Jordan Griff

Jordan Griff hails from Schaumburg, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. He started playing poker at age 21 while in college. Initially an online and small-stakes live player, he built a modest tournament record before his breakout.

Before the 2024 World Series of Poker, Griff had accumulated only about $47,000 in live tournament cashes. His largest previous cash came in January 2023 at a WSOP Circuit event at Thunder Valley Casino in Northern California, where he finished ninth for $18,104. In August 2019, he placed seventh in the WPTDeepStacks New York for $10,465. He also had a 40th-place finish in the 2022 WSOP $1,000 Freezeout for $8,307 and a 132nd-place in a $1,600 NLHE event for $3,748. These were his only five-figure scores. He had just three small cashes in WSOP bracelet events prior to 2024.

The 2024 WSOP Main Event shattered records with 10,112 entries. Griff entered on Day 1d, bagging 98,600 chips (1,046th of 3,823 remaining). By Day 2d he had 229,000 (873/3,617). Day 3 saw him at 615,000 (288/1,524). He cracked 1 million on Day 4 with 1,015,000 (255/464). Day 5: 3,035,000 (93/160). Day 6: 8,725,000 (33/59). Day 7 was his toughest; his stack fell to 8,300,000, making him the shortest among the 18 players left. However, on Day 8 he turned his fortunes dramatically. The very first hand, he held pocket queens against an opponent's pocket threes. The flop brought an ace, but Griff committed his chips. He saw the opponent's threes and thought he was done, but the river brought a queen, giving him three queens and a huge double-up. That hand propelled him to the chip lead, and he ended the day with 143,700,000 chips, first of nine finalists with 90 big blinds. Griff secured at least $1 million and told PokerNews, "I mean, the money's great, but this is a dream for me. Everyone who watches poker growing up in the Moneymaker era or watching the TV programs, you want to be at the final table, and to do it this year with the largest field — it's just a dream come true." He eventually lost heads-up to Jonathan Tamayo, earning $6,000,000 for second place.

Daily Chip Progression (2024 WSOP Main Event)

Since the 2024 Main Event, Griff has continued playing in WSOP events. In 2025, he recorded a 13th-place finish in the $10,000 Eight Game Mixed Championship for $26,543, a 25th in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet for $7,237, a 58th in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot for $5,040, a 153rd in $1,500 Mixed PLO Hi-Lo for $3,029, and a 451st in $600 PLO Deepstack for $1,201. He also cashed in a PokerGO Tour event at Champions Club Houston, finishing 27th for $11,000. In 2026, he returned to the WSOP Main Event and finished 734th for $25,000. He additionally cashed in the $600 PLO Deepstack (48th, $3,407) and the $550 Mini Mystery Millions (317th, $2,160). As of 2026, his total live tournament earnings exceed $6.1 million, according to official WSOP records. He has zero WSOP bracelets and zero WSOP Circuit rings.

Griff's remarkable run from a near-unknown with minimal live cashes to the runner-up in the largest WSOP Main Event ever is one of the most inspiring stories in recent poker history. His disciplined, mathematically-minded approach serves as a model for aspiring players.