Category: News

Triton Poker’s showpiece hold’em event in Madrid — the €100,000 buy-in Main Event — reached its final table late on Saturday night, finding the last nine players who will do battle for the lion’s share of an incredible €9.3 million prize pool.

The winner, who will be crowned on Sunday, is set to win €2.477 million — as well as an exclusive watch commissioned from Jacob & Co, a unique Main Event trophy, and the sole right to call himself the no limit hold’em Main Event champion from Triton’s first visit to Spain.

The last nine players are led by Kevin Paqué, the same player who bagged the chip lead at the end of a frantic Day 1. It was a fine showing from Paqué, who slipped out of that chip lead early in the day, but who was then able to navigate a path through the bubble, then to the final table.

In fact, he was the man responsible for bursting the bubble, sending Nick Petrangelo out in 14th (see below) and Paqué steadily chipped up from there. He leads Sam Grafton into the final, after the Brit won an enormous pre-bubble pot from Luuk Gieles, which sent the Dutchman home in 16th.

The final table also features the established pros Aleksejs Ponakovs, Henrick Hecklen, Patrik Antonius, Sam Greenwood and Bruno Volkmann, as well as the businessmen-turned-poker players Orpen Kisacikoglu and Alfred DeCarolis.

That is nine players from nine different countries, including Triton first timers and those who have been here many times before. (Only Hecklen has a Triton win before, however.)

There was no room for Sirzat Hissou, Brian Kamphorst, Chris Brewer and Linus Loeliger, who busted in 13th through 10th — in the money but before the final table. Loeliger was the last man out, shoving for 1.3 million with his but running into Ponakovs’ .

Loeliger took €200,000 for 10th, gave Ponakovs a huge boost ahead of the final, and left us with the following:

Kevin Paque, Netherlands – 5,125,000
Sam Grafton, UK – 4,225,000
Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – 3,465,000
Henrick Hecklen, Denmark – 2,855,000
Sam Greenwood, Canada – 1,810,000
Patrik Antonius, Finland – 1,720,000
Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – 1,630,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – 1,505,000
Alfred DeCarolis, USA – 820,000

A reminder of what they’re playing for, and who has cashed already:

Triton Madrid – Event 9
€100,000 NLHE Main Event

Dates: May 20-22, 2022
Entries: 93 (inc. 34 re-entries)
Prize pool: €9,300,000

1 – €2,477,000
2 – €1,710,000
3 – €1,134,000
4 – €888,000
5 – €716,000
6 – €558,000
7 – €440,500
8 – €344,000
9 – €260,500

10 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – €200,000
11 – Chris Brewer, USA – €200,000
12 – Brian Kamphorst, Netherlands – €186,000
13 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – €186,000

PETRANGELO BURSTS THE BUBBLE AS MAIN EVENT CLOSES IN ON ITS FINAL

The skills of an elite poker player are practically limitless, but there’s one in particular that is never taught in the textbooks. It’s the skill of looking nonchalant when you’ve just hit the rail on the bubble in a €100K buy-in tournament, your chances of winning €2.4 million ended in the worst position possible.

Tonight at the Triton Madrid €100K Main Event, the player showing off this particular talent was Nick Petrangelo. Without question, Petrangelo is one of tournament poker’s absolute elite, but he’s had a stinking time of it on the Triton Series. He has $24 million in documented live tournament winnings, but none of it has come under the Triton branding.

Zero. Zilch. Cashless. And that unhappy record continued here in the Main Event where the bubble finish only added insult to injury.

Although there was one man with a shorter stack at the table, the obdurate Sirzat Hissou, Petrangelo found a good spot to get his last 14 big blinds in. He had and three-bet jammed after Kevin Paque opened his button.

Unfortunately for Petrangelo, Paque was near the top of his range with his . And there was no help on the board for Petrangelo.

That was the end of a comparatively short stone bubble period, although the threat of elimination had hovered over the tournament room ever since registration closed after two levels of Day 2.

Immediately following that close, there were a handful of players who had a freshly minted stack. At that stage, 250,000 chips was about 19 big blinds, so there was work to do.

Unfortunately for the likes of Brian Rast, Christoph Vogelsang, Jason Koon and others, they weren’t able to spin it up. They were soon joined on the sidelines by other superstars such as Ike Haxton, Fedor Holz, Phil Ivey and Michael Addamo, the latter unable to mount a serious challenge for his third victory of the week.

A field of 18 went to dinner, one of whom, Paul Phua, had only one big blind in his stack. Phua is an absolute master of short-stack play, but this was too big a mountain even for him. His departure in 18th brought the bubble much closer, with play spread across three short-handed tables.

The next player out had led the field at one point today — a position with which he is well accustomed. But Steve O’Dwyer lost a big pot with against Orpen Kisacikoglu’s pocket kings, and the same player finished off O’Dwyer. On the final hand, O’Dwyer flopped a pair of tens with his , but Kisacikoglu managed to turn trip fives with his . All the money went in and O’Dwyer was done, bringing the field down to two tables.

There was then a slight slowdown in proceedings, before a huge explosion. Although there were 16 players remaining, two hands played out simultaneously on the feature and outer table that had the potential to burst the bubble immediately.

Up on the feature, Sam Grafton won a huge one from Luuk Gieles. Grafton opened to 80,000 from the hijack with and Gieles called with on the button. Patrik Antonius also called in the big blind.

The two saw a dangerous flop of and, after Antonius checked, Grafton checked too. Gieles then bet 55,000, Antonius called, and then Grafton check-raised to 230,000. Gieles three-bet to 430,000 and that was too much for Antonius. But Grafton called.

The came on the turn, giving Grafton two pair. He checked and Gieles moved all in for 585,000. Grafton snapped him off.

The was a blank on the river, and Grafton’s outdraw scooped him a huge pot. “What a punt,” Gieles was heard to mutter as he wandered away from the table.

At that exact time, Henrik Hecklen, Bruno Volkmann and Andras Nemeth were playing a big hand on the outer table. Hecklen raised the hijack, making it 80,000. Volkmann three-bet the cutoff, putting 220,000 in the middle, and then Nemeth shipped for 370,000 from the button.

Hecklen, with the covering stack, called the all-in and that persuaded Volkmann to let it go. His fold meant we couldn’t burst the absolute bubble here, but Nemeth’s departure, if it happened, would leave us with 14.

And Nemeth did depart. He had found pocket jacks at precisely the wrong time. Hecklen had queens and the board ran out dry. Nemeth headed out the door.

We don’t know what Volkmann had in that hand, but his decision to fold kept him alive. And that was a big deal because moments later Petrangelo found himself all-in on the feature table. And we know how that turned out.

Thirteen players therefore remained and the quest now continued for the eight players who will sit at the final table. Here’s a reminder of what’s on offer to all of them.

Triton Madrid – Event 9
€100,000 NLHE Main Event

Dates: May 20-22, 2022
Entries: 93 (inc. 34 re-entries)
Prize pool: €9,300,000

1 – €2,477,000
2 – €1,710,000
3 – €1,134,000
4 – €888,000
5 – €716,000
6 – €558,000
7 – €440,500
8 – €344,000
9 – €260,500
10 – €200,000
11 – €200,000
12 – €186,000
13 – €186,000

There was huge excitement in the tournament room of Triton Madrid this afternoon as registration closed on the €100K No Limit Hold’em Main Event, and players learned what they had the chance to win.

By the time the shutters came down on the registration desk, there had been 93 entries to the tournament, including 34 re-entries, which meant €9.3 million in the prize pool.

Thirteen players will be paid, with a min-cash worth €186,000. The winner of this showpiece event will earn €2.477 million. Wow.

Triton Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi also revealed details of an additional prize. In affiliation with Triton’s new partner Jacob & Co, the Main Event winner will also be awarded an exclusive watch.

To call it just a watch seems to understate it, however. This is a truly exceptional piece of kit, the result of an exclusive collaboration.

Named the Triton Epic X Skeleton, it is a 44mm skeleton timepiece with the Triton logo integrated at the 12 o’clock position. It has a rose gold face and the word “CHAMPION” engraved on the case back. Look out for more details, and further information about Triton’s partnership with Jacob & Co, later this week.

Winners of both the short deck and long deck Main Events will get the watch — as well as the exclusive Triton trophy, of course.

Ruyi Xi, Regional Brand Director of Jacob & Co, joined Vivaldi on stage to reveal details of the prize. She then instructed dealers to shuffle up and deal as this freezeout part of the tournament began. Anyone out from now can’t come back.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

The buy-in hit six figures at Triton Madrid today as the €100,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event kicked off.

Although we are only through one day of three, and registration is not yet closed, it’s already clear that we’re looking at an enormous event. There have been 72 entries, including 18 re-entries, which means €7.2 million in the prize pool already.

The pattern established early in this Triton Series stop has continued: the higher the buy-in, the busier the event. Or maybe it was just the lure of the sirens standing next to the registration desk.

Either way, the world’s elite poker players were all in attendance, as well as many of the familiar figures from the world of business who enjoy mixing it in poker’s top echelons in their spare time.

The opening line-up on Table 6 was a perfect distillation of that: the high stakes superstars Michael Addamo, Michael Soyza, Stephen Chidwick and Steve O’Dwyer were all in a line, but playing into them was Alfred DeCarolis, a man who has played only once on the Triton Series. That just happened to be the €1 million buy-in event in London in 2019, where DeCarolis made the final table and more than $2 million.

Of course, the line-up changed significantly as the day progressed. Players came and went; stacks grew and shrank. When the tournament paused after its first eight 40-minute levels, Kevin Paque was out in front.

The Dutch player secured a big knockout early in the day, dispatching Sirzat Hissou. And after that it was a story of steady accumulation.

There were also fine showings from Mikita Badziakouski, Orpen Kisacikoglu and Aleksejs Ponakovs, with Patrik Antonius rounding out the top five, and they will all come back confident of further progress tomorrow.

Day 2, which resumes at 1pm, will play on until we reach a final table. That will mean a few more entries early on — registration is still open for two 50-minute levels — and then a rush to the bubble, which will likely be around 15 players. Then they will need to cram onto the final table, ahead of a big finale on Sunday.

Here are the full chip stacks at this stage:

Kevin Paque – 1,460,000
Mikita Badziakouski – 880,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu – 833,000
Aleksejs Ponakovs – 816,000
Patrik Antonius – 769,000
Michael Addamo – 696,000
Elton Tsang – 684,000
Ferdinand Putra – 639,000
Phil Ivey – 598,000
Phachara Wongwichit – 555,000
Michael Soyza – 544,000
Daniel Dvoress – 532,000
Christoph Vogelsang – 495,000
Tom-Aksel Bedell – 489,000
Chris Brewer – 480,000
Fedor Holz – 402,000
Laszlo Bujtas – 401,000
Nick Petrangelo – 395,000
Kannapong Thanarattrakul – 393,000
Paul Phua – 383,000
Andy Ni – 366,000
Wiktor Malinowski – 359,000
Stephen Chidwick – 356,000
Henrik Hecklen – 348,000
Seth Davies – 339,000
Jeremy Ausmus – 330,000
Andriy Lyubovetskiy – 287,000
Jason Koon – 239,000
Steve O’Dwyer – 218,000
Matthias Eibinger – 213,000
Sam Grafton – 211,000
Alfred DeCarolis – 208,000
Andras Nemeth – 206,000
Luuk Gieles – 202,000
Ivan Leow – 186,000
Sam Greenwood – 175,000
Danny Tang – 163,000
Sergio Aido – 162,000
Linus Loeliger – 155,000
Wai Kin Yong – 142,000
Artur Martirosyan – 132,000
Brian Kamphorst – 131,000
Wayne Heung – 123,000
Yaman Nakdali – 100,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Following all the action on the Triton Super High Roller Series just got even easier. It also just got more comprehensive. And more fun.

The Triton Poker Plus app, which is now live for all Apple and Android devices, is the most sophisticated app ever produced to follow poker tournaments — whether you’re a high stakes player sitting at the tables, or an armchair fan following along at home.

Every hand of every tournament played on the Triton Series is now logged, meaning you can follow absolutely everything that takes place at the tables. You can see all the action: who raised, who called, who doubled or bust. And you can track every player’s chip stack through the entire event, the peaks and the troughs of high stakes tournament play.

When you combine this with the superlative live stream, which follows all the action from one table at a tournament — and all final tables — there is simply no package in world poker that can hold a torch to the Triton offering.

Let’s take a look at the app in more depth.

DOWNLOADING AND SETTING UP

Search in the Apple app store, or in Google Play Play, for Triton Poker Plus, or click the following links: APPLE or GOOGLE PLAY.

Download and install as normal. There is no requirement to open an account. And this is absolutely free.

Your app is ready to go immediately, without costing you a penny.

FOLLOW AN EVENT

Opening the app during a Triton stop will present you with three options.

At the top, you can watch the current live stream (with added extras, discussed below), or click through to a “Festival” page. You can slide left and right to see available options, with the current festival presented as default.

Below that, you can see links to the Triton Series infamous cash game videos. All of the episodes are there, featuring your favourite players involved in insane high stakes action.

At the very bottom of the page, you can also see an option to click through to “Rankings”. More on that later.

LIVE COVERAGE

From the front page, click the top panel to go through to the live coverage, where the current live stream should begin playing automatically. Key tournament info, including the tournament level, can be seen below it, as well as an option to see “Table” or “Hand” information.

If you have “Hand” selected, you can see the full action for the hand in progress, updated the minute a player makes a move, even if they just fold their cards. You can watch the hand play out in full, with betting amounts made clear.

(Although all Triton live streams reveal players’ hole cards, you’ll only see the hole cards on the app if it goes to showdown. The data loggers input data in real time, so do not see the hole cards.)

If you have “Table” selected, you can see the table line-up, with players listed in seat order, alongside their chip counts in both actual terms and in big blinds (for hold’em) or antes (for short-deck). Counts are updated at the end of every hand.

If you then click on the player’s picture, you enter that particular player’s full profile, which has everything you need to know about that player’s progress through this and other tournaments.

PLAYER PROFILES

If the selected player is currently involved in a tournament, their player profile page is dominated by a graph that tracks their chip stack. Every time they are involved in a pot, a new data point appears on the graph, and the line that follows their stack jags either upward or downward.

You can click on those data points to find out exactly what happened in the hand in question. You’ll see all the information that the logger saw. If it went to showdown, you’ll see the hole cards. If it didn’t, you’ll be left guessing. But you’ll be able to see all the bets, the community cards, and the results.

If you scroll left and right on this graph, you can see precisely how the player’s stack grew and shrank throughout the entire tournament. And every data point tells you exactly what happened in every hand they played. It’s completely comprehensive.

In the top left of the screen, you’ll see the player’s picture and “View profile” beneath. Click that to learn even more about the player.

An individual profile page shows everything they have ever done on the Triton Series. Their Triton earnings, titles and cashes are displayed prominently, and below that you can scroll through a timeline of their tournament entries — their Triton Track Record.

Every tournament the player has entered is listed there, with their results made clear — even if they did not cash. It is a complete database for every player who has ever played on the Triton Series.

If you click the “Video” tab, you can find a short cut to every video that features your chosen player.

COMPLETE TOURNAMENT COVERAGE

All of the above information is available for all tables in play at any time, not just on the feature table. You can access the information from the outer tables by clicking on the relevant festival from the homepage, then clicking on the specific event you’re interested in — under the “In Progress” tab.

You now have four options: Leaders, Seating Chart, Payouts and Structure.

The “Leaders” shows all the players in order of chip count, but the “Seating Chart” shows how they are spread across the tournament floor. You can then click to whichever table you want information for, and watch chip stack adjustments after every hand.

You can also click through to player profile pages on these outer tables and see the hand information, and tracking charts, as you would for those on the feature table.

It means you will never again be mystified as to how come players suddenly have enormous stacks (or have somehow dusted them off). You’ll never miss a bubble hand, or a three-way all-in, or anything else that characterises all poker tournaments.

Absolutely everything is accessible, all of the time, for absolutely free.

The “Payouts” tab shows the scheduled payouts and who has won what so far. (This is only available after registration is closed.) And the “Structure” tab shows the tournament structure, including scheduled breaks, for the tournament in progress.

SPOILER FREE COVERAGE FOR VIEWERS; REAL TIME COVERAGE FOR PLAYERS

One of the most impressive elements of the app is its dual functionality, which allows viewers at home to keep track of the tournament perfectly in line with what’s occurring on the live stream, while players in the room can get real-time access.

For obvious security reasons, and in common with all poker broadcasts, what you see on the “live” stream actually took place about an hour ago. So when you’re looking at the app from home, all the information you see there is also delayed by precisely the same amount.

If you see someone moved from the feature table, for example, you can then click to the outer table coverage and watch what happens after they sit down elsewhere. There is no break in the continuity, and you won’t spoiler anything for yourself by seeing something on the app that hasn’t happened on the stream.

However, for players in the tournament room, who are necessarily seeing things happen in front of their eyes, there’s a special “Player Only” mode, which removes the delay. So players sitting in the tournament can get real time updates of every table, whether they’re sitting at it or not.

This mimics the experience of playing online — the breeding ground for many of the Triton players, of course — and allows players to monitor stack sizes and make crucial tournament calculations.

It’s unique to Triton, and just one more reason why players consider the experience of this tour to be better than anywhere else.

LATEST RANKINGS AND POY STANDINGS

At the bottom of the homepage, you can click through to see the latest Triton “Rankings”. There are two options here, the “All-Time Rankings”, which list all of Triton’s players in order of their gross tournament earnings, and below that the latest Player of the Year standings.

If you haven’t heard, Triton launched a Player of the Year race in Madrid, a leader board contest whose winner will get a $200,000 prize, plus an exclusive trophy.

Points are awarded based on tournament finishing positions, but additional points are available for turning up on time and re-entries, and vary depending on size of buy-in and size of field. It’s all very straightforward, but it’s worth clicking through to find out more.

The Player of the Year standings are updated as soon as an event ends, so players can figure out exactly how many points they now need to overhaul their competitors and be in with a shout of winning. There’s a 100 point bonus for the best player at a certain stop, and so there are two rankings charts here, showing the overall race and the race for that specific stop.

THE PLAYER’S REACTION

Based on a few questions put to players around the room, the reaction to the app is universally positive. “Awesome” was probably the word used most among the players, who all also agreed that nothing even remotely similar is available anywhere else.

There were one or two suggestions for potential improvements, all of which will be taken on board by the developers. But already, Triton Poker Plus is an incredible hit.

Download it today!

The final stages of the biggest event on the Triton Madrid schedule so far pitted against each other two players who had taken very different roads to end within touching distance of a title.

On the one hand, there was Mikita Badziakouski, already a three-time Triton Series champion, who assumed the chip lead early on the second day of this €50,000 buy-in event and then barely relinquished it for hours, sitting calm and comfortable and making all the right decisions to keep his eye on the top prize — and a record-setting fourth success.

Sitting opposite him was Danny Tang, a Triton regular seeking a first win, whose passage through the tournament was anything but serene. His tracking graph went up and down precipitously, and he was staring at near certain elimination six-handed, when he somehow managed to win with the worst hand in a three-way all in.

However, Tang took the triple up, bludgeoned past another couple of players, and then squared off against Badziakouski, the last two of a 101-entry field. There was €1,340,000 on the line for first place and €932,000 for second. Perhaps wary of each other’s skills, and aware of how fickle the poker gods can be, the pair talked about a deal.

But they opted not to do one and returned to the table to play it out. And by then, all bets were off. Tang and Badziakouski somehow became locked in one of those titanic heads-up duels where it looks as if either man could win it at any moment, but also that it might go on forever.

After more than three hours, the real winner was the tournament structure, which shallowed the stacks to the point that there was no longer much room for players to manouevre. They eventually had only 25 big blinds between them, but still neither could get one to stick. When it honestly looked as though they might just have to somehow arrange a tie, the deadlock was finally broken.

Tang shoved with , Badziakouski called with and the pocket pair held.

This was a majestic moment for Badziakouski. He is nothing if not stubborn — a fact he has demonstrated numerous times on the Triton Series and beyond, and which had earned him those three previous wins — in Montenegro in 2018 and 2019 and Jeju in 2018. By his standards, a three-year period without a victory was an eternity — and Badziakouski was eventually able to end the drought.

Tang’s search for a title goes on, but it can’t be long. He has been pictured in many winner’s photos down the years, hugging friends and celebrating as they all earned their silverware. Surely soon enough he will be allowed sit there by himself and hoist the trophy aloft.

He takes €932,000 as consolation. But Badziakouski becomes the first seven-figure prize winner of this stop, and collects €1,340,000 plus the fourth trophy. Not that he was bragging about it. “I put in high volume and have been lucky sometimes,” he said. “It’s pure luck. We had a couple of all ins and I was the one to win it.”

FINAL DAY’S ACTION

The tournament resumed on Day 2 with 23 players, meaning some exceptional talents hit the rail before the bubble bobbed into view: Patrik Antonius, Stephen Chidwick and Erik Seidel were among those who fell short. Tournament organisers arranged a redraw when 14 players were left, with the next man out leaving with nothing.

At this stage, there were five players with fewer than 20 big blinds, but tournament strategy is so advanced these days, that that by no means guaranteed a quick bubble resolution. So it proved, as these wily operators picked their spots and refused to call it quits for at least 75 minutes. There were a few double ups, a few big folds, and lots of nerves, even from these seasoned campaigners.

The unfortunate player ended up being the Polish cash-game crusher Wiktor Malinowski, whose fortunes took a three-stage nosedive. Firstly, he was very unfortunate that Henrik Hecklen didn’t bust on the feature table, when Hecklen went up against Adrian Mateos with to Mateos’ . Hecklen turned a seven to survive.

At that exact point, Malinowski was involved in a pot against Phachara Wongwichit on the outer table, where Malinowski flopped two pair with but Wongwichit’s rivered a set.

Had either of those situations ended differently, Malinowski would have made the money. But the way it went was that Badziakouski then polished him off, with staying good against Malinowski’s .

Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief and Brian Rast, the shortest of short stacks, got it in immediately, lost, but knew he would be picking up €101,000 for 13th place. That was fortunate for him, because his elimination was grim: pocket queens losing to Bruno Volkmann’s pocket 10s. At least he had the comfort blanket of a debut cash.

With only eight spaces at the last table (and seven at the “official” final), some more top names would need to depart. And, in fairly order, the tournament lost Wongwichit, Phil Ivey, Mateos and then Hecklen, taking them to that single table and the dinner break. They all won more than $100K and a handful of all-important Player of the Year points.

When they reconvened, Badziakouski was some way clear at the top of the counts. The stacks were as follows:

1 – Mikita Badziakouski, 5,450,000
2 – Kevin Paque, 3,720,000
3 – Fedor Holz, 3,195,000
4 – Michael Watson, 2,470,000
5 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, 1,635,000
6 – Bruno Volkmann, 1,430,000
7 – Danny Tang, 1,170,000
8 – Linus Loeliger, 1,125,000

Blinds 40,000/80,000 Ante 80,000

Loeliger had dazzled on the opening day of this tournament, his first day of action for the stop. But he’d had his wings clipped somewhat on the second day, unable to get much going, and he became the next elimination. Loeliger moved his last 1.025 million (about 13 big blinds) with , and was called by Badziakouski’s . There was a king on the flop, and nothing else meaningful, which meant Loeliger was done in eighth for €187,000.

The next player out was also seeing his first Triton Madrid action in this event: Tom-Aksel Bedell. A regular on the European tournament circuit, Bedell often pops up in the big events where his talents belie his appearance. He is far from a spring chicken, but he has the aggression and fearlessness to surprise many of his opponents. It’s a result of his Norwegian heritage — although he now lives in Spain, and visits Casino Gran Via regularly.

Bedell decided to give things a spin on the Triton Series, and if the Twitch and YouTube chat is anything to go by, he became a quick favourite. Everyone was sorry to see him go in seventh, when his lost to Fedor Holz’s . Bedell won €240,000.

Nobody at this stage was an enormous stack, but things were looking a tiny bit perilous for Tang, who had about 15 big blinds. But things suddenly took a real turn for the better for Tang, precisely as they turned very sour for Volkmann.

Volkmann is one of a cadre of top Brazilian pros who dominate the online tournament scene. But he decided to take a stab at some live poker this week and hopped in here in Madrid, a decision that earned him €389,000, but even so, ended in a sickener.

Tang opened a pot with a shove for 1.5 million, sitting with . In the small blind, Holz looked down on and re-shoved for his 2.5 million stack. Volkmann, who covered both of them, then woke up in the big blind with . Volkmann called.

The flop was immediately bad for Volkmann. It was . The turn was then the and the river was a further twist: . That gave Tang two pair, for a huge triple up; it gave Holz a pair of kings to win the side pot, and it gave Volkmann nothing. He lost all but three big blinds.

They were in very soon after, when Holz this time had pocket queens and Volkmann’s couldn’t find a miracle.

In the commentary booth, Randy “nanonoko” Lew was delighted by the poker he was seeing, describing every hand as being full of complexity and nuance. There was one hand in particular that grabbed him, when Holz made a big and convincing bluff with ace high to get Kevin Paque to fold a pair of sixes. It wasn’t the biggest pot Paque had played (that one he won: a big flip against Badziakouski to put him temporarily into second place), but Paque had seemed like he knew he might be being pushed out of it. And he never recovered.

Paque left the tournament in fifth place, when his lost to Tang’s . Paque, primarily a cash-game player, but with a string of decent tournament scores too, banked €389,000.

Tang was now the man with the momentum. Ever since that incredible triple up escape versus Holz and Volkmann, the Tang player couldn’t put a foot wrong. He was responsible for the next knockout too, sending Mike Watson to the rail in fourth.

There was nothing controversial about this one. Watson had pocket fours and shoved over Tang’s open. But Tang had aces, and there was nothing to help Watson on the board. Watson has had a very good trip here so far, cashing in three of the five tournaments he has played. He has finished in second, seventh and now fourth, this time adding €482,300 to his coffers.

Tang seized the chip lead with that knockout, even though all three remaining players still had relatively comfortable stacks. That very quickly changed, however, and sent Tang soaring to the summit, when he knocked out Holz in third. This one was another cooler: Tang opened to 300,000 with and Holz three-bet to 1.1 million with . Tang moved in, and Holz called off the extra 3.7 million.

There was a king on the flop to leave Holz drawing thin. He was drawing dead by the turn. Holz took €482,300 for third.

From near-certain elimination, Tang now took a two-to-one chip lead — 13.375 million to 6.825 million — over Badziakouski. And although the pair stepped outside apparently to discuss some business, they did not resolve anything and returned to play it out.

Tang’s lead grew to four-to-one, then eight-to-one, and then ten-to-one. And only then did Badziakouski find a double up, with beating Tang’s . Then Badziakouski did it again, this time with beating Tang’s .

The pendulum had swung back to the Belarusian, and he now edged closer and closer. Badziakouski retook the chip lead when both players had a queen in the hole and the flop brought another, but Badziakouski’s kicker played. They now had only 50 big blinds between them, and a rapid conclusions seemed inevitable. But still they managed to stretch it out some more, neither willing to budge an inch.

Every small pot was now the difference between first and second place, until eventually, at 1am local time, it finally ended. Badziakouski’s girlfriend was the first to congratulate him, as his friends also draped a Ukraine flag over his shoulders.

Both heads-up players will probably try to grab some rest before registering for Event 7, whose second day starts at 1pm tomorrow.

Triton Madrid – Event 6
€50,000 7-Handed NLHE

Dates: May 17-18, 2022
Entries: 101 (inc. 45 re-entries)
Prize pool: €5,050,000

1 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – €1,340,000
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – €932,000
3 – Fedor Holz, German – €616,000
4 – Mike Watson, Canada – €482,300
5 – Kevin Paque, Netherlands – €389,000
6 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – €303,000
7 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – €240,000
8 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – €187,000
9 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – €141,500
10 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – €108,600
11 – Phil Ivey, USA – €108,600
12 – Phachara Wongwichit, Thailand – €101,000
13 – Brian Rast, USA – €101,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

The exclusive list of players who have won two titles on the Triton Series grew this evening after Rui Cao, the French high stakes cash-game specialist, proved once again that he has a tournament game to be feared as well.

Cao blazed through the field in Event #5, the €25K Short Deck, where he unleashed a barrage of betting to pummel all-comers in the 68-entry field. Cao had a big stack early, and bullied his way through the bubble, and then also hammered away once they reached a final table.

Only some stern resistance from the Triton co-founder Richard Yong threatened to halt Cao’s charge to the title. But Cao eventually managed to grind down even Yong and beat him heads-up. Cao’s victory brought him €497,000. Yong had to make do with €357,000, and wasn’t quite able to emulate his fellow co-founder Paul Phua in winning a title in Madrid. (Not yet, anyway.)

Cao, who won a massive short deck event in Montenegro in 2019, is now in that two-timers club. And this was a performance that was every bit as emphatic as any we’ve seen on this series. No one quite wields a big stack as ruthlessly as Cao.

“It was just regular short-deck aggression, and a little bit of luck,” Cao said when it was over. “I got the result…I think I’m better at short deck than long deck. It suits my personality. I’m pretty aggressive, and that’s better in short deck.”

FINAL DAY ACTION

As if it wasn’t already apparent, the identity of today’s bubble boy underlined how unforgiving poker can be sometimes. Yesterday, Chris Brewer was the champion, turning a short stack into his maiden title. But today he hit the rail in 10th, the last person out before they started getting paid.

With a handful of players staring at possible elimination, and Cao at Brewer’s table bullying with a monster stack, Brewer decided to take a stand with . He made an “almost” all-in shove, but Santi Jiang, who had even less than Brewer, felt like this was his time. He under-called all-in with .

Jiang hit a jack on the flop, so all but doubled up, leaving Brewer with only four antes. They went in the next hand, when Brewer had , but this time Cao had . Cao flopped a set this time, and Brewer could not go runner-runner to win. Brewer departed — some days you’re the windshield, other days you’re the bug — and Cao was one of the leaders heading into the money.

“There’ll be some all-ins pretty quick here,” said Brian Rast in the commentary box, looking around at plentiful shorts stacks, which had only grown smaller through the pre-bubble period. Rast was right. In less than an hour, they went from nine down to three.

Ryan Yum was the overnight chip leader, and it had all been going swimmingly for him until he ran into Kenneth Kee today. Kee doubled through Yum with a flopped two pair, when Yum flopped top pair aces. And then Kee also finished the job later on, when Kee’s turned a straight. Yum had navigated the bubble, but couldn’t rebuild. He went out in ninth for €49,400.

Isaac Haxton followed him on the next hand, also losing to Kee. Haxton’s lost to Kee’s and Haxton won €64,600. And at the precise time that hand was playing on the outer table, Cao was accounting for Jiang on the feature.

Jiang had and flopped a nine to momentarily take the lead against Cao’s . But the queen on the turn put Cao back in the lead and Jiang was out in seventh. That meant they assembled a six-handed final, with Cao and Kee sitting with enormous stacks.

Jason Koon has been to a few finals before. He has 16 tournament cashes on the Triton Series, and three titles. But he was a short stack heading into this final, and couldn’t get anything going to muster a challenge for a fourth trophy.

Koon ended up as the first elimination from the final, getting it in with the short-deck favourite but this time unable to beat Cao’s . Koon won €105,400.

Whenever Cao took a breather, Kee took over. And the next player to depart, Choon Tong Siow, was just another pulled beneath Kee’s juggernaut. Siow had , which is a pretty good hand to take up against most, even in short deck, but Kee turned his into a winner.

Kee flopped the queen on the board and he then turned the . Siow still had tons of outs heading to the river, but the was a blank.

Siow, who has been a bubble boy once this week, would have been happy to pick up €136,000 for his fifth-placed finish.

Kee and Cao were super comfortable at this stage, Yong a little less so, and the short-stack duties had been assumed by Tom Dwan. That’s not a position Dwan particularly likes to be in, and he didn’t remain there very long.

Very soon after Siow busted, Dwan under-called all-in from the button with after yet another bullying Cao shove. But Dwan was in bad shape against Cao’s and couldn’t realise his 33 percent equity.

The board his neither of them and Cao’s king played. Dwan went out in fourth for €175,100.

Yong had kept himself to himself during all this carnage, allowing Cao and Kee to do the damage while he laddered to third. But there was no hiding any more, particularly because his stack was less than half either of his opponents’.

But Yong grew more and more involved and watched his stack increase accordingly, pulling up alongside and then overtaking Cao, while Kee too began moving in reverse. Play was far less volatile during this period, with the clock ticking onward but major skirmishes staying largely absent. They played a good few levels between the three of them, all the while Yong making inroads and the others just about treading water.

One of the interesting features of three-handed play was the fact that each of these players was searching for a second Triton title. Yong had previously won a six-max long-deck event in Montenegro, the same location that Cao had won the short-deck main event. Meanwhile Kee had won a short-deck title in Jeju.

It was Kee, though, whose double chances vanished first. He lost a massive pot to Cao when Cao flopped three queens with and Kee was not able to get away from his , at least until Cao bombed the river. By that point, the pot was 4.5 million, and it was a decisive swing to Cao.

Soon after, the hand almost repeated. Kee had and he moved all in for 3.8 million after Cao’s limp. Cao called again, with — and this time he flopped the first queen, and turned a second.

Kee was eliminated in third for €232,000 as Cao took a big chip lead — 176 antes to 79 — over Yong into heads-up play.

Yong refused to give up without a fight and scored a big double with over Cao’s pocket queens. But Cao could not to be beaten, and also demonstrated just how canny he is when he somehow managed to fold a straight in a big pot against Yong when his opponent rivered a full house.

That pot put Yong temporarily into the lead, but Cao’s confidence only grew. As did his aggression. He simply never let up from that moment on, and continued to grind Yong down again. With the levels also ticking by, and gradually shallowing the stacks, Yong finally got the last of his chips in with when Cao had .

The board came , and they both had full houses. But Cao’s was bigger — and that was decisive.

Short deck now goes on another brief hiatus as the Triton Series reverts back to long-deck for a few days. Keep your eyes here for all the latest reports and results.

Triton Madrid – Event 5
€25,000 Short Deck Ante-Only

Dates: May 16-17, 2022
Entries: 68 (inc. 32 re-entries)
Prize pool: €1,700,000

1 – Rui Cao, France – €497,000
2 – Richard Yong, Malaysia – €357,000
3 – Kenneth Kee, Malaysia – €232,000
4 – Tom Dwan, USA – €175,100
5 – Choon Tong Siow, Malaysia – €136,000
6 – Jason Koon, USA – €105,400
7 – Santi Jiang, Spain – €83,500
8 – Isaac Haxton, USA – €64,600
9 – Ryan Yum, Hong Kong – €49,400

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive