Final-Table Takedown -- Shaun Deeb

In this series, Card Player offers an in-depth analysis of the key hands that catapulted a player to a top finish, online or live. We will also reveal key concepts and strategies from the world's best tournament players, as we venture inside their sometimes devious and always razor-sharp poker minds.

Shaun Deeb, 22, is one of the most active players on the Internet, playing hundreds of tournaments each month. In 2007, he cashed four times at the World Series of Poker. Huge "live" success has so far eluded Deeb, but he is king online, where he has cashed for well over $2 million. He's had a stellar year in 2008 online, winning the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker $320 pot-limit Omaha event for $144,112 and chalking up too many other wins and five-figure scores to even name. He usually resides atop the very competitive PokerStars yearly tournament leader board, where he finished first in 2007.

Shaun Deeb: You need to realize that we've been playing 30-50 hands already, so by this time I had a good sense of what my opponents were capable of doing. At a glance, the problem with raw hands for heads-up play is that the history with an opponent is everything. It's constantly changing based on the current flow. What are the patterns that hands have taken so far? Examples: Three-bet or fold preflop is a flow consideration. Is the opponent flat-calling out of position or three-betting the whole range that he's defending? The last example of defending with his whole range can be bad for heads-up play with most stack sizes. The key is to pay attention.



KudelyKQ calls 20. Tedsfishfry raises to 150 from the big blind with the A 10. KudelyKQ calls.

Craig Tapscott: So, set this hand up for us. Do you know this player well?

Shaun "tedsfishfry" Deeb: He is a well-known tournament regular. I think he's good, but we both were playing a lot of tables during our match. So far, it had been at a slow pace, and he was limping some buttons. When he calls my raise, I think he has a lot of suited connectors, small suited aces, and some weak Broadway cards.

Flop: K 10 3 (pot: 300)

Tedsfishfry bets 210. KudelyKQ shoves all in for 2,250.

CT: What hands do you put him on to make this shove?

SD: When he overbet shoves - due to the draw texture of the flop and his limp-calling preflop - two pair or a set here is very, very rare. So I'm able to remove a lot of the better hands from his range, as A-K and K-Q just aren't likely to limp-call. So if he has K-X, it's a weaker one, and it wouldn't make sense to overbet with top pair/good kicker or even top and bottom pair. But I don't think he limp-calls with K-3 suited, due to flow of the match so far.

Tedsfishfry calls 2,040. KudelyKQ reveals the 6 4.

Turn: K (pot: 4,800)

River: 8 (pot: 4,800)

Tedsfishfry wins the pot of 4,800 and the match.



Tedsfishfry raises to 90 with the 10 8. Gmflash reraises to 270. Tedsfishfry calls 180.

SD: Gmflash has been three-betting me a fair amount. So far I've mostly given up, but with this hand, I was hoping to flop some equity.

Flop: K 9 6 (pot: 540)

Gmflash bets 420. Tedsfishfry shoves all in for 3,405.

CT: Wow. What justifies this play? Was the continuation-bet fishy?

SD: He bet kind of standard-ish on the flop. This usually means it's more of a planned c-bet than the kind of c-bet based on hand strength.

CT: That's the first time a player has shared that kind of read in a hand we've done - a standard-ish c-bet. That's a cool and useful tell you've picked up on.

Gmflash folds. Tedsfishfry wins the pot of 960.



CT: What were you thinking when heading into this match with 2007 World Series of Poker Europe main-event champion Annette Obrestad?

SD: Well, the truth is that after this hand, I could see that I wasn't going to gain an edge on her heads up, simply because she was better than me. So I made the decision to reduce her edge by getting it in preflop with almost any chance and with anything reasonable. If you're outclassed by a significant margin, resorting to a preflop shove-fest is a good way to give yourself a 35 percent to 45 percent chance of winning, depending on stack sizes. Later in this match, I four-bet shoved her three-bet with marginal hands and not much fold equity. But even though it probably was slightly -EV versus her ranges, overall it increased my chances of winning the match.

Annette_15 raises to 75. Tedsfishfry calls with the Q 10.

Flop: Q J 4 (pot: 150)

Tedsfishfry checks. Annette_15 bets 110. Tedsfishfry calls.

Turn: 2 (pot: 370)

Tedsfishfry checks. Annette_15 bets 280. Tedsfishfry calls.

CT: Why the check-call with top pair on the flop and turn? What's the plan against this preflop raiser and a dangerous player?

SD: I am trying to control the pot size as much as I can out of position. I know I don't want to get stacks in at this point yet. So, check-calling is superior to bet-folding or bet-getting it in.

River: 10 (pot: 930)

Tedsfishfry bets 666. Annette tanks, then folds. Tedsfishfry wins the pot of 930.

SD: This hand looks quite simple on the outside. But with Annette's really long tank, I was quite sure she had K-Q, A-Q, A-A, K-K, or even maybe 4-2 suited or J-10. She knew she was behind and just hated to fold such a strong hand heads up. But she made the correct laydown, which she later told me was aces.



Antonio18 raises to 90. Tedsfishfry calls.

SD: In this final match for the FTOPS championship, I called a raise with the 8 7, which is fine with 100 big blinds.

Flop: 6 5 3 (pot: 180)

Tedsfishfry bets 125. Antonio18 raises to 360. Tedsfishfry reraises to 955.

CT: What's your plan by leading this flop and three-betting after the raise?

SD: I hit a good board for my range compared to his, and he's going to check behind a lot of his hands with no showdown value. So in this case, I don't mind leading. Check-raising, I don't like here, because if he three-bets, it's ugly, and if he flats, it's ugly on a lot of turns. So leading lets me gain control here, and once he raises the draw-heavy flop with my backdoor 8-high flush draw and overcards, I felt like I had enough equity and a decent bit of fold equity to three-bet and get it all in.

Antonio18 moves all in. Tedsfishfry calls 1,870 and is all in.

Turn: 8 (pot: 5,830)

River: 3 (pot: 5,830)

Antonio18 reveals the 5 4. Tedsfishfry wins the pot (5,830) with two pair, eights and threes.

CT: What qualities must a player develop to become a great heads-up no-limit player?

SD: The main asset to have is an acute adaptation to opponents. If you can find the leaks in someone's game and take advantage of them, you will succeed against all opponents. Just be sure not to have too many leaks yourself, as there should be more emphasis on optimal play than unexploitable play.