HK$1,000,000 Short Deck Ante-Only
Day 2 Completed
HK$1,000,000 Short Deck Ante-Only
Day 2 Completed
The second day of HK$1,000,000 Triton Hold'em (Short Deck Ante-Only) saw the field dwindle to the final three contenders. Kenneth Kee, Richard Yong and Cary Katz have already locked up seven-figure prizes but the key question remained unanswered after a total of 17 hours of play. Kee, Yong and Katz hit a stalemate three-handed and neither of them was willing to give up the chance to nab the title which comes with an elusive HK$22,500,000 top-prize, equalling $2.86 million.
The remaining three players will come back to battle it out on Monday, July 30 at 4 p.m. local time with Kee holding the lead, having bagged 8,245,000 tonight. Yong is in second place with 6,815,000 while Katz guards the shortest stack of 2,940,000. It's still a wide-open contest as Katz will continue with over 20 button-antes so he'll have some room to maneuver his belongings.
Katz' way to the podium was perhaps the most exciting. The long-time no-limit aficionado arrived in Jeju and took to the felt in his first Triton Hold'em event, showing up on Day 1. Katz couldn't make it through and decided to give it another shot during the last level of late registration. It looked to be an expensive debut for Katz as his re-entry bullet ended up plummeted within a few minutes, courtesy of Gabe Patgorski.
The seventh level was very eventful and the registration gates finally closed with the total field soaring to 60 entries. Katz fired his third attempt just before the buzzer and he managed to convert it into making a profit in the event. That was something Phil Ivey wasn't able to do as he experienced a few devastating bad beats today.
After busting two entries on Day 1, Ivey returned to the felt and fell again, losing with aces against queens of Wai Kin Yong with one queen out of the deck. Ivey then jumped back in and finally started amassing piles of chips. He built a promising stack of 2 million at one point, but his farewell came when he made a great call on the turn with a pair of aces, facing Mikita Badziakouski in a huge pot of almost 3 million chips. Badziakouski had only an open-ender but he binked the river to sink Ivey for good.
Badziakouski was one of two players who managed to catapult a short stack into one of the biggest in the room, along with Tom Dwan who was in possession of 3.8 million in chips but then suffered a few blows and missed out on the final table. Katz delivered the final hit, prevailing after getting it in with straight against Dwan's top two on the turn.
That helped Katz to establish himself as the chip leader for the seven-handed final table, which started on the stone bubble. Ivan Leow was the shortest stack but he wasn't scared to blast and successfully rocketed his way back in contention.
So the last player leaving the tournament without getting paid was Andrew Robl who shoved with ace-ten suited only to run into ace-queen of Yong. Yong turned queens full and Robl couldn't even sweat the river while the rest of the players were guaranteed at least $451,000.
Leow eventually min-cashed, completing his hattrick from all Triton Hold'em events held in Jeju as he previously finished seventh in the HK$100k event before conquering the HK$500k event.
The highlight hand of the day happened shortly afterwards with Mikita Badziakouski and Peter Jetten both eliminated on the same hand. They peeled pairs of kings and queens but Kee was dealt aces at the same time, covering both Badziakouski and Jetten. They stuffed it in preflop and Kee held to reduce the field down to three.
The play continued for three more hours with each of the players guarding the lead at a certain point but Kee was the one who claimed it before bagging. He is arguably the most experienced Triton Hold'em player so he'll come back as a favorite but Yong and Katz have already shown great resilience so make sure to tune back to PokerNews at 4 p.m. to follow the final outcome of the exciting event with whopping prizes at stake.
Payout structure and results so far:
Place | Player | Country | Prize (HKD) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 22,500,000 | 2,866,838 | ||
2nd | 13,920,000 | 1,773,617 | ||
3rd | 9,120,000 | 1,162,025 | ||
4th | Peter Jetten | Canada | 6,300,000 | 802,715 |
5th | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 4,620,000 | 588,657 |
6th | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | 3,540,000 | 451,049 |
The three remaining players bagged their stacks and the finale will continue Monday, July 30 at 4 p.m. local time with the 60,000/120,000 antes.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kenneth Kee | 8,245,000 | -455,000 |
Richard Yong | 6,815,000 | 415,000 |
Cary Katz | 2,940,000 | 140,000 |
Richard Yong limped with and Kenneth Kee raised to 450,000 on the button. Yong matched the price and they continued to the flop. Both checked and the gave Yong a full house. He led out 500,000 but Kee wasn't willing to pay.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kenneth Kee | 8,700,000 | -100,000 |
Richard Yong | 6,400,000 | 300,000 |
Richard Yong opened with a raise to 350,000 with and Kenneth Kee called with on the button.
The flop was and Yong checked. Kee checked behind to see the on the turn where he made a full house. There, Yong bet 300,000 and Kee called.
The river was the and Yong checked. Kee put out a bet of an unknown amount and Yong quickly folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kenneth Kee | 8,800,000 | 2,100,000 |
Richard Yong | 6,100,000 | -1,500,000 |
Action was limped in a three-way pot and all three players checked on the flop.
On the turn, Yong put out a bet of 250,000 and Katz called.
The river was the and both players checked. Katz showed for a straight and it would beat Yong’s for two pair.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Richard Yong | 7,600,000 | -300,000 |
Cary Katz | 2,800,000 | 500,000 |
Cary Katz limped with and Richard Yong raised to 450,000 in the hijack with . Katz called and then check-called 350,000 on the flop. The turn, however, left him drawing dead. Katz checked, Yong put him all in and Katz let his hand go.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Richard Yong | 7,900,000 | 800,000 |
Cary Katz | 2,300,000 | -1,300,000 |
On a flop of , cutoff Kenneth Kee fired 250,000 in a three-way limped pot, holding . Cary Katz called on the button with and the came on the turn.
Kee checked, Katz reached to his stack and placed in a bet of 310,000 and Kee called.
The river chopped it up and Kee tried to induce a bet from Katz, checking his ten-high straight. Katz made it 300,000, Kee called and they split.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kenneth Kee | 6,700,000 | -645,000 |
Cary Katz | 3,600,000 | 200,000 |
Richard Yong opened to 550,000 with . Kenneth Kee then three-bet to 1,800,000 with . Katz folded on the button and Yong folded as well so Kee took down the pot to move into the chip lead.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kenneth Kee | 7,345,000 | 545,000 |
Richard Yong | 7,100,000 | -500,000 |
Cary Katz raised to 400,000 from the cutoff with and Richard Yong was on the button with . He raised to 1,400,000. Katz folded and Yong took down the pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Richard Yong | 7,600,000 | 100,000 |
Cary Katz | 3,400,000 | -200,000 |