Tournament Trail Q & A: Freddy Deeb

During the second level of day 4 at the 2007 World Poker Tour World Poker Finals, Freddy Deeb took some harsh beats. The first of these bad beats was his table draw:

Seat 1: Nenad Medic
Seat 2: Steven "333" Riter
Seat 3: Robert "exitonly" Coburn
Seat 4: Freddy Deeb
Seat 5: Tom "Durrrr" Dwan
Seat 6: T.J. Cloutier
Seat 7: Jimmy Tran
Seat 8: Ken Weiner
Seat 9: "Miami" John Cernuto

Things got worse for Deeb when he suffered some bad beats at the felt during the level and fell from being the chip leader to an average stack in the course of two hands:

Tilt test No. 1: Jimmy Tran raised 25,000 preflop from middle position, and Ken Weiner called from late position. "Miami" John Cernuto also called on the button, and Deeb said, "I got a discount; I call." He then tossed his chips in from the big blind, and the flop rolled out Q 8 5. Deeb and Tran both checked, and Weiner bet 75,000. Cernuto mucked, and Deeb moved all in, which was more than enough to cover both Tran and Weiner. Tran mucked, and Weiner made the all-in call. They then turned up their hands:

Deeb: 5 5
Weiner: K Q

Deeb had the lead with a set of fives, which was ahead of the top pair that Weiner held. That was until the turn and river hit the table ...

Turn and River: 8 8

Weiner hit a runner-runner full house to survive, and he said, "There is a God." Tom "Durrrr" Dwan replied, "That's not what Freddy's going to say." Deeb followed that up with, "That was a sick beat ... sick beat." The amount of Weiner's all-in call was counted out, and it came out to 179,000. "Can I owe you 179," said Deeb as he counted out the chips from his stack.

Tilt test No. 2: Cernuto moved all in from middle position preflop for 203,500, and Deeb made the call on the button. Deeb flipped up pocket queens, only to discover that Cernuto held pocket aces. The board added insult to injury and made a wheel for Cernuto. Deeb was knocked down to 810,000 after the hand.

Deeb kept things loose, though, and at one point during the level he was telling Nenad Medic and Dwan about when he used to just give his name to poker room managers on the strip and meals and rooms were all his. He continued by saying that this is not the case anymore. "Now, you lose $100,000 and they say, the last time you played was six days ago," said Deeb.

Card Player caught up with Deeb after this tumultuous level and got his thoughts on the action:

Ryan Lucchesi: During that last level, the cards were stacked against you a lot of time. How did you weather the storm?

Freddy Deeb: Well, that's the secret to the game. You're going to take some bad beats, and it's nice to have a big stack to be able to afford to take those beats and still be in the game. I feel lucky to have had that kind of [stack], so that I can take those two big beats I took and still be in the game. I know it's all about the long run, so as long as I have enough money to sit there and play, I'm just going to relax and play my best.

RL: How important is controlling your emotions in poker, as you did during the last level of action?

FD: Well, if you don't have your emotions under control then your mind isn't working right, so you cannot think straight, and you cannot play well, unless you're putting on a show. Sometimes, you can act like you are mad and crazy, but inside you're really calm and cool and just making a bluff at it … then, some players might think you're mad and steaming and playing badly. Overall, you've got to be calm, collected, and totally cool.

RL: You started with one of the largest stacks at your table, today, and now you're below the average. Are you going to change up your strategy?

FD: No, I'm going to play the same way. Everybody was playing tight, so I tried to play very conservatively. I had a lot of [chips], so I could just wait for one big hand to bust somebody. But I got those big hands when they were almost drawing dead, and they beat me, so … . The antes are too high right now, so you just have to try to pick up the blinds. So, I'll probably be playing a lot more hands right now.

RL: There are a lot of notable players at that table right now. Are you trying to avoid guys like T.J. Cloutier and "Miami John" Cernuto?

FD: No. When I'm playing, I play my game, I play my strategy. I pick my spots, but I don't think "This is T.J.," or "This is John." I just pick the situation I'm in and I go for it.

RL: I noticed an interesting dynamic at your table with some of the older players telling the younger guys about how things used to be in Vegas, as opposed to how things are now. Did you get a kick out of sharing some of those old stories?

FD: It's just talking about how life has changed, in general, from year to year. How poker was five years ago, how it is now, how it was last week, how it's going to be …. Now, when we win $5,000-$10,000 we're not happy. Back then, you win $500 and you're in heaven. It's just how the money value has changed, more than anything.

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