Category: Poker

When Danny Tang won his first Triton title in Vietnam earlier this year, he said that he wasn’t sure he would ever get over the line. He’d watched all his friends and colleagues pick up trophies, and thought he had been left behind.

But after Tang pulled his finger from the dam, the titles have begun to flood in his direction. Tonight in London, at the Triton Series’ stop at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel, Tang has just won a fourth title, in the $60,000 No Limit Hold’em event.

He adds that to two he picked up in North Cyprus, plus that one from Vietnam, and all of a sudden only one man has more Triton titles than Tang. Will it be the 30-year-old from Hong Kong who manages to rein in Jason Koon? In this form, anything is possible.

Tang had to outlast a final table of numerous other Triton superstars today, including that man Koon and Mikita Badziakouski, who has four wins of his own. But eventually Tang was left heads-up against Brazil’s Bruno Volkmann, who was sitting in the final two for the second time this trip.

Volkmann again succumbed in the heads-up phase, winning $1,080,000 for his troubles. Tang, however, added $1,600,000 to his career total and leaves him narrowly shy of $10 million winnings on the Triton Series.

He was at a loss to describe why such a rich feast has followed the famine.

“I don’t know what to say, I really don’t know what to say,” Tang told Ali Nejad. “I think I’ve played pretty much the same. I’ve maybe improved a bit, playing with these guys every day you’re going to improve. But I wouldn’t say my skill level has improved dramatically compared to six months ago.”

He then reached for a spiritual explanation: “Ivan’s blessing, right?”

FINAL DAY ACTION

During Day 1, 70 players contributed 106 entries, building a prize pool of $6.36 million. Exactly half the field remained — 35 players — but the field needed to be sliced in two once again, down to 17, before anyone would be paid.

They quickly set about reducing the field to the last 20 before an almighty slowdown occurred. Nobody was eliminated for more than an hour, until eventually Dan Smith and Oya Masashi hit the rail and they were down to the stone bubble.

There were more than a handful of short stacks, but one of them, Steve O’Dwyer, doubled through Jason Koon to survive. That left Koon in real trouble.

Juan Pardo had the third smallest stack at this stage, but he was not so fortunate when he money went in. He got his last eight big blinds in with pocket tens, but Kiat Liu Chun hit an ace on the river with his . It meant that Pardo followed his best ever finish on the Triton Series yesterday with a stone bubble.

Chun was now soaring, Koon had edged into the money once again, and the prolonged pre-bubble period had made almost every stack in the room fewer than 40 BBs. It follows that eliminations came thick and fast thereafter, with O’Dwyer, Nick Petrangelo, Yuri Dzivielevski and Ben Heath among those swept away.

With 10 left, and only nine seats at the final table, yesterday’s big winner Tim Adams got his chips in with a dominated ace in the hands of Danny Tang. Adams perished in 10th, rounding off his trip with a $130,400 cash. It left us with our final table.

FINAL TABLE LINE UP

They stacked up as follows:

Keat Liu Chun 5.855m (73 BBs)
Jason Koon 3.475m (43 BBs)
Danny Tang 2.6m (33 BBs)
Matthias Eibinger 2.435m (30 BBs)
Bruno Volkmann 2.33m (29 BBs)
Lewis Spencer 1.42m (18 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski 1.25m (16 BBs)
Elior Sion 1.04m (13 BBs)
Sean Winter 790,000 (10 BBs)

There was a whole lot of Triton experience in many of the final table players: Koon had eight titles, Danny Tang had three and Matthias Eibinger two. Meanwhile Mikita Badziakouski has four. But there were also the newcomers Chun and Lewis Spencer to worry about at this table.

Sean Winter was also in the money for the first time on this trip to London, while Elior Sion had returned to the tables for the first time since the last time the tour was here.

Sion cashed once back then, and his second career Triton cash became worth $159,000. He was the first out from the final table, the most recent victim of Chun. Winter had doubled by this point, so Sion was in danger. He got his last eight bigs in with but Chun’s made a flush in clubs.

On the very next hand, Koon lost a huge flip against Bruno Volkmann, doubling the Brazilian and leaving Koon close to Winter at the bottom. However the whole table now battened down the hatches and refused to be drawn into an ICM-dubious plays. Koon and Winter both managed to tread water, which left Spencer as the next player to bust.

Spencer found himself folding repeatedly for a few orbits until he found on the button. He committed his chips but Matthias Eibinger had . Spencer couldn’t catch up and won $213,000 for eighth, his first Triton cash.

Stacks were getting critical now, with everyone waiting for a big hand to commit. But even picking up one of them was no guarantee of survival. Badziakouski, who has endured a pretty wretched stop here in London, found pocket kings and committed his last nine big blinds. Tang also had a big hand and called Badzikouski’s four-bet shove.

Tang was a big underdog until the dealer put the on the turn, and that was the end of it for Badziakouski. He picked up $283,000 for seventh.

Winter’s long and unlikely vigil eventually came to an end in sixth. He was down to only three big blinds when they went in against Eibinger. Winter min-raised, Eibinger pushed and Winter called off. Eibinger’s held against Winter’s .

Winter picked up $370,200 — the result of an amazing laddering feat.

With five left, the average stack was only 22 big blinds. Only Chun, Volkmann and Tang had more, and they were jostling for supremacy at the top of the counts. Eibinger and Koon were the shorties.

Koon, however, was in scrapping mode and managed a double through Volkmann. It was versus and the best hand held. That put Tang into the lead by default, with 33 big blinds.

Tang’s place at the top was relevant because of what happened next. He got involved in a big one against the man who had been leading for the best part of five hours, Chun. Tang picked up on the button and shoved, covering the two players behind him of course.

Eibinger folded his small blind but Chun considered his to be good enough and made the call. Tang hit one ten on the flop and another on the river, and that was the biggest pot this tournament had seen for quite some time.

Tang rocketed to more than 60 big blinds, while Chun’s tournament was over. It was his second cash of the trip and eared him $469,000.

Tang, with more than his three opponents combined, did what he had to do, which was to shove and pick up blinds. The level went up, leaving Eibinger with only three bigs, but he doubled through Tang with a dominant queen and then got a shove through unopposed. That gave him some breathing space.

Koon was not quite so fortunate. He picked up and moved in for 11 bigs from the small blind. He only had Tang to get through, but Tang was going nowhere with . Both players hit their ace, but Tang’s kicker played.

There was no remarkable ninth title for Koon this time. He has to settle for $582,000 and a fourth-place finish.

Eibinger’s race was run soon after. He shoved seven big blinds from the small blind with and Volkmann this time made the call. Volkmann had only but rivered a straight to eliminate Eibinger in third. The Austrian won $703,000.

And so they prepared for heads up, with Tang’s 65 big blinds in strong shape against Volkmann’s 19.

Two Partisan rails now appeared. The continent of Asia was behind Tang; Volkmann had a decent contingent of Brazilians across the other side rooting on their man. There was the chance of a long-ish battle, especially if Volkmann could find a double. But all it actually took was one major pot.

Tang limped with , Volkmann checked his , and the dealer put the flop on the board. Both players checked. The turn was the and Volkmann now bet 275,000. Tang called.

The river was the and after Volkmann checked, Tang bet 1.4 million. Volkmann had some showdown value with his deuce, but opted instead to turn his hand into a bluff and shoved. Tang was in agony. He had a straight, but it was far from the nuts. “I’m not slow-rolling you by the way,” Tang said, as he pondered the decision.

Tang eventually made the call and found out that his hand was good. Volkmann shook hands and left the stage, allowing Tang all the plaudits.

That was all it took. One last expertly played hand from Tang and he moves alongside Badziakouski and Phil Ivey as a four-time Triton champion. It’s been one very good 2023 for Tang so far. And there’s still more to come.

“All of the support, it means a lot you know,” Tang said, dedicating his win to his supporters. “I really enjoy this part of it. Brazil that side, Asia this side. I’m just blessed to have these good friends. We can all improve together.”

Event #13 – $60,000 NLH
Dates: August 7-8, 2023
Entries: 106 (inc. 36 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,360,000

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
6 – Sean Winter, USA – $370,200
7 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $283,000
8 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $213,000
9 – Elio Rion, UK – $159,000

10 – Tim Adams, Canada – $130,400
11 – Ben Heath, UK – $130,400
12 – Yuri Dzivielevski, Brazil – $114,500
13 – Cary Katz, USA – $114,500
14 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $105,500
15 – Rodrigo Seiji, Brazil – $105,500
16 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $100,000
17 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $100,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Triton Series brought a large contingent of poker-playing businessmen to London this week, ostensibly to play the Luxon Invitational, but also offering plenty of other options should things not go according to plan in that one.

For American start-up founder Seth Gottlieb, it was very well worth the trip.

Gottlieb was knocked out of the Luxon Invitational before the money, but hopped into the $25,000 pot-limit Omaha event instead, despite having played only about 20 hours of PLO in his life.

Two days later and he is the PLO champion here at Triton London, banking $511,000 for the win, but insisting the prestige is what really gets him excited.

“It feels amazing,” Gottlieb said. “I care a lot more about the trophy than the money.”

Gottlieb, originally from Chicago, but now based in Alpine, New Jersey, fell in love with the Triton Series on his first visit to its tables last year in Madrid, and also followed the series to Vietnam this year. But he has stepped up his game here in London, cashing in three events prior to this one, and now earning a famous first victory.

He managed to beat the Triton regular Dan Dvoress heads-up, winning a massive pot with quad sevens to all but end the event, and polishing off Dvoress on the next hand. But Gottlieb was also the chip leader after Day 1, and so had excelled throughout.

“Triton is amazing,” he added. “I love Triton. Businessmen like me can have a lot of fun and maybe win some money. It’s the best series in the world.”

FINAL DAY ACTION

Pot Limit Omaha is a popular game here in London and as a result the field became the biggest four-card tournament ever hosted on the Triton Series. There were 77 entries, including 23 re-entries, and that assured more than half a million bucks would be going to the winner.

Day 1 yesterday played long into the night, with the bubble ready to burst when only 13 players remained. Phil Ivey couldn’t make it and bust in 15th, but it was down to Raphael Schreiner to take the unhappiest walk. He had his aces cracked by Ole Schemion’s flush, and suddenly they were all in the money.

They returned for Day 2 with 10 players left and the Brit Gavin Andreanoff the shortest stack. But he doubled twice through Daniel Dvoress, which left Keith Lehr as the man clinging on. Lehr was unable to mount his own comeback and was knocked out also with aces. Schemion was the man who did the damage again, and the final table was set.

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Seth Gottlieb — 96 BBs
Daniel Dvoress — 42 BBs
Yian Zeng — 35 BBs
Ole Schemion — 35 BBs
Pascal Lefrancois — 27 BBs
Michael Rossi — 26 BBs
Gavin Andreanoff — 25 BBs
Anton Morgenstern — 14 BBs
Matthew Wood — 10 BBs

It’s very difficult to predict how a PLO tournament will pan out. Such is the volatility that double-ups and outdraws are both frequent. Players can fly up the counts and plummet out of them. It’s the same in hold’em, of course, but it just seems even more wild in PLO.

In this event, Dvoress and Gottlieb managed to hang tough at the top, with Dvoress managing to nose ahead. However, the two Germans at the table went on steep downward curves and bust one after the other.

Remarkably, the first man out was Schemion. He lost a big pot to Gottlieb and then got involved in a hand that ended by doubling Andreanoff once more. Schemion had and called Andreanoff’s pre-flop raise.

The two of them saw a flop of . Schemion check-raise shoved and Andreanoff called, tabling his . The aces stayed good through the turn and river. Schemion took $54,000 for ninth and was free to join the hold’em Main Event from the start.

Anton Morgenstern is arguably one of the best poker players in the world without a major title to his name, but his resume lists seven six-figure scores and two victories in PLO side events. He also led the World Series Main Event for six days not so long ago. In short, he can play.

He had nursed a short stack through some of the tournament’s later stages before laddering up thanks to his countryman Schemion’s elimination. He eventually perished with kings losing to aces all in pre-flop, and picked up $71,200, his first score on the Triton Series.

Yian Zeng is another Triton newcomer, who was playing the first event under this banner in the PLO. He had clearly enjoyed his time at the tables, chewing the fat with Keith Lehr in particular, and taking a decent stack into the final.

However, he got involved in an almighty three-way pot alongside the seemingly Teflon-coated Andreanoff, and and the Triton regular Dvoress, which ended in a huge win for the latter and left the other two on the rail.

Andreanoff got it started with an opening raise. He had , so fair enough. Zeng called with , a powerful looking hand in Omaha.

Dvoress, with put in a three-bet, and that prompted a shove for 2.1 million from Andreanoff with the aces.

Zeng, with 1.2 million, under-called all in. And Dvoress, with roughly the same stack as Andreanoff called too.

The flop had a few possibilities. It came . And the turn brought drama in the form of a straight for Zeng. However the river was even more spectacular. That was the nuts for Dvoress and two players hit the rail at once.

Zeng earned $91,500 for seventh; Andreanoff took $115,500 for sixth.

Michael Rossi won his trip to the Triton Series thanks to a victory in a Moneymaker Tour Main Event in West Palm Beach, Florida. He had already cashed in one event — 13th in the $25K 7-Handed to put him in profit for the trip. His appearance on the PLO final table continued the rush, and he ended up with a new career high of $148,200 for fifth place in this one.

Rossi got his chips in with the nut flush draw and a straight draw on a flop of . But his ended up essentially whiffing through the turn and river, losing to Pascal Lefrancois’ flopped set of queens.

Still, Rossi will have warm memories of this visit to London.

The same fond memories will probably also be found by Matthew Wood, who has played two tournaments on the Triton Series, both in London this week, and both of which ended in cashes. However, the nature of his elimination from this tournament will likely sting.

He became the latest player to be knocked out with aces, getting a three-bet in pre-flop holding and finding Dvoress calling with .

Wood then moved in after the flop of and Dvoress called with his straight draw. The on the river was gin for Dvoress and send Wood out in fourth. He picked up $184,800.

The last three players were all from North America, and pitted former Triton turbo champion Dvoress against one of this season’s breakout players Seth Gottlieb, alongside Canada’s Pascal Lefrancois, who chose London to make his Triton debut.

It was now that Gottlieb found another gear and was able to haul himself not only back into the lead, but over the finishing line first.

Gottlieb picked up and got involved in a pot against Lefrancois’s . All the money went in after a flop of and the turn and river completed Gottlieb’s straight.

Lefrancois took $234,000 for third.

The heads-up stacks started pretty close and the two adversaries exchanged only small pots to start with. However, everything went crazy in a hand where Gottlieb was dealt and Dvoress had .

The flop came and both players checked. Then the turn was the . All the chips went in here, with Gottlieb’s set becoming quads after the river.

The stacks were incredibly close and it required a close count to determine that Dvoress had Gottlieb slightly covered. The final scraps went in on the next hand, and a pair of kings for Gottlieb was good enough.

Dvoress adds yet another deep run to his ledger, but has to settle for $355,000 for second.

As for Gottlieb, Triton’s biggest fan is now one of its champions. There’s no doubt we’ll be seeing him again.

Event #10 – $25,000 PLO
Dates: August 4-5, 2023
Entries: 77 (inc. 23 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,925,000

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
6 – Gavin Andreanoff, UK – $115,500
7 – Yian Zeng, Hong Kong – $91,500
8 – Anton Morgenstern, Germany – $71,200
9 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $54,000
10 – Keith Lehr, USA – $41,400
11 – Chris Brewer, USA – $41,400
12 – Sergio Martinez, Spain – $38,500
13 – Morten Klein, Norway – $38,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The biggest buy-in event of the Triton London Series so far produced yet another final table of ridiculously high quality from which New Zealand’s David Yan emerged victorious for a famous first Triton triumph.

This one was very hard won.

Despite the huge buy-in, the tournament attracted a massive field and Yan had to keep his composure past 3.30am local time, a titanic 14-hour session. He had to endure a turbulent heads-up battle against Argentina’s Nacho Barbero, who had the chip lead when the last three players agreed upon a deal.

It meant that Yan took $3,052,002 to Barbero’s $3,445,807, with Espen Jorstad, the third party to the arrangement, locking up $2,766,191. They only came to that agreement after previous negotiations between the last four failed to satisfy all parties. It stalled action for around an hour and contributed to the fatigue.

For all that, this final table was one for the ages, featuring not only the three eventual podium finishers, but form player Chris Brewer, Triton greats Timothy Adams and Danny Tang, and fearsome Europeans Aleks Ponakovs and Juan Pardo. Yan admitted that he hadn’t expected to prevail so soon on the Triton Series, having only played his first event in Vietnam earlier this year.

“It’s three stops,” Yan said. “It’s been an OK amount of tournaments but you still have to be really lucky. I’m over the moon, obviously.”

He is preparing to play the Luxon Invitational tomorrow, which is set to be even bigger than this one, but said he hopes today’s exploits can roll over.

“I am a believer in momentum so I hope I can keep it up,” Yan said. Referencing the rest of this series, he added: “We’re only half way through so there’s still a lot of poker to be played.”

But this is a significant boost to bankroll and confidence, and Yan is perfectly placed to make the most of both.

FINAL DAY ACTION

The $200,000 buy-in for this tournament marked it out as the biggest open event of the festival. And it duly attracted all the names you would expect, including a handful who crammed themselves in at the final opportunity this afternoon.

By the time registration closed, there were 81 entries, including 30 re-entries, which put an enormous $16.2 million in the prize pool. The top spot was worth $4.3 million. No one bar the winner of the Luxon Invitational will get that kind of money this week.

Most of those last-gasp entries were unable to turn their handful of blinds into a cash. Yuri Dzievielski, for example, played only one hand. But this was the kind of tournament where there was no shame in busting before the money. Three of this weeks winners — Jason Koon, Fedor Holz and Ole Schemion — as well as Phil Ivey, all crashed out before the money.

With a so-called min-cash worth $325,000, the bubble was one of those that took a good long while to burst. Seth Gottlieb cracked Tim Adams’ jacks to double; Dan Dvoress found aces to double his own short stack and stay alive.

When the bubble finally burst, it sent four-time champion Mikita Badziakouski to the rail. He had been one of the biggest stacks overnight, but shoved with pocket sevens on the button, got a call from Espen Jorstad in the small blind with , and then saw the dealer put a king on the river.

Badziakouski has probably given up on the idea of catching Koon’s Triton trophy haul, but this kind of thing really doesn’t help his cause.

The pre-bubble short stacks were now able to play with slightly less anxiety, but all of Christoph Vogelsang, Dvoress and Sam Grafton will still have been disappointed to hit the rail before the final table.

They were homing in on that stage of proceedings when a dinner break was also imminent, and it wasn’t clear initially which would come first. But then all of a sudden two players hit the rail simultaneously: Seth Gottlieb busted to Danny Tang with < , and Seth Davies perished at the hands of Chris Brewer. This one was < pocket sevens. It was a very bad couple of minutes to be named Seth. The final eight was therefore confirmed, and lined up as follows: Espen Jorstad - 61 BBs Nacho Barbero - 46 BBs David Yan - 38 BBs Chris Brewer - 37 BBs Danny Tang - 37 BBs Tim Adams - 23 BBs Aleks Ponakovs - 15 BBs Juan Pardo - 13 BBs Final Table Players[/caption]

As you would expect at a final table where every pay jump is plenty more than $150K, the tempo was a good deal more measured here than in other events (particularly in comparison with the boisterous turbo taking place in the same room).

Even so, Juan Pardo wasn’t able to grind up a short stack. He was patient, but also card dead. Pardo was eliminated in eighth, taking $600,000, after taking a stand after David Yan’s opening raise. Pardo’s was dominated by Yan’s and there were no surprises on the flop.

Aleks Ponakovs had managed to keep himself afloat with some well-timed shoves, and bought himself enough time to ladder up at least one more spot. That’s because the North American pair of Tim Adams and Chris Brewer went to war, with the latter this time landing on the receiving end.

Brewer has been running oven hot this summer, but he couldn’t win a crucial flip at this final table. Adams’ spiked a queen on the flop to beat Brewer’s pocket tens, and that left Brewer as the shortest stack. Danny Tang took the last crumbs of Brewer’s chips, while Brewer picked up $770,000 for his seventh place.

Ponakovs was back with the short stack, but a double through Nacho Barbero soon helped his cause and left the Argentinian with 10 big blinds. There were still six players left and not all that many chips split between them. It was the kind of situation that can sometimes prompt a hastening of the pace.

So it proved as Ponakovs and then Danny Tang departed in quick succession, and Barbero more than doubling up to move in the opposite direction. David Yan knocked out Ponakovs with beating . They were all in pre-flop, but Yan hit his king.

Barbero doubled through Yan to give himself some breathing space, and then took another massive leap by knocking out Tang. This one also went in pre-flop, with Barbero’s ending with a straight to beat Tang’s .

Ponakovs won $970,000, while Tang became the first millionaire from this event. He won $1,247,000.

After a few more orbits of play, the stacks continued to even out. Barbero actually pulled ahead, and the four players agreed to look at the numbers with the prospect of making a deal. They had the following stacks at this point, and it took the best part of an hour to negotiate:

Yan – 34 BBs
Barbero – 45 BBs
Adams – 20 BBs
Jorstad – 30 BBs

When they finally emerged from their concave, which included phone calls to backers, the had reached an impasse. There would be no deal. However, very shortly after, Adams perished at the hands of Barbero, and the negotiations started again.

Adams lost all of his chips to Barbero, in back to back pots. In the first, Barbero pushed Adams off with a shove on the flop. On the second, Adams couldn’t get pocket nines to hold against Barbero’s . Barbero turned a flush.

Adams took $1,550,000 for fourth. It was less than he had been offered in the deal, but that’s all part of the calculation.

Barbero now had 55 big blinds, which was more than Yan and Jorstad combined. They tried again to do the deal — and this time they succeeded. Barbero locked up $3,445,807; Yan would get $2,952,002 and Jorstad was guaranteed $2,766,191. There was $100,000 to play for, plus the trophy.

They also agreed to trim the length of the levels, with the clock ticking past 2am and all of them booked to play the Luxon Invitational in less than 12 hours. The modified structure seemed to have the desired effect as chips started to fly around much more readily.

Jorstad took a bit of an early hit, but then landed on the wrong side of a cooler that turned into a rough beat. He had pocket queens when Yan had pocket nines, and they got it in pre-flop.

Four hearts on the board matched the only heart in Yan’s hand and that was a flush. Jorstad’s incredible week continues, but he had to settle for this and the $2,766,191 he had already been guaranteed.

The elimination of Jorstad put Yan into the chip lead. It was 47 BBs to 34. But they played about another hour before the next major confrontation: an all-in pre-flop encounter in which Barbero’s stayed good against Yan’s . By this point it was past 3am, and Barbero now had a four-to-one chip lead.

In they went again.

Yan this time had , with Barbero turning over . Another dry board and Yan doubled back. It was now just a two-to-one advantage.

They weren’t hanging around any more, however. The very next hand and they were all in again, this time Yan’s taking a big advantage over Barbero’s .

Yan flopped two pair, faded a straight draw, and retook the chip lead.

That wasn’t the end of it, of course. When Barbero was down to 10 big blinds, he doubled up once more. This time remained ahead of . Was another comeback on its way?

This time, finally, it was not. The next time they got their chips in, the player with the best hand had the most chips. Yan was sitting with while Barbero had and the dealer didn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve.

Barbero slunk away, but must be happy with another exceptional payday. Yan picks up his biggest Triton payday too, plus the first trophy of his career and a first for New Zealand.

Just another day on this most remarkable poker series…

Event #7 – $200,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: August 1-2, 2023
Entries: 81 (inc. 30 re-entries)
Prize pool: $16,200,000

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
6 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $970,000
7 – Chris Brewer, USA – $770,000
8 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $600,000
9 – Seth Davies, USA – $453,000

10 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $348,000
11 – Sam Grafton, UK – $348,000
12 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $325,000
13 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $325,000

*denotes three-way deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Brazilian players have become the dominant force at the online poker tables over the past few years, and today a swarm of them took the Triton Series by storm as well. The final stages of the $30,000 buy-in NLH Turbo at Triton London ended with two of Brazil’s leading lights Pedro Garagnani and Bruno Volkmann heads up, with a packed rail of other Brazilians just waiting to celebrate as one.

Garagnani took the chip lead into that all-Brazilian affair, and he translated it into his first Triton victory too, worth $459,000 after he had agreed a deal with Volkmann. Volkmann secured himself $375,300 and burnished his reputation as someone to watch in the high stakes world as well.

“I’m super happy,” Garagnani said. “It was my first Triton title and the first Triton title for a player from Brazil and I’m very honoured.”

He added that it was extra special to play heads up against his buddy.

“It’s amazing,” Garagnani said. “Both of us wanted to win. I respect him a lot as a player and a friend. I love him. I’m sure he will soon have a title.”

Those two were the most experienced and calmest players at a final table fuelled by a love of turbo action and booze. They navigated their way past some of Asia’s most tricky stars, as well as a hometown first-timer who was enjoying the added extras of the Triton Series (namely, free drinks).

It was all spectacularly good natured, and ended at around 2am local time with a very worthy champion. The poker world has known for quite a while that the Brazilian invasion shows now sign of ending, and in Garagnani the country has a very worthy first champion on this series.

“The tournament was super fun,” Garagnani said. “It was really cool,” he added, saying that the unpredictable players at the final just made it even more enjoyable.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The nature of turbo tournaments is that blind levels fly up quickly, and action comes thick and fast. But there was still a $32,600 money bubble, so the period just before the cash kicked in was necessarily fraught.

Kane Hope went into this period as a dominant chip leader, but he lost a number of big pots against Bruno Volkmann, Oya Masashi and, in particular, Choon Tong Siow. The latter two were clashing with each other as well, despite having huge stacks relative to plenty of players with less than five big blinds.

Taago Tamm actually had only one big blind at one point, but trebled up twice in successive hands. He was still seated when the Israeli player Roman Samoylov became the stone bubble boy, losing with pocket fours to Webster Lim’s . Samoylov made a quiet exit, which was in stark contrast to the fireworks over on the other table where Hope was providing a well-lubricated commentary on every hand.

The long bubble left numerous players in deep peril, and all of Eric Wasserson, Stephen Chidwick, Jonathan Jaffe and Tamm eventually succumbed. When Yuri Dzivielevski and Matthew Wood followed them, we were at a nine-handed final.

Anson Ewe made it with one big blind, but it’s worth noting the achievement of Julie Klein too, who made the final in her first ever Triton event. She is the daughter of Triton stalwart Morten Klein, and the pair became the first father/daughter combo to play on the tour. Morten was eliminated early, but was a doting father on the rail as Julie got there to the final.

Here’s how they stood when they lined up at the last table:

Oya Masashi – 33 BBs
Pedro Garagnani – 29 BBs
Kane Hope – 27 BBs
Choon Tong Siow – 22 BBs
Jack Germaine – 12 BBs
Bruno Volkmann – 12 BBs
Webster Lim – 11 BBs
Julie Klein – 6 BBs
Anson Ewe – 1 BB

Despite Ewe’s tiny amount of chips, he managed to duck out of the way for the first couple of hands. That was enough time for Pedro Garagnani to win a pot from Hope, and then to knock out Klein.

It was a pretty unfortunate way for Klein to end what was surely an overwhelmingly positive experience. She got her chips in with against Garagnani’s . Even though Klein flopped a king, Garagnani flopped a seven and hit another on the river.

Klein took her medicine and earned $49,900 for ninth place.

Ewe’s survival skills paid off once again when Garagnani won another big pot to eliminate Webster Lim. This was always going in even in tournaments with deeper stacks — Garagnani had to Lim’s pocket queens. A king on the flop ended Lim’s tournament in eighth, worth $68,100. He also had six bounties, worth $15K apiece.

Ewe seemed like he was on the comeback trail, but when he finally got a premium hand — — it cost him his tournament life. He was all in against two players, Garagnani and Masashi, but both of them had a pair. Garagnani’s hit a three while Masashi’s hit a queen.

It meant that Masashi doubled through Garagnani and Ewe hit the rail in seventh for $89,200.

Six rapidly became five, with Triton first-timer Jack Germaine smashing into Volkmann’s aces. Germaine played the GG Million$ at the start of this festival and cashed in 24th place. He spun that up in this event, banking $113,500 for sixth. His record now reads Played 2, Cashed 2. His final hand was , but he couldn’t catch up with the aces.

The table was now revolving around Kane Hope and his wishes for a top up to his drink. He’d been cut off by the tournament staff, but wasn’t giving up in his crusade. His opponents could only sit and watch and attempt to knock him out.

But he just wouldn’t go. Hope was involved in the next major pot, which ended in the elimination of Choon and a triple up for the Brit.

Volkmann opened with a min-raise, Hope called and Choon then moved in for 1.125 million (blinds were 100K-200K). Volkmann called and Hope said that he was now priced in and made the call as well. The dealer put the flop on the table.

Volkmann checked and Hope moved all in, for another 2.225 million. Volkmann called.

The cards went on their backs and Volkmann was ahead with . Hope had a smaller pair with his , while Choon had over cards with his .

The that then appeared on the turn catapulted Hope into the lead, and there was no jack on the river to change anything. Hope apologised for the “dirty” hand. But he stacked up the chips nonetheless as Choon hit the rail taking $145,000.

Players took an unscheduled break, at Hope’s behest. The others weren’t keen, but he offered them $500 per person to give him 10 minutes away from the table. They quickly agreed. When they came back, Garagnani scored a huge double up through the erstwhile chip leader when he flopped a flush with and got Hope to put his chips in with a flush draw that couldn’t win even if it hit.

Garagnani assumed the lead, and only consolidated it in another enormous pot against Masashi and Hope, with the latter finally running out of road.

After Masashi opened, Hope and Garagnani called and the three of them got to a flop of . They all checked it. The came on the turn and Hope led the betting, with both opponents calling again.

The river was the and Hope blasted all-in. A measured Garagnani announced a call, while Masashi quietly folded.

“I’m bluffing,” Hope said.

Garagnani turned over . Hope’s was no good and he was now out. It was a fine and improbable run, which he clearly enjoyed immensely. He took $180,500 for fourth.

Masashi was now the short stack and although he managed one double up through Garagnani, the chips were returned to the Brazilian pretty quickly thereafter. Masashi’s final hand was an all-in push with , which slammed into Garagnani’s . There was a queen on the turn and that was that.

Masashi took $222,700 for third.

The two Brazilians, who are good friends, quickly agreed to look at the numbers and agreed a deal. Garagnani’s bigger stack would guarantee him $444,000, while Volkmann would lock up $375,300. There was $15,000 on the table to play for.

With 70 blinds in front of them, there was still play to be had, but the friendly atmosphere at the table had the feel of a home-game rather than a high stakes top ranking tournament.

When they got it all in for the first time, Garagnani’s pocket sixes stayed best against Volkmann’s and the Brazilian supporters flooded the stage for photographs and cheers and hugs.

We’ve seen this before across multiple tours. And now here it is on the Triton Series.

Event #8 – $30,000 NLH 8-Handed Turbo Bounty
Dates: August 2, 2023
Entries: 96 (inc. 17 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,920,000

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
6 – Jack Germaine, UK – $113,500
7 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $89,200
8 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $68,100
9 – Julie Klein, Norway – $49,900
10 – Matthew Ward – $40,300
11 – Yuri Dzivielski, Brazil – $40,300
12 – Taago Tamm, Finland – $35,500
13 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $35,500
14 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $32,600
15 – Eric Wasserson, USA – $32,600

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Three of the best players in world poker played an incredible short-stack shootout tonight to decide the latest winner on the Triton Super High Roller Series. The fickle finger of fate finally pointed at Espen Jorstad and named him the winner of what was an extraordinary contest.

“The three-way was the craziest three-way I’ve ever played,” Jorstad said, shortly after securing the first Triton title of his career. It was every bit as hard fought as the WSOP Main Event victory that vaulted him into the esteemed company he finds on the Triton Series.

“Legends left, legends right,” Jorstad, 35, said of his first impressions of this tour.

The Norwegian was the last man standing after a captivating conclusion to a $40,000 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament, which had 133 entries and an incredible final three: Jorstad alongside the UK’s leading talent Stephen Chidwick and the player many consider to be the greatest of all time, Phil Ivey.

It was an irresistible line-up but the three players must have often felt like mere pawns in some metaphysical game. The stacks grew incredibly short and each player was both chip leader and short stack numerous times as a series of double ups kept things going late into the night.

Jorstad came back from about two big blinds on more than one occasion, eventually downing Chidwick in third and then busting Ivey heads up. Ivey missed out on the chance to become a four-time winner, as Jorstad banks $639,000 for his win — so far.

Half of this $5.32 million prize pool is still technically to be played for. They will draw the Mystery Bounty envelopes tomorrow, with a top prize of $400,000 still lurking inside one of them, alongside a minimum $40,000 per bounty token. Jorstad has five of them, so a minimum $200K more. (See below for more about the Mystery Bounty portion of the tournament.)

We have all of that fun to look forward to tomorrow, but take a deep breath and prepare for an epic recap from this final day. It was full of bizarre twists and turns and incredible comebacks, none moreso than from that man Jorstad.

FINAL DAY ACTION

The second and final day of the tournament began with 38 players still involved — otherwise known as 38 bounties now on offer. The regular payout structure offered prizes to the top 20 finishers, so there was a delicate line to be trod between bounty hunting and self-preservation.

One of the biggest pre-bubble pots took place between Henrik Hecklen and Eric Wasserson, with the former three-bet shoving his big stack over Wasserson’s only marginally smaller holding. Wasserson had the goods — — which dominated Hecklen’s , and Wasserson scored an enormous double. It left Hecklen with only two big blinds.

Chris Brewer, sitting between Wasserson and Hecklen, will have greatly enjoyed watching the hand play out, especially because he had only seven big blinds in front of him. However, Hecklen managed to cling on a few more hands, enough time for Wasserson to turn his attention to Brewer.

Wasserson open-shoved with three tiny stacks sitting to his left, including both Hecklen and Brewer. Brewer looked down at pocket eights and spent a couple of time-bank chips before deciding whether to risk his tournament life. He determined that it was.

What he didn’t know at this juncture was that Wasserson hadn’t even looked at his cards. It was only after Brewer had called off that Wasserson saw he had pocket kings.

Brewer leapt out of his seat in mock incredulity and, after action finally concluded on neighbouring tables, the dealer put out five cards that all missed Brewer’s eights. Brewer has been in incredible form of late, including a second-placed finish yesterday, so he didn’t seem too cut up about this bubble. Everyone else was now in the money, including Hecklen and his one big blind.

There were, of course, only eight spots around the final table so the focus now shifted to reaching that marker. Players such as Nacho Barbero, Elton Tsang and Ben Heath couldn’t rally sufficiently to get to final stages. (Hecklen surrendered his short stack too.)

Spain’s Ignacio Moron led the field for some portion of the day, but it was his elimination in ninth place that set the final. He took a rough beat too: he was involved in three-way pot against Phil Ivey and Keat Liu Chun and had the best hand with to Ivey’s pocket jacks and Chun’s . However, the dealer put a jack on the turn to give Ivey close to a triple up and send Moron out.

Ivey is good enough without that kind of assistance.

We therefore assembled the following final table:

FINAL TABLE STACKS

Johannes Straver – 69 BBs
Phil Ivey – 59 BBs
Daniel Dvoress – 39 BBs
Espen Jorstad – 37 BBs
Stephen Chidwick – 28 BBs
Eric Wasserson – 18 BBs
Keat Liu Chun – 15 BBs
Alek Boika – 3 BBs

Alek Boika was obviously the man in most jeopardy, but he found aces to double through Stephen Chidwick and was then able to hang on long enough to watch Chun’s unfortunate streak continue. Chun picked up in the big blind, which was plenty good enough to ship all in after an open from the chip-leading Straver.

However Straver had a real hand, , and it stayed best. It sent Chun to the rail, earning a second Triton cash, worth $82,500.

Boika’s stay of execution endured for another few orbits, but his stack was still the smallest at the table and it couldn’t last forever. He ended up getting his last chips in in a decent spot — sitting with to Ivey’s , but fortune favoured Ivey again as he hit an eight on the river to take another bounty.

Boika won $111,500 for seventh.

There was no let up in the fierceness of this competition, of course, and players of the calibre of Stephen Chidwick and Daniel Dvoress now found themselves the shortest. Chidwick clung on a bit longer, but Dvoress perished at Ivey’s hands too. Dvoress was in the big blind after Ivey open-pushed the small blind. Dvoress found and called all in. Ivey had pocket fives, however, and held.

Dvoress, who won his first Triton title to end the recent Triton Cyprus festival, banked $149,000 for this sixth-place finish.

Three hands later and there was another elimination. But this one was a pretty gross cooler, which accounted for Wasserson. Wasserson has only one tournament cash on his resume outside of the United States (in the Bahamas, in 2012), but he has been tempted to London by the Luxon Invitational taking place later this week.

He had enjoyed his time in this tournament though, particularly during that bubble period where he was central to all those fun and games. Back then, Wasserson had pocket kings, the very same hand he now found at this six-handed final table. It was plenty good enough to get his chips in again. The problem this time was that Straver had aces and there was no getting away from it. (They were in the blinds too, to make it even more gross.)

Wasserson couldn’t hit the two-outer and so headed to the payouts desk to pick up $190,000. He can come back tomorrow and cash his bounties, of course.

The last four headed to a quick dinner break, with Straver’s 69 BBs in front of Ivey (35), Jorstad (19) and Chidwick (10). It didn’t take very long after the resumption for the shortest of those stacks to go in, but Chidwick’s won a race against Jorstad’s pocket jacks for them to swap places on the leader board.

Never mind. Jorstad doubled back up through Straver on the next hand, with turning a four to beat Straver’s . That brought the stacks pretty even again.

The first two final tables so far in this festival have been characterised by topsy-turvy late stages, where double ups were far more common than bustouts. This one began to follow the same pattern. Jorstad doubled up through Ivey, with beating . But then Ivey doubled through Straver, getting pocket fours to hold against .

The Straver v Ivey sub-plot had been compelling, with the less known Dutchman putting Ivey into the tank for numerous, extended periods, Ivey invariably emerging having made the correct laydown. (Ivey had also made an incredible laydown of trip kings on the bubble, faced with river aggression from Dvoress.) But Ivey went on to double Straver right back again, when pocket kings stayed good against Ivey’s .

That put Ivey on a downward tick, and he lost a race to Chidwick soon after — Chidwick’s besting Ivey’s pocket sixes — for the two to swap positions again. Ivey was down but he wasn’t out, and one final skirmish with Straver got him relatively healthy again.

Straver’s pocket nines lost to Ivey’s pocket jacks, and it was terminal this time for the Dutchman. He won a stack of bounty tokens that he’ll cash in tomorrow, but his own bounty went to Ivey. Straver, for the time being, wins $236,500.

The average stack was now only 30 big blinds, but this was a mouthwatering final three. Ivey, by most estimation the best player the world has seen, up against Chidwick, a man whose name always appears on the “best of” lists, and Jorstad, who has done something neither of his opponents has done in winning the WSOP Main Event.

Chidwick was the first to apply serious pressure on Ivey, assuming the chip lead in a huge pot against Jorstad. Chidwick had aces and bet all the way, finding calls at every street from Jorstad’s , which flopped a flush draw and turned top pair. It left Jorstad with only a couple of big blinds, but true to form he doubled up almost immediately, with beating Chidwick’s .

He then did it again, also through Chidwick, with beating . And even Ivey struggled to collect the bounty when Jorstad hit a flush with and beat Ivey’s .

That meant that when Jorstad found aces soon after, he had enough to put a serious dent in Chidwick’s stack, especially because Chidwick had and the money went in. Jorstad was now back in the lead.

The players took a break and pushed into Level 28, further than the pre-published structure sheet had planned. But all Jorstad’s good work was undone in one hand after the break when his lost to Chidwick’s . “We’re back to where we were about an hour ago,” Chidwick said, looking at his own chip lead and Jorstad’s micro-stack.

Jorstad moved his last 3 BBs in on the next hand, and Ivey called. And it looked like Jorstad might be mounting another comeback when his stayed better than Ivey’s . It got better for Jorstad on the next hand, when Chidwick shoved, Ivey folded pocket fives and Jorstad called with to Chidwick’s . “Wish I’d have called now,” Ivey said when the board ran completely dry.

This wasn’t done yet. Ivey, now the short stack, picked up red pocket aces and doubled through Chidwick’s . He did it again soon after with through Chidwick’s . Chidwick had now taken the journey from leader to short stack.

But he started his own move back into contention with a couple of blind steals and then a come-from-behind double, finding a five with to beat Jorstad’s . No matter for Jorstad. He got the chips back on the next hand with against Chidwick’s . They were trapped in the never-ending story.

Jorstad nosed ahead of Chidwick, as Ivey started applying big stack pressure. And the dam wall finally crumbled when Chidwick was simply forced to defend his big blind to a shove from Jorstad, even though he was sitting with only . Jorstad’s was ahead all the way — particularly as three more threes appeared to give him quads.

Chidwick won $287,000 for this third place, but a second title still eludes him.

After that titanic three-handed battle, Ivey sat down behind 28 BBs to take on Jorstad’s 17. However, tables quickly turned as Jorstad moved into the lead without showdown and left Ivey on the ropes. The American great got out of jail when he was all in and called with to Jorstad’s but they chopped it up.

However, he couldn’t wriggle free a couple of hands later when went up against and nothing changed on flop, turn or river.

“Playing heads up against Ivey, the biggest legend of the game in my opinion, just makes it even more special,” Jorstad said, adding, “I’m extremely grateful for all the run good I’ve had on the last three years. It’s insane.”

It certainly was.

MYSTERY BOUNTY DRAW

As is now customary, the draw for the Mystery Bounties took place the day after the main tournament concluded and, with $2.66 million wedged inside those bounty envelopes, it was worth waiting for.

The top prize was $400,000, while the smallest bounty prize was $40,000. There were numerous prizes in between. There were also a couple of bonus prizes/red herrings. One was a trip on a luxury yacht, courtesy of Triton’s partner Bombay. That was a brilliant prize. The other was cruel: a bounty worth nothing, but which would have looked like the $400,000 prize when it was squeezed out of its envelope.

Ali Nejad hosted the bounty draw during the dinner break of Event 5. It quickly became the Johannes Straver show. The Dutchman had nine bounty tokens and snagged the $400K prize on his first pull. He added a further $500,000 through the next eight and boosted his overall haul by $900K. It meant he finished this event with $1,136,500, more than anybody else.

The title winner Espen Jorstad added $260,000 from his five bounties. Meanwhile, the runner up Phil Ivey will be Bombay’s guest for its amazing luxury experience. Ivey’s three bounties earned him $140,000, plus that wonderful package.

The results below now reflect the additional prizes.

RESULTS

Event #3 – $40,000 7-HANDED MYSTERY BOUNTY
Dates: July 29-30, 2023
Entries: 133 (inc. 43 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,660,000

1 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $639,000 (plus $260,000 in bounties)
2 – Phil Ivey, USA – $434,900 (plus $140,000)
3 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $287,000 (plus $40,000)
4 – Johannes Straver, Netherlands – $236,500 (plus $900,000)
5 – Eric Wasserson, USA – $190,000 (plus $40,000)
6 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $149,000 (plus $380,000)
7 – Alek Boika, Belarus – $111,500 (plus $40,000)
8 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – $82,500 (plus $80,000)

9 – Ignacio Moron, Spain – $63,800 (plus $280,000)
10 – Antoine Saout, France – $53,200
11 – Thai Thinh Chu, Vietnam – $53,200 (plus $80,000)
12 – Ben Heath, UK – $46,600
13 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $46,600 (plus $120,000)
14 – Dan Shak, USA – $42,600 (plus $180,000)
15 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $42,600 (plus $80,000)
16 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $38,600
17 – Jonathan Pardy, Canada – $38,600
18 – Brian Kim, USA – $34,600
19 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $34,600
20 – Roberto Perez, Spain – $34,600

Patrik Antonius, Finland – $40,000 in bounties

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive