table, the standings showing him seventh of nine players and holding 26.7M chips.

Final Table Action, Part 1

When the final nine gathered back at the scene of the action on Tuesday, July 16, Tamayo and his competitors were rested from a day off. They were all guaranteed at least $1M for ninth place, but all eyed the $10M first-place prize and the multi-million-dollar gold bracelet.

Officially Day 9 of the tournament, Tamayo was seventh of the nine places on the leaderboard, holding 26.7M chips. Jordan Griff was the far-and-away chip leader with 143.76M chips, followed by Brian Kim and Niklas Astedt.

It didn’t take long to see the first bustout:

  • Hand 30: Jordan Griff (3c-3s) eliminated Malo Latinois (Ah-Kh) on As-Tc-9h-3d-Ac board with full house. Latinois claimed $1M for ninth place.

Tamayo then doubled to 41M chips through Griff. He took some chips from Angelov to reach 51M.

  • Hand 54: Niklas Astedt (Qh-Qd) busted Joe Serock (Ah-Js) on Td-9h-4s-Jc-8h board with straight. Serock exited in eighth place for $1.25M.
  • Hand 61: After Andres Gonzelez doubled through Brian Kim, the latter shoved with Kc-6c but ran into Ts-Td of Astedt. Kim left in seventh place with $1.5M.

Though Tamayo had fallen back to 35M, he then doubled through Griff to stay alive. A bit later, he doubled through Astedt to climb into third place and then later ascended to second on the leaderboard.

  • Hand 146: Astedt (Ah-Qd) eliminated Gonzalez (Jh-Jd) with the help of Ac-Tc-Ts-7h-3c board. Gonzalez won $2M for sixth place.
  • Hand 152: Tamayo (Kc-6h) took on Boris Angelov (6s-6d), and board of Ks-5h-4c-Kd-Ts pushed Angelov out in fifth with $2.5M.
  • Hand 161: Astedt (Ac-3c) busted Jason Sagle (Js-Jd) with 8d-4h-3d-5s-2s board. Sagle collected $3M for fourth place.

Final Table Action, Part 2

Day 10 brought on the second and last hand of the final table, with the three remaining players holding these chip stacks:

  • Niklas Astedt = 223M chips
  • Jonathan Tamayo = 197M chips
  • Jordan Griff = 187M chips

It took only a few hands for the chip leader to lose his ground and put his tournament at risk. Astedt did that with Ks-Jd on a board of Tc-9d-3d-Jc, but Griff had 9c-9s, and the set stood up to the Kh on the river. That left Astedt out in third place with $4M.

Heads-up began with Griff holding 432.5M chips to the 174.5M of Tamayo. The latter took a couple of quick pots to jump into the lead and then extend it. Griff did eventually double through Tamayo and then retook the lead a few hands later. Tamayo then doubled.

Play continued for dozens of hands, and the double-ups continued for both players. Finally, on the 235th hand of the final table, Tamayo moved all-in with 8d-3s on a 9d-8c-3d flop. Griff called with 9h-6c, but neither the Ac on the turn or 5d on the river could beat the two pair of Tamayo.

Griff accepted the second-place payout of $6M, and Jonathan Tamayo became the new WSOP world champion with $10M in cash to show for it.

The final payouts were:

  • 1st place:  Jonathan Tamayo (USA) $10,000,000
  • 2nd place:  Jordan Griff (USA) $6,000,000
  • 3rd place:  Niklas Astedt (Sweden) $4,000,000
  • 4th place:  Jason Sagle (Canada) $3,000,000
  • 5th place:  Boris Angelov (Bulgaria) $2,500,000
  • 6th place:  Andres Gonzalez (Spain) $2,000,000
  • 7th place:  Brian Kim (USA) $1,500,000
  • 8th place:  Joe Serock (USA) $1,250,000
  • 9th place:  Malo Latinois (France) $1,000,000

Feature photo credit: Hayley Hochstetler for PokerNews/WSOP 2024

Jennifer Newell

Jennifer Newell

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Jennifer Newell is a freelance writer at LegalUsPokerSites. She has two decades of experience in the iGaming industry. She is a respected poker media member, contributing to publications and websites like USA Today, PokerStars, and PokerScout. Her knowledge spans gambling legislation and the broader online gaming world. She has spent years advocating for diversity, most notably gender equity in the traditionally male-dominated poker sphere.

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