Third WSOP bracelet win for McKeehen

On Tuesday night, the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online Event #14: $3,200 No-Limit Hold'em High Roller attracted 368 players who rebought 128 times. The 496-entry field generated a $1,507,840 prize pool, and after 14 hours of play, it was 2015 WSOP Main Event champ Joe McKeehen coming out on top to win a $352,985.34 first-place prize and his third career gold bracelet.

Five years ago, McKeehen etched his name in poker history by topping a field of 6,420 players to win the Main Event for $7,683,346. Two years later, he showed just why he's one of the best in the world by taking down the 2017 WSOP Event #38: $10,000 Limit Hold'em Championship for $311,817. Now he's a three-time bracelet winner joining players like David "Chip" Reese, Dewey Tomko, and Lyle Berman – all Poker Hall of Famers.

McKeehen played a patient game at the final table, carefully biding his time and picking his spots. In fact, he didn't notch a final table elimination until the last one.

After Chris "camdi" Ferguson bubbled in 64th place, the in-the-money finishes included Maria "bluerat" Konnikova (56th - $6,031.36), Ryan "protential" Laplante (29th - $8,293.12), Loren "BabyJesus" Klein (18th - $11,459.58), Event #12 champ Ryan "joeyisamush" Depaulo (16th - $11,459.58), Minnesota Poker Hall of Famer Blake "CheeetahGirl" Bohn (15th - $14,022.91), and final table bubble boy Dave "Dunningkrugr" Alfa (9th - $22,316.03).

Clayton "nevarlucky" Maguire, who in 2016 won the second-ever WSOP online bracelet (Event #66: $1,000 WSOP.com Online NLH) for $210,279, began the final table as chip leader and the hope of becoming the first-ever two-time online bracelet winner.

David "newjerz05" Jackson was the first final table casualty after four-betting jamming king-queen suited only to run them into the pocket aces of Lee "SoccerDJ" Vlastaris, who in turn busted Nathan "innate9" Russler in seventh place ace-queen against ace-five.

Unfortunately for Maguire, he saw his lead evaporate as the blinds went up. He would eventually try to steal from the small blind with jack-three suited but Frank "thewholefunk" Funaro defended with ace-seven, which held to dispatch the bracelet winner in sixth place.

Vlastaris was next to go after his jack-ten failed to overcome Funaro's ace-three, and then Zhi Hong "Jaydestar17" Huang busted after defending the big blind, flopping middle pair, and running into the pocket tens of Funaro. A couple of hands later Funaro won a race with pocket sixes against Roland "prngls12" Israelashvili's ace-nine. Israelashvili, who was at his second final table of the series, had to settle for third place and $148,975 in prize money.

The heads-up match was a battle of New Jersey players with Funaro holding 9.1 million to McKeehen's 3.2 million. The former Main Event champ used his experience to seize the chip lead and close the deal when Funaro three-bet jammed with seven-six suited and McKeehen called with ace-nine. Funaro failed to catch and had to settle for second place and $219,089 in prize money.

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)