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Loeliger delights virtual rail with first major live win at Triton London

One of online poker’s biggest stars today earned his stripes in the live arena when Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger took down the £25,000 Triton London Six-Max Turbo, his first major title. It was worth £690,000, more than three times his total previous live earnings.

He makes an absolute ton on the online tables, mind you.

Loeliger’s victory will have been cheered most enthusiastically in the online chat-boxes and poker forums, where his superlative cash-game skills have long impressed virtual railbirds. He was customarily unflustered as he parlayed his final-table chip lead into a trophy.

The tournament, which attracted 117 entries (including 44 re-entries) was originally intended to end on the opening day of this Triton London festival, but was postponed when they reached a final table. Seven players returned today, three days after they started, still technically in with a shot at the £690,000 first prize. But Loeliger was in unforgiving mood and barely gave them a chance, finding some help from the deck when he needed it too and to beating Luc Greenwood heads up.

Michael Soyza was the first man out, finding in the small blind and action folded to him. It was plenty good enough to push in his last 17 big blinds, but Loeliger, the only player to his left, had and made the call. Loeliger won the flip and Soyza left in seventh for £122,300.

This six-handed tournament therefore reached its official final, with Loeliger way out in front. His stack of 6.9 million was 30 percent of the chips in play, but the shallowness of the event meant it was only 69 big blinds.

Kahle Burns had only six of them, but quickly managed to double through Timothy Adams. However, it was only a temporary stay of execution because when he three-bet pushed with , he wasn’t to know that Loeliger’s open represented a real hand. Loeliger’s held to send Burns out in sixth, for £160,000.

Elior Sion headed home in fifth, pushing with on a board of but finding Greenwood lurking with .

Better known as “CrazyElior” online, but with significant live experience and a WSOP $50K Player’s Championship bracelet, Sion was has been making his Triton debut this week in his home town. This result earned him £202,900 but leaves him seeking his first title on the tour.

Something of a short-stack specialist, Cary Katz had again managed to grind his way into the big money in this turbo event, but his run came to an end in fourth. Though he had largely kept out of harm’s way, he ended up busting in one of the most entertaining pots of the week.

He got his last 16 big blinds in with and was called by Greenwood’s — so far, so standard — but then Katz flopped a set when the dealer put the out there.

All looked good at that point, until the next card was the . “Oh that’s terrible!” Katz said. Greenwood now had 10 outs, and the dealer duly delivered the on the river. “What the hell was that run-out?” Katz said, shaking hands and heading from the table. He took £251,500 and there were no hard feelings.

Greenwood’s rush put him on top of the counts, with about 11.6 million to Loeliger’s 8.5 million. (The third man, Timothy Adams, had 2.5 million.) But Loeliger hit a huge double up to flip everything back in his favour.

In what would turn out to be the tournament-defining hand, Greenwood raised his button to 500,000 with and Loeliger called in the small blind with . Adams also came along with his .

There was something for everyone on the flop and Loeliger bet 375,000 with his draw. Adams called, leaving himself only 1.8 million back, and Greenwood, with the best hand still, tried to protect it. He raised to 1.5 million.

Loeliger called, persuading Adams out, and the dealer gave Loeliger the guaranteed win with the turn. All that remained to be seen was whether he could get the maximum.

He laid the trap with a check and Greenwood bet 1.5 million, unknowing that he was only drawing to a chop, and with two of his outs in his opponent’s hand. Loeliger moved in for 7.25 million and Greenwood made a clearly crying call.

It put heaps back in front of Loeliger, and left Adams and Greenwood with only seven and eight big blinds, respectively. Adams found on the next hand, and called after Loeliger shoved with . Adams was in a great spot to double, but having busted the £1 million charity event with pocket kings, Adams was again sent to the rail in a grim one. A five came on the flop to give Loeliger the win. Adams added yet another Triton cash, this time worth £307,000, but couldn’t add to his trophy haul.

Third place, but a rough end, for Timothy Adams

The heads-up “battle” was no such thing. It lasted one hand. Greenwood pushed with , Loeliger called with and nobody hit anything. It meant that Greenwood earned £466,600, but Loeliger banked £690,000 and, more importantly, his first title.

“Compared to yesterday it was pretty smooth,” Loeliger said, referring to a 12-hour session in the £50K event, which ended at 4am when he was knocked out in third. “I still got seven-and-a-half hours sleep,” he added. “I had to skip breakfast though.”

It was the smallest of sacrifices to become a Triton champion.

Triton London Million
Event #1 — Six-Handed Turbo
Date: July 31, 2019
Buy-in: £25,000
Entries: 117 (inc. 44 re-entries)
Prize pool: £2,749,500 ($3,359,311 approx)

1 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland, £690,000
2 – Luc Greenwood, Canada, £466,600
3 – Timothy Adams, Canada, £307,000
4 – Cary Katz, USA, £251,500
5 – Elior Sion, UK, £202,900
6 – Kahle Burns, Australia, £160,000
7 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia, £122,300
8 – Tong Siow Choon, Malaysia, £92,100
9 – Carlston Kyle, Sweden, £68,700
10 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey, £56,300
11 – Erik Seidel, USA, £56,300
12 – Ben Lamb, USA, £49,500
13 – Paul Phua, Malaysia, £49,500
14 – Chan Wai Leong, Malaysia, £43,300
15 – Dan Smith, USA, £43,300
16 – Ben Heath, UK £43,100
17 – Patrik Antonius, Finland, £43,100

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Carrel claims first Triton title as Koon denied a fourth

Jason Koon and Charlie Carrel eventually flipped their way to deciding the winner of the Triton London £50,000 title at London’s Park Lane Hilton today, with Carrel managing to seal his maiden Triton success and deny Koon his fourth.

After two long days, in which a field of 109 entries was reduced to its final pair, the tournament was paused at 4am this morning, in accordance with local gaming regulations. It left Carrel and Koon stranded with a trophy still to play for, as well as the £1.3 million first prize.

Charlie Carrel, left, and Jason Koon reconvene

Both players had been left short-stacked by last night’s marathon, but both also thought their superior heads-up play could decide the destination of the trophy. To the outsider, it appeared to come down to a series of flips although there was clearly also plenty of metagame, with two fierce competitors refusing to give any quarter. (Carrel also confirmed they did not discuss a chop at any point.)

Carrel started the additional day marginally behind Koon — 9.6 million to 12.15 million — but pulled himself ahead during the first hour of play.

It then quickly seemed as though Koon would come out on top when he won what looked to be a decisive race — his beating Carrel’s when a five hit — but Carrel fought back. The British star got to hold up against Koon’s , and even that wasn’t the end of it.

Triton Ambassador Jason Koon will need to wait for his fourth title

The lion’s share of the 50 big blinds flip-flopped from one to the other at least twice more, before it all went in again with Carrel holding to Koon’s .

The on the river gave the victory to Carrel.

“Sick!” Carrel said. “We did it, man. I feel pretty good.”

Koon was evidently disappointed at how things played out, sharing some discontented mutterings with fellow players. He was particularly aggrieved by one hand in which Carrel called a huge turn bet looking at a board of . Koon had to Carrel’s , but Carrel got there with river.

“You came second, though,” Michael Thuritz reminded him, a placing that earned him £907,000. Koon allowed himself a rueful smile, and will likely return to play the rest of the Triton London schedule.

Carrel bubbled the £25,000 tournament in what was his first ever Triton event. He has now won his second–and immediately hopped into the £100,000 Main Event, hoping to run this one up even more.

Review yesterday’s action here

Triton London Event #3 – No Limit Hold’em
Dates: August 3-4, 2019
Buy-in: £50,000
Entries: 109 (inc. 43 re-entries)
Prize pool: £5.123 million

1 – Charlie Carrel, UK, £1,321,000
2 – Jason Koon, United States, £907,000
3 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland, £594,000
4 – Kahle Burns, Australia, £481,500
5 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria, £386,000
6 – Robert Flink, Sweden, £302,100

7 – Jun Wah Yap, Malaysia, £238,000
8 – Dvoress Daniel, Canada, £182,000
9 – Isaac Haxton, United States, £133,000
10 – Talal Shakerchi, UK, £107,500
11 – Mikael Thuritz, Sweden, £107,500
12 – Sam Greenwood, £94,700
13 – Jesus Cortes, Spain, £94,700
14 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany, £87,000
15 – Ben Pollak, France, £87,000

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Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Carrel and Koon stranded as late-night marathon can’t decide £50K

The Grand Ballroom at the London Hilton, Park Lane, was hopping tonight. That was inevitable as the biggest buy-in poker tournament of all time awarded the biggest ever first prize.

But it’s a measure of just how high they play on the Triton Super High Roller series that shortly after the Aaron Zang/Bryn Kenney party moved to more traditional nightclub surroundings, tournament organisers prepared to hand over another prize of more than £1.3 million to another champion, in front of a silent and deserted room. Yes, enormous tournaments are so routine on the Triton Super High Roller series that even a seven-figure first prize can pass by silently in the dead of night.

Or that was the plan. But in fact, a second event of the week had to pause in the dead of night, with UK gaming regulations demanding a halt to proceedings at 4am. That left Jason Koon and Charlie Carrel, pictured above, still with chips and still with the task of splitting around £2 million between them.

The plan is now to play this one out tomorrow, at the same time at the £25K turbo finishes and the £100K Main Event gets started. Koon has the marginal advantage with 12.15 million to Carrel’s 9.6 million.

THE STORY SO FAR

As the £1 million event was still playing its early final table stages, registration closed on the £50K with 109 entries (including 43 re-entries) building a prize pool of £5.123 million. They burst the bubble when Sergio Aido lost his last six blinds to Talal Shakerchi, but Shakerchi himself was knocked out in a torrent of post-bubble eliminations.

All of Benjamin Pollak, Christoph Vogelsang, Jesus Cortes, Sam Greewood, Mikael Thuritz and Ike Haxton were similarly swept away before the final table (receiving between £87,000 and £133,000 for their troubles). Canada’s Daniel Dvoress joined them on the rail before seven-handed play decamped to the feature table at the conclusion of this week’s flagship event.

Play began on feature table seven-handed (clockwise from left): Charlie Carrel, Jason Koon, Linus Loeliger, Kahle Burns, Matthias Eibinger, Robert Flink, Jun Wah Yap

Malaysia’s Jun Wah Yap was enjoying his first cash from several attempts on the Triton series, but ended up on the rail in seventh after losing his last 13 big blinds to Linus Loeliger. Off he went, with £238,000.

The race began as to whether this tournament could get finished tonight at all. Gambling regulations in the UK meant that we had to be done by 4am, and it pushed past 2am with still six players left. The short-stacked Matthias Eibinger doubled up twice, with better than Kahle Burns’ and then with over Robert Flink’s .

It left Flink in shoving mode, and he was less fortunate. Flink, who led overnight, lost with to Charlie Carrel’s when an eight flopped. Flink won £302,100. “See you tomorrow,” Jason Koon said, even though tomorrow was already today.

Carrel might have knocked out Burns on the next hand, but Burns survived his all-in push with pocket queens against Carrel’s . Burns continued to push with his relative short stack, getting no callers, before a possibly tournament-defining hand played out.

The only “haves” at a table of mostly “have nots” were Carrel and Loeliger, and the two of them went to war. Loeliger open-shoved under the gun, with but with a stack big enough to withstand any issues from his left. Carrel was the only opponent who could hurt, and he called all in, for close to 5 million. (The big blind was 160,000.) Carrel’s ended up staying good to double him up and relegate Loeliger back into the pack.

With all the shoving, something had to give, and it was Eibinger who went out in fifth. Burns jammed his small blind with 2.45 million, and Eibinger, with a smaller stack, called in the big blind. Eibinger’s was ahead of Burns’s , but the river changed that. Eibinger won £386,000.

Koon, the Triton Ambassador from the United States, had been sitting tight while the chips changed hands around him. He looked weary, and he was also bemoaning his bad luck earlier when neither of his sweats at the Triton Million final table was able to seal the deal.

But Koon suddenly sprang to life in three quickfire hands. He doubled through Carrel with over and then took heaps of Burns’s stack, before finishing off the Australian with staying good against Burns’s . Burns, who needs to play the final table of the delayed £25K turbo tomorrow, was free to get some sleep at about 3.30am. He took £481,500 for fourth.

At this stage, it was clear that the clock was going to be the real winner tonight. There was no hope of a conclusion. But Loeliger, who also has a seat at tomorrow’s £25K final table, still had time to hit the rail.

This was a brutal one, which played through the streets, and put a board of out there. Carrel made a big bet, big enough to force Loeliger to make a decision for his tournament, and Loeliger called with . “Sorry man,” Carrel said and turned over .

Linus Loeliger’s departure ends the night

Loeliger took £594,000 and the two remaining players immediately decided to bag, booking themselves a return at 2pm tomorrow. Carrel’s 9.6 million is slightly behind Koon’s 12.15 million, but there’s still plenty of play. See you tomorrow/today!

Triton London Event #3 – No Limit Hold’em
Dates: August 3-4, 2019
Buy-in: £50,000
Entries: 109 (inc. 43 re-entries)
Prize pool: £5.123 million

1 £1,321,000
2 £907,000
3 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland, £594,000
4 – Kahle Burns, Australia, £481,500
5 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria, £386,000
6 – Robert Flink, Sweden, £302,100
7 – Jun Wah Yap, Malaysia, £238,000
8 – Dvoress Daniel, Canada, £182,000
9 – Isaac Haxton, United States, £133,000
10 – Talal Shakerchi, UK, £107,500
11 – Mikael Thuritz, Sweden, £107,500
12 – Sam Greenwood, £94,700
13 – Jesus Cortes, Spain, £94,700
14 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany, £87,000
15 – Ben Pollak, France, £87,000

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Zang takes Triton Million title as Kenney wins biggest ever prize

The biggest buy-in poker tournament in history ended in the most spectacular surprise tonight when Aaron Zang, (pictured above), a previously unheralded financier from Shanghai, China, beat some of the world’s best known poker players to win the Triton London – A Helping Hand for Charity tournament.

The event required a buy-in of £1.05 million, the most ever for a poker tournament, from which £50,000 per person went to charity. With 54 entrants, the total prize pool weighed in at £54 million, and was originally scheduled to pay its winner £19 million.

However with two players left, Zang, 37, arranged a deal with his final opponent, Bryn Kenney, from Long Island, New York, to split the remaining prizes. At that point, Kenney had four times as many chips as Zang and so took the most money: £16,890,509 to Zang’s £13,779,491.

But Zang, with shaking hands and a racing heart, was able to overcome the imbalance in chips and experience, and won two crucial hands to clinch the title and the trophy. “Miracles happen,” an emotional Zang said, as he became the first Chinese player to win on the Triton Series.

“I didn’t think you were that good,” joked Triton co-founder Paul Phua as he handed the trophy to his old friend Zang.

Kenney cannot be too disappointed. The 32-year-old’s payday was the biggest ever awarded to a poker player in tournament history, even if he is officially the runner-up. His near £17 million ($20.5 million) prize sent him to the top of poker’s all-time money list, leapfrogging his countryman Justin Bonomo. It took Kenney’s career winnings to more than $55 million, more than $30 million of which has come this year. Kenney’s spectacular run has included huge scores in Australia, South Korea, Montenegro and now London.

“I wanted the trophy but it’s the biggest win that anybody’s ever had, number one on the all-time money list, what can I complain about?” Kenney said. “It’s incredible.”

The new all-time money list leader Bryn Kenney

Eight players remained at the start of play on the final day, including three other players – Dan Smith, of the United States, Stephen Chidwick, of the UK, and Canadian Timothy Adams – who also could have become the leading money earner in world poker had they won. But Adams was knocked out in eighth, and Kenney then eliminated both the other two, with Chidwick falling in fourth and earning £4.41 million, and Smith knocked out in third, taking £7.2 million.

The tournament was open only to a select group of recreational poker players extended an invitation by Triton, who could then bring one guest—a professional poker player—with them to play. Both Chidwick and Smith were joined at the final by their businessman partners, although Alfred DeCarolis (Chidwick’s partner) was knocked out in seventh, for £1.72 million, and Bill Perkins (Smith’s partner) went out in sixth, for £2.2 million. The overnight chip leader Vivek Rajkumah perished in fifth.

Zang played in the businessmen side of the draw, and admitted on several occasions that he was not as skilled as the players he outlasted in the tournament. “This shows that anyone can win,” Phua said, encouraging more recreational players to take up poker. Zang said he is more comfortable playing cash games than tournaments, but may change his mind after this result.

When combined with Kenney’s characteristic excellence — his relentless aggression, perfect timing and shrewd calculations — it meant that Kenney drew right up on to Rajkumar’s shoulder, with Chidwick flailing toward the bottom of the pack.

But then the dam broke. It eventually has to. And wouldn’t you know, it all started flowing again in Rajkumar and Chidwick’s direction.

Adams, the Triton Jeju champion, hadn’t managed to stamp his authority on this final table as he had previously, and found that his most notable contribution to the early going was folding the best hand to DeCarolis’s fearless bluff shove. Adams managed to pull off one double-up of his own, when his pocket sixes stayed good against Chidwick’s fives, but when he picked up his first premium hand of the day, it proved to be his last.

Adams found in the hijack and his standard raise picked up a call from DeCarolis in the small blind. Rajkumar then moved all in, covering both opponents, and Adams called it off. (DeCarolis folded.)

Rajkumar’s needed help, but duly found it on the ace-high flop. He ended the hand with a straight and Adams was eliminated in eighth, for $1.4 million.

“I can’t complain,” Adams said. “Last night on the bubble I got it in and hit a one-outer. I came into today three out of eight, but stacks are so shallow…It’s a tournament, you have to win all ins, there’s not much you can do. You get used to it.”

He added: “There’s big tournaments coming up all the time. I’m going to be a more final tables, I’m going to win more tournaments. There’s going to be scenarios when it is your time, and when it’s not your time, it’s not your time. I’m OK. Yeah it sucks, but you keep things in perspective.”

Only a matter of minutes later, Chidwick was staring down the barrel of a gun when Rajkumar made a big move in a raised pot and shoved the river looking at a board of . Chidwick had and, after tossing all of his time-bank cards forward, called all-in for his tournament life. He backed his judgment to stay alive and was right. He scored the double up.

Moments after that he was further rewarded when he found pocket aces and DeCarolis raised then shoved all in ahead of him. DeCarolis was the man who had invited Chidwick to play this event, but even though DeCarolis was his meal ticket, Chidwick couldn’t fold the best hand in hold’em and stayed good against DeCarolis’s .

DeCarolis took £1.72 million for seventh place, a success for the man who was considered the rank outsider in the pre-tournament betting markets. As his bluff against Adams will go down as one of the best.

The eight-handed final table had three players more suited to the boardroom than the poker table, which represented an excellent showing for the supposed underdogs in this delicately balanced field. (Half the 54 players were recreational invitees; the other half their guests.) But after DeCarolis departed, the next man out–finally–was Perkins. His run of double ups had to end somewhere and it happened when he pushed with and Kenney woke up with aces. They held.

Perkins won £2.2 million, but had already pledged at least 10 percent of it to REG charity–and his philanthropic tendencies could easily persuade him to part with more.

“It was great,” Perkins said of his time in the tournament. “I so want to be up there still. I want to thank Paul Phua and Richard Yong for inviting me out here. They put on a fantastic show together. It was a lot of fun.”

As the chip fluctuations continued, Rajkumar’s bleeding started again. He lost a monster pot to Dan Smith when a gross run-out ensured all the money was going to go in.

Smith raised from under the gun with and Rajkumar called on the button with . Rajkumar flopped two pair on the flop, and there was no getting away for either of them. Smith was in trouble with his overpair but spiked the on the river to double up.

Rajkumar lost almost all flips he played today, and watched his chip-leading stack become the smallest six-handed. Then when he got it all in with , Kenney found another pair of aces, called and knocked Rajkumar out. Watched by his businessman invitee, Rick Salomon, Rajkumar wandered over to the tournament payout desk and picked up £3 million.

“Overall the tournament has been amazing,” Rajkumar said, highlighting his appreciation for the attention to detail on this tour. He even said it may tempt him away from the cash games, where he has been focused for the past few years. “I think I’m going to put a bit more of my money into Triton events in the future,” Rajkumar said.

It’s fair to say that by the time the tournament went four-handed, anybody could have won. The stacks, which had started so high, were now all short–and there’s no way that any of Smith, Kenney or Chidwick were going to put a foot wrong in this spot. They’re all too experienced and too darn good.

Even though the fourth man, Zang, was a comparative unknown quantity in this company, he quickly demonstrated that he too would be no pushover. He made the right moves at all the right times and managed to double up twice, through Kenney and then through Smith. It actually put him into the chip lead–albeit briefly. Because Kenney was about to enter boss mode.

With chips, and the bit between his teeth, there’s no player in the world game who is more brilliantly ruthless than Kenney. He was exemplary in picking the right moments to bet, putting the squeeze on each and every one of his opponents.

Chidwick moved back into second place as the tournament went on a 30-minute dinner break, but he became the next to depart when they returned. Chidwick, as is customary, barely put a foot wrong through three full days of play, and he was ahead with his pocket sevens when he and Kenney got it in pre-flop. Kenney had king-jack. Kenney flopped one of his overcards, however, and Chidwick had to take the walk.

His fourth-place prize of £4.41 million is the biggest single cash of his career, but he missed out on the chance to leap to the top of the global money list. After he shook hands with Kenney and hugged Smith, Zang performed a respectful, we’re-not-worthy-style bow towards Chidwick. He is an exceptional talent.

On that subject: this was now the Bryn Kenney show. He had all the chips and all the momentum, and he also quickly added the scalp of Smith. This one was a pretty tough spot for Smith, who lost with poker card=”ad”] to Kenney’s . The dealer put a queen and two hearts on the flop to send Kenney ahead in the hand, and then added another queen on the turn. Smith couldn’t hit any of his four outs on the river.

“The queen hurt,” Smith admitted. “But then I signed the piece of paper and saw that £7 million is a lot of money.” Smith had only got into the tournament at the last minute, thanks to the invitation from Perkins. He said that both businessman and pro had a piece of each other and, given they both made the final table, it’s been a very successful partnership.

There seemed to be absolutely no stopping Kenney at this point, but he was smart enough to know that no lead is entirely safe in poker. He and Zang decided to look at the numbers and lock up a deal, keeping £1.1 million on the table still to play for but securing a minimum £12.68 million Zang and for £16.9 million for Kenney. That was enough to sent him to the top of the all time money list, and was still the biggest poker prize of all time.

Tournament director Luca Vivaldi helps Kenney and Zang arrange a deal

It was just as well too. As Kenney later said: “I got heads up with a four-to-one chip lead, but the thing about heads up is that you can run all over the table and lose two all-in flips and lose the tournament, and that’s exactly what happened.”

Those two flips were perfectly standard: the first was when Zang’s beat Kenney’s . The second was when Kenney had a world out outs with on a flop but whiffed, handing the victory to Zang and his .

“I think I played really well,” Kenney said. “Everything went well until the heads up. At least if something’s going to go wrong, it goes wrong in heads up after you make a deal, take the most money and the biggest prize.”

And so ended the biggest buy-in poker tournament ever held, which has galvanised Triton’s reputation as the leading brand for Super High Roller poker, and further benefited a host of the most deserving causes in the world.

“The tournament has been a great success, even more amazing than we could possibly have hoped,” said Triton co-founder Richard Yong. “Not only have we made headlines across the world, thanks to the record-breaking prize money, but we have also raised at least £2.7 million for some of the most deserving charities across the globe.”

He added: “Inside and outside the poker community, everyone has been watching the tournament this week and we’ve shown just what’s possible for this game we all love. Aaron is a very worthy winner. He’s a great player, a great guy, and we are delighted that he has become the champion of the biggest tournament in poker history.”

Triton Million for Charity
Dates: August 1-3, 2019
Buy-in: £1.05 million
Players: 54
Prize-pool: £54 million

1 – Aaron Zang, China, £13,779,491*
2 – Bryn Kenney, United States, £16,890,509*
3 – Dan Smith, United States, £7.2 million
4 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, £4.41 million
5 – Vivek Rajkumar, India, £3 million
6 – Bill Perkins, United States, £2.2 million
7 – Alfred DeCarolis, United States, £1.72 million
8 – Timothy Adams, Canada, £1.4 million

9 – Wai Leong Chan, China, £1.2 million
10 – Chin Wei Lim, China, £1.1 million
11 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong, £1.1 million

*denotes heads-up deal

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Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Triton reaches out to help Hong Kong-based charities

The Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity is about much more than just the biggest buy-in and first prize in tournament poker history. In fact, in his introductory speech to the event earlier this week, Triton co-founder Paul Phua said the first priority when organising this spectacular tournament was its unique charitable aspect.

Don’t forget, the £50,000 entry fee appended to each £1 million buy-in goes directly to charity—that’s a helping hand worth at least £2.7 million.

This donation is in keeping with Triton’s guiding principle. The organisation has always been run as a not-for-profit entity, with any additional money earned being donated to charity, typically in south-east Asia where both Phua and Richard Yong, the Triton co-founders, grew up.

The Triton Million has a huge charity aspect to it

Three of the charities receiving donations from the Triton Million this week are based in Hong Kong: Caring for Children Foundation, Credit One World Charity and Healthy Hong Kong. Each organisation does sterling work in improving the lives of people who have fallen on rough times, either as a result of circumstance or poor health.

Credit One World Charity focuses on children aged between three and 15, whose families are unable to provide as much support as they would like. The charity organises activities, events and lessons to ensure every child is “loved and supported” is “understood” and has the chance to be “joyful and equally treated”. It teaches equal opportunities and helps children understand their responsibilities in the community. The charity’s mission statement says: “We believe every child is unique and special. Every child deserves opportunities to change the world.”

Caring For Children Foundation also aims to improve the lives of young people in particularly unfortunate circumstances. In addition to an educational programe, its rehabilitation program focuses on children with disabilities; its foster care program helps to offer crucial support for orphans; and its disaster relief program helps people affected by natural catastrophe to rebuild their homes.

The foundation’s many projects include such diverse endeavours as teaching photography to primary school children in Dongsheng; providing a monthly stipend (including living, study and medical allowances) to orphans in poverty-stricken rural areas in Yunnan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces; funding a volunteer visitor program to hospital patients in Guangzhou; and providing disaster relief work following earthquakes in Sichuan and Yunnan.

“For more than 20 years, we have penetrated more than 160,000 people in the remote mountainous areas of 15 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, and donated more than HK$120 million,” the charity says.

Healthy Hong Kong was founded in January 2015 and provides free Chinese medicine treatment and other services through its charity scheme “Kun Yan Chinese Medicine Service Centre”. The charity has helped more than 45,000 people, including people living in poverty or elderly members of the community who do not have families helping to support them.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Flink leads as field for £50K grows customarily huge

While all the attention in the banqueting suite of the Park Lane Hilton tonight was justifiably focused on the crucial bubble stages of the Triton Million for Charity tournament, another enormous event got under way only a few paces away.

Event #3 at the Triton Super High Roller Series London is a £50,000 buy-in event, which has already attracted 83 entries, including 29 re-entries. Registration is not yet even closed, but the prize pool is pushing £4 million. That’s an enormous total already, even if the massive event next door dwarfs everything by comparison.

The chip leader at this stage is Sweden’s Robert Flink, pictured above, but the tournament has so far to run that even he won’t be guaranteed of making the money. This event, which will resume at 3pm, is also scheduled to wrap up tomorrow, but it’s certain to run deep into the night.

Here’s the latest chip counts, with Day 2 seat draw below.

Name	Country	Chips
Jochanan Robert Flink	Sweden	1,077,000
Julius Schamburg	Germany	836,000
Jean-Noel Thorel	France	755,000
Talal Shakerchi	England	713,000
Steve O Dwyer	United States	665,000
Kahle Burns	Australia	661,000
Charlie Carrel	United Kingdom	635,000
Isaac Haxton	United States	592,000
Liang Xu	China	545,000
Qiang Wang	China	531,000
Sergio Aido	Spain	494,000
Matthew Moss	United Kingdom	474,000
Imad Derwiche	France	460,000
Samuel Greenwood	Canada	453,000
Cary Katz	United States	431,000
Xuan Tan	China	419,000
Benjamin Pollak	France	403,000
Ivan Leow	Malaysia	383,000
Jinghui Ying	China	371,000
Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	369,000
David Peters	United States	335,000
Daniel Dvoress	Canada	330,000
Linus Loeliger	Switzerland	330,000
Bjorn Li	United States	293,000
Luc Greenwood	Canada	289,000
Daniel Cates	United States	280,000
Alex Foxen	United States	273,000
Jason Koon	United States	256,000
Henrik Hecklen	Denmark	252,000
Wai Kin Yong	Malaysia	248,000
Seth Davies	United States	242,000
Kristen Bicknell	Canada	232,000
Danny Tang	Hong Kong	232,000
Justin Bonomo	United States	220,000
Matthias Eibinger	Austria	220,000
Jesus Cortes	Spain	215,000
Michael Soyza	Malaysia	182,000
Benjamin Heath	United Kingdom	137,000
Louis Nyberg	Sweden	131,000
Michael Watson	Canada	106,000

Table/Seat	Name	Country	Chips
1-2	Jesus Cortes	Spain	215,000
1-3	Sergio Aido	Spain	494,000
1-5	Steve O Dwyer	United States	665,000
1-6	Daniel Cates	United States	280,000
1-7	Jason Koon	United States	256,000
1-9	Bjorn Li	United States	293,000
2-1	Kristen Bicknell	Canada	232,000
2-3	David Peters	United States	335,000
2-5	Louis Nyberg	Sweden	131,000
2-6	Linus Loeliger	Switzerland	330,000
2-8	Isaac Haxton	United States	592,000
2-9	Jochanan Robert Flink	Sweden	1,077,000
3-1	Daniel Dvoress	Canada	330,000
3-3	Julius Schamburg	Germany	836,000
3-5	Liang Xu	China	545,000
3-7	Lucas James Greenwood	Canada	289,000
3-9	Matthew Moss	United Kingdom	474,000
5-1	Jinghui Ying	China	371,000
5-2	Matthias Eibinger	Austria	220,000
5-3	Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	369,000
5-6	Xuan Tan	China	419,000
5-7	Jean-Noel Thorel	France	755,000
5-9	Michael Watson	Canada	106,000
6-1	Charlie Carrel	United Kingdom	635,000
6-2	Benjamin Pollak	France	403,000
6-3	Imad Derwiche	France	460,000
6-7	Ivan Leow	Malaysia	383,000
6-8	Samuel Greenwood	Canada	453,000
6-9	Talal Shakerchi	England	713,000
7-2	Henrik Hecklen	Denmark	252,000
7-3	Seth Davies	United States	242,000
7-6	Ben Heath	United Kingdom	137,000
7-8	Christopher Michael Soyza	Malaysia	182,000
7-9	Kahle Burns	Australia	661,000
8-1	Chi Hang Daniel Tang	Hong Kong	232,000
8-2	Cary Katz	United States	431,000
8-3	Alex Foxen	United States	273,000
8-5	Wai Kin Yong	Malaysia	248,000
8-7	Qiang Wang	China	531,000
8-8	Justin Bonomo	United States	220,000

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Rampant Rajkumar takes monstrous lead to final of Triton Million London

The nature of the Triton Million – A Helping Hand For Charity tournament, which is taking place this week in London’s Park Lane Hilton, was always guaranteed to bring thrills, spills and heartbreak. And today, as the field of players who paid £1.05 million just to sit down was trimmed to its final eight, we enjoyed and endured it all.

For some, such as Vivek Rajkumar, pictured above, and Stephen Chidwick, there was nothing but glee. They have by far the two biggest chip stacks going into tomorrow’s final day, and are the favourites to win the £19 million first prize, the biggest ever awarded at a poker tournament.

However, if you ever mention today to the Russian pro Igor Kurganov, you should do so solemnly and from a long distance, for your own safety. Kurganov finished this tournament in 12th place, on the stone bubble, leaving with nothing to show for his work. The 11 players from whom he was estranged guaranteed themselves a minimum £1.1 million. It was the bitterest pill for Kurganov to swallow.

Kurganov was one of a small clutch of players whose hopes hung by a thread as the original starting field of 54 was whittled towards its top 20 percent. By that point, other superstars including Jason Koon, Sam Greenwood, Justin Bonomo, Nick Petrangelo and Christoph Vogelsang were also already on the scrapheap.

The end of the road for poker’s most unfortunate bubble boy, Igor Kurganov

But then Kurganov’s pocket tens ran into the pocket jacks of Bill Perkins, and Kurganov was unable to find an outdraw when he really needed it most. It was actually Perkins who was officially under threat, with marginally fewer chips, but the hedge fund manager’s better hand remained more powerful and kept him alive. Kurganov was left only with shrapnel and lost it to Rajkumar moments later.

Perkins kindly agreed to donate 10 percent of his winnings from this tournament to REG charity, the foundation established by Kurganov and friends, and to whom he had made the same pledge. The donation will be in addition to the £2.7 million already heading to charitable concerns from this tournament, the result of the £50,000 entry fee going directly to charity.

After Kurganov’s departure, the original plan was then to lose two more players and set a final table of nine. But Hong Kong businessman Winfred Yu was quickly knocked out in 11th, collecting £1.1 million, before two more Asian stars went out almost simultaneously. Bryn Kenney knocked out Chin Wei Lim and Adams sent Wai Leong Chan home. It left us with only eight still in the hunt and a line-up for tomorrow as follows (in seat order):

1 – Timothy Adams, Canada, 5.735 million
2 – Bryn Kenney, USA, 5.54 million
3 – Alfred DeCarolis, USA, 5.455 million
5 – Vivek Rajkumar, India, 18 million
6 – Bill Perkins, USA, 2 million
7 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, 9.79 million
8 – Dan Smith, USA, 2.35 million
9 – Aaron Zang, China, 5.06 million

Winfred Yu, top, Chin Wei Lim, left, and Wai Leong Chan depart

“I could not have scripted this better,” said Rajkumar, the leader. He admitted that he wasn’t sure if he was even going to play the event, but became a last-gasp registrant when Rick Salomon extended an invitation to him. “I had other commitments with family and stuff, but then I thought I’d come and play this awesome event.”

Coincidentally, Salomon was the first player out of the tournament, busting yesterday within two hours of it starting. But Rajkumar’s superlative show raises the prospect of that partnership bookending the entire tournament in hugely unlikely fashion. “It’s nuts,” Rajkumar said.

The two other partnerships of note are between Alfred DeCarolis and Chidwick, and Perkins and Smith. All four have made it to the final, guaranteeing a significant payday for all of them. Both Chidwick and Smith have a further incentive: either of them could overtake Justin Bonomo as poker’s all-time leading money winner if they he prevails tomorrow. The same applies to Bryn Kenney, who has made yet another final table on the Triton Series.

Stephen Chidwick, left, and Alfred DeCarolis: the power partnership

Play will begin tomorrow at 1pm when the stakes have never been higher. The players are also all now required to dress for the occasion — a prospect that will mean a last-gasp shopping trip for both Perkins and Rajkumar at least.

“Holy shit! I gotta get a suit!” Perkins said. These are different types of businessmen.

PAYOUT INFORMATION

Triton Million for Charity
Dates: August 1-3, 2019
Buy-in: £1.05 million
Players: 54
Prize-pool: £54 million

1 – £19 million
2 – £11.67 million
3 – £7.2 million
4 – £4.41 million
5 – £3 million
6 – £2.2 million
7 – £1.72 million
8 – £1.4 million

9 – Wai Leong Chan, China, £1.2 million
10 – Chin Wei Lim, China, £1.1 million
11 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong, £1.1 million

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Triton’s Helping Hand extends to REG and OMS

Don’t forget, the £50,000 entry fee appended to each £1 million buy-in goes directly to charity—that’s a helping hand worth at least £2.7 million.

Richard Yong and Paul Phua insisted their Triton extravaganza would profit numerous worthwhile causes

Though Triton has long-established charity partners in south-east Asia, the company sought new, additional causes to support as the tour came to Europe. Donations from this week’s tournament will also be heading to the Germany-based REG charity – short for Raising for Effective Giving – and also Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis, based in the UK, which aims to help people affected by the degenerative neurological disease.

REG is especially well-known in the poker community having been founded in 2014 by the prominent pros Liv Boeree, Igor Kurganov, Phil Gruissem and Stefan Huber. Other players, including the 2014 World Champion Martin Jacobson and poker’s leading money earner Justin Bonomo, regularly pledge a percentage of their winnings to the charity.

REG seeks to apply the kind of logic and reason that has made its founders top poker players to the world of philanthropy. It specifically seeks charitable endeavours that are proven to be the most effective – sometimes looking in stark and emotionless detail at things like the number of lives that can be saved per dollar of donation.

Boeree said: “When we choose to donate, there are so many different choices, so many problems in the world, which have many different solutions and many different charities working on those solutions. It can be really hard to know which is the most effective thing you can pick. What REG does is it looks at all the evidence out there and asks ‘What are the biggest problems? What are the most urgent problems? And most importantly, what are the most neglected problems?’”

Liv Boeree, REG founder, on presenting duties at Triton Million

She added: “It’s relevant to poker players because poker players get the importance of things like ROI [return on investment]. We don’t just sit down in any old game, you think about it first and you make strategic decisions with your chips, where to bet, who to bet against, and so on. You want to achieve your maximum ROI. When we donate to charity, we should be thinking in a similar way.”

Boeree said that Triton is a perfect fit to partner with REG because Richard Yong and Paul Phua, the Triton co-founders, immediately understood the charity’s guiding philosophy. “It’s testament to it that Paul and Richard get it,” Boeree said. “They completely agree…It’s such an honour. To me the biggest win is getting someone to understand the concepts of what we’re trying to do.”

(See below for a full interview with Boeree on the subject of REG.)

Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis (OMS), based here in London, aims to inform, educate and empower the estimated 2.5 million people in the world who live with M.S. The disease, which affects the body’s central nervous system, can cause life-changing symptoms like extreme fatigue, numbness, tingling, tremors, slurred speech and loss of balance and muscle co-ordination, loss of vision and, in the worst case, paralysis.

There is currently no cure, but OMS aims to help people with the disease not spend the rest of their lives as hostage to their condition. Gary McMahon, the charity’s CEO, said, “Overcoming MS aims to educate, support and empower everyone who is diagnosed with MS. We want people to live well with MS, by adopting evidence-based, positive lifestyle changes including a plant-based diet, regular exercise as well as medication and mental wellness.”

OMS offers a wealth of resources, including books and free information packages containing everything from exercises, recipes and guided meditations. It also supports an extensive community of people with personal experience of either having MS or working in a support role.

“We are very grateful to all our sponsors, fundraisers and donors for their invaluable support in helping us deliver and raise awareness of our free resources and active community,” McMahon added.

LIV BOEREE, CO-FOUNDER OF REG, ON THE CHARITY’S MISSION

Liv Boeree, pictured at Triton Montenegro

What’s the principle behind REG?
REG is an advisory service for people who want to achieve the maximum amount of good with their donation. When we choose to donate, there are so many different choices, so many problems in the world, which have many different solutions and many different charities working on those solutions. It can be really hard to know which is the most effective thing you can pick. What REG does is it looks at all the evidence out there and asks “What are the biggest problems? What are the most urgent problems? And most importantly, what are the most neglected problems?”

Some things, like cancer for example, it’s obviously a very big problem and it affects so many people. But compared to other things that can also kill as many people, it’s very well funded in terms of research. On the other hand some things are extremely neglected. They get one thousandth of the funding and yet could potentially kill as many people. So that’s what REG, and this general philosophy of effective altruism is looking to figure out, to find those opportunities.

How does it work?
It’s an advisory service where we say, ‘We recommend you donate to one of these five places.’ [There are often more, but five is an example number.] It also acts as a transfer service. We facilitate the donations, because it’s not often easy for people if they don’t have the right tax code or whatever. It takes zero percent. It doesn’t take any fee or anything like that. REG itself is purely funded by us, who choose to donate to keep it running. It doesn’t have that many overheads anyway. So basically, it looks for what are the biggest problems in the world, what are the most neglected of those problems, and prioritises the ones that are the most neglected.

What’s an example of that?
The outcome is usually things like malaria. There’s one particular charity that provably can save a human life for $4,000. So literally every $4,000 you give to that charity, you are saving someone from dying. That’s how it works out. You compare that to many other charities and it may be millions of dollars to save a life.

Why is REG particularly relevant to poker players?
It was founded by poker players: me, Igor [Kurganov], Phil Gruissem and Stefan Huber. I think it’s relevant to poker players because poker players get the importance of things like ROI [return on investment]. We don’t just sit down in any old game, you think about it first and you make strategic decisions with your chips, where to bet, who to bet against, and so on. You want to achieve your maximum ROI. When we donate to charity, we should be thinking in a similar way. You have a limited number of chips that you’re ever going to give and it would be really silly to go and donk them all off on a bet where actually you might have a barely positive ROI. Especially compared to a situation where you might have 1,000 percent ROI. It’s that kind of business-type mindset, a strategic mindset.

Igor Kurganov and his REG patch, still going strong in the Triton Million

On top of that, charity has always been a thing that people think has to be emotion based — go with your heart, what your heart says — but you would never do that with your business. You would never do that in many things. In medicine. You’d never go with your heart on what you think’s going to be the best thing for a patient. You look at evidence and reason. Philanthropy should be the same. These are the highest stakes you can be playing: you’re trying to save lives, trying to save the future of humanity or the environment or whatever you’re looking at. It’s important to involve your heart to the extent that you want to take joy from giving, but the decision needs to come from your head. And poker players get that. We know that our intuitions aren’t perfect and that really sometimes you just have to sit down and do the numbers. It’s the same with philanthropy.

How did it come about?
We met with these guys who are professors, they are data scientists and philosophers, and they have realised how neglected some of these highly important causes are. And how we need to raise funds for them. But we need to convince people, who are likely to have the funds to give and are likely to understand the logical arguments for this, and we think poker players are good for this. They’re logically-minded people, on average. That’s why they pitched it to us and it resonated. We thought the rest of the poker world would get it too.

What does Triton’s contribution mean to REG?
It’s such an honour, first of all. To me the biggest win is getting someone to understand the concepts of what we’re trying to do, because they’re not the easiest things to get. It’s not an easy, fun, sexy sell, explaining about expected value of life saves. People just want to see the happy child’s face. But no, this takes the emotion out of giving, to an extent. It’s testament to it that [Triton co-founders] Paul [Phua] and Richard [Yong] get it. They completely agree. Even though we don’t know some of the south east Asian charities they have picked, they used the same sort of framework. They wanted to pick the most effective charities in Asia. It’s really amazing to see those principles have been adopted by them too. So we feel that we’ve done a good job when we’ve explained the concepts to them and they appreciate the decision-making process that goes into them.

What projects are ongoing at the moment?
We’re working with The Forethought Institute and the Against Malaria Foundation. That’s where the donations from Triton will be going.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Late night heater sends Perkins clear in race for record-setting £19m at Triton London

It’s still very early days, but we are excited. Anyone who set foot today in the banqueting suite of London’s Park Lane Hilton knew they were witnessing history: the biggest buy-in poker tournament ever held, costing £1 million to play and promising to award its winner £19 million.

That will be the biggest purse ever won by a tournament poker player, and is a more lavish reward than would be earned by a golfer or a tennis player if he won all four majors in a single season. It’s big money. The biggest. And today it all landed on the table.

“Thanks for turning my dream into a reality,” said Triton co-founder Paul Phua as he welcomed the players to the tournament room. He then made a point of stressing the additional benefit to this event, that the £50,000 admin fee was heading directly to charity. With 54 players in the field, that’s a £2.7 million charitable donation before a card was even dealt.

Richard Yong, left, and Paul Phua welcome players to their dream tournament

“Poker is more than just a game to me,” Phua said. “It unites people from all walks of life and we have proven that.”

By the time the entrants had then played ten one-hour levels, only 36 were still remaining. All of Rick Salomon, Tom Dwan, David Peters, Fedor Holz, Leon Tsoukernik, Dan Cates, Talal Shakerchi, Sam Trickett, Elton Tsang, Andrew Pantling, Benjamin Wu, Pat Madden, Wai Kin Yong, Bobby Baldwin, Haralabos Voulgaris and Michael Soyza saw their chips sent elsewhere. Salomon’s didn’t hit its flush draw against Andrew Pantling’s flopped set of queens. His £1 million buy-in bought him less than two hours of action, but it set us on our way.

Fedor Holz also among the early casualties

Phua too was toast by the conclusion, having lost with to Vivek Rajkumar’s . He went out amid much cheering, having turned a straight but losing to a rivered full house. There are no re-entries in this tournament, but Phua will be certain to return for the remainder of this eight-event series. The same likely applies to Richard Yong, the other Triton co-founder. He was also knocked out late in the day but will not have played his last.

The chip-leader at this early stage is Bill Perkins, pictured top, who overcame the early frustrations of the card dead to go on a late-night heater. “Someone told me just calm down, be patient,” Perkins said. And it worked for him.

Perkins won a massive pot after midnight when he flopped top set of tens. He was doubly blessed because Tsang, who won the previous biggest event held on European soil, had flopped bottom set of threes. Baldwin had top pair, top kicker. Perkins won the three-way skirmish, then doubled up again through Rajkumar, and built his stack to 3.56 million, the biggest in the room.

“Now I’m tired, but it feels great,” Perkins said.

Though he’s a regular poker player, Perkins is best known and most successful as a hedge fund manager and has amassed a fortune that allowed him to speculate £1 million on a poker tournament, and also to invite Dan Smith to play. Smith had a good day too, bagging 2.81 million and sitting in the top three of the overnight counts.

Dan Smith made the most of his late invitation from Perkins

Only Timothy Adams, a last-minute addition to the line-up for this tournament, has more than Smith. Adams, who won the Main Event at Triton Jeju earlier this year, has 3.095 million.

Timothy Adams set for another fine Triton show

To remind you of the format: half the field are invited amateur poker enthusiasts and the other half are their guests, balancing the total field between pros and recreational players. The two factions were kept apart for the most part today, but the seat draw is random from now on, with the only manipulation coming if a recreational/pro partnership lands on the same table. They will then be separated.

The full chip counts will appear below soon, with their seat allocation for tomorrow’s second day. We’ll also start the £50,000 buy-in Event #3 as the Triton Million field thins.

Rest well, we have a lot of poker still to play.

DAY 1 END CHIP COUNT

Name	Country	Chips
Bill Perkins	United States	3,560,000
Timothy Adams	Canada	3,095,000
Dan Smith	United States	2,810,000
Rui Cao	France	2,700,000
Nick Petrangelo	United States	2,700,000
Aaron Zang	China	2,185,000
Justin Bonomo	United States	2,050,000
Wei Lim Chin	Malaysia	2,050,000
Igor Kurganov	Netherlands	2,015,000
Hing Yaung Chow	Malaysia	1,975,000
Sam Greenwood	Canada	1,865,000
Ferdinand Putra	Indonesia	1,830,000
Stephen Chidwick	England	1,815,000
Christoph Vogelsang	Germany	1,765,000
Vivek Rajkumar	India	1,715,000
Bryn Kenney	United States	1,645,000
Rob Yong	United Kingdom	1,625,000
Tony G	Lithuania	1,445,000
Qiang Wang	China	1,430,000
Danny Tang	Hong Kong	1,390,000
Wai Leong Chan	Malaysia	1,235,000
Martin Kabrhel	Czech Republic	1,155,000
Sosia Jiang	New Zealand	1,150,000
Jason Koon	United States	1,120,000
Ivan Leow	Malaysia	1,080,000
Andrew Robl	United States	1,075,000
Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	815,000
Xuan Tan	China	765,000
Yu Liang	Vanuatu	750,000
Winfred Yu	Hong Kong	730,000
Alfred Decarolis	United States	675,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu	Turkey	475,000
Matthias Eibinger	Austria	375,000
Stanley Choi	Hong Kong	320,000
Timofey Kuznetsov	Russia	320,000
Cary Katz	United States	275,000

DAY 2 CHIP COUNT/SEAT ASSIGNMENT

	Name	Chips
Table 1
1	Mikita Badziakouski	815,000
2	Bill Perkins	3,560,000
3	Sam Greenwood	1,865,000
5	Stanley Choi	320,000
6	Martin Kabrhel	1,155,000
7	Xuan Tan	765,000
8	Alfred Decarolis	675,000

Table 2
1	Hing Yaung Chow	1,975,000
2	Rob Yong	1,625,000
3	Tony G	1,445,000
5	Cary Katz	275,000
6	Stephen Chidwick	1,815,000
7	Winfred Yu	730,000
8	Orpen Kisacikoglu	475,000

Table 3
1	Yu Liang	750,000
2	Matthias Eibinger	375,000
3	Ferdinand Putra	1,830,000
5	Timofey Kuznetsov	320,000
6	Justin Bonomo	2,050,000
7	Jason Koon	1,120,000
8	Wai Leong Chan	1,235,000
9	Bryn Kenney	1,645,000

Table 4
1	Dan Smith	2,810,000
2	Rui Cao	2,700,000
3	Nick Petrangelo	2,700,000
5	Sosia Jiang	1,150,000
6	Vivek Rajkumar	1,715,000
8	Wei Lim Chin	2,050,000
9	Danny Tang	1,390,000

Table 5
1	Igor Kurganov	2,015,000
3	Timothy Adams	3,095,000
5	Aaron Zang	2,185,000
6	Ivan Leow	1,080,000
7	Andrew Robl	1,075,000
8	Qiang Wang	1,430,000
9	Christoph Vogelsang	1,765,000

PAYOUT INFORMATION

Triton Million for Charity
Dates: August 1-3, 2019
Buy-in: £1.05 million
Players: 54
Prize-pool: £54 million

1 – £19 million
2 – £11.67 million
3 – £7.2 million
4 – £4.41 million
5 – £3 million
6 – £2.2 million
7 – £1.72 million
8 – £1.4 million
9 – £1.2 million
10 – £1.1 million
11 – £1.1 million

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS
Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Cards in the air on Triton’s record-breaking extravaganza

Ladies and gentlemen, the waiting is finally over. After months of fevered expectation, the Triton Million For Charity is now a reality after Triton co-founders Richard Yong, Paul Phua (pictured above) and tournament director Luca Vivaldi set the ball rolling at 1pm today on the biggest buy-in poker tournament ever played.

In case you missed the crucial details: this is a poker tournament like no other. It costs £1.05 million to enter, more than it has ever cost to sit down in a poker tournament before, and with 54 players registered, the winner is guaranteed to be presented with the biggest first prize of any tournament player.

All projections put that first prize at £19 million, close to $25.5 million. That will be confirmed 100 percent very soon.

SEE TRITON MILLION SEAT DRAW

This is an extraordinary event and the atmosphere here at the Hilton Park Lane, London, is like nothing we have ever encountered at a poker tournament before. Not only is the field a phenomenally intense concentration of the very best and the very richest, these players are all on time, some are dressed in shirts and jackets and they all desperately want to win this one. They all are all evidently delighted to have secured an invitation. It was far from a formality, with only those on an exclusive guest list able to sit down.

Players await the start of the Triton Million for Charity

“When considering creating the richest buy-in the world has ever seen, our challenge was always generating a big field,” Phua said during his introductory speech. “I feel an immense sense of pride and honour that we did it.”

He added: “I want to thank all the players here, without whom this event will not happen…Thanks for turning my dream into a reality.”

Phua pointed to the £2.7 million the event has raised for charity thanks to Triton waiving the normal entry fee for the event. Instead of a rake, the £50,000 each player is paying that is not going into the prize pool is instead going directly to charitable causes.

“The priority is always the charity aspect of this event,” Phua said. “Poker is more than just a game to me. It unites people from all walks of life and we have proven that.”

Phua also acknowledged that there were more applicants for the event than could be accommodated and said: “I want to apologise to the players who wanted to play but could not get a seat.”

He then handed the mic to Vivaldi to go through the technical formalities, before Party Poker’s Rob Yong then instructed the dealers to shuffle up and deal.

“Let’s have fun and good luck guys,” Phua said as he took his seat. Cards are now in the air.

Triton Million for Charity
Dates: August 1-3, 2019
Buy-in: £1.05 million
Players: 54
Prize-pool: £54 million

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive