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Leon Tsoukernik Defeats Phil Ivey for King’s Short Deck Title

One of our stories to watch heading into the 2019 World Series of Poker Europe was whether Phil Ivey would show up to play in any events. Since the event was in Rozvadov and not in the United States, Ivey doesn’t have to worry about his earnings being seized.

Ivey has indeed shown up to play in some of the High Roller events but failed to cash in any bracelet events. However, over the weekend he managed to make it heads-up in the King’s €100,000 Short Deck Event.

Side Event Draws Elite Field

Most of the non-bracelet side events at the World Series of Poker Europe are lower buy-in affairs primarily played by amateurs and lower-tier pros you’ve never heard of. The one exception to that was the King’s €100,000 Short Deck Deck Event that played out on Saturday.

The event drew a field of 14 players and produced 15 re-entries for a total field of 29. As you can expect, the field was stacked with top pros and amateur players. Among them included pro Ben Lamb, Phua Seng, Phil Ivey, and others. King’s Casino Leon Tsoukernik was also in the field as was Poker Central creator Cary Katz.

Leon Tsoukernik Runs Hot Heads-Up to Beat Ivey

Only the top four players were paid in this event and it was Ben Lamb that was eliminated as the bubble boy. Cary Katz was then eliminated by Phil Ivey in fourth place for a min-cash of $307,880.

Ivey continued to dominate and knocked out Phua Seng in third place. Seng earned $615,759. At the start of heads-up play between Ivey and Tsoukernik, Ivey had nearly an 8 to 1 chip lead. However, as Tsourkernik explained in a post-event interview, he started catching lucky cards and ended up winning the event.

Phil Ivey finished in second place, earning $923,639. Leon Tsoukernik defeated his poker hero heads-up to win $1.23 million.

In the below interview with Rob Yong, Tsoukernik explains that he told Ivey at one point that his dream was to play him heads-up and that it didn’t matter if he won or lost. He also explained that the pair did not cut a deal and that he wanted to beat him straight up.

Tonight, @PokerroomKings owner, Leon Tsoukernik is probably the happiest poker player on the planet after defeating his hero @philivey HU to win €1.1M in the €100K Shortdeck @WSOP Europe. Having a glass of wine 🍷 & got him to day a few words… pic.twitter.com/JI54HF0Rxd

— Rob Yong (@rob_yong_) October 20, 2019

While Tsoukernik is known as a high stakes player, he certainly is not on the same level as Ivey. He realizes how fortunate he was to come out the victor. In the end, both players walked away with a nice payday.

How Much Did Ivey Get to Pocket?

One question that’s beginning to crop up in the poker community is whether Phil Ivey is playing with all of his own action. We found out earlier this year that Ivey was backed into the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship at the WSOP in Las Vegas. Some are wondering whether that was just a legal ploy to try and get some of the winnings released, or whether Ivey is struggling to fund his poker career.

It’s well-known that Ivey is not able to play live poker in Nevada or Atlantic City due to his judgment from the Borgata. However, he is under no such restrictions in Rozvadov or anywhere outside of the United States.

It does appear that Ivey is exclusively focused on High Roller events now as opposed to bracelet chasing. One cannot blame him as the proliferation of High Roller poker tournaments makes it profitable for anyone that can outlast these small fields.

In a game like Short Deck NL Hold’em where Ivey seems particularly skilled, he has an increased advantage. If you look at his cashes outside of the WSOP over the last two years, they are all in Short Deck games.

Until Ivey gets his matters with the Borgata resolved, we will likely not see him playing in the United States. However, it appears he will be playing in any significant Short Deck Event he can find outside of the US.

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