The 50,000 Short Deck Ante-Only event at the Triton Super High Roller series in Vietnam saw Michael Zhang as the chip leader after Day 1. Zhang, who traveled to the tournament only to play the short deck events, has amassed 3,285,000 chips. He has nearly doubled the total of Jason Koon, who is in second place with 1,740,000 chips.
Zhang has been impressive throughout the first day of the tournament. Rob Yong noted, "You're too good, kid," after battling with Zhang midway through the day.
Koon built that second-place stack on the heels of a massive four-way all-in preflop that had his pocket kings hold.
A 4-way ALL IN runout that was UNBELIEVABLE to @JasonKoon in 50K short deck! pic.twitter.com/Pa5NBRyedk
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) March 11, 2023
After Koon's record-setting fifth Triton win in the 50,000 No Limit Hold'Em Turbo Event earlier in the week, he's in good position to pick up title No. 6 on Sunday.
Isaac Haxton has also put himself in great position to win, with only seven less antes than Koon in his stack. Haxton is coming off a fifth-place finish in the previous event, the 25,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event. He built that big stack late in the day by jamming ace-jack suited and getting called by Kiat Lee's pocket queens. An ace on the flop gave Haxton the pot.
Ten players in total remain to vie for the 695,000 top prize. With the inherent volatility of short deck, any of them could reasonably win the tournament.
The remaining contestants will resume play on Sunday at 1 p.m. local time and play down to a winner.
HOW TO PLAY SHORT DECK POKER: Origin, rules & basic strategy from high stakes pro Linus Loeliger
50,000 Short Deck Ante-Only leaderboard after Day 1
Field remaining: 10/44
Places paid: 7
Average stack: 1.3 million (66 antes)
Ante level at end of day: 15k/30k
| Place | Name/Country | Chips | Antes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Michael Zhang (United Kingdom) | 3,285,000 | 164 |
| 2. | Jason Koon (USA) | 1,740,000 | 87 |
| 3. | Isaac Haxton (USA) | 1,590,000 | 80 |
| 4. | Tan Xuan (China) | 1,340,000 | 67 |
| 5. | Phil Chiu (Hong Kong) | 1,190,000 | 60 |
| 6. | Michael Watson (Canada) | 1,120,000 | 56 |
| 7. | Lun Loon (Malaysia) | 950,000 | 48 |
| 8. | Rob Yong (United Kingdom) | 795,000 | 40 |
| 9. | Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) | 605,000 | 30 |
| 10. | Leo Qin (Hong Kong) | 585,000 | 29 |
Notable eliminations
| Place | Name/Country | Prizemoney |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | Daniel Dvoress (Canada) | 0 |
| 14. | Paul Phua (Malaysia) | 0 |
| 18. | Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) | 0 |
Payouts for 50,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event
Total prizepool: 1,425,000
| Position | Prizemoney |
|---|---|
| Champion | 695,000 |
| 2nd | 500,000 |
| 3rd | 320,000 |
| 4th | 242,000 |
| 5th | 187,000 |
| 6th | 140,000 |
| 7th | 116,000 |