Shaun Deeb Wins Seventh Bracelet and Largest Career Score in $100k PLO High Roller

How The Day Started

Ike Haxton led the final seven coming into Day 3 with a sizeable stack of 79 big blinds. Deeb was second with 68, and Spaniard Lautaro Guerra was in third with 56 bigs. Arthur Morris was slightly behind in fourth with 50, and Alex Foxen in fifth with 49. Hall of Famer Phil Ivey was second to last with 44 big blinds, and a large gap separated him from Sean Rafael, who had 18 big blinds. 

Rafael was the first elimination of the day. Haxton took the remainder of Rafael’s stack as he made the Wheel to beat Rafael’s two pair. 

Ivey hadn’t gotten much going during the opening passages of final table play and was on the downtrend. He did secure a crucial double through Guerra with eights and a straight draw. He made his straight on the turn to take from Guerra. 

Guerra then kept up the pressure, winning a three-way pot versus Morris and Deeb with top pair and a gutshot on the flop to take him top of the counts.

Foxen Next to Fall, Ivey Follows Suit

Like Ivey, Foxen couldn’t get much going himself, other than winning a decent preflop pot versus Guerra, who potted out of turn. 

Haxton scalped Foxen as he made two pair with aces and nines, which bested Foxen’s aces and treys. Foxen spent a decent chunk of time in the tank before finding the call that sealed his tournament fate. 

Ivey was now the clear short stack, even after doubling through Haxton; he was around 7,000,000 down on his nearest opponent, Morris.

Haxton again was on knockout duties, and he made top set with aces to send the Hall of Famer to the payout desk. Ivey had four live cards and made two pair on the river, but he was drawing dead on the turn, and a twelfth bracelet would have to wait for one of the game’s greatest. 

Haxton Clear At The Top, Deeb Short at the Bottom

Haxton had opened up a substantial lead on the field due to consistently winning pots and scything down the field with knockouts.

Deeb doubled through Morris, making a set of kings in the route to securing a double up in what was a preflop all-in confrontation. 

It was then Morris’s turn to double, and he left Deeb short again and took back his chips that he lost in their previous altercation. Morris had the cowboys this time, and he made a boat across the king-high runout to climb back up the counts to second. 

Deeb kept fighting and took from Haxton in another preflop all-in. Two pair were good for Deeb, and he stayed alive once more.

Guerra then doubled through chipleader Haxton shortly after, having flopped top set on a flush draw board. The Spaniard potted it, and Haxton asked for the remainder of his chips and Guerra obliged. Haxton was in poor shape with just a pair and no redraw and he couldn’t find a miracle runout to stack Guerra.

Guerra Gone – Three Remain

Guerra had his aces cracked by Haxton as he claimed another stack as his own. Haxton had an open-ended draw to Broadway and a king-high straight with queen-jack-jack-eight, and Guerra had ace-ace-six-five. 

He turned a flush draw, but the river ace gave Haxton Broadway and Guerra a useless top set, and he was eliminated from the tournament.

Deeb then shot up the counts, having left Morris short with ace-king-ten-six double suited. Morris had ace-jack-ten-five. Both flopped top pair, but Deeb had Morris outkicked and held across the turn and river. 

Morris bowed out minutes later as Deeb took the small remains of Morris’s now depleted stack. Deeb made queens and tens to play heads-up with Haxton. 

Then There Were Two

Haxton had around 40,000,000 and Deeb around 30,000,000, which was good for 50 and 37 big blinds, respectively. 

Deeb chipped away at Haxton’s lead before and after the dinner break before usurping him at the top of the table in a big pot. 

Deeb made middle set on king-ten-nine with a flush draw present. Neither him or Haxton had the draw. Haxton was open-ended with ace-king-jack-eight. Haxton check-called a bet of 8,000,000 on the turn before check-folding to a shove on the river. 

Haxton then doubled back, making jacks full of queens, before taking three pots consecutively to try and reign in Deeb’s chip lead. 

Ultimately, all the chips found the middle with Deeb holding queen-queen-ten-six against Haxton’s king-king-jack-seven. Both players moved all in on the flop of jack-four-deuce, with both players having an overpair to the board, and with Deeb having a flush draw to boot. 

The ten turn changed nothing, but the jack river brought in trips for Haxton, but a flush for Deeb, which secured him his seventh bracelet and largest career score. 

Photo Credit: Jazmyn Le – Shaun Deeb Winners Photo

About The Winner – Shaun Deeb

Shaun Deeb is an American Professional Poker Player who has won seven WSOP Bracelets. He was the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year having amassed 16 cashes and winning two bracelets. 

He was born in New York and started playing at the age of 16 with his friends before taking his game to the online streets. Deeb was successful in the online domain and has won eight PokerStars WCOOP and five SCOOP titles.