It’s always a very sad moment when a poker player decides to pack his bags and leave the felt. It’s a common enough occurrence, what with the swings that one has to endure when he plays this extreme game. Even poker pros are not immune to quitting. Skilled they might be at the game, there are those that inevitable reach that breaking point. And this is exactly what happened to Shaun Deeb as he declared that he intends to quit playing tournament poker.

The Young Millionaire

Deeb got his claim to fame when he emerged in the poker scene as a very young poker pro who specialized in playing multiple tables at once. He started out with a mere $30 deposit and turned it into a nice $33,000 in just a few weeks. In a few months, that amount had ballooned into millions. And by then, everyone knew “shaundeeb” in pokerstars and “tedsfishfry” in Full Tilt Poker. He also gained fame by playing about 20 tournaments per day, sometimes reaching even 30. He was a phenomenon, a true legend in the making.

Just recently, though, things began to change.

“Burn Out”

It’s no secret that Shaun Deeb has been nursing a bruised ego and an even more bruised bankroll after the not-so-stellar run he has been having. That is why, to those who know him and have played against him, his decision came as no surprise. To the rest of the poker world, though, Shaun’s decision was something of a shocker. When asked about his decision, Deeb said that he was “burntout” and that he hates the tournaments and is done with them. The depression was practically palpable when he said, “I can’t win live, everyone was always right. I can’t win online. I just ran good. Everyone was always right. I’m gunna take the rest of year off hopefully and go do something else yah. Poker was good for a while but **** I hate what I’ve become.” By the sound of things, the game just ran sour for the young pro. He clarified, though, that it was not poker per se that he was quitting, just tournaments.

Indeed, Deeb might have left the circuit, but he did not leave without leaving a bit of advice. He shared that doing what he did required lots of practice. New players should not try to jump from three tables to thirty tables at once.

That said, what we should all do now is to wish Shaun Deeb luck on his endeavors outside the world of poker.