WSOPE 2018: LEON’s High Roller Has Found Its Winner

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The latest tournament for high rollers within the framework of WSOPE-2018 was hosted in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. The event, which was held in King’s Casino, has come to an end and crowned its eventual winner. It took only nine hours to determine the best poker player, who walked away with a huge prize.

Since the tournament, with a buy-in of €100,000, was organized by Leon Tsoukernik, the competition was dubbed LEON’s High Roller. As for the winner, all honors and the first prize in the amount of €1,251,455 went to the representative of Malaysia, Ivan Leow.

Note that before Ivan’s victory, the trip to the Czech Republic was unsuccessful for the players of Triton poker, as they fell too short to run deep in the tournaments. However, Leow won at the very last moment, allowing them to get out from under. By the way, this win constitutes the largest prize in Ivan’s career.

Many friends joined Leow’s success celebration. They enthusiastically supported him throughout his run at the final table. For many Triton poker players, it was their first time in the Czech Republic, and they were delighted with the reception provided by King’s Casino.

Initially, the level duration in LEON’s High Roller was 60 minutes, but adjustments to the tournament format had to be made along the way – by the beginning of the competition, only two players were registered in the list of participants. After a brief discussion with potential players, the organizers turned the tournament into a one-day tournament, eliminating the first three levels and reducing the duration of the subsequent levels to half an hour. After that, as they say, things got rolling – the first five players, including Leon Tsoukernik, took their places at the table.

Shortly thereafter, the second and third tables were opened. Leon Tsukernik, David Peters, and Timothy Adams decided that one bullet was not enough – each of them made three entries, but did not get all the credit. At a relatively early stage, famous players like Matt Kirk, Mikita Badziakouski, Matthis Eibinger, Stefan Schillhabel, Ole Schemion, and Adrian Mateos left the tournament. A total of thirty-three entries were made in the tournament.

At the final table, the field owner Martin Kabrhel held the chip lead for a long time. He distinguished himself a couple of days ago by winning the WSOP circuit 2018 opening event, but in the last hand before the heads-up, there was a sharp change of scenery. The Czech went all-in from the button and got two calls: from a short stack of Michael Soyza and Ivan Leow, who woke up with pocket aces. As a result, Leow doubled up and went into heads-up with only a small disadvantage on chips.

However, Kabrhel’s slender chip lead quickly evaporated after the rival opened his big bluff. Two hands later, the opponents got the stacks to the center of the table. With K-J against A-9, Ivan was slightly behind, but the jack on the turn brought him forward, and another jack on the turn left Kabrhel without outs.

Third place went to Michael Soyza from Malaysia, who ended up with €521,471. The Lithuanian Tony G was right behind him, enjoying a payout of €351,579, while the fifth place went to Dominik Nitsche, who settled for €237,038.

Seng Yee Leow (Ivan’s real name) has been one of the best Malaysian poker players in 2018. This year, he managed to win numerous events, obtaining several six-figure prizes. Recall that Leow won Triton Poker in Sochi, where he was rewarded with the largest part of the total prize. Interestingly, Ivan Leow won his second title of the Triton Poker series within two weeks, defeating Abraham Passet in heads-up.

On the eve, Leow reached the final table of the previous tournament with a buy-in of $3 million in the role of chip leader, but within an hour turned into a bubble-boy. The beginning of the second day of the Super High Roller tournament was similar for him: acting in a super-aggressive manner and fighting for almost every bank, he quickly sank to the bottom of the ranks. However, after the reentry was complete, the picture completely changed – Ivan literally dominated the final table.

The founder of Triton series, Richard Yong, along with his son Wai-kin, were asked to identify the player of the year in Malaysia in 2018. Both of them, without hesitation, listed three names: Michael Soyza, Wai Leong Chan, and Ivan Leow. As you can see, Ivan has already confirmed the accuracy of his compatriots’ accolade.