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German Poker Pro Manig Loeser sits down to talk through his win last year of the Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, why he loves the Triton events, how he improves his game by discussing play with other German pros like Dominik Nitsche, his thoughts on food, health and more.
Over on the feature table Richard Yong scored a much-needed double against fellow Triton co-founder Paul Phua with the pair getting all the chips in pre-flop.
It was Phua opening the action with a raise to 8,000 from under-the-gun with Yong shoving the button for 49,000. Phua did not seem all that keen on calling, and even called out Yong's hand before choosing to make the call.
Paul Phua: 
Richard Yong: 
The board ran out 
to double Yong up to 107,000 leaving Phua as the short stack with 56,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
107,000
52,500
|
52,500 |
|
56,000
-19,000
|
-19,000 |
|
||
Over on the outer table, Koray Aldemir raised to 8,000 first to act and Isaac Haxton three-bet to 20,000. Aldemir called and both players ended up checking down the board of 
entirely. Haxton announced kings and rolled over 
, Aldemir sent his cards into the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
186,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
|
||
|
75,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
|
||
Dominik Nitsche tournament has come to a close over on the feature table, courtesy of Steve O'Dwyer. Nitsche open limped the cutoff with O'Dwyer re-raising to 15,000 from the small blind.
The German player thought it over, but eventually slid in the call to take play heads-up to the 
, which was checked by both players.
The turn saw O'Dwyer lead for 11,500 and Nitsche pulled the trigger for 39,500, eliciting a quick call from O'Dwyer.
Steve O'Dwyer: 
Dominik Nitsche: 
It was not looking good for Nitsche, who was at risk and behind and the 
river saw him depart, while O'Dwyer stacked up to 421,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
421,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
||
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.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
95,000
-13,000
|
-13,000 |
|
|
||
|
90,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
70,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
|
||
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.
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.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
165,000
-62,000
|
-62,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
108,000
27,000
|
27,000 |
|
|
||
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.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
450,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
|
75,000
-54,500
|
-54,500 |
|
|
||
It is all change on the feature table with a group of fresh faces all coming in. Here's how they are stacking up:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
429,000 | |
|
|
356,000 | |
|
|
||
|
|
129,500 | |
|
|
||
|
113,000 | |
|
|
75,000 | |
|
|
||
|
|
54,500 | |
Level: 14
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 500
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