Shaun Deeb won 2 WSOP bracelets and had strong finishes in the Main Event and Poker Players Championship.
Shaun Deeb won the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year Race over the past seven weeks in Las Vegas. The 2018 World Series of Poker has a points race based on cumulative results from dozens of specific events.
This year’s race held suspense until the last few events, as eventual 4th-place finisher John “Johnny World” Hennigan was in the lead through the latter stages of the World Series of Poker. Hennigan took home a nice consolation prize, as he was named to the Poker Hall of Fame during the course of this year’s WSOP.
Shaun Deeb is a worthy champion. Deeb now holds 4 WSOP bracelets, 17 WSOP money finishes, and three World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) titles. To win the WSOP POY race, Shaun Deeb won 2 WSOP bracelets and had 15 money finishes.
Deeb’s wins came in Event #42, the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller, and Event #74, a Big Blind Antes $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Championship. Shaun Deeb also had strong finishes in the WSOP Main Event (105th out of 7874 entrants) and The Poker Players Champions (10th out of 87 top players).
Ben Yu: 2nd in WSOP POY Race
Ben Yu, a ten-year poker pro, finished in 2nd place in the POY standings. Mr. Yu also had 15 money finishes, including first place in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller (Big Blind Antes).
Yu also had a 2nd place finish in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed High Roller, a 3rd-place finish in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship, and a 4th-place finish in the $1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em event. Ben Yu now holds 3 WSOP bracelets, so he was a worthy challenger for the Player of the Year standings.
In the end, it was the heads-up showdown between Shaun Deeb and Ben Yu in Event #42 which proved to be the difference. The two finished 1-2 in the event, so Deeb’s victory in the heads-up showdown gave him the points needed to win WSOP Player of the Year.
Joe Cada: 3rd in WSOP POY Race
Joe Cada, the 2009 WSOP Main Event champion, finished in 3rd place in the Player of the Year Race. Joe Cada nearly matched his 2009 feat, as he made the final table of the WSOP Main Event this year. Cada eventually finished in 5th place and took home an additional $2.15 million in winnings.
Joe Cada also had a 1st place finished in The Closer, a $1500 No-Limit Hold’em event with a $1 million guarantee. Joe Cada began the World Series of Poker with a 1st place finish in event #3, a $3000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout event. Given his finish at the WSOP Main Event final nine, many would argue that Deeb or Yu would have traded tournaments with the 2009 WSOP Main Event winner.
John Hennigan: 4th in WSOP POY Race
John Hennigan‘s 4th place finish in the World Series of Poker Player of the Year Race was impressive enough. Johnny World finished 1st in event #27, the $10,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event. Given the talents required to win at H.O.R.S.E., which includes 5 different variants of poker, the winner receives special credit among the top poker players. ‘
Hennigan finished second to Michael Mizrachi in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, event #33. Once again, given the higher buy-in and the elite poker talents in the event, those who do well in the Poker Players Championship receive added praise. In all, John Hennigan finished with 12 money events in 2018’s WSOP, along with one bracelet. That gives John Hennigan a total of 5 WSOP bracelets in his Hall of Fame career.
Shaun Deeb Instructs Tony Miles
Even though he was not at the WSOP Main Event final table, Shaun Deeb made an impact in the World Series of Poker’s top event. According to WSOP Main Event commentator Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb gave 2nd place finished Tony Miles poker advice during breaks in the WSOP Main Event’s final two heads-up action.
Early in his showdown with John Cynn, Tony Miles seemed fatigued and passive. During a break in action, Shaun Deeb reportedly told Tony Miles he had to be more aggressive. Miles came out of the break with aggressive play, eventually taking the chip lead for a time and putting John Cynn on his heels. John Cynn won after a 10-hour heads-up battle, but Shaun Deeb’s poker tips played a part in one of the most entertaining WSOP Main Event heads-up showdowns in recent memory.
