Ivey, Koon, Robl Bag Big in Triton Poker Short Deck Event, Tang Leads

May 18, 2018

The high stakes tournament action in the Triton Super High Roller Series did not conclude with Mikita Badziakouski’s Main Event victory, but ratcheted up to new heights as the HKD $1-million (~$132,000) Short Deck Ante Only Event got underway.

Some of the game’s biggest names fought it out at the felt, with 50 entries (including 18 re-entries) anteing up and getting involved in only the second-ever public tournament of this type ever held. With all deuces through to fives removed from the traditional deck of 52-cards, the game plays with a deck of 36, flushes beat full houses, and jack-ten plays like ace-king.

The tables did not run over six-handed, allowing a great deal of aggressive play and, dare we say it, quite a bit of gambling. The action was high tempo from the start, with players quite willing to get all the chips in at a moments notice. Frequent multi-way all-in showdowns were seemingly the norm, at least while the re-entry period remained open – which it will until the end of level 9 on Day 2.

Players began with a 300,000 chip stack, split up into three 100,000 bullets which players could take all at once, or one at a time – which appeared to be the more popular option – and played seven 60-minute levels.

While 50 players entered, only 13 survived the carnage that ensued once game time began with players of the caliber of Phil Ivey, Jason Koon, Dan “jungleman12” Cates, Richard Yong, two-time Triton SHR Champion Wai Kin Yong, Paul Phua, and Winfred Yu just some of the familiar faces showcasing their short deck skills.

This may be a new game, but Ivey already has the form, having taken down the HKD $250,000 Short Deck Ante Only opening event earlier in the festival for a $600,000 payday.

While it took him two attempts, Ivey climbed near to the top of the counts once again, bagging up 1,083,000. However, it's Hong Kong’s Devan Tang who topped the counts with a massive 2.3-million-chip-stack, which took him just a single 100k bullet of his initial entry.

Tang is well practiced at the Short Deck Ante Only format though and is a regular in the monster cash games that take place in Macau. Tang is also pretty good at tournaments, with over US$4.3M in live tournament winnings, putting him at third on China's All Time Money List.

US pro Jason Koon also enjoyed the rub of the green, concluding play with a stack of 1.81 million. Koon climbed to the top of the counts early after playing a massive pot against fellow countryman Gabe Patgorski, with the pair playing a 750,000-chip pot on just the second level of the day.

Other notables to lock up a Day 2 berth included China’s ‘Shanghai’ Wang Qiang (1,490,000), Canadian pro Peter Jetten (1,451,000), Jaime Kaplan (1,401,000), and Andrew Robl (750,000).

While it took him multiple attempts, Patgorski made it through with a stack of 750,000 and endured a rollercoaster ride of a day, dusting off a huge stack to Tang that saw the latter shoot to the top of the counts and the former re-enter for the third time. The pair got all the chips in on the 10♦10♠9♠ flop, and while Patgorski’s flopped full house was leading his opponent’s Q♠J♠, Tang spiked a spade on the river to win the monster pot with a flush.

Amongst those to hit the rail were Dan Cates, Russia’s Mikhail Smirnov, Triton founder Richard Yong, Wai Kin Yong, Main Event finalist Rui Cao, and 2016 Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza Champion Elton Tsang.

Triton Poker HKD1,000,000 Short Deck Day 2 Draw

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  Andrew Robl Jason Koon Peter Jetten Phil Ivey Randy Lew Triton Poker

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  Phil IveyRandy LewPeter JettenJason KoonAndrew Robl