Is Joe McKeehen's WSOP Main Event Final Table Chip Lead the Biggest in Recent Years?
With the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event wrapped up for the summer, the November Nine now has nearly four months of down time before the players will reconvene to battle for poker's most prestigious title. When the cards get back in the air, all eyes will be on chip leader Joe McKeehen. He holds nearly a third of the chips in play and has more than double his closest competitor.
Although McKeehen holds such a big lead over his eight opponents, those of us at PokerNews headquarters wondered just how big McKeehen's lead is compared to that of previous chip leaders of the WSOP Main Event final table. We were able to gather data dating back to 2004, and it's displayed in the table below.
From 2004 to 2014, eight of the 11 chip leaders heading into the final table finished in the top three. That bodes very well for McKeehen not only because he is in the chip lead, but also because of the size of his chip lead. Only once during those years did the final table chip leader finish outside of the top five, and that was in 2007 when Philip Hilm classically blew up and finished in ninth place.
When looking at just how big McKeehen's lead is, one will notice that he's 83.5 big blinds ahead of Ofer Zvi Stern's stack of 29.8 million in second place. Even with such a huge lead, this gap isn't the biggest we've seen dating back to 2004. In 2009, Darvin Moon famously steamrolled the play-down day and entered the final table with a lead of 100.5 big blinds. Moon went on to finish second that year for nearly $5.2 million.
In terms of chip percentage, McKeehen will take the largest portion of the total chips in play into the final table, slightly edging out Greg Raymer's 32.4 percent of chips from 2004 with his 32.8 percent of chips.
Now, let's check out the table.
| Year | Player | Chips | % of Chips | BBs | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Joe McKeehen | 63,100,000 | 32.8% | 158 | -- |
| Ofer Zvi Stern | 29,800,000 | 15.5% | 74.5 | -- | |
| Neil Blumenfield | 22,000,000 | 11.4% | 55 | -- | |
| Pierre Neuville | 21,075,000 | 10.9% | 53 | -- | |
| Max Steinberg | 20,200,000 | 10.5% | 50.5 | -- | |
| Thomas Cannuli | 12,250,000 | 6.4% | 31 | -- | |
| Josh Beckley | 11,800,000 | 6.1% | 29 | -- | |
| Patrick Chan | 6,225,000 | 3.2% | 16 | -- | |
| Federico Butteroni | 6,200,000 | 3.2% | 15.5 | -- | |
| 2014 | Jorryt van Hoof | 38,375,000 | 19.1% | 96 | 3rd - $3,807,753 |
| Felix Stephensen | 32,775,000 | 16.3% | 82 | 2nd - $5,147,911 | |
| Mark Newhouse | 26,000,000 | 13.0% | 65 | 9th - $730,725 | |
| Andoni Larrabe | 22,550,000 | 11.2% | 56.5 | 6th - $1,622,471 | |
| Dan Sindelar | 21,200,000 | 10.6% | 53 | 7th - $1,236,084 | |
| Billy Pappas | 17,500,000 | 8.7% | 44 | 5th - $2,143,794 | |
| William Tonking | 15,050,000 | 7.5% | 38 | 4th - $2,849,763 | |
| Martin Jacobson | 14,900,000 | 7.4% | 37 | 1st - $10,000,000 | |
| Bruno Politano | 12,125,000 | 6.0% | 30 | 8th - $947,172 | |
| 2013 | JC Tran | 38,000,000 | 19.9% | 95 | 5th - $2,106,893 |
| Amir Lehavot | 29,700,000 | 15.6% | 74 | 3rd - $3,727,823 | |
| Marc Etienne McLaughlin | 26,525,000 | 13.9% | 66.5 | 6th - $1,601,024 | |
| Jay Farber | 25,975,000 | 13.6% | 65 | 2nd - $5,174,357 | |
| Ryan Riess | 25,875,000 | 13.6% | 65 | 1st - $8,361,570 | |
| Sylvain Loosli | 19,600,000 | 10.3% | 49 | 4th - $2,792,533 | |
| Michiel Brummelhuis | 11,275,000 | 5.9% | 28 | 7th - $1,225,356 | |
| Mark Newhouse | 7,350,000 | 3.9% | 18.5 | 9th - $733,224 | |
| David Benefield | 6,375,000 | 3.3% | 16 | 8th - $944,650 | |
| 2012 | Jesse Sylvia | 43,875,000 | 22.2% | 146 | 2nd - $5,295,149 |
| Andras Koroknai | 29,375,000 | 14.8% | 98 | 6th - $1,640,902 | |
| Greg Merson | 28,725,000 | 14.5% | 96 | 1st - $8,531,853 | |
| Russell Thomas | 24,800,000 | 12.5% | 83 | 4th - $2,851,537 | |
| Steve Gee | 16,860,000 | 8.5% | 56 | 9th - $754,798 | |
| Michael Esposito | 16,260,000 | 8.2% | 54 | 7th - $1,258,040 | |
| Rob Salaburu | 15,155,000 | 7.7% | 50.5 | 8th - $971,360 | |
| Jake Balsiger | 13,115,000 | 6.6% | 44 | 3rd - $3,799,073 | |
| Jeremy Ausmus | 9,805,000 | 5.0% | 32.5 | 5th - $2,155,313 | |
| 2011 | Martin Staszko | 40,175,000 | 19.5% | 80.5 | 2nd - $5,433,086 |
| Eoghan O’Dea | 33,925,000 | 16.5% | 68 | 6th - $1,720,831 | |
| Matt Giannetti | 24,750,000 | 12.0% | 49.5 | 4th - $3,012,700 | |
| Phil Collins | 23,875,000 | 11.6% | 48 | 5th - $2,269,599 | |
| Ben Lamb | 20,875,000 | 10.1% | 42 | 3rd - $4,021,138 | |
| Bob Bounahra | 19,700,000 | 9.6% | 39.5 | 7th - $1,314,097 | |
| Pius Heinz | 16,425,000 | 8.0% | 33 | 1st - $8,715,368 | |
| Anton Makiievskyi | 13,825,000 | 6.7% | 27.5 | 8th - $1,010,015 | |
| Sam Holden | 12,375,000 | 6.0% | 25 | 9th - $782,115 | |
| 2010 | Jonathan Duhamel | 65,975,000 | 30.0% | 132 | 1st - $8,944,310 |
| John Dolan | 46,250,000 | 21.1% | 92.5 | 6th - $1,772,959 | |
| Joseph Cheong | 23,525,000 | 10.7% | 47 | 3rd - $4,130,049 | |
| John Racener | 19,050,000 | 8.7% | 38 | 2nd - $5,545,955 | |
| Matt Jarvis | 16,700,000 | 7.6% | 33.5 | 8th - $1,045,743 | |
| Filippo Candio | 16,400,000 | 7.5% | 33 | 4th - $3,092,545 | |
| Michael Mizrachi | 14,450,000 | 6.6% | 29 | 5th - $2,332,992 | |
| Soi Nguyen | 9,650,000 | 4.4% | 19 | 9th - $811,823 | |
| Jason Senti | 7,625,000 | 3.5% | 15 | 7th - $1,356,720 | |
| 2009 | Darvin Moon | 58,930,000 | 30.2% | 245.5 | 2nd - $5,182,601 |
| Eric Buchman | 34,800,000 | 17.9% | 145 | 4th - $2,502,890 | |
| Steven Begleiter | 29,885,000 | 15.3% | 124.5 | 6th - $1,587,160 | |
| Jeff Shulman | 19,580,000 | 10.0% | 81.5 | 5th - $1,953,452 | |
| Joe Cada | 13,215,000 | 6.8% | 55 | 1st - $8,546,435 | |
| Kevin Schaffel | 12,390,000 | 6.4% | 51.5 | 8th - $1,300,231 | |
| Phil Ivey | 9,765,000 | 5.0% | 40.5 | 7th - $1,404,014 | |
| Antoine Saout | 9,500,000 | 4.9% | 39.5 | 3rd - $3,479,670 | |
| James Akenhead | 6,800,000 | 3.5% | 28 | 9th - $1,263,602 | |
| 2008 | Dennis Phillips | 26,295,000 | 19.2% | 109.5 | 3rd - $4,517,773 |
| Ivan Demidov | 24,400,000 | 17.8% | 101.5 | 2nd - $5,809,595 | |
| Scott Montgomery | 19,690,000 | 14.4% | 82 | 5th - $3,096,768 | |
| Peter Eastgate | 18,375,000 | 13.4% | 76.5 | 1st - $9,152,416 | |
| Ylon Schwartz | 12,525,000 | 9.2% | 52 | 4th - $3,794,974 | |
| Darus Suharto | 12,520,000 | 9.1% | 52 | 6th - $2,418,562 | |
| Chino Rheem | 10,230,000 | 7.5% | 42.5 | 7th - $1,772,650 | |
| Craig Marquis | 10,210,000 | 7.5% | 42.5 | 9th - $900,670 | |
| Kelly Kim | 2,620,000 | 1.9% | 11 | 8th - $1,288,217 | |
| 2007 | Philip Hilm | 22,070,000 | 17.3% | 92 | 9th - $525,934 |
| Tuan Lam | 21,315,000 | 16.7% | 89 | 2nd - $4,840,981 | |
| Jon Kalmar | 20,320,000 | 15.9% | 84.5 | 5th - $1,255,069 | |
| Raymond Rahme | 16,320,000 | 12.8% | 68 | 3rd - $3,048,025 | |
| Lee Childs | 13,240,000 | 10.4% | 55 | 7th - $705,229 | |
| Lee Watkinson | 9,925,000 | 7.8% | 41.5 | 8th - $585,699 | |
| Hevad Khan | 9,205,000 | 7.2% | 38.5 | 6th - $956,243 | |
| Jerry Yang | 8,450,000 | 6.6% | 35 | 1st - $8,250,000 | |
| Alex Kravchenko | 6,570,000 | 5.2% | 27.5 | 4th - $1,852,721 | |
| 2006 | Jamie Gold | 26,650,000 | 29.2% | 166.5 | 1st - $12,000,000 |
| Allen Cunningham | 17,770,000 | 19.5% | 111 | 4th - $3,628,513 | |
| Richard Lee | 11,820,000 | 13.0% | 74 | 6th - $2,803,851 | |
| Erik Friberg | 9,605,000 | 10.5% | 60 | 8th - $1,979,189 | |
| Paul Wasicka | 7,970,000 | 8.7% | 50 | 2nd - $6,102,499 | |
| Doug Kim | 6,770,000 | 7.4% | 42.5 | 7th - $2,391,520 | |
| Rhett Butler | 4,815,000 | 5.3% | 30 | 5th - $3,216,182 | |
| Michael Binger | 3,140,000 | 3.4% | 19.5 | 3rd - $4,123,310 | |
| Dan Nassif | 2,600,000 | 2.9% | 16 | 9th - $1,566,858 | |
| 2005 | Aaron Kanter | 10,700,000 | 19.0% | 107 | 4th - $2,000,000 |
| Tex Barch | 9,330,000 | 16.6% | 93.5 | 3rd - $2,500,000 | |
| Andy Black | 8,140,000 | 14.5% | 81.5 | 5th - $1,750,000 | |
| Mike Matusow | 7,410,000 | 13.2% | 74 | 9th - $1,000,000 | |
| Steve Dannenmann | 5,460,000 | 9.7% | 54.5 | 2nd - $4,250,000 | |
| Joseph Hachem | 5,420,000 | 9.6% | 54 | 1st - $7,500,000 | |
| Daniel Bergsdorf | 5,270,000 | 9.4% | 52.5 | 7th - $1,300,000 | |
| Scott Lazar | 3,370,000 | 6.0% | 34 | 6th - $1,500,000 | |
| Brad Kondracki | 1,180,000 | 2.1% | 12 | 8th - $1,150,000 | |
| 2004 | Greg Raymer | 8,215,000 | 32.4% | 164.5 | 1st - $5,000,000 |
| Matt Dean | 4,920,000 | 19.4% | 98.5 | 7th - $675,000 | |
| Josh Arieh | 3,205,000 | 12.6% | 64 | 3rd - $2,500,000 | |
| Glenn Hughes | 2,275,000 | 9.0% | 45.5 | 5th - $1,100,000 | |
| Dan Harrington | 2,245,000 | 8.9% | 45 | 4th - $1,500,000 | |
| David Williams | 1,575,000 | 6.2% | 31.5 | 2nd - $3,500,000 | |
| Al Krux | 1,305,000 | 5.1% | 26 | 6th - $800,000 | |
| Mike McClain | 885,000 | 3.5% | 17.5 | 9th - $470,400 | |
| Mattias Anderson | 740,000 | 2.9% | 15 | 8th - $575,000 |
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