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It’s so easy to underestimate Freddy Deeb. He’s barely five feet tall, his head shines like the sun on a clear day, and his language is more colorful than Joseph’s multicolored dream coat. To those who don’t know him, Freddy comes off more as a caricature than character. To those who do, though, there’s little doubt that under the surface there beats the heart of a champion. After the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event at this year’s World Series of Poker, the rest of the world probably understands that a little better too.
Born in Lebanon, Deeb came to America for school some thirty years ago. His education was forced aside when civil war broke out at home, cutting him off from the financial support his parents were providing and causing his student visa to run out. Deprived of his education and not allowed to work, Freddy turned to gambling. He hasn’t turned back since.
Deeb’s success as a poker player has come mostly in cash games, though he does have victories at the World Series of Poker and on the World Poker Tour. Those titles not withstanding, Freddy’s reputation made him out to be an also-ran when the H.O.R.S.E. event began. He didn’t exactly turn heads with his performance at first either.
Deeb finished the first day of play in the middle of the pack, just slightly above average stack. He moved up on Day 2, ranking 16th in chips of the remaining 52. The climb hastened on Day 3, when he finished play in 6th position. Amazingly, the five men in front of him – Amnon Filippi, Kenny Tran, Bruno Fitoussi, John Hanson and David Singer – all managed to survive Day 4 to accompany Freddy to the final table. Freddy made it there 2nd in chips, trailing only Filippi while holding a T3,500,000 - T2,445,000 lead on the 3rd place Tran. The same six players held the top six spots, joined by Barry Greenstein and a very shortstacked Thor Hansen.
Thor exited early, leaving all eyes on Greenstein and Filippi. Barry had narrowly missed the previous year’s final table while his “Big Game” cohorts played on, and he brought the majority of this edition’s star power to the table. Filippi, meanwhile, had been leading the field for the previous two days. For a cash game specialist like Freddy, this was looking more and more like his tournament coming-out party.
Filippi took out Greenstein. Fitoussi, the former manager of Aviation Club de France, took out Singer, the last surviving member of the previous year’s final table. The tournament was down to five, but the marathon was about to begin. It took another sixty hands for Kenny Tran to get eliminated. It was again Filippi who did the honors, but he’d been very quiet between his two eliminations. He’d be the next to go, with Fitoussi taking him out in 7-card Stud Eight or Better.
Amnon was eliminated on hand #149, just 192 hands before the end of the event. The remaining players, Deeb, Hanson, and Fitoussi, put on a show, with Freddy’s performance the ultimate display of poker patience. The chip counts ten hands after Amnon’s elimination had Fitoussi at T10,275,000. Neither of the others had as many as three million.
Freddy offered a three-way split, but Bruno wasn’t hearing of it. Even after Hanson more or less doubled through, the Frenchman had over 60% of the chips in play. Deeb, meanwhile, saw his chips dwindling slowly. He hovered between T1,500,000 - T2,000,000 for the next three hours. Then it dwindled more.
Freddy’s stack actually dropped into the six-digits before he doubled through Fitoussi to survive. It was Hanson who was taking the most out of Fitoussi though, and by hand #220, they were in a virtual deal heat; 6 million apiece while Freddy sat at a little more than a third as much. Eighteen hands later, Freddy’s moment of truth came.
Playing 7-card Stud, Freddy was forced to bring it in for T50,000 with a 3s showing. Fitoussi completed to T180,000 and Hanson folded before Freddy made the call to see another card. He paired his three with the club, but Fitoussi paired his queen and bet. Freddy dutifully made the call.
Fifth street brought 7d for Fitoussi and 8c for Freddy, Again, Bruno bet and Freddy called before being dealt 3h and Kc respectively. Bruno bet, Freddy called and the final cards were dealt face down.
After cautiously looking at his final card, Bruno chose to check. Now, it was Freddy’s turn to bet –T360,000 – and Bruno stood to survey the situation. Finally, after three minutes, the Frenchman made the call; Freddy showed the case three had been in his hand the entire time. It was good enough to beat Bruno’s buried aces and visible queens.
The pot was worth a cool T3.2 million, and moreover it was worth Freddy’s tournament life. A loss here would have left him at the virtual felt. Instead, he was back in the thick of things. This was the turning point of Freddy’s win; it would take another eighty hands for him to eliminate Hanson. That gave him the lead for the first time in the tournament. He wouldn’t relinquish it.
Freddy would finally win just past 5am, a little more than 15 hours into play. The bracelet was his first in over a decade, but the first couldn’t compare. Until this moment, Freddy was best known to the public for a funky shirt worn in 2003 and his colorful lingo. Now that he was the winner of the second biggest event of the year, the players’ championship, never again will he be looked upon as an also-ran or as a character. From now on, Freddy Deeb will only be seen as a champion.
Gary Wise talks, writes, eats, drinks, breathes and even occasionally plays poker. You can find him doing most of the above at www.wisehandpoker.com, and on his radio show, Wise Hand Poker. Go to the website for all of the details.
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