Poker is a great game, but it comes with brutal swings.
Shaun Deeb arrived at the 2026 World Series of Poker determined to win Player of the Year for the second year running.
He'd already banked significant points at WSOP Europe, the first of three POY-eligible series this year.
But he knew he needed a lot more, and likely a bracelet.
Talking with PokerOrg ahead of the summer series, he said, “If I win a bracelet in Vegas or at Paradise, I'm a huge favorite for POY, although I know I'm going to have a lot of other final tables and deep runs.”
None of those things have materialized yet. In fact, Deeb is having a stinker.
One cash – is the curse real?
According to Jeff Platt, talking on the WSOP Countdown show, Deeb has cashed once so far in 60 bullets. “Deeb is now one for 60 bullets – he was telling me this is his worst World Series of Poker of all time,” Platt said. This time last year – en route to his POY title – Deeb had already notched eight cashes, including second and third place finishes.
His lone cash of the summer was significant – $99,557 for a fifth-place finish in the $10K NL 2-7 Lowball Championship – but it remains his only score of the summer.
He flirted with the money in the $10K Limit Championship but was eliminated ahead of the bubble.
So what happened? Variance. Every player goes through stretches like this. Then again, Deeb was also cursed by WWE wrestler Danhausen at the start of the summer.
Curses aren’t real, though. Are they?
You can make your own mind up, but check the evidence. Here's Danhausen’s recent record, as posted by a former TV host:
- Dominik Mysterio got cursed... lost the IC Title.
- The Miz got cursed.... suffered months of losses, pyro failures, equipment malfunctions, and nonstop bad luck.
- Kit Wilson got cursed... lost to Danhausen, lost to Jelly Roll.
- The Cleveland Cavaliers got cursed..... eliminated from the playoffs.
- The Carolina Hurricanes got cursed... blew a chance to tie the Stanley Cup Final and lost in double overtime.
- Meanwhile, Danhausen "uncursed" the Knicks and they went on a playoff run.
Deeb can pay to get uncursed. Or any of his fantasy managers can do it on his behalf.
Deeb’s not the only big-name player struggling in Las Vegas this summer. Jason Koon is still waiting for his first cash, although he is in the $250K Super High Roller. Like Deeb, Phil Ivey has only cashed once, but his was significant too – 9th in the $10K Limit Championship.
Meanwhile, Deeb is still second on the POY leaderboard, thanks to his WSOPE haul. Naoya Kihara, on the back of two bracelets this summer, is up top.
One cash in 60 bullets is a miserable start by Deeb's standards, but with dozens of bracelet events still to come – plus WSOP Paradise in December – the defending POY is still firmly in the hunt.
2026 Player of the Year leaderboard
- Naoya Kihara (Japan) – 1,665 pts
- Shaun Deeb (USA) – 1,596 pts
- Christopher Hunichen (USA) – 1,490 pts
- Richard Alsup (USA) – 1,409 pts
- Marius Kudzmanas (Lithuania) – 1,402 pts
- Chenxiang Miao (China) – 1,358 pts
- Mike Leah (Canada) – 1,316 pts
- Dennis Weiss (Germany) – 1,311 pts
- Chris Brewer (USA) – 1,258 pts
- Stephen Hubbard (USA) – 1,245 pts
