Jesse Lonis and Shaun Deeb Fight Over Controversial Fold with Trip Kings

Jesse Lonis has been taking flak for the last few days over this sick fold, and now Shaun Deeb is encouraging the pile on even more.

And it turns out that the pair grew up near each other and Deeb even used to be a hero of Lonis as he climbed the stakes.

Now though, it looks like the gloves are off and there is no love lost between the rivals.

This hand should get more likes than an @AbbyMerk winners photo tweet @JesseLonis finally made it https://t.co/oFyfWC8Uty

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) December 17, 2025

Did Jesse Lonis Make a Bad Fold?

The blinds were 125K/250K/250K and Lonis opened to 525,000 in the cutoff with K♦K♠ and it folded around to Ryuta Nakai in the big blind who made the call with Q♠10♥ and about 25 blinds left behind.

The flop came down K♣8♥A♠ and Nakai checked to Lonis who made a tiny bet of only 375,000. Nakai called.

The turn was the Q♣ and now Lonis fires in a bet of 1,625,00 Nakai calls once again.

The river was a blank 3♦ and now Lonis goes for max value with a pot size bet of 5,500,000.

Nakai still has 12,800,000 behind and looks to be pondering a call with his third pair, but then he pulls off a wicked bluff by min-raising and leaving only about seven big blinds behind.

Lonis knows this is a sick bluff if it’s anything but jack-ten for the straight Nakai probably deserves the pot.

several timebank chips So, what’s the verdict here? As ever, the poker community failed to come to a clear agreement but there was definitely plenty of criticism thrown Lonis’s way.

For the uninitiated, this is mostly down to the fact of how exploitable he is if he folds everything but the only straight available.

It’s also important to know that Jesse Lonis is one of the best performing players in high-stakes live tournaments right now, and one who has a hyper-aggressive image.

Players love to call Lonis down light, always expecting to be shown a bluff if a showdown is seen.

Bad players also make bad folds we can run back last years bet as much as you want https://t.co/PxbDCxAxRV

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) December 17, 2025

Jesse Lonis Responds

After throwing a jibe over Lonis’s poker social media struggles, Shaun Deeb jumped straight into crossbook betting talk like there was plenty of unfinished business.

Daniel Negreanu was one of the first to stand up and defend Lonis, giving a short explanation of why he’s one of the best in the business right now.

“Jesse has been having phenomenal results the last couple years, precisely because he is willing to trust himself in these type of spots.

“He got this one wrong, but how often is he getting it right, and getting away from coolers that most humans just shrug and go broke on?

“The easy play is to call here and lament your bad luck. The difficult, above the rim plays require a trust in yourself that few possess.”

I don’t usually comment on hands I play whether good or bad but let me break down my thoughts for you guys, and take a trip down memory lane a little bit.

I’ve played against my opponent at a few stops recently. Every spot we played he was super cautious. Even in most spots… https://t.co/J4y05Kqiy3

— Jesse Lonis (@JesseLonis) December 17, 2025

The explanation Lonis gave was that he half-knew his opponent from several interactions earlier this year. The conclusion was that Nakai played tighter than average against him.

The other key factor was that Lonis’s aggressive style is better served by a bigger stack.

“The way my style is I know I can spin 11 million up at that blind depth with pressure way more than I could, if I only have 5.5 in front of me. That being said within the next hour, I did spin it back up to 23 million only seeing one showdown.”

And then he fired straight into Shaun Deeb , telling how he’s no longer the best player from that area.

It’s all in the tweet above. Read how Lonis and his former idol fell out and make your own mind up what really happened.