For the first time in Triton’s history, the 2020 season will encompass a Player of the Year (PoY) award.
The Triton Poker Series PoY program is independent of any other related poker rankings, and to compete for the honour of being the PoY, you must compete in Triton Poker Series live tournaments.
The journey to crown the first PoY champion begins on February 10 when the trident comes crashing down into the floor of the salubrious surroundings of the Landing Casino in Jeju, South Korea.
From there, players can accrue PoY points in a total of four stops. Montenegro (May 4-18), and London (Jul 29-Aug 13) are already in the calendar, meaning a Triton surprise is in the offing for autumn/winter.
The Cogs
PoY points are not transferable, meaning players cannot pass them from player to player. Final table deals will not alter the issuance of PoY points. Should a deal happen, including a decision to end the tournament immediately, then the Tournament Director (TD) will insist that the players conclude the competition for PoY points.
Cash games and restricted buy-in live tournament don’t count towards PoY points. A classic example of this would have been the 2019 Triton Million London: A Helping Hand for Charity, which was an ‘invite-only’ event.
Tournament Area
One of the things that the players love about Triton is their flexibility, and drive to put on a game if there are enough players interested in participating. With that in mind, the PoY points associated with new, non-scheduled games, and alterations to existing game structures will see Triton’s TD announce the PoY points structure in advance of the game.
The Formula
Triton reserves all rights to the formula created for Triton’s PoY campaign. The method allocates points based on finishing position and then multiplies those points by buy-in amount and the total number of entrants and re-entrants.
There are benefits for punctual players and those who fire multiple bullets. All players who register before the tournament starts, and join the game within the first level, receive an additional 2 points based on the multiplier shown in the below table.
Every entry and re-entry is worth 3 additional points and multiplied as per the below table. Every player who finishes in the money (ITM) will receive an additional 10-points. Finally, Each stop will reward a ‘Player of the Festival,’ and along with the bragging rights, Triton will issue them with 100 additional points.
The winner of the Triton PoY is declared at the end of the 2020 season, with the new PoY campaign beginning immediately after the end of the final 2020 event.
The Prize
Along with the claim that you outperformed the very best in the business throughout four challenging series, the winner will also pick up HKD 2,000,000 in prize money.
If 2019 was the year of anything, it was the year of the protester. A million people took to the streets of Hong Kong to protest the proposed Fugitive Offenders amendment bill. Algeria’s ‘Revolution of Smiles’ protests continued until President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, resigned from office on April 2, and the poker community threatened to take up chess if the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series didn’t put on more dazzling events.
Three Triton events captivated the poker community throughout 2019.
2-9 March – Jeju, South Korea.
5-17 May – Budva, Montenegro.
31 Jul – 8 Aug – London, England.
The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju had 8-events. The Montenegrin series extended that to 13, before the inaugural visit to London capped things off with an 8-event series, including the record-busting £1m buy-in, Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity, and it’s at that event that we begin our round-up of Top 5 Best Triton Moments of 2019.
After countless nights of grinding teeth, yanking hair, and itching armpits, Triton managed to do something unique in the poker world – host, a £1m buy-in No-Limit, Hold’em (NLHE) event with 54-entrants.
The event, held in the Hilton on Park Lane in London, broke several records, notably: largest prize pool outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event (£54m), the most significant buy-in (£1m), and the biggest single payout (Bryn Kenney, £16.9m).
The uniqueness of the event saw the pros and non-pros separated for the first six-levels. A non-pro had never won a 7-figure buy-in event that included pros, and that’s one of the things that makes Aaron Zang’s win standout.
Zang began life as a Magic The Gathering champion, and he defeated another former Magic champion, Bryn Kenney, heads-up, to win the title after the pair agreed upon a deal that saw Zang pocket £13,779,491, and Kenney £16,890,509.
When the field was down to five players, Zang, a cash game player, faced the combined might of three of the best NLHE tournament players in the world (Stephen Chidwick, Dan Smith, and Bryn Kenney).
“I don’t know what I am doing!” Said Zang during a break in play. “I just hope for a miracle.”
He’s too kind.
Zang overturned a 3:1 chip deficit, and a vast gap in tournament experience to become the first winner of the Triton Million.
The Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity was such a huge event; seven players could have replaced Justin Bonomo at the top of The Hendon Mob (THM) All-Time Money List if results went their way. It was a fact not lost on Bryn Kenney, who began the series in fourth place, needing an $11m score to hit the top spot.
Kenney was the only person singing from the swanky London rooftops that he would win the tournament, and take his rightful place at the top of the All-Time Money List. As the Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity tournament progressed, this race became a story within a story.
With four players left, three of them would still hit the top with a win, until Kenney eliminated two of them (Stephen Chidwick and Dan Smith), before eventually falling to Aaron Zang, heads-up.
The reason you see Kenney smiling so much after the event is he and Zang cut a deal that saw Kenney bank £16,890,509, the largest single prize dished out, ever, and a win that saw him reach $55,505,630 – good for the top spot.
Coming into 2019, Paul Phua sat second in the Malaysian All-Time Money List on THB with $5,116,041 in live tournament earnings, trailing his Triton partner, Richard Yong, by $6,232,651.
How long would it take Phua to overtake Yong?
Less than a year.
Despite starting to play poker in his mid-40s, Phua put in a tremendous run of consistency to feature in the money (ITM) 11 times, 16 lifetime, two more than his nearest rival, Jason Koon.
A typically humble Phua said his success boils down to his desire to compete in every single event. When you’re competing against the best in the world, you need more in your arsenal than merely showing up.
Ten of those 11 ITM finishes were final table appearances, finishing in the Top 3 spots on five occasions, with the only blot on his copybook a big fat zero in the registered wins column – a stat that won’t last long.
The most celebrated sportsmen in the world need a platform to anchor them so the whole world can see how great they truly are. For Jason Koon, that platform has been the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series.
Koon burst on the Triton scene when he conquered all in the 2018 event in Montenegro, winning the HKD 1m Short-Deck Main Event for $3.5m, as well as appearing in two of the largest-ever televised cash game pots in history.
Koon would later join Triton as their first brand ambassador, and in 2019, in Jeju, he blew everyone away like dandelion seeds on the end of the big bad wolf’s huff and puff, making four final tables, and winning two while gathering $4.6m in the process.
To date, Koon has won three titles (an honour he shares with Mikita Badziakouski and Wai Kin Yong), has finished ITM 14 times (only Paul Phua beats him with 16), and earned $12,334,232 in prize money.
Bryn Kenney appears for the second time thanks to his outstanding display in Triton’s event in Montenegro. It was a smash and grab performance by Kenney, who flew in to compete in a few games, before moving on to pastures new.
Kenney, who had complained that the buy-ins weren’t high enough for him, won the HKD 500,000 NLHE 6-Handed event, beating 79-entrants to capture the $1,431,376 first prize, before going on to outlast 75-entrants in the HKD 1m NLHE Main Event for $2,713,859.
The two wins came two months after the heartbreak of losing to Timothy Adams in the heads-up stage of the HKD 2m NLHE Main Event in Jeju, where he picked up another $3m. Kenney also finished 4/81 in the HKD 500,000 NLHE 6-Handed event for $500,000.
Nobody has earned more money on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series than Kenney, with $30,373,405 in prize money accrued over 7 ITM finishes.
The best pros in the business understand that the only metric for success is to play each hand optimally. If they can avoid the twisted ankle of tilt dragging them away from this ideal, then they can sleep well at night safe in the knowledge that the Poker Gods will do whatever the Poker Gods will do.
In 2019, the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series scorched across the horizon with a program of high stakes cash games and tournaments the poker world had never seen.
The best pros.
The best non-pros.
The highest stakes.
Intensity.
Pose.
Joy.
It had it all.
Trying to dilute this pack of dogs into five pedigree hands was challenging. In doing so, we wanted to show the intensity, pose and joy that’s present when Triton puts on a show.
We think we did a good job.
Of the chosen hands, three of them involved Mikita Badziakouski. The Belarusian is one of only three players to have won three Triton titles (joining Jason Koon and Wai Kin Yong). He is also the only player to win back-to-back No Limit-Hold’em (NLHE) Main Events (Jeju and Montenegro) and has amassed $11.8m playing on the Triton Series. Two of the hands involved Stephen Chidwick, one of the best proponents of NLHE tournaments in the world, and you see why.
The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series hosts the biggest cash games in the world, and two of these hands came from those sessions: one NLHE, and the other Short-Deck, with Montenegro and Jeju the settings.
The most compelling hands come from the Triton Million London: A Helping Hand for Charity. When you pay £1m to play in a tournament, it stretches you both mentally and technically. The confrontations between Stephen Chidwick and Sam Trickett, and Stephen Chidwick and Vivek Rajkumar bust lungs considering the consequences of making the wrong decision.
Here are our five favourite hands of the 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series – big bad bluffs, hero calls, and even a classic Royal.
There
was once a time when even the most experienced poker trackers would find it
challenging to sniff out a high stakes tournament that sent shivers down your
spine. Today, trackers don’t need to look out for broken twigs and the soles of
expensive Dolce Gabbana slippers. High stakes poker is like sand on a beach;
yet only one tournament series builds castles upon castles.
In
2019, the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series hit unprecedented heights. The
greatest players in the world, joined by the most ambitious non-pros in the
world, skipped along the yellow brick road from Jeju to London via Montenegro,
winning and losing millions in the process.
Triton’s
ambassador, Jason Koon, dominated Jeju, March 2019, winning the HKD 1m
Short-Deck and HKD 1m Refresh for a combined haul of $3.8m. There were wins for
Timofey Kuznetsov, Michael Soyza and Devan Tang. Timothy Adams won the HKD 2m
No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Main Event for $3.5m.
Adams
defeated Bryn Kenney to win that Main Event title. Despite collecting $3m for
his runner-up finish, Adams left Kenney feeling like a spear had punctured his
heart.
But the
New Yorker would rebound like a true champion.
In
Montenegro, May 2019, Kenney won the HKD 500k NLHE 6-Handed event and the HKD
1m NLHE Main Event for a combined bounty of $4.1m. The Montenegro event was a
monster, with 13-events. Henrik Hecklen, Steve O’Dwyer, Winfred Yu, Hing Chow,
Quek Sheng, John Juanda, Mikita Badziakouski, Ben Lamb and Daniel Cates were
amongst the winners. Rui Cao took down the HKD 1m Short-Deck event for $3.3m.
Kenney
continued his heater in Triton’s first visit to London by winning the £1m
Triton Million: A Helping Hand For Charity. It was an event that captured the
imagination of the entire poker community, raising more than $2.7m for charity,
and establishing Kenney at the top of the All-Time Money List.
The
record-breaking event attracted 54-entrants, and Kenney banked $20.5m, the
highest single payout in poker history, after agreeing upon a heads-up deal
with the eventual winner Aaron Zang, who collected $16.7m.
In
London, there were also wins for Linus Loeliger, Charlie Carrel, David
Benefield, Justin Bonomo, Yu Liang, and Wai Kin Yong who became the third
player to win three Triton titles when he won the £100,000 NLHE Main Event for
$3.1m.
The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series
Returns
It’s
time to do it all again.
The Triton team has sketched three events into its pad, with schedule details and potentially even more stops to come, shortly.
The
first event takes place at Jeju Shinwa World in South Korea with the action set
to take place between 10-22 February. From there, the series returns to the
Maestral Resort and Casino pitched on the side of the beautiful Adriatic Coast
in Montenegro, before returning to London for its second successive season,
where once again, the philanthropic nature of Triton will rise to the fore.
After taking you to a whole ‘nother level during the Triton Millions: A Helping Hand for Charity we felt like you needed a break from all of the excitement.
Well, break time is over!
Pack your bags, or prepare to tune in from home, because the Triton Super High Roller Series returns with its first event of 2020, and it promises to be another whizz, bang, wallop of a high stakes series.
February 10-22, 2020, Triton returns to South Korea and Jeju Shinhwa World for 12-days of mind-blowing poker, at the highest-stakes involving the best pros and semi-pros in the business.
When the Triton Poker Series first planted a flag in the Jeju Province in 2018 there were five events on the schedule. The return in 2019, saw that increase by two. 2020 adds even more value for the players and consumers of world-class poker content with an increase to 11 tournaments, featuring No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), and Short Deck formats, as well as a Mixed Short Deck and No-Limit, Hold’em game.
The two eye-catching events are the HKD 1m NLHE Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Main Event, and the HKD 1m Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Short-Deck Main Event.
Amongst the glitterati confirmed to participate in the festival, include Triton Poker Ambassadors Tom Dwan and Jason Koon, Triton Million London winner Aaron Zang and the legendary poker ace Phil Ivey
Players receive five nights free accommodation at the Marriott Hotel Jeju Shinhwa World for every HKD 1m in tournament buy-ins they compete in. For example, if you compete in HKD 2m worth of buy-ins then you receive 10 nights free accommodation.
Once again the Triton Super High Roller Series offers unparallelled digital coverage, available in English for free on the official Triton Poker Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook channels, and the Triton website.
We have fully released all 6 episodes of the long awaited €500k Buy-In No Limit Hold’em Cash Game from Triton Montenegro 2019 on our official YouTube channel, featuring the likes of Antanas Guoga (Tony G), Daniel (Jungleman) Cates, Paul Phua, Isaac Haxton, Mikita Badziakouski, Tan Xuan, Timofey (Trueteller) Kuznetsov and Linus (LLinusLLove) Loeliger.
The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series has recently been on a break following the Triton London event back in August, but this cash game will definitely fill in the content gap until the next event is officially announced.
The set of episodes sees the first time poker legend Tony G has joined a Triton TV cash game table, with online pro LLinusLlove also making his first appearance.
Justin Bonomo started this month as the No 1 money earner in world poker, the result of a stellar 2018 in which he won more than $25 million and leapt to the top of the all-time money list. He will go into the second week of the month in second place, having yielded his top spot to the all-conquering Bryn Kenney–but Bonomo tonight had one last laugh.
The brilliant New Jersey native, long a tournament poker crusher, added his second title on the Triton Super High Roller Series tonight, beating Malaysia’s Wai Kin Yong heads up and winning £2.67 million. It still leaves him short of Kenney, but it was yet another superlative tournament display from Bonomo, not least because of the man he beat at the end.
“There was part of me that was rooting for you and your dad to win at the same time,” Bonomo told Yong. “That would have been super cool.”
Could have been very different for Justin Bonomo, who doubled heads up
But the ruthless streak that has earned Bonomo so many plaudits and trophies kicked in, and he left Yong with £1.835 million for second.
Bonomo previously won on the Triton series in Jeju in March, but hinted that he might not be doing all this for much longer. “My 2018 was incredible, so I’m kind of easing my way into retirement,” Bonomo said. “My plan is to play less poker, Bryn’s plan is to play a lot of poker, so as far as I’m concerned I’ll probably never get number one again. It’s not really a goal of mine, and I’m totally fine with that.”
He added: “I’m not going to completely retire, but I’m playing a lot less. Because of 2018 I’ve nothing but pride to look back on. I’ve nothing left to prove to anyone.”
Bonomo also said that behind the placid exterior, and the two titles, he finds the volatility of short deck to be a strain on his calm temperament.
“I like it when I win, but honestly I don’t like crazy all ins,” Bonomo said. “I don’t like getting it all in with 55 percent but you have to in this game. Some people enjoy the all ins. I find them extremely stressful. Obviously when you win tournaments it’s great, but other than the fact that I’m winning these tournaments, I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite game.”
The tournament only ended tonight about after a series of double ups between the two last players, which followed a tortuous five-hour three-handed session.
“The hardest part was three handed,” Bonomo said. “There was a very big pay jump from third to second and we were all aware of that. The big stack, whoever it was, just tried to put on the pressure. There were a lot of very tough bets made on the turn, especially by Wai Kin.”
Beaten heads up, Wai Kin Yong
The final hand came about at around 12.10am, when Yong got his stack in with and Bonomo called with . The dealer left it to the river on a board of to seal Yong’s fate and wrap it up for Bonomo.
The final table started at around 1pm with plenty of play still guaranteed.
Ming Zhong Liu became the first player out from, pushing all in for 1.76 million from the hijack with and seeing Justin Bonomo re-shove to isolate from the cutoff with . In short deck, this set-up is as good as a flip, but Bonomo’s 54 percent equity vaulted to 89 percent on the flop. The and completed the board, and Liu took £482,200 for seventh.
Tough break for Ming Zhong Liu
The only player with a shorter stack than Liu at the beginning of the day was Isaac Haxton, but the American high stakes regular had done good work in gradually building his stack. But that climb only made the crumble even more dramatic: Haxton perished in a huge three-way all-in that sent Yong flying even higher into the clouds.
Haxton committed his 2.85 million stack with from under the gun and Yong, with a stack three times as big, re-raise shoved to isolate. He had . Rui Cao, the Montenegro short deck champion, then looked down at and in short deck that’s probably a call. Sure enough, he committed his stack of close to 3 million, but needed to outdraw both bigger pairs.
Tea? Oh, OK. Isaac Haxton busts
Everything has been running impossibly smoothly for Yong over the past few days, and the flop of was dreamy. He faded all the outs through the turn and river, and won a monster. His stack grew to 16 million, which was about half the chips in play four-handed.
Haxton, meanwhile, was confirmed as the sixth-placed finisher and won £611,900. Cao picked up £783,000.
Rui Cao
Talk now began in earnest not only of a back-to-back victory for Yong, but also that he could end up going heads-up against Phua for the second day in a row. Phua was short stacked, but had come back from more perilous positions in previous tournaments.
However, lighting did not strike twice. Phua pushed for his last 1.105 million with and Yong made an easy call with his . Yong again flopped beautifully, with the board making Broadway. The turn and river turned it into a flush.
Phua went out in fourth, cashing for £974,500, his third in-the-money result of the week. When you add his most recent score to the £2.07 million from the other main event, and the £49,500 from the six-handed turbo, it’s been another pretty good week.
Yong, Bonomo and Liang Xu then settled down for what proved to be a long session of three-handed play. Xu was the shortest, but doubled up through Bonomo with against when he got his 6.16 million stack in pre-flop. The best hand held up. Then Yong proved that his game isn’t only about hitting big hands: he pulled off a terrific fold to ensure he didn’t give more chips to Bonomo.
In this one, Yong flopped trips with on a board, but he correctly folded to Bonomo’s aggression on the river — after the turn and river completed the board. By that point, Bonomo had for the flush.
The stacks were deep and the players were reluctant to get them on in unnecessarily. The trio played small ball for upwards of five hours (there were one or two double ups and split pots) before two big hands between Yong and Liang. Liang won the first, doubling up with to Yong’s . But then Yong doubled back shorly after, with against Liang’s . Yong spiked an ace on the river.
Wai Kin Yong hits an ace on the river to double
That left Liang with fewer than 40 antes and in real trouble, while putting Yong back on the top of the pile.
Bonomo finished Liang off. They got it in pre-flop, with Bonomo’s very much more than live against Liang’s . The flop smashed Bonomo in the face, and Liang was drawing dead after the turn.
Liang, who is becoming something of a fixture in the deep stages of super high roller events, won £1,202,500.
Liang Xu’s tournament ends
They were all but even as heads up began, with around 105 antes apiece. The best of Asia versus the best of the rest of the world. In many ways it was the perfect representation of the Triton brand, which brings these two factions together for this peerless series of high roller tournaments.
West vs. East: Bonomo vs. Yong
While most of us were settling in for a very long duel, the pair at the table actually started playing some sizeable pots right off the bat. One particularly huge encounter came about with a board of on the table. Bonomo bet about 4 million at it, a third of his stack. Yong used two time-bank chips before calling with and Bonomo’s was beaten.The pot gave Yong a near three-to-one chip lead.
But Bonomo chipped back and then doubled himself, setting up the big finale. Kenney was long gone from London, back in the United States and enjoying his new status on top of the world. But for all Bonomo’s insistence that’s he’s not chasing, results like this put him right back in the hunt.
Champion Justin Bonomo
Triton London Short Deck Main Event Dates: August 6-8, 2019 Buy-in: £100,000 Entries: 108 (inc. 55 re-entries) Prize pool: £10,370,000
1 – Justin Bonomo, United States, £2,670,000 2 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia, £1,835,000 3 – Liang Xu, China, £1,202,500 4 – Paul Phua, Malaysia, £974,500 5 – Rui Cao, France, £783,000 6 – Isaac Haxton, United States, £611,900 7 – Ming Zhong Liu, Macau, £482,200
8 – David Benefield, United States, £368,100 9 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, £269,600 10 – Jason Koon, United States, £217,700 11 – Furkat Rakhimov, Russia, £217,700 12 – Tom Dwan, United States, £191,900 13 – Cary Katz, United States, £191,900 14 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong, £177,000 15 – Richard Yong, Malaysia, £177,000
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The Marshall Islands, a tiny country in Micronesia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, does not exactly have a rich poker history. But as of tonight, it has a Triton Super High Roller Series champion after the quiet, unassuming and ruthless Yu Liang beat David Benefield heads up to win the £50,000 buy-in short deck tournament at London’s Park Lane Hilton.
Two days ago, Benefield won the first major poker tournament of his career when he took down a £25,000 short-deck event. But even the Texan, who goes by the name “raptor” online, couldn’t chew up Liang. As the clock struck midnight on the final day of this long and lucrative festival, Liang’s flopped best against Benefield’s when the dealer put the on the board. All the chips went in and a long and gruelling tournament ended with the turn and river not enough to push Benefield back in front.
Liang too £777,000 for the victory, while Benefield adds another £560,500.
No back-to-back for David Benefield
The tournament started slowly yesterday, with a clock ticking down above empty seats. But then four hardy souls — Peter Jetten, Daniel Dvoress, Sam Greenwood and Mikita Badziakouski — got things started, and others eventually decided that they wanted in too.
With registration remaining open into the second and final day, it allowed for 52 entries to land on the cash desk and a prize pool of £2.465 million. It was the smallest of the festival, but not a single person would sniff at the £777,000 first prize.
£50K took a while to get going, but got there in the end
Sniff was all that all of those four pioneers — plus a roll call also including the likes of Jason Koon, Cary Katz, Seth Davies, Gabe Patgorski and Danny Tang — could do, however, as they perished before the final table was even close. But we then saw a Triton first: a double knock-out on the stone bubble, on two different tables, meaning two players split the seventh place prize.
Those two were Malaysia’s Tong Siow Choon, whose lost to Richard Yong’s and Mike Watson, whose lost to David Benefield’s .
Bubble 1: Tong Siow Choon
With all due respect to Choon, the latter bust-out was far more significant. Watson was sitting in second place in the overall chip counts nine-handed when he got it in, with Benefield the only player who could possibly knock him out. It was particularly grim, therefore, for Watson to see an ace on the flop: his wretched fortune in Triton events continues, even though he took £64,750 for a chop of seventh. (He was only in for one bullet, so that’s a profit.)
Yet another Triton sickener for Mike Watson
The knock-on effect of this was that Beh Kok Weng was the retrospective bubble boy, though he was long gone by that point.
Thanks in a large part to that huge hand, Benefield went to his second short-deck final of the week as a soaraway chip leader. The full line up looked like this:
1 – David Benefield, 5.98 million
2 – Richard Yong, 2.585 million
3 – Yu Liang, 2.08 million
4 – Romain Arnaud, 1.41 million
5 – Chin Wei Lim, 1.41 million
6 – Stephen Chidwick, 815,000
Final table in the £50K (l-r): Yu Liang, Richard Yong, Stephen Chidwick, Romain Arnaud, Chin Wei Lim, David Benefield
Chidwick has had a brilliant Triton London festival, cashing four of the five tournaments he has entered, including the £1 million event. He was in for four bullets in this final event, however, so needed to finish fourth or better to return a profit.
He doubled his short stack through Benefield early in final table play, but almost immediately sent the whole lot over to Yong, when his lost to Yong’s when Yong rivered a flush. Chidwick rounds off his week with £160,200 on to the ledger.
The last event, last knockout of Stephen Chidwick
As for Yong, his star was in the ascendant. Though Benefield was still clear at the top, Yong also then managed to knock out Romain Arnaud in fifth place in a standard > coup. Arnaud won £209,500.
Romain Arnaud busts, with no tears
As tends to happen in short deck tournaments, the stacks were suddenly relatively deep so the action slowed down a little. But Chin Wei Lim found himself growing shorter and made a stand with . Benefield had all the chips to play with and was plenty good enough to take a free hit at Lim.
Benefield flopped a set, Lim turned a straight and then Benefield rivered a full house. Anyone still questioning why short deck is a volatile game should replay that run out over and over. It happens all the time. Lim cashed three times this week, including in the £1 million tournament, and this one was worth £271,300.
As tends to happen in short deck tournaments, the stacks were suddenly relatively deep so the action slowed down a little. But Chin Wei Lim found himself growing shorter and made a stand with . Benefield had all the chips to play with and was plenty good enough to take a free hit at Lim.
Benefield flopped a set, Lim turned a straight and then Benefield rivered a full house. Anyone still questioning why short deck is a volatile game should replay that run out over and over. (In full, the board was ) Lim cashed three times this week, including in the £1 million tournament, and this one was worth £271,300.
A rap on the table and it’s goodbye for Wei Lim Chin
Much like in the short deck main event, taking place on the neighbouring table, three-handed play took a good long while. But unlike in the main event, the Yong in this tournament found himself in trouble. And then he was out. With young Wai Kin Yong occasionally wandering over to see how his father, Richard, was faring, Yu Liang did his bit in trimming the Yong quotient in half.
Liang’s stayed better than Yong’s through a board of . Yong won £357,000.
Richard Yong knocked out in third
Benefield had found himself heads up for a short deck tournament only a matter of two days ago, and had come through that battle with flying colours. But this one proved to be much more of a test. Even though Benefield opened up a big lead, it was Liang who scored the first major double up when his tournament life was hanging by a thread.
They got their stacks in on a flop of with Benefield’s representing a very fragile two pair against Liang’s . The turn gave Liang even more cause for optimism, then the river completed his straight. That then gave Liang a three-to-one chip lead: 150 antes to Benefield’s 45.
Benefield tried to get something going, and had seemingly abandoned his strategy from yesterday when he said the key to short deck was just to “go all in”. The pots were comparatively small. But then there was that huge flop, with trips to Liang and top pair to Benefield, and neither was backing down.
Benefield congratulates Liang at the end
Triton London Short Deck Dates: August 7-8, 2019 Buy-in: £50,000 Entries: 52 (inc. 21 re-entries) Prize pool: £2.465 million
1 – Xu Liang, Marshall Islands, £777,000 2 – David Benefield, United States, £560,500 3 – Richard Yong, Malaysia, £357,000 4 – Chin Wei Lim, Malaysia, £271,300 5 – Romain Arnaud, France, £209,500 6 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, £160,200 7= – Mike Watson, Canada, £64,750 7= – Choon Tong Siow, Malaysia, £64,750
ABOUT OUR PARTNERS
Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.
partypoker LIVE was created in January 2017 as a global poker tour, with the aim of bringing large field, high guarantee tournaments to players all over the world. Within just 12 months the partypoker LIVE tour has grown into the world’s largest ever poker tour and is guaranteeing over $70,000,000 in the 2018/2019 season.
Registration closed today on Event #8 at the Triton Super High Roller Series in London, the last of seven tournaments held in the Park Lane Hilton. This festival included the £1.05 million buy-in Helping Hand for Charity tournament, making it the biggest poker event held outside the World Series.
If we include the £1 million event, the total prize pools accumulated over the past eight days weigh in at £89.425 million. But even if we discount it, the remaining six tournaments attracted 622 entries (many of which were re-entries) and built prize pools of £35.425 million.
Even some of the hyper wealthy residents of Mayfair might have blinked had they known the money changing hands on their doorsteps.
Here’s the complete run-down of entry numbers and prize pools at this festival.
Format
Buy-in
Entries
Prize pool
First prize
1
6-Max Turbo
£25,000
117
£2,749,500
£690,000
2
Triton Million
£1,000,000
54
£54,000,000
£19,000,000
3
NLHE
£50,000
109
£5,123,000
£1,321,000
5
NLHE
£100,000
130
£12,200,000
£3,080,000
6
Short Deck
£25,000
106
£2,517,500
£650,000
7
Short Deck
£100,000
108
£10,370,000
£2,670,000
8
Short Deck
£50,000
52
£2,465,000
£777,000
TOTALS
676
£89,425,000
£28,188,000
Total prize pools USD: $108,726,492 Without Triton Million USD: $43,071,132
Note: the stated first prize is the original amount; some tournaments ended in deals being struck between remaining players.
Further note: The exchange rate between the British pound and US dollar has fluctuated significantly this week. The USD conversion is spot rate on August 8.
Here’s the payout schedule for the £50,000 short deck:
Triton London Short Deck Dates: August 7-8, 2019 Buy-in: £50,000 Entries: 52 (inc. 21 re-entries) Prize pool: £2.465 million
Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.
partypoker LIVE was created in January 2017 as a global poker tour, with the aim of bringing large field, high guarantee tournaments to players all over the world. Within just 12 months the partypoker LIVE tour has grown into the world’s largest ever poker tour and is guaranteeing over $70,000,000 in the 2018/2019 season.
A most remarkable story is developing here at the Triton Super High Roller Series in London, where Wai Kin Yong booked his place as chip leader at the final of the £100,000 short deck main event, less than 24 hours after winning the £100,000 full deck version.
Needless to say, the short deck/full deck main event double has never been achieved before, but it is now in sight for this hugely talented 28-year-old from Malaysia. With a £2.67 million first prize on offer for this one, Yong is on course for earnings of £5.8 million over 48 hours.
But that’s not all. Yong is joined at tomorrow’s final table by a glittering supporting cast, including the man he beat heads up yesterday. Paul Phua, the Triton co-founder, has once again made the very deep stages of a tournament on the series he created–along with Richard Yong, Wai Kin’s father. If we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes, we wouldn’t believe it either.
Paul Phua doubles, and books his place at another final
Take a look at the full line up of players for tomorrow’s grand finale to this festival at London’s Park Lane Hilton, and you’ll quickly see that success for either Phua or Yong is far from a foregone conclusion.
Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia — 7.595 million Justin Bonomo, USA — 5.91 million Rui Cao, France — 4.375 million Paul Phua, Malaysia — 3.905 million Xu Liang, China — 3.585 million Ming Zhong Liu, Macau — 3.53 million Isaac Haxton, USA — 3.51 million
Justin Bonomo, sitting in second overnight, may have been powerless to stop Bryn Kenney leapfrogging him at the top of poker’s all-time money list this week, but demonstrated today that he’s going to fight Kenney to regain top spot. Bonomo won a short deck event in Jeju earlier this year, and is well positioned to take a second.
When you add the fact that all of Stephen Chidwick, Jason Koon, Tom Dwan and Elton Tsang also cashed, it’s almost like this game does require some skill after all.
Jason Koon: Missed out on a second final of the week
They’ll all be richly rewarded. When registration closed on this one today, there were 108 entries, including 55 re-entries, which built a prize pool of £10.37 million. First out at tomorrow’s final will win £482,200.
Both Romain Arnaud and Gabe Patgorski have had a good deal of success on the Triton Series, but this trip to London has been harsh on them. They were knocked out in 17th and 16th respectively, with Patgorski’s elimination bursting the bubble. It was harsh in particular for Patgorski, whose pocket kings lost to Liu Ming Zhong’s
In short deck, this is a near flip: the suited ace-king has 45 percent against kings. But it still hurts when you see it for 73 antes on the bubble, and the board of sealed it.
Bubble sickener for Gabe Patgorski
Two Yongs made it through the bubble, but the senior party, Richard Yong, was the first out in the money. His assassin was his friend, business partner and fellow Triton founder Phua, whose rivered a straight to beat Yong’s after a run-out. There appeared to be no hard feelings.
Tom Dwan: all the kit, but still no Triton title
A relative storm then swept all of Tsang, Cary Katz, Dwan, Furkat Rakhimov, Koon and Chidwick out of the door, with tense moments then following for Wai Kin Yong and Phua on the final table bubble. But they both doubled up when the other option was a day off tomorrow, leaving poor Benefield to hit the rail in eighth.
David Benefield: Run ends in eighth this time
Benefield had not been knocked out of a short deck event for three days, but even he couldn’t halt Wai Kin Yong. Benefield had when he and Yong got it all in, with Benefield’s 2.5 million stack at risk, looking at a flop of . Yong had all the outs with his and hit the on the turn.
That consolidated Yong’s lead and brought us to our final. We will find out tomorrow if there’s a double in the offing for one of the former champions, or whether Phua can finally break his heads-up hoodoo.
Triton London Short Deck Main Event Dates: August 6-8, 2019 Buy-in: £100,000 Entries: 108 (inc. 55 re-entries) Prize pool: £10,370,000
8 – David Benefield, United States, £368,100 9 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, £269,600 10 – Jason Koon, United States, £217,700 11 – Furkat Rakhimov, Russia, £217,700 12 – Tom Dwan, United States, £191,900 13 – Cary Katz, United States, £191,900 14 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong, £177,000 15 – Richard Yong, Malaysia, £177,000
ABOUT OUR PARTNERS
Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.
partypoker LIVE was created in January 2017 as a global poker tour, with the aim of bringing large field, high guarantee tournaments to players all over the world. Within just 12 months the partypoker LIVE tour has grown into the world’s largest ever poker tour and is guaranteeing over $70,000,000 in the 2018/2019 season.
and Bonomo called with 
. The dealer left it to the river on a board of 
to seal Yong’s fate and wrap it up for Bonomo.
. In short deck, this set-up is as good as a flip, but Bonomo’s 54 percent equity vaulted to 89 percent on the 
flop. The 
. Rui Cao, the Montenegro short deck champion, then looked down at 
turn and 
river, and won a monster. His stack grew to 16 million, which was about half the chips in play four-handed.
and Yong made an easy call with his 
. Yong again flopped beautifully, with the 
river turned it into a flush.
against 
on a 
turn and 
river completed the board. By that point, Bonomo had 
very much more than live against Liang’s 
turn.
flopped best against Benefield’s 
.
with Benefield’s 
