Leon Tsoukernik takes down King's €100K Short Deck for €1.1 million

The high-stakes cash game player and owner of the King's Casino beat Phil Ivey heads-up.

"Maybe I should only play Short Deck"

The €100K Short Deck event at King's Casino, Rozvadov attracted 29 entries, who created a prize pool of €2,755,000, rewarding only the top 4 places.

Ben Lamb became the unlucky bubble boy, which was probably pretty painful, considering the €275,500 pay jump, between 5th and 4th places. Founder of PokerGO, Cary Katz busted in 4th, while the co-founder of the Triton Series, Paul Phua got 3rd for €551,000.

The heads-up played out between living legend Phil Ivey and Leon Tsoukernik, and the home-court advantage paid off for the latter. In the final hand, the went into the middle on a king-high flop, where Leon held top set, against the top pair of Ivey's. Even though Phil had a back-door flush draw he was unable to realize his equity this time, meaning he was out in 2nd place, good for €826,500. Leon added €1,102,000 to his bankroll.

King's 100K Short Deck High Roller Final Results

Event #4: €250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em

Meanwhile, Taiwan's James Chen closed out the highest buy-in event, after outlasting a field of 30 in the €250K SHR. Chen took home €2,844,215 and the prestigious bracelet. Chen is the first bracelet winner of Taiwan's, and he hopes he can be an inspiration for many: “What can I say, it feels great to be the first from Taiwan to win a bracelet and hopefully this will inspire other players to try and keep improving their game and reach their own dreams”

“It's definitely nice to win a bracelet, it is a big reason why I am here. I wouldn't say that winning a bracelet necessarily means you are a good player or not but when I was a beginner in poker it was always just a dream of mine to win one,” he added.

Despite the humble words, considering the top-notch field, James had to navigate through, winning this tournament surely indicates one can compete on the highest level. Only the top five spots were paid in this event, and this time it was former Main Event winner, who fell one place short of the money.

Unlike him, Cary Katz cashed in this event too, increasing his live tournament earnings to $25,226,772, which makes him the most winningest non-professional in the world. Former European Parliament member, Tony G got 4th, for €799K, while high-roller regular, Chrispoth Vogelsang had to settle for 3rd, which worthed €1,185,161 this time.

After the departure of the German crusher, Malaysia's Chin Wei Lim remained the last object on the way to glory for Chen. However, Lim was unable to stop Chen, who busted his final opponent and became the winner of the €250,000 Super High Roller.

James praised fellow pros, Julien Martini and James Romero, who supported him towards the final table. “It sounds may be cliché to say this, but it feels like I couldn't have done it without them. On break we would talk, they would give me support and just watching the stream and sending me hands, I really appreciate that they were here.”

Event #4: €250,000 Super High Roller Results