The lights in the Penn and Teller Theater in the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino have gone dark on the 2015 World Series of Poker Championship Event. After two months of play in the tournament rooms of the Rio, two weeks of battle in the Championship Event and four months for the 2015 “November Nine” to wait to complete the event, poker’s greatest stage has gone dark for the year. So how did our predictions come out?
First, the Crystal Ball wasn’t completely out of line. Sure, our pick for the eventual champion, Pierre Neuville, finished in the seventh place slot, but it took a bad beat to put the Belgian out of the tournament. Eventual champion Joe McKeehen’s J♥ 6♥ hit a runner-runner flush against Neuville’s dominant A♣ J♣, otherwise there could have been a different outcome to the tournament (OK, that’s not true…the outcome was basically dictated from the start). Without further ado, here’s how we predicted the outcome:
1. Pierre Neuville
2. Joe McKeehen
3. Neil Blumenfield
4. Zvi Stern
5. Thomas Cannuli
6. Max Steinberg
7. Josh Beckley
8. Patrick Chan
9. Federico Butteroni
The Crystal Ball got Butteroni and Chan flip-flopped but, for the most part, that was the correct call. I loved Chan’s call on only the second hand of the tournament on Sunday against an arrogant McKeehen, who slammed in an all-in move holding an A-4 off suit with Chan in the small blind and Butteroni in the big. Chan’s K-Q arguably might be the best hand he would see before he reached “push and pray” mode and I don’t begrudge Chan making his stand there. The 55%-45% chance was worth the risk and, if he doubles, he has more ammunition to fight.
Butteroni managed to hang around for nearly three hours with a stack that should have seen him eliminated within the first round of play. He picked his moments skillfully and was able to, at the minimum, maintain his stack longer than many thought he could pull off. He also fell to McKeehen, his A-Q getting run down by McKeehen’s A-J.
Beckley was the true surprise of the tournament. The second-youngest player at the final table (only Cannuli was younger), Beckley showed some excellent skill and timely aggression in building a contending stack. That he was able to parlay that play into the runner-up finish in the tournament isn’t surprising and bodes well for Beckley’s future in the tournament poker arena.
Cannuli’s abilities in making it through the first night of play on Sunday also should be noticed. He didn’t allow anyone to push him around and was able to stay in until the second hand on Monday in what was arguably the cruelest beat at the “November Nine” final table. Holding pocket Aces, Cannuli was excited to see Steinberg move all-in in front of him with pocket tens and made the call almost immediately after Steinberg’s “all in” left his lips. The ten in the window ended the hopes for Cannuli, but he’s another player to keep an eye on in the future.
Stern was arguably the most polarizing player of the “November Nine.” Despite the fact that he made some great decisions over the course of the tournament and at the final table, Stern’s constant tanking became a point of irritation for many in the audience in the Penn and Teller Theater and the viewing audience over ESPN and ESPN2. Sure, it is important to make the right decision at the table, but a 30-40 second tank pre-flop was a bit much. Stern’s actions may be the impetus that brings a “shot clock” into the final tables of other major tournament poker events.
Other than that matter, Stern played very well. He was dispatched from the final table by Blumenfield when, after Stern moved nearly all his chips to the center (save for a few 25K chips) with an A-J, he found himself technically re-raised by Blumenfield’s Big Slick all-in move. After depositing his final chips in the pot, Stern would miss the entire 7-5-3-K-Q board and depart in fifth place, one place short of where we had him.
Steinberg reached beyond our predicted sixth place finish in taking down the fourth place slot. His game was outstanding for the most part, but what he mostly brought to the table was an impeccable style that should be a goal for all players. His suit and tie combos brought some class to the proceedings (Steinberg admits that dressing well makes him feel confident). He also conducted himself almost as well as he dressed, bringing a fresh breeze to the tournament poker world.
With Blumenfield, we were spot on with the pick. As Antonio Esfandiari noted during the ESPN broadcasts, it was obvious that Blumenfield received some coaching in the off-months prior to the play of the final table and it was money well spent. It was also good to see a 61-year old player (along with the 72-year old Neuville) reach this deep in the biggest event in poker. With Blumenfield continuing to add to his poker acumen (he admitted reading Jonathan Little’s latest book to help with his game, which will be the subject of review here on Poker News Daily soon), perhaps we’ll see him on the tournament trail more frequently.
What is there left to say about McKeehen? Probably the worst thing is that his personality at best was indifferent to the position he found himself in and, at worst, was surly. His attire could have been better, but where it mattered the most – playing poker in poker’s biggest game – he was THE dominant force on the table. There wasn’t any time where it appeared that he was about to lose his iron grip on the proceedings and he never made a bad decision (some may say he was hit with the deck also, which helps that decision making). We had him picked for a second place finish, so we weren’t exactly counting out that he wouldn’t have any shot at being the next World Champion.
That closes the books on the official play of the 2015 WSOP, but there’s some discussion about the WSOP itself that bears mentioning. In Part 2, we’ll examine the WSOP itself and what we may see in 2016 and beyond.
