After profitable a World Series of Poker fundamental occasion title, some champions take a step again from main event poker, whereas others double down. Few have continued following the event circuit with as a lot quantity and as constant a document of success as Joe McKeehen.
The 2015 WSOP fundamental occasion champion continued so as to add to his checklist of marquee event victories this week as he gained the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open championship for $462,600. McKeehen outlasted a area of 673 entrants within the $5,300 buy-in no-limit maintain’em occasion, one of many longest-running and most prestigious tournaments in South Florida. The three-time bracelet winner’s profession earnings now sit at $22,601,442. Nearly $15 million of that has come from outcomes exterior of his championship run over a decade in the past.
The SHRPO championship has alternated with a number of different yearly collection at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood as a part of the World Poker Tour schedule at varied factors in its historical past.
McKeehen fought by way of a proficient closing desk his technique to this newest title, which included multi-time bracelet winners Loni Hui (third – $250,000) and Darren Rabinowitz (ninth – $51,000), amongst different achieved gamers.
McKeehen earned 1,680 Card Player Player of the Year factors for this win, pushing his whole to 2,540 POY factors for the yr. That places the 35-year-old professional from Pennsylvania in 84th place within the POY standings introduced by CoinPoker.
Big Action In South Florida
The SHRPO Championship stands because the fruits of a two-week pageant with over 60 tournaments on provide. Outside of the WSOP and different Las Vegas occasions over the course of the summer time, the SHRPO provides the widest vary of video games and buy-ins of any collection within the United States in any given yr.
In the $5,300 championship occasion, there have been two beginning flights with the chance to re-enter as soon as per session. By the shut of late registration late on day 1B of the event, 673 entries produced a complete prize pool of $3,262,704.
85 gamers completed within the cash, together with WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Ostapchenko (eighty fifth), 2023 SHRPO winner Farid Jattin (79th), Natasha Mercier (fifty fifth), two-time WPT champion Aaron Mermelstein (52nd), four-time WPT winner Darren Elias (fiftieth), Jerry Wong (forty fifth), two-time bracelet winner Ben Zamani (twenty fourth), Jon Turner (fifteenth), and Triton champion Roman Hrabec (eleventh).
Heading into the ultimate desk, two gamers stood head and shoulders above the remainder of the sphere. David Greufe of Kansas City held the chip lead, with Hui snug in second place. McKeehen sat in a distant third place, however he was nicely forward of the opposite six remaining gamers in competition.
A Frantic Start
Rabinowitz was the shortest stack going into the fourth and closing day of the event, and in the end ran Q♠J♦ into Frankie Rivera’s pocket kings. Rabinowitz turned a diamond flush draw, however couldn’t hit the river.
Hui picked up the subsequent elimination, coolering Robert-Andrei Burlacu out of the event in eighth place ($65,000) with pocket aces in opposition to A♥Okay♥. Hui was later behind with Q♥2♦ in opposition to a short-stacked Jose Nadal’s A♠4♥ in a battle of the blinds, however picked up her second consecutive elimination by rivering a coronary heart flush. Nadal went out in seventh place ($83,000).
Hui received aces once more, which defeated Dan Chalifour’s (sixth – $108,000) pocket fives for a 3rd knockout in a row. McKeehen then picked off a bluff from Greufe with prime pair, no kicker, and began to construct some momentum of his personal. By the primary break of the day, solely 5 gamers remained. Hui had the chip lead with virtually double some other participant, with McKeehen and Greufe within the center pack, and Rivera and Eddie Pak surviving on brief stacks.
Rivera was the subsequent participant in danger. His A♥Okay♠ had a superbly truthful likelihood in opposition to Greufe’s pocket nines, till Greufe flopped quad nines and left Rivera drawing useless instantly. Rivera settled for $142,000 because the fifth-place finisher.
Greufe continued to construct when he knocked out Pak in fourth place ($188,000). His pocket kings dwarfed Pak’s A♠9♥, and a flopped set gave Greufe the pot and one other elimination.
A Path To Victory
McKeehen evened the taking part in area early on in three-handed play. He claimed a large pot with Q♥9♦ after flopping journey queens in opposition to Hui’s pocket kings. Things went from dangerous to worse when Hui ran pocket eights immediately into McKeehen’s pocket queens. The board supplied no reprieve, and a short while after Hui held a substantial chip lead, she was out in third place ($250,000). The two-time bracelet winner now boasts profession earnings of over $4.4 million.
McKeehen threatened to run away with the trophy early on in his heads-up match with Greufe. He made journey queens once more, after which rivered a coronary heart flush to open up a lead of 18:1 over Greufe in brief order.
Greufe doubled up on 4 separate events to convey the match even. Then Greufe took an enormous lead of his personal. On a board of A♠10♦9♥3♠10♥, Greufe coolered McKeehen. Each participant rivered journey tens, however Greufe’s queen kicker pipped McKeehen’s jack kicker. Suddenly, Greufe had a lead of just about 3:1. That lead swelled to 11:1, with McKeehen left holding simply 9 large blinds.
But McKeehen chipped away, after which gained a well timed double-up with a turned ace-high flush in opposition to a rivered jack-high straight for Greufe. McKeehen fought all the best way again from the brink and again into the lead, and set himself up for the win. On the ultimate hand, McKeehen limped the button, Greufe shoved 15 large blinds with Okay♦9♦, and McKeehen known as with A♦Q♦.
The board ran out Q♣6♦2♣4♦8♣, and McKeehen’s pair of queen secured the win, the $462,600 payday, and the SHRPO guitar tower trophy.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Joe McKeehen | $462,600 | 1,680 |
| 2 | David Greufe | $390,804 | 1,400 |
| 3 | Loni Hui | $250,000 | 1,120 |
| 4 | Edward Pak | $188,000 | 840 |
| 5 | Frankie Rivera | $142,000 | 700 |
| 6 | Daniel Chalifour | $108,000 | 560 |
| 7 | Jose Nadal | $83,000 | 420 |
| 8 | Robert Burlacu | $65,000 | 280 |
| 9 | Darren Rabinowitz | $51,000 | 140 |
Photo credit: Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood Poker Blog
