The 2015 World Series of Poker has reached its temporary conclusion as nine players now await the seating of the WSOP Main Event’s final table in November. Aptly deemed the ‘November Nine’, Joe McKeehen leads the elite group of last men standing, which include an eclectic mix of nationalities with professional poker players, seniors and relative newcomers in the mix.
Without further ado, let’s take a brief look at the 2015 WSOP November Nine, in order of chips counts.
Joe McKeehen – 63,100,000
At 24 years of age, Joe McKeehen is a highly successful professional poker player with $1.99 million in live tournament cashes under his belt already. With more than 2x the stack of his nearest November Nine competitor, McKeehen is already the heavy favorite to win the WSOP Championship.
Hailing from Pennsylvania, he has 8 WSOP cashes to his name, and came incredibly close to winning a bracelet in the 2014 debut of the WSOP’s Monster Stack. McKeehen finished 2nd for $820,863 after losing to Frenchman Hugo Pingray.
Zvi Stern – 29,800,000
36 year old Zvi Stern is the first Israeli poker player to make the November Nine since Amir Lehavot reached the final table in 2013, finishing 3rd for $3.7mm. Zvi’s live tournament experience is limited, with just two recorded cashes; a $5k, 63rd place finish at a 2008 WSOP Limit Holdem Shootout, and a $44k 34th place run at the 2015 PCA.
Neil Blumenfield – 22,000,000
American poker player Neil Blumenfield has been cashing in live poker events for the last 8 of his 62 years, including 3 previous WSOP cashes. He accumulated just over $130k in that time, with his highest cash of $37,749 coming from a 5th place finish at the 2014 Heartland Poker Tour Main Event. If he were the oldest player in this year’s November Nine, he’d have broken the record as the oldest member of the group, previously held by 2012 November Nine Steve Gee, who was 57 at the time. But that honor goes to…
Pierre Neuville – 21,075,000
At 72 years of age, Pierre Nueville is a professional poker player from Belgium, and now holds the record for oldest member of the WSOP November Nine. He’s also captured the honor of being the first Belgian member of the final table since the November Nine was initiated in 2008. Neuville has 19 WSOP cashes to speak of, but has earned the majority of his $2+ million in European poker events.
Max Steinberg – 20,200,000
27 year old Max Steinberg is unique to this year’s November Nine, being the only final tablist with a WSOP bracelet already on his wrist, won in 2012 (and arguably the sharpest dresser). A professional poker player with $1.9 million in winnings—the majority coming from his 11 previous WSOP cashes—Steinberg is also something of a Daily Fantasy Sports aficionado. The Iowa native won his entry to the 2015 WSOP Main Event via DFS site, DraftKings.
Thomas Cannuli – 12,250,000
Thomas Cannuli is the youngest member of the 2015 November Nine at just 23 years of age. His experience is limited as well, but the young American poker player does have 5 live event cashes worth about $50,000 under his belt, including two WSOP cashes. In fact, his largest payday came in the 2014 WSOP Main Event where he finished 691st for $18,406.
Josh Beckley – 11,800,000
Another 24 year old American, Josh Beckley has only been cashing in live poker tournaments for the last two years, but in that short time he’s accumulated 18 in-the-money finishes worth over $200k. Beckley has four WSOP cashes this year already.
Patrick Chan – 6,225,000
26 year old Patrick Chan has raked in over half a million in live poker tournaments across 36 cashes dating back to 2010. The American poker pro has never finished 1st in any event, and considering how short his stack will be when the November Nine resumes, the odds aren’t exactly in his favor that this will be the first. But stranger things have happened, and he won’t be the shortest stack at the final table. That title belongs to…
Federico Butteroni – 6,200,000
A 25 year old Italian poker player, Federico Butteroni has earned quite the reputation in this year’s WSOP. He’s already cash in two events, including the Monster Stack (20th, $45,633). His attractive features, charming smile and emotionally boisterous attitude upon winning key hands have drawn a great deal of fans to his rail in the last few days. Although he’s the 2015 short stack of the November Nine, he is sure to have plenty of admirers cheering him on when poker’s most prestigious game resumes.