We are down to the final few days of the 2015 World Series of Poker and the drama ratchets up as the hours tick down. At the close of Day Four on Saturday night, two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Joe McKeehen emerged as the chip leader with 3.122 million in chips.
661 players came back on Saturday with the dream still alive of becoming the next World Champion. As he had been for two days, Amar Anand sat on top of the leaderboard as one of three players who were over the million chip mark, joined by McKeehen with 1.052 million chips and Brian Hastings with 1.034 million. Other top pros such as Mark Kroon, Matt Jarvis, Justin Bonomo and former World Champions Phil Hellmuth, Jim Bechtel, Joe Hachem, Jonathan Duhamel and Ryan Riess also were in the mix as they looked to win their second World Championship.
Duhamel’s run at another title would fall at the hands of Shawn Keller. On the short stack, Duhamel put his final chips in with a K-Q that was tipped by Keller’s A-7. Keller would hit an unnecessary Ace on the turn to lock up the hand and send the 2010 World Champion home with $17,282. Riess also would not survive, his pocket sevens crushed by Jeremy Renz’s pocket Queens, to see the 2013 victor fall in 426th place. Hellmuth’s run would end in a clash with Daniel Negreanu when Hellmuth, committing his stack with pocket Queens against Negreanu’s Big Slick, saw Negreanu flop a King to send Hellmuth home in 417th place ($21,786). All totaled, the only former World Champion left standing at the end of the night was Bechtel, who returns on Sunday with an adequate 1.25 million chips for battle.
Anand was a player who saw his wheels spin for most of the day’s play. Anand would chip up early in the Day Four action in a battle with Scott Seamon (small blind) and Killian Kramer (big blind). After an A-K-6 flop, only Anand and Seamon were left to see another Ace on the turn, which the players checked. Another King came on the river and, after another check-check, Seamon showed counterfeited pocket deuces to play the board while Anand showed K♥ 5♥ to jump over the 1.2 million chip mark. That would be the extent of Anand’s movements for the day, but he’s through to Day Four with a 1.26 million chip stack of his own.
By the time the dinner break arrived, the true carnage of the Day Four battlefields was vastly evident. After starting the day with 661 players, 375 players would be eliminated in the first four levels of play to bring the field down to the final 286 survivors. That was a distinct difference from the post-dinner time frame, when only 49 players would find their way to the rails in the Amazon Room.
McKeehen wasn’t one of those who would falter under the pressures of the day. Instead, McKeehen only seemed to see his chip mountain expand as the day wore on. In one of the final hands of the day, McKeehen would join Scott Montgomery on a J♦ 10♦ 5♦ that saw Montgomery get his final chips to the center with a leading pocket pair of black Queens against McKeehen’s A♦ J♥ (pair of Jacks, nut flush draw). Another five on the turn did nothing to change the situation, but an Ace on the river did have an effect, giving McKeehen Aces up against Montgomery’s Queens up to eliminate the unfortunate Montgomery. That final hand pushed McKeehen’s stack to its size for play on Sunday.
1. Joe McKeehen, 3.122 million
2. Upeshka De Silva, 3.067 million
3. Erasmus Morfe, 2.502 million
4. Brian Hastings, 2.464 million
5. Thomas Cannuli, 2.271 million
6. Charles Chattha, 2.157 million
7. Je Wook Oh, 2.153 million
8. Jay Sharon, 2.118 million
9. Jake Toole, 2.106 million
10. Mo Zheng Guan, 2.034 million
The Top Ten may all be over two million chips each, but such notable names as Kroon (1.9 million), Daniel Fuhs (1.571 million), Kenny Haalaert (1.451 million), Jarvis (1.406 million) and Bonomo (1.35 million) are all within striking distance of becoming a contender for the next World Championship.
It will be a long day for those 237 players as they slog through Sunday. With the final day of play set for Tuesday – when the “November Nine” will be determined and play is suspended until the fall – WSOP officials surely would like to see the numbers come in around 50-75 players after today’s action to stay on schedule. That in itself will be difficult as no one wants to depart the 2015 World Series of Poker Championship Event until they are awarded poker’s next World Championship.