Joe McKeehen Wins Parx Casino Big Stax for $106,126

Last Friday, the Parx Big Stax XXI 1100 was held at Bensalem in Pennsylvania, with 447 players entering the $1,200 buy-in tournament to create a prize pool worth $476,949. Five days later, and it was none other than the 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen who would eventually triumph over the field to walk away with its $106,126 first place prize, as well as his second tournament title of the year.
As a result of his latest triumph, McKeehen now pushes his career earnings to $13,260,356, of which $5,577,010 has been won outside of his famous WSOP score in Las Vegas. The 25 year-old Pennsylvania pro has also won a further $1,173,693 online playing under the screen name Dude904.
The Parx Big Stax XXI 1100 attracted a number of recognizable pros, and amongst those seeing a return on their investment was Aaron Mermelstein in 44th ($2,719), Esther Taylor-Brady in 32nd ($3,052), Dylan Wilkerson in 31st ($3,052), Mat Mendez in 23rd ($3,529), Michael Linster in 19th ($3,529), and Kane Kalas in 14th ($5,485).
Joe McKeehen entered the final table as the chip leader, although Travis Greenawalt subsequently managed to gain ground after being responsible for the first two eliminations against Sundiata Devore (9th), and Juan Nieto Rodriguez (8th).
McKeehen (A-K) then took care of Michael Murphy (A-Q) in 7th, before being dealt A-K and doing likewise to Bart Golik (K-K) in 5th after the an ace appeared on the flop. Continuing his good run, McKeehen (A-10) sent Ryan Pochedly (A-Q) to the rail in 4th, and after Greenawalt eliminated Robert Paventi in 3rd, the final battle was set between McKeehen and Paventi for the title.
At this stage, McKeehen enjoyed a 2.5 to 1 chip advantage over his remaining opponent, but Greenawalt’s stack was subsequently decimated after slow playing pocket aces against McKeehen’s 9-7 on a 5-6-2-A-8 board, and a little later had to settle for a runner-up finish, while McKeehen was crowned the champion.
Final Table Results:
1: Joe McKeehen $106,126
2: Travis Greenawalt $67,107
3: Robert Paventi $43,784
4: Ryan Pochedly $32,051
5: Bart Golik $23,943
6: Jordan Zucker $18,029
7: Michael Murphy $13,832
8: Juan Rodriguez $10,588
9: Sundiata Devore $8,251