It’s a case of East meets West in the HKD 1,000,000 (USD 127,000) Short-Deck Ante-Only tournament with nine of the final sixteen players coming from the likes of North America and Europe, and one of them, a Frenchman, has the lead.
Day 1A of the Big Daddy Short-Deck, Ante-Only attracted 44 entrants after six levels of complete and utter carnage, and it was Romain Arnaud who takes the chip lead into the final day of action.
Joining Arnaud from the west are the likes of Tom Dwan and the two big winners at the Triton Poker Series Montenegro, Mikita Badziakouski and Jason Koon. Those flying the flag from the East include the founder of this fabulous series, Richard Yong, the HKD 100k Short-Deck runner-up Kenneth Kee, and the two-time Triton Champ Wai Kin Yong.
Let’s take a look at the highlights.
Level 2 – Ante 1k
Marius Torbergsen tripled up through Phil Ivey and Ivan Leow when the three of them got it in on a Kc9s7d flop with the Norwegian, the aggressor. Torbergsen held JsTc for the double gutter, Leow held Th8d for the open-ended straight draw, and Ivey held K9dd for the top two pairs. The Qc on the river filling in the blanks for Torbergesen.
Chan Wai Leong forced Paul Phua to pull out another 100k when he cracked Phua’s aces KQs all-in pre-flop when running queens on the turn and the river gave Chan trips.
Chan then passed Phua’s chips to Ivey when the Virtue Poker star fired three-barrels, holding only two pairs but it was good as Chan mucked his hero call on the river.
Phua doubled through Gabe Patgorski when his pocket eights flopped a boat against the KQss of the American on KK8, and both the turn and river maintained the status quo.
Level 3 – Ante 2k
Xuan Tan was asking for another stack after passing his chips to Chan. The pair got it in on JdTh7d with Tan holding JcTd for top two pairs, and Chan holding KdQc for the open-ender, and Chan was dancing on Broadway as soon as the turn.
Alan Sass doubled through Phua when his rockets took AJo into space and starved it of oxygen when all-in pre-flop. Patgorski tripled through Mikita Badziakouski and Devan Tang when T9cc, beat out AQo and QQ when the American flopped a straight. And Wang Qiang eliminated Badziakouski QY>A9 all-in pre-flop, after flopping trip jacks.
Richard Yong scooped a three-way all-in with KJo, versus the JTo of Leow and 98o of Rui Cao, after flopping and rivering two pairs, and then he did it again, this time Yong’s AKo beating the KQo of Leow and T9o of Cao once again flopping and rivering the two pairs.
Alan Sass closed the level out in style sending Elton Tsang to the rail AQ>A7 all-in pre-flop.
Level 4 – Ante 2k
Romain Arnaud doubled through Patgorski on fourth street. The board showed KdJcTc6d when Arnaud moved all-in holding AQcc for the straight and flush draw. Patgorski showed QJdd for the flush draw outs, and chop possibilities. Neither came.
Cary Katz sent Cao to the cash desk when his AK beat out the KQ of the Frenchman. Andrew Robl doubled through Ivey JJ>AQ all-in pre-flop. And then Torbergesen forced Ivey to re-enter when he won a three-way all-in holding AK versus the QQ of Ivan Leow and the KJo of Ivey.
Level 5 – Ante 3k
Chan eliminated Robl JT>A7 all-in, pre-flop, only for Robl to buy back in. Tom Dwan joined the action late. And Peter Jetten busted Jason Koon AT>KT, sending the partypoker ambassador into his wallet.
Level 6 – Ante 4k
Wai Kin Yong eliminated Ivey when his pocket aces beat the pretty looking QTcc. Robl stacked Badziakouski, Arnaud did the same to Patgorski, and Dwan did likewise to Torbergsen.
Then Torbergsen sent Leow to the rail.
The Norwegian opened with a raise to 22,000 holding pocket tens, Dwan called in the cutoff holding KJo, and Leow called on the button holding A9o. The flop was KhJdTc, Torbergsen bet 30,000, and both players called. The turn was the 7h, Torbergsen moved all-in, and both players called. The 6h ended the action, and trips were good, Dwan moved down to 386,000, Leow was out, and Torbergsen moved up to 756,000.
End of Day Chip Counts
1. Romain Arnaud – 1,580,000
2. Kenneth Kee – 1,515,000
3. Wai Kin Yong – 1,284,000
4. Peter Jetten – 1,169,000
5. Alan Sass – 1,130,000
6. Jason Koon – 837,000
7. Chan Wai Leong – 802,000
8. Marius Torbergsen – 756,000
9. Xuan Tuan – 690,000
10. Andrew Robl – 610,000
11. Richard Yong – 401,000
12. Tom Dwan – 386,000
13. Winfred Yu – 366,000
14. Devan Tang – 344,000
15. Ben Lamb – 315,000
16. Mikita Badziakouski – 176,000
The turnout wasn’t as grand as the 100+ entrants that created a bumper $3m+ payday for Jason Koon in Montenegro, but it will still grow with late registration open for at least one more level.
The action begins at 2 pm on Sunday 29 July, where we play down to a winner.