The remaining field of the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event was cut in half last night as just three players are still alive in the battle for the most cherished poker prize in the world. And like the first day of the final table, it is Joe McKeehen who ended the night as the chip leader, increasing his dominant chip stack to what looks like an impossible hill for his two opponents – Neil Blumenfield and Josh Beckley – to climb. But this is poker and all it takes is one or two hands to change the dynamic of the table completely.
McKeehen went into six-handed play with 91.45 million chips, nearly half the chips on the table. He wielded that club effectively, generally maintaining that same level most of the evening as the threat of elimination kept the other players from getting overly bold against him. He dipped below 80 million chips briefly, but with each elimination came more significant jumps in money, so he was eventually able to eat away at his opponents’ stacks as they tried to hang on for bigger prizes.
When play wrapped up for the night with just three players left, McKeehen’s stack was up to 128.825 million, twice the combined total of the other two players.
As mentioned, McKeehen had over 90 million chips when Monday’s action started. Here is a look at the rest of the chip counts to begin the second day of the final table:
1. Joe McKeehen – 91,450,000
2. Zvi Stern – 32,400,000
3. Neil Blumenfield – 31,500,000
4. Max Steinberg – 16,000,000
5. Josh Beckley – 10,875,000
6. Thomas Cannuli – 10,425,000
Thomas Cannuli, the youngest player at the table at just 23-years of age, was in a particularly bad spot, as not only was he the shortest stack, but he had McKeehen to his right and a strong player in Max Steinberg to his left. He was going to have to find a spot to make a move and that he did. Looking down at pocket Aces, he raised under-the-gun to 1.4 million chips. Action folded around to Steinberg in the big blind and he moved all-in with pocket Tens. Cannuli immediately called, of course, and was in great shape to double-up. Unfortunately, a Ten landed on the flop, giving Steinberg a set and eliminating Cannuli in sixth place. For two straight days, a player was knocked out on the second hand.
Next to go was Zvi Stern. Stern was one of the more active players Sunday, though he did get some people grumbling because he took so much longer to act on every hand, even pre-flop, than everyone else. He played well, though, never really getting out of line despite not being afraid to mix it up. The beginning of the end for him was the result of his aggression, though it wasn’t a bad play. He was in the small blind with 9-T and moved all-in on Josh Beckley, who at the time was the short stack. Beckley woke up with Aces, though, and doubled through Stern, sending Stern’s stack down to 18.225 million. Stern couldn’t recover and eventually fell to Neil Blumenfield, A-K over A-J, to hit the rail in fifth place.
Steinberg, despite the early elimination of Cannuli, never really got anything going. He treaded water most of the day and gradually saw his stack deteriorate. The nattily-clad former poker pro turned DFS pro finally met his demise a bit before 8:30pm Vegas time when he moved all-in pre-flop with A-J only to be called by McKeehen and his A-Q. By the turn the board read 9-7-5-8 which gave Steinberg several outs, but none materialized and he was eliminated in fourth place.
So now it’s down to three: McKeehen, Blumenfield, and Beckley. It certainly looks like this one is McKeehen’s to lose but again, you never know. If Blumenfield can find a way to double through McKeehen early, it’s all even. Who knows what will happen.
We’ll find out tonight starting at 6:00pm Pacific. ESPN will broadcast the action on a half-hour delay.
2015 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table – End of Day 2 Chip Counts
1. Joe McKeehen – 128,825,000
2. Neil Blumenfield – 40,125,000
3. Josh Beckley – 23,700,000