2015 WSOP - Joe McKeehen leads the final three

November 10, 2015 « 2015 WSOP- How Joe McKeehen, Neil Blumenfield and Josh Beckley can win | 2015 WSOP - Mckeehen family amazed by son's accomplishment »

LAS VEGAS – The final table of the World Series of Poker’s main event is feeling more and more like a coronation.

Joe McKeehen, a 24-year-old poker pro from North Wales, Pa., remains the chip leader as the November Nine was reduced from six players to three on Monday night. When play resumes at 6 p.m. PT Tuesday at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino (with ESPN’s broadcast starting at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT on a 30-minute delay per gaming regulations), he’ll be joined by Neil Blumenfield, a 61-year-old amateur who was laid off from his job shortly before the main event started in July, and Joshua Beckley, a 25-year-old poker pro from Marlton, N.J., who is playing at his first-ever final table.

But all eyes are on McKeehen.

He entered the November Nine with nearly 33 percent of the chips in play. After Sunday’s play reduced the final table to six players, McKeehen had 47 percent of the chips. Now, heading into Tuesday’s finale, he has 67 percent of the chips (128 million) and hasn’t been seriously threatened the past two days. Blumenfield (40.1 million in chips) and Beckley (23.7 million in chips) have a lot of work to do if they hope to change the course of this final table.

The 2015 main event champion will end up taking home the $7,683,346 top prize as well as the gold WSOP bracelet and a place in poker history in exchange for their $10,000 entry fee and the ability to outlast a field of 6,240. The runner-up prize is $4,470,896, with third earning $3,398,298.

On Sunday, McKeehen eliminated the 9th-, 8th- and 7th-place finishers (after having knocked out the 11th- and 10th-place finishers back in July), but he let others do the dirty work on Monday night.

On the second hand of the night (just like on Sunday), after play started shortly after 4:30 p.m. local time, Thomas Cannuli, 23, of Cape May, N.J., was the short stack at and called an all-in bet from Max Steinberg, a 27-year-old professional daily fantasy sports player and former professional poker player. Cannuli's A-A was dominating Steinberg’s 10-10, but the flop came Jc-6c-10s and gave Steinberg a set. The turn (Qd) and river (8s) didn’t help Cannuli and he was out in sixth place and earned $1,426,283.

“Yesterday, I sat there for about five hours and the best hands I seen was A-J suited and [a pair of] sixes, today, the second hand I get is aces” Cannuli said at his elimination press conference in the lobby of the Penn & Teller Theater when asked how it felt when he saw his pocket aces. “It felt great. I kind of had a feeling Max was going to go all-in. It was just a hand that had to play out that way.”

Cannuli said he wasn’t going to dwell on being eliminated on what many would call a bad beat.

“It’s part of the game,” he said. “You have to just respect the game and that element that you can get unlucky and not be whiny or a baby about it. It’s over and done, you can’t take it back and I’ll move forward. It’s back to the grind for me.”

Cannuli was supported by a boisterous rail, most of which followed him into the lobby and crashed his press conference. In fact, that was a theme of the night as these postmortem interview sessions have turned less into a meeting with reporters and more an opportunity for the players to have one last lovefest with their supporters. Most of Cannuli’s fans wore shirts that said “Holy Cannuli” on the back with a cartoon cannoli on the front with wings on it, plus sponsor logos.

“You were one of the most epic rails that ever existed,” Cannuli said to his entourage. “I’m confident I’ll be back.” To which many in the crowd yelled back: “We will, too.”

Again, just like Sunday night’s elimination on just the second hand, there was a long stretch before the next one.

Ofer Zvi Stern, a 37-year-old businessman from Herzliya, Israel, entered the November Nine with the second biggest stack and was still in second entering Monday’s play. He lost a big hand just an hour into play, when he ran into Beckley’s A-A with his 10s-9s. That loss knocked him from second place into fifth.

Just under 2.5 hours from Cannuli’s ouster, Stern was still the short stack and went all-in with Ac-Jh against Blumenfield’s As-Kc. The flop of 3d-7h-5s didn’t help Stern and when Kd came on the turn, Stern was drawing dead. He earned $1,911,423.

“This is a dream come true just to come to the United States and play this awesome, huge tournament and to be part of this experience,” said Stern, who made his first cash in the main event. “You try it once and you don’t make it, and you try it again and make it a little bit further and then you try it one more time and you make it and that’s awesome.

“It is amazing to travel to a tournament where you can play day after day after day, it’s an amazing experience for an Israeli coming from a country where we don’t get much poker because it’s not a game that we can compete in tournaments. ... We don’t get that, so we have to travel abroad to play and compete and test ourselves against the competition.

“It’ll be tough tomorrow," Stern continued. "Today is a celebration whichever spit I ended up in."
Stern was asked if he was aware of criticism of his slow play, but mostly brushed it off.

“I was aware that it’s kind of a thing,” he said. “Honestly, I kinda thought it started as a joke, but it’s OK. I wasn’t aware that it’s really bothering people, I thought it was a bit funny to people. But the players at the table know that you have a lot at stake and you have to consider a lot of things and make the correct decision, at least one that you’ll be happy with whatever what the result will be. It doesn’t have to be the optimally correct one when you look back on it, but at the time it has to make sense, and if it takes you another moment to make it then they’ll give you the time.”

After letting Steinberg and Blumenfield take care of those two eliminations, McKeehen returned to doing the deed himself about an hour later. Steinberg was the short stack for much of four-handed play, but had made some headway with some big bets to take some pots. He ran into a cooler on his final hand, holding A-J and three-betting all-in against an opening raise from McKeehen, who showed Ad-Qc.

The flop came 7c-9d-5s and offered some hope to Steinberg. The turn gave him a little more life, as the 8c added in some straight draw options, but the 3d on the river ended Steinberg’s run that began with him winning his $10,000 seat in a $27 contest at DraftKings.

Steinberg was the only November Niner with a WSOP bracelet. After getting in late on the poker boom, he’s been focusing more attention on daily fantasy sports since its boom. As for what he’ll be playing more moving head, he said: “Poker is always a passion for me so I will definitely be playing it. As for whether I’ll be playing it more, I don’t know yet. I think I’m going to sit and think about it. Obviously this was a wonderful experience. Maybe it’s a little bit of wanting to get back to the big stage and prove I can play.”

Steinberg became just as well known for his suits and his well-dressed entourage.

“Personally, it feels awesome to have such a good-looking, dressed-up group of people supporting me,” he said to cheers. “If there’s a bonus that the people in the poker community enjoy that as well then that’s great.

“I can tell a little bit that a lot of people were cheering for me whether it was on social media or anything else. I was bet to 2-1 at the Rio to win, which is absolutely absurd, that doesn’t make any sense at all. So clearly people wanted me to win and I’m grateful for it.”
Now the focus turns back to the three finalists heading to play tonight with McKeehen as the odds-on favorite.