Chan Alternates Betting and Trap-Checking
Despite the Short Deck format, neither of the last two players have been picking up strong preflop holdings – or if they do, they receive no action. Similarly, making a strong hand post-flop has not been rewarding for either of them as each time their opponent has failed to a) make any sort of hand or b) bluff.
This included a river spot where Wai Leong Chan made a flush on a [Ts8h6dAdTd] board with [Qd8d] after action was limited to a bet of 225,000 on the flop from Paul Phua holding [Qc9c]. Chan did not lure Phua into betting with his river check; Phua did say as he threw his cards away, “Almost bluff!”
