On the evening of Wednesday, July 17, at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, Jonathan Tamayo became a poker champion after winning the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event. Tamayo, a 38-year-old from Humble, TX, takes home a prize of $10 million. Runner-up Jordan Griff, of Scottsdale, AZ, collected $6 million for his efforts. The Final Three The three finalists convened at 2 p.m. Vegas time on Wednesday to play down to a conclusion. Jordan Griff entered the final three with 62 big blinds in his stack while Jonathan Tamayo held 66bb. The third player, Niklas Astedt of Sweden, was the chip leader, but his lead was not too big as he had 74 blinds in his stack. Within 10 hands, however, Astedt found himself knocked out when his top pair ran into Griff's set of nines. This left Griff with about a 2.5-1 chip advantage over Tamayo. The two players traded the lead back and forth several times over the next three hours. Then the final hand was dealt with blinds of 2.5M/5M. Jonathan Tamayo raised to 12.5 million, and Jordan Griff called. The flop came down: 9◆  8♣  3◆ Tamayo led out for 10 million, and Griff raised to 40. Tamayo 3-bet all-in, and Griff called. The hands were: Jordan Griff: 9♥  6♣Jonathan Tamayo: 8◆  3♠ Griff no doubt had a solid hand with top pair; however, it was behind Tamayo's bottom two pair. The A♣ turn and 5◆ river changed nothing, and Jonathon Tamayo's hand held to give him the win. Reactions In the wake of his epic victory, Tamayo seemed astounded by the unreality of the scene: Not real life. My roommate’s picture is right there from 2015. We both have banners now. What in the world just happened. Leading up to it, Joe was just like, play your game. I realized you’re never going to play perfect poker, and weird things happen, and it’s just unreal. The roommate to whom Jonathan was referring is Joe McKeehan who amazingly also won the WSOP Main Event back in 2015. McKeehan commented: This guy has been on the grind for 20 years now. He’s always been there for me and I’d like to be for him as well. He’s a great friend, a great guy, and now he’s going to share a banner with me up there with all the other Main Event winners and let me tell you, this was incredible being able to watch it from the other side, too. He was there for me when I won and (I thought) I’m going to be here when he wins. About Jonathan Tamayo Jonathan Tamayo is from Humble, TX. He studied hotel management at Cornell University before starting his poker career. His first live tournament result of note occurred in 2006 at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. However, this small cash of just $5,008 was just a foretaste of bigger things to come. Jonathan Tamayo Tamayo played in the World Series of Poker in the next couple of years and had a few decent cashes. Indeed, in 2009, he achieved a respectable 21st place finish in the Main Event, good for $352,832. Most players have to be content with a single deep run in this prestigious tourney, but Jonathan got to do it again, and this time, he went all the way. Overall, Jonathan Tamayo has won slightly more than $12.3 million in his live tourney career. This includes 64 cashes in WSOP events, four rings in WSOP Circuit events, and the bracelet he just won. About the 2024 World Series of Poker As was the case in 2022 and 2023, the World Series of Poker took place this year at the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas, NV. Last year saw a record 10,043 participants and a prize pool of $93,399,900 in the Main Event, but this year surpassed both of those numbers with 10,112 entrants and a prize pool of $94,041,600. Despite the fact that there was more total money up for grabs this year than last, 2023's winner Daniel Weinman took home $12.1 million, $2.1 million more than what Jonathan Tamayo just won. This is because the WSOP altered its payout structures for 2024 to pay less to the top finishers and spread the money out a bit toward the rest of the final table. The 2024 Main Event final tablists and their prizes are as follows: Position Name Country Prize 1 Jonathan Tamayo United States $10,000,000 2 Jordan Griff United States $6,000,000 3 Niklas Astedt Sweden $4,000,000 4 Jason Sagle Canada $3,000,000 5 Boris Angelov Bulgaria $2,500,000 6 Andres Gonzales Spain $2,000,000 7 Brian Kim United States $1,500,000 8 Joe Serock United States $1,250,000 9 Malo Latinois France $1,000,000 Tamayo's Win Not Without Controversy Unfortunately, Jonathan Tamayo faces scrutiny for certain actions he took during the final table of the tournament. In between hands, he went to the rail to meet with his friends and supporters and chat with them. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. However, some of Jonathan's buddies showed him information on a laptop screen while he was conversing with them. There's a large contingent of online observers who contend that they were using GTO solvers to help him play. These solvers can output optimal strategies given a board and opponents' hand ranges. Jonathan Tamayo Consulting With His Rail Although none of these alleged incidents occurred while Tamayo was actually involved in a hand, there was nothing stopping his supporters from entering previously played hands into a solver. This could have given him insight into his opponents' strategies and ranges, which would have constituted an unfair advantage in the eyes of many. Among the people cheering Tamayo on were former champ Joe McKeehan and notable high-stakes pro Dominik Nitsche. These two are definitely skillful enough to be able to get the maximum possible use out of sophisticated GTO tools. Had they then forwarded this info to Tamayo, there's little doubt that they could have assisted him in enhancing the caliber of his play. 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