Shaun Deeb’s Poker Journey: The Path to the Poker Hall of Fame

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For many poker players, winning a single WSOP bracelet or WCOOP title or earning a million dollars playing poker tournaments would be quite a feat. For Shaun Deeb, these kinds of results don’t even necessarily make for a great year, as he is one of the most decorated and well-respected tournament poker players around. 

Having started his poker career back in 2006, when he was just 20 years old, Shaun Deeb has been a staple of the poker world for nearly two decades. 

From battling for the POY title at every major tournament series to getting into beefs and interesting prop bets with his fellow poker players, Shaun Deeb is a character who never fails to make headlines. 

While respecting Deeb’s game is nearly universal among poker players and fans, his brash and outspoken nature has made him somewhat of a polarizing figure in the community. 

If you want to learn more about Shaun Deeb, keep reading and find out how he started with poker and what happened over the years to make him the poker celeb he is today. 

Shaun Deeb’s Poker Career Highlights:

• Won more than $7,000,000 in online poker tournaments
• Holds 6 WSOP bracelets
• 2018 WSOP Player of the Year
• Holds 13 PokerStars “COOP” titles
• Won more than $12,000,000 in live poker tournaments
• Successful at prop and side betting

Shaun Deeb’s Early Life and Path to Poker

Born on March 1, 1986, in Troy, New York, Shaun Deeb is one of the most well-known poker players today, and it is a path he chose to pursue in his teen years. 

At the age of just 16, when poker was truly booming both in the US and the rest of the world, Deeb started playing the game and would host regular $20 rebuy tournaments for a group of friends back in New York. 

By the time he was 21, Deeb was ready to graduate to playing poker for much higher stakes, and he was already playing online games under various screen names. 

While he briefly attended Bentley University, the allure of the world of poker and gambling was too strong, and he decided to pursue his passion instead. 

In the early years of his career, Shaun found plenty of success in the online arena, which is why he knew he had what it takes to succeed as a poker player in the long run. 

Shaun Deeb in Online Poker

Shaun Deeb is a legend in online poker circles, where he was one of the most successful players in the days before Black Friday. 

Playing under moniker “tedsfishfry” on Full Tilt Poker and “shaundeeb” on PokerStars, Deeb accumulated over $7.2 million in online tournament cashes, adding some more results at sites like UltimateBet and Absolute Poker. 

Shaun won the PokerStars Tournament Leaderboard in both 2007 and 2008 and earned plenty of accolades for his tournament success in the online arena. 

At PokerStars, he’s dominated the major tournament series and won an impressive 13 “COOP” titles in events like WCOOP and SCOOP, as follows:

Year	Event	Players	Prize
2008	WCOOP #25 – $320 PLO Rebuy	748	$144,113
2010	SCOOP #17M – $162 PLO Rebuy	743	62,252
2010	WCOOP #28 – $1,050 NLH	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 Hi/Lo	74	$40,330
2012	SCOOP #38H – $2,100 HORSE	85	$46,325
2015	WCOOP #44 – $215 NLH 4-Max	1,593	$68,000
2016	WCOOP #12 – $1,050 NL 5 Card Draw	95	$22,186
2018	WCOOP #22H – $1,050 PLO8	192	$38,089
2018	WCOOP #59H – $215 PLO8	173	$69,011
2019	WCOOP #9H – $1,050 NL 5 Card Draw PKO	70	$25,375
2019	WCOOP #37M – $530 PLO	599	$52,372

Shaun Deeb in Live Tournament Poker

While Deeb’s success in online poker is the stuff of legend, it is his live poker accolades that have made him a prime candidate for the Poker Hall of Fame once he turns 40 years of age. 

Shaun’s live tournament career started as early as it could, with his first live cash recorded in 2006 at the East Coast Poker Championship in Verona. 

The very next year, as he turned 21, Deeb traveled out to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and made four ITM finishes in smaller buyin NLH events. 

Over the next few years, Shaun would continue to play some live events and record cashes and even wins in small field events, but his full breakout had not yet come. 

2011 was the first time Deeb would show up at a WSOP final table in a $2,500 10-Game event, where he came fourth for $67k. 

The very next year, he final tabled the $10k PLO event and amassed quite a few solid scores for a few years, but all without a big one. 

Finally, in 2015, it was time for Deeb to shine, as he won his first WSOP bracelet in the $10k Pot Limit Hold'em Championship, worth $318,857 and a monkey off his back. 

Since then, Deeb never looked back, and his next WSOP bracelet came the very next summer, as he took down the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event for $111,101. 

It wasn’t meant to be for Deeb who could have easily gone three years in a row in 2017, as he came second in the $10k 2-7 Triple Draw Championship for $143,842, losing the tile to Benjamin Yu. 

By this time, Deeb was a staple at the WSOP and his excellence in different formats of the game made him a feared opponent in every event. 

In 2018, Deeb came back and recorded a double win at the WSOP. He first won the $25k Pot Limit Omaha High Roller for $1.4 million, and then followed it up with a 1^st place finish in the $10k 6-Max BB Ante event, worth another $800k. 

Deeb also came 105th in the Main Event that year and could have made it an even crazier year, but he still won the WSOP POY title uncontested, as he absolutely dominated his opponents all summer long. 

He missed out on a couple more bracelets along the way before adding his 5^th in 2021, when he took down the $25k PLO High Roller once more, capturing $1.25 million for his troubles this time. 

In 2023, Deeb added yet another bracelet to his cabinets, taking down the $1,500 8-Game event for $198,854, once again showing what an absolute monster he is in every form of poker imaginable. 

In between these, Deeb posted countless results at other tournament series and won all sorts of accolades, amassing over $12 million in tournament cashes alone. 

Shaun has been very vocal about his desire to win more WSOP bracelets and POY titles than contenders like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth and continues to express his belief that he can achieve these feats, being far younger than them but very accomplished already. 

Indeed, it seems that the only thing that can stop Deeb in his advance is Deeb himself, as quitting poker may be the only way for him to stop winning bracelets and accolades of every sort each and every year. 

Shaun Deeb at the Center of Controversy

For just about his entire poker career, Shaun Deeb has always been somewhat of a poker “bad boy” who would often get into trouble of all sorts. 

A big part of it early on had to do with his tendency to “slow roll” other players, deliberately not showing the best hand first and allowing his opponents to think they had won for a brief moment. 

Slow rolling being within the rules of the game, Shaun never got into too much trouble over it. However, he did get into plenty of drama over social media throughout the years. 

Back in 2019, for instance, Deeb got into a personal war of words with Daniel Negreanu, where he even suggested he would bet him on whose marriage lasts longer, after DNegs had just gotten married. 

That same year, Deeb got into it with another poker legend Bryn Kenney, that time accusing the player of potentially freerolling a massive event where he ended up winning $20 million, but would potentially not be able to pay back his buyin had he lost. 

In 2021, a prop-bet between Deeb and poker player Tony Miles, who was a participant on American Ninja Warrior went sour as well, with the terms of the bet being heavily contested. 

In-between all this Deeb has often acted as “markup police” on social platforms, calling out any players selling their action at markup he believes to be unreasonable. 

Thanks to all of these, and many other instances where Deeb got into similar arguments, he is considered by the poker world to be one of the most polarizing characters in the community. 

Yet, one thing everyone can seem to agree on is that Shaun Deeb is an amazing player and one who deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame pretty much as soon as he can qualify for one. 

Shaun Deeb Wins a Monster Weight Loss Bet

It is no secret that Shaun Deeb has spent a big chunk of his professional life being overweight, a matter he often mentioned as one of the biggest limiting factors in his poker success, as he used to believe he might not live to see 50. 

Today, things are quite different, and that’s in big part thanks to poker player and hedge fund managed Bill Perkins, who offered Deeb an extraordinary bet in 2023. 

Seeing Deeb’s poor health, Perkins decided to give him a challenge. A bet was made according to which Shaun needed to bring his body fat index (BMI) from 40.2% to 17% within a year. The prize was a cool million dollars!

You guys wanted a progress pic so I give the people what they want once that gut is gone the million will be mine pic.twitter.com/yZEUQdUN2V

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) January 27, 2024

Always one to take a good challenge head-on, Shaun started working out with a whole team working around him, and with the support of his wife got very close to the finish line by February 2024. 

It was at that point, with Deeb 84 lbs lighter and at 23.9% body fat that the two made a deal and Perkins bought out of the bet for $800,000. 

A much leaner Deeb said he would still pursue the 17% goal for his own sake and the sake of his children, even after winning the $800k. 

This was one of the most inspirational poker stories of the past couple of years, and while we may not all have a million buck prize to drive us, getting healthy and in-shape should be a reward in itself. 

Shaun Deeb’s Net Worth

The one question fans always have about their favorite poker players has to do with their net worth, and the answers, of course, are often elusive. 

When it comes to Shaun Deeb’s net worth, one thing that’s clear is that he is a guy who likes to make money and find shrewd ways to make it grow. 

For that reason, Deeb’s approximately $20 million in live and online tournament cashes is probably just a portion of what he’s earned through other means, although this number does not account for buyins. 

It is very possible that Shaun has profited over $8 million from tournaments alone in this period, while also winning as much playing cash games and making smart investments and bets on the side. 

If we had to make a guess, we could put Shaun Deeb’s net worth in the $10,000,000 range, with a strong tendency to go upwards rather than downwards.