Every suspenseful drama requires a worthwhile villain. At the World Series Poker Main Event Finals table, Joe McKeon is undoubtedly the man. And trust me, a scruffy bearded kid in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform is playing the role perfectly.
In McKeon's defense, even if he didn't have that sharp glare and huge stack of chips coming in on Sunday night, he was probably a "bad guy" in the process of removal.
Max Steinberg has a movie star-like appearance that goes well with an expensive custom-made suit. Neil Blumenthal and Pierre Neuville are truly good men from attractive backgrounds. They are easy to cheer for because they are literally seniors who play among many children their classmates.
The baby-faced Josh Beckley looks like the kid next door who will never get angry when he throws a baseball out a window. Patrick Chan is a quiet, well-mannered kid who sits behind the classroom and doesn't say "boo." The same goes for Zby Stern, who has black hair, whose biggest crime is to play games painfully slowly.
And what's not to like about Tom Canuli and Federico Butteroni? The two men haven't stopped smiling since they got off the plane in McCarren. Both are polite, sincere, and contagious. Poker games require just as many players as they do.
So, it leaves us with McKeon. We watched the 24-year-old from Philly on ESPN make it to the finals, pestering his way to the historic chip lead. He boldly delivered a knockout hit to Daniel Negriano's finals table dream, immediately making him the New England Patriots of the finals table. No one liked the heavy favorite, and McKeon was the biggest chalk we saw in the Nov. 9 era.
As he was introduced to the players on Sunday night, McKeon was most likely to win the main event, but it was clear that he had the fewest fans at the Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino. Steinberg's Rails were dressed in suits to support their man. Blumenfield had stocky, boisterous friends and family members wearing his familiar fedora hat, along with a black T-shirt that said, "Fear Fedora." The crowd in Canuli was the most raucous among them. "Tommy Gunn" was the blue-collar beer-drinking zone waiting to explode when he grabbed a card in his large hand.
Then there was McKeon's "fan base." No T-shirts. No props. A loud, loud gentleman in an Eagles baseball cap shouted, "Jooey, ice cube...Jooey, ice cube." Every time McKeon won. (That happened so many times.).
When the dust settled on Sunday night, McKeon significantly increased his overwhelming dominance. Handled the short spears with only two hands, and a few hours later, he showed Butteroni and Neville the doors in that order. Surprisingly, McKeon arrested the last five players at the main event, dating back to July, when he sent Kid Poker and Bubble Boy Alexander Turianski to the rail. 바카라사이트
But to the person on the threshold of earning a $7.6 million salary, McKeon doesn't seem to enjoy the ride. One or more members of the last ticket said McKeon was "weird" during an ESPN video shoot on Friday. While the other eight players were enjoying this once-in-a-lifetime real opportunity every second, McKeon didn't even stand alone and smile most of the time.