shaun deeb phil hellmuth Phil Hellmuth shipped his record-extending 16th World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet this fall. Shaun Deeb won his fifth, but he will one day surpass the “Poker Brat,” or so he claimed on Doug Polk ‘s Tuesday podcast.
Deeb, who is consistently in contention for WSOP Player of the Year, has an uphill battle to achieve his lofty goal. He’s already 35-years-old, but he told Polk he only plans to live until he reaches age 55.
Will Shaun Deeb one day catch Phil Hellmuth’s WSOP bracelet record? Unbreakable Record?
In 2018, Deeb won the POY award and has won all five of his bracelets since 2015. Few, if any, play more WSOP events each year, and he made it clear that he’ll continue doing so in the future. And, of course, he’s a great poker player who is capable of running deep in any tournament. But the task won’t be easy, so why is he so confident?
“I’m just better at small-field tournaments (than Hellmuth),” Deeb said when asked by Polk why he’s so confident. “Phil’s great at a lot of things, but that’s not his forte.”
Hellmuth won bracelet number 16 in October and has three since 2015, two fewer than Deeb. At age 57, he’s likely to slow down a bit within the next decade. Assuming he tacks on a few more bracelets over the next 10-12 years, that would put him in the 19-20 range. After that, it’s anyone’s guess if he can continue winning bracelets into his 70s. Deeb has averaged 0.7 bracelets over the past seven series. Should he continue on that pace until he reaches that magical age of 55, he’ll have around 19 total bracelets (five current + 14 new ones), which means on the surface his claim of passing Hellmuth isn’t too crazy.
But there’s more reason to think he could improve on that pace going forward. As Deeb acknowledged during his conversation with Polk, the WSOP is changing. There are now far more opportunities than ever before to win bracelets. Not only are there live tournaments in Las Vegas and at […]
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