The machine still beeps ever so faintly. The frightening sound of the flatline is preparing to enter the stage. Jonathan Depa is putting on a surgical Short-Deck display sending shockwaves through the Aria. Even the old grannies playing the slot machines feel the bass rattle in their mothballed caverns.
In times gone by, Depa and tournaments went together like chalk and cheese, but this year, he’s more like blackboard and chalk or crackers and cheese. In March, Depa beat 41-entrants to win the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at partypoker MILLIONS South American for $400,000. He followed that up with three ITM finishes in Short-Deck events at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE).
Depa finished 7/111 in the €25,500 Short-Deck High Roller for €88,861, he won the 27-entrant €50,000 Short-Deck High Roller for €641,250 (beating Phil Ivey, heads-up, no less), and ended the series with a 24/179 finish in the €2,500 Short-Deck for a min-cash.
“I don’t really play that many tournaments,” Depa told the Poker Central crew after his most recent win. “To win two tournaments in two weeks is pretty awesome, and it’s always nice when you’re just basically winning every all in.”
Depa became handcuffed to the title from the off in Event #3: $10,000 Short-Deck, beating 37-entrants over two days play.
The final six featured a glittering array of stars.
Sam Soverel is the defending Poker Central Player of the Year, and big favourite to defend that title. Soverel is having a cracking year, dominating the British Poker Open, and finishing fifth in the opening $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em event in this series.
Ben Yu finished fifth in this game during the US Poker Open in February.
Alex Foxen has won close to $4m this year, including the $20,000 No-Limit High Roller in last month’s WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble, and is still the Global Poker Index (GPI) World #2.
Jorryt Van Hoof finished third in the WPT High Roller that Foxen won, and also made the final table of a chunky €25k at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona recently.
Erik Seidel.
I won’t insult your intelligence by writing anything about the man, but know this, it was his first ITM finish in a Short-Deck event, and you get the feeling it won’t be long before he has the game tattooed to his prefrontal cortex.
The Nutshell Action
Final Table Seat Draw
Seat 1: Jorryt van Hoof – 1,425,000
Seat 2: Sam Soverel – 1,265,000
Seat 3: Ben Yu – 1,745,000
Seat 4: Alex Foxen – 1,285,000
Seat 5: Jonathan Depa – 3,305,000
Seat 6: Erik Seidel – 2,065,000
The first player eliminated from the final table was the Poker Central Player of the Year. Jorryt Van Hoof limped under the gun, holding KQs, and called when Sam Soverel moved all-in holding QTo, and the better hand held.
Ben Yu busted next when his JTo lost to Jonathan Depa’s superior AKs. Yu did flop the lead, but Depa regained it on the turn. Erik Seidel doubled with aces v van Hoof’s kings. Then the Dutchman ran AQs into the pocket kings of Alex Foxen to exit in fourth.
Seidel headed for a cup of tea and a cold bath after running K9o ran into the AQs of Foxen. Seidel took the lead on the flop, but Foxen hit runner-runner flush to hand the Poker Hall of Famer his first Short-Deck cash two places short of the most brilliant of debuts.
Depa beat Foxen, heads-up, with the final hand seeing QJ beat J9.
“I definitely don’t have it all figured out, that’s for sure,” Depa told Poker Central. “I’m learning just like everybody else’s. I have a lot of PLO experience, and the two games have tons of similarities. So that’s probably why I picked it up pretty quickly. I really like it because it sort of has the best elements of No-Limit Hold’em and PLO combined, which makes it a really enjoyable game for me.”
Cue the flatline.
ITM Finishes
- Jonathan Depa – $133,200
- Alex Foxen – $88,800
- Erik Seidel – $59,200
- Jorryt van Hoof – $37,000
- Ben Yu – $29,600
- Sam Soverel – $22,200
Poker Masters Leaderboard
- Chance Kornuth – 420 points
- Isaac Baron – 300
- Ryan Laplante – 300
- Jonathan Depa – 300
- Thai Ha -210
- Alex Foxen – 210