Just last week Jason Koon told us that he had no doubt that Stephen Chidwick would top the all-time money list — and by a wide margin.
If we could bet that market, we would have — and the odds would have just shortened.
Chidwick has just claimed his third Triton title, bringing his total earnings on just this tour above the $30 million mark.
He didn’t just win the $200K Short Deck either — he steamrolled Day 2, hit the final table with a commanding lead, and never gave his rivals a chance.
He started the final table with more than twice the chips of Elton Tsang, who was in second. He had twice the chips of Etsi Wang, who was in second when four players remained, and seven times the chips that Kiat Lee had in second when play was three-handed.
Chidwick: I didn't really prepare for Short Deck
Talking to Triton afterward, Chidwick said, “Someone decided I was going to win this tournament. In short deck especially, the chip leader has a big leverage to just play a lot of hands. The pot limit aspect does negate that a little bit, but when the chip lead is so large, and the pay-jumps are so big, it doesn't really matter. They can't really do very much against it.
“It's less pressure because they know pretty much what I'm going to do with that stack, and it's hard to make much of a mistake. I didn't have too many difficult decisions.”
Now, that’s the way to talk about a $3.5 million win.
And it gets better. He went on to say, “I didn't really prepare for short deck this trip. There was only one $50K on the schedule, so I just came in pretty rusty. When they kept adding tournaments I was scrambling a bit to try and look up my notes and remember what I used to know.”
The win puts Chidwick over the $70 million mark in career tournament earnings ($71,729,542), and now just $6,690,286 behind Bryn Kenney.
If Koon is right, it’s now just a matter of time before the Chidwick era atop the all-time list begins.
Triton Jeju $200K Short Deck results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Chidwick | $3,455,000 |
| 2 | Kiat Lee | $2,465,000 |
| 3 | Rene Van Krevelen | $1,591,000 |
| 4 | Esti Wang | $1,234,000 |
| 5 | Dan Dvoress | $971,000 |
| 6 | Elton Tsang | $754,000 |
| 7 | Winfred Yu | $590,000 |
Images courtesy of Triton Poker.
