Jonathan Tamayo won the 2024 World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event last week, earning $10 million for outlasting a record-breaking 10,112-entry field. It was the Humble, Texas, native’s career-best score.
The tournament lasted 15 days, running from July 3-17. Tamayo defeated Jordan Griff for the championship, capping 10 grueling days of play.
Tamayo’s tournament resume dates back to 2006. He had $2.3 million in live winnings before winning the Main Event. He finished 21st in the 2009 Main Event, made two other WSOP final tables, and has four WSOP Circuit rings.
Here’s how his epic 2024 WSOP Main Event run played out.
Tamayo one of six Texans in the top 100
The Lone Star State’s poker history is undeniable, best evidenced by the game’s most popular variant, Texas Hold’em. And while online poker and retail gambling remain illegal in 2024, residents can still play card games through Texas sweepstakes casinos.
Texas is home to legends like Johnny Moss, Amarillo Slim Preston, Doyle Brunson and WSOP founder Benny Binion.
A Tamayo was one of six Texas residents to finish in the top 100 in the Main Event.
– Jonathan Tamayo (Humble): 1st – $10 million
– Arthur Morris (Colleyville): 34th – $300,000
– Alex Keating (Austin): 55th – $160,000
– Cameron Mixson (Austin): 72nd – $120,000
– Gary Dishongh (Houston): 76th – $120,000
– James Tsou (Austin): 100th – $100,000
Which starting day is best?
The age-old question arises every WSOP Main Event: which day is the best to play?
The tournament offers four starting days, and players can only choose one. Because of the “freezeout” format, players cannot re-enter if they lose on Day 1. This applies to the same day’s flight and any remaining flights.
Every year, the winner comes from a different starting day.
As for Tamayo? He chose none of the above.
Starting in 2019, the WSOP allowed players to register up until the start of Day 2. It has allowed players to register through the second break of Day 2 since 2021, and 825 players entered before registration closed at 4:40 p.m. on Monday, July 8 this year.
Here’s how the tournament’s breakdown went:
Day 1A, 1B, 1C (July 3-5): 4,330 entries; 3,143 remained
Day 1D (July 6): 5,014 entries; 3,823 remained
Day 2ABC (July 7): 3,143 returned + 206 entries; 1,550 remained
Day 2D (July 8): 3,823 returned + 562 entries; 2,067 remained
Tamayo entered on Day 2D and finished the day with 272,500 chips, more than four-and-a-half times the 60,000 starting stack.
Bringing the field under one roof (and into the money)
Day 3 began on July 9, marking the first time the field combined to play on the same day. Tamayo began the day 561st in chips out of 3,617 returning players, a number that inched closer and closer to the bubble as the day progressed.
The top 1,517 finishers made it into the money and secured at least $15,000. Day 3 concluded on the soft bubble with 1,529 remaining, just 12 eliminations away from earning a payday.
During that time, Tamayo tripled his stack, finishing with 823,000.
After entering Day 4 with double the average stack, Tamayo finished play with 487,000, well below average. He was shorter than that during the final level of the night and found a double with ace-queen, winning a coin flip against pocket jacks after hitting an ace on the turn.
The run to the final table
Tamayo began Day 5 with fewer than 20 big blinds, 387th on the leaderboard from 464 remaining players.
Day 5 of the Main Event is known as “moving day,” and as the field reduced to 160, Tamayo moved to a tie for 36th. He finished the day with 5.43 million, a stack greater than 67 big blinds, as levels increased to 40,000-80,000 for the start of Day 6.
The heater continued through Day 6, with Tamayo crossing 10 million in the day’s second level. He broke 12 million after eliminating Chinese pro Ren Lin and finished Day 6 with 13.3 million. This left him in 19th of 59 remaining with 53 big blinds to begin Day 7 as levels increased to 125K-250K.
Tamayo had an up-and-down finish to Day 7, which concluded with only 18 players remaining in contention. He finished 14th in chips with 18.4 million, a stack worth 18 big blinds for Day 8.
After running most of the marathon, Day 8 was shorter, requiring only nine eliminations to reach the final table. The day took just over eight hours, and Tamayo quickly doubled with pocket aces to reach a stack of 45 million.
He peaked at 48 million in the day’s third level with 15 players remaining but dropped below 40 million when the field reached 12. With no action during short-handed play, his stack fell to 30.7 million when the field condensed to one table for the final 10.
The final table
Tamayo made headlines before reaching the end of Day 8, which concluded as 10 players reduced to nine. With 10 left, he folded pocket queens preflop to a single raise from then-chip leader Joe Serock.
Play ended after the field reached nine, and the final tablists received a day off. The final table began on Monday, July 16, with Tamayo sitting seventh in chips (26.7 million; 17 big blinds).
The first elimination occurred on Hand #30, and Tamayo got all-in three hands later with ace-nine versus ace-seven. He held but was still seventh of the eight remaining.
Tamayo navigated a shorter stack as the field fell to six. On Hand #64, he got all in with ace-nine again, this time against ace-king, and hit a nine on the river to double into third place.
He doubled once more after flopping Broadway with king-queen versus pocket tens and then knocked out a short-stacked Boris Angelov in fifth place, ultimately riding the momentum to the day’s finish line with three remaining.
Securing gold
Tamayo entered the final day in second of the remaining three. Swedish pro Niklas Astedt had 223 million, Tamayo 197 million and Griff 187 million. Quickly into the day, Astedt and Griff played for stacks, with Griff winning and taking a two-to-one advantage into heads-up play.
The duel lasted for around three hours, with Tamayo quickly taking control. Then, Griff regained the chip lead, which began a back-and-forth match, and neither was able to gain complete momentum.
Finally, Tamayo regained the edge one final time. After taking the chip lead, he flopped two pair with eight-three on a nine-eight-three board. Stacks got in, and he held against Griff’s top pair with nine-six.
Tamayo said afterward that the victory did not feel like real life.
PlayTexas will present an exclusive interview with him later this week, so stay tuned to hear more straight from the champ’s mouth.
