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Nick Schulman Wins First Event of Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju

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The first event of the Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju and an unlikely name ended up taking down the event. Nick Schulman surprised many by taking down the HKD 100,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event on Wednesday, not because he isn’t a great player, but because this is the first time he’s ever played Short Deck NL Hold’em.

He outlasted what was a 61 entry field to take home over $272,000 in first place money. Ban Lamb also made the final table of the event, finishing in fourth.

Nick Schulman Goes From Beginner to Winning HKD 100,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event

We’ve often heard stories about players just learning a game for the first time and then going on an incredible run to do so. Often, these are in larger field events but seldom do we see it at a higher stakes level.

Nick Schulman came into the HKD 100,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event on Tuesday having never played the game but managed to pick up some pointers and feel his way along. He made the final day of play on Wednesday tenth in chips out of 15 remaining players. A couple of notables that fell prior to the final table included Gabe Patgorski and Stephen Chidwick.

Only the final eight made the final table and only seven of those received a payday. Schulman managed to make the final table second in chips right behind Ben Lamb. Lamb ended up sending Chio Lin Ern to the rail as the bubble boy when his A-K outran Ern’s pocket kings.

Schulman later took the lead at the final table when he caught a straight against pocket kings for Lamb. From there, Lamb continued to slide and it was Schulman that knocked him out in fourth place. Lamb was all-in with Kh-10s and Schulman called with Jd-9h. Schulman caught a jack on the flop to end up taking the hand.

Ultimately, it was Schulman facing Kenneth Lee heads-up for the title. By the time heads-up was reached, Schulman had a 6:1 chip lead. Lee managed a double-up, but he couldn’t gain any serious traction.

Finally, he moved all-in on a queen-high flop with Qc-10c and was called by Schulman with pocket queens. That set proved enough to give Schulman the victory and the HKD 2,135,000 (US $270,000) top prize. Oh, he also dropped another surprise on the poker world after winning:

Congrats to the expectant parents.

Schulman admitted after the win that he was very lucky in getting the win, telling PokerNews that, “I still don’t know how to play the game but every time when you play a lot of all ins and win every single one, that’s the way to do it.”

Short-Deck NL Hold’em Defined

Short-deck NL Hold’em is a variant of Hold’em that’s increasingly growing in popularity. The main difference between Short Deck and standard Hold’em is that the deuces, threes, fours, and fives are removed from the deck. Also, the ace can serve as a five to complete a straight.

Also, there is a slight change in hand rankings. Flushes occur infrequently in this game, so a flush ranks higher than a full house. It takes a little getting used to, but most that play it agree that it is a very fun game to play.

The casual poker fan may recognize Schulman more for his announcing than for his play. He is one of the voices of World Series of Poker broadcasts on PokerGo and on the break desk during episodes on ESPN or ESPN2.

Schulman is an accomplished player with two WSOP bracelets and one World Poker Tour title. He also has over $10.84 million in live tournament earnings. It must be nice to be able to go from commentating on WSOP events one week to winning poker tournaments the next. Such is the life of a poker pro.

Photo courtesy: Triton Poker on Twitter

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