The aftermath of the Main Event was a bigger story than the Main Event itself and changed how technology can be used in live poker.
While the Main Event breaking the attendance record again was no doubt one of the biggest stories of the year, the aftermath of it was much more widely talked about.
The win by Jonathan Tamayo was marred by footage of him consulting Dominik Nitsche and Joe McKeehen between hands and looking at strategy information on a laptop.
It’s important to note that no real-time help was given during hands and this was not a new incident. Since the advent of the November Nine final table delay, there has every year been a version of this happening on the rail of WSOP events.
What is perhaps different is that in 2024 the wider poker public is much more acutely aware of the threat of real time assistance in poker. There is just much more sensitivity around this in the modern game than there was maybe even three years ago. So while no cheating took place, it looked terrible for the game in general.
As such, it appears that almost every major operator has clarified new rules on both coaching and technology at the tables, including from spectators. While still not 100% infallible, the fact that we head into 2025 with some rules, any rules, will mitigate most of these issues in the future.
Will we ever see something like this again? Let us know in the comments: