A hop, skip and a jump ago, the biggest poker game in the world was taking place in the Landing Casino, Jeju, South Korea. Today, it’s in Sochi, Russia.
The venue may have changed.
The cast is very much the same.
In May, partypoker and Triton pallyed-up for the first time when the online giant made a decent wedge to sponsor the Russian live stream. As the bright red sunsets over the ocean in front of me, the tables have turned.
Sochi is the venue.
partypoker MILLIONS Russia is serving all of the chips.
Triton is on the menu.
The first of two Triton High Rollers took place on Tuesday 7 August, and it looks like Richard Yong, Paul Phua and co., hired a jumbo jet to fly the Jeju crew into the Sochi Resort and Casino.
Day 1 of the R 3,000,000 (USD 47,000) buy-in Triton Poker High Roller is in the books. The event bewitched 37 entrants throughout eight levels of 45-minutes.
50,000 stacks.
Unlimited re-entries
A 30-second beep-beep.
Let’s get to it.
Level 2: 100/200/200 – Fast With The Early Lead; Rybin Cracks Loeser’s Kings
Dietrich Fast and Paul Phua were the first two titans to lock horns.
Alexey Rybin opened to 500 with K8cc, Fast called with two black aces, and Phua squeezed to 2,500 in position. Ivan Leow four-bet to 7,000 holding 97cc, Rybin folded, Fast raised to 16,500, Phua made it 50,000 to play holding AK, Leow left the party, Fast moved all-in, and Phua made the call. The board ran out favourably for Fast to become the early chip leader.
Rybin had better luck a few hands later when he called a 3,600 Manig Loeser open holding 54o. Loeser held pocket kings and was ahead when the 7d6c4s hit the flop. The pair got the money in, and it went the way of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member when the 3d on the turn gave the Russian a straight for the double up.
Level 3: 150/300/300 – Yaroshevskyy Busts Leow
Igor Yaroshevskyy opened tp 700 from under the gun holding pocket aces, Leow three-bet to 2,200 with JhTd, Yaroshevskyy upped the ante to 8,000; Leow called.
Flop: 9h6h2h
Both Yaroshevskyy’s aces were black. Leow held one heart. The Ukrainian c-bet to 6,000 and Leow called.
Turn: Tc
Yaroshevskyy bet 15,000; Leow called.
River: Qs
Yaroshevskyy moved all-in, and Leow made the hero call, to dust off his first stack.
Level 4: 200/400/400 – Gruissem Eliminates Chow; Becker Busts Rybin
partypoker ambassador, Philipp Gruissem eliminated Hing Yaung Chow when the latter moved all-in on the fourth street with the board looking all fine and QsTs2d5c dandy. Gruissem held two black aces, and Chow had 64ss for the flush draw and gutshot but bricked everything on the river to exit the tournament.
Then we lost Rybin.
The Russian opened to 1,100 in the hijack seat holding pocket kings, and Johannes Becker called in the big blind with Q4ss.
Flop: 8c6s2s
Becker flopped a flush draw and check-called a 1,500 Rybin c-bet.
Turn: 9s
Bink.
Becker checked, Rybin bet 3,400, Becker check-raised to 10,000, Rybin moved all-in for 28,850, and Becker called. The Ac meant nothing on the river. Rybin was out.
Level 6: 300/600/600 – Becker Banishes Farrell
The Triple Crown winner, Niall Farrell hit the rail in Level 6, after bluffing his stack with AdJx on 8d5s3s3d6d. Becker called all three streets holding pocket queens.
Level 7: 400/800/800 – Fast Handing Out Reprieves
Dietrich Fast doubled up Alexander Gofman and Vladimir Troyanovskiy.
Level 8: 500/1000/1000: Troyanovski, Wai Kin Yong, Phua Filatov Leave; Farrell Busts Again.
Troyanovskiy didn’t turn those Fast chips into anything of note after getting them in holding A7dd versus the AKcc of Abraham Passet. A battle like that rarely ends well for the double-diamonds, and this time the action remained scripted.
Then we lost Wai Kin Yong.
The two-time Triton Champion defended the big blind with J3ss versus a Gruissem raise holding AJo and got the last of his beans into the middle on a jack high all heart flop. The result was, positively, Gruissem.
Niall Farrell, who had re-entered since his Level 6 exit, hit the rail again, this time running AQo into the pocket queens of Koray Aldemir. Manig Loeser bought in for a third time (although PokerNews have no news on either of his exits). And Devan Tang lost a flip AK<88 of Kok Weng Beh forcing him to scratch around in the fibres of his jean pockets.
Then we lost Anatoly Filatov.
The partypoker ambassador got it in holding A2cc and found two callers in the shape of Oleksii Khoroshenin holding AQo, and Yaroshevskyy holding AJss. The board ran out in favour of Khoroshenin, sending Filatov to the rail.
And Paul Phua.
Timothy Adams opened with AJcc in early position, Phua three-bet to 6,200 holding AKo in position, and Adams called. The flop was JhTc4s, and Adams check-raised jammed. Phua called and was in great shape until a second jack hit the turn to double up the Canadian.
Patrik Antonius Leads The Day 1 Field
24 players placed chips in plastic bags at the end of the day, and Patrik Antonius returns with the lead on Day 2. Late registration remains open for a full two hours of Day 2, so expect the field to brim with even more players.
Here are the Top 10 chip counts.
1. Patrik Antonius – 151,700
2. Johannes Becker – 137,500
3. Igor Yaroshevskyy – 128,300
4. Timothy Adams – 125,700
5. Koray Aldemir – 120,000
6. Aymon Hata – 118,100
7. Shyngis Satubayev – 101,200
8. Ivan Leow – 100,200
9. Abraham Passet – 91,200
10. Kok Weng Beh – 80,100
The action recommences Wednesday 8 August at 1 pm (local time).