With 14 bracelets and nearly $50 million in tournament earnings between the four of them, there's no denying that Shaun Deeb, Josh Arieh, Daniel Weinman and Matt Glantz are poker crushers. But with resumes that include a $1 million bounty pull, a body fat prop bet victory worth nearly the same amount and a win in the biggest World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in history, it's clear the group of close friends also have luck on their sides.
The four American poker players have branded themselves as "Team Lucky" — a name that Deeb may have come up with, though they aren't certain — as a way of consciously embracing and owning their good fortunes while fighting back against the jaded cynicism all to common in the poker world.
But Team Lucky is about more than once-in-a-lifetime bounty binks and turned two-outers leading to $12 million scores. As PokerNews learned during brunch with its four members, is more about friendship, camaraderie, and shared values than a good run of cards.
Michael Jordan. Tom Brady. Tiger Woods. Serena Williams. Phil Ivey. What do these five superstars have in common? They're all widely considered the best to have ever done it in their respective sports.
PokerNews asked some players at the WSOP why they think Ivey is the G.O.A.T., and we received some interesting answers from some of the best in the game.
Michael Allen opened the action with a raise to 850,000 from under the gun. William Kopp defended his big blind.
Action went check-check on the 3♦8♦10♥ flop before the K♦ rolled off and Allen fired 925,000. Kopp made the call.
Allen continued for 3,400,000 on the 3♠ river before Kopp moved all in for 8,000,000. Allen folded and Kopp won a sizeable pot without having to showdown.
