Stephen Chidwick Wins Triton Series Madrid €100,000 Short Deck Main Event

Stephen Chidwick has won yet another massive poker tournament title, demonstrating yet again why a survey of his high-stakes peers conducted in 2019 had him as the runaway leader in votes for the best player in the world. The 33-year-old British poker pro’s latest victory saw him defeat a field of 60 entries in the 2022 Triton Series Madrid €100,000 buy-in short deck main event. Chidwick was awarded €1,800,000 ($1,890,000 USD) for the win, the second-largest payday of his career behind the nearly $5.4 million he earned as the fourth-place finisher in the £1,050,000 buy-in Triton Million charity invitational back in 2019.

Chidwick now has more than $43,013,530 in recorded earnings to his name. His latest win, which was his 31st recorded career title but his first in a Triton event, saw him surpass David Peters ($41,535,378) to move into fourth place on poker’s all-time money list.

The 2019 Card Player Player of the Year award winner is now very well positioned to make another run for the POY title this year. The 720 POY points he secured as the champion of this event were enough to move him into second place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker. This was his third title and 14th final-table finish of the year, with more than $4.8 million in POY earnings accrued thus far. With 3,786 total points, he now sits just 597 points behind current leader Ali Imsirovic.

The second and final day of this six-figure buy-in short deck tournament began with just the final eight players remaining, with all of them in the money after recent €50,000 short deck event winner Webster Lim was knocked out on the bubble at the conclusion of day 2. Chidwick came into the day toward the bottom of the leaderboard but began his campaign for the title by eliminating fellow short-stack Michael Soyza (8th – $252,000). Soyza’s A-9 suited failed to beat out Chidwick’s pocket tens after all of the chips went in preflop and the field was narrowed to seven.

Seth Davies’ run in this event came to a fairly brutal conclusion. He got the last of his chips in on a AK9 flop holding AK for top two pair, which was well out ahead of the AQ that Mikita Badziakouski called him with. The J on the turn saw Badzaikouski make the key first step towards a back-door straight. The 10 on the river saw the runner-runner draw completed, spelling the end of Davies’ tournament. The World Poker Tour champion earned $320,250 USD as the seventh-place finisher.

The next big clash saw Isaac Haxton get all-in preflop with Q-J, which was dominated by the A-Q suited of Triton co-founder Richard Yong. Haxton was unable to come from behind, earning $399,000 USD for his sixth-place showing in this event.

Bracelet winner Danny Tang was the next to fall. His pocket jacks found themselves in a preflop race against the A-Q of Badziakouski. A queen-high flop gave Badziakouski a lead that he never relinquished from there and Tang was eliminated in fifth place ($514,500 USD). This was his seventh final-table finish of the year and fourth of this series. With 2,684 points and nearly $3.2 million in year-to-date earnings, Tang has climbed into eighth place in the overall POY race standings.

Yong lost a crucial chunk of his stack when his A-Q suited clashed against the pocket kings of Antanas ‘Tony G’ Guoga, who had begun the final day with the chip lead. Yong crashed to the bottom of the chip counts after the hand. He was soon all-in and at risk with A-8 suited facing the J-8 suited of Guoga, which improved to a winning flush to see Yong eliminated in fourth place ($672,000 USD).

Chidwick was the shortest stack among the final three, but he soon swapped roles with Dadziakouski thanks to his A-9 winning an all-in against the latter’s K-J suited. Badziakouski was left on fumes after Chidwick rivered a flush. He got all-in with Q-10 facing the A-6 suited of Guoga, which made aces up by the river. Badziakouski was awarded $882,000 USD and 480 POY points for his third-place finish. This was his fifth final table of the year, with two titles won along the way. With 2,750 total points and nearly $4 million in earnings so far in 2022, he now sits in seventh place in the POY race.

Heads-up play began with Guoga holding 11,150,000 to Chidwick’s 6,850,000. It took just less than an hour of play for a winner to be decided. Chidwick turned the tables when he shoved with KQ, which won against the AK of Guoga thanks to a queen on the river. He held roughly a 5:4 lead when the final hand of the event was dealt. Chidwick picked up AQ and open-shoved for 10,025,000. Guoga called for 7,975,000 total with AJ. The board ran out Q96KJ to see Chidwick lock up the pot and the title with a pair of queens. Guoga earned $1,370,250 USD as the runner-up, the largest payday of his tournament career.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Joe Giron / Triton Poker.

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