WSOP Short Deck event goes to Teoh

Malaysia's Paul Teoh found his first taste of WSOP gold after shipping Event #47: $1,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold'em for $88,202 and a a WSOP gold bracelet at GGPoker.

Teoh's WSOP experience prior to this year consisted of trips to the WSOP Europe in 2018 and 2019 at King's Resort where he managed five cashes in bracelet events in three different poker variants.

His last final cash coincidentally came in a short-deck event where he finished in 10th place in the 2019 WSOPE Event #13: €2,500 No Limit Short Deck Hold'em for €8,322 ($9,256).

It wasn't easy for Teoh to win the bracelet as he faced an especially competitive final table which included the likes of a very hungry Mike Watson.

Many of Watson's peers consider him to be one of the best tournament players to never win a WSOP bracelet but, unfortunately, he will have to wait for his chance as today was Teoh's day.

Watson has impressively amassed more than $12 million in live cashes according to The Hendon Mob to go along with another $6 million in online tournament cashes according to PocketFives where he is currently ranked in sixth place in the world.

The day began with players starting off with a huge stack of 300,000 in chips and blinds increasing every 20 minutes. Late registration was closed after three hours when it was announced that the tournament attracted a field of 487 players to generate a $462,560 prize pool.

After a little more than four hours of total play, the bubble burst once Gennaro "G4m3ov3r" Proscia hit the rail. The remaining 71 players were each guaranteed at least a min-cash of $2,152.

GGPoker Ambassador and six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu just missed cashing. Although he failed to pad his bankroll he did fare better than fellow Ambassador Felipe Ramos who decided not to re-enter near the end of late registration after he busted his first and only bullet.

Among those to cash but miss the final table included Dustin "JohnSmiley1" Dirksen (12th - $5,167), Dzmitry Urbanovich (22nd - $3,334), WSOP bracelet winner Danny Tang (29th - $2,679), Dario Sammartino (36th - $2,679), Dan "oiltrader" Shak (38th - $2,679), Jens "Tankanza" Lakemeier (55th - $2,152), and Manig Loeser (64th - $2,152).
Final Table Action

The final table was reached after nearly 7 1/2 hours of play and it took more than three hours for the final table to play out. Federico "Poch0Loc0" Anselmi bubbled the final table in 10th place for $5,167 after his ace-queen couldn't hold up against the ten-eight held by Jose Luis "IQUI22" Maslhia.

Watson entered the final table with the chip lead with Andrei "iosif stalin" Konopelko and Teoh not too far behind.

It took nearly an hour for any eliminations to take place at the final table during which time Konopelko took the chip lead. Then four eliminations took place within a span of about 10 minutes.

The first two eliminations took place on the same hand when Konopelko's ace-jack got there against the ace-queen suited held by Boon Heng "CowBaby" Siong (eighth - $9,345) and the big slick held by Shota "shorta222" Nakanishi (ninth - $6,850).

Mykhailo "remand" Krasnytskyi was the next to go in seventh place for $12,450. Krasnytskyi's ace-ten didn't improve against Watson's ace-queen suited and Konopelko's big slick. Watson won the hand to narrow the gap between him and Konopelko for the chip lead.

Jose Luis "IQUI22" Maslhia gave up most of his stack when his big slick ran into rockets held by Michelle "hu4trollzz" Shah. The rest of his stack then went to Teoh and he hit the rail in sixth place for $17,394.

Shortly after, Teoh took the chip lead before it quickly headed back to Konopelko.

A bit of time passed before Joseph "MrWheatToast" Orsino hit the rail in fifth place for $23,730 when his king-queen suited didn't get there against Watson's ace-jack suited.

The action was fast and furious. Although no eliminations took place for a bit of time, the lead exchanged many times with each player having it at least once until Konopelko eventually hit the rail in fourth place for $32,373. Konopelko got it in good with ace-queen against Shah's king-queen. But Shah hit a straight on the board and it was Konopelko's run fell short of a podium finish.

A short while later, Teoh won a big hand against Shah. Teoh flopped two pair with ten-eight and improved to a full house on the river when he got a big call by Shah with ace-jack for two pair.

Teoh already had more than half the chips in play when he eliminated Watson in third place for $44,166. Watson got it in good with jacks against Teoh's tens but Teoh hit a straight and Watson fell short of getting his first WSOP bracelet.
Heads-Up Action

Teoh entered heads-up play with a 4:1 chip advantage against Shah. He extended it to a 6:1 chip advantage before the final hand took place.

Teoh called a three-bet shove with queen-jack and was up against the ace-jack held by Shah. Shah was ahead when the chips were committed but luck was on Teoh's side after a queen hit a flop and eventually had two pair after the river.

Although Shah did fall short of a bracelet, she will still go home with an impressive runner prize of $60,254.

Congrats to Paul Teoh for winning his first bracelet and the $82,202 top prize!

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)