You don’t need to know much about short deck poker to know that there’s a lot of gamble in it. Not every hand will be a thrill ride, but there’s a good chance one will be around the corner if it’s been quiet for a while.
Here’s a look at a full orbit on one of the outer tables here at this $75,000 buy-in short deck event at Triton Series Cyprus. We committed to following all the details for six hands in the hope (and expectation) that there would be some fireworks, even this early in the tournament.
This was the final orbit of Level 3, where the ante was 1,500 and the button paid 3,000. It was a good-looking table, featuring the following line-up:
Seat 1 — Richard Yong (Malaysia)
The Triton co-founder had a stack of about 105,000.
Seat 2 — Jason Koon (USA)
The Triton Ambassador and early short-deck aficionado was sitting with about 160,000.
Seat 3 — Wei Hsiang Yeu (Malaysia)
Malaysian Yeu has played frequently on the Triton Series since 2018 and has one notable cash: second place in a HK$250K short deck event, for HK$3.3 million. Chip-leading this table with 235,000.
Seat 5 — Kanstantsin Osipau (Belarus)
A total newcomer to the Triton Series and, it seems, to the world of organised tournament poker. The man from Belarus has no recorded cashes. Stack of about 190,000.
Seat 6 — Phil Ivey (USA)
Never heard of him. A solid start, sitting with 220,000.
Seat 7 — Chris Brewer (USA)
Making his debut on the Triton Series here in Cyprus, and picked up a first cash in the $50K Turbo yesterday. Stack a little more than 100,000.
Hand 1: Button with Jason Koon
All players in a Triton Series short deck tournament post a single ante, with the player on the button posting the “button ante”, which is double. At this stage, it was 1,500 and 3,000, respectively.
Action starts to the left of the button, in this instance with Wei Hsiang Yeu (maybe WHY for short). He called the additional 1,500. Kanstantsin Osipau was the only other called, and Jason Koon checked.
The flop came 
and Yeu checked. Osipau bet 9,000 and both Koon and Yeu called.
The turn was the 
and, after two checks, Koon bet 22,500 and both his opponents folded.
Hand 2: Button with Wei Hsiang Yeu
Three players — Phil Ivey, Chris Brewer and Jason Koon — all called, and Wei Hsiang Yeu checked his option. The flop of 
brought four checks.
The came on the turn and, after three checks, Yeu bet 8,000. Both Ivey and Koon called, but Brewer let his hand go.
The river was the 
. After two checks, Yeu bet 35,000 and picked up two calls. They then all showed their cards.
Wei: 
Ivey: 
Koon: 
If you don’t follow short deck, you’ll need to double check what’s going on here. But they all had a straight, A-6-7-8-9. They chopped it three ways.
Hand 3: Button with Kanstantsin Osipau
This one got started with another flurry of calls, from Chris Brewer and Jason Koon, then a check from Kanstantsin Osipau. The three saw a flop of 
.
Brewer checked, Koon bet 5,000 and only Osipau called.
The two remaining players then checked through the 
turn and river, with Koon’s 
taking it down. Osipau mucked.
Hand 4: Button with Phil Ivey
This time the pre-flop callers were Chris Brewer, Jason Koon, Wei Hsiang Yeu and Kanstantsin Osipau, which preceded Phil Ivey tapping his fist on the rail to indicate a check. Those four looked at a flop of 
.
After a couple of checks, Yeu bet 6,000 and only Brewer called.
Both players checked the 
turn, which took them to the river. Brewer checked, Yeu bet 10,000, and Brewer folded.
Hand 5: Button with Chris Brewer
Richard Yong hadn’t played a hand until this point. He sat there silently, with a decongestant inhaler up one nostril. But he got this hand under way with a limp from under the gun. Wei Hsiang Yeu called, Kanstantsin Osipau called and Phil Ivey called, and the Chris Brewer moved all-in. He had 111,000 more.
Yong took a small amount of time but then he moved all-in too, with slightly less in his stack than Brewer. (Technically, this was an undercall, but you wouldn’t know if from Yong’s gleeful thump of the chips into the pot.) All the others got out of the way.
Brewer:
Yong: 
You know earlier we stated that fireworks are almost always just arounf the corner in short deck, well here’s the proof.
The dealer put the flop of 
on the table, giving Yong top set. But then the turn gave Brewer all kinds of flush outs, plus an inside straight draw. And he drilled it with the river.
“My goodness, short deck,” said Koon, exasperated. “That is a straight.”
The dealer took a short while to confirm that Koon was, in fact, right, and Brewer had earned his double up. Yong tossed in another bullet chip, meaning a new 100,000 stack was coming.
Hand 6: Button with Richard Yong
Blinds went up after the conclusion of the hand above, meaning it was now 2,000 per ante, and double that for the button. Jason Koon limped fromu under the gun, and Kanstantsin Osipau and Chris Brewer joined him. Richard Yong checked his button.
The flop came 
. Koon and Osipau checked and, after Brewer bet 6,000, that was good enough for the win.
And with that, a good round for Chris Brewer came to its conclusion. He doubled into the chip lead, with Jason Koon also profiting. Shortly after, Koon celebrated with a standing back-flop — really — pointing to Richard Yong and saying, “I’m 37, Richard.”
Yong managed to resist what was probably a clear urge to respond with: “And I’m over 60” before doing a double back-flip. He can probably do it.
Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive