2015 WSOP - November Nine Day 1 recap

November 9, 2015 « 2015 WSOP -- Ofer Zvi Stern looks to make last-minute decision pay off | 2015 WSOP- How Joe McKeehen, Neil Blumenfield and Josh Beckley can win »

LAS VEGAS -- Form pretty much held as the November Nine returned to play the final table of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino on Sunday night. The top three in chips maintained their positions while the two shortest stacks were the first two eliminated.

Joe McKeehen, a 24-year-old poker pro from North Wales, Pennsylvania, picked up right where he left off on July 15 when the November Nine was set. He brought 63.1 million in chips to the final table (a whopping 32.7 percent of all chips in play and more than 33 million ahead of the second-largest stack) and ended play with 91.45 million, nearly half of all remaining chips, when play was halted. He’ll take his sizable lead into Monday night’s action when six-handed play starts at 4:30 p.m. PT, with ESPN2’s coverage slated to start at 8 p.m. ET on a 30-minute delay.

McKeehen, who wore the No. 98 jersey of Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin, was all smiles at the final table, especially when he heard his favorite team beat the Dallas Cowboys 33-27 in overtime while he was busy playing cards. Barwin had a good night with four tackles and a sack, but not as good as McKeehen, who continued to dominate his competitors. However, he didn’t want to talk about it afterward. In fact, he tweeted: “Media: I respectfully reject all interview requests until after the tournament is over. Please respect my privacy in the next 2 days. Thanks.”

Ofer Zvi Stern, 37, of Herzliya, Israel, is in second place with 32.4 million in chips, though he’s now nearly 60 million behind McKeehen. Neil Blumenfield, 61, of San Francisco, is in third with 31.5 million. The other three remaining players are Max Steinberg, 27, of Fairfield, Iowa, with 16 million; Josh Beckley, 25, of Marlton, New Jersey, with 10.875 million; and Thomas Cannuli, 23, of Cape May, New Jersey, with 10.425 million.

They’re all chasing McKeehen at this point and trying to at least make it to the final three who will advance to the last session Tuesday. Meanwhile, the two shortest stacks coming into Sunday’s final table were the first two players eliminated.

On just the second hand of the final table, McKeehen was on the button and shoved all-in, getting a call from Patrick Chan, a 26-year-old poker pro from Brooklyn, who had the second-lowest number of chips in the November Nine by a mere $25,000 over the short stack, Federico Butteroni, 25, of Rome.

When their cards were turned over, McKeehen had Ad and 4h to lead over Chan’s Ks and Qc. The flop came 10-6-5 rainbow and offered no help to Chan. After a 3 came on the river, he needed a king or queen to stay alive, but a 6 arrived and Chan was eliminated in ninth place. Since the November Nine all received ninth-place money of $1,001,020 back in July, Chan didn’t received any more cash for his efforts.

“Coming in with eighth of nine in chips and with just 15 big blinds, you have to take your chances right now,” Chan said. “King-queen is a pretty strong hand and for the amount of big blinds I had, I have to call there. Worst case could be 50-50, but I could have been dominating a lot of hands.

“I’m just glad I made it this far. This is what I’ve been waiting for. Unfortunately we couldn’t finish deeper.”

That was around 5:10 p.m. PT, and then play continued for nearly three hours until the next elimination, which was the aforementioned Butteroni at 8:07 p.m. His A-J offsuit ran into McKeehan A-K suited. Again, the underdog wasn’t able to get anything pair on the board and Butteroni finished in eighth. His earnings were $1,097,056 from his original $10,000 buy-in back in July. In addition to the $1,001,200 he already collected, he picked up $95,856 on Monday night, which included $47 in interest.

“It was a really nice journey,” Butteroni said. “It was very important for Italy, and I tried to represent my country. I can’t complain and I’m so happy for the experience. I didn’t pick up many pairs or many aces. Every move I made was the right move.”

Play then continued for nearly another 2.5 hours before the next elimination. Pierre Neuville, the oldest November Niner, at 72, and hailing from Knokke-Heist, Belgium, was down to 3 million chips after starting the night in fourth place with 21.075 million. McKeehen raised to 1.2 million and Neuville moved all-in, getting the call. Neuville had A-J suited (clubs) to dominate McKeehan’s J-6 suited (hearts). The flop came Qd, 10d, 3h and added to Neuville’s lead with a gutshot straight draw. The turn card was Qh to give McKeehan a flush draw. Sure enough, the 10h came on the river to complete the flush for McKeehen, giving him his third elimination of the final table and sending Neuville home with total earnings of $1,203,293.

“I’ve seen good runs and bad runs, so when I saw it [the runner-runner of hearts], I knew it was over,” Neuville said with a smile. “It’s been a wonderful story. The last two months, I’ve received 10,000 well-wishes. I’ve loved everything about this … the smells … the other players … the dealers. I want to thank everyone. I’m trying to remember the last two months and forget the last two hours, the last two cards.”

The final six players don’t have to worry about that yet, as they move onto the last two days of the 2015 Main Event.