Category: Poker

Full details of the tournament action at the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series held at the Landing Casino, Shinhwa World, Jeju, South Korea, February 26-March 15, 2025.

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EVENT #20 – $25K SHORT DECK TURBO

AT LAST! KIAT LEE FINALLY GETS OVER THE LINE
After five heads-up defeats from 17 previous final table appearances, Malaysia’s Kiat Lee finally managed to secure a win on the Triton Series, taking down the final-day turbo, a success celebrated across the high stakes poker community.

Top five finishers:
1 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $264,000
2 – Michael Zhang, UK – $182,000
3 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $116,000
4 – Rene Van Krevelen, Netherlands – $89,000
5 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $70,000

31 entries | Prize pool: $775,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #19 – $50K SHORT DECK

TAN DEFENDS SHORT DECK EVENT TO LAND TITLE NO 3
The Chinese cash-game fan favourite Tan Xuan earned his third career success on the Triton Series, winning the $50K Short Deck title he also landed here in Jeju last year.

Top five finishers:
1 – Tan Xuan, China – $708,000
2 – Esti Wang, China – $512,000
3 – Michael Zhang, UK – $326,000
4 – Phil Ivey, USA – $248,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $192,000

45 entries | Prize pool: $2,250,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #18 – $30K SHORT DECK

KOBYLYNSKYI’S PERFECT DEBUT EARNS SHORT-DECK TITLE
Ukraine’s Artem Kobylynskyi joined the very select group of players whose Triton record reads Played: 1 Won: 1 after a spectacular debut victory in the first short deck event on the Jeju 2025 schedule

Top five finishers:
1 – Artem Kobylynskyi, Ukraine – $492,000
2 – Mike Watson, Canada – $353,000
3 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $229,000
4 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $173,000
5 – Jason Koon, USA – $134,000

56 entries | Prize pool: $1,680,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #17 – $30K PLO BOUNTY QUATTRO

ANOTHER FOR SPAIN AS GUERRA RACES TO BOUNTY QUATTRO WIN
Back-to-back-to-back eliminations in the tournament’s last three hands earned Spain a second PLO title in as many days and a first for Lautaro Guerra.

Top five finishers:
1 – Lautaro Guerra, Spain – $783,000 (inc. $280,000 in bounties)
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $380,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)
3 – Alex Foxen, USA – $381,000 (inc. $160,000 in bounties)
4 – Gavin Andreanoff, UK – $343,000 (inc. $160,000 in bounties)
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $187,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)

100 entries | Prize pool: $3,000,000 (inc. $1 million in bounties)
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #16 – $100K PLO SIX HANDED MAIN EVENT

MAIN MAN MARTINEZ WINS BIGGEST EVER $100K PLO EVENT
After two years of deep runs on the Triton Series, the former aerospace engineer from Spain Sergio Martinez emerged from the shadows to seal victory over the biggest field ever assembled for a six-figure buy-in PLO tournament.

Top five finishers:
1 – Sergio Martinez, Spain – $2,340,000
2 – Ding Biao, China – $1,610,000
3 – Lin Wei, China – $1,055,000
4 – Zhikang Dai, China – $854,000
5 – Tom Vogelsang, Netherlands – $686,000

91 entries | Prize pool: $9,100,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #15 – $50,000 PLO 6 HANDED

NAGY TURNS TABLES ON JOUHKIMAINEN TO SEAL PLO SPOILS
Two PLO crushers, who have met before heads-up in a $50K live event, squared off for the biggest cash of their careers. This time it was Hungary’s Gergo Nagy who toppled Joni Jouhkimainen for a $1.36 million first prize.

Top five finishers:
1 – Gergo Nagy, Hungary – $1,360,000
2 – Joni Jouhkimainen, Finland – $930,000
3 – Gruffudd Jones, UK – $611,000
4 – Xu Liang, China – $505,000
5 – Tom Vogelsang, Netherlands – $408,000

117 entries | Prize pool: $2,925,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #13 – $25,000 PLO 6 HANDED

PLO MASTERY TAKES BEDELL PAST IVEY AND SEIDEL
The first PLO event of the trip featured two poker Hall of Famers and two PLO online crushers, but all were outdone by 64-year-old Norwegian Tom-Aksel Bedell, who picked up a $700K+ score.

Top five finishers:
1 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – $709,000
2 – Shi Ning Dan, China – $486,000
3 – Richard Gryko, UK – $320,000
4 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $264,000
5 – Phil Ivey, USA – $213,000

117 entries | Prize pool: $2,925,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #12 – $125,000 NLH 7 HANDED

THREE FOR PUNSRI AFTER HEADS-UP CHOP WITH VOGELSANG
The LED screens around the Triton Jeju tournament room had incorrectly described Punnat Punsri as a three-time champion. So the Thai pro did the only thing he could: winning another huge event to make the writing on the wall come true.

Top five finishers:
1 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $2,594,555*
2 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $2,456,445*
3 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $1,348,000
4 – Chris Brewer, USA – $1,093,000
5 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $878,000

93 entries | Prize pool: $11,625,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #11 – $100,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

HUANG UPSETS THE FORM BOOK FOR WIN IN RECORD MAIN EVENT
It was the biggest six-figure buy-in tournament in poker history, but a recreational player from China defeated all of the world’s top stars (including Dan “Jungleman” Cates heads up) to take down a remarkable $5.555 million first prize.

Top five finishers:
1 – Huang Wenjie, China – $5,555,000
2 – Dan Cates, USA – $3,528,000
3 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $2,644,000
4 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $2,140,000
5 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $1,687,000

285 entries | Prize pool: $28,500,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #10 – $50,000 NLH BOUNTY QUATTRO TURBO

INSTANT BOUNCE-BACK FOR KENNEY IN BOUNTY TURBO
Only 24 hours after being beaten heads up to miss out on a fifth Triton title, the all time poker money list leader returned to the top spot and got his hands on the silverware he had been denied.

Top five finishers:
1 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $1,319,000 (inc. $480,000 in bounties)
2 – Jon Ander Vallinas, Spain – $817,000 (inc. $240,000 in bounties)
3 – Yang Chongxian, China – $498,000 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
4 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $427,000 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
5 – Brandon Wilson, USA – $486,000 (inc. $240,000 in bounties)

95 entries | Prize pool: $4,700,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #9 – $150,000 NLH

VIEIRA COOLERS PONAKOVS FOR MASSIVE MAIDEN VICTORY
After losing heads up to Alex Foxen in the Bahamas, Joao Vieira swore to return to the Triton Series and go one better. He picked his spot to perfection, earning $4.6 million after sweeping past Aleks Ponakovs in the highest buy-in event in Jeju.

Top five finishers:
1 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $4,610,000
2 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $3,139,000
3 – Wang Ye, China – $2,074,000
4 – Dan Smith, USA – $1,708,000
5 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $1,372,000

128 entries | Prize pool: $19,200,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #8 – $50,000 NLH 7-HANDED

MOSBÖCK SCORES TRITON HAT-TRICK
With the watching poker community expecting another victory for Bryn Kenney, Austrian pro Mario Mosböck overcame a significant heads-up disadvantage to win his third on the series — and avenge a runner-up finish from earlier in Jeju.

Top five finishers:
1 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $1,836,570*
2 – Bryn Kenney, USA $1,897,430*
3 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $1,055,000
4 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $854,000
5 – Dylan Linde, USA – $676,000

215 entries | Prize pool: $10,750,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #7 – $40,000 NLH MYSTERY BOUNTY

WINTER FREEZES OUT BADZIAKOUSKI TO WIN TITLE AT LAST
After numerous near misses, the American pro Sean Winter managed to survive a dramatic short-stacked shooutout against five-time champion Mikita Badziakouski to finally get off the mark on the Triton Series

Top five finishers:
1 – Sean Winter, USA – $935,000 (+$140,000 in bounties)
2 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $630,000 (+$420,000 in bounties)
3 – Klemens Roiter, Austria – $441,000 (+$280,000 in bounties)
4 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $363,000 (+$750,000 in bounties)
5 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $287,000

223 entries | Prize pool: $8,920,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #6 – $25,000 NLH WPT GLOBAL SLAM

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE PAYS FOR FILATOV
Anatoly Filatov’s mother’s family originate in Jeju, and so the Russian pro found a great place to score his breakthrough victory on the Triton Series and pocket close to $1.9 million, a new career high.

Top five finishers:
1 – Anatoly Filatov, Russia – $1,882,000
2 – Calvin Lee, USA – $1,185,000
3 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $850,000
4 – Justin Saliba, USA – $675,000
5 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $529,000

389 entries | Prize pool: $9,725,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #5 – $30,000 NLH 8-HANDED

HAJIYEV TAKES MUSICAL INSPIRATION TO BECOME TWO-TIME CHAMP
Already Azerbaijan’s No 1 thanks to previous exploits on the Triton Poker Series, Ramin Hajiyev allowed a favourite song to give him the momentum to sweep to a second title on the tour, and pass $10m in career earnings

Top five finishers:
1 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $1,517,000
2 – Viacheslav Balaev, Russia – $1,008,000
3 – Mao Renji, China – $737,000
4 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong – $595,000
5 – Manuel Fritz, Austria – $467,000

252 entries | Prize pool: $7,560,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #3 – $25,000 NLH 8-HANDED

AUSMUS MISCLICK BEGINS SURGE TO TITLE OVER RECORD FIELD
Only a couple of days after Triton set a new attendance record, the tour broke it again — and American pro Jeremy Ausmus destroyed the near 400-strong field to begin his Triton trophy haul, and add to his six WSOP bracelets.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jeremy Ausmus, USA – $1,892,000
2 – Zhou Quan, China – $1,193,000
3 – Sim Kok Wai, Malaysia – $855,000
4 – Alexander Seibt, USA – $680,000
5 – Maksim Vaskresenski, Belarus – $532,000

391 entries | Prize pool: $9,775,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #2 – $20,000 NLH 8-HANDED

FANTASTIC MR FOO: MALAYSIAN AMATEUR DOWNS PROS
In another enormous field in Jeju, another Triton first-timer, Malaysia’s Tuck Wai Foo, struck gold to win more than $1.3 million and deny Mario Mosböck what would have been his third Triton title

Top five finishers:
1 – Tuck Wai Foo, Malaysia – $1,350,000
2 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $856,000
3 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $619,000
4 – Michael Gathy, Belgium – $501,000
5 – Ren Lin, China – $396,000

348 entries | Prize pool: $6,960,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #1 – $15,000 NLH 8-HANDED

ZHAO CONVERTS THREE-DAY LEAD INTO FAMOUS WIN
He came to Jeju mainly to play golf, but Zhao Hongjun’s diversion to the Triton poker room instead of the 1st tee ended up earning the Chinese recreational player an $818,000 payday and a first title in the largest Triton tournament held to date.

Top five finishers:
1 – Zhao Hongjun, China – $818,000*
2 – Yuzhu Wang, China – $975,000*
3 – Zhen Chen, China – $497,000
4 – Paulius Plausinaitis, Lithuania – $395,000
5 – Weiran Pu, China – $309,000

*denotes heads-up deal

379 entries | Prize pool: $5,685,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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On a poker tour where everything is almost always the biggest and the best, the Portuguese pro Joao Vieira tonight hit a new career high in the richest $150,000 buy-in poker tournament the Triton Super High Roller Series has ever seen.

Vieira finished runner-up to Alex Foxen in the Main Event of Triton’s December trip to the Bahamas, but came back to the tour here in Jeju, South Korea and went one place better. Vieira outlasted a final table of sublime quality, also featuring the aforementioned Foxen, to take the top prize of $4.61 million.

It had been his game-plan all along.

“When I left home, my dad told me, ‘There’s only one place to improve’,” Vieira said as he reflected on his success. “So I just listened to what he said and I tried to go for the win.”

He added, “Obviously it was a great score, the second place to Alex Foxen. But obviously I wanted to improve, but I didn’t expect it to be right away.”

His final opponent tonight was the Latvian No 1 Aleks Ponakovs, and Vieira will be the first to admit that one fortunate hand in particular helped him past Ponakovs. Vieira won an enormous heads-up cooler with coming from behind to beat , and that propelled Vieira back into a dominant chip lead.

But Vieira, 40, had also been the dominant force during the first two days of this event in the Landing Casino, and he carried the chip-lead into the final table of eight, with the rest of the 128-entry field defeated.

“We’ve been doing this a long, long time,” Vieira said, adding that he started playing poker with “not very much” and built up his bankroll and reputation that he could play on the leading series in the world. “Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. This was one of those days when things just went my way.”

He added: “Sometimes all you can do is work really hard. Just do your best and try to get into the position to get lucky. If the deck likes you, the deck likes you. If the deck doesn’t like you, just go home and try again.”

Vieira was hugely complimentary of Ponakovs’ game, admitting that he knew he would be up against it with the aggressive Latvian to his left. “I know he plays really well,” Vieira said. “When you’re a chip leader and you’re trying to bully, he won’t let you.”

But the dealer was tonight on Vieira’s side. “I just got quite lucky in the key spots.”

Few will begrudge Vieira this victory. And Ponakovs’ day will surely come. He has a runner-up prize of $3.139 million as consolation.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The biggest buy-in event on the schedule might have meant a smaller, more exclusive field. But it doesn’t work like that on the Triton Poker Series, where the policy is strictly the bigger, the better. With registration open to the start of the second day, a remarkable 128 entries came through the registers, building a prize pool of $19.2 million.

The corresponding event here in Jeju last year brought 117 entries, so once again a new mark was set.

There was high drama as the bubble approached, with Samuel Mullur taking an enormous tumble from sixth in chips to just one big blind with 22 players still involved.

The money kicked in at 20th, but Mullur took a solver-approved stand with in a five-bet pot against Wang Ye. That final bet, which came from Muller, applied maximum pressure on Ye. But the Chinese player was at the very top of his range with aces. He called, Mullur missed, and the Austrian pro was now in grave peril.

On a neighbouring table, Stephen Chidwick, the other sub-10 blind stack in the room, got his chips in with and ran into Danny Tang’s . Tang won that to leave the field now on the stone bubble, but Mullur’s solitary blind was already in the middle next door.

Attention therefore switched back to him, and he was in danger with against Orpen Kisacikoglu’s pocket tens. Kisacikoglu flopped a set and Mullur was out. The rest of the field was in the money.

This was especially good news for Kisacikoglu because he was still a short stack, despite busting Mullur. He lasted only a couple more hands before losing everything to Kiat Lee. This one was Kisacikoglu’s running into Lee’s aces. The min-cash added $249,000 to Kisacikoglu’s ledger.

With a buy-in so large, anyone even playing the event was likely to be one of the world’s best, which inevitably meant that those players busting would be household names as well. Patrik Antonius, Isaac Haxton, Dan Dvoress and Danny Tang took a tumble in the money but before the final, and then as the field constricted even more, fan favourite Phil Ivey was one of the players at real risk.

Ivey survived a couple of skirmishes that might have ended his tournament, but he then lost 70 percent of his stack by doubling up Ben Tollerene ( losing to Tollerene’s ), before the two got their stacks in again.

This time, there was a third wheel: Joao Vieira, who had both Tollerene and Ivey comfortably covered. Ivey’s and Tollerene’s were both trailing Vieira’s red pocket tens when all the money went in pre-flop. They never caught up and Vieira sent both of them packing. Ivey was officially 10th and Tollerene ninth. It meant the last eight were heading to the final table.

Final table line-up:

Joao Vieira — 5,275,000 (53 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs — 3,350,000 (34 BBs)
Ding Biao — 3,275,000 (33 BBs)
Kiat Lee — 3,150,000 (32 BBs)
Ye Wang — 3,100,000 (31 BBs)
Dan Smith — 2,900,000 (29 BBs)
Fedor Holz — 2,875,000 (29 BBs)
Alex Foxen — 1,675,000 (17 BBs)

It was, by any standards, a mouthwatering final table line-up, with Triton TD Luca Vivaldi happy to introduce a table featuring four previous Triton winners with 10 titles between them, plus three of the highest ranking players who have never quite got over the line. China’s Ye Wang was the only player without a scintillating resume, but his growing list of results here in Jeju suggested he would soon be changing that.

As chip leader, Vieira began the final in relentless fashion, steadily extending his lead through the first 10 hands. He cracked Fedor Holz’s aces with , a pot that began something of a downward spiral for the German phenom. Alex Foxen doubled through Holz, with beating Holz’s pocket 10s, and all of a sudden, Holz had only a handful of blinds.

He picked up pocket eights and got the last of his chips in. Wang Ye found , made the call, and flopped a queen. That was the end of the line for Holz, who won $595,000 for eighth but continues the hunt for a fifth title.

Vieira and Aleks Ponakovs started the final table as the two biggest stacks, and that remained so through these opening exchanges. When Ponakovs won the next significant skirmish, the Latvian pulled up alongside the Portuguese at the very top.

The hand in question turned out to be the first that Ding Biao really played at the final table, as well as the last he would play in the tournament. Biao found pocket tens and three-bet Ponakovs’ UTG open. With the rest of the field folding, Ponakovs shoved and Biao called off.

Ponakovs had found pocket queens to put Biao in a world of hurt. The on the turn put him out of his misery for good. Biao took $807,000 for seventh, the last prize of less than $1 million.

Foxen was now the tournament short stack, and he lasted only a few more hands. Once again, the coup that forced an elimination featured pocket tens, but this time they were with Ponakovs. Foxen had and opened from early position. Ponakovs shoved the small blind with his tens and the covering stack, and Foxen called for all of it.

Once again, the dealer only helped Ponakovs. There was a ten on the flop and Ponakovs finished with a boat. Foxen departed in sixth for $1.076 million. He was aiming for a third title in a third consecutive Triton stop, but fell only a few places short.

Ponakovs was now a significant leader, and he only got richer. On the very next hand, he picked up pocket sevens on the button and, with two short stacks behind him in the blinds, open jammed. Kiat Lee found and must have loved his spot. He got his 15 blinds in, but again watched Ponakovs flop a set. Lee hit his ace, but it wasn’t enough.

Lee had celebrated his 33rd birthday yesterday as he battled to the 16th Triton final of his career, but just like the previous 15, he departed without a title. He won $1,372,000 for fifth.

Dan Smith came to this tantalising final table as the highest ranked player among all the assembled crushers, but card distribution didn’t give him a whole lot of options to build a stack. And then, when he was the short stack of the four left and Smith tried to get things moving, he found Wang Ye refusing to give him a break.

In three consecutive hands, Smith’s 12 blinds went to Ye. The last of them when Smith had the dominating but Ye’s turned a straight. Smith headed away from the table with a $1.708 million payout, not the third Triton title he was looking for, but enough to move him into fifth place in poker’s all time money list ahead of Jason Koon.

Smith was also the last former Triton champion to depart, ensuring yet another new winner on the Triton Series, the 117th on the tour.

Ponakovs had the stack now to start turning the screw. As Wang slipped to below 15 blinds, Vieira will have started feeling a little bit of ICM pressure. The pay-jump between second and third was more than $1 million, which meant Vieira’s 40 blind stack could be attacked by Ponakovs.

Wang, of course, was looking for a spot to get everything in and he managed to double up twice in fairly quick succession. He had 12 blinds when he got his stack in again, but this time got unlucky to bust when a third double would have made him a challenger.

Ponakovs, with 34 blinds, shoved the small blind holding . Wang woke up with in the big blind and made the obvious call. But the queen on the flop was a dagger blow to Wang. He couldn’t recover and left the tournament looking for a career-best $2,074,000 payday.

The last two players left were the two who had topped the counts at the beginning of the day. They were two very familiar figures in world poker, with great results on the Triton Series too. But crucially neither had ever got their hands on a trophy.

Ponakovs led by 46 blinds to 39 and sat down to play it out without even the slightest consideration of a deal. And maybe they both ended up regretting that decision as the heads-up duel got off to an explosive start.

On the very first hand of heads-up, Ponakovs found and opened. Vieira then looked down at and put in a three-bet. Ponakovs four-bet jammed and Vieira called off, with the potential for an immediate end to the tournament.

But the best hand this time did not hold up. Vieira spiked a jack on the flop (as well as an ace) and rivered another one, going from worst to first. All of a sudden, the dynamic was on its head. Ponakovs had nine blinds to Vieira’s 77.

Ponakovs gave himself a fighting chance with an almost immediate double back, when his this time stayed best against Vieira’s . Vieira still had more than a three-to-one lead, but there was hope for the Latvian.

It didn’t last all that long, however. The next time they were all in, it was when Ponakovs had and had flopped middle pair with a board of . But Vieira had pocket nines and faded any danger through turn and river.

It was good for that sensational $4.6 million payday.

RESULTS

Event #9 – $150,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 5-7, 2025
Entries: 128 (inc. 45 re-entries)
Prize pool: $19,200,000

1 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $4,610,000
2 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $3,139,000
3 – Wang Ye, China – $2,074,000
4 – Dan Smith, USA – $1,708,000
5 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $1,372,000
6 – Alex Foxen, USA – $1,076,000
7 – Ding Biao, China – $807,000
8 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $595,000

9 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $460,000
10 – Phil Ivey, USA – $384,000
11 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $384,000
12 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $337,000
13 – Tan Xuan, China – $337,000
14 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $307,000
15 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $307,000
16 – Enrico Camosci, Italy – $278,000
17 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $278,000
18 – Vladimir Minko, UK – $249,000
19 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $249,000
20 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $249,000

Late last night on the Triton Super High Roller Series, poker reporters had drafted article describing Bryn Kenney’s latest major success. But an unlikely comeback by Mario Mosbock denied Kenney a fifth Triton title and the press corps reached for their DELETE buttons.

Tonight, they’re delving into their drafts folder and rescuing those spiked reports. It’s not even 24 hours later and Kenney is indeed a five-time Triton winner, having taken down the $50,000 NLH Bounty Quattro Turbo in characteristic swashbuckling style.

“Sick,” Kenney said as he took off his sunglasses and stacked up the last chips, won from Spanish pro Jon Ander Vallinas. “Good to be lucky,” Kenney added.

There’s no doubting he had the run of the cards when things got shove-heavy in the late short-stacked stages, but Kenney is truly in a class of his own.

Already the all time winningest player in all documented poker tournaments, and streets ahead on the Triton Series, Kenney added another $1.319 million for this success, a total that included $480,000 in bounties. He knocked out seven opponents, taking each of their $60,000 bounties, and of course got to keep his own as well.

There’s seemingly nothing left to achieve for this phenomenon from Long Beach, New York. And yet he always manages to find something else.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With the bounty format, this one was always going to be fast and fun. In they came, and out they went. Nothing took very long.

True to form, the bubble burst in a blink of an eye with Michael Soyza, Punnat Punsri and James Hopkins getting all their chips in on a flop of . Hopkins had the fewest chips but he also had the best hand, pocket jacks, against Punsri’s and Soyza’s .

However, the turn vaulted Punsri into the lead, and it looked like becoming a double bust-out. But then Soyza found a miracle two-outer to go from worst to first. Hopkins was out on the stone bubble and Punsri took a massive hit. He was first out in the money, earning $55,000.

An hour or so later, they reached the final — and this was another really beautiful line-up, with Jon Ander Vallinas and Bryn Kenney heading the field.

Final table line-up:

Jon Ander Vallinas – 5,400,000 (54 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 4,150,000 (42 BBs)
Michael Soyza – 2,600,000 (26 BBs)
Brandon Wilson – 1,925,000 (19 BBs)
Leon Sturm – 1,525,000 (15 BBs)
Yang Chongxian – 1,350,000 (14 BBs)
Erik Seidel – 775,000 (8 BBs)
Stephen Chidwick – 700,000 (7 BBs)
Chance Kornuth – 375,000 (4 BBs)

As always, stacks were extremely shallow, but all these guys know their ranges and there’s absolutely no guarantee things get done quickly. Plenty of these Triton turbos have turned into a forensic examination of top-level poker skills, fascinating viewing for anyone prepared to stick around late into the night.

For all that, Stephen Chidwick, Chance Kornuth and Erik Seidel had their work really cut out with fewer than 10 big blinds each. And they were the first three out, with Seidel following Chidwick, who followed Kornuth.

Kornuth had pocket eights and jammed into Vallinas’ pocket jacks. He actually flopped a set, but Vallinas ended up with a flush. Kornuth won $84,700.

Chidwick had six blinds when he had and three-bet shoved over Kenney’s open raise. Kenney called with pocket threes and Chidwick couldn’t hit. Chidwick won $115,500 for eighth.

Seidel then got his chips in good. He jammed with and Vallinas looked him up with . The on the turn ended things for Seidel, who won $151,500.

Leon Sturm was the next to take the fall, and it was Kenney’s turn again to take the final chips. Most of Sturm’s stack had gone to Soyza in a pocket queens vs. collision when Soyza hit a king and also took some chips from Vallinas.

But on Sturm’s final hand, he only had one blind and limped from under the gun with . Soyza called too from the button. Kenney found in the small blind and raised to get Soyza out of it. Sturm whiffed and Kenney picked up the bounty. Sturm won $192,300 for sixth.

Brandon Wilson has been a revelation here in Jeju this week, making three final tables from his first trip to the tour. Here he was once again at final table and, having finishing in seventh and sixth in his previous outings, he continued the sequence with a fifth-placed finish.

Wilson’s last seven blinds went in with but he ran into Yang Chongxian’s . There was no help, and Wilson was out for $246,000.

The state of the tournament was such that any two decent hands meant an inevitable all-in confrontation, and the next two landed in the hands of Soyza and Kenney. Soyza had pocket sevens and Kenney . Kenney won this flip when two aces flopped.

Soyza won $307,000 and had two bounties as well.

Kenney was now the only player left who had already sampled victory on the Triton Series, and the other two quickly found out just how he does it. Yang had slipped to five blinds when he jammed and Kenney called with his Doyle Brunson tribute: . Nobody hit anything, so Kenney’s ten won the day.

Yang earned $378,000 plus $120,000 in bounties.

Spanish pro Vallinas was now the only player who could potentially stop the Kenney juggernaut, but his resistance lasted one hand.

Kenney opened with and Vallinas jammed with . Kenney picked him off and flopped a queen. That was the end of that.

Kenney was full of praise for the table presence and the game of Vallinas, who he has never crossed swords with before. This Spanish player has impressed everyone here already this week, and was at his third final on a first trip to Triton. He has another $577,000 plus $240,000 in bounties.

But, well, his sharp learning curve today took another upward spike. He’s faced off against the Triton GOAT. And we’re all celebrating Kenney once again tonight.

RESULTS

Event #10 – $50,000 NLH Bounty Quattro
Dates: March 6, 2025
Entries: 95 (inc. 26 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,700,000 (inc. $1,440,000 in bounties)

1 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $1,319,000 (inc. $480,000 in bounties)
2 – Jon Ander Vallinas, Spain – $817,000 (inc. $240,000 in bounties)
3 – Yang Chongxian, China – $498,000 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
4 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $427,000 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
5 – Brandon Wilson, USA – $486,000 (inc. $240,000 in bounties)
6 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $252,300 (inc. $60,000 in bounties)
7 – Erik Seidel, USA – $151,500
8 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $115,500
9 – Chance Kornuth, USA – $84,700
10 – Seth Davies, USA – $128,500 (inc. $60,000 in bounties)
11 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $68,500
12 – David Yan, New Zealand – $180,500 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
13 – Teun Mulder, Netherlands – $180,500 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
14 – Chris Brewer, USA – $55,500
15 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $55,500

Sean Winter, of the United States, tonight put the freeze on Mikita Badziakouski’s hopes of a sixth title on the Triton Super High Roller Series, instead laying waste to a 223-entry field and claiming the first Triton win of his own.

This was the $40,000 Mystery Bounty tournament, which played to its official winner late on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) before allocating the second half of the $8.92 million prize pool in the bounty drawing ceremony a day later. Winter secured $935,000 for finishing first, and added a further $140,000 from his three bounties for a total $1.075 million score.

Regardless of the bounties, nothing will change the core central fact: Winter is the champion after surviving an incredibly tough final table and a tense, short-stacked, late night shootout at the end. Badziakouski, the runner up, locked up $630,000 as both played sublime poker into the early hours at the Landing Casino, Jeju. Badziakouski’s seven bounties earned him a further $420,000 as he crossed $1 million earnings from the tournament as well.

“The whole vibe, the atmosphere, it’s the best place to play,” a happy champion said of the Triton Poker Series.

Winter has been visiting Triton since 2023 and has nine previous final tables appearances. But until tonight, he’s never managed to get over the line, a fact he admitted has been playing on his mind.

“This feels particularly good because it’s 3x as long as it’s been since I won a poker tournament,” Winter said, discussing what is, for him, a barren spell. “It’s been bothering me. I’ve had a lot of seconds and thirds. It’s a monkey off my back.”

Here he won a crucial flip from Badziakouski at the mid-point of final table action and stayed afloat through some choppy late stages. “Mikita is a great player,” Winter added, paying tribute to the man who might have landed a sixth title, but will have to wait for that day to come.

Those two were the final pairing after other titans including Jeremy Ausmus, Ben Tollerene and Matthias Eibinger had departed from a characteristically accomplished final table. Of them, Eibinger was the man picking up most of the bounties, ending with 10 and a half. That eventually meant he added $750,000 more to his prize and finished with $1.113 million.

However, the tournament’s biggest winner ended up becoming Lithuania’s Matas Cimbolas, whose six bounties landed him an extraordinary haul of $1.08 million. His partner Greta did the honours of pulling the bounties and she managed to find not only the single biggest prize, of $500,000, but two separate bounties of $200K apiece and a third of $100K. It was an incredible haul, and gave Cimbolas $1.151 million from a tournament in which he finished 12th.

Here’s how it played out:

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The Mystery Bounty event plays out with what amounts to two separate bubble periods, and in this particular event they were spread over two days.

The first moment of significant interest occurs at the point the field is reduced to 25 percent and the bounties come into play. That coincided with the end of Day 1 here, and when the 56th-ranked player hit the rail. It was, in this instance, Yang Chongxian, whose departure brought the curtain down on the first day of play.

The second bubble is more conventional, the point at which regular prize-paying begins. The payouts began at 34 here in this tournament, which meant it was Punnat Punsri’s departure in 35th that brought the rest of the field into the money.

Punsri, a two-time Triton champion, had a healthy stack of 52 big blinds entering the critical bubble period, and finding tried to lay a trap with a pre-flop limp. Matas Cimbolas, with another deep stack, seemed to fall into it, raising from the small blind.

Klemens Roiter, who had also limped, called Cimbolas’s bet, which just gave Punsri extra interest. He sprang the trap and jammed for all of it. Cimbolas had pocket nines and decided to call with the dominating stack. Punsri needed to hit. He didn’t. And with that, the Thai fighter was on the rail as Cimbolas soared to the overall lead.

Flash forward a few hours and the final table was in sight. But Cimbolas was among those who had seen his stack dwindle to around 25 big blinds, and it was his turn to get his chips in under threat. He was in good shape, however.

In a three-way coup, his pocket kings were ahead of both Rokas Asipauskas’s and Mikita Badziakouski’s . But the dealer put an ace on the flop and Badziakouski scored a double knockout, taking the field down to 11. By this point, other top talents including Phil Ivey, Adrian Mateos and Chris Brewer were similarly seated in another tournament.

The eight-handed final table was eventually set at around 8.30pm local time, with the elimination of Eelis Parssinen at the hands of Matthias Eibinger.

Meanwhile Badziakouski still the big stack. The line up looked like this:

Mikita Badziakouski – 9,925,000 (66 BBs)
Ding Biao – 7,625,000 (51 BBs)
Klemens Roiter – 5,875,000 (39 BBs)
Jeremy Ausmus – 5,575,000 (37 BBs)
Sean Winter – 5,150,000 (34 BBs)
Ben Tollerene – 4,050,000 (27 BBs)
Matthias Eibinger – 3,650,000 (24 BBs)
Kahle Burns – 2,725,000 (18 BBs)

Keen Triton watchers will notice a few intriguing sub-plots developing here, with plenty of established forces making a familiar run at glory. Arguably the most enticing was the prospect of Jeremy Ausmus extending his hot streak into a second win within a week, but it was also exciting to see Badziakouski, one of the earliest Triton forces, looking for yet another title seven years since his first.

Kahle Burns is also a former Triton winner and has had a successful return to the tour after a couple of years away. This was his second final table and fourth cash of the week. But just like his previous appearance, he could go no further than eighth as he became the first knocked out from this final.

Burns had 18 big blinds and , with which he called Matthias Eibinger’s cutoff open from the button. Burns flopped top pair after the dealer put the on the table and after Eibinger stabbed, Burns was all in.

Eibinger had for the nut flush draw and an over card. The turn ended the contest and sent Burns out in eighth. He won $115,000, plus the $220,000 he pulled in bounties.

Remember those two sub-plots mentioned earlier? The next significant hand ended one of them, while strengthening the claims of the other. This was a huge clash between Ausmus and Badziakouski, with Ausmus this time landing on the receiving end of some punishment.

Ausmus looked down at pocket jacks and opened from early position. After action folded to Badziakouski in the big blind, he defended with and found a world of possibility on the flop. He had top pair plus a straight draw and led out.

Ausmus, who started the hand with 37 blinds, raised with his overpair. Badziakouski stuck in a three-bet and Ausmus jammed. Badziakouski called off.

It was a turn for the worst for Ausmus, but the didn’t quite yet mean he was drawing dead. The river did, however, as Badziakouski finished with a full house and a precious bounty to boot. It ended the hopes of world poker’s in form player as well, with Ausmus forced to settle for $157,000 this time, plus $40,000 in bounties.

Badziakouski was now more dominant than ever. He had the only stack larger than average and was in the privileged position of seeing his opponents jostling under ICM pressure, knowing he was the only one who had them all covered.

Ding managed to double up with , which is always one for the stream viewers to celebrate. But it wasn’t for much. When Sean Winter managed it, however, it was for a real chunk and the hand — besting — put Winter all but level at the top.

It also allowed Winter to have the chips to bust Ding not long later, when Winter’s flopped two pair and Ding’s had an open-ended straight draw. Stacks went in at this point, but Ding whiffed. It gave the bounty to Winter and Ding earned $218,000.

Klemens Roiter had occupied the short-stack role for a while, but picked his spots well to put in a number of shoves and chip up. That left Tollerene in trouble and when he and Roiter butted heads, Roiter had the covering stack. Tollerene’s led Roiter’s , but the flop ran all diamonds. Roiter’s six-card flush was best for the bounty. Tollerene took $287,000.

When they went on a break, Winter led with 42 blinds. Badziakouski had 28. Roiter had 27 and Eibinger 14.

Eibinger may have had the shortest stack, but he already had 10.5 bounties, worth a minimum of $40,000 apiece, which all but guaranteed another half million to his total. And when he was the next player to double up, with beating Roiter’s , he will have had eyes on further riches.

However, Roiter also doubled up again soon after, through Badziakouski, which put the Austrian closest to Winter at the top. This was a tough one for Badziakouski, who agonised for ages over whether to call Roiter’s shove, holding . He decided to put the chips in, but was way behind Roiter’s , a hand that held.

This was becoming one of those late night, short stack battles, the kind so relished by the whiz kids who grew up playing hyper-turbos online. But any mistakes could be super costly.

Eibinger is the poster boy of that kind of player, whose first Triton title came in a crazy turbo event in Cyprus a few years ago. But he ended up losing a race to Roiter to bust from this one, three-bet jamming the small blind after Winter’s open, with Roiter waking up in the big blind holding . Winter folded and Eibinger tabled his . He lost the flip.

Eibinger guaranteed himself $363,000, and earned more than double that in the bounty pulling ceremony. His tally ended past $1 million.

Badziakouski was back on the ropes, but scored a double through Winter when his went runner-runner flush to beat Winter’s , with the latter flopping two pair. Badziakouski doubled through Roiter a few hands later, with holding against . With that, Badziakouski was back in the lead, by the matter of two blinds. He had 27 to Roiter and Winter’s 24 apiece.

Winter nosed ahead, but then Badziakouski busted Roiter to leap ahead once more. This was a really close one: the dealer had to count and re-count stacks before establishing for certain that Badziakouski’s stack was larger than Roiter’s. His was always ahead of Roiter’s , however. And that was the end for the Austrian.

He took $441,000 and added another $280,000 in bounties.

There were now 56 blinds in play, plus two more bounties, and Badziakouski sat with 31 blinds against Winter’s 25. Both these two had been in this situation before and it was far from certain to end imminently.

The pair duly traded blows for around an hour more, with the blinds escalating to the point that there were fewer than 40 in play. Then with stacks level once more, they played the first significant pot, with Winter’s flopping trips and Badziakouski paying off a check-raise on the flop, then a massive river bet.

Badziakouski had eight blinds to Winter’s 30, and the next significant hand was decisive. Badziakouski jammed preflop with and Winter called with .

Badziakouski called for diamonds, but the dealer gave him hope another way. The flop came . He now had a straight draw, but the turn and river were only good for Winter.

And that was that….Until that spectacular bounty ceremony shook it all up again..

RESULTS

Event #7 – $40,000 NLH Mystery Bounty
Dates: March 3-4, 2025
Entries: 223 (inc. 74 re-entries)
Prize pool: $8,920,000 (inc. $4,460,000 in bounties)

1 – Sean Winter, USA – $935,000 (+$140,000 in bounties)
2 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $630,000 (+$420,000 in bounties)
3 – Klemens Roiter, Austria – $441,000 (+$280,000 in bounties)
4 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $363,000 (+$750,000 in bounties)
5 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $287,000
6 – Ding Biao, China – $218,000 (+ $260,000 in bounties)
7 – Jeremy Ausmus, USA – $157,000 (+$40,000 in bounties)
8 – Kahle Burns, Australia – $115,000 (+$220,000 in bounties)

9 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $94,000
10 – Ryuta Nakai, Japan – $80,000
11 – Manuel Fritz, Austria – $80,000 (+$80,000 in bounties)
12 – Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania – $71,000 (+$1.08 million in bounties)
13 – Rokas Asipauskas, Lithuania – $71,000 (+$80,000 in bounties)
14 – Ivan Zhang, China – $63,000 (+$60,000 in bounties)
15 – Tom Vogelsang, Netherlands – $63,000 (+$120,000 in bounties)
16 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $56,000 (+$320,000 in bounties)
17 – Phil Ivey, USA – $56,000
18 – Wang Yang, China – $49,000 (+$40,000 in bounties)
19 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong – $49,000 (+$130,000 in bounties)
20 – Chris Brewer, USA – $49,000
21 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $44,000
22 – Nikita Kuznetcov, Russia – $44,000
23 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $44,000
24 – Joey Weissman, USA – $39,000
25 – Boris Angelov, Bulgaria – $39,000
26 – Marius Kudzmanas, Lithuania – $39,000
27 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $39,000 (+$80,000 in bounties)
28 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $35,000
29 – Emilien Pitavy, France – $35,000
30 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $35,000 (+$100,000 in bounties)
31 – Charistoph Vogelsang, Germany – $35,000
32 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $35,000
33 – Gytis Lazauninkas, Lithuania – $35,000
34 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $35,000

Other bounty winners:

Punnat Punsri – $160,000 in bounties
Daniel Rezai – $60,000 in bounties
Nakai Ryuta – $40,000 in bounties

Despite one of the most glittering resumes in world poker, Jeremy Ausmus is only an occasional visitor to the Triton Super High Roller Series. But just like pretty much every other leading player in the world, Ausmus headed to Jeju this week to play in this record-shattering stop–a decision he is surely now happy he took.

Under the watchful eye of his friend and countryman Jason Koon, Ausmus tonight managed to take down his maiden Triton title, earning $1.892 million for victory in this $25,000 buy-in hold’em event.

But this was not just any $25K. It was the biggest ever held on the Triton Series, with 391 entries. Ausmus eventually gathered all of their chips to add Triton gold to his six WSOP bracelets and fill an otherwise prominent space on his mantlepiece.

“It’s amazing,” Ausmus, 45, told reporters after his sealing his success. He explained that he lives in Las Vegas and tends to be happy to live his life close to home. “It’s a lot for me to come overseas for a series,” he said. “But I saw how big Jeju was last year and thought, ‘I’ve gotta go next time.'”

This was a characteristically composed and professional performance from Ausmus, who needed to contend with the usual swings and volatility of a Triton Series event.

Ironically, his one major blunder ended up working in his favour, and quite possibly saving his tournament. Sitting with pocket kings, with 23 people left, Ausmus put out the wrong size for a raise and was forced only to call. Luckily for him, this “misclick” was perfectly timed. His opponent had aces and Ausmus was able to get away when two more aces came on the board.

Ausmus admitted his mistake and pointed to jetlag and tiredness. The rest of his game was pretty much flawless, however, including during a wild short-stacked finale against the Chinese star Zhou Quan, who finished second, narrowly missing out on a second title of his own.

The final also featured a spectacular performance from another American, whose name on official documentation is Alexander Seibt, but who is known far and wide as Wolfgang Poker, one of the most popular content creators in the game. Seibt is playing for the first time in the high stakes arena, but made it all the way to a fourth-place finish that will delight his many fans.

But this one was, in the end, all about Ausmus, a player clearly well-equipped for everything the Triton Series can throw at him.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With the Triton Jeju festival still recovering from the record-breaking attendance of Event 1, players in Event 3 showed up to raise the bar once again. This time, the 228 unique players added a further 163 re-entries to create this absolute monster, with the dizzy heights of a 400-entry field surely only a matter of time.

The crazed period of entries and re-entries on Day 1 gave way to a more measured Day 2, with the 73 returning players aiming not to be among the 10 who would leave without getting paid. But that proved to be impossible for multiple Triton champions Dan Dvoress, Mikita Badziakouski and Alex Foxen, among others, with the latter bursting on the stone bubble.

Foxen’s last 11 blinds went in pre-flop with the recent Triton Paradise champion holding pocket tens. Ding Biao had and flopped a pair of queens to sent Foxen out. The rest of the room sighed in relief and tried to ensure the biggest payday they could.

Roman Hrabec, Ben Tollerene, Stephen Chidwick, Punnat Punsri, Phil Ivey, Sam Smith, Steve O’Dwyer, Adrian Mateos and Ding were among those to fall before the final 20, with Patrik Antonius and Fedor Holz getting even closer but missing out on the biggest money.

It was past 9pm local time when Thomas Boivin went out in 10th, taking them to the official final. It was looking like another one of those long Triton nights before we’d identify the champion, not that you’d detect any fatigue from the nine who were still involved.

They stacked up as follows:

Shunjiro Kita — 15,950,000 (53 BBs)
Jeremy Ausmus — 14,400,000 (48 BBs)
Matthias Eibinger — 10,725,000 (36 BBs)
Maksim Vaskresenski — 10,425,000 (35 BBs)
Zhou Quan — 8,100,000 (27 BBs)
Paulius Vaitekunas — 6,325,000 (21 BBs)
Sim Kok Wai — 5,075,000 (17 BBs)
Alexander Seibt — 5,050,000 (17 BBs)
Aliaksandr Shylko — 2,225,000 (7 BBs)

The previous two final tables on this stop have both featured short stacks rising from the point of elimination to get themselves healthily back in the battle. But Aliaksandr Shylko wasn’t able to join that particular clique.

He was quickly put to a decision for his tournament life when Jeremy Ausmus shoved the small blind with a comfortably covering stack, and Shylko had and about a third of his stack in the middle already.

Shylko’s sweatshirt bore the slogan, “I did nothing, I just got lucky.” But here both contentions were untrue. He did something, he called. But he didn’t get lucky. The board was dry, which meant Ausmus’ remained in front.

Shylko’s first career Triton cash was for $178,000.

Things now took a turn for the volatile, with the chip lead changing hands multiple times. That meant others tumbled down the standings, even if there were precious few flops and fewer still called all-ins. But then three players picked up decent holdings all at once, and the very best of them — pocket aces, no less — landed in Zhou Quan’s hands.

The aces stayed good, which meant Shunjiro Kita, with , was sliced down to two big blinds. Meanwhile Matthias Eibinger, who had pocket nines, was heading out the door.

Eibinger is a three-time former Triton champion, but he is not yet adding to his haul. Instead, he has $222,000 to reinvest in the remainder of this tournament series.

As for Kita, his tournament didn’t last much longer. Two hands later, he picked up and got the last of his chips in against Paulius Vaitiekunas and Maksim Vaskresenski. Vaitiekunas made a small bet on the river to push Vaskresenski out of the pot, by which point his had made a straight.

Kita was out, taking $314,000.

Zhou’s big win had put him top of the leader board at this stage, but Jeremy Ausmus came roaring back. Having picked up pocket kings and surviving against pocket aces when there were still 23 players left (check out this wild hand if you haven’t already), Ausmus again found cowboys and made the most with them this time.

Vaitiekunas had pocket fours and three-bet shoved his button after Ausmus’ early position raise. Ausmus called of course and stayed good to double into a sizeable six-handed chip lead. The average stack was 16 big blinds now, with only Zhou joining Ausmus with more than that.

The skirmish with Ausmus had left Vaitiekunas on the ropes, and it was a position from which he could not recover. Though he doubled up once with , he then shoved with and ran into Zhou’s jacks. The big pocket pair ended up making a straight, but it was overkill. Vaitiekunas took $417,000 for sixth.

On the subject of overkill, the next elimination featured a little of that too, with Vaskresenski hitting the rail. Sim Kok Wai picked up pocket aces and made a standard raise, only then to see Vaskarenski jam his final six blinds in with .

The big pair was streets ahead already, and four diamonds on the board filled a flush for Wai. That left Vaskarenski chasing Vaitiekunas to the payouts desk, picking up $532,000 (and giving poker reporters’ CTRL+C/CTRL+V keys a break).

Only a day after Tuck Wai Foo had claimed a title for Malaysia, his countryman Wai was now at the top of a four-handed chip count. The prospect of lightning striking twice was very real, though the two Americans, Ausmus and Seibt were hardly going to roll over, and Zhou was the only player left who already had a Triton title. So he wasn’t going down without a fight either.

Zhou doubled through Wai to get back into action and leave Seibt as the man most in peril. And after being forced to fold his big blind, leaving him exceptionally short, Seibt made a mandatory shove with from the small blind after Ausmus raised the button.

Ausmus, with , made the call to put Seibt under threat. The on the flop was bleak for Seibt. The on the turn was terminal.

Nonetheless, the man known to millions of adoring fans as Wolfgang Poker Seibt pulled off the biggest achievement of his stellar career, picking up $680,000 for fourth place, approximately four times his previous documented tournament scores combined. No doubt plenty more attention is heading his way as well.

Ausmus now had another chance to turn the screw, sitting with a healthy three-handed chip lead. But it was Zhou who emerged from the shadows to knock out Wai and push himself back out front.

Despite a loud rail cheering his every move, and a pair of pocket kings, Wai ended up on the rail in third. He got very unlucky in his final hand as well, laying a trap from the small blind with those kings, and then calling Zhou’s shove. Zhou had only but finished with a straight.

The kings were beaten, Wai’s last 10 blinds went to Zhou, and we were heads up. Wai finished with $855,000 to his name.

The table was reset for the final two, with 49 big blinds between them, 30 of which were in Zhou’s pile. Ausmus had probably learnt enough about Zhou’s game by this point to know not to underestimate him, and though stacks were relatively short, there was still the chance of a decent battle here.

It nearly lasted only one hand. They got it in straight away, with Ausmus’ marginally behind Zhou’s . Jason Koon and Ben Tollerene came over to sweat with their friend Ausmus, and their combined 12 titles helped pull a queen from the dealer on the turn, plus a king on the river to complete Ausmus’ double up.

That then gave the American a two-to-one lead, and the next big flip was the decider. Ausmus had while Zhou had pocket threes. Ausmus flopped two pair and Zhou couldn’t catch up. Zhou took $1.193m for second, but the trophy is heading back to Vegas with Ausmus.

Event #3 – $25,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: February 28-March 2, 2025
Entries: 391 (inc. 163 re-entries)
Prize pool: $9,775,000

1 – Jeremy Ausmus, USA – $1,892,000
2 – Zhou Quan, China – $1,193,000
3 – Sim Kok Wai, Malaysia – $855,000
4 – Alexander Seibt, USA – $680,000
5 – Maksim Vaskresenski, Belarus – $532,000
6 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $417,000
7 – Shunjiro Kita, Japan – $314,000
8 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $222,000
9 – Aliaksandr Shylko, Belarus – $178,000

10 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $147,500
11 – Enrico Camosci, Italy – $147,500
12 – Peng Du, China – $128,000
13 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $128,000
14 – James Hopkins, Australia – $112,500
15 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $112,500
16 – Kahle Burns, Australia – $101,000
17 – Martin Zamani, USA – $101,000
18 – Vincent Huang, Australia – $91,000
19 – Stephen Song, USA – $91,000
20 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $91,000
21 – Ding Biao, China – $81,000
22 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $81,000
23 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $81,000
24 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $71,000
25 – Ebony Kenney, USA – $71,000
26 – Brock Wilson, USA – $71,000
27 – Dietrich Fast, Germany – $71,000
28 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $61,500
29 – Poseidon Ho, Taiwan – $61,500
30 – Park Yu Cheung, Hong Kong – $61,500
31 – Dan Smith, USA – $61,500
32 – Jon Ander Vallinas, Spain – $52,000
33 – Diogo Coelho, Portugal – $52,000
34 – Ryuta Nakai, Japan – $52,000
35 – Tom Vogelsang, Netherlands – $52,000
36 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $52,000
37 – Chance Kornuth, USA – $52,000
38 – Phil Ivey, USA – $52,000
39 – Justin Saliba, USA – $52,000
40 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $45,000
41 – Kristen Foxen, Canada – $45,000
42 – Issam Fayad, Lebanon – $45,000
43 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $45,000
44 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $45,000
45 – Georgios Sotiropoulos, Greece – $45,000
46 – Xue Song, China – $45,000
47 – Yang Chongxian, China – $45,000
48 – Johan Schultz-Pedersen, Denmark – $45,000
49 – Gytis Lazauninkas, Lithuania – $45,000
50 – Li Yuan, China – $45,000
51 – Zhen Chen, China – $45,000
52 – Nikita Kuznetcov, Russia – $45,000
53 – Paulius Plausinaitis, Lithuania – $45,000
54 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $45,000
55 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $45,000
56 – Stoyan Madanzhiev, Bulgaria – $41,500
57 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $41,500
58 – David Coleman, USA – $41,500
59 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $41,500
60 – Matthew Belcher, UK – $41,500
61 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $41,500
62 – Jingtao Jia, China – $41,500
63 – David Kaufmann, Germany – $41,500

Even on a tour where the unexpected seems to happen every day, yesterday’s incredible turnout for the first event of the Triton Poker Series’ trip to Jeju took everyone by surprise.

Never before has the tour required alternates. Never before has the tour needed to restrict players to a single re-entry. And that’s because a Triton Series event has never seen 379 entries — a number that broke the tour record by 72.

The very best news for everyone who loves this tour is that the field included so many new faces, players realising that the Triton Poker Series is clearly the place to be. No fewer than 111 players made their Triton Series debut in Event 1 here in Jeju, more than 40 percent of the 266 unique players.

It’s the cause for quiet celebration among the Triton family, both among those who focus on attracting established poker stars to the tour and those who aim to allow relatively new poker players to cut their teeth with Triton.

This field was stacked with newcomers from across the spectrum, including the well-known vloggers Frankie Cucchiara, Alexander Seibt and Ethan Yau, better known as “NextGenPoker”, “Wolfgang Poker” and “Rampage”, respectively. All three are among the most popular content creators in the industry, recognising that a trip to a Triton stop is the only inevitable next step, demanded by their hundreds of thousands of viewers.

Cucchiara made the money on his Triton debut, cashing in 56th place for $24,000, but arguably the most eye-catching play from a poker media figure in this tournament came from a man named Xu Wang, who works with poker influencers in Japan. (Wang himself if from China.)

Wang got involved in a huge pot on one of the feature tables against former WSOP Main Event champion, and Triton tournament winner, Espen Jorstad. Wang folded pocket kings to Jorstad’s five-bet jam, learning that Jorstad did indeed have the aces. Wang preserved his tournament life and became an instant star on the poker socials across the world.

🫣 @UhlenPoker may have nightmares about this one… pic.twitter.com/HRxPDmmERq

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) February 26, 2025

More than 50 of the Triton debutants made the trip to South Korea from China, but the tour also rolled out the red carpet for a select group of players from both Taiwan and Japan. These players won their passage to Jeju via qualification tournaments hosted in Taipei and Tokyo, which had buy-ins of only a fraction of the $15,000 normally required to sit down here.

Wong Ka Fai and Edward Yam won full packages to come to Jeju in the so-called “Road to Triton” satellites held at the Dream Room poker club in Taipei. The series of tournaments had a lowest buy-in of only $205, with hundreds of mainly recreational players taking a stab. The events offered a chance of a lifetime to low-stakes poker players: the opportunity to sample the high life of the Triton Series and rub shoulders with the elite.

Similar events in Tokyo, with buy-ins ranging from ¥300,000 to ¥1m ($2,000-$6,600 approx), resulted in Toshikazu Ishii, Ryosuke Tomuro and Kazuki Dobashi finding themselves on a plane from Japan to South Korea. They too can now call themselves Triton Poker Series players.

“We are always keen to develop strong local collaborations with so many passionate poker players across Asia,” said Lau Boon Cheng, Group Director, Strategy and Innovation for Triton. “We want to encourage grass-root players to sample the Triton experience.”

In poker, success breeds success. The startling turnout here will all but ensure further growth for the series, with all players realising the events are now too good to miss. For pros, they will look at the starting fields and believe there is too much value to pass up. Meanwhile recreational players will see similarly inexperienced peers having the time of their life — and very often picking up significant paydays — and want to join the party as well.

Yesterday’s report of the Triton Series breaking its attendance record will almost certainly be out of date very soon.

Find out more about the Road to Triton events in Japan and Taiwan.

Triton Newcomers in Jeju Event #1:

Shaoming Li – China
Yizhi Lin – China
WeiZhou Zha – China
Dawei Lu – China
Wen Yan Liao – China
Ryosuka Tomuro – Japan
Sergei Moiseev – Russia
Shouda Zhang – China
Xu Wang – China
Jingtao Jia – China
Xu Qiang – China
Congya Zhang – China
Karim Maekelberg – Belgium
Park Yu Cheung – Hong Kong
Andrija Robovic – Serbia
Ruida Hu – China
Zhincheng Miao – China
Zhang Yu – China
Haibo Yang – China
Jianwei Lin – China
Ka Fai Wong – Hong Kong
Jia Ou Yang – China
Viacheslav Balaev – Russia
Adrien Favre-Felix – France
Phanlert Sukonthachartnant – Thailand
Xi Xiang Luo – China
Manuel Fritz – Austria
Ying Song – China
Rania Nasreddine – USA
Toshikazu Ishii – Japan
Chungjian Feng – China
Martin Zamani – USA
Yilong Wang – China
Kazuki Dobashi – Japan
Si Ng Pun – Hong Kong
Johan Schultz-Pedersen – Denmark
Jing Yao Yan – China
Jia Ming Zhao – China
Mingcong Chen – China
Diogo Coelho – Portugal
Yu Gao – China
Jon Kyte – Norway
William Jia – Australia
Edward Yam – Hong Kong
Yu Zhang – China
Jon Ander Vallinas – Spain
Andre Marques – Portugal
Shunjiro Kita – Japan
David Kaufmann – Germany
Haiyang Yang – China
Defeng Liu – China
Tuck Wai Foo – Malaysia
Siew Yee – Malaysia
Mikael Andresson – Sweden
Bin Leng – China
Sergei Kharchenko – Russia
Jinlong Hu – China
Yuchung Chang – Taiwan
Alessio Isaia – Italy
Li Zhe – China
Yin Liu – China
Jiahe Lin – China
Kenny Hallaert – Belgium
Brandon Wilson – United States
Georgios Sotiropoulos – Greece
Yang Chongxian – China
Yuhan Liu – China
Ivan Deyra – France
Matthew Wakeman – Australia
Christopher Park – USA
Song Xue – China
Yuha Kita – Japan
Andrei Kotelnikov – Russia
Poseidon Ho – Taiwan
Bernhard Binder – Austria
Adam Hendrix – USA
Calvin Anderson – USA
Hui Chen – China
Shiina Okamoto – Japan
Ryuta Nakai – Japan
Alexander Seibt – USA
Vitalijs Zavorotnijs – Latvia
Anton Zhen Lu – Australia
Xiong Chen – China
Ethan Yau – USA
Fabian Bernhauser – Austria
Rudy Halim – Indonesia
Michael Gathy – Belgium
Haohui Ma – China
Zewei Xu – China
Aliaksandr Shylko – Belarus
Frank Cucchiara – USA
Yoda Lin – China
Jieming Xu – China
Haobo Zhu – China
Wenjie Huang – China
Jason Wong – UK
Rokas Asipauskas – Lithuania
Yongjia Lin – China
Zhen Chen – China
Xiaosheng Zheng – China
Sergei Petrushevskii – Russia
Yuzhu Wang – China
Hing Yang Chow – Malaysia
Chuen Co Chung – China
Issam Fayad – Lebanon
Kazuyuki Tanemura – Japan
Koichi Chiba – Japan
Jiaze Li – China

The Triton Poker Series’ latest visit to Jeju, South Korea, began with a enormous bang at the Landing Casino on Wednesday when organisers recorded 379 entries to the first event, a new attendance record for the tour.

The $15,000 buy-in no limit hold’em event kicked off an 18-day festival featuring 18 high-stakes tournaments — and players arrived in their droves. The turnout built a prize pool of $5,685,000, of which the champion will win $1,100,000.

The tournament plays to its conclusion on Thursday.

“We are all enormously happy to see the Triton Series break records yet again in Jeju,” said Triton CEO Andy Wong. “It’s always especially exciting to see so many new faces discovering Triton for the first time.”

He added: “We are extremely proud of the events we arrange, which we know are the best on offer in world poker. The number of players we continue to attract proves it, and it gives the whole team so much pleasure to see so many people enjoying the Triton experience. We know they will all be back.”

Wong joined Triton co-founders Paul Phua and Richard Yong at a spectacular opening ceremony outside the Landing Casino, where an incredible Dancing Lions show officially welcomed players to Triton Jeju.

The previous largest field on the Triton Series came at the same venue in March 2024, when there were 305 entries to a $25,000 buy-in event. The new record is all the more impressive in a tournament that permits only one re-entry. (More commonly, Triton events offer unlimited re-entries.)

The record-breaking field featured 266 unique players and 113 re-entries.

The top seven biggest fields in Triton Series history all came here in Jeju a year ago, including the only previous occasion on which the 300 barrier has been broken. That was for the $25,000 buy-in GG Million$ event, won by Mario Mosböck for $1.19 million — although Spain’s Sergio Aido, the official runner-up, took $1.24 million from a heads-up deal.

This festival runs until March 15, 2025 and features events in No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and Short Deck.

Full schedule:

February 26 – Event #1: $15,000 NLH 8-Handed Single Re-entry
February 27 – Event #2: $20,000 NLH 8-Handed
February 28 – Event #3: $25,000 NLH 8-Handed
March 1 – Event #5: $30,000 NLH 8-Handed
March 2 – Event #6: $25,000 NLH WPT Global Slam
March 3 – Event #7: $40,000 NLH 7-Handed Mystery Bounty
March 4 – Event #8: $50,000 NLH 7-Handed
March 5 – Event #9: $150,000 NLH 8-Handed
March 6 – Event #10: $50,000 NLH Bounty Quattro Turbo
March 7 – Event #11: $100,000 NLH Main Event
March 8 – Event #12: $125,000 NLH 7-Handed
March 9 – Event #13: $25,000 PLO 6-Handed
March 10 – Event #15: $50,000 PLO 6-Handed
March 11 – Event #16: $100,000 PLO Main Event
March 12 – Event #17: $30,000 PLO Bounty Quattro
March 13 – Event #18: $30,000 Short Deck
March 14 – Event #19: $50,000 Short Deck
March 15 – Event #20: $25,000 Short Deck Turbo