Shaun Deeb has a chance on Monday to deny Daniel Negreanu his third WSOP Player of the Year title. A fifth place finish or better in the Colossus – the final WSOP event of the year – would give Deeb the award for the second straight year.
Negreanu currently leads the POY chase and cashed in the €550 Colossus. He finished in 195th place for €2,036 after firing numerous bullets across the nine, Day 1 starting flights. So, he lost money on the event, albeit a small amount for a man of his financial stature. In return, he gained a valuable 103.34 points to help extend his POY lead over Robert Campbell and Shaun Deeb. That lead, however, isn’t safe anymore.
Can Deeb Snatch WSOP POY Title on Final Day?
For Deeb, a shot to win WSOP player of the Year for the second consecutive year comes down to one last day. Negreanu will have to sweat it out as his only remaining POY competitor is one of 11 players left in the Colossus. A champion will be crowned on Monday, the final day of the 2019 World Series of Poker season.
Negreanu, Deeb, Campbell, and Anthony Zinno each entered the final event with a shot to win POY. Zinno, the WSOP Europe Main Event third-place finisher, was the least likely to win, simply because he needed to win the Colossus to claim the POY title. He cashed in the last event, taking 256th place (€1,175), but it wasn’t near enough to overtake Negreanu’s lead.
Campbell also cashed – finishing in 149th place for €1,325 – but he also didn’t score enough points to catch “Kid Poker.” The 103.34 POY points he earned puts him at 3,961.31, more than 100 behind Negreanu’s 4,074.88.
That leaves Deeb, who entered the Colossus with 3,710.64 points, and as the only player who can beat DNegs. He’s guaranteed at least 206.68 points as one of the final 11 players in the tournament. That would bring him to 3,917.32, which isn’t enough to win POY.
Deeb needs at least 364.24 points to catch up. A fifth-place finish – worth 361.69 points – would be quite a sick bad beat. That would leave Deeb 2.55 shy of beating Negreanu. Any higher finish wins him the award.
Deeb will arrive on the final day of the Colossus with 8,100,000 chips, putting him in third place out of the remaining 11 players. Mick Heder leads with 12,100,000. The champion of the event will take home a bracelet and €190,375. And, maybe, even WSOP Player of the Year.
