RANK & FILE: Paul Volpe First Former #1 Player to Three Bracelets
In the illustrious history of the PocketFives Rankings, 55 different players have managed to hold down the #1 spot. This edition of the RANK & FILE focuses on how those players did during the 2018 World Series of Poker.
Paul Volpe First #1 to Grab Hardware in 2018
Paul ‘paulgees81’ Volpe started off his 2018 WSOP in strong fashion. He finished third in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty, then 15th in the $100,000 High Roller and then everything came together for him in the $10,000 Omaha 8-or-better Championship, where he outlasted 168 other players to win his third career bracelet. He is the only former #1-ranked player to have won that many.
He then picked up his fourth cash of the year on Monday, finishing 15th in the $10,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven event. All told, Volpe has earned $757,185 this summer, the most of any former #1-ranked player.
Shaun Deeb Continues Cashing
While Volpe is the only one to win a bracelet so far, Shaun Deeb continues to earn visits to the payout desk. Deeb has picked up six cashes so far, two more than Volpe, for $59,808. While most of his results have been on the smaller side, he did come close to winning a bracelet in the $1,500 No Limit Deuce to Seven event. Deeb made the final table, only to finish third for $36,330.
Here’s a closer look at all of Deeb’s cashes for 2018 to date:
| EVENT | POSITION | WINNINGS |
| $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better | 44th | $4,723 |
| COLOSSUS – $565 No-Limit Hold’em | 1,418th | $920 |
| $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball | 37th | $3,937 |
| Big Blind Antes $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em | 16th | $11,553 |
| $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw | 3rd | $36,330 |
| $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONAIRE MAKER | 965th | $2,345 |
Deeb still has some work to do to match or beat his 2017 performance which saw him pick up 10 cashes.
Fedor Holz Makes the Most of His One Event
After winning his first WSOP in 2016, Fedor Holz told the poker world he was retiring from poker but would still play, just at a reduced schedule. Despite this, he’s continued to play the biggest events on the calendar while skipping anything that’s not a high roller.
Holz played the $100,000 High Roller in the opening days of the 2018 WSOP and finished ninth for $240,265. He then took to Instagram to let people know he was headed back to Austria and won’t be back in Vegas until after the Main Event.
The ninth place finish marks his first WSOP cash since beating Dan Smith heads-up to win the $111,111 One Drop High Roller in 2016.
Chris Moorman Only Other Former #1 to Cash Three Times
Chris Moorman, who won his first bracelet last summer, is the only other former #1-ranked player to pick up at least three cashes so far this year. He won his first round match-up in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em but couldn’t win the second and ended up finishing 17th for $6,302. He followed that up by cashing in the Colossus for $1,118 and then came 191st in the $1,500 Millionaire Maker for $6,654.
By The Numbers
As a group, the former #1s have picked up 28 total cashes for $1,119,033 in earnings so far.
