15 years ago, Jonathan Tamayo was a poker player looking for his big opportunity. He’d already cashed seven times at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and had come within a whisker of winning a bracelet thanks to a runner-up finish in a $1,500 Mixed Hold’em event in 2008.
Then came the 2009 Main Event, and what was - until yesterday - the biggest score of his career. Tamayo was one of 6,494 who contested the tournament, and won over $350K for a deep run that ended in 21st place.
“There's only so many Main Events you can run in a lifetime,” reflects Tamayo, “so if you get one deep run, chances are that's the one deep run.”
Though he may have thought he’d peaked in the Main Event, that didn’t stop Tamayo from trying again, and again. The following year he cashed in 333rd place; in 2013 he came 613th. Then, in 2015, he made another deep run to 78th, and went on to watch his friend Joe McKeehen win the title and $7.6 million. A 641st place finish in 2018 was Tamayo’s last Main Event cash prior to this summer.
And then, yesterday, he won it all, taking the $10,000,000 first prize and the title of World Champion.
A champion in his corner
“Joe McKeehen told me that this tournament is impossible to win,” says Tamayo, after doing just that in the biggest Main Event ever held. “When the field size is bigger, you feel like it's even more impossible to win. You just sit down, day one, and you're just like, ‘Okay, eventually I'm going to bust this tournament, it’s not going to be pretty, I'm not going to feel great and I’m going to go on with my life’. You mentally prepare yourself for it.”
Helping to prepare Tamayo for victory, rather than defeat, friend and former WSOP champion Joe McKeehen was better placed than most. Together with their friend, high roller Dominik Nitsche, the three planned for various scenarios and got Tamayo into the frame of mind necessary to take it down. The importance of their support was not lost on Tamayo.
“If Joe and Dom weren’t here, I likely do not win this tournament. I might be out eighth, I might be out seventh, I might win this tournament, but a whole other bunch of good things would actually have to happen for that to happen. The way it went, it likely wasn't going to happen like that.”
To have one Main Event winner in a poker friendship group is a rare thing. To have two is almost beyond belief. We can't help but feel a little sorry for the others in their home game, but Tamayo is already looking forward to the next time they get together.
“Now we have a circle of friends that has two Main Event winners, which you would never, ever, ever think would ever happen. It’s going to be fun - we can both make fun of all of our friends, at the same time!”
When the time came to present Tamayo with his WSOP World Champion’s bracelet, it was his friend McKeehen who did the honors.
Colliding perfectly
Tamayo was also lucky to also have his parents supporting him on his rail, as they just happened to be in town.
“They actually were supposed to be here,” Tamayo says, “they scheduled this trip around February or March, not knowing anything was going to happen - they run a business while retired. So then I final tabled the Main and they canceled all their business meetings! So, just by chance, they're here - they were always going to be here, even if I didn't win the Main. But somehow those two things collided perfectly.”
Tamayo’s run to the WSOP title included other perfect collisions and twists of fate. His 2009 deep run gave him confidence and emotional preparation, knowing that life goes on after coming so close and falling short. Having a friend on the rail who had literally done it all before, and was there to discuss hands and talk strategy, gave him a rare insight into the process of dealing with such a unique situation. Then, three-handed, he was up against the bookies’ favorite in Niklas Astedt, and the ‘people’s favorite’ in amateur Jordan Griff, each of whom drew a considerable amount of attention - and therefore pressure - away from him. And then, of course, there was his big fold that had grabbed so much attention a few days earlier.
Facing an early position open from Joe Serock on the final table bubble, Tamayo quickly folded 
, drawing criticism from some in the poker community who branded him a nit. Was that a defining moment on his path to the Championship? Tamayo would have been a favorite against Serock’s 
, but many a tournament run has ended thanks to a single ace turning up on the board.
When the last hand was dealt and Tamayo’s time came, it would be the 
that delivered the killer blow. His parting words of advice - “Fold queens, play 8-3 off” - were delivered with tongue firmly in cheek, but there’s a message there all the same: play it your way.
15 years after coming so close, Tamayo’s victory proves that once-in-a-lifetime opportunities can indeed sometimes happen twice.
“I can't believe how lucky I was to get that chance,” he says, looking back at 2009 and the journey that followed, “And somehow, I can't believe I was able to get two, a second chance, and actually close it.”
Thanks to The Hendon Mob for providing Tamayo's past tournament results.
