Category: 2024

Dan Smith is the latest two-time champion on the Triton Poker Series, destined to see his face on one of the grand electronic banners that circle the most prestigious tournament arenas in the game.

Smith bested a field of 108 entries in the first single-day turbo event of the trip to Jeju, picking up four scalps along the way that earned him $60,000 apiece (and also keeping his own). That $300,000 adds to his $951,000 first place prize for another seven-figure score for this American great.

He became the first American to win a title on this trip to Jeju, from a tournament in which the stars and stripes flew over the last four remaining players. It takes Triton earnings close to $20 million and was his 20th Triton cash.

Smith was the epitome of calm in a tournament of enormous volatility, picking spots beautifully to progress to the title. he eventually picked off his countrymen Seth Davies in third and then David Coleman heads-up to finish top of the pile.

“Pretty great!” Smith said, when asked how he felt. He acknowledged the nature of the game and a huge four-handed set-up against Tom Dwan that catapulted him to the title.

“It was a turbo, so it wasn’t like the spots were super intricate,” Smith said. “Me and Tom were one and two in chips, in small and big blind and we both had flushes. And unless you’re super deep, there’s no getting away from it.”

Smith won the huge invitational tournament at Triton’s trip to Monte Carlo last year, and said he’d played some tournaments in Las Vegas but had mainly been travelling and relaxing in the mountains since then.

“This one was in my calendar,” he added. “I was always excited to play Tritons.”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The new Bounty Quattro format debuted here in Jeju put $15,000 of each $50K buy-in in the bounty pool, but only started paying out bounties when 25 percent of the field remained. (Quattro meaning “quarter” in Italian, the native language of the format pioneer Luca Vivaldi.)

That meant that there was two kind of bubbles: the first, when the 27th-placed finisher departed, meant all remaining knockouts now earned a $60,000 bounty. The second was the more conventional bubble, when 18 were left and the next man out left the remaining 17 in the money.

Both the landmarks passed quickly, in keeping with the turbo format.

Ognyan Dimov hit the rail in 27th, losing with to Shyngis Satubayev’s when the latter flopped an eight. Dimov’s departure meant the rest of the players were given a bounty token to be handed over when they were knocked out.

Not long later, the stone bubble burst with Dominykas Mikolaitis perishing at the hands of a familiar bubble burster: Punnat Punsri. Punsri, who knocked out Henrik Hecklen in a sickener yesterday in the $50K, before going on to win the title, found to Mikolaitis’ when they got it all in pre-flop.

Punsri flopped a king to eliminate Mikolaitis, but was also mock-aggrieved that Ken Tong folded ace-queen face up, losing him the chance of a double elimination.

With the bounty chips in play, there was a greater incentive to go for the knockouts and, as expected, the momentum ticked along nicely until we reached a final table. Punsri was there again, but he was marginally behind Dan Smith who had profited most during the pre-final table passage of play.

Tom Dwan was also a major draw for poker fans, even if his 15 big blind stack would need some spinning up if he was to earn a third Triton title.

The final nine looked like this:

Dan Smith – 45 BBs
Punnat Punsri – 41 BBs
David Coleman – 28 BBs
Tom Heung – 28 BBs
Sirzat Hissou – 21 BBs
Tom Dwan – 15 BBs
Damir Zhugralin – 14 BBs
Seth Davies – 13 BBs
Webster Lim – 13 BBs

All of those players at the bottom of the counts knew they would need something special to survive. The blinds race up in these turbos and there’s no place to hide.

Damir Zhugralin became the first to perish. he got his chips in with against Webster Lim’s pocket sevens. Lim hit a third seven on the river, but was ahead already. Zhugralin picked up $94,500 for ninth.

Next up for the chop: Tom Heung. He too got all his chips in pre-flop and entered a race. But his couldn’t catch up with David Coleman’s , especially when a third ten flopped.

Heung won $126,000 for eighth.

As if to underline the unforgiving nature of this game, Lim ended up next out. It was only a few orbits before that he was consigning Zhugralin to the scrapheap, and Lim looked down at pocket aces and had reason to believe it might be his day.

That was especially so when Coleman three-bet shoved over Lim’s opening raise. Lim called and saw that his opponent had pocket twos. But deuces never loses, etc., and a third two landed on the flop.

It was a massive pot to double Coleman and leave Lim on fumes. Sirzat Hissou took the final crumbs soon after. Lim, a three-time Triton champipon, was out in seventh from this one, for $168,000 (plus bounties).

Punsri, of course, was looking for a spectacular back-to-back success, something that hasn’t yet been pulled off on the Triton Series. That achievement is still waiting out there too as even Punsri’s run-good had to end somewhere. Punsri perished in sixth from this one, three-bet jamming but losing to Coleman’s .

Punsri added $220,000 (and bounties) to his monster win from yesterday and headed back to his room to prepare for tomorrow’s Main Event.

Dwan doubled. And then he shoved repeatedly to rise up the counts. Sirzat Hissou became the shortest stack, and he was unable to replicate Dwan’s trick. Hissou’s elimination came at the hands of Smith, when Smith’s made a flush to beat Hissou’s .

Hissou has been on good form this week in Jeju, with three cashes and two final tables. This time he won $279,000 for fifth.

The last four players left were all Americans. It presented, finally, the certainty that someone from North America would be landing a title from Triton Jeju having seen Europe and Asia dominate to date. But which would it be?

Dwan’s resurgence lasted a good long while, but just at the point he was looking to take a stranglehold, he hit the skids. He played a massive pot against Dan Smith where the pair were in the blinds with suited cards.

It just so happened that they were in the same suit, diamonds, and that three diamonds appeared on the board. Smith’s was one pip higher than Dwan’s and that sent a massive double up Smith’s way.

Dwan was pegged back to two big blinds, and even he couldn’t do much with that. His bounty ended up in the possession of Coleman, whose flopped better than Dwan’s pocket threes.

Dwan’s run this time earned him $346,000 and a fourth-place finish.

Smith was now way ahead, but the format meant that no one was safe. Seth Davies had done very well to dodge most of the big confrontations and keep himself alive until only three were left.

But with only five big blinds and two opponents in the groove, he was forced all in with and couldn’t outdraw Smith’s . Smith collected another bounty as Davies banked $418,000 for third.

Smith and Coleman now squared off for an all-American battle. Smith had 37 big blinds to Coleman’s 17. But this battle didn’t last long.

On the first significant pot, they got their stacks in with Smith holding to Coleman’s . There was nothing to excite Coleman on the board and that was that for Smith. Coleman took $642,900 for second, plus bounties.

Henrik Hecklen and Luc Greenwood celebrated with Smith, shoving a whisky in his hand and offering as much mockery as cheer from the sidelines. Smith retorted: “Henrik, any time you can win $1 million in a day, that’s a reasonable thing to do.”

And that’s a fairly reasonable assessment.

Event #10 – $50K NLH TURBO $15K BOUNTY QUATTRO
Dates: March 13, 2024
Entries: 108 (inc. 26 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,780,000

1 – Dan Smith, USA – $951,000 (+$300,000 in bounties)
2 – David Coleman, USA – $642,900 (+$300,000 in bounties)
3 – Seth Davies, USA – $418,000
4 – Tom Dwan, USA – $346,000 (+$60,000 in bounties)
5 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $279,000 (+$120,000 in bounties)
6 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $220,000 (+$240,000 in bounties)
7 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $168,000 (+$120,000 in bounties)
8 – Tom Heung, China – $126,000 (+$60,000 in bounties)
9 – Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – $94,500 (+$120,000 in bounties)
10 – Konstantin Maslak, Russia – $77,500
11 – Alex Wice, Thailand – $77,500
12 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $68,000
13 – Mauricio Salazar, Colombia – $68,000
14 – Klemens Roiter, Austria – $62,300 (+$60,000 in bounties)
15 – Shyngis Satubayev, Kazakhstan – $62,300 (+$180,000 in bounties)
16 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $59,500
17 – Ken Tong, Hong Kong – $59,500

Orpen Kisacikoglu won $60,000 in bounties.

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The fireworks flew on the Triton Series in Jeju, South Korea, tonight where a daredevil performance from the Thailand No 1 Punnat Punsri landed him a second Triton trophy and a tremendous $2.01 million payday.

With his family watching from the rail, Punsri, 31, was involved in two of the most spectacular pots ever seen on the Triton Poker Series — one to burst the bubble in a clash of the two chip-leaders and the second in which he put one of the world’s greats Phil Ivey in an entirely uncharacteristic jam.

Punsri won the maximum in both of those pots, propelling him to a victory after a brief heads-up battle with Sergio Aido. Punsri cracked pocket aces on the final hand for good measure. When it’s your day, it’s simply your day.

“I honestly ran so good,” Punsri said as he began to reflect on the success. “I’ve run good not just this event, but ever since I’ve played Triton.”

That’s the humble explanation, but this was no fluke. Punsri already has a Triton title, earned in Cyprus in 2022, and he has five seven-figure scores on this tour. He was also one of few players at the final for whom the $2 million prize was not a career highest.

But most significantly, he underpinned fearless aggression with some spectacular timing, ensuring that he his bamboozled opponents paid him off time and again.

From a tournament with a $40K buy-in, and a characteristic field boasting the game’s very best, Punsri once again demonstrated that he should always be in the conversation.

“I’m just super grateful for everything,” Punsri said.

Aido too deserves special recognition. He has now achieved back-to-back runner-up finishes in Triton tournaments, banking more than $1 million each time. This event earned him $1,353,000 and consolidated his place behind only Adrian Mateos on the Spain all time money list. Mateos appeared on the rail to watch his friend land another seven-figure score.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

For all the money invariably involved in tournaments on the Triton Poker Series, bubbles can sometimes pass without much drama, or without much reaction from these elite players who have seen everything before.

But today’s bubble in the $50K was one of the best — for the neutral, at least. For the players involved, it was a heart-breaker.

There were a handful of short stacks as hand-for-hand play commenced. Thirty-two players remained; 31 would be paid. Axel Hallay had three big blinds. A couple of others had sub 10 big-blind stacks. At the other end of the counts, Punnat Punsri and Henrik Hecklen had 75 big blinds apiece and were the two tournament chip leaders.

But, well, who do you think suddenly got all their chips in pre-flop? Yep, Hecklen and Punsri went to war, with Punsri four-bet shoving for the lot. Hecklen took a long while before opting to go with it, stating belatedly, “I was always going to call” but intimating that he still needed to think it over.

After play finished on the other tables, they turned over their cards. Punsri had while Hecklen had . Their stacks were almost equal, meaning whomever won would be a runaway chip leader. The loser would be the bubble boy.

In most circumstances, this was looking bleak for Punsri. But then load gasps greeted the flop of . And then the turn and river completed the job for Punsri.

Hecklen put his head in his hands, then got up to walk away, shellshocked. Meanwhile Hallay, who had been staring at near certain elimination allowed himself a wry smile. He had locked up $84,000, while Hecklen got nothing except one of the all-time bad beat stories.

“I thought we had the same hand,” Punsri said later. “Obviously, looking back at it is was a big punt. Wrong, but the right time.”

POST BUBBLE MOVES

Punsri had an enormous chip lead with 31 players left and he kept it for pretty much all of the next four or five hours. During that period, many of those short stacks perished (including Hallay, who went out the first hand after the bubble burst), but some other players also asserted their dominance.

The likes of Phil Ivey and Steve O’Dwyer ticked steadily upward. But it was Spain’s Sergio Aido who went on a characteristic tear. By the time Anson Ewe was knocked out in ninth, Aido had eclipsed even Punsri at the top of the leader board. He thus entered a final table as chip leader for the second time in three days.

The last eight stacks looked like this:

Sergio Aido – 8,425,000 (56 BBs)
Punnat Punsri – 7,425,000 (50 BBs)
Mike Watson – 5,750,000 (38 BBs)
Brian Kim – 4,425,000 (30 BBs)
Ren Lin – 3,500,000 (23 BBs)
Steve O’Dwyer – 3,350,000 (22 BBs)
Phil Ivey – 2,725,000 (18 BBs)
Michael Soyza – 2,650,000 (18 BBs)

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to ignite. On the first hand, Ren Lin opened from under the gun and O’Dwyer made the call from the big blind. O’Dwyer had and probably liked the flop. But he didn’t know at this point that Lin was sitting with pocket aces.

O’Dwyer checked. Lin continued. O’Dwyer called. The pattern repeated after the turn. Then after the river, O’Dwyer checked for a third time, Lin jammed with the marginally bigger stack, and O’Dwyer called for it all.

Lin showed the aces and O’Dwyer was dust. The eighth place earned him $248,000.

To the delight of the watching poker fans on the stream (except those watching in Thailand), Ivey then doubled up through Punsri. It was blind vs blind, pocket fours vs pocket jacks with Ivey’s jacks holding. For the first time since that bubble hand, Punsri was no longer in the top two.

Ivey was up there instead. But then suddenly the roles were reversed again and it all went wrong for Ivey.

In another startling hand against Punsri, Ivey used up 15 time banks to come to a decision on the river. And if Phil Ivey thinks that long about something, he almost always finds the right decision. But not this time.

It was small blind (Punsri) against big blind (Ivey) and by the time they got to the river, the board read . Punsri checked it. Ivey put in a third-pot bet. Punsri then check-raised to 17 big blinds and Ivey went deep into the tank.

After a long, long time he called. With , ie, the flopped straight, that’s probably fair enough. But Punsri showed for the winning flush and Ivey was deep in trouble.

He lost almost all of his remaining blinds by doubling up Michael Soyza soon after ( > . And even when Ivey found aces with less than one big blind, he lost to Aido’s , which flopped two pair and turned a boat.

Ivey — mortal, after all — took $339,000 for seventh.

Slowly and surely, the levels ticked by and the stacks grew more shallow. Mike Watson steadily inched up the counts to be top of the leader board, with Brian Kim and Lin heading in the opposite direction. However, time ran out for Soyza first.

Despite the double up through Ivey, Soyza hadn’t been able to make much more stick at this final table and three-bet jammed his over the top of yet another Punsri open.

The problem for Soyza was that Punsri had a genuine hand — — and made the call. They then saw a board with nothing at all of interest in it, which meant Punsri’s ace remained good. Soyza was out in sixth for $465,000.

Punsri had 40 big blinds. Others could only dream of those dizzy heights.

Lin doubled his six big blind stack through Watson, allowing him to fight another day. But it was a brief reprieve. The next time he found a genuine hand — pocket fives — Aido was sitting with pocket nines. There was no drama to this one and Lin was out.

Lin earned $611,000 for fifth. These prizes were getting big.

Watson had plotted his usual steady course through the tournament, demonstrating once again his consummate skills as a tournament pro. But having lost that pot to Lin, he was obliged to shove his own small pocket pair not long afterwards. But Punsri found and, more importantly, a jack on the flop to beat Watson’s pocket sixes.

Watson picked up $773,000 for fourth.

Eliminations were now coming thick and fast, a symptom of the speedily increasing levels. Brian Kim had done very well to stay alive with a tiny stack, but the grim reaper was now waiting for him.

Kim shoved the button with but Punsri somehow found to make a very easy call. The third ace on the river was overkill.

Still, Kim took nearly $1 million — $954,000 to be precise — so he found some consolation on his way out.

Here they were then: Punsri vs. Aido, with 56 and 20 big blinds, respectively. Aido was returning to the feature table stage only one day after sitting there for the GG Million$ final table, from which he took the most money (even if he officially finished in second place).

The duo briefly looked at the possibility of a deal again tonight, but Punsri turned it down after looking at the numbers and making a quick call. He retook his seat and shoved the first hand, forcing a fold from Aido.

Punsri had laid down a marker, and it didn’t take too long for it to pay dividends. On what turned out to be the final hand, it was Aido who found the pocket aces. But it didn’t matter. Punsri’s connected rather well with the board.

That’s how to make a two-time Triton champion.

Event #8 – $50K NLH 7-Handed
Dates: March 11-12, 2024
Entries: 190 (inc. 71 re-entries)
Prize pool: $9,500,000

1 – Punat Punsri, Thailand – $2,010,000
2 – Sergio Aido, Spain – $1,353,000
3 – Brian Kim, USA – $954,000
4 – Mike Watson, Canada – $773,000
5 – Ren Lin, China – $611,000
6 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $465,000
7 – Phil Ivey, USA – $339,000
8 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $248,000

9 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $205,000
10 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $175,000
11 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $175,000
12 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $155,000
13 – Seth Davies, USA – $155,000
14 – Dan Smith, USA – $140,000
15 – Johnny Du, Hong Kong – $140,000
16 – Ilya Nikiforov, Estonia – $126,000
17 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $126,000
18 – Alex Wice, Thailand – $112,000
19 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $112,000
20 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $112,000
21 – Yauheni Tsaireshchanka, Belarus – $102,000
22 – Thomas Santerne, France – $102,000
23 – Wang Ye, China – $102,000
24 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $93,000
25 – David Yan, New Zealand – $93,000
26 – Calvin Lee, USA – $93,000
27 – Lucas Greenwood, Canada – $93,000
28 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $84,000
29 – Vladas Tamasauskas, Lithuania – $84,000
30 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $84,000
31 – Axel Hallay, France – $84,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

In a week in which players from Vienna and Spain have stolen all the headlines, tonight in Jeju belonged to Bulgaria. From a field of 190 entries in the $40K Mystery Bounty event on the Triton Series, three seats at the eight-handed final table were occupied by Bulgarians. And at just after midnight, one of them — Dimitar Danchev — wrapped the Bulgarian flag around his shoulders and celebrated the victory.

With it, Danchev returned to the summit of the all time Bulgarian money list, leapfrogging one of his countrymen who was also at the final today. And while Danchev immediately locked up $804,000, his six bounty tokens, cashed in the following day, earned him a further $540K. That’s a total of $1,344,000 for Danchev’s day.

But, for Dimov, the silverware is equally important.

“Actually, it’s a little bit about this,” Danchev said, pointing to the trophy in his hand. “This is very special for me. The bounties, of course, are very important, but I’m kind of more excited to win the trophy.”

As a former runner up on the Triton Series, he could have been forgiven for feeling the extra pressure at the final. But Dimov said that the short-stacked nature of much of the play made many decisions quite routine, and then he made the most of his run of cards. “I was just waiting for good spots for me,” he said. “I think I also ran pretty well…so it wasn’t that hard when you run that well.”

Danchev can now head to the player party as a Triton champion, joining his fellow Bulgarian Ognjan Dimov, a winner in Monte Carlo, as a trophy holder on this prestigious series.

Dimov was in the crowd as Danchev beat off the challenge of Jonathan Jaffe, himself a former Triton winner, to claim the spoils. Danchev led at the start of the final, but Jaffe soared into pole position as the tournament neared its conclusion.

But Danchev managed to overhaul Jaffe’s heads up lead and leave the American pro with $541,000 for second. His five bounty tokens bagged him another $340,000 at the Mystery Bounty ceremony.

Danchev was reaping the profits from a decision to head to the Triton Series.

“I was thinking about it for a while,” Danchev said, adding that he would have been playing Triton sooner if Covid hadn’t intervened. “But then everyone told me that Triton is good for you, and I decided finally to come.”

Good decision.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Of all the events that especially reward making it to Day 2, the Mystery Bounty is top of the list. At the start of play, every player is given their own bounty token. If they’re knocked out, it goes to their assassin, who will cash it in for a minimum of $40,000.

It raises the chances of picking up a call if you decide to shove and should, in most instances, result in even more fireworks than usual on the Triton Series.

In some ways, it made this tournament’s prolonged bubble period all the more unlikely. On the very first hand of hand-for-hand play, with 32 players remaining, Artur Martirosian and Justin Saliba were both all-in and called. Martirosian was actually called in three spots.

But both the at-threat players managed to win the hands and there followed at least an hour of stone bubble play, with some huge chip movements at the top of the counts, but the short-stacks sticking around.

One of those short stacks belonged to Fedor Holz, and he may have considered himself fortunate to being drawn randomly to change tables just at the point he was due to post the big blind. However, his first hand on his new table actually proved to be his undoing.

Pocket queens was a clear shove, but he picked up two callers. One of them was Alex Kulev with . And the ace on the flop ended it for Holz. Having already won one event here this week, Holz was probably less concerned than others would have been in his position — especially because it now freed him up to head to the rail of the final table and watch his friend Mario Mosböck win the GG Million$. (Holz later collected $180K from his two bounty tokens.)

The following period of play was when bounty hunting really kicked in — but also where reaching the final table became the priority. Sean Winter, who won an enormous pre-bubble pot to take the tournament chip lead from Stephen Chidwick, raced deep and made it to the last nine, but there were two standout stories.

The first was the presence of three Bulgarians in the last nine, topped by Dimitar Danchev. Then there was Adrian Mateos sitting in third place in the standings, heading to a final table for the second consecutive day. The last eight lined up as follows:

Dimitar Danchev – 7,300,000 (37 BBs)
Jonathan Jaffe – 6,500,000 (33 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 6,075,000 (30 BBs)
Orpen Kisacikoglu – 5,875,000 (29 BBs)
Sean Winter – 4,700,000 (24 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 3,500,000 (18 BBs)
Chris Brewer – 2,650,000 (13 BBs)
Yulian Bogdanov – 1,400,000 (7 BBs)

The first significant hand of final table play was an belter. Kulev picked up pocket kings and Winter found aces. Predictably, all their stacks went in pre-flop, with Winter five-bet jamming.

Kulev was staring elimination in the face, but the dealer put four diamonds on the board, matching one in Kulev’s hand, and he flushed to the win and the chip lead. Winter was down to four big blinds.

He waited it out for an orbit or so, but then found himself all-in in the big blind. Unfortunately for him, his was never going to be in great shape — although when Yulian Bogdanov open-pushed from early position, he might have hoped to get some protection.

However, Kulev called Bogdanov and had the covering stack. Kulev tabled , with Bogdanov showing . But Kulev was running very well and hit an eight on the turn to send both of them out simultaneously.

Winter was eighth for $99,400 (he added another $320K from bounties). Bogdanov banked $135,800 (plus $160K from bounties).

That was one Bulgarian down, but the other two were still firing. It was now Danchev’s turn to boost his chances with the knockout of Chris Brewer. Brewer, a two-time Triton champion, open shoved from the small blind, but Danchev had behind him to make the call.

Danchev ended up with a wheel and Brewer’s bounty token. Brewer took $186,000 for sixth, to which he added $80K in bounties.

Danchev was now on a roll. He four-bet jammed over Kulev to assert his national dominance, and then he knocked out a second two-time champion in the form of Orpen Kisacikoglu. The Turkish player didn’t get involved in too much at the final table, but seized his moment to shove when action folded to him in the small blind.

Again, Danchev had a hand in the big blind that was way ahead of a shoving range. His spiked two pair on the flop. It was already beating Kisacikoglu’s anyway.

Kisacikoglu banked $244,800, plus $260K in bounties, but was out in fifth.

To this point, nobody had managed to show any resistance to the Bulgarian domination. But cometh the moment, cometh the Jonathan Jaffe.

Jaffe doubled up with against Danchev’s when he rivered a bigger two pair on a run out.

Jaffe then gave Kulev a taste of his own medicine, rivering a straight to beat Kulev’s top pair. This one played through the streets with Kulev’s flopping best against Jaffe’s on a flop.

The turn brought the and another pile of chips went into the middle. And the sealed it in Jaffe’s favour. Kulev’s fiery display ended in fourth for $310,000 and a pile of bounties. He cashed them in for another $300K.

Jaffe now had a large chip lead, but was facing off against two of Europe’s best. It was only 48 hours since Adrian Mateos won a debut Triton title and here he was again in the last three and looking to go back-to-back.

But Jaffe now had the bit between his teeth and even Mateos was powerless to stop him. After chipping away, Mateos was down to only seven big blinds and got them in after Jaffe shoved from the small blind.

Mateos had to Jaffe’s . The board missed everyone, which meant Jaffe’s high card stayed good. Mateos was out in third for $381,000. Bounties added another $160K.

It was Danchev vs. Jaffe for the title, with Jaffe holding a 70 BBs to 25 BBs chip lead. That meant there was still potentially a good deal of play in the tournament, especially with the final bounty on the line.

Danchev doubled. Twice. And with the second one, which was against Jaffe’s , he took over the chip lead.

One more of those and it was done. This time, Jaffe had to Danchev’s . An ace on the rainbow flop was good for Danchev. The second ace on the turn was the end of it.

Full tallies, including bounties, are below.

Event #7 – $40K Mystery Bounty NLH
Dates: March 10-11, 2024
Entries: 190 (inc. 66 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,800,000

1 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $1,344,000 (inc. $540K from six bounties)
2 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $881,000 (inc. $540K from five bounties)
3 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $541,000 (inc. $160K from two bounties)
4 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $610,000 (inc. $300K from six bounties)
5 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $504,800 (inc. $260K from four bounties)
6 – Chris Brewer, USA – $266,000 (inc. $80K from one bounty)
7 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $295,800 (inc. $160K from three bounties)
8 – Sean Winter, USA – $419,400 (inc. $320K from six bounties)

9 – Daniel Palsson, Iceland – $122,000 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
10 – Wang Le, China – $69,500
11 – Biao Ding, China – $149,500 (inc. $80K from two bounties)
12 – Dong Chen, China – $62,000
13 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $62,000
14 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $96,000 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
15 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $56,000
16 – Vincent Huang, New Zealand – $650,500 (inc. $600K from two bounties)

17 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $90,500 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
18 – Joseph Cheong, USA – $45,000
19 – Victor Chong, Malaysia – $45,000
20 – Yu Lei, China – $45,000
21 – David Yan, New Zealand – $81,000 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
22 – Dylan Linde, USA – $41,000
23 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $41,000
24 – David Peters, USA – $37,000
25 – Justin Saliba, USA – $37,000
26 – Changjie Zhang, Singapore – $37,000
27 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $357,000 (inc. $320K from three bounties)
28 – Alexandre Vuilleumier, Switzerland – $33,500
29 – Shyngis Satubayev, Kazakhstan – $233,500 (inc. $200K from one bounty)

30 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $33,500
31 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $33,500

Additional bounty winners: Fedor Holz $180K from two bounties, Yulian Bogdanov $160K from three bounties, CJ Zhang $100K from one bounty.

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

With titles already this week for Fedor Holz and Roland Rokita, the trip to the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series in Jeju for Vienna-based players was already a clear success.

But flights from Korea to the Austrian capital now have another Triton trophy crammed into the overhead locker as Mario Mosböck, a third member of the Vienna crew, took down the $25K GG Million$, picking up $1,191,196 along the way.

That payout came after Mosböck agreed a heads-up deal with Sergio Aido, where the Spanish player, chip-leading at the time, took $1,237,804. But Mosböck enjoyed the best of the late stages of this tournament, reaching the final table with only four big blinds, coming into a third day in sixth of six players remaining, then surging into the lead and to the title.

“It feels amazing,” Mosböck said. “I ran really good today…I was never really over 20 big blinds from around the bubble. I was always short. But there’s still a lot of room for manoeuvre.”

It’s Mosböck’s second Triton success, having won the $40K Mystery Bounty in Monte Carlo last year. That same tournament was taking place at the same time as the final table today and Holz, Mosböck’s friend and mentor, bubbled the event, allowing him to come to the rail for Mosböck’s win.

The new champion paid tribute to the Vienna crew, revealing that it’s only with their encouragement that he ever even decided to play the biggest buy-in events.

Mosböck said: “All the boys are really smart, really driven. They want to compete at the highest level…If it was me alone, I’m not sure I would be playing the Super High Rollers. But you can talk to people about how you feel, your concerns. They can give you feedback. It was a community decision. They said, come on, you’re good enough.”

This win certainly underlines that. It was another record-breaking tournament on the Triton Series, with attendance eclipsing 300 entries for the first time ever. That put more than $7.6 million in the prize pool and required a near-unprecedented third day of play. It also meant a tournament of incredible swings and outdraws, with players forced to endure a buffeting at the hands of fate.

But Mosböck’s victory was cheered every step of the way from his Germany and Austrian friends in the crowd, including his fiancee Amanda, who watched on too in Monte Carlo when Mosböck began his Triton career in style.

With a short break, they will no doubt he heading to the $50K event that just got started. And they will be dangerous in that too.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The bubble in this one played out across six tables, with a typically interesting dynamic. There were numerous players with stack sizes that would ordinarily be considered perilous, but the ICM knowledge of this player set is so high that no one was committing a chip unless the situation perfectly demanded it.

Unfortunately for Zheng Yu and then his namesake Winfred, they could afford to wait no longer. They were both all in and called on the same hand (albeit on different tables) and both were knocked out in 49th and 48th respectively.

Zheng’s lost to Jamil Wakill’s (Zheng was in the big blind and had three-quarters of his stack in mandatory bets). Soon after, Winfred’s lost to Tim Adams’ , with Winfred flopping a king but Adams hitting an ace on the river, for extra drama.

That put the last 47 players in the money and guaranteed maiden Triton cashes for, among others, commentator-turned-player Henry Kilbane, Katie Lindsay, Matas Cimbolas as well as the umpteenth for Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick, Seth Davies, Steve O’Dwyer and David Yan.

None made the final, but all turned a profit on this event.

It had been touch and go right from the start of day whether the tournament would finish in two days or three. And the middle period of Day 2 was a tempestuous affair, with the chip lead changing hands on multiple occasions. It soon became apparent that that third day would be needed.

Dan Dvoress had been down to three blinds near the bubble, but rose to the top of the counts. Ehsan Amiri also led for long periods, as did Vincent Huang.

The former two made the final; the latter perished in 12th. And while Fedor Holz looked like he’d be carrying a major stack to another final, he was actually knocked out in 10th by Sergio Aido resulting in the Spaniard leading the last nine.

The final table lined up as follows:

Sergio Aido – 17,025,000 (57 BBs)
Adrian Chua – 16,525,000 (55 BBs)
Alex Theologis – 14,400,000 (48 BBs)
Jesse Lonis – 13,275,000 (44 BBs)
Tim Adams – 6,450,000 (22 BBs)
Kosei Ichinose – 3,175,000 (11 BBs)
Dan Dvoress – 2,300,000 (8 BBs)
Ehsan Amiri – 1,800,000 (6 BBs)
Mario Mosböck – 1,300,000 (4 BBs)

This was a lop-sided line up to start final-table proceedings, with four big stacks, four small and only Adams in the middle. But none of the shorties were giving up without a fight, and there were a handful of double-ups with only Amiri departing early.

Even he managed to double up once, through Aido, but he was still very short when he got his last chips in with and lost to the of Alex Theologis.

Amiri picked up his first Triton cash in his third event, banking $152,000 for eighth.

The revised target for Day 2 was to hit six players, which meant two more needed to bust before they bagged up. There were numerous more double-ups, though, which kept Mario Mosböck and Dan Dvoress alive, but put Kosei Ichinose and Jesse Lonis in trouble.

In relatively short order, those two eventually hit the rail in eighth and seventh, respectively. Ichinose three-bet over a Dvoress open but found Adrian Chua behind him with pocket queens to beat . Ichinose’s maiden Triton cash was $186,000.

Then Lonis, having managed to spike a three-outer to survive a couple of hands previously, couldn’t repeat the trick when he got his last chips in with against Aido’s .

Lonis was at his second final table of the week but this time had to make do with $253,000 for seventh.

All six were now also instructed to reach for bags and to put the chips away for the night. The tournament was heading into a third day, with all still to play for. Aido still held the lead, with 44 big blinds, ahead of Chua (31), Dvoress (18), Theologis (17), Adams (12) and Mosböck (5).

There was no escaping the fact that Day 3 would be brief and unpredictable. The stack sizes dictated it.

Mosböck was the first player at risk but he managed two double ups to keep battling. However, it wasn’t to be for Adams, who perished at the hands of Aido. Aido shoved his small blind and Adams called for his tournament life with pocket fives. Adams had over-cards, with but could not connect.

Adams has fond memories of Jeju, having won the Main Event here back in 2019 — a $3.5 million score that sent his career on to a new plane. This time, sixth place was worth $345,000 — but there are bigger buy-in events just round the corner.

Adams’ close friend and countryman Dvoress was next to hit the sidelines. Theologis opened his button with and Dvoress called from the big blind with . The pair saw a flop of , which brought encouragement for both.

After Dvoress checked, Theologis bet 800,000 (one big blind) and Dvoress moved in over the top for another seven bigs. Theologis called.

The turn and river bricked out, however, which meant Dvoress missed his flush draw and was sent packing. Fifth place paid $452,000.

It was right about now that things started to get a little silly. Stacks were obviously still short, but the poker gods now also decided to have their fun. It came at the cost of Chua and then Theologis, who were bounced in consecutive hands in unfortunate fashion.

The most significant hand came first, with Mosböck open-shoving the cutoff with pocket tens. Chua under-called all-in from the button with , and then Theologis looked down at pocket queens in the big blind and called, putting both opponents under threat.

The flop changed little, but the turn brought whoops from Mosböck’s rail. Both opponents had outs for the win on the river, but the missed both of them and earned Mosböck a huge one.

Chua, meanwhile, was out in fourth for $573,000.

Theologis was mortally wounded in the skirmish with queens, but he picked up a pocket pair on the next hand too. However, it lost again. This time his sixes were outdrawn by Aido’s , when an ace came on the river.

Theologis banked $707,000 for third.

Aido had a small chip lead heading into heads-up play, but the pair decided to chop it up. They had seen enough craziness for the day. Aido guaranteed himself $1,237,804, while Mosböck signed for $1,131,196. There was $60,000 left on the side to play for.

Could Spain go back-to-back? Or would the Vienna crew add a third title of the week? They settled down to find out.

First blood: Mosböck. In a hand that played through the streets, he three-bet shoved the river looking at a full board of . Aido folded. It put Mosböck marginally ahead. Two more small pots went in the Austrian’s favour, and then another big one: Mosböck’s flopped bottom pair but then turned into a flush through turn and river.

Aido was now on the ropes with only six big blinds, but managed one come-from-behind double, with against Mosböck’s . They then chopped one, before Aido doubled again with against .

This could only last so long, and when two big hands went up against one another, the shouts of “Hold!” from the sidelines got it over the line. Mosböck had pocket sixes and Aido . The flop brought a flush draw, but it never filled and the sixes held.

And with that, there was finally calm.

Event #6 – $25k – GG Million$ Live
Dates: March 9-11, 2024
Entries: 305 (inc. 118 re-entries)
Prize pool: $7,625,000

1 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $1,191,196*
2 – Sergio Aido, Spain – $1,237,804*
3 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $707,000
4 – Adrian Chua, Singapore – $573,000
5 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $452,000
6 – Tim Adams, Canada – $345,000
7 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $253,000
8 – Kosei Ichinose, Japan – $186,000
9 – Ehsan Amiri, Australia – $152,000

10 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $128,000
11 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $128,000
12 – Vincent Huang, New Zealand – $113,000
13 – Ana Marquez, Spain – $113,000
14 – Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania – $101,000
15 – David Yan, New Zealand – $101,000
16 – Changlie Zhang, Singapore – $90,000
17 – Nikita Kuznetsov, Russia – $90,000
18 – Aleksandr Shevliakov, Russia – $79,000
19 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $79,000
20 – Jamil Wakill, Canada – $79,000
21 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $71,000
22 – Jason Koon, USA – $71,000
23 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $65,666
24 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $65,666
25 – Weiran Pu, China – $65,666
26 – Calvin Lee, USA – $63,000
27 – Seth Davies, USA – $63,000
28 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $55,500
29 – Justin Saliba, USA – $55,500
30 – Mike Watson, Canada – $55,500
31 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $55,500
32 – Frederik Thiemer, Germany – $49,000
33 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $49,000
34 – Stanley Choi, Singapore – $49,000
35 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $49,000
36 – Samuel Muller, Austria – $49,000
37 – Shyngis Satubaev, Kazakhstan – $49,000
38 – Yake Wu, China – $49,000
39 – Monika Zukowicz, Poland – $49,000
40 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $43,500
41 – Daniel Smiljkovic, Germany – $43,500
42 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $43,500
43 – James Chen, Taiwan – $43,500
44 – Michael Jozoff, USA – $43,500
45 – Katie Lindsay, USA – $43,500
46 – Henry Kilbane, UK – $43,500
47 – Daniel Palson, Iceland – $43,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Even poker’s best know superstars had to start somewhere, and during the third tournament of the Triton Poker Series trip to Jeju, South Korea, it quickly became clear that we would be finding a new breakout star.

This was another record-setting field. There were 298 entries of $25,000 each in the tournament billed as the Silver Main Event. But by the time the tournament reached its business end, in the early hours of Saturday morning, three relative newcomers were the only ones left.

Paulius Vaitiekunas, of Lithuania, laid down a marker on the Triton Series, carrying a huge chip lead for most of the day, and then recovering to close out the tournament even after that lead turned to dust. He eventually denied Germany’s Alex Tkatschew a maiden title, with that pair having been two thirds of a deal that also included Aram Oganyan, of the United States.

All three won close to $1 million, with Vaitiekunas nosing ahead thanks to the $100,000 the three of them left to play for after the deal. Tkatschew banked $1,002,000 and Oganyan $989,501.

For each, it was the biggest win of their career.

It might be tempting to call out Vaitiekunas for having turned down an ICM chop four handed, when he was clear chip leader, that would have netted him more than his eventual prize. But he should be celebrated really for regrouping after surrendering that lead. He managed to regain focus and take down the dogged Tkatschew in a short-stacked heads-up blitz.

“I rejected a deal four-handed, not because I had an advantage in skill, but because of the chips,” Vaitiekunas said. He added clearly that he knew all of his opponents at the final were very good players, but knew that they were “hand-cuffed by ICM”.

Vaitiekunas fired numerous bullets at Triton’s last stop in Monte Carlo and came up short, but said it only inspired him to perform here. “I did everything I could to come to Jeju, and somehow I won,” he said.

“Poker is a game of doing as less mistakes as possible,” the new champion said. “I learnt a lot in Monte Carlo and I learnt a lot here and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.”

It was far from easy, despite the massive stack he held for long periods. Triton Ambassador Jason Koon was at another final table. So was Koon’s countrymen Dan Smith and Joseph Cheong. But this one turned out to be the tournament for the newbies. Or should we say the future stars.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The new record-setting field meant 47 players were due to be paid, a new high for a Triton tournament too. Seven tables were still in play as the bubble approached, with a system of soft hand-for-hand helping to smooth the process.

It was plenty smooth for everyone bar Biao Ding, who was seated at the fastest-playing table and who was knocked out in 48th place before some rivals at other tables had even played as many hands.

Ding got his last chips in with and lost when Steve O’Dwyer’s rivered a queen. Even though there were still catch-up hands to be played across the rest of the field, and anybody busting would have meant a chop of the 47th-place prize money for Ding, the short stacks all wisely folded.

It meant Ding left the tournament floor alone in 48th, while 47 others were in the money.

At the beginning of this tournament, as players arrived in their dozens, tournament organisers briefly feared this was an event that might need an additional day to complete. But it soon became apparent today that stacks were shallowing rapidly, and players were knocked out about as quickly as they arrived.

Overnight chip leader Steve O’Dwyer was among those to be cast aside long before a final table. And even Benjamin Chalot, who took over the lead after a few levels of Day 2, was knocked out before they got close to a winner.

As the field condensed even further towards a final, luminaries including Ike Haxton, Jonathan Jaffe and Juan Pardo departed. And when two-time Triton champion Michael Addamo hit the rail in 10th, we could finally convene for the last stages.

The two men who had played wrecking ball most effectively to this point, Lithuania’s Paulius Vaitiekunas and Germany’s Alexander Tkatschew duly found themselves at the top of the counts. But Vaitiekunas had 80 big blinds to Tkatschew’s 42, with everyone else even less than that. This one seemed to be Vaitiekunas’ to lose.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS

Paulius Vaitiekunas – 16,075,000 (80 BBs)
Alexander Tkatschew – 8,325,000 (42 BBs)
Joseph Cheong – 7,825,000 (39 BBs)
Dan Smith – 7,325,000 (37 BBs)
Maksim Vaskresenski – 6,725,000 (34 BBs)
Aram Oganyan – 6,725,000 (34 BBs)
Roman Hrabec – 3,150,000 (16 BBs)
Jason Koon – 2,200,000 (11 BBs)
Chen Guangcheng 1,200,000 (6 BBs)

It’s usually about this point that Jason Koon starts rising through the ranks. If Koon gets to a final, he has the most enviable habit of going on to win. But not this time. Twelve big blinds was too few even for a player of Koon’s extraordinary abilities, and it didn’t help running into Dan Smith’s pocket aces either.

Koon opened from under the gun, Smith shoved the big blind and Koon called. Koon ended up pairing his queen, but it was not enough. He was agonisingly slightly too late to register for Event 5 too, but took $149,000 for this one and a night off.

Without question, the player who will have been most delighted by Koon’s demise was Chen Guangcheng. The Chinese Triton debutant had an even smaller stack coming into the final but had now laddered up.

He managed to pinch a couple of blinds with uncontested pre-flop shoves, but ended up on the rail when he got it all in good against the bullying chip leader. In what proved to be Guangcheng’s final pot, action folded to Vaitiekunas in the small blind. He had such a huge lead that he could shove with any two cards, and was indeed any two.

Guangcheng woke up with in the big blind and put his last chips in. However, the nine on the flop ended up being the killer. Guangcheng was out in eighth, landing a first cash on the series of $182,000.

There were still a lot of medium-sized stacks out there, including the one in front of Smith. He had given some of the chips he won earlier to Joseph Cheong after the latter’s pocket sixes became a straight. And then another set-up earned Cheong another big pot, this time ending Smith’s participation.

Cheong picked up red pocket jacks and opened from the cutoff. Smith saw pocket eights in the big blind and moved all-in for 21 blinds. Cheong called. Smith flopped an eight to give him hope, but the turn brought a jack to swing it back to Cheong.

Smith won the big invitational in Monte Carlo last year and is clearly still in good form. But his run in this one came to a halt in seventh, for $248,000.

Cheong’s profitable run at the final temporarily reduced the gap at the top of the counts. But nobody else could seem to mount a challenge — and even Cheong got pegged back when he lost a flip to double Aram Oganyan.

Similarly, Maksim Vaskresenski lost half his stack to double up Roman Hrabec, and he could not recover. Vaitiekunas was waiting in the wings to finish the job.

Vaitiekunas pushed again from the small blind with his mighty stack and . Vaskrensenski called for his last chips with . There was a king on the flop to all but end it, and Vaskrensenski departed in seventh.

Vaskrensenski, from Belarus, was another player making his debut on the Triton Poker Series here in Jeju and he scored his first cash with this performance. It earned him $337,000.

The last five went on a 15-minute break and returned with an average stack of 24 big blinds. Vaitiekunas had more than double that and Hrabec had only a sixth of it, which meant the new significant pot was crueller than most.

Hrabec got the last of his chips in with and, after Cheong called from the small blind, Vaitiekunas ripped it in from the big. It persuaded Cheong to let it go.

Vaitiekunas only had but the board ran to mean the played. That was a flush for Vaitiekunas and another knockout.

Hrabec has cashed all three tournaments so far here in Jeju, finishing 18th, 25th and now fifth. The $441,000 was his biggest on the Triton Series since his first ever appearance in Vietnam.

With only three big blinds now separating the “other” three players (i.e., not the chip leader Vaitiekunas), they paused the clock to look at a potential deal. Negotiations didn’t last long but they were not fruitful. It looked as though Vaitiekunas’s demands were to steep for Tkatschew, so they played on.

As can sometimes be the case, Vaitiekunas may have ended up regretting the failure of the deal. In quick order, Oganyan doubled up through the chip leader, winning with pocket jacks against Vaitiekunas’ . All of a sudden, the lead no longer seemed unassailable.

Vaitiekunas looked to steady the ship with the elimination of Cheong, his erstwhile closest challenger. Cheong moved in from under the gun with pocket sevens and Vaitiekunas found pocket tens in the big blind. That was a snap call and Cheong quickly learned from one of his opponents that he was drawing to one out. Another seven was already in the discard pile.

The board was blank and that was the end of Cheong’s tournament. The American player, with a whole string of enormous cashes from across the poker world, is taking a stab at the Triton Series for the first time in Jeju. He is $560,000 richer as a result.

Vaitiekunas was only an observer as it became Tkatschew’s turn to double, winning a flip through Oganyan. This one was pocket fours against , resulting in a switcheroo between third and second place. When Tkatschew then doubled again, this time through Vaitiekunas, followed by Oganyan doing the same, the last three had 26, 25 and 24 big blinds, respectively.

It was now officially anyone’s game.

The combined Triton earnings of these three players before this event came in at only around $60,000. All of them were set to beat that by large multiples. But they belatedly tried again to take some of the variance out of things by discussing another deal. This time they agreed on the following.

Alex Tkatschew, who was now marginally in the lead, locked up $1,002,000. Aram Oganyan guaranteed himself $989,501. And Paulius Vaitiekunas now made $977,499 certain. There was $100,000 left on the side for the ultimate winner.

Short-handed deal-making doesn’t always speed things up. In fact, sometimes the contrary can be true. With everyone now knowing their main payout, they settled in for what was essentially a short-stacked winner-take-all tournament for $100,000, the likes of which many of these players play hundreds of times a week online.

They played a few small pots. And they played a few more. The level went up and blinds got steeper, and Oganyan’s stack became the smallest.

He then had to get it in as an open-shove from the button with . Tkatschew reshoved from the small blind with .

Oganyan picked up a straight draw on the turn, but by that point his opponent had two pair. Tkatschew filled a boat on the river and that spelled the end for the last American in the tournament. Oganyan settled for the $989,501 he had negotiated for himself earlier.

Tkatschew took a near three-to-one chip lead into heads up play, with 36 big blinds to Vaitiekunas’s 13. The German rail featured Leon Sturm and Tobias Schewcht; the Baltics were represented by Aleks Ponakovs and Dominykas Mikolaitis. After a brief repositioning, they got ready to settle it once and for all.

The first blow went to Vaitiekunas. He doubled up to even with flopping a king to beat Tkatschew’s . The second significant blow went in his direction too, and by this time he had moved back into a small chip lead.

Tkatschew got his chips in with and Vaitiekunas called with . “Hold!” bellowed the rail. It held.

RESULTS

Event #3 – $25k Silver Main – NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 7-8, 2024
Entries: 298 (inc. 124 re-entries)
Prize pool: $7,450,000

1 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $1,077,499*
2 – Alex Tkatschew, Germany – $1,002,000*
3 – Aram Oganyan, USA – $989,501*
4 – Joseph Cheong, USA – $560,000
5 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $441,000
6 – Maksim Vaskresenski, Belarus – $337,000
7 – Dan Smith, USA – $248,000
8 – Chen Guangcheng, China – $182,000
9 – Jason Koon, USA – $149,000

10 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $125,000
11 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $125,000
12 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $110,000
13 – Vladimir Troyanovsky, Russia – $110,000
14 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $99,000
15 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $99,000
16 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $88,000
17 – Dong Chen, Hong Kong – $88,000
18 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $77,000
19 – Valeriy Pak, Uzbekistan – $77,000
20 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $77,000
21 – David Coleman, USA – $69,000
22 – Li Yuan, China – $69,000
23 – Yauheni Tsaireshchanka, Belarus – $69,000
24 – Chuck Chu, Vietnam – $61,500
25 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $61,500
26 – Adrian Chua, Singapore – $61,500
27 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $61,500
28 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $54,000
29 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $54,000
30 – Fazel Dawood, South Africa – $54,000
31 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $54,000
32 – Liang Xu, China – $48,000
33 – Dao Minh Phu, Vietnam – $48,000
34 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $48,000
35 – Sergio Aido, Spain – $48,000
36 – Wang Ye, China – $48,000
37 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $48,000
38 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $48,000
39 – Keith Lehr, USA – $48,000
40 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $42,000
41 – Ren Lin, China – $42,000
42 – Phil Ivey, USA – $42,000
43 – Romain Retiere, France – $42,000
44 – Vladas Tamasauskas, Lithuania – $42,000
45 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $42,000
46 – Aleksandr Shevliakov, Russia – $42,000
47 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong – $42,000

*denotes three-way deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Austrian poker pro Roland Rokita came to the Triton Poker Series tournament room in Jeju today wearing a hoody with the word “FAKER” emblazoned across his shoulders. It was a reference to the esports legend, but it’s a bold word for a poker player to wear on his shirt in this exalted company.

However if anyone might have felt inclined to label Rokita a faker in this world of exclusive poker talent, his performance today would set the doubters right. He is the real deal. Rokita became the most recent Triton Poker Series champion, beating a field of 225 entries to lock up a first prize of $904,000.

The buy-in was $20,000. The competition was characteristically fierce. But Rokita’s performance was authentically excellent and landed him the biggest win of his career to date. It perhaps should be no surprise for someone who rolls with the likes of Fedor Holz, yesterday’s champion. But Rokita was clearly thrilled to have done it himself.

“It means a lot,” Rokita said. “I came here, I prepared a lot. To lift the trophy, it’s unbelievable.”

Having migrated to the poker tables after a former career as a ski-jumper in the Austrian national team, Rokita no doubt knows a fair bit about dangerous climbs and perilous descents. But while the first period of play today proved to be perfectly smooth for Rokita, he had to ride a few uncertain moguls during heads-up play against Sirzat Hissou.

“It was a roller coaster in the final table,” Rokita said. “I was really nervous…I won a big pot, he won a big pot, but I finished it in the end.”

Rokita eventually got the job done on the stroke of 9pm, leaving Hissou with $599,000 for second — and a tale of how he actually thought he had won the tournament before realising his opponent had turned a better hand.

That will end as a footnote after a stellar performance from Rokita, in which he came of age on the Triton Series. He is 28 years old, a chemistry graduate, and a resident of the poker hotbed Vienna. It sounds like a perfect mixture for a new poker great.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The first three days of this trip to South Korea have been characterised by packed tournament rooms filled with enormous fields. The turnout has demanded additional levels added to Day 1s, which in the case of Event 2 meant bursting the bubble on the tournament’s opening day.

It was late in the night when Tony Truong became the unfortunate 40th placed finisher in this one, suffering a fairly nasty beat.

There were other players with smaller stacks still in the field when Truong picked up in the cutoff and called a min-raise from Roland Rokita. The pair went to a flop of . Rokita put out a continuation bet and Truong called with his top pair.

The turn brought a second flush draw and Rokita moved in, covering Truong. Nonetheless, he made the call for his last 10 blinds or so and was shown the in Rokita’s hand. When the river brought the case queen, Rokita made a boat and Truong’s trips were no good.

With everyone else now guaranteed a payday, they played down to the last 24, of which Tobias Schwecht was a runaway chip leader, with only Rokita and Alex Theologis anywhere close. They bagged and tagged and came back Thursday for Day 2.

RACING TO THE FINAL

As ever, the main focus from the players returning today was on reaching the final table, but the field needed to be trimmed by about two thirds before that would be decided. But no worries. In about four hours of play, 24 became nine with Triton stalwarts Biao Ding, John Juanda, Mike Watson and Danny Tang all falling marginally short.

Of the three overnight big stacks, both Rokita and Schwecht made it, with Theologis falling by the wayside. (Theologis’s Triton career has nonetheless started with two cashes from two tournaments entered.)

The last nine looked like this:

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – 14.6 million (73 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – 8.8 million (44 BBs)
Roland Rokita, Austria – 6.575 million (33 BBs)
Kiat Lee, Malaysia – 4.35 million (22 BBs)
Tobias Schwecht, Germany – 3.1 million (16 BBs)
Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – 2.45 million (12 BBs)
Leon Sturm, Germany – 2.3 million (12 BBs)
Sirzat Hissou, Germany – 2.25 million (11 BBs)
Yu Xiangyu, China – 725,000 (4 BBs)

Final table play got off to lightning-quick start with three players eliminated in a flash. Two went broke on the same hand, in the kind of set-up that was unavoidable for all concerned.

Action passed to the tiny stack of Yu Xiangyu on the button and, looking down at , he ripped it in. Rokita was in the small blind with a hand — — plenty good enough to go up against a small-stack’s button jam.

Rokita jammed to isolate.

However, Schecht, in the big blind, found pocket tens and correctly deduced that this was also plenty good enough to get his last 14 blinds in. So he was all-in too, and ahead of both opponents.

The dealer favoured only Rokita, however. The board ran and the pair of kings scooped the lot. Xiangyu was the official ninth-placed finisher, for $94,500, while Schwecht took $113,000 for eighth.

Damir Zhugralin got his first taste of Triton Poker Series action in Cyprus in 2022 and returned to the same venue the following year. That’s where he also secured his first cash on the series. It encouraged him to extend his wings and visit Jeju too, where he was rewarded with the first final table appearance of his career.

The Kazakh’s run ended in seventh as he became Mikita Badziakouski’s victim.

Zhugralin had 12 big blinds and opted to shove when he found in the cutoff. Button and small blind folded, but Badziakouski picked up pocket tens in the big blind and made the call.

Zhugralin needed to see an ace or some clubs, but neither appeared. Instead he trudged to the payouts desk where $154,000 awaited him for seventh place.

By common assent, Germany’s Leon Sturm is one of the game’s brightest new stars with a first Triton title only a matter of time. He showed his pedigree already again here in Jeju, navigating to this final table even though he never seemed to have a mighty stack.

Sturm couldn’t manage to take that small stack further than sixth in this tournament, however, as he perished mostly at the hands of Rokita (though Kiat Lee finished him off).

The hand that did the damage started with an early position raise from Rokita with . Rokita had more than 40 big blinds; Sturm, who was in the big blind, had only eight more after he posted the mandatory fee. Sturm had and called.

This was a pretty scary flop for both these hands: . Sturm checked with bottom pair, Rokita bet his straight flush draw, with his pair of eights still best. Sturm called.

Both players checked the turn, which brought the river. Sturm then made a near all-in bet, leaving himself only 25,000 behind. Rokita opted just to call with his low flush, and it was good.

Rokita took over the chip lead, while Sturm’s final chip went to Lee on the next hand. Sturm ended with another $210,000 in his bankroll as the field reduced to five.

Aleksandr Zubov came into this tournament having cashed Event 1 and then enjoying a hugely profitable Day 2 of Event 2. He ended up in the chip lead ahead of the final thanks to an aces vs. kings coup against Mike Watson, in which a micro stacked Daniel Palsson became collateral damage.

Zubov’s aces held up and he won a 3.8 million pot, principally from Watson, and that set Zubov flying high into his debut final table.

The Russian player mainly stayed out of the way of the early confrontations, losing a few small pots without ever really putting many chips at risk. However, his first major pot became his last when he slammed into the surging Rokita.

Rokita found pocket eights on the button and made a standard opening raise. With in the big blind, Zubov jammed for 25 big blinds. Rokita called and won another flop, flopping a set for good measure.

That was that for Zubov, who hit the rail in fifth for $278,000. Rokita, meanwhile, could do no wrong and had half the chips in play.

There was a marked division in Triton experience between the two halves of the remaining field. Both Rokita and Hissou were at their first ever Triton final, but Lee and Badziakouski have made this stage their second home over the past few years. Badziakouski has four titles from 20 final table appearance. Lee has never gone all the way, but has been involved at the end 11 times.

But the natural order was upended here, with the joint strength of Hissou and Rokita quickly taking care of Badzikouski, before they repeated the trick to do terminal damage to Lee.

Firstly, Hissou doubled his 15 blind stack through Badziakouski with pocket nines holding against . And then when Badziakouski was the short stack, Rokita’s stayed good against .

The latter was in Badziakouski’s hand and defeat sent him out in fourth, with $355,000 to his name.

They were heading to a dinner break three-handed as Lee and Hissou got involved in a huge pot. Lee jammed his 15 big blind stack with pocket sevens and Hissou looked down at . That was a call for his last 13 bigs, and Hissou hit an ace to double.

It left Lee with two big blinds.

Although he doubled that amount twice after they came back from dinner, he couldn’t get the crucial third — although he can claim to have got a tiny bit unlucky to bust.

Lee had in the big blind and called Hissou’s raise. The flop came and Lee committed his final chips with middle pair. Hissou’s was actually now behind, but the ace on the turn swung it back in his direction.

That was that for Lee, who took $439,000 for third.

Two of them remained for the title, both at their first Triton final table and both already guaranteed their biggest career live cash. The only thing to decide now was who would be champion.

Rokita had a two-to-one chip lead and seemingly all the momentum after a pure run on the last day. But he soon suffered his first really rough beat, with Hissou doubling into a commanding lead.

Hissou opened with and Rokita found . He didn’t slow play and instead put in a three-bet. Hissou responded with a four-bet shove and Rokita made an obvious call.

With the tournament seemingly all but over, the dealer decided to prolong it. An ace on the flop vaulted Hissou into the lead and left Rokita looking for help. Although he also had a Broadway draw on the flop, he whiffed outs on turn and river, meaning Hissou scored the full double. It was now 57-18 big blinds in his favour.

But, but, but. The tables soon turned yet again. When all the chips next found their way into the middle, Hissou had the pocket pair — sevens — while Rokita had only .

With Rokita’s supporters calling for an ace, he actually ended up doing it another way. The board brought all low cards, filling a wheel for the all-in player. Hissou hadn’t noticed originally, but he soon did when the dealer started moving his chips in his opponent’s direction.

The level went up again and the stacks shallowed once more. And the next time all the money went in, the best hand held up. Rokita had pocket nines when he saw Hissou shove with pocket twos. It was a clear call and Hissou couldn’t catch a two-outer this time.

Rokita’s hands were shaking, but his smile told the full story. Add another one to the tally for Vienna and welcome Roland Rokita to the winners’ enclosure.

Event #2 – $20k NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 6-7, 2024
Entries: 225 (inc. 72 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,500,000

1 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $904,000
2 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $599,000
3 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $439,000
4 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $355,000
5 – Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – $278,000
6 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $210,000
7 – Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – $154,000
8 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $113,000
9 – Yu Xiangyu, China – $94,500

10 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $78,700
11 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $78,700
12 – Mike Watson, Canada – $68,800
13 – Daniel Palsson, Iceland – $68,800
14 – Yita Choong, Australia – $62,000
15 – John Juanda, Indonesia – $62,000
16 – Eric Tsai, Taiwan – $55,500
17 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $55,500
18 – Biao Ding, China – $48,500
19 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $48,500
20 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $48,500
21 – Wang Ye, China – $44,000
22 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $44,000
23 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – $44,000
24 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $39,500
25 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $39,500
26 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $39,500
27 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $39,500
28 – Cheok Leng Cheong, Macao – $35,000
29 – Dan Smith, USA – $35,000
30 – Vladislav Ivanov, Russia – $35,000
31 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $35,000
32 – Tom Heung, Hong Kong – $31,000
33 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $31,000
34 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $31,000
35 – Darren Elias, USA – $31,000
36 – Wei Hsiang Yeu, Malaysia – $31,000
37 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $31,000
38 – Hans Liu, China – $31,000
39 – Aram Oganyan, USA – $31,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive