H1: Shaun Deeb’s Hunt for Back-to-Back WSOP Player of the Year Titles
Shaun Deeb is on a mission in Prague. After finishing runner-up in Event #2 at the WSOPE, he takes the second-biggest stack into the final six of the 2,662-entry Event #3 Colossus on Saturday. Deeb is chasing back-to-back WSOP Player of the Year titles – a feat no one has achieved, and could hardly have made a more dominant start in Prague.
Speaking to PokerOrg after his runner-up finish, Deeb said, “I thought more POY contenders might travel here. I don’t see Daniel [Negreanu] or Phil [Hellmuth] so it sucks for them that I’ve got an even bigger lead in equity over them.”
Deeb acknowledged he’ll need more big scores. He’ll get a shot at a monster score tomorrow – and with a win, he would break the record for fastest to nine bracelets, held by Phil Ivey, who took 13 years. Deeb would do it in 11.
But is this even on his radar?
“I had a feeling it was Ivey or Hellmuth,” he tells us after play ended for the night. “When you get these numbers, there are only a few people ahead of you.”
He’s looking forward to tomorrow.
“It’s cool to have a shot at redemption after my second place,” he says, “but anything can happen. There’s a lot of variance in these things, and I’m just going to play my best. I’m here to win.”
The final table restarts at 12pm local time.
WSOPE Event #3: €565 Colossus final table
- Gilles Silbernagel (France) – 36.6M (61bb)
- Shaun Deeb (US) – 29.5M (49bb)
- Przemyslaw Cebrat (Poland) – 26.8M (44bb)
- Jakub Michalak (Poland) – 17.8M (29bb)
- Hrvoje Mitrovic (Croatia) – 13.1M (21bb)
- Davis Mihelsons (Latvia) – 9.3M (15bb)
Glaser goes close in Mystery Bounty
Deeb does have one genuine POY rival in Prague. Event #1 came to a close earlier today, and in the €1,100 The Opener Mystery Bounty, Benny Glaser nearly went toe-to-toe with Deeb. Glaser was a big chip leader for a big chunk of the last two tables in The Opener but couldn’t hold on and was eliminated in fifth. The British pro also finished 21st in the €3,300 Mixed, showing that with or without Phil and Daniel, Deeb has some serious competition to get past if he’s to defend his POY title.
Corel Theuma won his first bracelet, the second of the 2026 WSOPE, along with the €150,000 first prize. He beat a field of 2,195 and defeated Maksim Paniak heads-up with Kc9h against Ad8c5h7s runout.
Event #1: The Opener Mystery Bounty results
- Corel Theuma (US) – €150,000
- Maksim Paniak (Russia) – €95,000
- Janis Kulikauskis (Latvia) – €68,000
- Mihai Tabac (Romania) – €47,100
- Benny Glaser (UK) – €35,100
- Julien Stropoli (Italy) – €25,100
- Cesar Natera (Venezuela) – €19,000
- Eugen-Gabriel Chiva (Romania) – €14,000
- Chenxiang Miao (China) – €11,200
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