The concluding event of the 46th Annual World Series of Poker was the 2015 WSOP Main Event that attracted 6,420 entrants and created a prize pool of over $60.3 million.
On the final day of play before the November Nine would be set, just 27 players remained and included an eclectic mix of poker stars, tournament veterans, and amateurs chasing WSOP glory. The player that started the day ninth in chips overall was poker legend and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu of Toronto, Canada.
The hype around Negreanu reaching the WSOP Main Event was similar to when Phil Ivey of Las Vegas, Nevada, made it in 2009 before inevitably finishing in seventh place.
As the day progressed, Negreanu remained among the leaders as the field was reduced to two tables. David Peters of Rancho Sante Fe, California, would fall to Negreanu in 17th place, and everything was heading in the right direction for Kid Poker before a hand would play out against the eventual 2015 World Champion.
In this PokerGO video, the action begins with a raise from Matt Guan of Holmdel, New Jersey, holding pocket sixes in early position. Joe McKeehen of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, was in the cutoff and three-bet holding pocket aces. The action turns to Negreanu in the big blind, and he four-bets holding ace-king as Guan quickly folds. McKeehen responds by shoving all-in to put Negreanu in the think-tank.
“You know I don’t usually do that right?” Negreanu said to a stoic McKeehen. “I just want to make sure you know I’m not like the four-bet guy.”
Several minutes go by before Negreanu quietly mucks his hand. Eventual eighth-place finisher Federico Butteroni of Rome, Italy, asks Negreanu what he had, and without hesitation, Negreanu tells him that it was ace-king.
Undeterred by Negreanu’s announcement, McKeehen quietly rakes in the pot that sends him up the leaderboard where he eventually ends the day as the overall chip leader heading into the November Nine. Just a few months later, McKeehen would become the second player to parlay his chip lead into victory when he was crowned the 2015 WSOP Main Event champion and recipient of the $7,683,346 first-place prize.
The 2015 WSOP Main Event, along with WSOP coverage from 1973 to 2020 can all be found exclusively on PokerGO.com.
About the World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker® is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world, having awarded more than $3.29 billion in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest-running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2019, the event attracted 187,298 entrants from 118 different countries to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and awarded more than $293 million in prize money. In addition, the WSOP has formed groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent of WSOP Europe in 2007 and the WSOP Asia-Pacific in 2013 and the WSOP International Circuit Series in 2015. All WSOP events are subject to the then-current and applicable WSOP tournament rules. For more information, please visit www.wsop.com.