Freddy Deeb - A Lifetime Of Success At The Poker Table

In the short run, many people can make money at the poker tables. For those players who continue to expand their skills, they can definitely make a good living at the game. There are yet other rare personalities who the game seems to have chosen rather than the player making the call and then have been successful with that course. That could very well be the story of the life of professional poker player Freddy Deeb.

Born Kassem (his first name) Deeb in Beirut, Lebanon in 1955, poker wasn't the first choice in Freddy's life. He came to the United States to attend college and studied to become a mechanical engineer. When civil war broke out in his homeland and his family could no longer contact him, much less continue to send him funds to continue his education, Deeb was faced with a monumental choice in his life. Unable to pay for school and unable to get work because of his student visa Freddy, as if the poker gods knew he would be a natural, found himself in the card rooms in Nevada. He was able to make a living at the game, eventually moving all the way to the hallowed ground of poker players, Las Vegas, where he lives today.

Throughout the eighties, Deeb continued to make a living as a professional poker player, having never held another job in the United States. As tournaments became more popular at the start of the 1990's Freddy shifted gears and moved into the tournament poker world more often and with just as much success. 1990 marked his first cash at the World Series of Poker and his career has been peppered with further greatness in any event and any locale he has stepped into.

The owner of a World Series bracelet (from his triumph in the 1996 Deuce to Seven Draw event), Deeb has been one of the constant forces on the poker scene not only in the United States but around the world. He has cashed in almost fifty tournaments in his career and in a variety of locations such as England, France, Monaco and the Caribbean. By far his best work has been saved for the World Series, the World Poker Tour and the highest level cash games in Las Vegas.

Along with his World Series bracelet, Deeb has cashed in nineteen events in his history of the World Series. On the World Poker Tour, Deeb struck during the first season with a third place finish at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic and his most recent tournament victory was during Season Four of the WPT at the UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic. Deeb has also been prominently featured in many of the made for television poker broadcasts that are available today. He has had a great deal of success in the Poker Superstars International series and has also performed well in the WPT's Season Four Battle of Champions, where he finished second to Nick Schulman.

When the numbers are added up, Deeb has officially made over $2.5 million from his tournament successes and perhaps has won much more than that in the "Big Game" that he frequently participates in at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Freddy is potentially the friendliest of the professionals that are in the poker world today. He is a small gentleman but always has a kind word and a smile for a fellow player or fans that stop him frequently on the tournament circuit. This belies his aggressive instincts on the poker tables, though. He has a natural gift for reading the strength or weakness of his opponents and, through selectively exercising his aggressiveness at the tables, can make even the best players in the world nervous.

While he may not have set out on his course of life to be a professional poker player, Freddy Deeb has definitely made the most out of that decision. As he continues to play at the highest levels in the game today, there should be many more years of success yet to come from Freddy. It seems that when the poker gods chose Freddy's course in life, they knew something that the rest of the world didn't!

Ed note: Freddy plays online poker at Ultimate Bet

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