Phil Ivey has once again been hitting the headlines with his poker prowess, this time, finding victory at the Triton Super High Roller Series. This is a special series in many ways, and remains the only series that consistently attracts the most exciting names in the poker world year on year.
Even the elusive greats Ivey and Dwan have always been ready to play this series, even when they are primarily away from live tournament poker. This year’s Triton Series brought both these two star names together, along with many others.
Ivey’s victorious return
Last October, Phil Ivey spoke to Somuchpoker in Beijing and outlined his plans to return to the live tournament scene and try to win titles once again. Now, several months later he has delivered on that promise, and also delivered another big result. In what is his first cash since January 2016, Ivey took home $604,977 for winning the Triton HKD$250,000 Short Deck event. As the first ever live short deck tournament to be played and aired, it was fitting that poker’s biggest superstar took the title. Despite going into heads-up play with a 4 to 1 chip deficit, Ivey slowly ground his opponent down into dust, much to the delight of watching fans. Next stop – the WSOP. The man of the hour confirmed he will be involved this summer in an interview while playing the Triton Series in Montenegro.
Final Result HKD$250,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in HKD) | Prize (in $)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Ivey | United States | HKD 4,749,200 | $604,977 |
| 2 | Dan Cates | United States | HKD 3,199,000 | $407,505 |
| 3 | Gabe Patgorski | United States | HKD 1,937,000 | $246,745 |
| 4 | Jason Koon | United States | HKD 1,334,000 | $169,932 |
| 5 | Furkat Rakhimov | Russia | HKD 918,000 | $116,939 |
| 6 | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | HKD 689,000 | $87,768 |
| 7 | Alan Sass | United States | HKD 560,000 | $71,336 |
| 8 | Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | HKD 488,000 | $62,164 |
| 9 | Mikhail Smirnov | Russia | HKD 473,000 | $60,253 |
Dwan out of the money but into the spotlight
The other star attraction in Montenegro was of course Tom Dwan. Elusive in recent years, Dwan made the trip to play in the Triton Super High Roller Series but could not find the same vein of form that Ivey brought to the action. He did not manage to cash, but did find time to give an interview to PokerNews, in which he revealed that the games in Macau have been in contrast to those online, having grown, as the online action has diminished. He also spoke of short deck poker and the durrrr challenge, but kept his cards close to his chest when asked about the stake sizes in Macau.
Many will be hoping that a month from now, both Ivey and Dwan will be pulling up chairs at the WSOP as they go in search of gold, instead of dollars.
Article by Craig Bradshaw
