24-year-old Joe McKeehen has won the much anticipated 2015 WSOP Main Event Championship dominating the final nine-man table from the start.
McKeehen earned his first WSOP bracelet and a princely $7,683,346 million in prize money after he beat Josh Beckley in heads up play.
The finale played out in just 183 hands, the shortest of any table since the November Nine (delayed final table) concept was first adopted in 2008 said WSOP. The final hand was dealt out just two hours into the third and final day of play.
61-year-old Neil Blumenfield took third place saying: “This was as good as it gets for a poker player, and for an amateur like me to come here and be able to compete and make it to this far is a great feeling of accomplishment.”
25-year-old Runner-up Josh Beckley from Cape May, New Jersey said: “I’m close friends with Joe, so it was really great to see him get the win. It was well deserved, no question.”
The low key McKeehen hugged his mother, father and grandparents as loud cheering and confetti littered the air.
“This is definitely the greatest accomplishment anyone can have in this game,” McKeehen said after the win. “I was always confident I could make money playing the game professionally, but to get this really proves something.”
“It still hasn’t hit me just yet, but I suppose sometime it will, sharing this with my family and friends – for me, that’s the best part.”