Shaun Deeb Wins 2018 World Series of Poker $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Eight Max Event

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Shaun Deeb has won the 2018 World Series of Poker $25,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-max event, topping a tough field of 230 entries to win his third career gold bracelet and the $1,402,683 first-place prize. This was the largest live tournament cash of the 32-year-old poker pro’s career, and it brought his lifetime live tournament earnings to more than $5.5 million. This was Deeb’s tenth final table finish at the WSOP and his third in this particular game.

“A couple of years ago, I made two PLO final tables but got seventh and eight. I really felt like I got unlucky, but there’s such variance – cracking aces, having aces hold, it’s everything in this tournament at a final table," Deeb told WSOP reporters after closing the deal. "I got a great start to the day, got the chip lead, was really never in a bad spot. I was able to control the pot size the way I wanted to in almost every hand. It really helps to not get in an inflated pot with a marginal hand.”

Deeb was also awarded 1,344 Card Player Player of the Year points for taking down this prestigious event. This was Deeb’s fourth final-table finish of the year. He now sits in 39th place in the overall 2018 POY standings as a result of this latest win.

Deeb came into the fifth and final day of this event in fourth chip position with six players remaining, but just a few big blinds separated most of the players in the middle of the pack. There was plenty of tough competition joining Deeb at the final table, with his five opponents combining for eight WSOP bracelets and more than $43.5 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.

Deeb knocked out 2018 Card Player Player of the Year contender Jason Koon in fifth place ($295,606) to take the chip lead. Koon took home 560 POY points for his tenth final table finish of the year. He now sits in fourth place on the overall leaderboard as a result of this latest score, with $9,687,575 in earnings so far in 2018.

Defending champion of this event James Calderaro made it all the way back to the final four, and only hit the rail when Deeb caught a huge river card to avoid splitting a pot. The two got all of the chips in the middle on a A92 flop with Calderaro holding AK98 for aces and nines. Deeb also had aces and nines with his A963. The turn brought the 4 which gave Deeb a gutshot straight draw. Calderaro also had outs to win the whole pot, as he could make a better two pair with a king on the river. The 5 is what ultimately peeled off the deck, giving Deeb the straight and sending the 2017 champion of this event home in fourth place ($414,134).

With that Deeb’s stack surged to over 17 million, with just shy of 29 million chips in play. Ben Yu was able to double through Scotty Nguyen to become the second largest stack. Yu then sent the five-time bracelet winner and 1998 WSOP main event champion home after a preflop all-in confrontation. Nguyen got all-in with the KK109 against Yu’s AQQ3. Yu spiked an ace on the flop to take the lead and was able to hold from there. Nguyen took home $592,875 as the third-place finisher, the fourth largest score of his career.

Yu took roughly a 4-to-3 lead into heads-up play against Deeb. The two had played heads-up for a bracelet in 2017, with Yu besting Deeb to win his second bracelet in the $10,000 triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball championship. Deeb was able to close the gap early on by making a better two pair than Yu. Not long after that Deeb took down a key pot to take a sizable lead, betting full pot for 5.4 million on a K86.

By the time the final hand was dealt Deeb had more than a 3-to-1 chip advantage. With blinds of 150,000-300,000 Yu raised to 900,000. Deeb three-bet to 2.7 million. Yu made the call for nearly half of his stack and the flop brought the 542. Deeb bet the pot and Yu called all in with the J665. Deeb held the AA98. The turn brought the 2 and the river the 8. Deeb’s aces and twos earned him the pot, sending Yu to the rail as the runner-up. Yu was awarded $866,924 and 1,120 POY points. This was his sixth final table finish of the year. With 1,864 total points he has moved into 47th place in the overall POY rankings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2018 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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