Champion Artem Kobylynskyi!
Short deck made a welcome return to the Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju this week—and it was especially well-timed for some of Triton's long-established heroes, who helped produce a finale of exceptional quality.
Multiple Triton champions ringed the final table, including Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick, Dan Dvoress and Mike Watson, with Triton co-founder Paul Phua taking centre stage among the final seven.
However, all the keen Triton fans who were watching those familiar faces wondering which would be holding aloft another trophy were looking in the wrong place. They should have been focusing on Artem Kobylynskyi, a 34-year-old Ukrainian player who had come to Jeju specifically to play short deck, and was actually sitting down at his first ever event on the tour.
Kobylynskyi not only made the money and then the final table on his Triton debut. He is a Triton champion at his very first attempt. It's a remarkable achievement, giving him $492,000, but more importantly announcing himself on the grandest stage with a famous win.
"It was not easy," Kobylynskyi told Ali Nejad in his post-game interview, describing how he needed to adapt his strategy on a player-by-player basis surrounded by such accomplished opposition. But this former online player coped with everything the bosses threw at him, and spoke glowingly of the variant that has given him his trophy.
"When you play hold'em, it's not so interesting," Kobylynskyi said."I'm very happy that Triton keeps treating short deck well, I hope it will stay."
All smiles with Ali Nejad for Artem Kobylynskyi
The Ukrainian's final opponent turned out to be Watson, the Canadian four-time winner, who carried the chip lead to the final table and only really surrendered it when Kobylynskyi got into his stride. Kobylynskyi insisted that he made a few mistakes during the final table, but it was barely perceptible to the viewers. This looked like a near-perfect performance from a man who was to the manor born.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
After two long weeks of hold'em and PLO, it was time for the return of short deck. A couple of specialists flew in to Jeju for precisely this portion of the schedule, while plenty of the multidisciplinarians modified their internal workings slightly to accommodate short deck's unique rule set.
The volume in the tournament area increased immediately as the fun of short deck quickly broke out. Registration stayed open for several hours at the start, which meant it was always worth chasing those draws, so long as you were prepared to accept it when someone else's even more improbably holding came good. The net result was 56 entries including 27 re-entries and a prize pool of $1.68 million. Short deck is no longer at its peak, but it's not dead yet.
Day 1 played down to the money, and then slightly beyond. Sam Greenwood, who hopped in the event after finishing second in the PLO Bounty Quattro tournament, seemed to be cruising to a second in-the-money finish of the day. However, with 75 antes in his stack (and table-mates Danny Tang and Paul Phua shorter, Greenwood ran into trouble against Mike Watson.
A bubble this time for Sam Greenwood
Greenwood limped/three-bet with AJ, and then called Watson's four-bet jam. Watson had AK and flopped two red kings to end Greenwood's tournament right there. After Winfred Yu departed in ninth, eight players came back for the final day, on two tables.
Watson had by far the biggest stack at this point, and when he also managed to eliminate Tang early on the final day -- Watson's AK this time beating Tang's KK -- Watson was also dominant heading to the final.
Danny Tang doubled then bust on the last day
They lined up as follows for the seven-handed final:
Mike Watson - 5,635,000 (188 antes)
Artem Kobylynskyi - 3,155,000 (105 antes)
Lun Loon - 2,010,000 (67 antes)
Dan Dvoress - 1,735,000 (58 antes)
Paul Phua - 1,600,000 (53 antes)
Stephen Chidwick - 1,480,000 (49 antes)
Jason Koon - 1,185,000 (40 antes)
Event 18 final table players (clockwise from back left): Lun Loon, Jason Koon, Mike Watson, Dan Dvoress, Stephen Chidwick, Artem Koblynskyi, Paul Phua
Of course, Tang's elimination had removed a five-time Triton champ. But Watson has four wins, Dvoress and Chidwick have two apiece, and Phua is also a former champion. When you then add Jason Koon's previous 10 titles, this was a final with 19 trophies between them. Only Lun Loon and Triton newcomer Artem Kobylynskyi were without silverware.
Paul Phua, as always, was loving every minute he spent at the Triton tournament tables. That's the main reason he and Richard Yong created the tour. And it seemed to give him immense pleasure to see Dan Dvoress flop quad queens in the first consequential pot of final table action, even though it resulted in his elimination.
Dvoress limped with the queens. Phua found AK and raised. Dvoress three-bet and Phua jammed. Dvoress called to set up a classic pre-flop flip, but the dealer's hammer blow ended Phua's interest early. Boss took $82,000 for seventh.
Paul Phua celebrates seeing quads, even if they knocked him out
Stephen Chidwick and Jason Koon were now the short stacks, and it was the former who took the fall first. Chidwick picked up AQ and got his last chips in as a four-bet jam against Watson. Watson, however, had AK and stayed best.
Like Greenwood, Chidwick had started Thursday at the final table of the PLO Bounty Quattro, and joined the short deck after busting that. He picked up another $104,000 for this sixth-placed finish, and by the end of the day, he was sitting back down in the $50K short deck event too.
Stephen Chidwick made back-to-back final tables
By his own admission, this has been a rough trip for Jason Koon. The 10-time champion hadn't enjoyed much run-good on this event, but his innate talents in short deck had brought him to the final table nonetheless. He ended up on the rail in fifth, banking $134,000, which will be a welcome fillip before the final two short deck events.
Koon was a short stack heading to the final and hung around through two eliminations. He doubled once, but then got A10 in against Dvoress' Q10 on a ten-high flop. But a queen on the river killed Koon.
Nothing to be done for Jason Koon
Koon's near namesake -- Loon, Lun Loon -- now took over as the main focus. He made a straight with JQ to double through Artem Kobylynskyi and begin a surge that took him from short stack to chip leader in the space of around 45 minutes. However, when Kobylynskyi then doubled back through Loon, Watson defaulted back into the lead.
This precipitated Loon tumbling back in the other direction and landing on the rail in fourth. He was back down to 18 antes when, in a single-raised pot, he got his chips in after a flop of 79K holding 10J. That was a double belly-buster straight draw, which is always more likely to hit in short deck than long deck hold'em. However Kobylysnkyi, Loon's opponent, had KQ for top pair with one blocker. Kobylynskyi jammed, Loon called off and then missed the draw.
Loon has now cashed 18 times on the Triton Series, but still seeks a first title. This time he left with $173,000.
An up and down end for Lun Loon
Dvoress assumed short-stack duties, but clung on for only one more hand. He too fell at the hands of Kobyslynskyi, though this one was a pre-flop raise/jam/call procedure.
Dvoress made the opening raise with A10; Kobylynskyi jammed with AJ; Dvoress called. A jack on the flop all but killed it, and Dvoress perished in third for $229,000.
Dan Dvoress was knocked out just after laddering to third
The stage was now set for what was a pretty deep heads-up confrontation. Watson had a marginal lead with 72 antes to Kobylynskyi's 63. With only two players left, the antes are essentially the same as regular blinds, so there was lots of play left.
However what followed was one-way traffic. Chips made their way slowly but steadily into Kobylynskyi's stack, including during one huge pot where Kobylynskyi's J10 flopped a straight to beat Watson's AQ.
That sent a decisive pot to the Ukrainian and Watson then bled down to his last 27 antes. Picking up A8 he opened for a standard raise, then saw Kobyslynskyi three-bet. Watson jammed and Kobylynskyi call, tabling AK.
Mike Watson fell just short of a fifth title
Nothing is ever certain in short deck, and the J97 flop gave Watson a straight draw to go with his eight, which was still live. The Q turn followed by the Q river only helped his opponent, however.
All of a sudden, Kobylynskyi joined that very select group of people who have a record of Played 1, Won 1 on the Triton Series.
The life of a champion begins for Artem Kobylynskyi
