Shaun Deeb was eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame on March 1st and wasted no time adding another accolade to his stunning resume. This week, he added a second WSOP Circuit ring by winning the $400 Six-Max at Turning Stone Casino and Resort, his hometown casino.
The Troy, New York, native beat a field of 577 runners to win a $34,195 top prize. Deeb also won the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Turning Stone in 2023, winning the 1,070-entry event for $275,916, the 13th-largest score of his career.
Should Shaun Deeb be a first-ballot Hall of Famer?
Deeb, one of just two players who have won WSOP Player of the Year twice, has eight bracelets to his name. However, his lifetime earnings of $17.4 million only rank 86th all-time, which is far down the list compared to many others who are up for the Hall of Fame.
Only one player typically gets inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame every year, though there could be some changes coming, as seen in 2025.
The only exception came last year, after Michael Mizrachi pulled off the insane feat of winning both the WSOP Main Event and the WSOP Poker Player’s Championship in the same series. The fellow eight-time bracelet winner was awarded the special exemption immediately after winning the Main Event, an action that absolutely nobody in the poker community disagreed with.
Deeb will have the deck stacked against him, as he’ll be up against the likes of Scott Seiver, Mike Matusow, Josh Arieh, Jeremy Ausmus, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Galfond, Vanessa Selbst, Matt Savage, Jason Koon, Justin Bonomo, and Isaac Haxton, amongst others.
Koon, Bonomo, and Haxton are also eligible for the first time. Players like Tom Dwan and Kristen Foxen become eligible in 2027, which would make it even tougher for Deeb to win.
Shaun Deeb’s World Series of Poker bracelet wins
Deeb has won a total of eight bracelets, winning two in 2025. This, of course, included winning the $100,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event for $2,957,229, which more than doubled his career high score.
Deeb also brought home a pair of bracelets in 2018 and has won at least one bracelet in six of the last 11 years.
| Series | Event | Entries | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 WSOP Europe | €25,000 NLH GGMillion$ | 38 | €329,000 |
| 2025 WSOP Vegas | $100,000 High Roller PLO | 121 | $2,957,229 |
| 2023 WSOP Vegas | $1,500 8-Game Mix 6-Handed | 789 | $198,854 |
| 2021 WSOP Vegas | $25,000 High Roller PLO | 212 | $1,251,860 |
| 2018 WSOP Vegas | Big Blind Ante $10,000 NLH 6-Handed Championship | 355 | $814,179 |
| 2018 WSOP Vegas | $25,000 PLO 8-Handed High Roller | 230 | $1,402,683 |
| 2016 WSOP Vegas | $1,500 Seven Card Stud | 331 | $111,101 |
| 2015 WSOP Vegas | $10,000 PL Hold’em Championship | 128 | $318,857 |
Potential three-time WSOP Player of the Year?
The new WSOP Player of the Year system now counts 15 results from WSOP Europe, WSOP Las Vegas, and WSOP Paradise in the chase for poker’s most prestigious honor. It also excludes WSOP Online results.
This is a massive change from a player’s top-10 results only in Las Vegas and during the WSOP Online series.
In an interview with Poker.Org, Deeb voiced his disdain for the new WSOP POY formula, which rewards volume and large-field results over wins.
“I’m not a big fan of the changes the WSOP made. But I think they’re trying hard, and I’m glad they’re finally making some changes. I just don’t think they’re in the right direction.
“They aren’t counting online scores, which I’m kind of against, but I get why people want that change. The 15 accrued scores are slightly better than 10.
“Counting Europe and the Bahamas is also better, but my problem is with the new formula. It’s too rewarding for big fields and not rewarding enough for high buy-in small fields, which are very tough. Whoever wins the Main, if they have 15 scores, they’re just going to win POY.
“I think Player of the Year should be much more about multiple scores. It really shouldn’t be about who does the best in the biggest tournament and then does okay in everything else. That’s kind of my flaw with this system.
“I know that they have agreements to make some changes. But when they actually see how many points the Main Event winner gets, and then how many points the Mystery Bounty $1K winner gets, they’ll realize the person who won the $100K bonus got about one-third the score of those two event winners. I think that’s a little too big of a discrepancy.”
Of course, Shaun Deeb is going to go after it. The race starts at WSOP Europe in Prague, which kicks off on March 31st.
