Poker Pros React To 2015 WSOP Main Event victor Joe McKeehen

Play lasted almost 5 hours and 45 minutes in real time on Sunday, but consumed 4 hours, 10 minutes of tournament clock play and led to the elimination of three players.

The Main Event play was suspend in July when the tournament reached its final nine players-resuming with the “Novemeber Nine” picking up play again 117 days after it left off. When play began in July, players started with 30,000 in chips and the blinds were at 50 and 100. 6,420 players ponied up $10,000 in cash back in July to enter the 2015 WSOP Main Event.

Combining incisive play with an nearly bruising ability to be hit by the deck hand after hand after hand, McKeehen surprised no one by dominating his opponents throughout the three-day November Nine finale.

McKeehen’s Ace-Ten trumped Beckley’s pocket fours on the final hand.

Joe McKeehen is a 24-year old from Pennsylvania. “Winning the WSOP is the greatest achievement in the sport, and I’m very happy to have done it”, McKeehen said.

Philadelphia’s Joe McKeehen, 24, became poker’s World Champion on Tuesday night. McKeehen had nearly 33 percent of the chips in play when the final table resumed Sunday after a 117-day layoff and ended play Monday with two-thirds of the chips.

Beckley, refusing to just hand McKeehen the title, attempted a few bluffs, but there was no stopping the champion-to-be. With an eight- to-one chip disadvantage, Beckley was forced to shove with his 4♦4♣ and found himself in a coin flip situation against A♥10♦. “He did exactly what he needed to do to not give up the chip lead ever”, he said. Neil Blumenfield would break from the recent mold, as a 61-year-old who plays cards only as a hobby. Throw in a couple of impressive soul reads against Blumenfield and Beckley and there was simply no way anyone could beat him. The runner up was 25-year-old Marlton, New Jersey resident Joshua Beckley. That time, the chip-leader folded, giving up the pot of chips to Blumenfield.

Joseph McKeehen poses with friends and family after winning the Main Event at the World Series of Poker on Tuesday, November 10, 2015, in Las Vegas.

When final table play began, McKeehen held a huge chip lead and would continue to maintain his lead throughout the competition. Neil Blumenfield, 61, a former tech executive from San Francisco who has a fedora-wearing cheering section, is in second. Per Poker News, he actually normally wears a Flyers jersey while playing.

With a pair of aces, the strongest hand you can start with before the community cards are laid out, he went all-in.

More than $3.3 million would separate first place and second place ($7,683,346 vs. $4,470,896), but more than just money was on the line. That would be the last card Blumenfield would see in his 2015 WSOP Main Event run, and he finished in third place.