At the WSOP Europe in Rozvadov, there were 15 events on the schedule, Sean Deeb played 9 and cashed in 7 of them. He has three third places in his three main tournaments – the Main Event and in the €25,000 and €50,000 high rollers.
“Obviously the series has been great financially,” Sean said in a recent interview with the WPT website . “But I went for trophies. I understood very well that in some tournaments the fields would be excellent, in the high rollers there would be few participants, and in the mixed games tournaments there would be a lot of amateurs. Of course, I expected to win a bracelet, it was the only reason why I went to Europe at all.
It remains a slight disappointment. Although I earned $1.1 million, I certainly did not count on this. It's always nice to win a lot of money for the family. But in poker, my main goal is bracelets. I always get a little frustrated when I fail to win them.
Getting into the prizes in such tournaments does not mean anything at all. All were reentry format, in one I made 7 entries, in the others – two or three. With such bullets, it is not difficult to get into the prizes often.
I'm especially good on the bubble and in difficult ICM spots. This is what has brought me my main profit over the past 10-15 years. If I get to the bubble with a big stack, I'm hard to stop.
Aside from bracelets, my traditional goal is to win the WSOP Player of the Year race. It's a pity that European tournaments didn't count this year. Our fight in 2019, when all the main contenders came to Rozvadov, is still one of the brightest memories in my career for me. We all enjoyed it, even with the absurd ending.
Sean's wife Ashley commemorated his love of third places with a memorable gift.
– Many people wonder why Ashley and I have been together for so many years. I got home last night, and from now on, I hear only "Mr. Bronze" and our "bronze medalist" in my address. Then she said that we need to have another child and name him Sean Two. And when he has a son, he will name him Sean the Third after me.
Sean recently got stuck during another transfer at the airport and invited readers to ask him any questions. He did not indulge his subscribers with lengthy answers, but he tried to answer everything honestly.
– How do you plan your poker trips, you have a wife and two children?
– I choose the most profitable ones, where you can play many tournaments every day.
– What do you like more – Big O or PLO8?
– In tournaments, I play everything, but in cash only 5-card Omaha, that's where all the action is.
– Why do you only play the WSOP and ignore other series?
– WPT is too small, Triton is expensive, and the PokerGO series has terrible fields.
– The strongest all-around player?
— Monnette.
– Who will be the next President of the United States?
— Ron DeSantis.
– What advice would you give to a beginner who is starting to master tournaments?
– Figure out when to bet all-in preflop.
– Would you invest in the shares of Draft Kings or another gambling company that operates in the United States?
– Yes, and I already have a rather large share.
– You should give up cheeseburgers or pizza for the rest of your life. What will you choose?
– I prefer death.
– Did you suffer from LUNA, FTX or any other crypto scams?
– Not yet.
– My child is a year old. I would like to play more tournaments, but the big ones are at least three days long. How do you manage to get your wife's permission?
– Make sure you come back in the positive when she does let you go.
– Favorite slowroll with your participation?
– A hand against Glanz in a $10,000 Omaha-8 tournament in which we slowrolled each other. It reached the showdown on a board , the backdoor flush filled. I showed and said he was trying to knock out . He opened , I flipped the flush 84, and he thought a little more and showed a higher flush – 93.
– Do you have students?
– No, too little free time. Besides, I'm not good enough to teach others. My game is based on instinct, not theory.
– Would you agree to put the entire bankroll on the table, provided that you yourself can choose the composition? Depth 250BB. The only condition is that the opponents must have experience in cash games on streams.
– Of course not.
– How big is the difference between the fields at the WSOP and WSOP Europe?
– In general, in Europe a little better. The exception is the Main Event and a few other tournaments where unlimited reentries allow players like me to get huge stacks in the deep stages.
– The best players of all time?
– I can judge the players of the previous generations solely by their guts – Doyle, Chip, Billy Baxter, Ivey , Dnegs and Seidel.
– If a beginner asked you for one piece of poker advice, what would you say?
– Play for fun, don't try to turn poker into work.
– Why did you throw away On the board ?
– I realized that he didn’t have enough bluffs or worse value.
The hand was played in the last 3 of the WSOP Europe Main Event. Sean completed preflop, bet a third of the pot on the flop and half a pot on the turn. On the river he bet 2.2 million into a pot of 3.1 million, and his opponent raised to 6.3 million. Sean thought for a few minutes and folded.
“Before the start of the final, I said that I would be happy with the third place,” Sean wrote immediately after the elimination. “But now I'm sad, because I had half of all the chips, and I couldn't even get heads-up. It's hard to play if the best hand is never dealt to you."
– Who do you miss the most in your life?
– My grandmother.
– Is it true that you played poker when your wife gave birth?
– Yes, I preferred work, because I thought that my wife was quite capable of giving birth herself. If there were any problems, I would immediately come.
– How many bracelets do you plan to win before the end of your career?
– 22.
– Do you like Allen Kessler and his tweets?
– No.
– Do you sell stakes in tournaments?
– At 10k I sell less than 10%, at $25k – half, I play cheaper ones on my own.
– Top 3 computer games.
– Warcraft 2, Fortnite, Madden.
– How much do you need to win for it to change your life?
– MainEvent or Powerball lottery.
– Will you still create a fund if the raffle prize pool becomes gigantic again?
– I don't think so, it's too much fuss to send the money back. We'll have to come up with a more efficient system.
– How much money did you end up making on the Powerball lottery fund?
– 8.6%.
In November in the United States there was a lottery drawing with a prize fund of $2bln. Sean organized a pool and invited everyone to join it via Twitter. The minimum share for entry was $525. In the end, more than 100 people were interested in Sean's offer and they managed to raise $100,000. The profit for all was $8,660.
– What's your favorite game? What format could take off other than PLO/NLHE?
– I really like badugi. Swap games have a lot of potential.
– Robbie [Lew] is selling stakes in the WPT for $10k, what do you think?
– Very strange for a multimillionaire.
– The best way to learn poker?
– Playing.
– How important are tells offline?
– Very useful if used in moderation, and detrimental if abused.
– Best call of your career?
– At the last World Series in a deep NLHE tournament, I paid with 22 on the QQKXA board. He played check-raise, bet, bet and showed J9.
– Would you settle for a losing weight bet?
– Only a very big one. I'd have to change my lifestyle and I like it a lot.
– What gift more expensive than $10k would you like?
– An elevator in the house I'm building.
– What limits did you start playing at?
– SNGs, $10 at Party.
– Do you work with solvers?
– LOL, no.
– What do you do to succeed in life?
– Find a girl you want to be friends with and are attracted to sexually.
– Thanks. Really, I'm a girl myself, but I'll definitely take your advice.
– The player you most want to beat in heads-up play for the bracelet?
– Josh Arieh.
– Do you owe any money?
– Yeah, about $700k in dead debts.
– Do you play online, SCOOP and other series?
– No.
– Do you keep money in crypto?
– Not very much, probably buying some in the near future.
– Your favorite Pokémon?
– I hate them all, my kids would rather be interested in something else.
– Does it make sense to spend money on a trainer?
– There are very few of them. Honestly, it's hard for me to judge, but in my experience playing with them, almost all of them are snake oil salesmen.
- How can I convince you to buy a stake in the WSOP Main? Do you want to see my Sharkscope?
– You don't stand a chance.
– Was Matusow really pissed off about that slow roll?
– Very.
– Is it true that years ago you broke out to $1 million playing blackjack on PartyPoker?
– Won about $300k and roughly doubled my bankroll.
– Why don't you lose weight?
– Because right now I'm as happy as possible and don't want to change anything.
– How do you determine which hands to check-raise on the flop after defending your BB?
– By gut feeling.
– Do you play expensive offline cash?
– No, they don't let me in anywhere.
– What do you think of Cal42688?
– I hate it when he ends up at my table in hold'em and love it when he's in mix games.
– What's the best place to start as a beginner?
– In MTT you can climb up the limits faster.
– Why don't you fly in private planes?
– Useless waste of money.
– The weirdest bet you've ever made?
– Lastlonger to get married. After a couple of months, my opponent paid me off.
– Coolest poker moment of your career?
– Winning WSOP Player of the Year.
– Which hand in Omaha preflop is nuts for you?
– Three aces.