A pic taken by an extremely happy Shaun Deeb as Paul Volpe is left crippled heads-up with one third of a big blind left in the WSOP $10k Pot Limit Hold’em event
1. Deeb finally does the deed
They said he was the best poker player never to have won a bracelet, but Shaun Deeb finally got the monkey off his back last night with victory in the $10k Pot Limit Hold’em Championship.
In 23 previous WSOP cashes the best Deeb had managed was fourth in the 2011 $2,500 10 Game/Six Handed event. Excepting the $1,000,000 ticket he won in the One Drop Mega Satellite in 2012, it’s also his biggest cash, good for $318,857.
Deeb will be proud of winning it in such a stacked field too – Paul Volpe added another second place finish after finishing runner-up in the $10k Heads-Up and is leading the WSOP Player of the Year race. Greg Merson finished fifth and Jason Koon was first out from the final table in ninth. Deeb said afterwards, ‘This is the biggest stage of all, where it’s at in poker, and where you have to win to prove yourself. I wanted to cross this off my bucket list for quite some time, and I finally took it down.’
The defining hand came when Shaun Deeb woke up with Aces. He raised preflop and Volpe called. On the A-5-2 flop Volpe bet out with air and Deeb tank-called. On the 7♥ turn Volpe bet out again and Deeb called. Deeb filled up on the river and must have been singing inside when Volpe announced a pot-bet bluff. Deeb snap moved all-in and Volpe folded to leave himself with just 10,000 chips, just one-third of a big blind. He doubled twice but for Deeb it was third time lucky as he finally won gold.
2. Two other bracelets awarded on Saturday night
If you were hoping to watch the $1,500 NLHE Shootout stream last night you had to sit through the conclusion of the $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud event first. Resuming three-handed, the UK’s Benjamin Dobson was first out, cashing for $105,893. Hani Awad finished second and Russia’s Konstantin Maslak grabbed his first gold bracelet and $269,612.
The final table of the $1,500 Shootout was notable for having two female players on it, but hopes of an all-woman heads-up encounter fell when Elizabeth Montizanti fell in fifth, followed by Kitty Kuo in fourth. Dennis Phillips couldn’t do it for the seniors either and when he bowed out Benjamin Zamani and Barry Hutter fought for the title.
In the end Hutter came out on top, winning in style with a turned nut flush. Afterwards he said, ‘I think [a bracelet] is what most people play poker for. I’m speechless, really… I’ve had a lot of chances to close out some big tournaments and have failed. I finally got one. [This victory] will kind of be a landmark of my poker career.’
It marks a solid series for Hutter who had already gone deep in the $5k NLHE (14th) and the $10k Heads-Up (13th). It puts Hutter second in the race for PoY behind Paul Volpe.
3. Millionaire party shrinks
The second day of the Millionaire Maker is in the bag and final numbers were 7,275, short of the 7,977 last year but excellent considering it came on the back of The Colossus.
Around 1,100 players from both Day 1s have progressed, including Cord Garcia (winner of The Colossus), David Vamplew, Maria Ho, Max Silver and Erick Lindgren. Charles Sewell finished with the most chips from Day 1B and he sits in second place overall, behind Alexander Villa who is king of the hill with 180,500. Play resumes at 11am.
4. Deeb on the Razz
The pro’s best chance of a bracelet is in the low-field events like the $10k Razz Championship. Just 103 players entered and after Day 1 63 are left, including Phil Hellmuth (61st), Jennifer Harman (35th), Stephen Chidwick (38th) and Erik Seidel (43rd). Brock Parker leads the way but the big story is Shaun Deeb, who hopped from his $10k Pot Limit Hold’em victory into this event and ran up a stack good enough for fifth place. You know what they say about bracelets: You wait ages for one… Action resumes at 2pm with the final table set for Monday.
5. Player of the Year
Powered by our good friends at the GPI, this year’s WSOP Player of the Year race is hotting up, with Paul Volpe at the top, Barry Hutter in second and Greg Merson in third. Shaun Deeb is 16th after his bracelet victory last night but could shoot up the rankings if he carries on running it up in the $10k Razz Championship. The winner gets a banner in the WSOP halls next to the Main Event winners – a prize that money literally can’t buy.
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