In today’s article we are going to introduce the nine players who made the final table at the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event. The field is versatile, with well-known pros, upcoming regulars and a CEO battling it out for the $7,680,021 first place prize.
Seat 1: Zvi Stern – 29.800.000 (74bb)
Based on previous results Stern is the least experienced player at the table. The 36-year old Israeli player had two tracked cashes before the Main Event for a total of $49,595.
Stern got the clock called on him several times during the Main Event, he took more than 10 minutes for several decisions, enraging his tablemates. Stern will start the finale with the second biggest stack but is not considered a favourite to win the tournament.
Seat 2: Pierre Neuville – 21.075.000 (52bb)
Neuville is considered a legend in the Belgian poker circles. He used to be the CEO of a company which manufactured board games and only started playing poker as a hobby after he retired. The 72-year old player has been playing on the live tournament circuit since 2007 and since then he acquired almost $2.2 million in tournament cashes as well as two second place finishes in EPT tournaments.
He is also successful online, he won $617,078 under the ”Zoutechamp” nickname and has qualified for 23 consecutive EPT Main Events through online satellites.
Seat 3: Joshua Beckley – 11.800.000 (27bb)
Beckley is a New Jersey player who plays on the legalized online sites under the asdf26 and qwerty26 nicknames. He has been playing live tournaments since last year and his first tracked result was a win, he took down the Parx Casino Big Stax VII $1,600 NLHE event for $98,348.
Beckley had 12 ITM finishes during the 2015 World Series, his total live tournament earnings before the final table were $219,526.
Seat 4: Max Steinberg – 20.200.000 (50bb)
Steinberg is one of the big favourites to win the November Nine. He has been playing poker since 2005 with his brother and fellow poker pro Danny Steinberg. Max met Ben ”Sauce123” Sulsky in 2006 and decided to focus on cash games, by 2008 he already was a NL1000 regular and started playing live tournaments aswell.
In 2012 he won his first WSOP bracelet in a $1,000 NLHE event ($440,238) and he finished in second place twice more. He also has a WPT and an LAPT second place finish, his total live tournament earnings were $1.936.457 before the Main Event.
Nowadays he plays less poker and focuses more on the Daily Fantasy Drafts.
Seat 5: Thomas Cannuli – 12.250.000 (30bb)
Cannuli is a New Jersey cash game pro, he rarely enters live events, his live tournament earnings before the Main Event were just $52,325. In an interview he said he is not a well-known player because he prefers to stay in the background.
Cannuli finished as the chipleader on Day 2 of the 2014 Main Event, in the end he finished in 691st place.
Seat 6: Joe McKeehen – 63.100.000 (160bb)
McKeehen is the biggest favourite to win the tournament, he was a successful online player from 2006 until Black Friday under the nickname ”dude904”. In 2010 he reached 194th place on the online tournament rankings, after Black Friday he started playing the tournaments on the US circuit, but he has also played at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure as well as in various WSOP and World Poker Tour events.
Seat 7: Patrick Chan – 6.225.000 (15bb)
Much like McKeehen, Chan was also an online player before Black Friday, nowadays he plays live cash games and tournaments. His biggest results are a 3rd place finish in the $2,700 Borgata Fall Poker Open and a 12th place finish in last year’s Millionaire Maker event. His total live tournament earnings were $524,263 before the Main Event.
Seat 8: Federico Butteroni – 6.200.000 (15bb)
Butteroni is the second Italian to make the November Nine after Filippo Candio’s 2010 run. His best previous tournament result was a 15th place finish in the 2010 IPT Sanremo ($6,706) but he had a deep run in this year’s Monster Stack event (20th place, $45,633), bringing his total live tournament earnings to $103,006 before the Main Event.
Seat 9: Neil Blumenfield – 22.000.000 (55bb)
Blumenfield is a regular player at Reno and the Heartland Poker Tour, his best result is taking down the 1st Annual Stat of Nevada event. The 61-year old player is not a professional, he is currently the CEO of the company Elastic Intelligence. He graduated from Berkeley and worked in the software industry. His total live tournament earnings before the Main Event was $130,468.
Finale table payouts
1. $7.680.021
2. $4.469.171
3. $3.359.103
4. $2.638.558
5. $1.910.971
6. $1.440.072
7. $1.203.193
8. $1.097.009
9. $1.001.020
