Category: Poker

The Triton Series’ first stop in Vietnam is now seven tournaments through, and so far there have been five first-time Triton champions. The latest had to pick his way through a final table in the 25K Turbo at which three of the last four players had all previously hoisted a Triton trophy, two of them this week.

But in defeating Nacho Barbero heads up, after Dao Minh Phu had also hit the rail in third, Triton first-timer Andrew Leathem earns his own place on the Triton winners’ board. When you add the fact that the fourth-placed finisher was Matthias Eibinger, winner of two previous Triton turbo titles, you get the full measure of Leathem’s achievement.

“That’s the idea,” Leathem said, reflecting on his victory. “You want to test yourself against the best players in the world.”

This mild-mannered 43-year-old software developer from Edinburgh, Scotland, usually plays only lower-stakes tournaments but said he liked the look of a trip to Vietnam and took a stab at the Triton Series. “I’m just an amateur, really, but I try to play in different places, different countries,” he said.

He bubbled the first event he played — “That was pretty horrible” — but rode the turbulent waters to the title this time, banking 670,000. He also takes home the Shamballa Jewels bracelet handed to winners on the Triton Series.

“I was determined not to bubble this one,” Leathem added. “I sort of hung in to the final table, and it worked out. I’m super happy, but I’m also tired. It will sink in tomorrow probably.”

FAST AND FURIOUS

The first single-day event of this stop in Vietnam drew the masses searching for a quick payday, or a free evening to visit the player party. There were 104 entries by the time registration closed, including 25 re-entries, and the field quickly began to shrink.

Many of the game’s top talents fell by the wayside as the day wore on, edging closer to the money. Fifteen were due to be paid.

The fun of the turbo means that no one is ever really safe, but even a couple of blinds means you can still hope to turn things around.

That was never more evident than on the bubble of this one, where Eibinger, for instance, was one of the shortest stacks but secured a double up and then went on a charge to be chip-leader.

Jeffrey Sluzinski, an ACR qualifier, also demonstrated that he wasn’t scared of putting everything on the line, burning through several time bank chips after Isaac Haxon had pushed all in with a covering stack, before eventually calling. Sluzinski had pocket tens to Haxton’s , and Sluzinski won the flip.

Had he lost, Sluzinski would have been out and several sub five-blind stacks would have rejoiced. As it was, the call and the win helped propel Sluzinski to the final table, with Haxton busting in 11th.

The coup was all the more significant given the miniscule size of so many other stacks. One of them was sure to bust soon. As it turned out, it wasn’t necessarily soon, but Pablo Brito did indeed hit the rail. He was the third part in a pot between Barbero and Phu, those two players who had already won titles this week.

Phu’s pocket jacks ended up beating Barbero’s , with Brito perishing with . Had Barbero hit, two players would have gone out together, but Phu survived the bubble for the second time in consecutive days. Brito left with nothing.

With the dam now burst, it was a turbo-propelled flood to the rail. Some of Asia’s finest players — Wai Kin Yong, Kiat Lee, Kannapong Thanrattrakul — went bust. They then reassembled with the following line-up:

25K Turbo final table

Nacho Barbero – 5,050,000
Matthias Eibinger – 4,055,000
Talal Shakerchi – 3,600,000
Sebastian Gaehl – 2,765,000
Jeffrey Sluzinski – 1,800,000
Dao Minh Phu – 1,170,000
Ana Marquez – 920,000
Lun Loon – 770,000
Andrew Leathem – 760,000

Leathem’s strategy of just clinging on had got him this far, and he was also prepared to take a back seat to most of the earliest final table action.

After a long barren spell at the beginning of his Triton career, Lun Loon was now at back-to-back final tables. However, he got a reminder of how unfair things can be when his pocket jacks lost to Barbero’s not long after the final table started. Barbero flopped two aces.

Two brilliant plots were now brewing. First, there was Eibinger’s three-time bid. He made his name (and built a bankroll) playing high-stakes hyper turbos online, and proved his mettle winning both of his Triton titles in precisely this format. In short, he know precisely the spots to get his chips in.

Then there was Phu, who was also seeking a back-to-back triumph. And Phu was hot. He doubled up twice, winning flips with against Talal Shakerchi’s pocket tens, then flopping a set with pocket sevens as Eibinger’s made two pair.

Phu cheered as Ana Marquez became the next to fall. Marquez got involved as the shortest stack in a three-way pot, losing with to Eibinger’s . Barbero had them both covered, but his hit only a deuce and so Eibinger doubled too.

Marquez’s first Triton cash earned her 92,300.

It goes without saying that stacks were short, but that plain fact does explain why chips were going in with all manner of hands. Sluzinski’s fun tournament came to its end with a seventh-placed finish. He lost with to Barbero’s , but took 121K.

Shakerchi then became Phu’s latest victim, falling with to pocket tens. Shakerchi’s fifth Triton cash was worth 153,500.

Eibinger then knocked out Sebastian Gaehl, with bettering Gaehl’s . Even after that, Eibinger only had nine big blinds.

It was at this point that they crossed the streams. The two most exciting storylines — the back-to-back and the three-time — came crashing into one another in a head-on collision. Eibinger had only one big blind left and he got it in with . Phu was vocally disappointed to have a dominated , but then said, “Thank you, thank you,” as the dealer put a seven on the flop.

The turn and river were blanks and Eibinger headed out. He now has a first, a first and a third from three Triton turbos. It’s not going to switch him from one banner to another, but he’ll take 245,000 and sleep well.

That left us with yesterday’s hero Phu, the Event 2 winner, Barbero, and Leathem, whose trip so far had offered a steep learning curve but nothing more.

But all that was about to change.

In the first of three pivotal short-handed pots, Barbero opened his button with and Leathem called in the small blind. Phu then moved all in for five big blinds and both Barbero and Leathem called.

They checked the flop of and the turn of and then Barbero bet 2 million on the river. Leathem called but Barbero’s flush knocked out Phu and took a chunk from his other opponent.

Phu has barely been able to put a foot wrong for two days, but ended this tournament in third for 301,000.

The first couple of small heads-up pots went Barbero’s way, but Leathem then surged upward. He raised from the small blind with and Barbero called, taking them to a flop of . Barbero check-raised Leathem’s bet of 600K, but Leathem moved all in with his middle pair.

Barbero called with , a flush draw and overcards, but the board bricked out and Leathem doubled.

They got all their chips in pre-flop on the next hand, and Barbero was looking good for the win with against Leathem’s . But Leathem came from behind to win it, leaving Barbero fuming, and on fumes.

It was done on the next hand, with Leathem’s staying good against Barbero’s five high.

Time for it to start sinking in, Andrew. That’s the win.

Event #8 – 25,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: March 7, 2023
Entries: 104 (inc. 25 re-entries)
Prize pool: 2,600,000

1 – Andrew Leathem (UK) – 670,000
2 – Nacho Barbero (Argentina) – 460,000
3 – Dao Minh Phu (Vietnam) – 301,000
4 – Matthias Eibinger (Austria) – 245,000
5 – Sebastian Gaehl (Germany) – 196,000
6 – Talal Shakerchi (UK) – 153,500
7 – Jeffrey Sluzinski (USA) – 121,000
8 – Ana Marquez (Spain) – 92,300
9 – Lun Loon (Malaysia) – 67,600

10 – Kannapong Thanrattrakul (Thailand) – 54,600
11 – Isaac Haxton (USA) – 54,600
12 – Biao Ding (China) – 48,000
13 – Kiat Lee (South Korea) – 48,000
14 – Wai Kin Yong (Malaysia) – 44,200
15 – Anson Ewe (Malaysia) – 44,200

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Not long ago, the London-based Turkish player Orpen Kisacikoglu wasn’t sure whether to describe himself as a poker player or a businessman. He had made his name and reputation in pursuits away from poker, but had started a second life around the high stakes tournament tables.

But after getting some coaching and focusing more on his poker game, Kisacikoglu has become a real force in these tournaments and tonight sealed a second victory on the Triton Series, banking 1,753,000 in the process.

To do so, he had to beat the British No 1, and leader of the Triton Player of the Year race, Stephen Chidwick heads up. That’s no easy feat. After a long and evenly-balanced heads-up encounter, Kisacikoglu found himself on the right side of a cold deck when both players had two pair by the turn.

All the chips went in, Kisacikoglu’s two pair was bigger, and Chidwick was left with crumbs. Kisacikoglu took those very soon after to seal the deal.

Kisacikoglu’s trip to Asia started badly after he burnt the souls of his feet in a hot-sand related incident. It meant he has been unable to walk, instead being pushed around the resort in a wheelchair. But after tonight’s performance he can levitate back to his room.

This was a defining triumph, smaller in cash terms than his runner-up finish to Henrik Hecklen in the Triton Madrid Main Event, but one that brings him a trophy to sit beside another he picked up in Rozvadov in 2019.

Chidwick, meanwhile, takes 1,245,000 as well as a stranglehold on the Player of the Year race on the Triton Series. Chidwick was already leading coming into the Vietnam stop and he has cashed three events already. This, his fourth, comes with a ton of additional points and he’s going to be a difficult man to catch.

FINAL DAY ACTION

The opening day of this tournament played alongside the conclusion of the 50K event, with plenty of players still involved on Day 2 of that. It meant a huge influx of players before registration closed at the start of play today, bringing numbers to 85, including 29 re-entries.

That put 6,375,000 in the prize pool and guaranteed two prizes of more than a million.

With 159K being paid to the 11th placed finisher and nothing going to the 12th, this was the biggest bubble of the series so far. The man to finish on the wrong side of the line this time was one of the week’s top performers to date: Daniel Dvoress.

Dvoress made the final table in both the 20K mystery bounty and the 30K NLH, and had been leading this tournament after Day 1. But there had been few bright moments on the tournaments concluding day, capped when he shoved his last eight bigs from the small blind with and picked up a call from Michael Soyza in the big blind with .

Soyza flopped a pair, turned trips and ended with a full house. It was overkill. Dvoress was already off the stage and out the door.

BANG, BANG – FINAL TABLE SET

The bubble bursting ended hand-for-hand play, but each of the two tables saw only one more hand before the final was set. Up on the feature table, Soyza was now in the small blind and for the second hand in succession watched a short stack ship before him.

This time it was Adrian Mateos, and Soyza looked down at pocket nines and made the call. Mateos had and Soyza won the flip. Meanwhile, David Yan and Jason Koon were tangling on the outer table. Koon raised from early positon, Yan jammed from the small blind and Koon called with the marginally bigger stack.

Yan had pocket threes; Koon had pocket queens. Another queen on the flop, followed by two blanks, sent Yan out. Mateos and Yan picked up 159,500 each, and the last nine prepared to hit the final table.

A TYPICAL TRITON FINAL

Newcomers to Triton Poker tend to see a table of players and marvel at how a random draw could place so many superstars together. But they soon look around the room and realise every table is like that. Every table is, to use the favoured word, “stacked”.

The final here was typical, featuring a four-time champion, the Player of the Year leader, and winners of the two most recent Triton NLHE Main Events. And none of those were even Steve O’Dwyer, the chip leader.

At start of nine-handed action, the table looked like this:

Steve O’Dwyer – 2,630,000
Michael Soyza – 2,505,000
Stephen Chidwick – 2,490,000
Santhosh Suvarna – 2,480,000
Rob Yong – 1,750,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu – 1,715,000
Jason Koon – 1,470,000
Punnat Punsri – 1,050,000
Henrik Hecklen – 910,000

(Blinds were 25K/50K with a 50K BB ante)

Nobody had a stack that could be regarded as especially huge, but both Michael Soyza and Chidwick were likely happy with their standing in second and third, respectively. However, after a few small pots resulted in them swapping places, an enormous skirmish, and a sick beat for Soyza, sent the pair in diametrically opposite directions.

Orpen Kisacikoglu began proceedings, opening to 180K. Chidwick called in the cutoff and Soyza shoved for 1.6 million from the big blind. No problem with that. He had aces. Kisacikoglu folded but Chidwick called, showing pocket jacks.

Only a day ago, Chidwick ran kings into aces to bust the 50K, but this time he hit his two-outer. A jack flopped, destroying Soyza’s hopes and pushing Chidwick back to the top of the counts.

Always cheerful, Soyza will have found even his positive outlook in jeopardy after this one. He took 182,500 for ninth, but it’s a case of what might have been.

DOUBLE KNOCKOUT AFTER DINNER BREAK

Eight players went on a dinner break, and two of them probably hoped it had lasted longer. Not long after the return, Punnat Punsri found pocket fives under the gun and moved all in for 1 million.

One seat over, Rob Yong looked down at and he too committed everything, about half of Punsri’s stack. However, Santhosh Suvarna woke up with the dream pocket aces in the small blind and made an easy call with a covering stack.

This time the aces held and two players hit the rail simultaneously. Yong took 239,000 for eighth, while Punsri won 306,000 for seventh. It was a first cash of the trip for both of them, although Yong was playing his first event while Punsri was in his seventh.

SIX-HANDED SLOWDOWN

As is now familiar, players were sitting with short-ish stacks and most significant pots meant either a double-up or an elimination. And we had at least two of the former before one of the latter.

O’Dwyer, now a short stack, doubled through Suvanrna. It was a straight flip pre-flop, but the run out was dramatic. O’Dwyer’s ace in his played against Suvarna’s after a run out of .

Then Kisacikoglu doubled with against Koon’s pocket nines. Again, this was a flip but Kisacikoglu won it the hard way, thanks to a board of .

The same two tangled in the pot that sent Koon to the rail in sixth. This time, Kisacikoglu started and finished with the better hand. His beat Koon’s . Koon picked up his first cash of the week, but would have wanted more than 389,000.

CHIDWICK ON THE CHARGE

O’Dwyer continued to show some incredible escapology skills, doubling out of trouble three times and keeping his hopes alive. Suvarna trailed the field with a micro-stack, but in a push-fold game, nobody is safe.

As it happened, Hecklen was the first to find out how cruel it can be, getting the last of his chips in with a dominant against Chidwick’s .

These were the two players both sporting their exclusive Jacob & Co timepieces, won for triumphs in the two Triton Main Events in Madrid last year. But this time the poker gods were the ones to separate them, putting four hearts on the board to fill Chidwick’s flush.

Hecklen won 497,500 for fifth.

Had he clung of an orbit longer, he might have still been there to see Suvarna become Chidwick’s next victim. Again, this one was a come-from-behind success for Chidwick — the joy of having the big stack — as his turned a straight to beat Suvarna’s .

THREE LEFT, ONE SHORT

O’Dwyer has won tournaments across the world, sometimes appearing blessed as he crushes all opponents. Chidwick and Kisacikoglu are a cut above most opponents, obviously, but the American/Irishman managed another double, with pocket fours against Chidwick’s to keep his hopes alive in this one.

It proved to be a false dawn, however, because Chidwick was on something of a sun-run himself. All it actually required for Chidwick to get the job done on O’Dwyer was for him to have by far the inferior hand when they next got it in pre-flop.

Chidwick had the pretty and shipped from the small blind. O’Dwyer looked down at and made an easy call. However, Chidwick flopped a straight draw and filled it on the river. O’Dwyer was done, earning 816K this time.

HEADS-UP MILLIONAIRES

The biggest buy-in so far obviously meant the biggest prize pool so far, and the last two remaining players both locked up seven-figure scores. There was no talk of a deal as they settled in to play a tense heads-up battle.

Chidwick was seeking his second Triton title, Kisacikoglu his first, but both had been in solid recent form.

The chips swung in small increments to the left and to the right, until that huge hand occurred. Chidwick had and Kisacikoglu had . After the flop, Kisacikoglu only called Chidwick’s bet, allowing his opponent to catch a bigger piece on the turn.

Here’s where all the money went in, with Chidwick drawing very thin. It was a massive pot, leaving Chidwick in tatters, and a flush with later wrapped it up.

Chidwick and Kisacikoglu are friends and the former stopped by to celebrate the victory. They both now go into the Main Event tomorrow with bankrolls significantly swelled.

Event #7 – 75,000 NLH – 8 – Handed
Dates: March 6-7, 2023
Entries: 85 (inc. 28 re-entries)
Prize pool: 6,375,000

1 – Orpen Kisacikoglu (Turkey) – 1,753,000
2 – Stephen Chidwick (UK) – 1,245,000
3 – Steve O’Dwyer (Ireland) – 816,000
4 – Santhosh Suvarna (India) – 628,000
5 – Henrik Hecklen (Denmark) – 497,500
6 – Jason Koon (USA) – 389,000
7 – Punnat Punsri (Thailand) – 306,000
8 – Rob Yong (UK) – 239,000
9 – Michael Soyza (Malaysia) – 182,500
10 – David Yan (New Zealand) – 159,500
11 – Adrian Mateos (Spain) – 159,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Triton Series rightly deserves its reputation as the home of poker’s elite. But observers should never consider entry to this world completely closed to newcomers — as a dramatic finale to tonight’s action in Vietnam proved.

Dao Minh Phu, a 42-year-old playing on home turf in Vietnam, became the latest Triton Series champion, prevailing from a field of 139 entries in a 50,000 buy-in tournament. He banked 1,670,000 for the incredible triumph, beating another newcomer Biao Ding heads up.

Before tonight, Phu had documented lifetime tournament earnings of 93K. Ding’s total before this week was only around 300K. But they both secured seven figure paydays having laid waste to the supposed cream of poker’s crop.

It was a brilliant victory for Phu, who had been all in and at risk on the bubble, before turning things around. With his pregnant wife watching from the sidelines, Phu was fearless in closing things out and was cheered by a partisan home crowd, even as the clock ticked past 2.15am local time.

Phu has a clear passion for the game, and made all the right moves at the right time to record this famous triumph. The field was absolutely stacked, of course, but the local man made good.

“I just learnt poker three years ago,” Phu said. “This is the first time I have played a big tournament, and I’m so happy.”

FINAL DAY ACTION

As ever, the returning overnight field had only one thing on their minds during the early levels: making it to — and then through — the bubble. That was a task beyond Adrian Mateos, Jonathan Jaffe and then Ike Haxton, who got a rough beat from Linus Loeliger to soft bubble.

The double-ups came thick and fast on the stone bubble, with Chris Brewer doubling through Ben Heath, then Heath doubling through Ding. The most dramatic reaction came from Phu, whose pocket nines flopped a set and turn quads to take a massive pot from Tommy Kim.

Kim was the overnight chip leader, and flopped an ace in this hand to give him top pair. But it was crushed by those quads of Phu, who rocketed into the top five of the counts — and managed to make it count several hours later.

The hand-for-hand period straddled a tournament break, and not long after they returned, Lun Loon finally got the job done. Loon and Viktor Kudinov got their short stacks in pre-flop, and Loon had both the better hand and the bigger stack.

Kudinov’s pocket nines never caught up against Loon’s pocket queens. A few quiet fist bumps later and the final 20 were all in the money.

STARS START TO FALL

The complexion of the field was exactly as you’d expect for a 50K buy-in tournament: plenty of superstars and a few wildcards. Coolers can affect and benefit any of them, however, and Stephen Chidwick lost with pocket kings to Nick Petrangelo’s pocket aces, but Petrangelo fell short of the final table after losing against jack-ten, then losing with the same hand.

This period ahead of the final table also accounted for Bryn Kenney, Chris Brewer, Mario Mosboeck and then Loon, whose bubble-delight was short lived. Loon took 139K for 11th.

After Tommy Kim hit the rail in 10th, they finally reached the final table. The only two players with any level of comfort were Linus Loeliger, who had been a big stack throughout, and Biao Ding, who had been up and down but now sat as chip leader heading to the final.

Final table line-up

Biao Ding – 8,750,000 (70 BBs)
Linus Loeliger – 6,200,000 (50 BBs)
Dao Minh Phu – 2,525,000 (20 BBs)
Karl Chappe-Gatien – 2,400,000 (19 BBs)
Viacheslav Buldygin – 2,200,000 (18 BBs)
Dan Smith – 1,700,000 (14 BBs)
Ben Heath – 1,550,000 (12 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 1,325,000 (11 BBs)
Sam Greenwood – 1,150,000 (9 BBs)

This next passage of play was very slow, at least by the standards of lower buy-in events. It used to be conventional wisdom that anything sub 20 BBs was a shoving stack, but not any more. These elite pros are happy to play from a short stack, raising one blind and folding if necessary.

Sam Greenwood secured an early double, but then dwindled again until became a clear shoving hand from the button. The only problem was that Ben Heath had aces in the big blind, and Greenwood was finally free to head to the 75K event, which was nearing the end of its registration period.

With eight players left, and blinds escalating, the average stack was a mere 14 big blinds. Phu was now chip leader, with 19 bigs.

A SUDDEN FLOOD

After the long period without an elimination, they suddenly began to occur with increased regularity. Loeliger, who had at once appeared untouchable and even hit a 1% chance earlier in the day to stay alive, now didn’t have the chips to survive losing a big flip. His queens were second best to Dan Smith’s . Loeliger was out in eighth for 215,500.

Smith assumed the chip lead after that hand, but it was an ephemeral notion as any pot that went to showdown would likely change it.

So it proved as Ding went, ahem, ding-dong to knock out two Triton stars back-to-back. Heath’s jacks perished to Ding’s , and Karl Chappe-Gatien lasted only a couple of hands more. His lost to Ding’s aces.

Chappe-Gatien had been the breakout success of Triton Cyprus, but there was not much of the same table chatter this time around. He drank his whisky, enjoyed his massage and headed out in sixth, taking 389K. Heath’s seventh earned him 291,800.

For all the talent still in the final five, only one of them had a previous Triton title. That was Patrik Antonius, the fearsome Finn, who had assumed the role of short stack at this final and had been clinging on.

His laddering job ended in a fourth-place finish, however, when he couldn’t hit with and lost to Phu’s pocket sixes. It meant a payout of 497,000 for Antonius and four left for the title.

For all the unpredictability of the field, there hadn’t actually been any spectacular bad beats or outright unexplainable plays at the final table — until, that is, the Russian pro Viacheslav Buldygin suffered a sickener at Ding’s hands.

Ding jammed his button with the chip lead and , but Buldygin snap-called in the big blind with . When you’re running well, you’re running well and the board ran to give Ding a straight.

Buldygin had been paying tribute to his lucky hat all night, but it lost its aura after this one. He took 618,000 and will maybe look for new headwear.

The last surviving member of poker’s established stars was Smith, a man who had spent the past two weeks exploring Vietnam and enjoying his time among the locals. That had extended too to the final table, although Ding brought Smith’s journey to it conclusion.

Smith got his chips in with but it lost to Ding’s . That brought them to heads up play as Smith went looking for 750,500.

HEADS UP

Word had got round the Phu was heads-up for a title and supporters arrived on the rail from, presumably, close by. He had a disadvantage at the start of heads-up play, but after an aggressive start scored a double up with against Ding’s .

That gave him a huge lead and even though Ding managed his own come-from-behind-double, Phu never relinquished the lead. The final hand came about when they got it all in pre-flop with for Phu up against Ding’s .

A king appeared on the flop, which suggested an outdraw was on the cards and an extension of an already painfully long day. But turn and river were both spades, giving each man a flush. Phu’s was a pip better, and he was the winner.

It’s an incredible result for the Vietnamese player and will immediately send him into the top three of his country’s all-time money list. As for Ding, he was at his second final table of the week, so we may well see a lot more of both these guys in the future.

RESULTS

Event #6 – 50,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 5-6, 2023
Entries: 139 (inc. 51 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,950,000

1 – Dao Minh Phu (Vietnam) – 1,670,000
2 – Biao Ding (China) – 1,135,000
3 – Dan Smith (USA) – 750,500
4 – Viacheslav Buldygin (Russia) – 618,000
5 – Patrik Antonius (Finland) – 497,000
6 – Karl Chappe-Gatien (France) – 389,000
7 – Ben Heath (UK) – 291,800
8 – Linus Loeliger (Switzerland) – 215,500
9 – Sam Greenwood (Canada) – 166,800

10 – Tommy Kim (South Korea) – 139,000
11 – Lun Loon (Malaysia) – 139,000
12 – Nick Petrangelo (USA) – 121,600
13 – Bryn Kenney (USA) – 121,600
14 – Mario Mosboeck (Austria) – 111,200
15 – Chris Brewer (USA) – 111,200
16 – Henrik Hecklen (Denmark) – 100,800
17 – Johannes Straver (Netherlands) – 100,800
18 – Moonho Seo (South Korea) – 90,400
19 – Stephen Chidwick (UK) – 90,400
20 – Steve O’Dwyer (Ireland) – 90,400

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The sudden passing of Ivan Leow last year affected the Triton family deeply. He was not only a tremendous player but a great friend to everyone involved in the tour.

In the months since Leow’s death, conversation turned to the subject of remembering him. The Triton family quickly decided to rename the Player of the Year race in his honour.

From this event in Vietnam onwards, Triton players now compete in the Ivan Leow Player of the Year Award. The format is the same, but it means that Leow’s memory lives large in everyone’s minds as they continue to do what everyone on the tour does best: play elite-level high stakes poker.

“This is a chance for us to recognise the immense contribution Ivan made to the poker community and to express our profound admiration for the way he has inspired us all,” said Andy Wong CEO of Triton Poker.

“Ivan was an inspiring poker player and a respected member of the Triton family. His legacy and impact on the poker world will live on forever. He was consistent and impressive at every game he played. His commitment to the growth and development of the poker community stands firm as we all strive to keep his legacy alive.”

A $200K FREEROLL

Triton players are already among the most motivated on the planet, but the Player of the Year race offers further incentives not only to play all the events, but to play them from the start.

Players accumulate POY points throughout the entire Triton season, with high-ranking tournament finishes accumulating the most points. The bigger the buy-in and the field, the more points there are on offer.

There are additional points available for being seated at the tournament’s start, as well as for subsequent re-entries. It rewards consistency and commitment — something the game’s elite pros display most brilliantly.

And it’s worth it. The official Player of the Year, after all the calculations are done, will get $200,000. That’s free money, no strings attached.

Further reading:

PRESTIGE AND REWARD

Winning a tournament on the Triton Series is not at all easy to do. But there are at least 10 events at most stops, so the roll call of winners necessarily grows at every destination. It can be difficult to keep track of who is winning what.

The Player of the Year, however, offers the chance to create a more lasting legacy.

“Tournaments are so short term, ephemeral, so to have this year-long thing with the tracking of results, to have this accumulation through the whole year of Triton Poker, it’s fun,” said Sam Greenwood, a challenger for the inaugural Ivan Leow trophy.

He continued: “I think it’s something nice to do. Tournaments just evaporate. If you ask someone who won this or that tournament, nobody will remember. But it good to build to something bigger.”

And the $200K bonus money is not to be sniffed at. Although we can grow immune to dizzying sums on the Triton Series, many players will have staking deals and arrangements that mean they are paying and winning less than the advertised figures.

However, depending on what has been arranged, a $200K bonus might sit apart from any existing financial agreement and become a welcome gross boost to the bottom line.

COMPETITION HOTTING UP

The first qualifying event for the Player of the Year award took place in Madrid last year, and players also accumulated points a couple of months later in Cyprus.

Stephen Chidwick was named player of the festival in Spain, with Greenwood taking that accolade at the following stop. The pair occupied the top two slots in the overall standings coming to Vietnam, but strong early showings at Hoiana from Seth Davies brought him into second place, separating Chidwick and Greenwood.

Davies made the final table in both Event 1 and 2 in Vietnam, pushing his overall points score to 1,696. That’s ahead of Greenwood’s 1,652 but still short of Chidwick’s 2,013.

They are putting some clear light between them and Jason Koon, who sits in fourth with 1,474.

None of the leading three cashed Event #3 in Vietnam, but they were all in the money in Event 5.

With plenty of this festival in Vietnam still to run, and Triton likely to announce new stops soon, the interest in the Player of the Year race will only grow.

Whoever takes down the Ivan Leow trophy for the first time will do the Malaysian great’s memory proud.

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The online poker site Americas Card Room (ACR) sent a team of its pros and streamers to play on the Triton Series in Vietnam this week. It was a chance for them to sample life at the very top of the live tournament tree: they had 100,000 in buy-ins with which to take on the elite.

Tonight, at the Hoiana Resort, near Da Nang, one of their number named Mark Rubbathan has multiplied the value of his total package by more than six. And he’s in a dreamland.

Rubbathan, from the UK, is most at home behind his computer screen streaming online poker action. That’s how his booked his trip to Vietnam. But the 32-year-old emerged from his study to win Event #3 on the Triton schedule, playing like he does this every day.

Stacks were short and action was frantic, but after enduring the bubble period with two big blinds, Rubbathan picked his spots perfectly to progress.

“It is all completely surreal,” Rubbathan said. “I don’t know what to say, other than this was a really good time to run better than I’ve ever run in anything. I absolutely sun-run the final table. I’ve got 400K and the trophy, so I’m happy. That’ll work.”

This was a 20,000 buy-in Mystery Bounty affair, with half of the prize pool going in bounty payments and the other half awarded via a bounty draw. Rubbathan added 240K in bounties to the 396K he won from the main prize pool and in the process won 14 times more in one tournament than in his previous live career to date. He also picked up an exclusive Shamballa Jewels bracelet, offered to winners on the tour.

“I have played mystery bounties before but obviously nothing of this scale,” Rubbathan said. “It can be difficult working out all the spots with ICM and that, but to be honest it didn’t really matter for the most part. I just got really good cards and won my all ins. If you do that you can win tournaments, apparently.”

He added: “It’s indescribable. The whole experience was insane enough from the get-go. I won a package so I freerolled my way here. I wasn’t bothered, in a way, about cashing. I just wanted the experience. I was super looking forward to it. This is obviously beyond any expectation. It’s wild, absolutely wild.”

The 250K top-ranked bounty went to Orpen Kisacikoglu, the UK-based Turkish player who didn’t actually cash in the event. Kisacikoglu won one bounty token yesterday and had one chance to pick a winner during a long bounty ceremony hosted by Ali Nejad on the Triton TV stage. Kisacikoglu said he had a chop arranged with Timothy Adams, and added even more when Adams himself pulled a 100K bounty.

For a first Mystery Bounty event on the Triton tour, it was a lot of fun.

But let’s rewind to review the day’s action…

BUBBLE REFUSES TO BURST

For the first time during this festival in Vietnam, they played out a protracted bubble. After a couple of quick eliminations to start the final day, there were 28 players remaining with only 27 due to be paid from the regular prize schedule.

It became a battle to lose that final one.

Minh Nguyen was the first to double, spiking an ace on the river to help his beat Roland Rokita’s pocket jacks. He clenched his fists and sighed deeply, but the agony wasn’t quite over yet.

There were at least another eight bubble-ups across all of the remaining tables, with numerous short stacks put at risk.

All of them managed to double until Mike Takayama got his final 10 big blinds in with , but slammed into Joao Vieira’s .

Another king on the rainbow flop left Takayama drawing dead by the turn. It sent him out with nothing and guaranteed a payday of at least 17,900 for everyone still in a seat.

(We didn’t know it yet, but the flurry of double ups was a sign of things to come.)

THE RACE TO THE FINAL

In a repeat of a now long-established pattern, the tournament followed a slow phase with a period of rapid-fire eliminations. Any short stacks that survived through the bubble now flew into the middle, with the likes of Kiat Lee, Ben Heath and Patrik Antonius hitting the rail.

Monika Zukowicz also locked up a maiden Triton cash at her first visit to the tour, banking 17,900 for 27th. The Event 1 champion Webster Lim perished in 12th, with Artur Martirosian and Vincent Huang then departing to leave us with our final table.

It was a well-balanced selection of Triton veterans and newcomers. Mark Rubbathan, Pedro Garagnani, Gytis Lazauninkas, Joao Vieira and Victor Chung were at a Triton final for the first time; Timothy Adams, Daniel Dvoress and Wiktor Malinowski were returning to familiar territory.

As for Calvin Tan, he was at his second final table in consecutive days.

THE BOUNTY HUNT

The rule of thumb with a bounty tournament is that players tend to take more marginal calling spots in the hunt for a knockout. And though it’s unclear how much influence the format had on many of the players’ thinking, we did witness a real rarity: a four-way pre-flop all-in skirmish, with all of Chong, Malinowski and Tan’s tournament lives on the line.

Garagnani had the covering stack, and was in good shape to profit from the triple knockout. But the dealer conspired to wreck it all. Garagnani’s actually came fourth, behind Tan’s , Malinowski’s and Chong’s .

The board was , giving everyone something except Garagnani.

The Brazilian pro nursed a micro stack after that, doubling it once through Vieira, but then losing it all to Tan after another rough beat. Garagnani’s pocket jacks lost to Tan’s when an ace flopped.

Garagnani can take 40,100 and the knowledge that he didn’t make any mistakes. Just nothing much he could do.

PLAYING SHORT

“We will play until everyone has five big blinds, or less,” joked Lazauninkas. By that point, he had seen the four-way all-in, as well as both Vieira and Malinowki double up to stay alive with kings and aces, respectively.

He wasn’t far off. With eight players left and a dinner break approaching, the average stack was 15 big blinds.

Only Rubbathan, the chip leader, knew that he wasn’t in immediate danger — and he only grew stronger after he sent Adams to the rail in eighth. Adams found on the button and moved in for nine big blinds.

Rubbathan all but instantly called in the small blind, which then sent Dvoress, with five big blinds (one of which was already out there) into the tank. Dvoress folded, and Rubbathan showed his . Adams flopped a flush draw, but whiffed through turn and river.

Rubbathan ended the hand with trip kings and Adams was out the door, collecting 48,500 en route.

VIEIRA’S POSTPRANDIAL NIGHTMARE

Seven players went to dinner, none of whom was either a certain winner nor could consider their chances over. The stacks were all incredibly short, and a series of all-in coups was sure to follow.

Vieira was involved in the first two, and both went to his respective opponents. First up, Dvoress’s held against Vieira’s , earning a double.

On the very next hand, Vieira found and got his chips in, but Rubbathan’s flopped two pair and Vieira’s race was run. His first Triton cash was worth 67,000.

Vieira’s cash was the first for Portugal on the Triton Series, and it was soon followed by the first for Lithuania.

Lazaouninkas was another newcomer to the series, but had taken to it like a duck to water. This is one of the most talkative tours, and Lazaouninkas was one of the most vocal, and it’s one with some of the highest-quality action, another area in which Lazaouninkas was comfortable.

He has also been on the right end of a four-way all-in earlier in the day, knocking out the aforementioned Nguyen alongside Kayhan Mokri and Lisawad Pakinai in a single hand. His pocket tens stayed good in that coup, with all of the overcards in his opponents’ hands covering one another.

That earned him three bounties to go fishing with later.

His fun ended in a sixth place finish here for 92,000, however, when his couldn’t come from behind to oust Dvoress’ . Lazaouninkas drily commented on how bad the was for his hand, and the turn ended it.

THE SHORT GET EVEN SHORTER

There’s no two ways about it, the next phase of play was basically a crapshoot for the title. Everyone was so very, very short (and knowledges of shoving ranges are so precise) that really only the deck was going to decide who won.

As a perfect illustration, when Chong found pocket kings and doubled through Dvoress’ , his stack was worth 18 big blinds. And he was in second place. To Dvoress. Who had 19 big blinds.

If you won a flip, you could breathe. If you lost a flip, you were either in trouble or you were out. And Tan lost one of the latter category: his was second best to Rubbathan’s and he Tan was out in fifth, for 120,000.

Rubbathan now had the chips to punish anyone with whom he clashed, and he accounted for Dvoress in fourth too. Dvoress’ pocket eights were never in front of Rubbathan’s pocket queens.

Dvoress now has 15 Triton cashes — the latest worth 150,400 — but continues to search for his first outright win.

Rubbathan now had 23 million, with Chong’s 8 million representing his closest challenge. Malinowski had not had a big stack in practically years, but was still managing to cling on.

It was Chong, however, who was next to perish, giving Rubbathan almost everything. Chong had in the big blind and watched Rubbathan open from under the gun. Malinowski folded his small blind and Chong had every right to think he had the best of it.

He ripped it in, but found Rubbathan at the top of his range with . The board was all blank and Rubbathan sent Chong out with 184,000. (He later picked a 100K bounty, so things got good again very quickly.)

HEADS UP

There was an almighty imbalance when the tournament reached heads-up. Rubbathan had 32 million to Malinowski’s 3.4 million. In big blinds, it was 53 to seven. It meant that even after Malinowski managed one double up, he was still in big trouble. And he couldn’t muster a second.

Malinowski’s final hand was and it started well ahead of Rubbathan’s . But a jack on the river ended the flurry of double ups and handed the title to the British player.

RESULTS

Dates: March 3-4, 2023
Entries: 179 (inc. 54 re-entries)
Prize pool: 1,790,000 + 1,790,000 in bounties

Main prize pool

1 – Mark Rubbathan, UK – 396,000
2 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – 268,000
3 – Victor Chong, Malaysia – 184,000
4 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – 150,400
5 – Calvin Tan, Malaysia – 120,000
6 – Gytis Lazaouninkas, Lithuania – 92,000
7 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – 67,000
8 – Timothy Adams, Canada – 48,500
9 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – 40,100

10 – Vincent Huang, Australia – 34,000
11 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – 34,000
12 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – 29,500
13 – Tommy Kim, South Korea – 29,500
14 – Oya Masashi, Japan – 26,800
15 – Roland Rokita, Austria – 26,800
16 – Dan Smith, USA – 24,100
17 – Kyudam Kim, South Korea – 24,100
18 – Choon Tong Siow, Malaysia – 21,500
19 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – 21,500
20 – Philip Nagy, USA – 21,500
21 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – 19,700
22 – Lisawad Pakinai, Thailand – 19,700
23 – Manh Hao Nguyen, UK – 19,700
24 – Ben Heath, UK – 17,900
25 – Pablo Brito Silva, Brazil – 17,900
26 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – 17,900
27 – Monika Zukowicz, Poland – 17,900

Bounty payouts

Orpen Kisacikoglu – 250,000
Mark Rubbathan – 240,000
Timothy Adams – 170,000
Pedro Garagnani – 140,000
Vincent Huang – 120,000
Gytis Lazauninkas – 100,000
Victor Chong – 100,000
Wiktor Malinowski – 100,000
Artur Martirosia – 80,000
Kean Wei Tan – 70,000
Choon Tong Siow – 70,000
Joao Vieira – 50,000
Benjamin Heath – 50,000
Daniel Dvoress – 30,000
Roland Rokita – 30,000
Chin Wei Lim – 30,000
Kahle Burns – 30,000
Monika Zukowicz – 30,000
Kyudam Kim – 20,000
Dan Smith – 20,000
Phachara Wongwichit – 20,000
Mike Takayama – 20,000
Kayhan Mokri – 20,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Another day, another record — and another flawless performance to crown the latest champion on the Triton Super High Roller Series.

The third full day of competition at Triton Vietnam brought Event #2 – 15K No Limit Hold’em to its conclusion, an event that set another new mark with its 172 entries.

And the latest champion is a familiar face to poker observers, but a relative stranger to this series: Argentina’s Nacho Barbero, who couldn’t put a foot wrong to claim a maiden Triton title. At only his second Triton stop, he became the first player from South America to win on the series, demonstrating again the global appeal of this tour.

Barbero, who won 600K plus a Shamballa Jewels bracelet, knocked out seven of his eight final-table opponents, finding dominant hands when he needed them and coming from behind when he didn’t. He was moving quickly — “I had run out of time banks,” he told Ali Nejad in his post-game interview — and going with his reads.

They were right. One call, with king high, was particularly stunning. He ended up triumphing from a final table full of superstars, including Seth Davies and Alex Kulev, who finished fourth and ninth, respectively, in yesterday’s curtain-raising event in Vietnam.

Triton stalwarts Stephen Chidwick, Steve O’Dwyer, Phachara Wongwichit, Adrian Mateos and Mike Watson all picked up valuable Player of the Year points but fell short of the final. Then Linus Loeliger, Aleksejs Ponakovs and Kiat Lee did get to the final, but missed out on the title.

Barbero ended up beating Jans Arends heads up to win this one, with Arends, best known as “Graftekkel” online, claiming 406K on his Triton debut.

Barbero lost an enormous portion of his net worth in recent scandals in the crypto space, sending him back to the poker grind. And after a high profile final table in the Bahamas last month, Barbero continues to rebuild with cards in his hands.

FINAL DAY ACTION

By the time the bags came out last night at the end of the record breaking opening day, only 37 players remained in contention for the second trophy of this series.

Within a couple of hours, the hopes of Sam Greenwood, Artur Martirosian and Danny Tang were among those extinguished. The British first-timer Andrew Leathem clung on longer than those, but faced the bubble period with a micro-stack.

Leathem ended up all in blind and his lost to Kiat Lee’s . It was a quiet and solitary departure for Leathem, who hid his pain well. He then hopped into Event #3 in an attempt to take his mind off it.

That left 23 with the first target of reaching the final. The aforementioned Chidwick (22nd), O’Dwyer (20th), Wongwichit (18th), etc., fell short, but it was still a sensational nine who did the walk-on for the final.

FINAL TABLE PLAYERS

Brian Kim (USA) – 8,625,000 (58 BBs)
Nacho Barbero (Argentina) – 6,925,000 (46)
Jans Arends (Netherlands) – 5,350,000 (36)
Kean Wei Tan (Malaysia) – 4,475,000 (30)
Kiat Lee (Malaysia) – 3,950,000 (26)
Aleks Ponakovs (Latvia) – 2,225,000 (15)
Alex Kulev (Bulgaria) – 1,475,000 (10)
Seth Davies (USA) – 1,000,000 (7)
Linus Loeliger (Switzerland) – 375,000 (3)

Even in this era of expert short-stack play, Loeliger’s three big blinds were always likely to find their way into the pot quickly, and despite an early double, the Swiss wizard was first out.

He got his chips in good, three-bet shoving with over Barbero’s open with . But Barbero flopped a gutshot and turned a straight. Loeliger picked up 60K for ninth.

Kean Wei Tan was another first-timer here in Vietnam, following in the footsteps of many from Malaysia straight to the Triton final table. He became another of Barbero’s victims, when his remained dominated by Barbero’s .

Tan won 75K for eighth.

Barbero also found himself in a dominant position the next time an adversary was all in. This time it was Davies, rapidly becoming Triton’s most reliable warrior, who had reached his umpteenth final table in a row. Davies continues to search for a first win, but took another 102,100 for finishing seventh here after his was outpipped by Barbero’s .

(Davies all but shoved the small blind, Barbero put him all in and the board had nothing spectacular on it — not even the cards Davies needed for a chop.)

One of the main storylines in the opening days of this Triton festival has been the number of first timers appearing on the scene — and going on to deliver. Having finished ninth on his first foray to these parts yesterday, Kulev now made it to sixth during his second appearance.

The Ireland-based Bulgarian must consider this tour to be a breeze as he cantered to another 138,000 — even if he couldn’t win a crucial flip with pocket nines against Kiat Lee’s . Kulev went out this time in sixth.

Ponakovs, however, wasn’t long for the world either — and he too was flipped out of this one. Barbero this time had the pocket pair, nines again, and Ponakovs had . He couldn’t hit, however, and another chunk went to Barbero. Ponakovs won 178,000 for fifth.

Barbero was pretty much unstoppable, and Lee became the next victim. In truth, the damage had been done to Lee in a skirmish with Arends’ aces. Lee’s lost pretty much everything in that pot, and Barbero applied the final touch. Barbero’s beat Lee’s , with Barbero hitting two jacks for good measure. Lee took 222,000 for fourth.

Even when he was behind, Barbero found a way. He next took up against Kim’s . Had Kim won this one, there would have been three hugely skilled players remaining with all but equal stacks, and any one of them might have gone on to win.

However, Barbero hit the three-outer on the river, when a nine popped out, and it sent Kim packing in third, picking up 271K on the way. It also left Barbero with a two-to-one heads up lead, and with all the momentum behind him.

Barbero was running so hot that Arends must have wondered if there was anything he could do. He tried, of course, and battled gamely for a good 30 minutes. But he ended up taking one too many stabs. Arends put in a huge over bet shove on a board of , sitting with .

Barbero had , which had been pretty well disguised, and after taking a long time to think it through, found the call. Arends showed his seven high, and Barbero was crowned champion as the ticker tape fell from the ceiling.

“I knew it was going to be really good,” Barbero said. “Phil Nagy told me, ‘Come over.’ I was like, ‘Why not?’ And it was a good idea to come here.”

It certainly was.

RESULTS

EVENT #2 – 15K NLHE
Dates: March 2-3, 2023
Entries: 172 (inc. 50 re-entries)
Prize pool: 2,580,000

1 – Nacho Barbero (Argentina) – 600,000
2 – Jans Arends (Netherlands) – 406,000
3 – Brian Kim (USA) – 271,000
4 – Kiat Lee (Malaysia) – 222,000
5 – Aleks Ponakovs (Latvia) – 178,000
6 – Alex Kulev (Bulgaria) – 138,000
7 – Seth Davies (USA) – 102,100
8 – Kean wei Tan (Malaysia) – 75,000
9 – Linus Loeliger (Switzerland) – 60,000

10 – Mark Rubbathan (UK) – 50,300
11 – Michael Watson (Canada) – 50,300
12 – Hing Yang Chow (Malaysia) – 43,900
13 – Tan Xuan (China) – 43,900
14 – Adrian Mateos (Spain) – 39,900
15 – Thomas Muehloecker (Austria) – 39,900
16 – Then Dung Pham (Vietnam) – 36,100
17 – John So (Hong Kong) – 36,100
18 – Phachara Wongwichit (Thailand) – 32,500
19 – Phil Nagy (USA) – 32,500
20 – Steve O’Dwyer (Ireland) – 32.500
21 – Markus Leikkonen (Finland) – 30,000
22 – Stephen Chidwick (UK) – 30,000
23 – Sebastian Gaehl (Germany) – 30,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Triton Vietnam named its first champion tonight as Webster Lim, from Malaysia, beat a record-breaking field to land his second title on this spectacular tour.

But in addition to the 965K payout, the trophy and the Shamballa Jewels bracelet Lim wins, there is no greater honour for him than to now find his picture on the two-time champion banner alongside his friend and mentor, the late Ivan Leow.

Lim was one of the strong contingent of Malaysian players who owe so much of their success to Leow, whose death in Cyprus last year was felt so keenly by everyone in the Triton family.

Lim was among those to offer the warmest tributes to Leow and to be affected most by his absence. The celebratory rail for Lim tonight was full of fellow Malaysians talking about how they felt the presence of their late friend guiding his 30-year-old protege Lim to victory.

Lim himself said: “All my close friends know mine and his relationship. Without him, I wouldn’t be here. So I just want to say that this win is for him. This is for you Ivan. I miss you.”

Lim had previously been a short deck specialist, the variant in which he had won his previous title and recorded most of his eight previous cashes. But Lim was chip leader when the tournament reached its final tonight and never relinquished it, ending with a defeat of Roman Hrabec heads-up.

Hrabec was a Triton first-timer, banking more than 650K in the first tournament he has ever played on the circuit. It was clearly worth the trip for the man from the Czech Republic, who has recently graduated from the online tables to the brick and mortar world.

Debutants made a very strong showing here in Vietnam, boosting the numbers to a record-breaking number of entries, and even cruising in herds into the in-the-money spots. But Hrabec couldn’t beat Lim, and found the Malaysian making a terrific call with on a board of . Lim called three barrels and was right: Hrabec had only . This was a bluff that went awry.

Lim finished him off the next hand with to Hrabec’s .

“It does look like smooth sailing,” Lim said. “I don’t think I lost an all-in. But it’s never easy. My brain is kind of out of juice.”

FINAL DAY’S ACTION

After the overnight field of 32 shrank to 25, Triton Vietnam played its first bubble. There were a couple of double-ups before Lisawad Pakinai pushed Calvin Lee to risk his whole short stack — and gobbled it up.

After action folded to him in the small blind, Pakinai (who had doubled up through Michael Soyza a few hands earlier) found and he moved all in for 2.8 million. Lee was the effective stack with less than three big blinds, and was good enough in the circumstances.

But the turn brought a queen, which gave Pakinai the win, sent Lee out the door and left the remaining 24 with a cash. A remarkable 11 in-the-money spots in this tournament went to players who were making their first ever appearance on the Triton Series, including Pakinai. He went on to win 81K for his 11th place.

HITTING THE FINAL

The next significant landmark after bursting the bubble was finding a seat at the final table. While some events on the Triton Series play short-handed, this was full ring, and we were looking for nine players.

However, just as Alex Kulev on the feature table was pondering a call for his last 13 big blinds with , Mario Mosboeck was busing with pocket deuces to Sosia Jiang on the outer table. Kulev stuck his chips in and lost to Webster Lim’s .

It meant two players were knocked out simultaneously — they were both Triton debutants too — and they reconvened with eight after all.

Final table line-up:

Webster Lim, Malaysia – 10.1 million (67 BBs)
Chris Brewer, USA – 8.175 million (55)
Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – 5.8 million (39)
Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – 4.375 million (29)
Seth Davies, USA – 4,075 million (27)
Nick Petrangelo, USA – 3.625 million (24)
Michael Soyza, Malaysia – 2.850 million (19)
Jonathan Jaffe, USA – 2.5 million (17)

GG POKER’S SUPER MILLIONS SEAT SWAP

This is the point at which two of GG Poker’s online features made their Triton live circuit debut. Under the “Seat Swap” rules, final table players are offered the opportunity to swap seats. They get one swap only, and they get to pick in ascending chip-stack order — i.e., the chip leader gets last pick.

It gives players the opportunity to improve their table position, but with the big stacks getting to choose last, anyone moving early might have their preference overruled.

These eight guinea pigs hadn’t necessarily given this part of the tournament too much thought, but Brewer ended with position on Petrangelo, who had position on Jaffe. Chip-leading Webster Lim stuck where he was in Seat 1, with position on Hrabec.

All the jostling did seem a little pointless when it came time to bust our first player. In a straight-up pre-flop cooler, Jaffe’s short stack went in with pocket jacks and lost to Davies’ pocket kings. The same would have happened with their stack sizes regardless of position.

Jaffe, the overnight chip leader, picked up 121K.

SOYZA BUSTS AS LEVELS SHORTEN

Petrangelo and Soyza then played out the next major pot, and again, table positions probably didn’t matter so much. Soyza found and opened from the cutoff. Petrangelo, with , moved all in, covering Soyza’s 2 million stack.

Soyza called it off, lost, and then picked up 164K.

That left us with six and, for this particular tournament, player numbers took on an even greater significance than usual. One of the other rules imported from the GG online tables governed the length of the levels. Instead of being dictated by time, as is customary, the levels here depended on how many hands were played.

During eight, seven and six-handed play, they would see 15 hands before raising the blinds. When there were five or four players left, a level would last for 14 hands. And when there were three or fewer players, a level was 13 hands long.

The tournament clock ground to a halt and reduced now in stuttering steps. Meanwhile the dealer kept a manual track of the hands dealt since the last blind level by shifting a chip from one end of a rack to another. Just one more thing for the tournament staff to take care of.

LIM SENDS JIANG AND PETRANGELO PACKING

Regardless of the mechanism, the blind increases were eating up the players. Them and Webster Lim. In short order, Lim sent Sosia Jiang and Nick Petrangelo to the rail in sixth and fifth place, with Petrangelo in particular delighted to be visiting a cashier to pick up 286,300.

As baffling as it sounds, this was the first time Petrangelo had ever cashed on the Triton Series, and he’d played more tournaments than he’d care to mention. No one doubts Petrangelo’s immense talents, but he’d been on the wrong side of Triton variance for a little too long.

After Jiang lost with to Lim’s — Lim ended up with two pair; Jiang with 222,000 for sixth — Petrangelo got his last chips in with .

Lim had pocket jacks to end Petrangelo’s run. But the latter’s long cashless streak ended on his 23rd try, dating through more than three years.

BREWER BUSTS DAVIES, THEN BUSTS HIMSELF

Chris Brewer has had a stellar start to 2023 with a string of high-profile results already. His presence deep in yet another high buy-in event was no surprise. He has bounced back in spectacular fashion after essentially quitting the game after Triton Cyprus last year, and is barely putting a foot wrong.

He kept up that fine streak with the elimination in fourth place of the Triton stalwart Seth Davies, but he got caught in a huge bluff by Lim not long after to land himself on the rail in third.

Davies’ knockout was indicative of Brewer’s current purple patch. Brewer found pocket eights and raised his button. Davies picked up pocket nines in the small blind and three-bet, with Brewer then pushing over the top.

Davies had the smaller stack — around 18 big blinds — but called off, only to see Brewer hit an eight and win with the under pair. Davies took 357,000.

However it wasn’t long until Brewer had his wings clipped. He and Lim built an enormous pot through a board of | | , with Lim betting and Brewer calling.

But Lim checked the river, prompting Brewer to scent weakness and move all but all in, leaving only a single blind behind. Lim called and showed that he did indeed have the ace. He had . Brewer’s showed plenty of courage, but not much else.

Brewer was out a couple of hands later, running a micro-stack into Hrabec’s aces.

That left the two of them heads-up: the newcomer and the old hand, but Lim was not for moving.

With that, this incredible festival got off to a flying start. This debut event in Vietnam set a new record for tournament entries, with 166 bettering the previous biggest field by 35. It meant those remarkable 11 in-the-money spots taken by players who were making their first ever appearance on the Triton Series.

Seven years since its inception, Triton continues to build at a precipitous rate — but all these newbies will not have it all their own way as long as players like Lim continue to play.

Event #1 – 25,000 GG Super Millions
Dates: March 1-2, 2023
Entries: 166
Prize pool: 4,150,000

1 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – 965,000
2 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – 653,600
3 – Chris Brewer, USA – 435,500
4 – Seth Davies, USA – 357,000
5 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – 286,300
6 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – 222,000
7 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – 164,000
8 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – 121,000

9 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – 96,300
10 – Mario Mosboeck, Austria – 81,000
11 – Lisawad Pakinai, Thailand – 81,000
12 – Phachara Wongwichit, Thailand – 70,500
13 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – 70,500
14 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – 64,300
15 – Jitrada Boonnak, Thailand – 64,300
16 – Daniel Smiljkovic, Germany – 58,100
17 – Michael Watson, Canada – 58,100
18 – Pablo Brito, Brazil – 52,300
19 – Tan Xuan, China – 52,300
20 – Markus Leikkonen, Finland – 52,300
21 – Erik Seidel, USA – 48,200
22 – Yan Liu, China – 48,200
23 – Alan Zheng, Australia – 48,200

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive