Much more than just a poker blog...
Over the weekend Shaun Deeb appeared in an interview with Doug Polk, where he spoke about a number of topics including his history in the poker world, mixed games and his affection for slowrolling people in a variety of situations.
Deeb has, at times, been somewhat of a controversial figure in the poker community, and describes himself as "coming from a family of shit talkers." Deeb's family also runs a significantly successful business from which Deeb derived his old Full Tilt screen name: Ted's Fish Fry. He explains that while he isn't deeply involved with the business he does help with consulting occasionally and will also eventually inherit the reigns from his brother who currently runs the business.
The discussion gets interesting when Polk playfully interrogates Deeb about his proclivity for slowrolling, which Deeb is keen to distinguish as something not borne of any kind of malice. "To me slowrolling was not a negative connotation", but rather as he explains he saw it as a method to obtain further reads on opponents and as a source of humour:
"I can't remember why it started, I just fell in love with slowrolls online, I thought it was hilarious - back in my days I used to smoke drugs. It was part of something my group did, my inner circle. But I did it way more than everyone else."
Perhaps the most famous incident Deeb was involved in occurred between himself and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow [2]. In the hand in question Deeb was sitting with quad fives after the flop and Matusow with an overpair to the board with Jacks. When Matusow pushed all-in on a brick turn Deeb made him wait it out before eventually tabling his hand and enduring the consequent rant that included a threat of violence from Matusow.
What viewers apparently didn't realise however was that Matusow had spoken with him about slowrolling at an earlier date. This happened when along with various complaints about sports betting and the NFL; Matusow lamented slowrolling as the worst possible thing you could do to a person. Regardless, when Poker Night in America aired the encounter, it was clear to see Deeb struggled to restrain himself from laughing.
Despite all this, Deeb seems content with his strategy, acknowledging that it may occasionally hurt his value at the table. He's dealt with situations where the backlash from his actions were substantial enough to cause a stoppage of the game, and is also frequently verbally abused afterwards; even if not by the player directly affected by the hand. On the flipside, he stipulates that the community may be shifting; as others warm to the slowroll and even try it out themselves - some to their surprised enjoyment.
There's certainly a divide between the old school and the new when it comes to how they view slowrolling, with most online pros falling on the side of indifference. As the first generation of online players begin to mature and settle down, perhaps we will see a resurgence of the play among the newest players coming onto the scene, and to that extent, Shaun's relaxed perspective could pave the way for a more interesting and laid-back style of play.