Tang Tops Counts on Single Bullet; Koon and Ivey with Big Stacks in the HKD $1-Million Short Deck Ante Only Event
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 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, with frequent multi-way all-in showdowns 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 US$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 is 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 #3 on the China 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 
flop, and while Patgorski’s flopped full house was leading his opponent’s 
, Tang spiked a spade on the river to win the monster pot.
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.
Day 2 Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Antes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Gabe Patgorski | United States | 750,000 | 125 |
| 1 | 2 | Phil Ivey | United States | 1,083,000 | 181 |
| 1 | 3 | Paul Phua | Malaysia | 610,000 | 102 |
| 1 | 5 | Peter Jetten | Canada | 1,451,000 | 242 |
| 1 | 6 | Jason Koon | United States | 1,810,000 | 302 |
| 2 | 1 | Marius Torbergsen | Norway | 985,000 | 164 |
| 2 | 2 | Wai Leong Chan | Malaysia | 213,000 | 36 |
| 2 | 3 | Alan Sass | United States | 100,000 | 17 |
| 2 | 5 | Xuan Tan | China | 421,000 | 70 |
| 3 | 1 | Andrew Robl | United States | 887,000 | 148 |
| 3 | 3 | Devan Tang | Hong Kong | 2,300,000 | 383 |
| 3 | 5 | Wang Qiang | China | 1,490,000 | 248 |
| 3 | 6 | Jaime Kaplan | United States | 1,401,000 | 234 |
The action restarts for Day 2 at 3pm local time on Friday 18 May, with two levels of re-entry left and the antes resuming at 6,000, with the button posting a double ante of 12,000. There will be a live Twitch Stream starting at 4pm with English commentary by Kane Kalas and Randy Lew, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to bring you all the tournament thrills and spills so join us then.