A final table burst from poker Hall of Famer member Phil Ivey was enough to see him triumph in Event #3: $75,000 Short Deck, taking home $1,170,000 in the process. This is his third final-table in four events at the Triton Poker Cyprus festival.
He defeated Wai Kiat Lee heads-up to top a 51-player field and win his second Short Deck High Roller title in eight months, after previous success at the Super High Roller Bowl Europe festival last year.
In fact, his last four live tournament wins have come in the Short Deck format, with titles in Cyprus, Sochi and Montenegro.
The day began with just 11 players remaining and only 7 places paid. Early eliminations included Mikita Badziakouski, Daniel Cates and Chris Brewer. The latter two were eliminated by Mike Watson who sat atop the counts as the tournament reached the money bubble.
There were mixed fortunes for the Yong family, with Richard Yong doubling to stay alive while Wai Kin Yong was sent to the rail by Phil Ivey, with the remaining players all guaranteed $194,500.
Watson would continue to extend his chip lead during the opening exchanges as Elton Tsang and start-of-day chip leader Jason Koon traded doubles.
Ivey would go runner-runner to eliminate Ivan Leow, while another double from Yong would hinder Watson’s charge for the title.
Yong was subsequently eliminated by Ivey, who also sent Koon to the rail just minutes later to soar into the lead. Wai Kiat Lee had successfully laddered his way to four-handed, and would send Tsang to the rail to remain in contention.
However, Ivey’s elimination of Watson in third place saw him take a more than 2:1 chip lead into heads-up, and would dispatch Lee in the first hand of heads-up to secure the title and seven-figure first-place prize.
