Shaun Deeb has finally won his first World Series of Poker bracelet.
Deeb has won nearly every title there is to win online --including two WCOOP and five SCOOP victories-- but a major live tournament victory eluded him for years.
“It’s great you know,” Deeb said. “When I was 17, 16-years-old I was sitting there watching the World Series, running home games every Tuesday night. Growing up as a poker player, this is the stage you want to be on. This is where you wanna show your skill."
Given the caliber of the final table, Deeb had to show a lot of skill to take down his first bracelet and $318,857.
“I really think this should go down as one of the toughest final tables ever assembled,” Deeb said. “Everyone at this table has won millions of dollars in poker and they will continue to win.
“I would never ever sit a table with those guys unless I was forced to, like this tournament.”
Deeb Outlasts Deadly Final Table
To get to the bracelet, Deeb had to defeat Jason Koon, Dario Sammartino, Sam Stein, Kristijonas Andrulis, Greg Merson, Jason Les, Tom Marchese, Ismael Bojang and Paul Volpe.
While the level of play at the final table was deadly, the atmosphere was pleasant.
“We had a great time,” Deeb said. “Nobody took it seriously, everyone had a lot bad beats and some coolers, but it’s just nice to play with a bunch of professionals who get it.”
The final table was whittled down to three players quickly but then they spent five hours in three-handed play. After Jason Les was eliminated in 3rd place, Deeb was left battling Paul Volpe for the bracelet.
Volpe already has a WSOP bracelet of his own and recently got heads-up for another when he made the final round of the $10,000 NLHE Heads-Up Championship against Keith Lehr.
Volpe's Second 2nd
But Volpe came up short in that match and came up short in this one as well. The two started nearly even in chips but Deeb took an early lead and then Volpe lost a big pot on a bluff gone wrong.
Deeb v Volpe
Volpe was left with just one-third of a small blind and managed to double up a few times before falling.
Volpe won $197,048 for his second 2nd place finish of the week.
Deeb’s happy to finally get the bracelet off his back and hopes it’ll earn him a bit more respect among his peers.
“I was really offended that I wasn’t drafted in the $25k fantasy draft so I came out here motivated for tournaments,” Deeb said.
“It’s gonna be the last full summer I do, so I really wanted to get it off my bucket list and take the bracelet down.”
While it’ll be his last full summer, Deeb hopes he can come back to defend his title.
Pot-Limit Familiarity
“I final tabled this event before,” Deeb said. “I really like this structure, I think a lot of people are new to pot-limit, and being such a tournament player I adjust well to this and made a lot of good decisions and won the key all-ins.
“I don’t think I’m necessarily good at [pot-limit hold’em], I just think other people are bad at it.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to defend my title, it won’t be fair if they take it away from me.”
For now though, Deeb is going to take it a bit easy. He is a family man now after all.
“I’m gonna go home at least one week this summer,” Deeb said. “I have a one year old son at home.
You know, summer’s a great time, that’s the one thing about the World Series, it’s like prime time to hang out with all family and friends.
“But I’m here working. It’s my job though, so I’ll keep here and keep trying to make more money.”
