Steve O'Dwyer three-bet out of the big blind and was called by start-of-the-day chip leader Christian Christner. The duo headed to a flop of and O'Dwyer continued for 25,000. Christner considered his next move carefully and moved all in for what appeared to be 134,000, O'Dwyer called instantly with the slightly superior stack.
Christian Christner:
Steve O'Dwyer:
The turn and river changed nothing whatsoever and the stacks were verified before Christner headed to the rail.
Over on one of the two outer tables, Steve O'Dwyer opened to 6,500 on the button and a short-stacked Manig Loeser moved all in from the small blind. Richard Yong in the big blind asked for a count, and the all in was for 15,700. Yong folded and O'Dwyer called instantly.
Manig Loeser:
Steve O'Dwyer:
The board came and Loeser was sent to the rail to reduce the field to the last 12 hopefuls.
Dominik Nitsche three-bet all in twice in quick succession and earned folds from the initial raisers Richard Yong and Paul Phua. Right after the players were sent into the next break and the chip race of the T-100 denominations will take place.
Furthermore, the feature table will change with the two chip leaders Winfred Yu and Steve O'Dwyer on the move. All further PokerNews live updates from both tables will now take place according to the stream time, all previous hands of the current feature table are to come.
Over on the feature table, the UK's Stephen opened the action with a raise to 6,000 from the hi-jack and Malaysia's Beh Kok Weng moved all-in from the cutoff for 56,500. Chidwick made a quick call and the cards went on their backs:
Beh Kok Weng:
Stephen Chidwick:
Beh was the at-risk player, with the dominated hand but received a faint glimmer of hope with chop possibilities on the flop. The turn brought more chop possibilities,
However, Weng's hopes were dashed when the river completed the hand, and his tournament and he hit the rail while Chidwick stacked up to
Over on the feature table, Paul Phua opened the action from the cutoff with a raise to 9,000 with only to see Winfred Yu juice the action up to 25,000 from the button.
Phua made the call to take the action heads-up to the with Phua checking the action over to Yu, who quickly moved all-in. Phua looked pained, faked a call, but chuckled and let it go leaving Yu to claim the pot.
In a battle of the blinds, Isaac Haxton raised to 10,500 and Koray Aldemir called out of the big blind. On the flop, Haxton gave it some thought and bet 6,000, which Aldemir called. On the turn, the second barrel was for 18,000 after some two minutes of consideration, Aldemir called.
The river was checked by Haxton and he instantly folded to the shove of Aldemir.
Phil Ivey - 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series MontenegroHKD $250,000 Short Deck - Ante Only Winner
Phil Ivey is back with a bang, taking down the recent Short Deck Ante Only Event at the prestigious 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro for a cool US$604,992.
This was a momentous moment for two reasons; this is Ivey’s first tournament score since January 2016, and this is also the first time this particular poker variant has been adapted to a tournament format or at least the first time such an event has been run and been open to the public. You can catch the action in all its glory via the archived live stream.
Ivey demonstrated just why he has won over $24 million playing live tournaments, putting on a master class on the final table to defeat respected online pro Dan “jungleman12” Cates after a lengthy heads-up battle.
Dan Cates and Phil Ivey heads-up in the 2018 Montenegro Triton Super High Roller Short Deck Ante Only Event
“I started playing Short Deck recently, for one year and a half. It has quickly become one of my favorite games. I think the tournament was great, the structure was great. It allowed for a lot of play at the end. It was pretty crazy at the beginning, but it allowed for a longer final table and a prettheads-upeads up match,” said Ivey immediately after his win.
He [Cates] is about as tough of an opponent as it gets, and I really concentrated.”
A game that has been taking the high stakes cash game circuit by storm, at least in the Asia Pacific region, Short Deck Ante Only Poker is an exciting high-octane stripped deck variant of the game with deuces through to fives all removed from the deck, which plays with 36 cards.
Interesting differences between this format and the more traditional No Limit Hold’em is the fact aces still play both high and low, but act as a five when it comes to making straights and straight flushes.
Another distinction is the fact that there are no blinds in play. Instead, every player posts an ante, which start out higher than in a traditional tournament, with the player on the button posting a double ante and action starting on the player in the small blind.
This is a game that has been pioneered by players of the calibre of Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan, and is fast becoming a flagship for the Triton Super High Roller Series. So who better to ask than Ivey and Dwan themselves on the best way to approach this new poker variant?
“I enjoying playing it,” said Ivey. “It’s fun, it’s something different, it’s new and there’s a lot of gambling involved.”
“The equities run pretty close, so it’s pretty easy to get your money in the middle and be 50/50 or somewhere near that. It suits a more gambling style of player.”
Dwan is also a fan, as we discovered in his most recent interview, and loves the fact that a lot of the optimal strategies have yet to be fully fleshed out.
Tom Dwan at the 2018 Triton Super High Roller Montenegro
“People have a little idea by now how to play short deck in cash games – there’s still a lot to be figured out there, but tournaments, really, there’s a lot people don’t know I think, so we’re all learning as we go along and everyone will be testing out their theories…” said Dwan.
Dwan’s Top Tips
One: “It’s harder to his flushes. Now when you have a flush draw you only have five outs instead of nine outs.”
Two: “Jack-ten and ace-king are basically a coin flip."
Three: “If you have a set against a straight, if you got it in on the flop, you’re actually a small favorite.”
Four: “Remember that aces can be a five, so ace-six-seven-eight-nine is a straight, but you still lose to any ten. Straights happen a lot and straight draws are worth a lot more.” An open-ended straight draw on the flop is roughly 50-50 to come in by the river.
So what are you waiting for? Call your friends up and get practicing this exciting new poker variant so you're up to speed when it comes to getting in on the action.
In a battle of the blinds, Koray Aldemir and Julian Thomas checked down the flop and the turn. Aldemir bet the river for 6,500 and Thomas raised to 20,000 with 40,500 behind. Aldemir called and Thomas turned over , Aldemir chopped it up with the .
Soon after Aldemir opened from the button and Cheong Cheok Leng called from the big blind. Leng check-raised from 4,000 to 10,000 on the flop and Aldemir called, but folded to a bet of 20,000 by Leng as soon as the appeared on the turn.
and O'Dwyer continued for 25,000. Christner considered his next move carefully and moved all in for what appeared to be 134,000, O'Dwyer called instantly with the slightly superior stack.
turn and 
river changed nothing whatsoever and the stacks were verified before Christner headed to the rail.
and Loeser was sent to the rail to reduce the field to the last 12 hopefuls.
![[user229780]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop. The 
turn brought more chop possibilities, 
river completed the hand, and his tournament and he hit the rail while Chidwick stacked up to
only to see Winfred Yu juice the action up to 25,000 from the button.
.
flop and Aldemir called, but folded to a bet of 20,000 by Leng as soon as the 
