When the November Nine finally reconvened at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Sunday night in Las Vegas, all eyes were on overwhelming chip leader Joe dude904 McKeehen. The 24-year-old poker pro did nothing to disappoint.

McKeehen eliminated Patrick Chan, Federico Butteroni, and Pierre Neuville to get the table down to just six players before play ended for the night. Sure, other players were active and there were some memorables on the broadcast, but the show belonged to McKeehen.

It was the second hand of the night that saw Chan eliminated, having to call off the rest of his stack with Ks Qc after McKeehen had moved all-in from the button with Ad 4h. The board ran out dry for both players and McKeehen increased his chip lead.

The second elimination took a little longer, but again it was a case of McKeehen having the chip stack to pick on the shorter stacks. McKeehen opened to 1,000,000 from the button with As Ks and Federico Butteroni moved all-in for 2,400,000 with Ah Jc. McKeehen called and again the board ran out with no help for him or his opponent and McKeehen was now sitting on a stack over 70,000,000, while Italy’s hope at a Main Event champion to call their own was gone in eighth.

The final elimination of the night took a few more hours. After needing no help from the dealer in the first two eliminations, McKeehen got a bit of luck to end the night. The shortest remaining stack, Neuville, moved all-in over the top of McKeehen’s open for his final 3,000,000 and McKeehen called. Neuville was ahead with Ac Jc to the Jh 6h of McKeehen, but the Qd Td 3h Qh Th board gave McKeehen a flush and sent Neuville home in seventh.

While McKeehen’s performance on Sunday night will garner him his fair share of praise, his fellow tablemate Zvi Ofer Stern was widely criticized for the amount of time he spent in the tank in numerous spots throughout the night. According to Phil Hellmuth, who is providing analysis for ESPN, the Israeli amateur was given a warning by tournament director Jack Effelabout the amount of time he was taking on nearly every decision.

Play resumes Monday night at 7:30 pm ET with the “live” broadcast on ESPN2 beginning at 8:00 pm ET.

Chip Counts

  1. Joe McKeehen – 91,450,000
  2. Ofer Zvi Stern – 32,400,000
  3. Neil Blumenfield – 31,500,000
  4. Max Steinberg – 16,000,000
  5. Josh Beckley – 10,875,000
  6. Thomas Cannuli – 10,425,000