Congratulations to Joseph McKeehen, WSOP Circuit Caesars Atlantic City Main Event Champion ($174,147)
That’s all she wrote folks! After three lengthy days of poker, 540 players have been whittled all the way down to just one. That man: Joseph McKeehen. McKeehen started the day as the chip leader, and he never gave up that title the whole day. He will be taking $174,147 home with them, along with that beautiful WSOPC Gold Ring. In addition, McKeehen will now be travelling to New Orleans in May to play in the WSOP National Championship.
We came back today with 19 players, and we lost Joseph Steur on the first hand of play today to get us down to our final two tables. From there, it didn’t take us long to get down to our final ten players. To start the eliminations, we lost Thomas Sheets when his 
failed to catch up with the 
of Dennis Thurman. Here’s how the stacks looked when we started the final table. You can learn a little more about the players here.
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leo Walker | 335,000 |
| 2 | John Holley | 695,000 |
| 3 | Hend Matthews | 1,140,000 |
| 4 | Allie Prescott | 445,000 |
| 5 | Tony Sinishtaj | 945,000 |
| 6 | Ido Ashkenazi | 595,000 |
| 7 | Dennis Thurman | 1,240,000 |
| 8 | Raymond Morgan | 185,000 |
| 9 | Joseph McKeehen | 4,650,000 |
Just ten minutes into the final table, we lost Allie Prescott. He got all his money in preflop holding 
, but he was crushed by the 
of John Holley. The 
board didn’t bring any miracles for Prescott, and he was the first person eliminated from the final table.
Next up was Leo Walker, who quickly followed Prescott out the door. Walker too was dominated when the money went in, with his 
well behind the 
of McKeehen. The board ran down ten-high with no diamonds, and Walker had to settle for a $20,307 pay day.
The eliminations kept coming, as Raymond Morgan was knocked out shortly after. His 
could not catch up to the 
of Dennis Thurman, as the board came out 
, and Morgan finished in 7th place.
John Holley was crippled when his 
lost to the of Tony Sinishtaj after a queen-high flop, and Sinishtaj finished him off shortly after. Holley shoved all in preflop with 
, and was looked up by Sinishtaj with 
. The board ran down 
, and Holley was sent packing with $33,453 in his pockets.
The lone woman at the final table, Hend Matthews, was next to go out. She was down to her last 300,000 when she shoved preflop with 
. She was called by McKeehen with 
, and it was an action flop as the dealer put the 
. Matthews held the lead after pairing her ten, but she had a few cards to dodge. She couldn't do that as the came on the turn. The came on the river, and Matthews went out in 5th place.
The role of bounty hunter went back to Sinishtaj when Dennis Thurman was knocked out in 4th place. The two of them got all the money in on the turn, with the board reading . Thurman had top pair with 
, but he was drawing dead against the of Sinishtaj. The on the river completed the board, and Thurman took home just under $60,000.
Ido Ashkenazi survived a number of all in shoves, and doubled up a couple times, before he finally succumbed in third place. Ashkenazi got his money in good preflop, holding 
against the of Sinishtaj. Ashkenazi stayed ahead until the river, which was the . This set the ground for our heads up battle.
While the players were quite talkative throughout the heads up battle, their play wasn’t very active. About 80% of the hands didn’t see a flop, as McKeehen and Sinishtaj were content with folding to each other’s min-raise. It took a preflop cooler to end the tournament. The players got in a raising war preflop that saw Sinishtaj’s 
go up against the of McKeehen. The board ran down 
, and that gave the title to Joseph McKeehen! Here’s a breakdown of how the final table shook out.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph McKeehen | $174,150 |
| 2 | Tony Sinishtaj | $107,673 |
| 3 | Ido Ashkenazi | $78,659 |
| 4 | Dennis Thurman | $58,312 |
| 5 | Hend Matthews | $43,853 |
| 6 | John Holley | $33,453 |
| 7 | Raymond Morgan | $25,880 |
| 8 | Leo Walker | $20,307 |
| 9 | Allie Prescott | $16,160 |
Congratulations go out to all the final table players, but none bigger than our winner Joseph McKeehen! We will see him again in New Orleans in May for the National Championship. That does it for us here.
We hope you have enjoyed the live coverage here at Pokernews over the past few days. Be sure to tune in for our next stop, the Lodge Casino in Black Hawk Colorado, starting on Friday, March. Goodnight from New Jersey!