It’s the feeling of winning major victories that drives Jonathan Tamayo to ace more poker tournaments.

The Filipino Chinese American from Humble, Texas, already made history by winning the $10 million first-place prize from the largest live poker tournament prize pool ever of more than $94 million at the 2024 World Series of Poker.

Held at the Horseshoe Las Vegas Events Center, the Fil-Am outlasted a record field of 10,112 players from around the world.

After weeks of grueling play on nearly 700 tables, it all came down to one final, breathtaking moment.

"You have a job to do," said Tamayo. "You can think about the prize at the end, but at the time it doesn't help your thought process. There's a lot of time afterwards when I realized what I did, but at the time I'm just trying to play my hands the best I can."

Tamayo said his winning approach to poker is a mix of aggressive and defensive plays, and his intense focus is the key to victory.

"You have to find the holes in the strategies they come up with and then find a counterstrategy to those," he added.

As the stakes climbed, so did the tension, with millions watching worldwide.

The crowd erupted as the final card was revealed. Tamayo won in the final hand with two pairs—8's and 3's. The final card needed to be a 9, A, or 6 for his opponent to beat him. It was a 5.

Tamayo defeated Jordan Griff and became the first Filipino-American to win the coveted title.

His Manila-born father and Hong Kong-born mother have supported him from the get-go, despite his unconventional career.

"We’re the type of parents that want their son to pursue their passion and what he's good at, and it was not a problem," said Chai Tamayo. 

"This is not typical for Asians, I understand," she added. "But as a mother, he told me his dream, and I want to stand behind him in whatever he does. We stood by him for 15 years, and I'm so glad he finally achieved it."

Before his poker career, Tamayo studied hotel management at Cornell University in New York.

Prior to winning the 2024 Main Event at the World Series of Poker, he had more than $2 million in live career earnings and 63 World Series of Poker cashes.

But another $10 million win has definitely changed his life.

"I haven't decided," Tamayo said on what he would do with his cash prize. "I might have some vacations on the horizon, but I haven't decided because you never think that you would just come upon something like this suddenly."

Tamayo said life has been a whirlwind since his historic win at the World Series of Poker, but one can bet that he is not done winning just yet.