The World Series of Poker Main Event champion will be decided Tuesday, and two of the three contenders for the title and a $7,680,021 grand prize are Jewish.
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Joe McKeehen cashed out with $7.7 million.
McKeehen’s Ace-Ten bested Beckley’s pocket fours, when a ten came on the flop, giving McKeehen a pair of tens, and Beckley couldn’t improve on the turn or river card.
As chip leader, he entered the Final Table with a clear advantage and managed to extend his lead during each of the three days of Final Table play-until he was the only player left with chips.
His run at the final table proved that you don’t have to be a 20-something to make a deep run in the Main Event and keeps the hope alive for amateurs that still believe that “Anyone Can Win” at the World Series of Poker. McKeehen outplayed Blumenfield in a few key spots and grinded him down before scoring the elimination with pocket Queens against pocket 2s.
“It was just my days for three days in a row”, he said of the ease holding his lead and eventually winning.
It put Beckley in second with 45 million chips.
McKeehen defeated Joshua Beckley of Marlton, N.J., on the 13th hand of heads-up play to end the proceedings shortly after 8 p.m. Beckley, a 25-year-old professional poker player who started the final table Sunday seventh in chips, earned $4.47 million for finishing second. “He did exactly what he needed to do to not give up the chip lead ever”, he said.
The first victim was Neil Blumenfield, the oldest remaining player in the Main Event.
With all the cards laid out on the table – a three of clubs, six of clubs, 10 of diamonds and seven of diamonds – Blumenfield followed up an earlier 3.5 million chip raise with another 7 million.
Neil Blumenfield of San Francisco finished third and won $3,398,298.
One of the three will prevail at the final table of the World Series of Poker tonight at the Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio to win $7,683,346 and the world championship bracelet. The event’s total prize pool was $60,355,857, with almost $25 million going to the final nine players. The player seemed genuinely happy about being crowned this year’s World Champion, an accomplishment he described as the greatest “anyone can have in this game”.
Blinds will be at 500,000-1,000,000 (150,000 ante) when play in Level 39 resumes.
Blumenfield is a successful small-stakes tournament player in California and Reno and entered the Main Event with a little less than $45,000 in lifetime WSOP earnings, thanks mostly to his 285th-place finish in the 2012 Main Event.
And the 24-year-old from suburban Philadelphia did it more decisively than anyone has since the start of the delayed November Nine format eight years ago.
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Joe McKeehen, 24, of North Wales, Pennsylvania, is leading the pack, having held the most poker chips since play broke last July with the final nine players.
