Shaun Deeb prioritizes WSOP player of year over $1M weight-loss bet

Shaun Deeb joined an exclusive club this month when he won his sixth career World Series of Poker tournament.

But the decorated poker pro from Wynantskill, New York, has his sights set on at least two bigger prizes.

The first is WSOP player of the year, which will be determined when the series ends next month. After that, Deeb’s attention will turn to his weight-loss prop bet with billionaire businessman and high-stakes poker player Bill Perkins.

“I’m hurting my equity of winning that bet by going so hard for player of the year,” Deeb said. “But I know there’s only so many years you have a really good shot of winning player of the year. That’s what I find most important about my quality of life is that result.”

Deeb learned cards from his grandmother and began running poker tournaments at his house when he was 16. He became a legendary online player, and his eight career titles at PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker series ranks second all time.

It’s at the WSOP where Deeb made his mark in live tournaments, and he has nearly $9.2 million in career WSOP earnings through Saturday.

He captured his first bracelet, which are awarded to tournament winners, in 2015 in the $10,000 buy-in Pot-limit Hold’em event and is one of 20 players with six career bracelets. To illustrate his versatility, only one of Deeb’s bracelets came in the popular No-limit Hold’em variant.

His most recent victory was in the $1,500 buy-in Eight-Game Mix Six-Handed on June 13 for $198,854. Close friend Josh Arieh earned his fifth career WSOP bracelet days prior, and Deeb threatened to retire if Arieh reached No. 6 before he did.

“I always make fun of him for being such a fish,” Deeb said. “It was very ridiculous and entertaining that two days later I win the eight game and Josh is on my rail, drunk, and having a blast and pumping me up.”

Deeb has cashed in 11 tournaments since the start of the series and was third in the player of the year standings through Saturday behind leader Ian Matakis and Michael Rodriguez Pires Santos.

Deeb won player of the year in 2018 when he claimed two bracelets and more than $2.5 million in winnings and is pushing for the WSOP to add a monetary prize to the award.

Daniel Negreanu is the only two-time player of the year winner.

“That’s why it means so much to me,” Deeb said of his former adversary, “because that will elevate me to a level that who I think is the best, if not top three, poker players and poker ambassadors, whatever you want to call Daniel.”

Deeb’s determination to perform well at the WSOP has temporarily shifted his focus away from the high-stakes bet with Perkins.

In March, a video of Deeb eating chicken fingers during his victory in the main event of the WSOP Circuit at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, went viral on social media.

Perkins, who has made several weight-loss prop bets with poker players, gave Deeb 10-1 odds he couldn’t reach 17 percent body fat by the start of next year’s WSOP. Should Deeb win the bet, he would make $1 million.

After starting at 306 pounds, Deeb noted he is down more than 40 pounds.

“Obviously I have not been going to the gym (this summer) because I find player of the year more important,” he said.

Deeb, 37, has a strong case for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame once he is eligible in three years. Also, he maintains a vocal social media presence and often serves as a mediator in the poker community.

That willingness to serve as a watchdog for fellow poker pros helps make Deeb one of the next generation of ambassadors alongside Negreanu and others.

“I am very opinionated. I am very loud,” Deeb said. “But over almost two decades of poker, people recognize they might not like the tone of some of my comments, but usually the meaning and message is correct.

“There’s so many great things about poker that I love. We need to show people how entertaining it is.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.