The World Series of Poker may be over for the summer, but the high stakes poker action is just getting heated up halfway across the world.
Some of the biggest names in poker have made their way this week to the Landing Casino in Jeju, South Korea, for the latest Triton Super High Roller Series.
Five events are on tap for the festival, which kicked off on July 23 and runs through Aug. 1. Three of those will be No Limit Hold’em Short-Deck tournaments, and a $HKD 2,000,000 ($USD 255,000) NLHE Main Event will cap things off starting on July 30.
Triton Poker Super High Roller Series (Jeju, South Korea)
July 23 – 25: $13,000 NLHE Short-Deck, Ante Only
July 24 – 26: $64,000 NLHE Short-Deck, Ante Only
July 26 – 27: $64,000 NLHE 6-Max
July 28 – 29: $127,000 NLHE Short-Deck, Ante Only
July 30 – Aug. 1: $255,000 NLHE Main Event
In the festival’s first event, which finished early Wednesday, Nick Schulman bested a field of 61 players to take first place in the festival’s first event, a $13,000 NLHE Short-Deck tournament. He collected a $272,084 top prize, while Kenneth Kee came second for $168,140.
The festival expects to attract high rollers from across Asia, with Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Rui Cao, and Jason Koon some of the marquee names already at the tables in South Korea.
The last Triton high roller series in Montenegro in May saw Koon win the main event for $3.6 million, while Phil Ivey took down his first short deck tournament for $605,000
The series also bore witness to Koon scooping the biggest cash game pot ever seen on video.
Short Deck Poker Trending
The fast action of the short-deck game is proving to be a major allure to the top poker players in the world. It’s been a popular format in the high-stakes poker games in Macau, and now the viewing public is getting a chance to see what the fuss is about.
Short deck is similar to Texas Hold’Em, except that all cards between 2 and 5 are removed from the deck. Hand rankings are adjusted as a result, with the major change being a flush beats a full house.
Many players have said that the game suits more of a gambling style of play.
High Roller Action in Korea
Short Deck is a new format for Schulman, as it is for many players. But the popular table-side commentator looked like a short-deck veteran in South Korea for his first such tournament.
And a little luck never hurts, too, as Schulman cracked Ben Lamb’s pocket kings with his ace-queen at the final table for a crucial pot.
Earlier in the tournament, he cracked pocket aces after finding himself all-in preflop with Jack-9 suited, a hand that is actually a slight favorite against aces in the short-deck version of hold’em.
Triton Poker is live-streaming the action from South Korea on their Twitch page.
