Final table is set for the WSOP Main Event

The final table of the World Series of Poker‘s Main Event will feature the two oldest players in the "November Nine" era.

Daniel Negreanu isn‘t one of them.

Negreanu, a six-time WSOP bracelet winner, was eliminated from the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ‘em World Championship in 11th place early Wednesday, crushing the hearts of poker fans at the Rio Convention Center - not to mention a few ESPN executives who no doubt wanted the charasmatic Las Vegas resident to boost ratings for the final table.

Joe McKeehen of North Wales, Pa., sent Negreanu to the rail in brutal fashion and will be the overwhelming leader with one-third of the chips in play (63.1 million) when play resumes Nov. 8 at the Rio‘s Penn & Teller Theater.

The winner receives $7.68 million, and all nine players are guaranteed a minimum payout of $1,001,020.

Coverage of the Main Event begins Sept. 14 on ESPN2.

"I‘m so happy with where I am," McKeehen said. "I don‘t know where my expectations even were, but I have to assume this is beyond them. Sixty-three million, that‘s a lot of chips. ... I‘m just so excited to come back in November and hopefully finish the job."

Negreanu was one of the shortest stacks remaining for much of the evening session and moved all-in for his final 5.825 million chips holding ace-four after pairing his ace on the A-K-10 flop.

McKeehen called with flush and straight draws, and when the queen came on the river to give McKeehen the winning straight, Negreanu collapsed as the fans that were packed near the featured table let out an audible groan.

"I legitimately lost my knees and hit my head on the ground, so I‘m a little dizzy," Negreanu said after collecting his payout. "I was shocked. I heard a couple people cheer and then I was like, ‘They don‘t realize that a queen makes a straight.‘ I was like, ‘That was not a good one for me.‘ "

Coincidentally, Negreanu was holding ace-four when he was heads-up against Daniel Colman in last year‘s $1 million Big One for One Drop and lost in similar fashion when Colman made a straight.

The 11th-place finish ties Negreanu‘s career best in the Main Event, and he collected $526,778 to push his lifetime earnings over $30.6 million, according to Global Poker Index‘s Hendon Mob Poker Database.

When Negreanu finished 11th in 2001, he took home $63,940.

Belgium‘s Pierre Neuville, 72, is the oldest player to reach the final table since the "November Nine" format was introduced in 2008 and is in fourth place with 21.075 million chips. He will be joined by 61-year-old Neil Blumenfield of San Francisco, proving tournament poker isn‘t completely dominated by the 20-something crowd. Blumenfield is in third place with 22 million chips.

Steve Gee, who was 57 when he made the final table in 2012, had been the oldest member of the "November Nine."

McKeehen owns two WSOP circuit rings and finished second in last year‘s $1,500 buy-in "Monster Stack" tournament, but Max Steinberg of Oakland, Calif., is the lone player with a WSOP bracelet. Steinberg won a $1,000 No-limit Hold ‘em event in 2012 and has $1.4 million in career earnings at the WSOP.

Steinberg sits in fifth place with 20.2 million followed by 23-year-old Thomas Cannuli of Cape May, N.J. (12.25 million), who was being supported from the rail by notable professional poker players Antonio Esfandiari and Brian Rast.

CHIP COUNTS
1, Joseph McKeehen (North Wales, Pa.) 63,100,000
2, Zvi Stern (Herzilya, Israel) 29,800,000
3, Neil Blumenfield (San Francisco) 22,000,000
4, Pierre Neuville (Knokke-Heist, Belgium) 21,075,000
5, Max Steinberg (Oakland, Calif.) 20,200,000
6, Thomas Cannuli (Cape May, N.J.) 12,250,000
7, Joshua Beckley (Marlton, N.J.) 11,800,000
8, Patrick Chan (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 6,225,000
9, Federico Butteroni (Italy) 6,200,000

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.