Photo Finish! Shaun Deeb Wins WSOP Player Of The Year, Again

It came down to the wire, but Shaun Deeb accomplished his mission this summer as the winner of the 2025 World Series of Poker Player of the Year race. This is the second POY triumph for Deeb, joining Daniel Negreanu (2004, 2013) as the only multi-winner of the award.

Deeb has been a perennial contender since securing his first win in 2018, always playing a full summer schedule and often multiple events at the same time. In fact, since his first win he has only failed to finish inside the top 10 in the final standings once (2024), and managed two runner-up showings (2019, 2023), a fourth-place finish (2022), and a sixth-place run (2021).

“We did it boys and girls great battle between Martin [Kabrhel] and Benny [Glaser] they battled to the last tourney,” Deeb wrote on Twitter/X after the final day of the series concluded.

The New York native also seemed to weigh in on a burgeoning online debate about his victory. Some have argued that Glaser, who won three bracelets this summer, or Poker Players Championship and main event winner Michael Mizrachi, should have earned the POY award given their impressive performances.

Deeb responded by sharing a post from DBZMafia that said, “This is ridiculous. Tell the guy that won the Heisman Trophy that he needs to give it to the guy that won the national championship. [Deeb] earned POY, [Mizrachi] won the Main, his fourth PPC, and went straight into HoF. BOTH guys earned what they got.”

The 39-year-old cashed in 24 bracelet events between live and online play this summer, accumulating more than $4 million in tournament earnings. He made five final tables along the way, including one win, three runner-up finishes, and one third-place showing.

The lone victory came in an absolutely massive event, which was the first $100,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha tournament ever held at the WSOP in Las Vegas. He bested a field of 121 entries to earn $2,957,229, the single largest payout in PLO tournament history. With more than $6.6 million in cashes, Deeb sits in fifth place on the PLO all-time money list. He has $17 million in career cashes overall.

The win also came with his seventh career gold bracelet, making him just the 16th player in WSOP history to have earned as many.

Deeb’s second-largest payday of the summer was the $348,304 he earned for a podium showing in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better championship. Just two days after that close call, he finished second in the $1,500 razz for $84,221.

Less than a week later, he got second online in a $600 no-limit hold’em Monster Stack for another $90,776. His final runner-up showing came a few days into the main event. He navigated a huge field of 1,873 entries in a $1,000 no-limit tournament, settling for $154,906..

And it turns out that every spot he laddered up at those final tables was crucial to fend off Glaser, who managed 16 cashes overall. In addition to his three wins, Glaser also finished seventh in the $777 online event, just one spot away earning enough points to pass Deeb. He also had a shot in the $50,000 high roller, but ultimately came away with a min-cash.

Mizrachi’s late push to the top 3 came with his main event win, which was worth a whopping 1,756 points alone. The Grinder had 12 cashes overall, but the rules dictate that only a player’s top 10 cashes count towards their point total.

Martin Kabrhel finished fourth, thanks to four final tables and a bracelet win. Scott Bohlman, who made three final tables and also earned a win, rounded out the top five.

Daniel Negreanu, who documented his entire summer on his YouTube channel, had 15 cashes overall and four final tables, finishing eighth overall. According to his vlog, he finished the series up $181,097, cashing for a total of $1.4 million.

2025 WSOP POY Top 25

• Photos by PokerGO – Antonio Abrego/Enrique Malfavon and Card Player – Drew Amato