“Welcome to the Tim Adams Invitational,” said Triton Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi, telling his dealers to put the cards in the air on a special last-minute addition to this week’s Triton Montenegro schedule.
With the Main Event down to its last two tables, and plenty of underemployed poker players (particularly those who favour full-deck play) still kicking around the Maestral Resort, Adams floated the idea of a turbo tournament, suggesting there would be at least 20 entries regardless of buy-in.
Adams’s friend Daniel Dvoress said he expected closer to 40, and Vivaldi was persuaded. The tournament was arranged, the buy-in set at HKD 250,000 ($32,000 approx), and Adams and Dvoress sat down to play. And then in they all came. By the time registration closed after seven 25-minute levels, we were looking at a prize pool of HKD 8.972 million ($1.14 million) and another champion’s prize of HKD 3.410 million ($435,000 approx).
Some of the players simply gave up their (reluctant) night off, and others were migrants shuffling over following their elimination from the main event.
Alex Foxen was the most prominent example of those. Within a matter of minutes of suffering the coldest of cold decks (losing with pocket kings to Danny Tang’s aces, with Paul Phua also having ace-king), Foxen took a few deep breaths and sat back down in the hastily arranged event. As any unseated jockey will tell you, you have to immediately get back on the horse.
Foxen was one of those still playing as the clock ticked past midnight, and the last nine in the main event reached for their bags. He was happily just a spectator as a similar three-way showdown accounted for both David Peters and Linus Loeliger late on, with Michael Soyza’s aces holding against two rag aces when it all went in pre-flop.
Not long after, Wai Kim Yong departed, then Dietrich Fast, sent to the rail by Mike Watson’s turned pair of queens. And then they were down to nine, enough to fit around one table.
The best thing was that there were seats at the table for both Adams and Dvoress, who were behind the tournament, as well as for Foxen. Meanwhile Ivan Leow, who showed his enthusiasm by firing five bullets, also had the chance to make some of his money back.
At 1am, with players intending to play down to the last five and through the money bubble, the line-up was:
Seat 1: Tim Adams
Seat 2: Mike Watson
Seat 3: Jun Wah Yap
Seat 4: Ivan Leow
Seat 5: Steve O’Dwyer
Seat 6: Henrik Hecklen
Seat 7: Michael Soyza
Seat 8: Daniel Dvoress
Seat 9: Alex Foxen
We will catch up with the action when they return tomorrow.
Photography by Joe Giron/www.pokerphotoarchive.com
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