Deeb was talking about the final hand of the €3,300 Mixed PLO/PLO8/Big O tournament that finished earlier this week. 

He flopped a king-high flush, while his opponent Frank Koopman flopped a set of fours and turned quads. 

That was Event #2 at the 2026 WSOPE. This was the finale of Event #3. It couldn’t happen again, could it?

Shaun Deeb was looking for his ninth WSOP bracelet in Prague.

Hit by the coldest deck in Prague

Deeb started heads-up with close to a 2:1 chip lead, but the deck was brutal. Silbernagel kept connecting, repeatedly making top pair, seemingly unable to miss.

Every time Deeb landed a blow, Silbernagel hit back harder.

Deeb won a decent pot after the break. Silbernagel responded by turning a flush with the very next hand.

Now it all came down to this.

Deeb upended all of his time bank cards in the middle.

Silbernagel was stoic. 

“I’m just going to f***ing lose another bracelet to quads, aren’t I?”  

Deeb acknowledging another winning hand from Gilles Silbernagel.

Déjà vu as quads strike again

Deeb burned through three of his time extensions before fisting a stack of chips in the middle. Silbernagel instantly celebrated and tabled . 

Deeb didn’t even need to look. He turned over and walked away. 

His ninth bracelet will have to wait. But perhaps more painfully, he’s now recorded two second-place finishes in Prague, where one win would have made him a clear favorite for back-to-back Player of the Year titles. 

The two players had battled through a huge field of 2,662. Only one could walk away with the title. Today, the deck belonged to France.

But one big question had been answered.

How do you beat Shaun Deeb? Make quads. 

^{Images courtesy of WSOP – Lennart Hennig.}
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