WSOPE: Shaun Deeb on a Rampage; Makes Final Table and Day 2 on the Same Day
Shaun Deeb still leads the World Series of Poker Player of the Year Race with 4,592.46 points to Ben Yu's 3,746.04. On Monday, he put himself in a good position to lock down the POY title and secure himself the banner at the WSOP in Las Vegas, as he made the final table of the €1,650 Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha/No-Limit Hold'em event, and made Day 2 in the €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed event.
Final Table in Event #6: €1,650 Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha/No-Limit Hold'em
With Day 2 in the books, and after a marathon bubble, just eight players remain in Event #6: €1,650 No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Mixed Event.
Leading the way is Netanel Amedi who sent Richard Toth to the rail as the last elimination of the day to confirm the final table ahead of Day 3. Not far behind him is Norbert Szecsi (1,792,000) and WSOP Player of the Year leader Shaun Deeb (1,247,000).
These three are the only players with a stack of over seven figures, but the other players in Vittorio Castro (697,000), Van Tiep Nguyen (546,000), Julien Sitbon (423,000), Samuel Albeck (379,000), and short stack Jaroslav Peter (271,000) will all be aiming to take home the €86,596 first prize and the WSOP gold bracelet when play resumes at 3 pm.
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Van Tiep Nguyen | Czech Republic | 546,000 | 34 |
| 2 | Jaroslav Peter | Czech Republic | 271,000 | 17 |
| 3 | Julien Sitbon | France | 423,000 | 26 |
| 4 | Norbert Szecsi | Hungary | 1,792,000 | 112 |
| 5 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 1,247,000 | 78 |
| 6 | Vittorio Castro | Italy | 697,000 | 44 |
| 7 | Samuel Albeck | Germany | 379,000 | 24 |
| 8 | Netanel Amedi | Israel | 1,882,000 | 118 |
After 14 levels on Day 1, a total of 42 players returned to action on Day 2 just five eliminations away from the money. Among the handful of eliminations was multiple bracelet-winner Jeff Lisandro. Once the bubble was reached with 38 players, it seemed only a matter of time before someone got their stack in, in either of the big bet games. That was the case in back to back hands for Wai Leong Chan who doubled through Shaun Deeb twice in two hands.
The bubble continued. Doubles for Stephan Klam, Anthony Zinno, Christopher Back, and a triple for Romain Lewis followed as the stacks dwindled even more.
Eventually, three players all sat with less than 2,000 with the blinds at 3,000/6,000. Of the three, it was Roman Cieslik who the big blind came around to first. He was all-in blind and after Van Tiep Nguyen forced out Krasimir Yankov on the river, he showed ace-jack for top pair. Cieslik rubbed his cards for luck to try and sweat, but was drawing dead after turning over just one of his cards and was eliminated.
It was then that the floodgates opened and players poured to the exits, with Max Pescatori and Romain Lewis eliminated before the tournament reached three tables.
Start of day chip leader Laszlo Bujtas was closing in on one million at this point and the eliminations were so rapid the tournament was down to two tables in just half an hour following the eliminations of Chris Ferguson, Danny Tang, Majid Ejlal Noubarian, Roland Israelashvili and Anatolii Zyrin.
By this stage, Bujtas had dropped back, and charismatic Italian Vittorio Castro topped the counts, and there was still time for Andreas Walnum to be eliminated in 16th place after losing a classic race shortly before the dinner break.
When they returned, the average stack had risen significantly, but that didn't stop Julien Sitbon eliminating Joao Vieira and Anthony Zinno in a single hand after the Frenchman's aces held.
Sitbon was also responsible for the elimination of Joni Jouhkimainen, just after the start of day chip leader Bujtas was eliminated against Szecsi. Szecsi had flopped a set, while Bujtas held two pair and a straight draw, but the river bricked, cementing Szecsi at the top of the standings.
Jean-Noel Said and Yunsheng Sun were the last two eliminations before the players were seated around one table.
Szecsi still lead, with Amedi and Castro the only other two players over a million chips. The pace of play slowed, with Deeb clawing some chips back from Castro before the final elimination of Toth sealed the final eight players.
| Position | Prize in € | Prize in $* |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | €86,956 | $99,699 |
| 2 | €63,731 | $73,071 |
| 3 | €36,705 | $42,084 |
| 4 | €25,618 | $29,372 |
| 5 | €18,276 | $20,954 |
| 6 | €13,334 | $15,288 |
| 7 | €9,953 | $11,411 |
| 8 | €7,606 | $8,720 |
* Prize in $ via XE.com
The final day's play will be live-streamed on Twitch, and PokerNews will be covering the event until it reaches its conclusion. Follow along with the WSOPE Live Reporting.
Event #7: €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed
What started with just ten players in the early afternoon, turned out to smash yet another guarantee at the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe at Europe's biggest poker arena in the King's Casino in Rozvadov. Initially, Event #7: €2,200 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed was scheduled with a guaranteed prize pool of €200,000 and that was not only surpassed but almost doubled thanks to 187 entries in total.
The first 12 of 15 scheduled levels offered unlimited re-entries, and the players took full advantage of that, as 106 unique players re-entered 81 times to create a prize pool of €358,853 ($411,243). Only the top 29 spots will receive a portion of that, and at the end of level 15, the tournament screens showed 35 players remaining.
Hong Kong's Anson Tsang dominated the late stages of Day 1 and bagged up a very impressive stack of 931,000, while second-placed Ilya Bulychev follows with 748,000. After that, there is a pretty big gap to Chinese high roller Quan Zhou, who claimed 480,000 to his name. Other notables with big stacks include Aaron Duczak (307,000), Daniel Rezaei (302,000) and 2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess (259,000).
Shaun Deeb bagged up the third-biggest stack in the €1,650 Mixed Pot-Limit Omaha/No-Limit Hold'em event, and will return to the feature table as of 3 p.m. local time to battle for his 5th bracelet and put an end to the 2018 WSOP Player of the Year race. One hour before that, Deeb will unbag 208,000 for Day 2 of the PLO Event as that's what he claimed to his name after firing three late bullets in this tournament.
Other notables among the 35 Day 1 survivors include Jan-Peter Jachtmann (224,000), Jason Gray (179,000), Chris Ferguson (171,000), Anthony Zinno (166,000), Chin Wei Lim (130,000), Roland Israelashvili (113,000), James Chen (95,000), and Allen Kessler (74,000).
Day 2 will recommence with blinds of 3,000/6,000, the level duration increases to 60 minutes each for the remainder of the event and cards will be back in the air at 2 p.m. local time.
You can follow along with Deeb and all others in their pursuit of the €91,730 ($105,101) first-place prize, by following the PokerNews WSOPE Live Reporting.
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
