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Phil Ivey has bagged the first event at the Super High Roller Bowl Europe, taking down the $25k buy-in Short Deck Hold’em event for $408,000!
Many of the biggest names in the game are in Cyprus this week for a nine-event series that will include a $250,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Main Event.
To kick things off, however, a $25k Short Deck took centre stage at the Merit Royal Hotel & Casino and 26 players accounted for 48 buy-ins to set up a $1.2million prizepool, from which the top seven players would grab a share of the money.
There were plenty of well-known faces who got nowhere near the day two cash, with Tony G, Timofey Kuznetsov, Richard Yong and Cary Katz among them.
Ali Imsirovic and Paul Phua also missed out, and it was Phua’s Malaysian countryman, Hing Yang Chow, who bubbled the event when he ran his fumes into a turned full house against Ukraine’s Ihor Shkliaruk.
Day two dawned with seven players in contention, all assured of at least $48k, and it was Erik Seidel who departed first, before the livestream had even got underway, when his queens ran straight into pocket aces.
The 36-card version of the game, in which the twos through fives are removed, is an action-packed poker variant, popularised in Macau and exported worldwide over the past few years by the Triton Poker series.
Englishman Stephen Chidwick was soon displaying his Short deck prowess, eliminating China’s “Santi” in 6th spot, while Phil Ivey – who has found a new lease of life with 36 cards – accounted for Chris Brewer in 5th place, and then Shkliaruk in 4th...
Ivey: A♥ K♠
Shkliaruk: A♣ Q♠
Flop: K♦ 9♠ 6♥
Turn: 9♣
River: Q♣
♦ ♥ ♣ ♠
Down to just three, and with the payjumps getting very serious indeed, Mikita Badziakouski was next to fall on Ivey’s Short deck sword. Flopping two pair was enough to overcome big slick and send the Belarus crusher out in 3rd, a $180,000 payout softening the blow somewhat.
Heads-up saw Ivey come from behind yet again, with a shove and a quick call deciding the fate of the first trophy of the series...
Ivey: K♣ 10♣
Chidwick: A♥ Q♠
Flop: K♦ 9♦ 8♠
Turn: 10♦
River: A♣
♦ ♥ ♣ ♠
Ivey’s $408,000 win sets him up for a good run at the rest of the series, with events 3, 5 and 7 on the schedule all his favoured Short Deck format; his last three victories have all come in the 36-card variant.
Final results:
| 1 | Phil Ivey | $408,000 |
| 2 | Stephen Chidwick | $264,000 |
| 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | $180,000 |
| 4 | Ihor Shkliaruk | $132,000 |
| 5 | Chris Brewer | $96,000 |
| 6 | Santi | $72,000 |
| 7 | Erik Seidel | $48,000 |
