Registration closed at around 3.30pm today on Event #5 at the Triton Poker Series, Jeju. But like a suitcase ahead of a long trip, so much was stuffed in at the last moment it seemed as though it might never really be shut.
Case in point: Tom Dwan. Yesterday, the American high roller fired one bullet, costing HK$1 million. He was knocked out and took the rest of the evening off, at least from tournament poker. But today, he returned and fired another four bullets in the first hour of play, bringing his total investment to HK$5 million. That’s about US$637,000–and it didn’t bring him any more luck. Dwan is already out for the fifth and final time.
It’s also been a hell of an event for another of high stakes poker’s great enigmas. Despite keeping a notoriously low profile for most of the year, Timofey “Truteller” Kuznetsov has been prominent here at the Landing Casino, Shinhwa World, particularly at the registration desk. He too bought in five times and he too is now out. These are the joys and perils of short-deck hold’em in South Korea.
It wasn’t only those two, however. We had seen 59 entries through seven on-hour levels on the opening day, but another 22 bullets were fired in that mad first hour today. That means official numbers show 81 entries to the event, including 44 re-entries. It made a prize pool of HK$76,140,000 (roughly US$9.7 million). The champion will get HK$22.4 million (US$2.84 million). That is for two days’ work.
A reminder: we play to a winner tonight, and then reconvene at 2pm tomorrow for the HK$2 million main event.
OFFICIAL PAYOUT SCHEDULE
Triton Jeju Event #5 – Short-Deck Ante-Only
Buy-in: HK$1 million
Entries: 81 (inc. 44 re-entries)
Prize pool: HK$76,140,000
1 – HK$22,300,000
2 – HK$15,900,000
3 – HK$10,440,000
4 – HK$7,900,000
5 – HK$6,100,000
6 – HK$4,700,000
7 – HK$3,700,000
8 – HK$2,900,000
9 – HK$2,200,000
OFFICIAL PLAYER LIST
| NAME | COUNTRY | ENTRIES |
| Timofey Kuznetsov | Russia | 5 |
| Tom Dwan | USA | 5 |
| Gabe Patgorski | USA | 4 |
| Arnaud Romain | France | 4 |
| Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 4 |
| Michael Watson | Canada | 4 |
| Zuo Wang | Canada | 4 |
| Andrew Robl | USA | 3 |
| John Juanda | Indonesia | 3 |
| Wai Leong Chan | Malaysia | 3 |
| Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 3 |
| Ben Lamb | USA | 2 |
| Yewei Wu | Canada | 2 |
| Paul Phua | Malaysia | 2 |
| Peter Jetten | Canada | 2 |
| Isaac Haxton | USA | 2 |
| Justin Bonomo | USA | 2 |
| David Benefield | USA | 2 |
| David Peters | USA | 2 |
| Daniel Cates | USA | 2 |
| Stephen Chidwick | UK | 2 |
| Jun Wang | Canada | 2 |
| Wei Hsiang Yeu | Malaysia | 2 |
| Shu Nu Zang | Canada | 1 |
| Bjorn Li | USA | 1 |
| Devan Tang | Hong Kong | 1 |
| Xuan Tan | Canada | 1 |
| Rui Cao | France | 1 |
| Jun Wang | Canada | 1 |
| Richard Yong | Malaysia | 1 |
| Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | 1 |
| Sergey Lebedev | Russia | 1 |
| Furkurt Rakhimov | Russia | 1 |
| Robert Flink | Sweden | 1 |
| Jason Koon | USA | 1 |
| Slow Choon Tong | Malaysia | 1 |
| Ivan Leow | Malaysia | 1 |
| Ivan Leow | Malaysia | 1 |
| Bryn Kenney | USA | 1 |
Photography by Jamie Thomson/pokerphotoarchive.com.