The $10,000,000 Poker Scandal: Runner-up Speaks Out

This shocking turn of events has rocked the poker world. Jordan Griff is an amateur poker player who made it to the final table of the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event. It got down to heads up against Jonathan Tamayo, with a $10 million first prize at stake. Unfortunately for Griff, his opponent is a long-time professional and was getting help from his supporters with the use of poker software between hands. Today, we're talking to Griff to get his thoughts on this bizarre incident on poker's biggest stage, the WSOP.

0:00 Intro
2:02 Jordan joins
5:06 The Main Event experience
13:45 The laptop/RTA controversy
28:10 NGC violations, DQ? Lawsuit?
31:44 Dominik Nitsche, Tamayos rail
35:02 The earpiece, Tournaments vs Cash games
42:23 Outro

[DougPolkPoker]

The audio is bad for the first 3 minutes. I had the wrong microphone selected.

0:00 Intro
2:02 Jordan joins
5:06 The Main Event experience
13:45 The laptop/RTA controversy
28:10 NGC violations, DQ? Lawsuit?
31:44 Dominik Nitsche, Tamayos rail
35:02 The earpiece, Tournaments vs Cash games
42:23 Outro

[HBSurferHO]

What Tamayo (a pro) did to win against a recreational player is pretty pathetic. This is a bad look for the game and the WSOP.

[devincroft]

My biggest takeaway from this interview is that Griff is treating it with enormous class, and that’s only going to translate to more vitriol toward Tamayo

[Frontpageleisure]

It’s called heads up. Not me VS you, a former world champ, a team of number crunchers, the internet, the stream, the hand history and a solver.

[patsheridan]

The more I think about this, the worse it gets. You had 10, 000+ ppl enter, 9, 000+ or so who were probably amateurs. One of those amateurs makes it to the final table, and then to heads up! (shouldn't really call it "heads-up"; more like rails-up). And he is met with pros, computers, solvers, ear pieces and lord knows what. This is the one time in the year plain folks like me have an opportunity to live out their dreams, and this is what they run up against. Sad.

[rab]

They make that same announcement before EVERY tournament at WSOP. It was cheating, and the Floor should have stopped it. WSOP needs to address this, and there should be a penalty for Tamayo, Nietsche, and McKeon.

[JeffZuccMusk]

They did break the rules. They literally had MonkerSolver on the rail and Tamayo LOOKED AT IT.
It's a scandal.

[bradjohnson]

No, Tomayo would NOT be a good ambassador for the game. He was so obviously angry by Griff's unconventional play, which I loved, and to find out that he was so casual about cheating will forever be attached to his name.

[gregformes]

Tamatos bracelet will always have an asterisk! Watching Tomayo go to his sweaty solver rail constantly was so cringe to watch live. All of the all ins were: Griff holding his wife's hand and being with his friends vs: Tamayo looking at laptop charts with 5 nerdy poker pros. It literally felt like good vs evil lol. There were also a ton of moments where a hand would conclude and Tamayo would turn around and ask what he should have done, or should do in situations. Just a horrendous look for WSOP!

[robertbraden]

Doug Polk: "Were you concerned with the laptop being used to help Tamayo"?
Jordan Griff: " I was mainly concerned with playing my game"
Internet: "we got you Jordan...."

[terrylawrence]

The 2024 Main Event winners banner should be a shot of that laptop and the white earbud.

[wwz]

Doug's read on the Nevada Gaming rules is crystal clear, no solvers, period...

[ambientexpanse]

This dude is such a positive breath of fresh air to the poker community and I think he was wronged by those other cheaters with the computers and whatnot. Sad, very sad to see this.

[karlhungus]

Wsop dropped the ball on this. It’s a bad look. Period.

[chocolatechip]

Seems like a genuine good dude, I'm happy for him and wish him the best!

[TheNewAmericanDream]

The picture of that dork hunched over the laptop pisses me off

[robbob]

What a genuine, stand-up, straight-up
Considering he has potentially been 'swindled' out of $4 MIL....!!!!
RESPECT to him both for his run and not being drawn on the 'scandel' and not throwing shade.
Good on you Bro

[louisastuto]

Tamayo clearly broke the rules but I more so blame WSOP for doing a pathetic job enforcing them. I don’t believe anything should be done retroactively, what happened happened and if the floor didn’t make a ruling in real time you can’t alter the result. Ultimately It’s just a terrible look for WSOP, they were essentially asleep at the wheel and failed to uphold an explicit rule. We can argue about whether It made any difference in the result, but I think everyone should agree that all players should be held to the same rules by tournament officials.

[jamescorbin]

best line ever long ago by Norm on Joe M. was '...looks like he combed his hair with buttered toast...'

[kintsakurai]

Whether they broke specific rules or not isn't the critically relevant point. Jonathan Tamayo and his buddies broke the law. Specifically, they violated NRS 465.075. And they violated the law to the detriment of Jordan Griff and the other final table players. Jordan should retain legal counsel and sue Jonathan Tamayo and company - he has clear damages here. As should the other final table participants. With his legal counsel, he should also explore suing the casino - they have an affirmative obligation to provide a legal gaming environment. The casino allowed Tamayo and his cadre of punks to openly and brazenly violate the law and did absolutely nothing about it. Clear negligence.