Jonathan Tamayo Wins Largest WSOP Main Event In History

The 2024 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event drew a staggering field of 10,112 entries to Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas to become the largest world championship ever held. After two weeks of adrenaline-pumping action, longtime poker pro Jonathan Tamayo emerged victorious with the championship bracelet and the first-place prize of $10 million.

The 38-year-old poker pro from Humble, Texas came into this tournament with $2.3 million in prior tournament earnings from 187 prior recorded tournament cashes. Now he has more than $12.3 million and has added his name to the prestigious list of world champions.

Joining him in that elite company is his friend and 2015 main event champion Joe McKeehen, who helped present Tamayo with his bracelet and was in his corner throughout the final table alongside four-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche.

“Joe told me that this tournament is impossible to win. And when the field size is bigger, you feel like it’s even more impossible to win,” explained Tamayo. “You sit down on day 1 and [tell yourself], ‘Okay, eventually I’m going to bust this tournament. It’s not going to be pretty, and I’m not going to feel great.’ You mentally prepare yourself for it. I just can’t believe I did not bust the main event.”

This was Tamayo’s first bracelet, which he can add to his collection of four WSOP Circuit rings. Before this win, his top score was a 21st-place finish in the 2009 main event for $352,832. He also had one other top-100 showing, placing 78th in 2015.

“If you get one deep run, chances are that’s the one deep run,” said Tamayo. “I can’t believe I was able to get two, to get a second chance, and actually close it.”

Late Surge Sees Records Broken

While this year’s main event set the record for the largest field in the tournament’s history, that outcome didn’t always seem inevitable. In fact, the first three starting days all saw lower turnouts than the corresponding flights drew in 2023.

The slow start was more than made up for down the stretch, though, with the fourth and final starting flight setting a record for the largest turnout of any day 1 in main event history with 5,014 players. The previous top turnout was the 4,879 entries made on day 1C back in 2019.

Late registration was open through the start of level 8 on day 2D. Day 2ABC saw 206 late registrants, while another 618 entries were made on the final day available to players. With that, the final tally for 2024 grew to 10,112 entries, outstripping the previous record of 10,043 set in 2023 by 69 players.

Prior to last year, the highest turnout was the 8,773 entries made in 2006. While that record stood for nearly 17 years, the new high watermark was outstripped after just 12 months.

The massive field resulted in a final prize pool of $94,041,600, the richest of any poker tournament ever run. The top 1,517 finishers ultimately made the money, with the min-cash clocking in at the customary $15,000.

The top nine finishers all earned seven-figure paydays, with Tamayo receiving $10 million for the win. This was lower than Weinman’s $12.1 million payout despite a larger field because of a newly implemented, flatter payout structure.

Pressure Builds As The Field Shrinks

After four starting flights and two day 2s, the seventh actual day of main event play was the first to feature combined-field action. Day 3 began with 3,617 players remaining, with over 2,000 of them hitting the rail by the end of the night. Just 1,529 players bagged up for day 4, which meant that the remaining players were just 12 eliminations away from securing a cash in this historic event.

Hand-for-hand play took roughly an hour for the bubble to burst, with two players knocked out simultaneously at separate tables. WSOP Vice President Jack Effel bounced between tables announcing the action from the various all-ins around the room, followed by a swarm of media and players looking to record the drama.

The first of the two bubble players was Lucas Reeves, who seven-bet shoved with kings and found himself up against the aces of Marcelo Tadeu Aziz Junior. Neither player connected with a queen-high runout and Reeves was eliminated. Moments later, Christian Stratmeyer was all in, with his A K facing the 8 3 of Terence Reid in a preflop confrontation. Reid flopped trip eights and then backdoored a flush to send Stratmeyer packing.

Reeves and Stratmeyer split the $15,000 in prize money that would have gone to the first player to bust inside the money, taking home $7,500 each. They then high-carded for a free seat into next year’s main event, with Stratmeyer pulling a jack to best the deuce of Reeves. With that, the remaining 1,516 could breathe a sigh of relief, having at least locked up $15,000.

Among the 1,065 players that were eliminated on day 4 were seven-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu (1,468th), WSOP ladies champion Shiina Okamoto (1,407th), 10-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel (1,369th), and all of the prior champions of this tournament who had survived to day 4. That list included 2022 champion Espen Jorstad (1,393th), 2023 champion Daniel Weinman (1,357th), 2017 champion Scott Blumstein (1,137th), 2021 champion Koray Aldemir (598th), and 2015 champion Joe McKeehen (499th).

Day 5 saw the end of that dream for another 304 contenders, including three-time last woman standing Maria Ho (445th), five-time bracelet winner Adam Friedman (416th), 11-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey (340th), four-time bracelet winner and current Card Player POY leader Adrian Mateos (317th), two-time WPT champion and Card Player columnist Jonathan Little (316th), three-time bracelet winner David ‘Bakes’ Baker (184th), and two-time bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (176th).

Of the 160 who made day 6, only 59 would bag up for day 7. Among those that hit the rail during the session were WPT commentator and three-time bracelet winner Tony Dunst (144th), Storage Wars personality Rene Nezhoda (123rd), two-time bracelet winner Aleksejs Ponakovs (120th), WPT champion Joe Tehan (118th), WPT champion Iaron Lightbourne (99th), 2023 NAPT Las Vegas champion Sami Bechahed (74th), WPT champion Veerab Zakarian (68th), and bracelet winner and five-time Triton champion Danny Tang (62nd).

Shundan Xiao is a 36-year-old software engineer who hails from China and is now based out of San Jose, California. She only picked up poker in the past couple of years, but despite being a relative newcomer, Xiao navigated her way through this massive field to ultimately finish in 28th place for $300,000.

She would have been the last woman standing in the tournament if it weren’t for four-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen, who was looking to be the first woman to make the final table since Barbara Enright back in 1995.

Setting The Final Table

Day 8 began with 18 players left, which meant that nine knockouts were recorded on the road to the final table. 2024 WSOP tag team event winner Jason James lost a standard preflop race to finish 14th. James was trying to follow in the footsteps of Espen Jorstad, who won the 2022 tag team event before taking down the main event later that same year.

Several women have come close to the final table since Enright 30 years ago, including the four that finished tenth: Barbara Samuelson (1994), Susie Isaacs (1998), Annie Duke (2000), and Gaelle Baumann (2012).

Foxen looked on track to achieve this historic goal in the early going, and she even managed to overtake the chip lead midway through the day. The 37-year-old poker pro from St. Catherine’s, Ontario later found herself sliding down the leaderboard as the evening wore on, though.

Just before the dinner break, she got involved in a big pot against former WPT Player of the Year Joe Serock. On a flop of A K J Foxen check-called a continuation bet with K Q. The turn brought the 5 and Serock bet again. Foxen then check-raised all-in, and Serock made the call with A K. The 6 on the river ended Foxen’s run in 13th place.

The $600,000 she earned for her impressive showing in this event increased her career tournament earnings to $9,014,048, the second-highest total of any female player behind only retired high roller Vanessa Selbst with $10,899,027.

Brazil’s Gabriel Moura (12th – $600,000), France’s Malcolm Franchi (11th – $800,000), and Portugal’s Diogo Coelho (10th – $800,000) soon followed Foxen to the rail. This was the second-largest score of Coelho’s career, trailing only the $867,235 he earned for winning a high roller at last year’s EPT Paris festival.

Tamayo was among the shorter stacks heading into the final nine. In fact, in order to ensure he made it, Tamayo folded pocket queens to a single raise, inciting an online debate about the tight laydown.

The top stack heading into the final table was 30-year-old data and analytics supply chain manager Jordan Griff. The Scottsdale, Arizona resident bagged up roughly 24 percent of the total chips in play at the time.

Griff was one card away from hitting the rail early on day 8. He managed to hit one of the two queens left in the deck with his overpair trailing a flopped set for his opponent, allowing him to surge up the leaderboard.

“I wasn’t even watching it. I couldn’t even… it was painful. And then I heard the gasps, I turn around and see the queen… it was just pure emotion,” Griff told Card Player.

Playing For Big Money

Malo Latinois was the first to fall at the final table. The 28-year-old poker pro from France got all-in for his last seven or so big blinds with A K racing against the pocket threes of Griff.

The flop came down A 10 9 to give Latinois the lead, but the 3 changed everything on the turn. The river A gave Griff a full house and made the knockout official. Latinois earned $1 million as the ninth-place finisher, which was by far the largest score yet for the former consultant with a degree in engineering.

The next elimination hand came when bracelet winner Joe Serock looked down at A J and three-bet shoved, running into the pocket queens of Swedish online legend Niklas Astedt. The 10 9 4 J 8 runout kept Astedt’s queens ahead and Serock was sent home in eighth place.

This was the largest score yet for Serock, a longtime poker pro who earned the 2012 WPT Player of the Year award. His prior top payday was the $804,191 he earned as the fifth-place finisher in the 2021 WSOP Online $5,000 main event. The Albuquerque, New Mexico native now has nearly $6.8 million in career tournament earnings.

While Astedt continued to climb, Brian Kim’s stack was heading the opposite direction. The 34-year-old California native, now based in Australia, came into the day in second chip position. Kim is a longtime high-stakes cash game player and more recent regular on the high roller tournament circuit.

First he ran the nut flush into a full house held by Griff. Then Spain’s Andres Gonzalez moved all-in with pocket kings, and Kim called with pocket queens. Neither player connected with the board and Gonzalez doubled up, leaving Kim among the shorter stacks.

Less than an orbit later, Boris Angelov opened from the button and Kim three-bet from the small blind with K 6. Astedt cold four-bet out of the big blind and Angelov bowed out. Kim thought it over before moving all-in. Astedt made the call with pocket tens and flopped middle set on a board of Q 10 8. The 5 turn gave Kim a flush draw, but the 6 saw him knocked out in seventh place.

The $1.5 million payout increased his career earnings to nearly $9 million. This was his second deep run in this tournament in the past few years, having finished 23rd back in 2022.

Astedt then held 38 percent of the total chips in play, but fell out of the lead after doubling up Gonzalez, whose pocket jacks held up against pocket threes. The same two players tangled again soon, with Gonzalez once again holding pocket jacks. It was a classic race, with Astedt holding A Q for two overcards. The board ran out A 10 10 7 3 and Gonzalez was eliminated in sixth place.

The 30-year-old poker pro from Cartagena, Spain was awarded $2 million, which was about four times the size of his previous largest tournament score of $500,602 that he earned weeks earlier with a third-place showing at the Wynn Summer Classic. He has now earned $2.7 million, almost all of which has been won since the start of June.

Tamayo managed a few double-ups throughout the day, including winning a big hand with a flopped straight against a flopped set of tens for Astedt. He was third in chips when he called a cutoff shove from Angelov with K 6 from the big blind. Angelov revealed pocket sixes which were ahead, but the flop came down K 5 4 to turn the tables. The K on the turn sealed it, and Angelov was sent packing in fifth place.

The 27-year-old Bulgarian poker pro cashed for $2.5 million, blowing away his previous top score of $670,140 that he earned earlier this year as the runner-up in the EPT Monte Carlo €5,300 buy-in main event.

Short stack Jason Sagle then three-bet shoved with pocket jacks from the big blind. Astedt had opened for a 6,000,000 min-raise from under-the-gun with A 3. Astedt thought it over before making the call and got there as the board ran out 8 4 3 5 2.

The 48-year-old Canadian poker pro earned $3 million for fourth place. The 2004 WSOP main event 23rd-place finisher and 2006 WPT North American Poker Championship runner-up’s career earnings swelled to nearly $4.5 million thanks to his strong showing in this event.

From A Trio To The Title

Tamayo came into the final day of this event in second chip position among the last three contenders, with $20 million in prize money still left to divvy up. Astedt was the chip leader, but found himself in a losing battle with Griff often in the early going.

Griff had just edged Astedt out for the chip lead, moving ahead by a single 500,000 chip in time for one of the biggest clashes of the day. Astedt raised from the button with K J and Griff three-bet from the small blind with pocket nines. Astedt called and the flop came down 10 9 3 to give Griff middle set. He bet and Astedt called with his overcards and gutshot straight draw.

The turn brought the J to give Astedt top pair. Griff moved all-in, putting Astedt to the test for his whole stack. Astedt went into the tank and after plenty of consideration, he made the call, finding himself in need of a queen on the river in order to keep his hopes alive. The river instead brought the K and Griff’s three nines took down the pot.

Astedt earned $4 million as the third-place finisher. The online tournament poker fixture, known to many as ‘Lena900,’ reportedly has more than $48 million in tournament earnings on the internet. With this deep run, he now has nearly $7.9 million in live scores as well. The 33-year-old Swedish poker pro now sits in second place on his home nation’s money list, trailing only 2014 WSOP main event champion Martin Jacobson.

Heads-up play began with Griff holding roughly a 5:3 chip lead. On just the second hand of the final showdown for the title, however, he attempted a triple barrel bluff that was ultimately picked off by Tamayo, who had flopped top pair of aces with a six kicker. Tamayo went deep into the tank on the end but eventually called to overtake the chip lead.

Griff soon found a double-up of his own, getting all-in on the turn with jacks and sixes leading the pair of jacks with an ace kicker held by Tamayo. A safe river saw the tables turned again, with Griff taking a slight lead. Griff continued to extend his advantage and had a shot at closing out the win when he got all-in with pocket sevens racing against the K 10 of Tamayo.

Nearly all the drama was drained from the situation when the flop came down Q J 9 to give Tamayo a king-high straight with a straight flush redraw.

Griff then doubled up with pocket sixes against Tamayo’s A 8 to bring about yet another lead change. This lead was short-lived, though, as Tamayo doubled back to nearly even with top pair holding against middle pair after all of the chips went in on the flop.

Tamayo was able to get back out in front in time for the decisive hand of the tournament. He raised from the button with 8 3, and Griff called with 9 6. The flop came down 9 8 3. Griff checked and Tamayo bet with his two pair. Griff check-raised, and Tamayo moved all in. With the draw-heavy board, Griff called off with his top pair.

The turn was the A, which gave Griff some additional outs, but the 5 rolled off on the end instead, locking up the pot and the title for Tamayo.

Griff earned $6 million as the runner-up, blowing away his previous top score of $18,104 for a final-table finish in a WSOP Circuit event at Thunder Valley Casino Resort last year.

“Fold queens. Play 8-3 off,” Tamayo said in response to those who questioned his fold a day earlier. ♠

Place Player Payout (POY)

1 Jonathan Tamayo $10,000,000 (3,600)
2 Jordan Griff $6,000,000 (3,000)
3 Niklas Astedt $4,000,000 (2,400)
4 Jason Sagle $3,000,000 (1,800)
5 Boris Angelov $2,500,000 (1,500)
6 Andres Gonzalez $2,000,000 (1,200)
7 Brian Kim $1,500,000 (900)
8 Joseph Serock $1,250,000 (600)
9 Malo Latinois $1,000,000 (300)
10 Diogo Coelho $800,000 (180)
11 Malcom Franchi $800,000 (180)
12 Gabriel Moura $600,000 (180)
13 Kristen Foxen $600,000 (180)
14 Jason James $450,400 (180)
15 Yegor Moroz $450,400 (180)
16 Guillermo Sanchez $450,400 (180)
17 Jessie Bryant $450,400 (180)
18 Gerardo Hernandez $350,000 (180)
19 Charles Russell $350,000 (90)
20 Yake Wu $350,000 (90)
21 Kyosuke Nagami $350,000 (90)
22 Luis Vazquez $350,000 (90)
23 Eliott Kessas $350,000 (90)
24 Brian Rast $350,000 (90)
25 Justin Vaysman $350,000 (90)
26 Orson Young $350,000 (90)
27 Daniel Zadok $300,000 (90)
28 Shundan Xiao $300,000
29 Adrian Lopez $300,000
30 Tomas Szwarcberg $300,000
31 Daniel Erlandsson $300,000
32 Rodrigo Portaleoni $300,000
33 Giovanni Zanette $300,000
34 Arthur Morris $300,000
35 Garret Bok $300,000
36 Aliaksandr Shyko $250,000
37 Kevin Theodore $250,000
38 Jean Lhuillier $250,000
39 Brandon Cantu $250,000
40 Naor Slobodskoy $250,000
41 Robert Renaud $250,000
42 Jason Hoffman $250,000
43 Nick Jivkov $250,000
44 Julio Trimmer $250,000
45 Hiroki Nawa $200,000
46 Russell Rosenblum $200,000
47 Edward Pak $200,000
48 Kevin Davis $200,000
49 Mauro Juarez $200,000
50 Daniel Kyosev $200,000