Champion Stephen Chidwick

Stephen Chidwick is back among the winners on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series and, true to form, he shined the brightest when the stakes were highest, sealing top spot in the specially-added $200,000 buy-in Short Deck event in Jeju.

Chidwick, 36, took $3.455 million for this success, the highest total he has ever claimed when winning an event. (His top cash came with fourth place in the Triton Million in 2019.) It consolidated his second place in poker's all-time money list, with only Bryn Kenney above him, firmly in sight.

Chidwick put on a clinic in big-stack tournament dominance, assuming a chip lead early on Day 2 and never losing it until the trophy was in his hands.

"Someone decided I was going to win this tournament," Chidwick said, reflecting on a tournament that seemed especially panic-free. "In short deck especially, the chip leader has a big leverage to just play a lot of hands. The pot limit aspect does negate that a little bit, but when the chip lead is so large, and the pay-jumps are so big, it doesn't really matter. They can't really do very much against it."

He added: "It's less pressure because they know pretty much what I'm going to do with that stack, and it's hard to make much of a mistake. I didn't have too many difficult decisions."

Strangely perhaps, all of Chidwick's three Triton Poker Series victories have come in Short Deck events—and he said this one, which was his biggest, was the one for which he was least ready.

"It's pretty funny," Chidwick said. "I didn't really prepare for short deck this trip. There was only one $50K on the schedule, so I just came in pretty rusty. When they kept adding tournaments I was scrambling a bit to try and look up my notes and remember what I used to know."

Chidwick never had anything short of a huge stack on the last day

Asked how he accounts for the fact that he has only gotten over the line in this variant, he said: "Obviously tourmament poker is so much variance, short deck especially, and I assume it's mostly that that is the reason I've mostly been winning short deck tournaments and not no limit [hold'em] or PLO."

But if he's this good when he's rusty, the rest of the players in Jeju need to watch out. He said that an early series win "always takes off a bit of pressure, takes off a bit of stress", adding "It's nice to have some momentum going into the big no limits."

Chidwick's final opponent in this one was the Malaysian titan Kiat Lee, who earned $2.465 million. It was also Lee's biggest ever tournament score. The same applied to third-placed Rene Van Krevelen, whose prize of $1.591 million was a new high for him.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The $200K Short Deck event was a late addition to the Triton schedule, offered in response to player demand. Short deck goes in and out of fashion in Europe and North America, but it continues to hold sway among the Asian high rollers, of whom many made the journey to play in Jeju this week.

The established poker stars who can handle the variance — the likes of Ivey, Koon, Haxton and Chidwick — relish the battle. And despite the nosebleed buy-in, the field rapidly filled. By the time registration closed, there were 61 entries and a $12.2 million prize pool. The winner's prize of $3.445 million will possibly only be beaten by the hold'em Main Event.

This was an enormous bubble. Or so it would be for anyone for whom $200,000 might clear a mortgage. But if you're in a tournament like this, you work with a slightly different perspective, and so even this most tense of moments barely raised a sweat from anybody.

Rene Van Krevelen, one of the smaller stacks, found pocket aces and doubled through Wai Kin Yong. Then on the other table, Dan Dvoress picked up the best hand as well, and doubled through Winfred Yu's kings. The chances of outdraws are always higher in short deck, but the aces held both times.

Yong was left particularly vulnerable with only 10 antes, and he soon became the latest victim of Stephen Chidwick and his mammoth stack. Chidwick, with close to three times the chips of his closest challenger, opened with 9J and Yong committed the rest of what he had with A7.

Yong flopped a pair and rivered two pair, but Chidwick had a straight. Yong was out, the last to fall before the $313,000 min-cash.

Wai Kin Yong bubbles the big one

Isaac Haxton cashed in a short deck tournament again, but bust in 10th this time. Then Triton Ambassador Danny Tang headed elsewhere in ninth, with Richard Yong, the $50K Short Deck champion, free to find his son Wai Kin and offer a paternal arm around the shoulder. Yong took $465,000 for eighth.

It took them to a final of seven, with some absolute bosses among them. Here's how they stacked up:

Stephen Chidwick - 8,570,000 (171 antes)

Elton Tsang - 4,295,000 (86 antes)

Esti Wang - 4,025,000 (81 antes)

Kiat Lee - 3,515,000 (70 antes)

Dan Dvoress - 2,795,000 (56 antes)

Rene Van Krevelen - 2,570,000 (51 BBs)

Winfred Yu - 1,560,000 (31 antes)

Event 20 final table players (clockwise from back left): Kiat Lee, Rene Van Krevelen, Stephen Chidwick, Dan Dvoress, Winfred Yu, Elton Tsang, Esti Wang.

It's rare in any tournament to see such a dominant chip leader, but if anyone can fit that mould, it's surely Stephen Chidwick. He went up and down the counts on Day 1, but sat imperious at the top for all of the pre-bubble period on Day 2, often with close to three times the stack of his nearest challenger.

Chidwick was in the enviable position of being able to dictate everything, whether that meant pressuring the short stacks or sitting back and watching opponents scrap it out between themselves.

Dutch short-deck specialist Van Krevelen pulled up closest to Chidwick when he won a decent pot from Dvoress. But then Dvoress won another decent pot from Yu. These two had tangled on the bubble, when Dvoress won with aces against kings. And the Canadian snaffled the last of Yu's chips at the final as well.

Yu opened with A10 and then called Dvoress' shove for the last of his 14 antes. Dvoress had AQ and the two additional queens that came on the flop weren't even really needed. Yu was out in seventh for $590,000. (He also made the money in the $50K short deck earlier in the week.)

A second short-deck final for Winfred Yu

Speaking of earlier successes, Elton Tsang had danced to the title in the $100K short deck two nights ago, and here he was again at a major final. Throughout that success, he had been railed by Van Krevelen, but today found himself sitting opposite a player who seemed to be a friend as well as an adversary.

Van Krevelen had the last laugh over Tsang today. He opened from early position, then saw Tsang three-bet his button. There was now enough chips in the pot for Van Krevelen to four-bet for more than the 56 antes Tsang had. Tsang called off.

Van Krevelen had aces. Tsang had queens. The dealer changed nothing through five community cards and Tsang was out in sixth this time earning $754,000.

No back-to-back for Elton Tsang

Despite the hand against Yu, Dvoress was still comparatively short with 39 antes and he ended up on the sidelines after tangling with Chidwick. Dvoress had AJ and raised from mid-position. Chidwick called on the button and the two took a flop of Q96. They both checked.

The K came on the turn and Dvoress fired out a 10-ante bet. Chidwick called, with the A now completing the board.

Dvoress checked his top pair, but Chidwick now bet enough to put Dvoress all-in. Dvoress called for 22 antes only to learn that Chidwick had the "short-deck nuts" -- namely J10, which was now Broadway. It was the end of the road for Dvoress, who earned $971,000 for fifth.

Another deep run for Dan Dvoress

Chidwick retained the dominant lead as they headed to dinner, and though Van Krevelen soon got his stack to more than 100 antes too, he was chopped back down when Esti Wang doubled through him. When Kiat Lee then doubled through Chidwick, there was simply no way to predict who might perish next: Chidwick had 124 antes, Wang had 67, Lee had 32 and Van Krevelen was back with 22.

In contrast to the boisterousness that defined the $100K short deck final stages, this was a good degree more muted. Richard Yong dropped by again to see how his friends Lee and Wang were making out, but the rail was otherwise comparatively quiet. Then it lost a few more supporters when Esti Wang became the next man out.

Wang is a legend of the high stakes cash games, but he has a decent tournament record as well, especially when the buy-ins go skyward. Here he was again doing very well in one of the big ones, although Chidwick stopped him getting too far.

Wang's last 15 antes went in with K10. Chidwick had KQ and stayed best. Wang's fourth place earned him $1,234,000.

Cash-game king Esti Wang

The tallies now read: Chidwick 144 antes, Lee 21 antes, Van Krevelen 18. Could anyone lay a glove on him?

Van Krevelen managed one small graze, doubling up with pocket eights against AK. Then he slipped back, before doubling up once more, this time with AQ beating Chidwick's 109. Chidwick rivered a straight as Van Krevelen rivered a flush.

These were mere flesh wounds to Chidwick, but when Lee and Van Krevelen went at it among themselves -- Van Krevelen's pocket 10s against Lee's AK -- there was more significant damage. Lee hit an ace to leave Van Krevelen down to six antes. He doubled back again soon after, but was still right up against it.

Rene Van Krevelen departs

Chidwick duly hoovered up the chips, taking 109 up against Van Krevelen's A10 and turning a straight. Van Krevelen offered a rueful smile and departed with $1,591,000 more to his name.

It was 152 antes versus 19 heads up, and this was always going to be tough for Lee. He did manage to push Chidwick off one pot with a jam on the flop, but there was precious little he could really do against this dominance.

Richard Yong drops by to watch Kiat Lee

The final hand came about with 109 in Chidwick's hand filling a straight on the board of KQ7J7. Lee shook hands and makes do with that near $2.5 million second prize. But tonight, Jeju belongs to Chidwick.