The 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series is taking place at Landing Casino in Jeju Island, South Korea and some of the top high stake poker pros in the world are in attendance. The Triton Super High Roller series has become one of the top poker stops for high stake poker action in recent times as tournament directors have done their best to introduce new twists to the game and boost guaranteed prize money.
Short Deck Poker At Triton
Short deck poker is a card game that was made popular in Asia and is very similar to Texas Hold ‘em. The biggest difference is that the game is played with a 36-card deck instead of a full 52-card deck. All of the cards between 2 and 5 are removed. Another difference is the hand rankings. For example, three of a kind beats a straight and a flush beats a full house.
Your odds of hitting that river card are much better and you have an 18% chance of turning your pocket pair into a set on the flop. This game has become widely popular with poker pros like Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan promoting it.
Of course, short deck poker players must employ different strategies than they would if they were playing traditional Texas Hold ‘em and Kenneth Kee demonstrated this perfectly at the HKD$1 million Triton Hold’em Event to emerge as the winner and take home a $2.86 million prize.
One of the things that Kee did to prepare himself for the event was to watch a lot of tapes. He carefully studied his competition and he was able to pick up on their weaknesses and habits. He also saw added a few tips and tricks to his game that helped him during his play.
Kee Pips Katz To Win
The competition was tough at the Triton Hold’em Event and when the field was whittled down to 3 players – it was a battle between Singapore’s Kenneth Kee, America’s Cary Katz and Malaysia’s Richard Yong.
Kee took advantage of his big stack along with a combination of smart and aggressive play to knock out the short stack. He then found himself with a sizable chip lead going heads up against Cary Katz. Knowing that Katz is a relative newcomer to short deck poker, Kee felt that he had the advantage especially when it came to post-flop play. His instincts were right on the money as he pulled off an amazing bluff which forced Katz to fold a good hand.
Kee was holding a top pair of kings when he made his move. Katz check-called on the flop and then placed a big bet on the turn. Kee called the bet and, in doing so, set himself up for the bluff. When Katz bet the river, Kee ran the hand through his head and correctly came to the conclusion that Katz’s hand wasn’t as strong as he was making it out to be. Kee went over the top and Katz reluctantly folded his hand.
It was a masterful read of his opponent’s betting progression that enabled him to pull off such a well-timed move. That hand was the turning point and it took less than an hour for Kee to finish his opponent off.
Game Theory Optimal (GTO)
Young poker pros are using game theory optimal (GTO) strategies to boost their chances of success in poker. Kee did use GTO techniques in the short deck but said one had to pick and choose when to use GTO and when not to.
In a statement, Kee said “Knowing GTO is one thing, but applying it to specific situations; that’s the key in poker I think,” he said. “You have to have good fundamentals. If you don’t, you’re going to lose in a long run if you’re only going to make exploits. You’re mathematically bound to lose. So I suggest doing a mix.””
Kee Will Play More Triton Events
This was his biggest payout till date and Kee plans to come back to Jeju to defend his title in the future. He was also happy with the way the Triton Super High Roller Series was organized and plans to play more Triton events going forward.