Poker News

Perhaps no one else in the world of poker owes more to the game than professional player Freddy Deeb. Deeb has been able to use his poker skills to amass a fortune and reach that dream that all poker players have – of having never held a “real” job.

Born in Beirut in 1955 as Kassem Deeb and now residing in Las Vegas, Freddy – the nickname came about after a brush had a difficult time spelling his first name for the waiting list in a poker room, a friend said his name was “Freddy,” and it stuck – showed tremendous skills in the field of mechanical engineering. His parents sent the nineteen year old Deeb to the United States to attend college for that purpose. After finding that Los Angeles (where he had planned to study) was too large for his tastes, he settled at Utah State University to pursue his degree in that field.

Life would soon have a serious setback to deal Freddy. While in college, war broke out in his native Lebanon and Deeb was cut off from contact with his family for nearly two years. With this separation also came the lack of funds to finish off his studies and earn his degree. As he was in the United States as a student, he couldn’t work to make ends meet and made his living expenses by gambling in Nevada.

As he started to make a good living from the game, Freddy began to venture closer to the poker havens of Reno and Las Vegas. He grinded the cash games to make a living and, as tournament poker became more popular, moved over to take part in those games also. Official records show that he first cashed in a tournament in 1986 and, since that time, Deeb has shown a tremendous ability in tournament poker alongside his cash game skills, no matter what discipline of poker is being played.

In the seven year history of the World Poker Tour, Freddy is a prominent part of the record books. He has three final tables in WPT events, including a $1 million championship at the final Aruba event in 2005, and seven cashes overall. Deeb has collected over $1.5 million from his play in WPT tournaments and all of these statistical milestones place him in at least the Top 50 of each category.

The World Series of Poker is where Freddy has arguably made his greatest achievements. In 1996, Deeb outlasted a talented final table of Doyle Brunson, Gabe Kaplan and David Grey in the $5000 Deuce to Seven Lowball event to capture his first bracelet. He has been close to the final table of the $10,000 Championship Event on two occasions, but has fallen just short in seventeenth (1995) and thirteenth (2003).

While not making the final table of the Main Event, Deeb has one of the crown jewels of the WSOP in his pocket. In 2007, Freddy defeated such players as Norwegian legend Thor Hansen, Barry Greenstein and French poker master Bruno Fitoussi on his way to one of the most coveted championships in the poker world, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament at the World Series. It was the second bracelet in his WSOP career and helped to drive his lifetime earnings to almost $6 million.

Freddy treats poker like a business and it shows both on the felt and away from it. He is quite businesslike in his play and always is looking for the right spot to “invest” his money, as he puts it. He always has the principles of the game in mind – for those that remember how he was rightfully outraged that he was accused of “going south” during a High Stakes Poker taping – and stays away from other casino games that drain the bankroll. A highly likeable person, the diminutive Deeb can often be found amid a swarm of fans who appreciate what he has done for the game and the style that he plays.

For over thirty years, Freddy Deeb has carried himself as many should in the poker world. He shows what a tenacious attitude, keen knowledge and money management skills can do for a player. Would we have ever seen Freddy at the poker tables without the tumult in his early life? We won’t ever find out but we have to admit that the game of poker is better for having Freddy Deeb as a part of it.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *