A great man once said that the definition of grit is not charging up the same hill, again and again. Instead, it’s better to minimise friction and find the most effective way up that hill. If you want more grit, treat your energy as a precious commodity. That great man was Reid Hoffman, the man who helped create PayPal and LinkedIn, a man who was an avid gamer as a child.
There’s another great man, and avid gamer, who is currently taking Reid’s advice.
Shaun Deeb.
Deeb won his seventh World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) title after winning Event #9 (H) $1,050 No-Limit 5-Card Draw PKO. Deeb had to beat Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov, heads-up, to claim the title, after a heads-up match that lasted two-hours – a heads-up match Deeb wished to avoid.
Speaking to the PokerStars blog:
“We were like 140 big blinds deep, and it’s a very slow game that deep heads-up…. I knew these heads-up matches could probably take a couple of hours, and I’d just rather during this WCOOP grind play less hours when I can, because it’s just so exhausting,” says Deeb.
It’s a plan that’s working.
Deeb became the first double WCOOP champion of the series after winning Event #37: $530 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max. Deeb clambered through 599-entrants without too much irritation to pick up the $52,371 first prize. The win is Deeb’s eighth, and he is now only one behind Strebkov’s record of nine, with half of the series still to play.
Lex Veldhuis Nearly Gets There
Talking about grit, if you’ve ever visited a Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, then you know commentator, Lex Veldhuis, has it in spades. Veldhuis is the top man when it comes to live streaming. More than 20,000 people watched him reach the heads-up phase of Event #30: (H) $2,100 No-Limit Hold’em, after wading through 347-entrants like a hungry mole gets through worms.
Stopping Veldhuis from winning his first WCOOP title was “GODofHU” from the UK, and apparently, it’s an apt name.
“This guy is a fucking God heads up,” said Veldhuis.
Ultimately, Veldhuis fell short but was ecstatic about the $91,694.92 prize, and the ability to provide such an incredible story for his viewers.
Bartlomiej “bartek901” Machon Wins Event #31: (H) $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em
Bartlomiej “bartek901” Machon is known to compete in the odd high roller two. The Pole won his second WCOOP title after defeating 573-entrants to bank $101,148 in Event #31: (H) $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em (his third COOP title, overall). The former Triton Poker commentator, Celina Lin, finished ninth.
Machon finished runner-up to Igor Kurganov in the PokerStars Championships Barcelona €50,000 No-Limit Hold’em in 2017, collecting a one million dollar prize. He also cashed in the €111,111 No-Limit Hold’em One Drop High Roller at the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) finishing 18/132
Leaderboard News
From the high roller pack, Dzmitry “colisea” Urbanovich leads the Medium Leaderboard, but the best performing high roller of WCOOP thus far is Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira, who sits third in the Overall Leaderboard, and second in the High Leaderboard.