Daniel Negreanu Finishes 11th In 2015 World Series Of Poker Main EventMain Event Run Comes To An End For 'Kid Poker' |
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Daniel Negreanu, the top tournament earner in the history of poker, is out of the 2015 World Series of Poker main event. He was unable to overcome a short stack during 11-handed play, hitting the rail for a payday of $526,778 early Wednesday morning.
Massive chip leader Joe McKeehen, a 24-year-old from Pennsylvania, was the one who took him out. Negreanu’s last hand began with McKeehen raising to 800,000 on the button. Negreanu called from the big blind. The flop fell A
K
10.
Negreanu checked to his aggressive opponent, and McKeehen continuation-bet 700,000. Negreanu moved all in for 5,825,000. McKeehen called to put the six-time bracelet winner at risk.
Negreanu tabled the A
4 and was ahead of McKeehen’s drawing hand of J 3. According to Card Player’s Texas hold’em odds calculator, Negreanu doubles up about 56 percent of the time. It was essentially a coin flip, which Negreanu was forced into thanks to his short stack.
The crowd of at least a couple hundred were on their feet as Negreanu’s week-long main event run came down to just two more cards. The 3 on the turn was safe for the Canadian, but it did give McKeehen more outs because he now could make two pair.
After a brief wait, the dealer was prepared to burn and unveil the river. The Q came off the deck, giving McKeehen a straight and the pot. Some Negreanu supporters didn’t realize the queen was one of his opponent’s outs, but Negreanu knew it. He immediately fell backward and onto the floor as the river card hit the felt. Clearly dazed, he was slow to get up.
McKeehen was up to more than 60 million after the hand, more than double his nearest competitor. He had been raising nearly every hand at his table, slowly chipping up as all the shorts stacks waited for their spots. Negreanu had been completely handcuffed at the table.
Negreanu, who never had a big stack during the later stages of the tournament, demonstrated his world-class patience at the poker table. He also knew when to turn on the aggression and try to accumulate chips, an example being when he busted Phil Hellmuth on day 4.
When asked “what’s next” for him, Negreanu replied “vodka” and then laughed. Despite the disappointment, he was in good spirits in the Rio Convention Center hallway.
“I think the biggest disappointment is thinking about all the extracurricular things I could have done as part of the November Nine, up the ratings and get people involved,” Negreanu, a PokerStars sponsored pro, said. “From that aspect, it would have been great if I had made it, but I wasn’t going to alter my play in such a way that I would just squeak in. I was going for the win.”
Negreanu added that he doesn’t let his results in poker affect his feelings about his self-worth. “Whether I win at poker, or I lose at poker, I know who I am deep down,” he said.
For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2015 WSOP landing page, complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.
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