The third event of Triton's Cyprus Special Edition was a $75,000 buy-in short deck event. Poker legend, Phil Ivey took the tourney down in style, winning $1,170,000 for his efforts.
The event attracted 51 entries putting $3,706,500 in the prize pool. After the $1,170,000 that was earmarked for Ivey, the remaining funds were split unevenly between the next six finishers.
Day one saw the field whittled down to eleven players. Since only seven places were paid, when the final table bubble burst, everyone was guaranteed at least the min-cash of $194,500.
That min-cash went to Ivan Leow when he busted in 7th. He was quickly followed by Richard Yong and Jason Koon. That left Elton Tsang and Mike Watson to take fourth and third respectively.
Ivey managed to get to heads up play against Wai Kiat Lee of Malaysia with a 2:1 chip lead. Lee is another short deck specialist, but we didn't get to see much play between the two titans. With the blinds getting high, Lee moved all in on the second had and found himself up against Ivey's ace-king with just an ace-ten in the hole.
The board paired their aces, but missed the tens, giving Ivey the title and Lee the bike. Lee won $840,000 for his second place finish.
Ivey is back
After flying into Cyprus for the series, Ivey final tabled the first event before winning this one outright.
This is his fourth win in the last five years. All four of those wins have been in short deck events.
Daniel Negreanu tweeted about Ivey's win, "Phil Ivey is back y’all! He played 4 @tritonpoker events and has 3 FTs and just won the Short Deck. You love to see it! One of his biggest strengths has always been figuring out new games faster than everyone else, and it appears he gets short deck."
That quickness of mind was on full display in Ivey's performance on the live stream for the final table of Event #3.
You can view the full live stream on Youtube.
Triton Poker Cyprus Special Edition Event #3: $75,000 Short Deck complete final table results
| Position | Player Name | Nationality | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Phil Ivey | United States | $1,170,000 |
| 2nd | Wai Kiat Lee | Malaysia | $840,000 |
| 3rd | Mike Watson | Canada | $538,000 |
| 4th | Elton Tsang | Hong Kong | $408,000 |
| 5th | Jason Koon | United States | $315,000 |
| 6th | Richard Yong | Malaysia | $241,000 |
| 7th | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | $194,500 |
Featured image source: Triton Poker
