Mikita Badziakouski Is the Short Deck Poker King; Wins Another Event
There has been a lot of positive press about Justin Bonomo during 2018 due to him winning more than $25.1 million from live poker tournament, and rightly so. Bonomo’s amazing run, however, has overshadowed some excellent results from other players, including Mikita Badziakouski who has a legitimate claim to being the Short Deck Poker king.
Short Deck Poker is the newest game in town and one preferred by high rollers in Asia. The game plays like traditional no-limit hold’em, except deuces through fives are removed from the deck, which in turn changes the hand rankings and creates more action.
A Short Deck Poker event took place at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic on Oct. 23, running alongside the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe events. This €25,000 buy-in event saw nine unique entrants purchase six re-entries between them, creating a €356,250 prize pool.
Short Deck regulars Richard Yong, Winfred Yu and Paul Phua were among those who failed to make it heads-up where the prize money was awarded. Wai Kin Yong, Choon Tong Siow, Wai Leong Chan, and King’s Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik were the others to invest a sizeable sum but fail in their quest for glory.
Badziakouski of Belarus found himself heads-up against Ivan Leow and guaranteed €142,500 for his efforts. The Belarusian was not happy with that sum and was determined to get his hands on the €213,750 first-place prize. When Badziakouski is in the zone, there are few players in the world who can defeat him, so when he emerged victorious yet again, it was no real surprise.
King's Short Deck Championship Event Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize in € | Prize in $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | €213,750 | $243,789 |
| 2 | Ivan Leow | Malaysia | €142,500 | $162,526 |
Badziakouski's Amazing 2018
In August, Badziakouski topped a field of 55 entries in the HK$2,000,000 Triton Jeju Main Event for the equivalent of $5,255,456, and reached the final table of another event in Jeju for $588,657.
Badziakouski also won the HK$1,000,000 Main Event at the 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro for approximately $2,499,090 and reached two final tables of a Short Deck events in Manilla for $219,256 and $52,650.
In total, Badziakouski has won $12,658,265 in 2018, which takes his lifetime winnings past the $18.8 million mark, enough for first-place in the Belarus all-time money listings and 22nd place in the worldwide money listings.
Can Badziakouski Win More Short Deck Events in Rozvadov?
One more high buy-in Short Deck Poker event is scheduled to run before October ends. The King’s Short Deck Hold’em Championship, a €50,000 buy-in event, runs on Oct. 31.
There’s also a €100,000 buy-in Super High Roller called LEON’s High Roller taking place on Oct. 30-31 in addition to the €5 million guaranteed €10,350 WSOPE Main Event from Oct. 27-Nov. 2. Stay tuned to PokerNews to discover if anyone can stop the King of Short Deck Poker, Mikita Badziakouski.
