He is, in many fans’ view, the greatest player ever to sit at poker table, but can Phil Ivey play short deck, the poker variant that has turned the high stakes game on its head?
Previous observers of Ivey at Triton Series events already know the answer to this. But just in case there was any doubt, the emphatic answer coming out of Cyprus today is: yes. Ivey just rampaged through the final day of the Triton Series Special Edition $75,000 Short Deck event to book another famous victory on this prestigious series and earn $1.17 million.
After they hit the final table of seven, Ivey knocked out all but one of his opponents and took the title barely six hours after a field of 11 returned overnight, all with aspirations of victory.
But they met with Ivey in irrepressible, unbeatable form — and that’s as terrifying as it is compelling. Ivey was simply spectacular.
His final opponent was Kiat Lee, from Malaysia, the Asian country that has produced more short-deck specialists than perhaps any other. Lee was on the brink of elimination much earlier in the tournament, but was prominent in a hugely unpredictable pre-bubble period.
But victory for Ivey is perhaps the only thing that is truly predictable in the poker world. And 
versus 
ended the tournament and put the trophy in Ivey’s hands.
When the tournament reached the final table, Mike Watson, who had started the day as the short stack, was the chip leader. He had taken chunks out of Mikita Badziakouski, Dan Cates and Chris Brewer to surge to the top.
But it was Ivey who hit the ground running, knocking out the dangerous Ivan Leow with red aces beating red queens. (You see a lot of premium pocket pairs in short deck, and this kind of thing is always going to end a player’s tournament.) Leow won $194,500 for seventh.
This kind of thing also happens: Ivey knocked out the next player, Richard Yong, with 
to Yong’s 
. Jack ten is a pretty hand in short-deck, with so many straight possibilities, but Ivey won this one the old-fashioned way, hitting a jack on the turn.
Yong, the Triton co-founder whose son Wai Kin, was eliminated on the bubble, took $241,000.
The stacks really weren’t all that short at this stage, but they kept flying into the middle. Jason Koon, the overnight chip leader, had and got his last 1 million in the middle. Ivey, with 
called off, hit a six, and that was the end of that for Koon.
The Triton Ambassador won $315,000.
Elton Tsang was another big stack overnight, but he lost some significant pots at the final table to Lee — and Ivey took a back seat for once as Lee polished off Tsang. On the final hand, Tsang had pocket nines to Lee’s and a jack on the turn again spelled the end for Tsang. His third cash of the week was worth $408,000.
The very next hand, Watson found pocket tens and moved all-in. Ivey just happened to find pocket kings again, and snap-called. Ivey flopped a set and Watson was drawing dead by the turn. That put another $538,000 in Watson’s bank account, but another 2.8 million chips in Ivey’s stack.
Settling in for heads up play, Ivey had a near four-to-one chip lead over Lee. Lee had a little over 4 million in his stack, or 40 antes, which is not really enough. They didn’t last too long.
Lee got his chips in at the first decent opportunity. His suited ace-ten looked pretty good. But not for the first time, Ivey had better, with that , and the tournament was over.
Ivey’s victory here confirmed what we already knew. He is an exceptional poker talent. And, in fact, this was not even his first short-deck success. Ivey won a short-deck tournament in Montenegro in 2018, a few days before he finished third in another short-deck event.
So, yes, Phil Ivey can play short deck. And even if plenty of others can too, there’s no beating the American great in this kind of form.
TRITON CYPRUS SPECIAL EDITION
EVENT 3: $75K SHORT DECK
Dates: April 5-6, 2022
Entries: 51 (inc. 23 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,706,500
1 – Phil Ivey, USA, $1,170,000
2 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia, $840,000
3 – Mike Watson, Canada, $538,000
4 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong, $408,000
5 – Jason Koon, USA, $315,000
6 – Richard Yong, Malaysia, $241,000
7 – Ivan Leow, Malaysia, $194,500
Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive