When 1,373 teams of two showed up to the Paris Ballroom on Tuesday, June 24 for Day 1 of Event #65: $1,000 Tag Team, one of the most notable faces on the rail was none other than high-stakes cash game player Alan Keating.

Keating was there to cheer on his teammate, Cody Daniels, whose story captured the hearts of the poker world after he played in the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event while battling a terminal illness—ultimately finishing 635th for $30,000. Daniels followed that up with another deep run in 2024, finishing 590th for $32,500.

Daniels and Keating entered the final day short stacked but managed to spin their stack up, thanks in part to a key double-up from Keating, who came from behind after being dominated pre-flop.

They used that momentum to survive to the final 14 players, where Daniels was back in action and all in, poised for a double-up. He held pocket jacks against the pocket tens of Felix Rabas and Team Heinz—but a turned set ended their hopes, sending Daniels and Keating out in 14th place.

Part of what made this run so special for Daniels was just being back at the WSOP. “It’s wild to be back. Me and Alan had planned to play—this was my only event—and it took a couple months to pep me up,” Daniels said.

Despite those impressive Main Event performances, Daniels told PokerNews, “This is the most fun I’ve had in a tournament.” He went on to reiterate, “Easily the most fun,” adding, “It’s nice that when you have a teammate and you feel like you’re doing it together, it’s a blast.”

A tag team event creates a unique dynamic, requiring teammates to strategize when to tag in and out. That didn’t seem to be an issue for Daniels and Keating, whose approach appeared to be simple: ride the hot hand. “I played most of Day 1, and he was asking to sub in,” Daniels said. “But I kept waving him off—I was in the zone.” The duo ended Day 1 with a healthy stack of 178,000 heading into Day 2.

As the money bubble approached on Day 2, it was Keating who took over the reins. “He put me on his back and just did work for us,” Daniels said. The pair cruised into the money and bagged up for Day 3, albeit short, with just over 10 big blinds.

The team entered the final scheduled day of the tournament with tempered expectations, as their team sat 29th out of the 31 remaining. Daniels saying, “I came in very short today, basically dead last,". Daniels started the day to get things going for their team, before Keating once again took over to extend their run, but the team eventually bowed out in 14th place for $7,865 after the bad beat to Daniels.

You can follow coverage of this event at PokerNews and all the action from the World Series of Poker.

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