Phil Ivey Takes Down Short Deck Event in Montenegro for $605k

Phil Ivey may not be a regular on the tournament scene anymore, preferring instead to devote his time to playing high stakes cash games in Asia, but when the former world number one does get round to entering a live tourney he continues to represent a huge threat in the eyes of his opponents.
Of course when Ivey does take part in a game its guaranteed to be a high rolling affair, with his latest endeavor being a HK$250,000 (US$32k) NLHE Short Deck tournament, which was the first-ever held as part of the 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro. Two days later, and the 10-times WSOP bracelet winner eventually emerged atop of the 61 player field to collect a first place prize of HK$4,749,200 (US$604,992). Giving an insight into the winning mentality which has helped him dominate the tournament scene until playing less regularly post-2103, Ivey stated:
“It still feels good, I am looking forward to the events with bigger prize pools and hope to win some more.”
As a result of his latest victory, Ivey now overtakes John John Juanda to move into 7th place on poker’s ‘All Time Money List’ with $24,461,025 in winnings, with Daniel Negreanu continuing to top the list on $36,546,095.
Triton Super High Roller Series
The partypoker LIVE sponsored Triton Super High Roller Series is a leading high stakes brand that specializes in creating some of the most lucrative and innovative tournaments on the circuit. From May 12-18, the series is being held at the Maestral Resort & Casino in Budva, Montenegro, and for the first time has introduced the increasingly popular “Short Deck Ante-Only” format, which plays with a smaller deck of 36 cards (low card from 2 to 5 removed, with an ace doubling up as a five).
Needless to say, the variant results in a much more frenetic pace at the tables, and a lot more gambling action, both of which would certainly have appealed to the poker legend and world famous gambler.
HKD$250k Short Deck Final Table
The HKD$250k Short Deck Event featured a HK$14,347,200 (US$1,827,664) prize pool, and a minimum ninth place finish worth HK$473,000 (US$60,255), with that honor eventually going to a short-stacked Mikhail Smirnov who was eliminated holding J-9 to Gabe Patgorski’s Q-9.
Patgorski (Q-Q) then scored a double elimination over Wai Kin Yong (10-8) and Wai Kin Yong (A-K) who after the board rolled out A-Q-9-8-7 exited in 8th and 9th places respectively. Ivey (K-J) subsequently picked off Ivan Leow’s (K-Q) ill-timed bluff on an A-Q-9-6-10 board to send the Malaysian to the rail in 6th, after which Patgorski (K-10) resumed his steamrolling of the final table by taking care of Furkat Rakhimov (8-7) in 5th.
Dan Cates (A-K) then knocked out a badly dominated Jason Koon (A-J) in 4th, before being dealt K-K to do likewise to Patgorski (A-Q) in 3rd and force heads-up play against Ivey for the title.
Heads-Up
As the final battle got underway with an ante of 50k and a double button ante of 100k, Cates was sitting on a commanding lead. Nevertheless, Ivey managed to keep the pots small and gradually grind up his stack. After moving ahead, the deciding hand was played with Ivey (Qc-Jc) raising preflop, and Cates making the call holding Ad-7d. Both players subsequently checked the Kd-Js-10d flop, and after a 9s landed on the turn Cates check-raised all-in, prompting a quick call from Ivey.
There was to be no last moment reprieve for Cates, though, and after a 6c fell on the river he had to console himself with a runner-up finish worth $407,505, which now takes his tournament career earnings to $6,089,034. In the meantime, Ivey recorded his first tournament victory since taking down the 2015 Aussie Millions A$250k for A$2,205,000 (US$1,710,854).
Final Table Results:
1: Phil Ivey (USA) HKD 4,749,200 ($604,977)
2: Dan Cates (USA) HKD 3,199,000 ($407,505)
3: Gabe Patgorski (USA) HKD 1,937,000 ($246,745)
4: Jason Koon (USA) HKD 1,334,000 ($169,932)
5: Furkat Rakhimov (RUS) HKD 918,000 ($116,939)
6: Ivan Leow (MLY) HKD 689,000 ($87,768)
7: Alan Sass (USA) HKD 560,000 ($71,336)
8: Wai Kin Yong (MLY) HKD 488,000 ($62,164)
9: Mikhail Smirnov (RUS) HKD 473,000 ($60,253)