The top of the poker world gathered in Montenegro, to participate in the high-stakes action, in a festival where you need $32,000 even for the smallest event.
Phil Ivey‘s already booked his first cash since 2016, in form of a $604K paycheck after taking down the HKD$250,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event. The legendary gambler defeated fellow high-stakes player, Dan "Jungleman12" Cates, to become the first-ever champion of a public Short Deck tournament.
When asked about his plans for the rest of 2018, Ivey responded:
"I want to start playing some more tournaments,(…) I’m planning on playing the World Series of Poker this year"
Final results
| Place | Winner |
Country |
Prize(HKD) | Prize(USD) |
| 1 |
Phil Ivey | United States | 4,749,200 | $604,977 |
| 2 | Dan Cates | United States | 3,199,000 | $407,505 |
| 3 | Gabe Patgorski | United States | 1,937,000 | $246,745 |
| 4 | Jason Koon | United States | 1,334,000 | $169,932 |
| 5 | Furkat Rakhimov | Russia | 918,000 | $116,939 |
| 6 | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | 689,000 | $87,768 |
| 7 | Alan Sass | United States | 560,000 | $71,336 |
| 8 | Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | 488,000 | $62,164 |
| 9 | Mikhail Smirnov | Russia | 473,000 | $60,253 |
The HKD250,000(US$32,000) 6-Max NLH event is currently underway. The original field of 32 has already reduced to 17, with Christian Christner leading the field. The German pro has 190,000 in chips, he’s followed by Chan Wai Leong who accumulated 186,000. The remaining field is filled with household names with the likes of Isaac Haxton (170,000), Stephen Chidwick (145,000), Dominic Nitsche (115,000) or Mikita Badizakouski (82,400).
Watch the live stream here:
