Shaun Deeb is an American professional poker player. He is the owner of six World Series of Poker (WSOP) titles, as well as eight PokerStars WCOOP and five SCOOP titles.
In 2018, he was also named World Series of Poker POY after recording 16 cashes and winning two bracelets. He has also won POY titles in both the SCOOP (2012) and WCOOP (2015) festivals.
As of June 2023, he has amassed over $12 million in live earnings.
Biography
Deeb was born in 1986 in Troy, New York. He began playing poker at the age of 16 and started running $20 buy-in tournaments for his peers. After a while Deeb took his game to the online felt which soon became his full-time job. He attended Bentley University, but dropped out quickly in order to pursue a career as a professional poker player.
When he became of age Deeb started playing poker online and soon enough became a regular at some of the biggest cash games and tournaments on both of the biggest online poker sites at the time, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.
Deeb's Online Poker Accomplishments
Shaun Deeb has won 13 COOP titles over his career, tied with Jussi "calvin7v" Nevanlinna for most all-time. During the early years of his career, he received several accolades.
He was the first player to win the PokerStars Tournament Leaderboard (TLB) in back-to-back years in 2007 and 2008. He was also the former No. 1 ranked internet poker tournament player in the world on four separate occasions between 2008 and 2009 according to PocketFives.
He was inducted into the Internet Wall of Fame in February 2016.
Deeb's COOP Titles
Year | Event | Field | Payout |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | WCOOP Event #25: $320 Pot-Limit Omaha w/Rebuys | 748 | $144,113 |
2010 | SCOOP-17M: $162 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys [6-Max] | 743 | $62,252 |
2010 | WCOOP Event #28: $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em | 1,433 | $243,610 |
2012 | SCOOP-10H: $2,100 Seven-Card Stud | 64 | $41,600 |
2012 | SCOOP-19H: $2,100 Triple Stud | 68 | $44,200 |
2012 | SCOOP-26H: $2,100 Seven Card Stud [High/Low] | 74 | $40,330 |
2012 | SCOOP-38H: $2,100 HORSE | 85 | $46,325 |
2015 | WCOOP Event #44: $215 NL Hold'em [4-Max] | 1,593 | $68,000 |
2016 | WCOOP Event #12: $1,050 NL 5-Card Draw Championship | 95 | $22,186 |
2019 | WCOOP-09-H: $1,050 NL 5-Card Draw [Progressive KO] | 70 | $25,375 |
2019 | WCOOP-37-M: $530 PLO [6-Max] | 599 | $52,372 |
2018 | WCOOP-22-H: $1,050 PLO8 [8-Max] | 192 | $38,089 |
2018 | WCOOP-59-H: $215 PLO8 [6-Max] | 173 | $69,011 |
Deeb at the World Series of Poker
Deeb made his World Series of Poker debut in 2007 when he cashed in four events for a total of $67,000 in prize money. He came back to the WSOP in 2009 for five more money finishes and took home $44,000 in winnings. Two years later Deeb came close to his first World Series title. He placed 4th at the $2,500 10-Game Mix / Six Handed tournament for almost $70,000.
His first WSOP title came in 2015, when he won the $10,000 Pot Limit Hold'em Championship for over $300,000.
A second bracelet followed the following year in $1,500 Seven Card Stud, and he narrowly missed out on making it three titles in three years, but fell in second place in the $10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship in 2017.
In recent years, Deeb had become a perennial contender for WSOP Player of the Year, and 2018 saw him finally take the crown. A total of 16 cashes in Las Vegas, and four at King's Resort for the WSOP Europe saw him win POY honors.
A third-place finish in Event #14: $1,500 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw set him on his way, before winning the prestigious Event #42: 25,000 Pot Limit Omaha for over $1.4 million — to date, the largest cash of Deeb's career. His next bracelet came less than three weeks later with victory in Event #74: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed Championship. He defeated Paul Volpe heads-up to win his second bracelet of the year.
He would have to wait until the WSOP Europe to have his POY title secured, but held off Ben Yu to take the title.
2018 POY Winner Deeb Reflects on Summer of Success
Deeb would come close to clinching POY in back-to-back years, but would have to settle for second-place behind Robert Campbell in the 2019 race.
In 2021, Deeb added a fifth bracelet in the prestigious Event #53: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller, the second time he won this event. He won $1,251,860, the second-biggest cash of his career behind his 2018 victory in the same event.
Deeb won his sixth bracelet in 2023 in Event #27: $1,500 Eight Game Mix. The win, along with several other cashes at the 2023 WSOP helped push Deeb over $12 million in career earnings
Controversies
Over the course of his career, Deeb has been involved in several "scandals" and controversies. A long-running feud between him and Daniel Negreanu turned personal in 2019, with Deeb suggesting a prop bet over whose marriage would last longer.
In 2019, he called out Bryn Kenney alleging that Kenney had freerolled his Triton Poker Million second-place finish.
Most recently, a prop bet between him and former WSOP Main Event runner-up Tony Miles "turned ugly" after Miles competed on American Ninja Warrior.
WSOP Player of the Year Winners
Year | Player | Bracelets | Cashes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Daniel Negreanu | 1 | $346,280 |
2005 | Allen Cunningham | 1 | $1,007,115 |
2006 | Jeff Madsen | 2 | $1,467,852 |
2007 | Tom Schneider | 2 | $416,829 |
2008 | Erick Lindgren | 1 | $1,358,528 |
2009 | Jeff Lisandro | 3 | $807,521 |
2010 | Frank Kassela | 2 | $1,255,314 |
2011 | Ben Lamb | 1 | $5,352,970 |
2012 | Greg Merson | 2 | $9,785,354 |
2013 | Daniel Negreanu | 2 | $1,954,054 |
2014 | George Danzer | 3 | $878,933 |
2015 | Mike Gorodinsky | 1 | $1,766,487 |
2016 | Jason Mercier | 2 | $960,424 |
2017 | Chris Ferguson | 1 | $428,423 |
2018 | Shaun Deeb | 2 | $2,545,623 |
2019 | Robert Campbell | 2 | $750,844 |
2020 | Not awarded | ||
2021 | Josh Arieh | 2 | $1,194,061 |