For the last 116 days, Joe McKeehen and the rest of the 2015 WSOP November Ninehave been waiting patiently for the World Series of Poker Main Event final table to resume. Sunday night, live on ESPN, the cards are back in the air with the final nine players all chasing the $7.68 million first place prize money and the highly coveted bracelet.

The Chip Counts

Name
Country

Chip Count

Big Blinds

% of chips

Seat #

Joe McKeehen
USA

63,100,000

157.75

32.75%

6

Ofer Zvi Stern
Israel

29,800,000

74.50

15.47%

1

Neil Blumenfield
USA

22,000,000

55.00

11.42%

9

Pierre Neuville
Belgium

21,075,000

52.69

10.94%

2

Max Steinberg
USA

20,200,000

50.50

10.49%

4

Thomas Cannuli
USA

12,250,000

30.63

6.36%

5

Joshua Beckley
USA

11,800,000

29.50

6.13%

3

Patrick Chan
USA

6,225,000

15.56

3.23%

7

Federico Butteroni
Italy

6,200,000

15.50

3.22%

8

The Players

The Chip Leader

Joe McKeehen

The 24-year-old poker pro from Pennsylvania, known on PocketFives as dude904, has spent nearly four months patiently waiting for the chance to get back to work. He hasn’t been sitting idly by, though. In October, McKeehen won the $1,500 Wynn Fall Classic for $90,125. Already an accomplished player, McKeehen starts the final table with more chips than the next two players combined.

The Chaser

Ofer Zvi Stern

At a final table that includes some accomplished tournament pros, the man in best position to take down McKeehen is the one who almost didn’t play the Main Event this year at all. Ofer Zvi Stern only played after finding a sale that would get him from his native Isreal to Las Vegas at a discount. The amateur poker enthusiast has had WSOP success before, making two final tables in 2006 in smaller buy-in events.

The Peloton

Neil Blumenfield

Amateurs at home looking for a potential hero need look no further than 61-year-old Neil Blumenfield. As the COO of a San Francisco software company, Blumenfield isn’t able to play a full schedule, but he did have just over $130,000, including a previous Main Event cash, in earnings before this summer. But making the November Nine allowed Bluemenfield to retire and make the transition to playing poker full-time.

Pierre Neuville

In most years, Blumenfield would have been the oldest player at the final table, but he’s a good 11 years younger than former Hasbro executive Pierre Neuville. It’s also nearly impossible to give Neuville the amateur label. Since retiring from his job with Hasbro, the Belgium grandfather has become a mainstay on the European Poker Tour and in early 2015, he was given the Lifetime Achievement award at the European Poker Awards.

Max Steinberg

If any of the November Niners are already used to the spotlight provided by the WSOP Main Event on ESPN, it’s 27-year-old poker pro Max Steinberg. Just a few years ago, Steinberg eliminated Phil Ivey from the Main Event on the feature table in one of the most talked-about hands in recent memory. Now, Steinberg, a professional poker and daily fantasy sports player, is hoping to turn his middle-of-the-pack stack into a bracelet and a brighter spotlight.

Joshua Beckley

McKeehen isn’t the only November Niner to book a win during the break. Joshua Beckley, known on PocketFives as asdf26, won his first WSOP Circuit ring in September at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, beating out 317 players in the $365 Monster Stack. He’s going to need some of the magic if he hopes to win this bracelet, though. Sitting seventh in chips, the 25-year-old finds himself surrounded by bigger stacks, with Steinberg and Cannuli on his left and Stern and Neuville on his right.

The Short Stacks

Patrick Chan

Patrick Chan is the smallest stack of the four East Coasters at the final table (McKeehen, Cannuli, Beckley), but might just have the most upside of them all. The cash game grinder is reportedly playing on his own dime, meaning he could have a high percentage of himself depending on any swaps he made after play started. He’s already had a fairly successful tournament run this year, previously highlighted by a second place finish to Loni Harwood at the Parx Casino Big Stax $2,500 Championship in January.

Federico Butteroni

A week before the 2015 Main Event began, Federico Butteroni got his first taste of victory inside the walls of the Rio. It wasn’t a WSOP bracelet event, though; it was a $235 Daily Deepstack with 857 players. The 25-year-old Butteroni traveled all the way from his hometown of Rome, Italy back to Las Vegas to play the shortest stack in hopes of spinning it up to another win.

The Structure

Level

Small Blind

Big Blind

Ante

35*

200,000

400,000

50,000

36

250,000

500,000

50,000

37

300,000

600,000

75,000

38

400,000

800,000

100,000

39

500,000

1,000,000

150,000

40

600,000

1,200,000

200,000

41

800,000

1,600,000

200,000

42

1,000,000

2,000,000

300,000

43

1,200,000

2,400,000

400,000

44

1,500,000

3,000,000

500,000

45

2,000,000

4,000,000

500,000

46

2,500,000

5,000,000

500,000

47

3,000,000

6,000,000

1,000,000

*There are 57 minutes and 36 seconds remaining in Level 35.

Action resumes on ESPN in the United States at 5:30 pm PT. If you’re outside of the United States, check out the complete WSOP Main Event international broadcast schedule.