Karl Chappe-Gatien Wins $565,000 In His First Ever Short Deck Event

Karl Chappe-Gatien had never entered a short deck no-limit hold’em poker tournament prior to putting up $40,000 to buy into the latest such event being held at the 2022 Triton Mediterranean Poker Party. The French day trader was riding high from a third-place showing in the $200,000 buy-in Coin Rivet Invitational that saw him earn $2.6 million less than week earlier. According to Triton Poker reporters, bracelet winner Danny Tang convinced Chappe-Gatien to give short deck a shot. After trying it out with some cash game action, Chappe-Gatien took a seat. He then proceeded to beat out the field of 45 entries, earning $565,000 for the win.

“I was feeling good but I didn’t expect anything,” Chappe-Gatien told Triton when asked about taking the plunge into the short deck world. “I wanted to have fun.”

In addition to the title and the money, Chappe-Gatien also earned 420 Card Player Player of the Year points for his victory. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year.

Rui Cao was knocked out on the money bubble, ensuring that the remaining seven players would all earn for least $95,000 for their efforts. That sum ultimately went to Winfred Yu when his pocket kings ran into the pocket aces of Chappe-Gatien.

Elton Tsang was the next to fall. The 2016 Big One for One Drop Invitational champion ran A-9 suited into the pocket kings of Webster Lim to hit the rail in sixth place ($120,000).

Bracelet winner and four-time Triton event champion Jason Koon’s run in this event came to an end when his A7 for top pair ran into the set of jacks held by Chappe-Gatien, with JJ on a AJ8 flop. The Q on the turn gave Koon outs to a flush, but the A on the end gave Chappe-Gatien a winning full house to lock up the pot. Koon earned $155,000 as the fifth-place finisher, increasing his lifetime earnings to more than $40.5 million. With 12 final-table finishes and more than $5 million in year-to-date POY earnings, Koon now sits in 24th place in the 2022 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

Michael Zhang soon followed Koon to the rail, and like his predecessor, he was eliminated thanks to flopping top pair against a set for Chappe-Gatien. The chips went in on the turn for Zhang, who was drawing dead. The river gave Chappe-Gatien quad nines to see him drag the pot, narrowing the field to three in the process. Zhang earned $200,000 as the fourth-place finisher.

Bracelet winner Webster Lim got the last of his stack into the middle preflop with AJ. He was facing the AA of Kiat Lee. Lim flopped a gutshot and picket up a double-belly-buster on the turn, but was unable to improve any further and was knocked out in third place ($264,000). Lim now has nearly $10.4 million in lifetime earnings to his name.

With that, heads-up play was set. Chappe-Gatien held just shy of a 4:3 chip lead over Lee when cards got back in the air after a short break. Lee battled his way back to roughly even by the time the final hand of the tournament was dealt. Lee limped in for 300,000 with 98 and Chappe-Gatien raised to 900,000 with JJ. Lee called and the flop came down 987 to give Lee top two pair. He checked and Chappe-Gatien bet 1,600,000 into the pot of 1,800,000 with his overpair and gutshot straight draw. Lee check-raised all-in for 7,900,000 and Chappe-Gatien called. The 6 on the turn kept Lee ahead, but the 10 on the end gave Chappe-Gatien a jack-high straight to secure the pot and the title. Lee earned $401,000 as the runner-up. This was his second podium finish in as many days, having placed third in the $30,000 short deck event the previous day.

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

Photo credit: Joe Giron / Triton Poker.

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