Pennsylvanian poker pro Joe McKeehen (24) made an aggressive start at the World Series of Poker Main Event final table Sunday, ruthlessly eliminating the two lowest stacks at the table, Patrick Chan (26) at ninth and Federico Butteroni (25) at eighth, in the first three hours.
Earlier, the November Nine finalists had reconvened at the Rio’s Penn & Teller Theater in Las Vegas to play down to a winner, with each finalist already receiving a million dollars for surviving the original entry field of 6,420.
This year’s winner will take away $7.6 million – lower than usual due to a flatter pay structure implemented by the organisers.
Promptly at 5pm local time the previous year’s main event winner, Martin Jacobson, launched the final table, commenting: “I know you guys have been waiting and I don’t want to keep you any longer. Now shuffle up and deal.”
McKeehen started the day as chip leader with more than twice the stack of his nearest rival – that’s the biggest chip lead in November Nine history – and he immediately used the advantage to apply aggressive pressure on his opponents.
When we went to press Monday morning the action was still intense…and McKeehen was still leading.