Final seven in short-deck (l-r): Elton Tsang, Phil Ivey, Richard Yong, Jason Koon, Mike Watson, Ivan Leow, Kiat Lee. Read on to find how they got there.

The bubble period in any poker tournament is always the most tense, but it rarely has as much unpredictability and humour as we had during this one at the Triton Series $75,000 short deck event #3.

There were short stacks rising to the summit, multiple shoves, calls and doubles, plus one player darting to the bathroom rather than watch his fate dealt out.

That’s how it happens on the Triton Series.

We returned today with 11 players and knew that only seven would make the money, so the whole early levels of today were essentially an extended bubble.

The first three eliminations all came on the feature table. It means viewers of the live stream will have got a close view of the car crashes approaching and then happening, plus a view of the aftermath.

The players we lost were Mikita Badziakouski, Dan Cates, and Chris Brewer with Mike Watson the biggest beneficiary. He went from short stack to near chip leader in the space of a level and a bit. (Only Elton Tsang, who took a big pot from Badziakouski, was above him.)

Dan Cates: One of three early eliminations from feature table

There was a good deal of chip movement on the outer table during this period too, with another overnight short stack, Kiat Lee, rising through the ranks. This adds context to how the bubble eventually burst.

Lee doubled up early when he shoved from his button, after four limps, and Jason Koon was the sole caller.

Lee had 815,000 in his stack and AK versus Koon’s AQ. The flop had all kinds of colour on it and gave both players two pair, but Lee’s was bigger.

Koon lost another pot, this time to Phil Ivey, in a super interesting situation. After three players saw the flop for the minimum — Koon, Ivey and Wai Kin Yong — the dealer put the QAK on the table. Koon bet 60,000 and Yong folded. Ivey called.