Ivan Leow takes down HK$500K Triton SHR Short Deck Event, Tom Dwan 5th

After outlasting a star-studded field in Jeju, Leow books his biggest-ever score.

"It's great. I'm very happy,"

After finishing the first day as the chip leader, Leow used his big stack to take down the title and the $1 million+, coming with it.

Considering he's not a professional, the results of Ivan's are even more impressive. He got 6th in the HK$250,000 Short Deck event and in the HK$1 million event for $87k and $362K respectively at the Triton Series in Montenegro, took down the HK$100,000 NLHE High Roller at the Oriental Poker Championship for $183K, finished as the runner-up at the HK$20,000 Main Event at the same festival for $129K and also made a min-cash a few days ago in Jeju, playing the HK$100,000 event. Leow now crossed the $2-million mark, as his live tournament earnings now stand at $2,025,000.

Even though the field was filled with top-pros, no one was able to threaten Ivan's position, he stayed on top all the way. Despite the lack of experience at the game, Ivan was confident and it paid off well: "I started with Wai Kin [Yong] and all the crew. We learn the game, it's still a new game. You have to be aggressive. If you play for the win, you must be aggressive," he said after the win.

The final table was set, after the elimination of Chan Wai Leong and Mikita "fish2013" Badziakouski. Leow was active on the final table as well, busting Gabe Patgorski in 6th place, holding Aces against the King-jack of Gabe's. Other than Leow, Tom "durrrr" Dwan was providing the table with lots of action, but he eventually had to settle for 5th place, good for $252,371.

While Ivan kept building his stack, Jason Koon was maneuvering with a short-stack and managed to double up, to make one more pay jump as Devan Tang busted in 4th place. Devan walked away with HK$2,640,000 ($336,494). But Jason eventually fell in 3rd place, when he found himself on the wrong and of a set-over-set situation against - you guessed it - Leow. The high-roller regular received a nice paycheck of HK$3,630,000 ($462,680).

Leow started the heads-up with a 3-1 lead over Rui Cao. Cao was probably the most confident player at the table, but even he couldn't avoid elimination as this was Ivan's day. Despite putting his chips in ahead with a flopped straight, his opponent made a backdoor flush to take down the tournament.

Ivan praised Rui after the win: "Rui Cao is very, very good. I think that, in my opinion, he's the best short deck player in the world".

With this $1,079,586 score, Ivan doubled his all-time earnings, and he has high hopes for his future poker career. "I hope to take down the Main Event," he added.

Final results