Upon hearing the news that a few players were a no show at the final day of the WPT Philippines Triton Super High Roller Series Cali Cup $200K buy-in, the first word that came out of our mouth was "GASP"! What could possibly make these players skip out on a pot of $10M?
Yes, the news is true, as confirmed by Tournament Director Matt Savage. Players Denny Peng and Shi Jie Cai were no shows today and Yang Kit Chan arrived late leaving himself a very short stack to play with. As for Peng and Cai, it was rumored that they opted for the baccarat tables instead. They were blinded out quite early and Chan was unable to chip up, eventually joining them in the bust out list.
Blinded out!
Two different worlds
Whatever their reasons, in some ways, it shows how the sport of poker is viewed by the top pros in the world versus the casual businessmen who simply come out to play and enjoy the game. Just by reviewing the chip counts coming into today, other than Malaysian player Paul Phua and Qin "The Chairman" Si Xin, the top ten players in the list were all the top pros with Phil Ivey at the helm. This demonstrates a big difference in playing styles. While pros value every chip, embracing the age old adage of "a chip and a chair", the casual playing businessmen are content in having had the opportunity to play against the pros, going as far as leaving their stacks for other endeavors.
In the end, it is kudos to the Poker King Club for bringing these two worlds together. The event was a huge success with 52 entries, a good mix of top pros and casual businessmen coming out to play some poker. And now, we await the the outcome. Who will win the first ever WPT Triton Super High Roller Series Cali Cup and scoop up the $3,463,500 first place cash prize?
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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