“This is so much more exciting than cash games.”
That was Elton Tsang, midway through the penultimate level of Day 1 in the Triton Series $75K short-deck event at Merit Casino & Resort, Cyprus. Tsang, who has made a great deal of money playing mostly cash games, had just knocked out the tournament specialist Daniel Dvoress, and was loving life.
“Tournaments are fun,” agreed Jason Koon, sitting next to him.
You wouldn’t find anyone in Cyprus today who would disagree, nor among the thousands watching the Triton Series live stream across the world. Even those players for whom today wasn’t quite as successful as it was for Tsang and Koon are merely waiting in the wings to play short deck tournament poker again tomorrow.
Because, yes, it was a successful day for Tsang and Koon. Those two finished Day 1 of Event #3 with the two biggest stacks in the room — Koon’s 2.66 million just an ante or two bigger than Tsang’s 2.615 million. From a starting field of 51 entries (including 23 re-entries), only 11 players remained at bagging time. Tomorrow they will return to decide how they’ll carve up a $3.7 million prize pool, with the bubble bursting when seven players remain.
The winner is due for a $1.17 million payday.
We know all about Koon, of course, the Triton Ambassador with three titles, 14 in-the-money finishes, and more than $12 million in earnings on the Triton Series alone. He’s in pole position to add even more tomorrow.
Tsang is in a rich run of form this week and made the final table of the first two no limit hold’em events they played out. And it’s fair to say we know a fair bit about the man sitting in third. That’s Phil Ivey, who is also in awesome form this week, and has demonstrated he knows about short deck too.
Also worth a word about Richard and Wai Kin Yong. The father-and-son team — the masterminds behind the Triton Series — are both still involved too. They sat next to each other for a portion of the day too. Must have been just like back at home.
The final 11 stack up like this tonight. Payout schedule is below.
Jason Koon, USA – 2,600,000
Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – 2,615,000
Phil Ivey, USA – 1,910,000
Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – 1,380,000
Ivan Leow, Malaysia – 1,285,000
Dan Cates, USA – 1,170,000
Richard Yong, Malaysia – 980,000
Mikita Badziakouski – 875,000
Chris Brewer – 875,000
Kiat Lee – 835,000
Mike Watson – 775,000
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 – $1,170,000
2 – $840,000
3 – $538,000
4 – $408,000
5 – $315,000
6 – $241,000
7 – $194,500
Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive