Play has just resumed at the Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the final 27 competitors will battle it out for an esteemed spot in the 2015 WSOP Main Event November Nine. Leading the pack is Thomas Kearney, an American poker pro who spends the majority of his time grinding online poker tournaments and cash tables at WSOP.com, and is now in the hunt for the most prestigious prize the game has to offer.
After participating in some fantastically lucrative hands last night, Thomas Kearney enters Day 7 with the largest stack of 14,400,000. Trailing just behind him is fellow American poker player, Mozheng Guan of New Jersey, with 14,230,000, while another American from Colorado, Erasmus Morfe, steps confidently up to the tables with the 3rd highest stack of 12,085,000.
Thomas Kearney’s results on the live felt may not invoke fear among the other 26 players returning to the Rio this afternoon, but his online prowess might.
Kearney has just 7 live tournament cashes to his name, having collected a grand total of $77,865 since 2012. Those certainly aren’t shabby numbers, but compared to other members of the final 27, such as the low stack David Peters (over $6.5 million in winnings) or the 9th highest stack Daniel Negreanu (#1 on Poker All Time Money List with over $30 million in cash, 6 WSOP bracelets and 2 WPT titles), the Nevadan’s experience pales considerably.
However, it should be noted that Thomas Kearney is no newcomer to the World Series of Poker, either. Three of his live cashes came from WSOP events, including two this year and one in 2014. His most recent paycheck totaled $16,245 when he finished 9th in Event #26, $1,000 PLO on June 11, 2015.
As “Butters” (his moniker at WSOP.com), Thomas Kearney isn’t just a great online poker player, he was actually ranked #1 in the state going into this year’s WSOP Main Event. Since WSOP.com first began offering Nevadans a licensed and regulated iPoker destination in September of 2013, “Butters” has scooped over $150,000 in online tournament winnings; an impressive amount considering the size of the state’s ring-fenced market.
Thomas Kearney Finishes Strong on Day 6
As the 2015 WSOP Main Event wrapped up Day 5 on Sunday, Kearney was sitting comfortably with the 18th highest chip stack out of 69 remaining players. Day 6 turned out to be quite fruitful for the online poker pro, skyrocketing him into 1st before it was over.
The most notable hand for Thomas occurred shortly after the dinner break when he faced off in a 3-way pot against Randall Clinger and Hans Jaquim. A flurry of raises and re-raises saw Clinger and Jaquim putting their tournament lives on the line, with Kearney quickly making the call. As the cards were tabled, it became obvious why all three were so willing to take the risk.
Thomas Kearney: A♠ A♥
Randall Clinger: Q♦ Q♣
Hans Jaquim: A♦ K♦
Each hand represented one of the strongest holdings in the game of poker, but Thomas Kearney had a dominating lead. The 6♦ 6♣ 5♣ flop did little to influence the situation, but the 9♣ turn offered Clinger hope with a Flush draw. The 2♦ river blanked, sending Clinger and Jaquim out in 33rd and 32nd places respectively for $211,821 apiece, while Thomas Kearney increased his stack to over 10 million.