The penultimate round-up from the preeminent World Series of Poker event outside of their Las Vegas boudoir includes an end to the 2018 Player of the Year speculation, a look at the results of the final €100k event, and an update on the Main Event.
The 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year (POY) is Shaun Deeb, but you already knew that didn’t you.
You were more likely to catch and kill a cockroach than see one of Deeb’s competitors pip him to the post, as none of them felt the prestige of being the WSOP POY was worth spending a fortnight in Rozvadov.
Deeb begged to differ.
The mixed game maestro told all and sundry that his trip to the tiny Czech town was never going to be profitable, but he was always going to be there. Nothing was going to stop him.
“The banner is important,” Deeb told PokerNews during a recent interview.
Deeb followed up his 16 ITM finishes, and double bracelet win in Vegas with a further four ITM finishes, including a runner-up, finish in a €1650 Pot-Limit Omaha/No-Limit Hold’em Mix, and going into the Main Event, only Michael Addamo had any chance of catching him, and the Australian would have had to win the thing to do that.
No offence, Michael, I’m glad that didn’t happen.
It was Deeb’s all along.
So what does Deeb get for being the most consistent WSOP player of the year?
Nothing.
Oh, the banner.
Come on WSOP, put your hand in your pocket and make this thing more prestigious. Find a sponsor. Talk about it. Write about it. Make people want to travel to Europe to win it, not avoid it.
Here are the final results:
WSOP Player of the Year Leaderboard
1. Shaun Deeb – 5,073.92
2. Ben Yu – 3,746.04
3. Joe Cada – 3,531.86
4. John Hennigan – 3,499.91
5. Scott Bohlman – 3,155.88
6. Michael Addamo – 3,028.78
7. Paul Volpe – 2,859.76
8. Anthony Zinno – 2,593.34
9. Eric Baldwin – 2,516.30
10. Romain Lewis – 2,460.14
Here are Deeb’s stats.
WSOP Las Vegas
Cashed in 16-events.
• 44th in the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better for 122.92pts
• 1418th in the $565 COLOSSUS for 39.48 pts
• 37th in the $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball for 111.87 pts
• 16th in the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem for 200.97 pts
• 3rd in the $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw for 205.12 pts
• 965th in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker for 74.14 pts
• 19th in the $1,500 No-Limit 207 Lowball Draw for 118.72 pts
• 10th in the $50,000 Poker Player’sChampionship for 181.80 pts
• 13th in the $2,500 Mixed Big Bet for 134.19 pts
• 108th in the $1,000 Tag Team No-Limit Hold’em for zero pts
• 172nd in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty for 85.27
• 96th in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Online Championships for zero pts
• 105th in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event for 225.94 pts
• 320th in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em The Closer for 92.65 pts
Bracelet wins.
• 1st in the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller for 541.66 pts
• 1st in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed BB Ante for 533.15
WSOPE Rozvadov
Cashed in four events.
• 11th in the €1,550 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max Deepstack for 133.17 pts
• 38th in the €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Max for 67.99 pts
• 2nd in the €1650 Pot-Limit Omaha/No-Limit Hold’em Mix for 250.13 pts
• 20th in the €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Max for 114.62 pts
Total cashes – 20
Bracelets won – 2
Total ITM – $2,547,316
It’s the third successive year that an American has won the award after Chris Ferguson (2017), and Jason Mercier (2016).
Deeb’s haul of 20 cashes is the second highest since the POY came into existence. Chris Ferguson holds that record with 23.
Here is his temporary banner while the WSOP get stitching.
Came home to find this waiting for me @crashleyonfire says they were happy I was home just not happy to take photo pic.twitter.com/qhmsf50kmF
— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) October 30, 2018
50-Players Left in the WSOPE Main Event
There is one bracelet patiently sitting in a jewellery box somewhere in the King’s Casino, and that will end up on the wrist of the winner of the WSOPE €10,350 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.
At the time of writing the action ceased at the end of Day 3 with 50-entrants remaining from a field of 534, making it the second most populous of its kind since Elio Fox beat 593-entrants to win the €1.4m first prize back in 2011.
Here are the top ten chip counts.
Top Ten Chip Counts
1. Ryan Riess – 4,233,000
2. Ivan Gabrieli – 2,412,000
3. Gary Hasson – 2,198,000
4. Michal Schuh – 2,056,000
5. Igor Kurganov – 2,000,000
6. Sylvain Loosli – 1,927,000
7. Liwei Sun – 1,656,000
8. Bahram Chobineh – 1,560,000
9. Dario Sammartino – 1,503,000
10. Joel Ettedgi – 1,500,000
Three other stars refusing to visit the funeral home in this one are the Triple Crown winner Niall Farrell (1,350,000), double WSOP bracelet winner, Norbert Szecsi (1,025,000), and the high rolling Spaniard, Sergio Aido (1,006,000).
Ivan Leow Wins The €100,000 LEON’s High Roller
You may remember that Leon Tsoukernik added three more high rollers to the schedule when it became apparent that too many high rollers were hanging around, comparing scarves, smoking cigarettes, and drinking too much coffee.
Mikita Badziakouski won the €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em King’s Short-Deck Championship, besting a field of 15-entrants to take the €213,750 first prize, and the man he beat heads-up to claim his fifth title of the year, Ivan Leow, has put his mitts on the €100,000 LEON’s High Roller trophy.
The event attracted 33-entrants, including Tony G who decided to take a break from election bolstering to play a spot of poker, but it was a slow burner, forcing the organisers to reduce the schedule to a single day event with 30-minute levels instead of the pre-planned 60-minute, and the first three tiers of the blind structure ended up in the trashcan.
The whole thing lasted nine hours from cards in the air to the say cheese moment, and Leow beat Martin Kabrhel, heads-up, to win the €1,251,455 first prize.
It’s been a phenomenal year for the Malaysian recreational player who has now won $5,434,307 in 2018 compared to $110,547 in 2017, $7,096 in 2016 and $5,631 in 2015.
It’s Leow’s fifth title.
Here they are.
• 1/43 in the HKD 100k No-Limit High Roller in the Oriental Poker Championships for $183,745.
• 1/44 in the HKD 500k No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck at Triton Jeju for $1,079,367
• 1/29 in the RUB 6m No-Limit Hold’em Triton Poker Super High Roller at the partypoker MILLIONS Sochi for $1,133,555
• 1/20 in the KRW 15.5m No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the WPT DeepStacks Korea for $118,036
Kabrhel came into the final table with a third of the chips, and for a large chunk of the action looked likely to win his second €100k event in the space of a few days after taking down the €100k bracelet event for $2,990,088.
But it would be Leow’s day.
Leow cashed four times at the WSOPE, including that runner-up appearance to Mikita Badziakouski in the €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em King’s Short Deck Championship for $164,199.
Kabrhel’s runner-up spot earned him $878,948, which added to his €100,000 Super High Roller haul, gold bracelet, and two World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) gold rings make it a decent competition for the lad.
Final Table Results
1. Ivan Leow – €1,251,455
2. Martin Kabrhel – €773,457
3. Michael Soyza – €521,471
4. Tony G – €351,579
5. Dominik Nitsche – €237,038
And there’s more.
There are plans to run a €50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck Championship to round things off on Wednesday 31 October.
