The Bernard Lee Poker Show with Guest Jonathan Tamayo, 2024 WSOP Main Event Champion

Bernard Lee (0:01)

Welcome to The Bernard Lee Poker Show. It has been a while. I'm sorry, folks. I know I have gotten so many nice messages from people saying, hey Bernard, love to hear an up-to-date podcast. And we will be having several of those as the World Series of Poker 2025 starts rolling out. And we're going to have a bunch of champions. I've already contacted a lot of people and they are all eager to do those interviews. Of course, after this series is over, but I got a doozy for you this time. As the Main Event is just about to start for 2025, who better to talk to than the person whose reign has been going on for a year and is slowly and sadly, I'm sure for him coming to an end. He faced a field of 10,112 players, the record-breaking number. 2023 was the first time it broke 10,000 at 10,043. Last year, it didn't look like it could happen, but because of some of the extra players on Day 2, et cetera, it got there. Record-breaking, he won $10 million for his efforts. He was the ultimate and still is the ultimate grinder on the circuit. I've known him for years and, needless to say, I was definitely rooting for him watching at home and is so thrilled to have him on. It is long overdue. We've been trying to do this interview off and on for several months, but I'm so glad that we're able to do it right as the main event is about to start. 2024, Main Event Champion, none other than Jonathan Tamayo. Jonathan, thanks so much for joining us here on The Bernard Lee Poker Show, my friend.

Jonathan Tamayo (1:45)

Glad to be here. I remember us planning it for a while, but glad to finally get to do it.

Bernard Lee (1:50)

Yeah, I mean, we communicated right after the win, and it was just crazy. And I understood that. I've done this for so many years, and I've been fortunate to have on champion, almost every champion back from, to be honest, 2000 My podcast started in 2007, but even back then, some of the Tom McEvoy, Doran Brunson, all these people have been on. But it's a nutty time right afterward, I understand. And then it just kind of, time just moved on, tried to do it right before the series as well, but you were preparing, and thankfully it worked out perfectly. I'm so glad to have you on. You've been on the show before, because you, I believe it was before your WSOP Circuit win. I think it was in 2013, that kind of makes some sense for your-

Jonathan Tamayo (2:37)

13-ish, 11, 12, or 13, around that time, yeah.

Bernard Lee (2:41)

Yeah, so we talked back then about it, but who would know that this would happen? I think I talked to you in 2015, when Joe McKeon made his run and obviously won the event. So we talked to- by the way, can you believe it's 10- when I saw that it was 2015, I was like, 10 years since Joe won? It's incredible.

Jonathan Tamayo (3:02)

I brought that up to Joe the other day. He's like, yeah. Oh yeah, and he goes, damn.

Bernard Lee (3:08)

It's amazing, right? It's just amazing that it was. And you were there for that, and obviously he was there for you.

Let's talk about it for a second. A lot of times, I've interviewed Main Event Champions right afterward or shortly thereafter. This is now a year. A, how has the year been? You know, you were Ultimate Grinder. We've played a lot on the circuit together, WPTs at the World Series during the summer. But how do you feel like you were treated differently during this year as the Main Event Champion? Because you walk in the door in any poker room and now people are like, wait a second, I think that's the champ.

Jonathan Tamayo (3:54)

Oh, it's great.

It's an adjustment because you just can't walk into a poker room that anonymously, at least for the year. As time goes by, it tapers off a little bit. But it did kind of taper off about six months or so, but when the series starts up, it ramps up again. And then it will taper off once you have another main champ. And just yesterday, I went to the Planet Hollywood Poker Room because friends were playing next. It's like, come. So I just bagged the Aria main. And so I went up there just to pay him a visit, a bunch of media folks. And I walk in and I hear in the background, the champs over there. You just hear the mumble.