Joseph McKeehen (born June 28, 1991) is an American professional poker player and mind sports player from

North Wales, Pennsylvania North Wales is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is a suburb of Philadelphia and is one of the three historic population centers that make up the North Penn Valley, which is centered on the borough of Lans ...

. In 2015 he won the

World Series of Poker Main Event The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker play ...

, earning $7,683,346.

Early life and education

McKeehen was born in

in 1991. He graduated from

La Salle College High School La Salle College High School is a Catholic, all-male college preparatory school located in Wyndmoor, a community in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. La Salle is within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and i ...

, then attended

Arcadia University Arcadia University is a private university in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, with a Glenside mailing address. The university enrolls approximately 3,200 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. The 94-acre (380,000 m2) Glenside cam ...

, where he graduated with a degree in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Career

In 2010, McKeehan won the world championship in the board game

Risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environ ...

, the Risk Annual Classic. McKeehen played poker online while being underaged until he could start playing live tournaments at the age of 18. McKeehen's first poker title came in 2012, when he won a side event at the

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is an annual televised poker tournament. History The event was first held in 2004 and was originally co-sponsored by PokerStars and the World Poker Tour. In 2008, the event moved from the WPT to the European ...

for $116,230. In March 2013, he won the WSOP Circuit event in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

, earning $174,147. That year he cashed in the WSOP Main Event for the first time, finishing in 489th place. Prior to the 2015 Main Event, McKeehen's largest cash came for a 2nd-place finish in the Monster Stack event at the

2014 World Series of Poker The 2014 World Series of Poker is the 45th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Paradise, Nevada, USA, between May 27 – July 14, 2014. There were 65 bracelet events, culminating in the $10,000 ...

, where he earned $820,863. At the 2015 WSOP Main Event, McKeehen made the November Nine with the chip lead and nearly a third of the chips in play. Throughout the final table, he never relinquished the chip lead and defeated Josh Beckley heads-up with against for $7.683 million. In January 2016, McKeehen finished runner-up to

Bryn Kenney Bryn Kenney (born November 1, 1986) is an American professional poker player from Long Beach, New York. Poker career Kenney played '' Magic: The Gathering'' competitively before transitioning to poker. His first major live cash was in 2007 at t ...

in the $100,000 Super High Roller event at the

, earning $1,220,480. In April 2016, McKeehen appeared on an episode of season 4 of

Poker Night in America ''Poker Night in America'' (PNIA) is a poker television program which features cash games and sit & gos. The series production began in 2013 and was first aired in 2014. The show is web streamed and televised. PNIA was developed by Todd Anderson, ...

, on CBS Sports. In July 2016, he finished 6th in WSOP $111,111 No Limit Hold'em High Roller for One Drop for $829,792. McKeehen captured his second WSOP bracelet in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, winning the $10,000 Limit Hold'em World Championship. As of May 2025, McKeehen's total live tournament winnings exceed $20,000,000. His 43 WSOP cashes account for $11,640,900 of those earnings.

World Series of Poker bracelets

An "O" following a year denotes bracelet(s) won during the World Series of Poker Online

References

External links

Card Player profileHendon Mob profilePokerNews profileWPT profileWSOP profile"10 Questions with 2015 WSOP Main Event Champ Joe McKeehen"
''Card Player Lifestyle'', December 23, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:McKeehen, Joe 1991 births Living people American poker players Arcadia University alumni People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Main Event winners