Neil Blumenfield was eliminated from the 2015 World Series of Poker main event, clinching 3rdplace in the final playoff that netted him a cool $3.4 million. Runaway chip leader Joseph McKeehen was too forceful and Neil ran pocket deuces into McKeehen’s pocket queens. McKeehen went to the wire at the final table to earn the $7.7 million purse by riding his enormous chip lead to the win.
As the third and last day of the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event finals table, Blumenfield held second position in chips. McKeehen had 128.825 million to Blumenfield’s 40.125 million while Josh Beckley rounded off the trio with 23.7 million. On the fifth hand of the day, Blumenfield, the 61-year-old former software executive, found himself at the bottom when he failed a triple-barrel bluff on McKeehen off top pair on Hand #148 of the final table. And even though Blumenfield’s bluff was unsuccessful, his nifty maneuver clearly showed the man from San Francisco wasn’t just going to sit tight waiting for the goods but was intent on grabbing the title.
The Blumenfield Bluff
With the blinds at 500,000/1,000,000 and an ante of 150,000, Josh Beckley folded on the button, pushing the action to McKeehen in the small blind. After the bet was complete, Blumenfield upped to 3 million from the big blind. It was McKeehen’s call and the two 888 poker sponsored players saw the flop come {10-Diamonds}{6-Clubs}{3-Clubs}. Blumenfield bet 2.2 million as McKeehen checked to the aggressor and called.
At the next turn and McKeehen checked again with Blumenfield firing 3.5 million at the pot, but he failed to shake McKeehen who called to see the {5-Clubs} land home. Blumenfield fired 7 million at the pot and McKeehen went into the tank. He counted out the chips to make a call but then tanked a bit more. McKeehen even tried to read Blumenfield by talking to him but the man’s poker face was too hard to read. McKeehen he eventually stuck the chips in and called, then watched Blumenfield who tabled the {Q-Hearts}{8-Diamonds} for just queen high. McKeehen tabled the {K-Clubs}{10-Spades} for top pair and the chips went his way, with the hand pushing McKeehen to almost 144 million in chips while Blumenfield slipped to under 20 million that he’d never recover from. Blumenfield’s bluff had failed and it’d be hard to argue that he wasn’t rattled.
After the failed bluff attempt, he picked up more chips by three-bet shoving on the next hand, before adding some more with back-to-back pots a few deals later. And then on Hand #160, Beckley four-bet jammed on Blumenfield, a move that knocked him back under 20 big blinds. Blumenfield was never able to get things back on track from there and 12 hands later, it was all over.
Final Play
Beckley would open with a min-raise on the button to 2 million on Hand #172 as McKeehen re-raised from the small blind to 5.4 million. Blumenfield would then play all in from the big blind for nearly 12 million. McKeehen swiftly called with the {Q-Hearts}{Q-Spades} when Beckley folded, while Blumenfield held the {2-Diamonds}{2-Hearts}. But the {10-Hearts}{7-Hearts}{4-Clubs} flop didn’t do much for himfor when the {4-Spades} hit the turn, Blumenfield was clearly down to two outs with just one card to come.
One final burn card was peeled off by Shaun “The Dealer” Harris who then slapped the {K-Spades} on the river. That was the last card Blumenfield saw in his run at the finals and he set up heads-up play between Beckley and McKeehen. McKeehen had 155.65 million in chips to start heads-up play, while Beckley had 37 million which was all good for more than a 4.2-1 advantage.
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