Category: Poker

Bulgaria has quietly become quite a hotbed for poker talent over the past few years, with a handful of the country’s top stars picking up accolades on various tours across the world.

After the country’s money-list leader Alex Kulev tested the water on the Triton Series, he was joined here in Monte Carlo by three more of the top four of his countrymen — and tonight Ognjan Dimov became the first Bulgarian to win a title on this tour.

Dimov is well known at the online tables, as well as across the card rooms of Europe and the United States. He has a WSOP bracelet and an EPT title. But now he also has a seven-figure live tournament score thanks to his maiden Triton success.

Dimov banked $1,010,000 after defeating Spain’s Juan Pardo heads-up.

“It’s amazing,” Dimov told Ali Nejad ahead of his trophy presentation. He explained that he had won a satellite to come to the Triton Series, which allowed him to find out exactly what Kulev had told him about. “They had told me how great the series was,” Dimov said. “I really like it.”

He added that he fully intends to continue testing his skills against the best players on this circuit. “It’s my first time, but I hope it’s not the last,” he said.

As for Pardo, he began his week in Monte Carlo with an unfortunate bubble in the $200K Invitational. Although no one likes being runner up, the prize of $685,000 for second place in this one is far better than that bubble.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

The first lower buy-in event of the festival duly attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd, many of whom were sampling the Triton Series for the first time. With 145 entries, the first prize still weighed in at more than $1 million, which offered the kind of ROI on a $30K buy-in that you more commonly see lower down in stakes.

Still, of the 34 players coming back overnight, 11 of them would depart again with troubling the cashiers, and as the feel whittled down, all eyes fell on Ukraine’s Renat Bohdnov. He had the misfortune of running into Dimov’s pocket aces and hitting the rail in 24th.

With the bubble burst, the remaining players were guaranteed at least $51,000 and could focus on hitting the final.

The Bulgarian contingent had four players still involved in the money, and although three of them perished before the final, it was a decent showing from Fahredin Mustafov, Alex Kulev and Dimitar Danchev, with Dimov taking his place in a multinational last eight.

There were representatives from eight countries and four continents. The line-up looked like this:

Juan Pardo, Spain – 68 BBs
Luc Greenwood, Canada – 37 BBs
Ole Schemion, Germany – 33 BBs
Travis Endersby, Australia – 28 BBs
Ognyan Dimov, Bulgaria – 25 BBs
Janissa Kan, Hong Kong – 20 BBs
Joao Vieira, Portugal – 14 BBs
Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – 6 BBs

The four-time Triton champion Mikita Badziakouski might have had only six big blinds, but he’d been sitting with that for a good few orbits and had watched at least two players be knocked out as he clung on.

With his achievement unlocked of getting to the final table, he found a good spot to potentially get the double he’d need to mount a challenge. But when it came to it, his lost the flip to Juan Pardo’s and Badziakouski hit the rail.

It’s a little while since Badziakouski took one of these events down, but the $126,500 he gets from this will be reinvested in search of title No 5.

Joao Vieira is a dominant presence at the online tables, with a string of fine live results to his name as well. When players have that kind of history, they inevitably arrive on the Triton Series eventually, and Vieira has been dipping his toes into the super high roller pool over the past year or so.

His previous best was a seventh-placed finish in a Mystery Bounty tournament in Vietnam, and seventh was once again his fate here in Monte Carlo. But his $172,000 will give him reason to keep coming back.

Vieira was another short stack coming into the final and he wasn’t able to alter than through the early stages of the final table. Close to half his stack went on blinds in the 100K/200K/200K level, and then after he moved all in from under the gun with , he couldn’t get Dimov to fold in the big blind. They both hit a seven, but Dimov’s kicker played.

The Triton Series has had a pretty good number of female players making decent runs in its tournaments, but the stop in Monte Carlo had been one of the more male-dominated affairs. However, buoyed by the success so far of her friends Elton Tsang and Ken Tong, Janissa Kan pulled up a seat in Event 7 and made her debut on the Triton Series.

Safe to say, this was a success. Kan survived everything thrown at her through the first day and a half and took her seat at this final too, eventually only succumbing when she three-bet shoved her and was picked off by Ole Schemion’s .

Kan’s record now reads: Played 1, Cashed 1, and her sixth place was worth $232,700.

To this point, the players who began the final table with the lowest stacks had been knocked out in order. But if that pattern was to continue, Dimov and Travis Endersby should consider themselves under threat.

Endersby ended up the next player out, but not before he had doubled up, slipped down and doubled up again. The five-handed phase went on for quite a while, with stacks shallowing so much that even the chip leader, Pardo, had less than 25 big blinds.

That proved to be enough for him to call Endersby’s button shove, however, and Pardo’s lost to Pardo’s .

Endersby, an Australian who was in Monte Carlo after winning a package from the online site ACR, won $300,100. It was about six times his previous best tournament score.

They were now four-handed and very, very short. Schemion doubled through Dimov; Dimov doubled through Pardo and then knocked out Greenwood in consecutive hands. Greenwood shoved with and slammed into Dimov’s .

Greenwood, who was a champion in London, finished fourth here for $374,000.

The three players left had likely sparred with each other plenty online where each is a titan. But Pardo emerged with his reputation further burnished by a tremendous call in a pot against Schemion, which cut the latter to shreds. Schemion took a big stab at a board of with . And after due deliberation, Pardo called with .

Pardo grabbed headlines after folding kings (correctly) in London. Here, he made a correct call with king high.

Dimov was now also on a roll, and it helped that he woke up with a dominant ace when Schemion shoved his short stack in soon after. Schemion’s never caught up against Dimov’s and that sent the German crusher to the rail in third, banking $457,000.

There were fewer than 50 big blinds between the heads-up players. Dimov’s 32 BBs was precisely double Pardo’s 16, but the past two days here in Monte Carlo have given us volatile heads-up battles with multiple double ups.

Only one thing was certain: the Triton Series would be crowning another new champion. Pardo was at his second stop but hadn’t previously got further than sixth. Dimov had played four events here in Monte Carlo, but was in the money for the first time.

As it turned out, this was one of those speedy heads-up battles, with the first all-in confrontation deciding it. Dimov never yielded his heads up lead and eventually took up against Pardo’s .

A ten on the turn was the killer card, and Dimov pumped his fist in celebration of a terrific win. Watch these Bulgarians. There’s more to come from them.

Event #7 – $30,000 NLH 7-Handed
Dates: October 29-30, 2023
Entries: 145 (inc. 49 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,350,000

1 – Ognjan Dimov, Bulgaria – $1,010,000
2 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $685,000
3 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $457,000
4 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $374,000
5 – Travis Endersby, Australia – $300,100
6 – Janessa Kan, Hong Kong – $232,700
7 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $172,000
8 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $126,500

9 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $100,700
10 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $84,800
11 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $84,800
12 – Ren Lin, USA – $74,000
13 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $74,000
14 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $67,500
15 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $67,500
16 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $61,000
17 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $61,000
18 – Imad Derwiche, France – $54,800
19 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $54,800
20 – Tim Busso, France – $54,800
21 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $51,000
22 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $51,000
23 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $51,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

As difficult as it is to believe, it’s been more than six years since Christoph Vogelsang last won a poker tournament — longer than the Triton Super High Roller Series has even existed.

But finally tonight, at his 46th attempt, the 38-year-old German pro ended that drought and landed a Triton title — and it was a big one, too, in the $100K no limit hold’em event in Monte Carlo.

Vogelsang banks $2.644 million for this success, after arranging a heads-up deal with Nacho Barbero as Sunday night’s tournament ran into the early hours of Monday. It completed a remarkable turnaround for Vogelsang, who had only one big blinds at one stage today, before the money bubble even burst.

But Vogelsang is in it for the long haul. He has continued plugging away for the past six years, just like he plugged away in this tournament, knowing his time would come.

“I was kind of out of the tournament,” Vogelsang told Mariana Pereyra in a post-game interview. “I was all in so many times.”

He managed to outgun Barbero in a topsy-turvy heads-up contest where both players were all-in and at risk multiple times. Vogelsang referenced one particular hand, where he rivered a set of sevens to beat Barbero’s two pair, as being of particular significance.

“I’m a Christian, and seven is a biblical number,” he said. “It felt very beautiful.”

The Triton trophy too will look pretty nice on Vogelsang’s mantlepiece in his adopted home of London. He expressed his liking for the series, stating, “It’s more like a family…Everyone who is playing here is so, so blessed in their lives.”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

In a change to the way it normally works on the Triton Series, the highest buy-in events at this stop in Monte Carlo were front-loaded, meaning that after this one, the maximum it’s going to cost for a seat in the game is $50K. It follows that all the very best players in the world showed up, building a prize pool of $12 million thanks to 120 entries.

Also as always, dozens of them fell by the wayside before they got even a sniff of a payout. And when the bubble did appear on the horizon, the smallest-stacked player still had 12 big blinds, which meant that hand-for-hand play across three tables might have taken a while.

But it didn’t. On the very first hand of hand-for-hand, that aforementioned shortest stack, Lewis Spencer, found and moved in. Punnat Punsri, chip leading at the time, called from late position and all others wisely got out the way.

Punsri showed and although the first four cards on to the table were blanks, the river was a killer for Spencer. He burst the bubble and put everyone else into the money.

The next target was the final table, which could accommodate only nine players. And there was no room at it for two Triton Monte Carlo champions – Dan Smith and Steve O’Dwyer – who went out in 20th and 18th, respectively, nor other regs Kiat Lee, Santhosh Suvarna and Artur Martirosian, among others.

The most dramatic hand of this period played out when there were 11 left and, in one fell swoop, took us down to the last nine.

In it, Johannes Straver open-shoved his 9 big blind small stack and picked up calls from both Nacho Barbero and Elton Tsang. That took them to a flop of . Both active players checked.

The turn was the and now Tsang checked and Barbero made a 1/4 pot size bet. Tsang called. The river was the .

Tsang checked again and Barbero now shoved, with Tsang’s effective stack only about a third of what was in the pot already. After a long time, Tsang called it off.

Barbero quickly showed his for a rivered full house, and Tsang disgustedly tossed his into the muck. Straver had an even worst beat: his had turned a straight, but he was toast too.

They headed off for dinner, with Barbero returning to a chip-leading stack more than twice as big as his nearest opponent.

Nacho Barbero – 113 BBs
Punnat Punsri – 52 BBs
Danny Tang – 30 BBs
Ben Heath – 25 BBs
Christoph Vogelsang – 25 BBs
Daniel Dvoress – 24 BBs
Phil Ivey – 12 BBs
Franciso Benitez – 11 BBs
Jonathan Jaffe – 9 BBs

This dynamic repeated the state of affairs at two previous final tables this week. Both Mario Mosbock and Adrian Mateos had huge leads coming into their respective finals, but ultimately someone else hoisted the trophy. Could Barbero make his one stick?

First he would have to negotiate the choppy waters as the short stacks looked to double or die. Francisco Benitez, a first-timer to the Triton Series, was the first to do both of those things.

Benitez is an online tournament crusher, with one of the most refined tournament games in the business. He had made it to the final here in only his third event, and doubled up early with pocket deuces staying strong against overcards.

However, when he found a much bigger pair — queens — and got his chips in against Dan Dvoress’s , Dvoress ended up with a flush to send Benitez out in ninth. His $288,000 payday is highly unlikely to be his last.

In his recent interview after winning the $30,000 Turbo, Steve O’Dwyer cautioned reporters that there’s much more to a player’s decision-making at short-stacked final tables than meets the eye. The problem is that it’s only really the big pots that make the reports, and here’s a perfect example: we next need to tell you about the elimination of Phil Ivey, without ever even mentioning that he was even in.

Ivey was one of those players who were all looking up at Punnat Punsri and Nacho Barbero, and who had to take a stand. He did so with from the button, but it just so happened that Punsri was in the small blind with .

There was nothing Ivey could do about a dry board and that sent the American five-time Triton champion out in eighth for $372,000.

During this period of play, both Danny Tang and Christoph Vogelsang scored come-from-behind doubles to remain involved, but stacks were still critically short. Tang also managed a stay-ahead double through Barbero, and that revealed the first chink in the Argentinian’s armour.

Jaffe doubled once through Tang, but the next time he was all-in, his tournament came to its conclusion. Jaffe smashed into Ben Heath’s pocket aces, and that was that for Jaffe.

The relief was such that he got a round of applause before walking from the table. Jaffe is a popular player, no doubt, but it’s still pretty unusual for fellow final table opponents to applaud a man away. Jaffe picked up $504,000 for seventh, but fell short of his second title of the week.

On the very next hand, those pocket aces came out again, this time with Christoph Vogelsang. Unfortunately for Dvoress, he found a hand he felt like shoving with — — and the aces actually ended up being part of a wheel.

That spun Dvoress out, looking for $672,000.

Barbero was still ahead at this stage, with all the others comparatively short. However, when Heath and Vogelsang went at each other soon after, the winner of the pot would vault close to the chip leader. And it went to Vogelsang.

Heath open-shoved the small blind with , but Vogelsang found in the big. The ace turned into a pair on the flop and Heath was cut down to just one big blind. Vogelsang took that on the next hand with pocket fives.

Heath’s fifth place was worth $858,000 while everyone left was guaranteed seven figures.

Vogelsang had now found another gear. He bullied Punsri out of a pot not long after and picked up another few million chips, putting him ahead of Barbero.

Barbero, however, bounced quickly back into the lead by bouncing out Punsri, essentially continuing the job that Vogelsang had started. Punsri open pushed with , and Barbero made the call in the big blind with . The jack on the flop spelled doom for Punsri.

The Thai player banked $1,068,000 for fourth, and the tournament was left with just three.

Tang had 12 big blinds at this stage. Vogelsang had 40. Barbero had 44. But the levels were now shorter and the big blind was coming around quickly.

By this point, all players had supporters on the rail, offering a few whoops and cheers when chips went in. Barbero had friends from his sponsors; Vogelsang had last night’s winner Matthias Eibinger on the sidelines; Tang had his familiar vocal posse.

There was nothing anybody could do about the hand that eliminated Tang though. He had , which was more than enough to risk everything. Barbero had and made the call, and then saw a seven on the flop and river.

Tang, at his second major final table of the week already, couldn’t convert into a fifth title. He took $1,296,000 for third.

Barbero had the chip lead again as heads up play was due to commence. He had 47 BBs to Vogelsang’s 33. They hesitated a little, but then decided to look at the numbers and came to a deal.

Vogelsang guaranteed himself 2.144 million, with Barbero locking up 2.198 million. But they left $500K, plus the trophy, to play for, so this wasn’t the kind of deal that was going to mean a quick all in flip.

Early spoils were mostly shared, but Barbero moved slightly further into the lead. That was until Vogelsang managed the first double up, with against . That gave Vogelsang a two-to-one lead, but Barbero doubled back with beating .

Barbero doubled once more, with pocket threes holding against , but then Vogelsang doubled again with beating . “Back to where we started,” Barbero said.

The next significant pot went to Vogelsang, but this one wasn’t a full double. The pair played a pot through the streets as the dealer put the board of on the table.

Vogelsang’s final bet of 6 million was called by Barbero, who soon saw the bad news. Although Barbero had two pair with , Vogelsang’s pocket sevens rivered a set. That put him back into the lead.

They were all in again very soon afterwards, and this time, finally, the best hand held up. Vogelsang had to Barbero’s .

The flop vaulted Barbero into the lead. It came . “It’s never easy,” Barbero said.

The was a blank. But the river was a killer blow, and finally Vogelsang could celebrate. Eibinger gave his friend a hefty high five and Vogelsang gave a hop of delight.

“I think you can tell, it feels pretty surreal,” he said.

RESULTS

Event #6 – $100,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: October 28-29, 2023
Entries: 120 (inc. 42 re-entries)
Prize pool: $12,000,000

1 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $2,644,000
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $2,190,000
3 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,296,000
4 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $1,068,000
5 – Ben Heath, UK – $858,000
6 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $672,000
7 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $504,000
8 – Phil Ivey, USA – $372,000
9 – Francisco Benitez, Uruguay – $288,000

10 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $240,000
11 – Johannes Straver, Netherlands – $240,000
12 – Mike Watson, Canada – $210,000
13 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $210,000
14 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $192,000
15 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $192,000
16 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $174,000
17 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $174,000
18c- Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $156,000
19 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $156,000
20 – Dan Smith, USA – $156,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

For a man who has won just about everything the game of poker has to offer, it would likely surprise most fans to learn that until tonight Steve O’Dwyer had “only” won one title on the Triton Series.

But after a characteristically calm yet ruthless performance in the $25,000 Turbo event in Monte Carlo today, O’Dwyer can add his name to the list of Triton’s multiple champions and put another $416,000 on his ledger.

It was a textbook O’Dwyer display: casually weaving his way through a field stuffed with superstars, riding the inevitable highs and lows of this turbo format, but emerging victorious the other side.

It was in this room in Monaco that O’Dwyer really broke through as a world class talent, back on the European Poker Tour in 2013. But he has destroyed tournament fields of all sizes and buy-ins both before and since, and has naturally made a home on the Triton Series too.

“Winning is nice,” O’Dwyer said, ruefully admitting he was down on the trip after firing four bullets in the Main Event. But he added that he loves the glory of taking a title, and said: “I’ve been waiting to get this second Triton title for a while.”

O’Dwyer beat Dimitar Danchev heads up to claim this latest success, finding the right cards and making the right decisions when things got very short stacked towards the end.

“I think the public has a misconception about how difficult and intricate these short-stacked final tables can be,” O’Dwyer said. “Poker is really hard.”

It’s just that some people — for instance, O’Dwyer — make it seem so easy.

Danchev, making his first appearance on the Triton Series here in Monaco, had to make do with second place and $299,000.

EARLY TOURNAMENT ACTION

With plenty of players remaining in the Main Event as the Turbo clicked through its early levels, there maybe wasn’t quite so many players heading from one side of the room to the other. By the time registration closed, there were 57 entries, including re-entries, precisely the same number that played the turbo on the opening day.

As ever, it was hectic for those early periods and there was a race towards the bubble. But then a slowdown as the in-the-money places grew nearer, with bustouts largely the result of coolers.

Mike Watson was very short, but pulled off back-to-back doubles, including taking pocket eights up against David Yan’s nines and turning a set. That sent Yan out. Then with Punnat Punsri clinging on to a tiny stack on the stone bubble, Alex Kulev got his chips in good with , but ended up losing to Fedor Holz’s .

That bad beat took the remaining nine into the money and seated around the final table. The line-up looked like this:

Steve O’Dwyer – 2.02m
Michael Watson – 1.785m
Clemen Deng – 1.575m
Henrik Hecklen – 1.425m
Dimitar Danchev – 1.335m
Michael Soyza – 1.335m
Fedor Holz – 1.31m
Luc Greenwood – 480,000
Punnat Punsri – 120,000

Despite still sitting with a minute stack, Punsri managed to cling on as two opponents went bust. The first was Clemen Deng, a Triton first-timer in the money in the first tournament he had played on the series.

He lost a massive pot to Steve O’Dwyer, when the latter’s made a straight to beat pocket nines, and the same opponent polished off the last of Deng’s stack too, with besting .

Deng won $41,000 for ninth.

Luc Greenwood, who had been another player sweating the bubble, made it into the money, but could go no further than eighth. He ended up third in a three-way pot that also doubled up Henrik Hecklen.

Greenwood was all in pre-flop with , while Hecklen’s also beat Watson’s . Watson remained in the tournament, but Greenwood was out, earning $54,000.

Finally, the game was now up for Punsri, whose two big blinds got in the middle as a mandated blind bet, with an ante too. His neighbour Watson completed from the small blind with , and Punsri’s was too feeble to do any damage.

Punsri was out in seventh, taking $70,000.

At this stage, O’Dwyer was comfortable at the top of the counts and making the most of his big stack to pick up plenty of uncontested pots. The best thing about being in that kind of position is the way big hands get paid of too. After O’Dwyer raised for the umpteenth time, Fedor Holz threw in the last of his chips.

Holz had pocket threes so there was nothing wrong with that move. It’s just that O’Dwyer had pocket tens and sent Holz to the rail in sixth, for $89,000.

The reaper now came knocking for Michael Soyza, who lost back-to-back pots to Watson and headed out in fifth. Soyza had but couldn’t hit to beat Watson’s pocket fives. And shortly after, Soyza’s went down to Watson’s pocket nines.

Dimitar Danchev was also involved in that pot, also losing a chunk to Watson with his . However, only Soyza was banished immediately to the cash desk, where he picked up $114,000.

Watson took the chips and went on another surge, doubling into the chip lead after winning a race against O’Dwyer.

The four-handed stage of the tournament was when this one got kind of ridiculous, with chips being passed among each of them in pots that determined both the chip lead and who was the short stack. O’Dwyer tumbled as Danchev surged. Then Watson led again. At one point, the average stack was 11 big blinds and the chip leader had 16.

Hecklen never quite made it to the very top, and that made him the most vulnerable. His last chips went to O’Dwyer, whose jacks stayed good against Hecklen’s , which took us down to three. Hecklen took his $147,000 and went to sit on a hotel room balcony with Sam Grafton and Andrew Lichtenberger mainly listening to them discuss intriguing philosophical topics, before tweeting at 3:41am.

There were 45 big blinds between them, and they had 16, 15 and 14 of them each, depending on where the button was. It truly was anyone’s game at this stage, and when that’s the case, it usually turns out to be O’Dwyer’s.

He knocked out Watson first, with against . Watson’s third place earned him $195,000.

And then with the Bulgarian contingent watching closely, O’Dwyer also ended their dreams of a first title by knocking out Danchev next. Danchev had to O’Dwyer’s , but O’Dwyer filled a straight to leave Danchev drawing dead on the turn.

That was the end of that. A turbo that actually flew to its conclusion, start to finish in around eight hours. And it put more silverware on the crowded mantle of Steve O’Dwyer.

Event #5 – $25,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: October 27, 2023
Entries: 57 (inc. 13 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,425,000

1 – Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $416,000
2 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $299,000
3 – Mike Watson, Canada – $195,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $147,000
5 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $114,000
6 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $89,000
7 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $70,000
8 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $54,000
9 – Clemen Deng, USA – $41,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Correction: This article incorrectly stated that Henrik Hecklen went to bed after being eliminated. Hecklen actually sat drinking champagne on a hotel room balcony with Sam Grafton and Andrew Lichtenberger mainly listening to them discuss intriguing philosophical topics, before tweeting at 3:41am.

It was a night of firsts in Monte Carlo as the Triton Series visited this spectacular principality for the first time in its history.

The first event to finish crowned a first-time winner too: America’s Jonathan Jaffe, who tore through the late stages of the $50,000 Turbo Bounty, banking $501,000 and a bagful of bounties, worth $20,000 apiece.

To be specific, he won eight bounties for knocking out eight opponents en route to the victory, and he gets to keep his own bounty token too for becoming the last man standing. That piles a further $180,000 on to his payout and gives Jaffe a $681K payday.

It was no less than his dominant performance deserved, and he capped it all with an excellent call in the heads-up phase of the tournament to end the challenge of Brian Kim. Jaffe was leading at that point, but a Kim double up would have made Jaffe work hard again. However, Jaffe sniffed out a bluff and picked it off, ending the first event of a packed schedule.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With the $200,000 Triton Invitational taking place in the same room, players eliminated (or not invited) showed up in their droves to play this $50,000 buy-in event. In all, 50 players joined the fray, adding seven re-entries, and putting $2,850,000 in the main prize pool, with $1,710,000 in bounties.

Nine players would be paid, which meant a frantic few start before a pre-money slowdown.

The bubble came hovering into view when two short-handed tables remained, seating the last 11 players. Nine players would be paid, but there were two critical short stacks, with Alex Kulev and Matthias Eibinger.

They watched on as chips went this way and that between their opponents in non-decisive fashion, and then both of them went broke in consecutive hands, falling to the same opponent.

In the cutoff, Luc Greenwood moved all-in, covering everyone behind him. Kulev was on the button and committed the last of his chips (about four big blinds), with both players in the blinds then folding.

Kulev’s was narrowly ahead of Greenwood’s . But when the peeled on the turn, Kulev was heading home with a parting, “Good game, everyone.”

Eibinger could share his cab. On the next hand, Greenwood shoved again, this time from the hijack, and Einbinger looked down at pocket eights in the small blind. His last seven big blinds went in, but Greenwood tabled pocket nines and turned a set.

That was the end of the road for turbo specialist Eibinger, and put the remaining nine players in the money, guaranteed their buy-in back. Meanwhile Greenwood added two bounty tokens to his pile.

The final table therefore took shape, with the following nine in with a shout:

Leonard Maue, Germany – 2.5 million
Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – 2.3 million
Lucas Greenwood, Canada – 1.5 million
Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – 1.4 million
Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – 1.2 million
Brian Kim, USA – 780,000
Michael Soyza – 555,000
Jonathan Jaffe, USA – 510,000
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – 475,000

Jaffe was one of the short stacks here, but doubled with kings against jacks pretty quickly, giving him enough chips to be on the right side of the first elimination hand. It was the unfortunate role of Mikalai Vaskaboinikau to take the long walk first, pausing to pick up $50,000 for ninth, but unable to make beat Jaffe’s .

The nature of the stacks meant the pot sent Jaffe to the top of the counts, but there wasn’t much wiggle room for anybody.

As if proof were needed, the next player out was Greenwood, only just the right side of the bubble that he alone caused to burst.

Greenwood three-bet shoved over a Jaffe opening raise and Jaffe called off, this time sitting with pocket nines. Greenwood’s couldn’t hit anything and that sent the Canadian out. He took $65,000 plus bounties.

Shortly before his elimination, Greenwood had put Ferdinand Putra to the test with a river shove on a paired and flushing board that forced Putra to burn eight time banks before folding. Putra opted to bide his time — possibly until he found a hand as pretty as .

That’s what he held after Aleks Ponakovs open-shoved and Putra decided to call it off. However, Ponakovs’ equally pretty flopped a pair and rivered another to send Putra out of the tournament.

The Indonesian won $84,000 plus bounties.

With the main stage now vacated by players in the $200K Invitational, the remaining six in the turbo got some television time. Jaffe was out in front with 48 big blinds, but nobody else had any more than 19, so it might have been a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it showdown.

Certainly it was a brief stay on the stage for Michael Soyza and Aleks Ponakovs, who quickly fell at the hands of Jaffe. Soyza couldn’t beat Jaffe’s pocket nines with , and Ponakovs, with the same hand () lost to Jaffe’s pocket deuces.

Ponakovs had to endure the ignominy of flopping a nine to give him hope, then seeing a deuce roll off on the river. Soyza’s payout was $106,000 plus bounties, while Ponakovs banked $136,000, plus bounties. On the subject of bonus payments, Jaffe was collecting them all.

Bizarrely, the next elimination, which sent Viacheslav Buldygin to the rail, occurred with the same two hands. This time, Buldygin lost with to Leonard Maue’s pocket deuces, with Maue flopping a deuce this time.

It was a shock to see someone other than Jaffe picking up a bounty, but it was a comparatively small pot and did not threaten Jaffe’s chip lead. Meanwhile, Buldygin picked up $176,000 plus bounties and left three players to it, with the guarantee that there would be a new first time Triton Series champion.

Maue had come to Triton London with one of the most exciting reputations in the world game. He was a player on the up after graduating from the online tables and claiming some huge live scores. It turned out to be something of a chastening experience, at least as far as results were concerned. But Maue returned to Monte Carlo and got straight into the cash — although his tournament would eventually end in third.

Jaffe got him, of course. Maue picked up pocket fives in the big blind and watched Jaffe move all in ahead of him. Maue called and Jaffe showed over-cards: . True to the way he’d been flipping so far, Jaffe hit a six on the flop and a king on the river.

Maue’s first Triton cash was for $233,000.

Jaffe took a big lead into heads up play, with 7.8 million to Kim’s 3.6 million. Even so, one double up would switch everything around and potentially keep us playing longer into the night.

For once, however, that’s not how it went down. The first time Kim was all-in and called, Jaffe was the champion. It was, however, a thrilling hand to watch. Kim completed with the small blind and Jaffe, with checked his option.

They saw the flop of . Jaffe check-called Kim’s min-bet.

The turn was the and the pattern repeated, this time with Kim firing 700,000. The completed the board and Kim emptied the clip. But Jaffe, with his pair of sixes, made the call and Kim’s was defeated.

With that, Triton Monte Carlo is under way — and Jaffe is now a well-deserved Trion champion.

Event #2 – $50,000 NLH TURBO BOUNTY
Dates: October 25, 2023
Entries: 57 (inc. 7 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,710,000

1 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $501,000 (+ $180,000 in bounties)
2 – Brian Kim, USA – $359,000 (+ $80,000)
3 – Leonard Maue, Germany – $233,000 (+ $80,000)
4 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $176,000 (+$60,000)
5 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $136,000 (+$120,000)
6 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $106,000
7 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $84,000 (+ $60,000)
8 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $65,000 (+ $40,000)
9 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $50,000 (+ $20,000)

Other bounty winners:

Matthias Eibinger – $80,000
Ognyan Dimov – $80,000
Andrew Lichtenberger – $60,000
Yuri Dzivelevski – $60,000
Artur Martirosian – $40,000
Justin Saliba – $40,000
Pablo Silva – $40,000
Alex Kulev – $20,000
Dan Dvoress – $20,000
Igor Yaroshevsky – $20,000
Jans Arends – $20,000
Jason Koon – $20,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Jason Koon’s incredible stranglehold on the Triton Series shows absolutely no sign of slackening as tonight he won a sensational ninth career title and a second for this trip to London.

Koon was named champion in the $60,000 Short Deck Main Event, earning him another $828,000 and putting yet another Triton trophy on his aching shelf. What’s more, he now has an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece for each wrist, should he want, as he added this short deck title to his hold’em Main Event win in Cyprus in May. (He later said he will give the watch to his friend Paul Phua. “None of this would have been possible without him,” Koon said.)

At the turn of the year, Koon was tied with Mikita Badziakouski on four Triton titles each. But Koon has won five since then: one in Vietnam, two in Cyprus and now two here in London.

The Triton Ambassador is in a league of his own.

Koon will be the first to admit that he needed a huge slice of good fortune along the way today, hitting a miracle one-outer in a huge pot against Tan Xuan to keep him afloat. Both players had flopped sets — Xuan’s kings to Koon’s nines — but Koon rivered a fourth nine to make quads.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever one-outered anyone in a tournament,” Koon said. “I just accepted my fate, got up.” He then turned round and saw the river card.

A nine for a ninth? Pretty much. He needed to close it out of course, denying Kiat Lee a first title after a patient heads-up duel between the two.

Eventually, Koon’s turned a straight to beat Lee’s and this remarkable snowball just keeps on rolling.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After the epic bubble shenanigans that turned the $30K Short Deck into a rapid-fire shootout yesterday, the same thing appeared to be happening today. The first three called shoves on the bubble resulted in double ups — however, these were not just between micro stacks.

Quite the contrary. Tan Xuan and Masashi Oya had two of the three biggest stacks in the room but they started to go at one another as they had during at least one previous tournament. Xuan was pushing the action and was seemingly prepared to gamble with his tournament life with whatever two cards he was dealt.

Xuan pushed with and Oya called with a bigger stack and a bigger hand. He held . Short deck can be so cruel though and the board ran , with that final six completing a straight.

This was an enormous pot and it put Xuan into a massive chip lead. He then open-shoved every hand for a couple of orbits, until Chris Brewer was bold enough to look him up. Brewer had to Xuan’s and there was nothing miraculous on this board. Brewer therefore assumed the big lead.

Lun Loon doubled up his short stack, which left Isaac Haxton as the man under most threat. Haxton got his chips in with after Brewer had open shoved pre-flop, and was in decent shape against Brewer’s . However a queen on the turn ended Haxton’s hopes, burst the bubble, and extended Brewer’s lead.

There was just time before they reached the official final for Dan Dvoress to bust in eighth, banking $111,000. That put them around the final table with the following stacks.

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Chris Brewer – 4.8 million (240 antes)
Jason Koon – 3.24 million (162 antes)
Tan Xuan – 1.76 million (88 antes)
Masashi Oya – 1.62 million (81 antes)
Wai Kin Yong – 1.06 million (53 antes)
Lun Loon – 660,000 (33 antes)
Kiat Lee – 655,000 (33 antes)

Masashi Oya had managed to rebuild some of his stack after that massive tangle with Xuan (he was responsible for Dvoress’ elimination), but gave some back to Lun Loon at the final, and was then left in trouble again.

Wai Kin Yong doubled his short stack through Oya and on the next hand, Xuan finished the job. This one was pretty gross. Oya was one of four players paying the minimum to see a flop of . Kiat Lee bet, Xuan called, Oya raised, Loon folded, but Lee and Xuan called again.

The turn was the and after two checks, Oya moved in. Lee called and then Xuan raised. Lee folded.

Oya had so had smashed the flop. But Xuan had pocket jacks and had vaulted into the lead on the turn. Oya won $140,700 for his seventh place.

Yesterday’s hero Yong didn’t enjoy quite such an easy ride at today’s final table, and the four-time champion perished in sixth. Yong lost a chunk with the short-deck favourite to Lee’s , but even though he rebuilt, he was soon to run into Koon.

Yong found and moved in. Koon woke up with and made the call. Koon rivered an unnecessary third king and won the hand, sending Yong out with $176,700.

Such is the volatility of short deck that no stack is so small to be without hope, and no lead is so mighty to be unassailable. You need only ask Loon and Brewer about that. Loon had been in real peril on the bubble, but he had gathered plenty of chips since then and took another big chunk from Brewer, who was chip leader during the nervous pre-money phase.

Loon’s kings held against Brewer’s and that started a nosedive. Brewer then lost a big pot to Xuan’s full house before the remainder of his chips went to Koon, whose beat .

Brewer’s trip ended with a check for $226,300 and a fifth place.

Stacks were pretty deep still at this stage, but the dealer had a special trick up his sleeve to keep this one rattling along at a crazy pace. Koon was dealt pocket nines and Xuan pocket kings and the two big stacks got to a flop for a single raise.

It came . That was a set for both of them, with Xuan well ahead. Koon checked, Xuan bet, Koon called and the came on the turn. Koon checked, Xuan bet, and now Koon moved all in, with the marginally smalled stack.

Xuan called obviously with his top set, but the landed on the river to give Koon quads and slice Xuan down to crumbs. Koon finished him off a couple of hands later and built an enormous lead.

Xuan took his beat as well as you could expect and picked up $292,500 for fourth place.

This trip to London has seen some spectacular performances from some established Triton greats, but one of the sub-plots has been the emergence of Lun Loon as a force to be reckoned with. The Malaysian cut his teeth on the Triton Series, and took a while to get off the mark.

But he made the final table of the $125K NLH Main Event, and now here he was at the final of the short deck Main Event as well. The run ended in third after Loon shoved his last 69 antes with . Kiat Lee called with and the bigger ace stayed best.

Loon added another $386,800 to his account.

So there they were, heads up, with only Kiat Lee standing between Koon and a ninth title. Lee was yet to win one of his own, but his elimination of Loon had given him some hope. Koon had 197 antes to Lee’s 148.

After all the huge pots that had brought us to this point, these two stalwarts kept it a little lower variance. However the momentum was really only in one direction.

Koon chipped and chipped away at Lee, showing his resilience and even more incredible stamina. And then came that big one, where Lee took the lead to the flop, but the turn card completed Koon’s straight and left Lee dead.

“I played one of the best short deck players in the world heads-up,” Koon said, offering solid praise to Lee. But he explained that short deck is a game in which he feels he has an edge.

“There was a three or four year span when I was off the grid playing the biggest short deck games in the world,” Koon said. “I don’t think that it’s just pure luck I’ve won four short-deck titles.”

For all that, he jumped straight on to a video call with his wife Bianca and two sons in which he explained: “Daddy’s a luck box!” One day he’ll tell them the truth, that it takes a lot, lot more than that.

Event #16 – $60,000 Short Deck Main Event
Dates: August 9-10, 2023
Entries: 46 (inc. 19 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,760,000

1 – Jason Koon, USA – $828,000
2 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $598,000
3 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $386,800
4 – Tan Xuan, China – $292,500
5 – Chris Brewer, USA – $226,300
6 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $176,700
7 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $140,700
8 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $111,000

Photography by Nick Pope

The Triton Super High Roller Series, London ran from July 27 — August 10, 2023. Here are all the reports and results.

EVENT 17 – $30,000 SHORT DECK TURBO

IVEY TAKES DOWN SHORT-DECK TURBO TO LAND LONDON DOUBLE
The American great Phil Ivey won a second turbo tournament of his trip to London, taking his Triton haul to five. Ivey blasted through the series finale $30K event for another $280,500 victory.

Top five finishers:
1 – Phil Ivey, USA – $280,500
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $193,800
3 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $123,800
4 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $94,900
5 – Thai Ha, Vietnam – $74,200

33 entries | $825,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 16 – $60,000 SHORT DECK MAIN EVENT

KOON CONTINUES UNSTOPPABLE RUN WITH NINTH IN SD MAIN EVENT
The Triton Ambassador Jason Koon now has an incredibly nine titles on this series after he outlasted everyone in the $60K Short Deck Main Event and secured another famous success.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jason Koon, USA – $828,000
2 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $598,000
3 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $386,800
4 – Tan Xuan, China – $292,500
5 – Chris Brewer, USA – $226,300

46 entries | $2,760,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 15 – $30,000 SHORT DECK ANTE ONLY

YONG HITS FOUR AFTER SHORT DECK SPRINT IN LONDON
The day after his good friend Danny Tang won a fourth Triton title, Wai Kin Yong returned to the winner’s circle for the fourth time with a blink-and-you’ll-miss it rampage through the final table of the first Short Deck event.

Top five finishers:
1 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $350,000
2 – Chris Brewer, USA – $252,400
3 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $161,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $122,000
5 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $94,300

37 entries | $1,110,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 13 – $60,000 NLH

TANG JOINS THE FOUR-TIME CLUB WITH WIN IN LAST NLHE EVENT
Only five months since he won his first Triton title in Vietnam, Danny Tang was celebrating a remarkable fourth victory, blasting through the 106-entry $60K hold’em field for a $1.6 million score.

Top five finishers:
1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,600,000
2 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – $1,080,000
3 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $703,000
4 – Jason Koon, USA – $582,000
5 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – $469,000

106 entries | $6,360,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 12 – $60,000 NLH TURBO

ANOTHER MILLION DOLLAR DAY FOR 4-TIME CHAMP IVEY
Away from the mayhem of the $125K Main Event, the American poker legend Phil Ivey cruised through a $60K buy-in turbo event and claimed another million dollar payday, alongside his fourth Triton Series trophy.

Top five finishers:
1 – Phil Ivey, USA – $1,007,000
2 – Cary Katz, USA – $715,500
3 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $468,900
4 – Rodrigo Selouan, Brazil – $360,000
5 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $285,500

61 entries | $3,660,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 11 – $125,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

ADAMS HALTS THOREL’S CHARGE TO CLAIM MAIN EVENT TITLE NO. 2
In an incredibly fast final table of the biggest Main Event in Triton history, Canada’s Tim Adams managed to overcome the irresistible momentum of French businessman Jean Noel Thorel to land a second Triton title of his career — and close to $4.2 million.

Top five finishers:
1 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $4,185,000
2 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $2,830,000
3 – Daniel Cates, USA – $1,940,000
4 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $1,582,000
5 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $1,260,000

151 entries | $18,875,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 10 – $25,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA

PLO ROOKIE GOTTLIEB LEARNS FAST TO LAND TRITON TITLE
He said he had only previously played about 20 hours of pot limit Omaha in his life, but American Seth Gottlieb schooled some of the game’s most seasoned performers with a $500K victory at Triton London. Gottlieb downed Dan Dvoress heads up to win.

Top five finishers:
1 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $511,000
2 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $355,000
3 – Pascal Lefrancois, Canada – $234,000
4 – Matthew Wood, UK – $184,800
5 – Michael Rossi, USA – $148,200

77 entries | $1,925,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 9 – $250,000 LUXON INVITATIONAL

KING KENNEY REIGNS AGAIN IN LONDON TO CLAIM LUXON INVITATIONAL
Four years to the week since he won the biggest prize ever awarded in a poker tournament, Bryn Kenney returned to the scene of that triumph and claimed a third Triton title, this time banking $6.86 million in the Luxon Invitational.

Top five finishers:
1 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $6,860,000
2 – Talal Shakerchi, UK – $4,650,000
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $3,107,000
4 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $2,540,000
5 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $2,030,000

118 entries | $29,500,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 8 – $30,000 NLH TURBO BOUNTY

GARAGNANI BESTS VOLKMANN AS BRAZILIANS DOMINATE TURBO
The leading lights of Brazilian poker descended en masse to the Triton Series in London this week and secured a famous 1-2, with Pedro Garagnani beating his friend and countryman Bruno Volkmann heads up to win a boisterous bounty turbo

Top five finishers:
1 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – $459,000*
2 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – $375,300*
3 – Oya Masashi, Japan – $222,700
4 – Kane Hope, UK – $180,500
5 – Choon Tong Siow, Malaysia – $145,000

*denotes deal; does not include bounty payments

96 entries | $1,920,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 7 – $200,000 NLH 8-HANDED

YAN SEALS $3M+ WIN AFTER BATTLE WITH BARBERO
An enormous field in an enormous buy-in tournament produced one of the most keenly-fought final tables of the week. After a three-handed deal in which Nacho Barbero secured the biggest payout, David Yan overcame a heads-up deficit to claim a first Triton victory, and the first for a New Zealander.

Top five finishers:
1 – David Yan, New Zealand – $3,052,002*
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $3,445,807*
3 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $2,766,191*
4 – Tim Adams, Canada – $1,550,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,247,000

*denotes three-handed deal

81 entries | $16,200,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 6 – $60,000 NLH 7-HANDED

IT’S EIGHT, MATE! KOON REIGNS AGAIN IN LONDON
The leading light of the Triton Series added yet another title, with Jason Koon taking down the $60K 7-Handed for his eighth tour win. Nobody else has more than four. Koon beat Brazil’s Rodrigo Selouan heads up.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jason Koon, USA – $1,570,000
2 – Rodrigo Selouan, Brazil – $1,060,300
3 – Justin Saliba, USA – $690,000
4 – Dan Smith, USA – $571,000
5 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $460,600

104 entries | $6,240,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 5 – $50,000 NLH 8-HANDED

SCHEMION MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT AT TRITON LONDON
He has been destroying tournament fields across the world for the best part of a decade, but Ole Schemion only played his first Triton event here in London this week. A few days later and he’s already a champion, earning another famous seven-figure score.

Top five finishers:
1 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $1,350,000
2 – Dao Minh Phu, Vietnam – $915,000
3 – Roberto Perez, Spain – $604,000
4 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $497,000
5 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $400,000

112 entries | $5,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 3 – $40,000 NLH MYSTERY BOUNTY

JORSTAD RIDES OUT TURBULENCE TO LAND MAIDEN TITLE
Norway’s Espen Jorstad became the first WSOP Main Event champion to earn a title on the Triton Series too after surviving an incredible final table and beating Phil Ivey heads up. Jorstad claimed the final bounty after a thrilling passage of three-handed play.

Top five finishers:
1 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $639,000
2 – Phil Ivey, USA – $434,900
3 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $287,000
4 – Johannes Straver, Netherlands – $236,500
5 – Eric Wasserson, USA – $190,000

133 entries | $2,660,000 prize pool + bounties
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 2 – $25,000 NLH 7-HANDED

HOLZ IS BACK! GERMAN NOTCHES THIRD TRITON TITLE
Seven years since he took the Triton Series by storm, and six years since his last title on the tour, the German phenom Fedor Holz returned to the top spot in the week of his 30th birthday. Holz downed form player Chris Brewer after the pair agreed a heads-up deal.

Top five finishers:
1 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $609,853*
2 – Chris Brewer, USA – $600,647*
3 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – $324,000
4 – Brian Kim, USA – $267,000
5 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $214,500
* denotes deal

120 entries | $3,000,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 1 – $25,000 GG MILLION$ LIVE

LUC GREENWOOD MATCHES BROTHER SAM WITH TRITON TITLE
The Greenwood twins from Toronto, Canada, now have a Triton title each after Luc Greewood kicked off the London festival with victory in the $25K GG Million$ Live. Greenwood beat ACR Stormer Manuel Zapf heads up for his first win on this tour, and matches the achievement of brother Sam.

Top five finishers:
1 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $897,000
2 – Manuel Zapf, Germany – $605,500
3 – Oliver Bithell, UK – $416,700
4 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $339,800
5 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $271,000

162 entries | $4,050,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive and Nick Pope.

The fastest final table in Triton Series history played out in London this afternoon, with Malaysia’s Wai Kin Yong tearing through the last seven in the $30,000 Short Deck event to claim a fourth Triton title.

It was blink-and-you’ll-miss it stuff. It took Yong only about 100 minutes to go from posing for the group photo to holding shaking hands with his last vanquished opponent, putting $350,000 more into his account and a fourth exclusive trophy on the mantlepiece.

“It’s crazy,” Yong said. “I just kept winning every hand. It was pretty insane.”

Last night, Yong’s friend Danny Tang won his fourth trophy, pulling him clear of Yong. But Yong was bullish about his chances of drawing back level.

“I told him [Tang] yesterday, I’m going to get my fourth one tomorrow,” Yong said.

He added that his wife was intending to come to watch the final stages of the event if Yong was still alive when they got three-handed. But she wasn’t quick enough. Her husband was the champion before 2.45pm.

That was the point at which Yong managed to down Chris Brewer heads-up, the duo both getting dealt a premium pair and getting their chips all in. Yong’s pocket queens held up against Brewer’s pocket jacks. Brewer finished second for the second time on this trip and banked a further $252,400.

However for Yong, it marks a return to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2019, when he won the NLH Main Event here in London. This one was worth quite as much as the $2.6 million he won that time, but he’ll take it. He even gets an hour off before the start of the short deck Main Event.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Part of the reason for the swiftness of the final table today was a crazy period last night ahead of the bubble, when eight players shared chips around for several hours. There had been 37 entries, with only seven players due to be paid, and they sliced the field down to a final table pretty quickly.

However, the bubble just refused to burst and with the ante level ever increasing, the stacks got very shallow indeed. Daniel Dvoress finally succumbed to the pressure and busted in eighth. It left the last seven, but only Yong had what you might call a big stack when they returned today.

FINAL TABLE LINE UP

Wai Kin Yong – 4.8 million (160 antes)
Karl Chappe-Gatien – 1.68 million (56 antes)
Paul Phua – 1.23 million (41 antes)
Chris Brewer – 975,000 (33 antes)
Sam Greenwood – 870,000 (29 antes)
Stephen Chidwick – 790,000 (26 antes)
Isaac Haxton – 755,000 (25 antes)

Stephen Chidwick is a fixture at Triton final tables, but his residence at this one could not have been briefer. On the very first hand after the photographic formalities, Chidwick got his stack in holding pocket jacks.

Paul Phua, who had limped pre-flop, made the call with . There was a queen on the turn and that did for Chidwick. He had been chip leader before all the bubble shenanigans last night, but suffered more than many others at that stage. His elimination in seventh earned him $58,200.

Phua’s victory in that pot all but doubled his stack, but short deck is so volatile that it didn’t take long until it had vanished again. The next hand, Phua lost with pocket tens to Sam Greenwood’s , and then two more stinging defeat, first to Haxton and then Chappe-Gatien sent him to the rail.

That last hand was especially brutal. Phua’s lost to . Chappe-Gatien rivered a straight. Phua ended this one with $72,100 for sixth.

The carnage was not done yet. Isaac Haxton was sitting with and saw Wai Kin Yong move in, with an enormous stack. Haxton made a simple call and was in good shape against Yong’s .

However, the queen on the flop was a killer, and the three sevens also on the board turned Yong’s hand into a full house. Haxton was left with a trip to the payouts desk where he picked up $94,300 for fifth.

Yong was finding his stride and then eliminated Sam Greenwood. The Canadian pushed his last 24 antes in with and Yong called with pocket queens. A ten on the river was not good enough for Greenwood and he departed in fourth, banking $122,000.

That wasn’t the end of the rampage. Chappe-Gatien had only 27 antes when he picked up . He shoved and Yong called with . The flop was , something for everyone, but Yong’s two-pair held after a turn and river.

Chappe-Gatien skipped away and picked up a $161,000 prize for third.

It left us with only two: Chris Brewer, who was heads-up for the second time on this trip to London, and Yong, who was seemingly romping to a fourth Triton title. Yong had 229 antes to Brewer’s 49.

The early stages were small ball, and then Brewer found the double up he needed to start his attempt to overhaul the disadvantage. He got it all in with pocket tens to Yong’s . By the time Yong hit a queen on the river, the smattering of other high cards also on the board meant Brewer made a straight.

That brought the stacks much closer: Yong’s 123 antes to Brewer’s 99. But the prospect of a small-ball grind quickly evaporated when they both got those pocket pairs. Yong had and called. Brewer had and put a raise in.

Yong then moved all in and Brewer called, essentially setting up a coup for the title.

There was scant help for Brewer. The board ran . And that was the end of that.

This Triton Series stop in London has seen both titanic fina table duels lasting long into the night, and now this one, which finished before afternoon tea.

Event #15 – $30,000 Short Deck Ante Only
Dates: August 8-9, 2023
Entries: 37 (inc. 13 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,110,000

1 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $350,000
2 – Chris Brewer, USA – $252,400
3 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $161,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $122,000
5 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $94,300
6 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $72,100
7 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $58,200

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive and Nick Pope