Joseph McKeehen Wins 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event

The come-from-behind win, from a fan perspective, is arguably the most compelling result in the world of competition. When we lack a clear rooting interest, the natural human tendency for empathy entices us to pull for the underdog. This is an understandable emotional response, but sometimes our sense of fairness and hunger for drama undercuts just how impressive a run-away victory can be.

Taking a lead, and subsequently, the burden of expectation that it brings, and successfully converting advantage into triumph is often not as easy as the frontrunners make it look.

Joe McKeehen, who had earned just over $2 million playing tournaments before this summer, came into the final table of the 2015 World Series of Poker $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event with just under a third of the chips in play, the biggest chip lead of any player since the adoption of the “November Nine” format in 2008.

With six players remaining, he had 47.5 percent of the chips in front of him. By the time three remained, he sat behind more than two-thirds of the chips.

McKeehen didn’t just win poker’s greatest title this year, he dominated the competition so thoroughly that he actually erased some of the drama of the game’s most exciting event.

Here is a look back at how the final table played out.

Day 1: Sunday, Nov. 8: November Nine To Surviving Six

Exactly 116 days after the elimination of Alexander Turyansky set the final table, the 2015 November Nine returned to battle it out for the bracelet, the title of World Champion, and the $7,683,346 first-place prize. Each of the last nine players was guaranteed $1,001,020 after navigating the field of 6,420 entries but, after a grueling tournament and a tantalizing wait, they all certainly had their eyes on the bracelet.

The first knockout happened on only the second hand of the final table. It folded around to McKeehen on the button, who had the two shortest stacks at the table in the blinds in Patrick Chan and Federico Butteroni. McKeehen opted to move all in, putting the blinds to the test. Chan made the call for his last 14 big blinds with K Q and Butteroni got out of the way. McKeehen’s A 4 was the best hand preflop and remained ahead after a runout of 10 6 5 3 9, and the 26-year-old Chan was sent to the rail in ninth place.

“Based on Joe’s stack, he is jamming pretty wide, so K-Q is a pretty strong hand,” said Chan afterwards. “I think I’m ahead of most of his range with him going all in into two short stacks.”

Following hot on his heels was Butteroni. The 25-year-old poker player from Rome, Italy was handcuffed by his miniscule stack and unable to get involved. He was whittled down to only five big blinds by the time he picked up A J and moved all in. McKeehen picked up A K and called. Butteroni failed to spike a jack and was sent to the rail with $1,097,056 as the eighth-place finisher.

Seven-handed play lasted for quite a while. The only trend that seemed to emerge was the steady, inexorable decline of 72-year-old Pierre Neuville, who entered the final table in fourth chip position. The retired businessman from Knokke-Heist, Belgium came into the November Nine with the longest poker resume and more than $2.1 million in prior live tournament earnings. After losing a sizable showdown to Neil Blumenfield, Neuville tightened up his play. The other six players were mostly all able to maintain or increase their stacks, while Neuville’s slowly withered.

He did eventually get it in good with the A J. He moved in for five big blinds over the top of a min-raise open from McKeehen, who called with J 6. The flop of Q 10 3 was safe for Neuville, but the Q turn gave McKeehen a backdoor flush draw. The 10 completed the flush and, just like that, McKeehen had notched his third knockout of the final table.

Neuville earned $1,203,293 for his impressive deep run. With his elimination play was halted for the night with six remaining. The chip counts heading into day 2 of the final table were as follows:

Joe McKeehen – 91,450,000
Ofer Zvi Stern – 32,400,000
Neil Blumenfield – 31,500,000
Max Steinberg – 16,000,000
Josh Beckley – 10,875,000
Tom Cannuli – 10,425,000

Day 2: Monday, Nov. 9: Surviving Six Down To The Three

With just under half the chips in play heading into day 2, McKeehen took some time off from decimating his opponents to allow some of his other tablemates to battle it out.
Once again, there were fireworks right off the bat. On the second hand, 23-year-old New Jersey poker pro Tom Cannuli opened to 1.4 million from under the gun and it folded around to Max Steinberg in the big blind. The 2012 WSOP bracelet winner considered his options before electing to move all in, placing Cannuli’s 15 big blinds at risk where Cannuli had to call.

Cannuli had picked up A A and quickly called. He was an 80 percent favorite to double up against Steinberg’s 10 10. The first three cards came down J 10 6, however, giving Steinberg a set and the lead. The Q on the turn gave Cannuli a straight draw in addition to his outs for a higher set, but the 8 on the river sealed his fate. He was eliminated in sixth place, earning $1,426,283 for his deep run.

Despite getting all-in with the best hand in poker and losing on the game’s biggest stage, Cannuli was able to keep everything in perspective.

“It’s just a hand that had to play out that way,” he said moments after taking the tough beat. “This is the best journey I’ve ever been on. You know what means more to me than the bracelet? Having all of you people here right now [addressing his rail], with you having my back, that means more to me than anything else and this moment will last forever.”

Israel’s Ofer Zvi Stern came into the final table in second-chip position but took a big hit midway through day 2. It folded to Stern in the small blind, and he open-shoved, putting Josh Beckley’s 14.6 million chips at risk if he were to call. Like Cannuli before him, Beckley had picked up pocket aces but, unlike before, his A A held up when he called for his tournament life. Stern could only produce 10 9. The board ran out 7 5 2 3 2 and Beckley doubled up to just under 30 million while Stern’s stack plummeted.

Stern continued to dwindle over the next 22 hands before picking up the A J. He got all-in against Neil Blumenfield, who had picked up A K. Stern was unable to come from behind and was sent to the rail in fifth place, earning $1,911,423.

With Stern’s elimination, 27-year-old Max Steinberg was left as the shortest stack. The nattily-dressed Steinberg, who wore a suit and tie for both days of play and encouraged his supporters to do the same, was the lone bracelet winner at the table. The poker and daily fantasy sports professional had plenty of short-handed play experience, but just was unable to make any inroads, as McKeehen continued to bully the table.

Like Butteroni, Neuville, and Stern before him, Steinberg found himself all-in for his tournament life with A-J. Facing a raise from McKeehen, he moved all in from the big blind with A J only to get called by McKeehen’s A Q. Neither player improved on a 9 7 5 8 3 runout and Steinberg was eliminated in fourth place, earning $2,615,361.

After picking his fourth knockout of the final table, McKeehen increased his stack to more than 128 million, which meant he would return for the final day with over two-thirds of the total chips in play. The chip counts going into day 3 of the final table were as follows:

Joseph McKeehen – 128,825,000
Neil Blumenfield – 40,125,000
Josh Beckley – 23,700,000

Day 3: Tuesday, Nov. 10: The Three To A New World Champion

Heading into the final day, McKeehen had more than three times as many chips as Neil Blumenfield and more than five times more than Joshua Beckley. As it had seemed throughout the final table, McKeehen was a prohibitive favorite, while his remaining opponents were left to try to outmaneuver each other to ladder up the pay scale.

The 61-year-old former software executive Neil Blumenfield got off to a poor start. The San Francisco native ran a failed bluff attempt against McKeehen, who check-called all three streets after flopping top pair on a board of 10 6 3 7 5 with K 10. Blumenfield had only Q 8 and was knocked down to 20 big blinds after the hand.

On the 166th hand of the final table Beckley opened to 2 million from the button and McKeehen three-bet to 5.4 million from the small blind. Blumenfield looked down at 2 2 and announced that he was all in for 12 million total. McKeehen called with Q Q. Blumenfield could not come from behind and was sent to the rail in third place, earning $3,398,298.

“I’m a little disappointed right now. I’m not happy with how I played today,” admitted Blumenfield. “But obviously it was a great run and, if you would have asked me four months ago how I would feel about finishing third, I would have been very excited about that.”

With that the final heads-up battle for the 2015 WSOP main event title was set. McKeehen took a monster chip lead into heads-up play, holding 157.8 million to Beckley’s 34.85 million for more than a 4.5-to-1 chip advantage.

It took only 12 hands for the first all-in and call. Beckley moved his last 19.4 million in preflop from the button and, after a moment’s consideration, McKeehen made the call with the A 10. Beckley was in a classic race situation with the 4 4.

With the title, the championship bracelet and the $7.7 million first-place prize on the line, the two players waited for the WSOP tournament director to give the dealer the sign to deal the flop.

With the cameras ready, the dealer burned and turned the Q 10 5 to pair McKeehen’s ten and give him the lead. The 5 on the turn left Beckley drawing to just two outs to stay alive in this event.

“Here comes the river,” announced Effel just before the J hit the felt. With that, Beckley was eliminated as the runner-up and McKeehen threw his arms to the sky in the universal sign of victory.

With confetti raining down and his friends and family jubilantly cheering, Joe McKeehen had secured the 2015 WSOP main event title. McKeehen embraced Beckley before heading over to celebrate with his closest supporters. Beckley, a 24-year-old poker pro from New Jersey, earned $4,470,896 for his runner-up finish.

2014 world champion Martin Jacobson was on hand to bestow this year’s championship bracelet to the 24-year-old poker pro from North Wales, Pennsylvania, who raised the glittering title belt above his head as the lights flashed and the cameras clicked. His domination of this year’s final table was complete, going wire-to-wire to win the title and the $7,683,346 top prize.

After hundreds of photos and videos clips were taken with the happy but exhausted McKeehen, he addressed to the press about becoming the new world champ.

“It was pretty smooth. The way the cards came out, it didn’t seem like I had too many tough decisions and I think when I did, I generally made the right move,” said McKeehen after the win. “It was just my day. For three days in a row.”

McKeehen did indeed have a smooth run to the title at the final table, coming in with the lead and steadily building his stack and eradicating opponents. In the end, he busted six of the eight players eliminated at the final table and remained the odds-on favorite throughout the three days of play.

“There wasn’t really any pressure,” said McKeehen in regards to the burden of expectation that comes with being the favorite. “It was really nice to just have all of the chips at all times. I was never at risk and a lot of my chips were essentially never even in play. Every pot, even if I lost, I would still have been the chip leader, so it was really nice and smooth.”

McKeehen had the advantage throughout and calmly, collectedly converted that into the win. He was clearly excited to have won poker’s largest and most prestigious title, but not overly expressive. He remained as composed in victory as he was in battle.

“It feels pretty good,” he admitted. “It probably hasn’t fully hit me yet.”

When it finally does hit him, what a feeling that will be for poker’s new world champion. ♠

We don’t need to look at the numbers to see that Joe McKeehen dominated the 2015 World Series of Poker main event final table, but the stats produced from the 184 total hands dealt do offer some insight into how the 24-year-old poker pro managed to go wire to wire for the title.

Take a look at how each player navigated the final table below.

Patrick Chan – Ninth Place

It must be sickening to wait nearly four months to play at the most important final table of your life and have it end in just two hands. The only hand Chan played started off innocently enough, with everyone folding to McKeehen on the button. But he shoved, putting Chan at risk in the small blind, and Chan had to make a tough decision.

Looking at his face as he thought over his options, call or fold, you could see that Chan was wrestling with what his head was telling him to do and what his gut wanted him to do. Ultimately, he listened to his head, and it cost him his tournament life.

Federico Butteroni – Eighth Place

While Chan played his short stack aggressively, the Italian played his short stack as passively as one could. The result was much the same. In the 35 hands Butteroni was dealt, he only played two, including his elimination.

It wasn’t until a couple orbits in that he finally got involved, moving all in and taking down the blinds and antes, but by that point it was too late. He finally got it in again with just five big blinds and no fold equity, giving McKeehen an easy call to end Butteroni’s tournament run.

Pierre Neuville – Seventh Place

The 72-year-old Belgian businessman was fearless back in July en route to the November Nine, but at the final table, where he was dealt 72 hands, he looked like a completely different player. Although Neuville was eventually taken out by McKeehen, he clearly had trouble with Blumenfield, who seemed to hold over him in the four big pots they played together.

After getting reraised so many times, Neuville got gun shy, and played just three hands during his final 40, twice just calling preflop. Although he did get it in good, he was so short-stacked at the time that, even if he did double up, he still would have been in trouble. Neuville lost all three times he went to showdown.

Tom Cannuli – Sixth Place

Given the very slight pay jumps from ninth place to fifth place, it’s hard to understand why Cannuli refused to get involved at the final table early. In fact, he only played one hand the first three orbits and it took him until hand no. 32 to drag his first pot.

Once Butteroni was eliminated, however, the 23-year-old New Jersey native got more aggressive, even with chip leader McKeehen on his immediate left. Between hand no. 36 and hand no. 74, Cannuli was the preflop aggressor nine times. Who knows what could have been had his aces not been cracked by Steinberg?

Ofer Zvi Stern – Fifth Place

The Israeli businessman was statuelike on day one of the final table, giving nothing away in terms of physical tells by tanking 30 seconds or more for even the simplest preflop decisions. The second day, however, he sped up his play significantly, and one has to wonder if that cost him.

Despite his infuriatingly slow process, Stern was one of the more active players at the table, voluntarily putting chips into the pot on 40 of his 121 hands dealt. The 36-year-old amateur was one of the only people to challenge McKeehen early on, and could have made a deeper run if he didn’t shove into Beckley’s pocket aces.

Max Steinberg – Fourth Place

The only player with a bracelet at the final table played like the pro he is for most of the final table. Steinberg won the first hand dealt and stayed involved, keeping ahead of the mounting blinds and antes with a couple preflop raises and three-bets per orbit. In total, he played 27 of the 143 hands he was dealt, being the preflop aggressor on 23 of them.

After cracking Cannuli’s aces, the 27-year-old appeared like the likely heads-up contender against McKeehen, but a big loss to Blumenfield had him struggling with a short stack. On his final hand, he became the fourth player at the final table to lose with A-J.

Neil Blumenfield – Third Place

The 61-year-old software executive shocked everyone by coming out of the gates strong at the final table. In fact, Blumenfield won hand nos. 3-6 with either a preflop raise or a three-bet to move into second place overall.

His well-timed aggression continued until the third day of the final table for three-handed play, where he was run over by Beckley and McKeehen. In his first 147 hands played, Blumenfield lost only one showdown, but in his last 24 hands, he lost three huge showdowns, including a bluff gone wrong against McKeehen.

Josh Beckley – Second Place

It’s hard to fault anything about Beckley’s play, considering he came into the final table seventh in chips. When he came in for a raise or a three-bet, his opponents usually respected it. Although he stayed out of the way early on, he really picked up the pace once the tournament became five handed.

Beckley was handcuffed by Independent Chip Model (ICM) considerations for most of the final table, because there was always at least one player sitting on the short stack for him to move up the pay ladder. As a result, he faced a huge chip deficit going into heads-up play. But had he won the flip that sent him to the rail, he may have been able to pull off the upset.

Joe McKeehen – First Place

Given his huge chip lead, it’s no surprise that McKeehen was the most active player at the table, even before short-handed play began. He saw a total of 184 hands, and voluntarily played 93 of them. In the 41 hands of three-handed and heads-up play, McKeehen won 26 of them.

What is surprising about the stats, however, is that McKeehen clearly had no problem playing post-flop poker. Of the 93 hands he played, McKeehen was a preflop aggressor in only 67 of them. If someone raised his big blind, he didn’t mind defending light. If the action folded around to him in the small blind, he didn’t mind completing and taking a cheap flop.

The other important stat from McKeehen reveals that he was the showdown king of the final table. Of the 19 times he was forced to show his cards, McKeehen won 16. To put that into perspective, 2014 WSOP main event champion Martin Jacobsen was dealt 328 hands, and won only 10 out of 20 showdowns. ´