Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan’s Short Deck Poker Tips
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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.
“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.
“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.