Category: Poker

The remarkable popularity of short deck hold’em shows no sign of slowing down as the £100,000 short deck main event here at the Triton Super High Roller Series in London built a prize pool of more than £10 million.

When registration closed on the event at the Park Lane Hilton, organisers had recorded 108 entries, including 55 re-entries, and planned to award the winner £2.67 million.

It immediately set a new bar for the biggest prize pool for a short deck tournament ever held in the UK as well as the biggest first prize. It’s the second largest anywhere in the world, trailing only the short deck main event that took place on the Triton Series in Montenegro in 2018.

The tournament plays down to its final table today, and then crowns its champion tomorrow, on the last day of play at this festival.

Top 5 largest short deck tournaments (by prize pool):

1 – Triton Montenegro, May 2018
Buy-in: HK$1 million
Entries: 103
Prize pool: US$12,344,129
Winner: Jason Koon
First prize: US$3,579,836

2 – Triton London Short Deck Main Event
Dates: August 6-8, 2019
Buy-in: £100,000
Entries: 108 (inc. 55 re-entries)
Prize pool: US$12,600,483
Winner: tbd
First prize: $3,244,290*

3 – Triton Montenegro, May 2019
Buy-in: HK$1 million
Entries: 98
Prize pool: US$11,737,873
Winner: Rui Cao
First prize: US$3,351,130*

4 – Triton Jeju, March 2019
Buy-in: HK$1 million
Prize pool: US$9,699,981
Winner: Jason Koon
First prize: US$2,899,000

5 – Triton Jeju, July 2018
Buy-in: HK$1 million
Entries: 60
Prize pool: US$7,645,357
Winner: Kenneth Kee
First prize: US$2,867,009

*Triton introduced a flatter payout structure between events in Montenegro and London, so first prize is smaller now despite larger total prize pool.

Full payouts for Triton Short Deck Main Event:

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 – £2,670,000
2 – £1,835,000
3 – £1,202,500
4 – £974,500
5 – £783,000
6 – £611,900
7 – £482,200
8 – £368,100
9 – £269,600
10 – £217,700
11 – £217,700
12 – £191,900
13 – £191,900
14 – £177,000
15 – £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.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

It has been an extraordinary week for the Triton family here in London, where the most prestigious brand in the global game hosted the biggest buy-in poker tournament ever held, and paid out the biggest ever prize.

And then tonight in the Grand Ballroom of the Park Lane Hilton, London, the Triton co-founder Paul Phua played heads up against Wai Kin Yong, the other Triton co-founder Richard Yong’s son, at the end of the biggest event the series has ever hosted. It’s remarkable bordering on the absurd that from a field of 130 entries (including 52 re-entries) of £100,000 each, these two Malaysian friends, business partners and Triton linchpins were left.

Phua wanted the title desperately. Though there’s not much missing in his life, his mantlepiece doesn’t yet have a Triton Series winner’s trophy. But when it came down to it, Yong was in unforgiving mood. They arranged a deal heads-up, but then the young protege overcame a chip deficit to wear down Phua and claim his second title.

Yong took £2,591,695 to Phua’s £2,558,305. It’s the fact that Yong also gets to hold the trophy that will sting Phua, but that will also keep him hungry for the elusive win.

“It feels really great, especially that I could go heads up with Paul,” Yong said. When asked what it felt like to be the one to stop Phua claiming his title, Yong said: “I still prefer myself to win.”

Originally planned to be a two-day event, the tournament had drifted into a third day because of an unexpectedly high turnout. The huge player numbers built a prize pool of £12.2 million, but also meant that stacks were shallow among the last nine players returning today.

It didn’t take long for the first elimination of the day, with Wai Leong Chan getting his last 10 big blinds in with and picking up a call from Wai Kin Yong’s . The six on the flop all but killed it dead, and Chan took £305,000 for ninth place.

Dan Cates pulled off arguably the best play of the tournament on the last hand yesterday, but the nature of it meant he was left with a short stack coming into the final. He somehow managed to fold trip aces and dodge Paul Phua‘s flopped full house, but you don’t win tournaments with good folds only. Cates managed to double up once today, when his outdrew Stephen Chidwick’s , all in pre-flop. However, it was only a temporary stay of execution. And it wasn’t much better for Chidwick either.

Those two ended up on the rail at the same time as Michael Soyza found in the big blind just as Cates had shoved the cutoff with and Chidwick re-shoved from the small blind.

It was an all action flop and turn, with all three players still alive when came off. However the river was a blank and Soyza scooped.

Cates won £410,000 for eighth (making his fold last night worth precisely £105,000). Chidwick added another £544,000 to his coffers and goes in the record books in seventh.

The British pro Michael Zhang was making his Triton debut here in his home country, and had become a particular favourite among those watching the stream with the gutsy style of his play. But all the talent and confidence in the world doesn’t guarantee victory — especially against Paul Phua in the kind of mood he was in.

Phua opened , Zhang shipped for 5.01 million with . Phua called, flopped a set and turned quads. Boom: that was the end of Zhang. He won £711,000.

Sam Greenwood was next out. The Canadian pro is another of those players who has a phenomenal list of achievements in world poker, and has made multiple visits to Triton final tables, but has not yet won on this tour. It didn’t change today either as he got his last seven big blinds in from the small blind with and was picked off by Yong’s . “Jack three!?!” Greenwood chided Yong, with tongue in cheek, as he departed and looked for a check for £902,000. All the remaining players were guaranteed £1 million.

During the bubble period last night, Michael Soyza was the tournament big stack and was doing everything he could to get the field into the cash. But he couldn’t shake any of his opponents, including Ben Heath, who doubled through Soyza, and Phua, who was clinging on with a short stack.

Flash forward a day and Soyza was still sitting with those two, as well as Yong, but was now the shortest of the four of them. And of course when Soyza scented his opportunity to double up, the very opposite happened. He was knocked out by Yong. It was pretty emphatic: Soyza had and Yong had “only” when they got it in pre-flop. But Yong smashed the flop and Soyza was drawing dead on the turn. Soyza won £1.12 million.

Local hero Ben Heath, who returned from Las Vegas this summer with his first WSOP bracelet and a million dollar score, was now guaranteed a minimum £1.35 million. But he was also going up against the combined might of the Triton machine.

At least his demise was quick, even if it was hardly painless. He found pocket kings when Phua had , a set-up that almost always means a huge pot for the man with the pocket pair. But even after they duly decided to play for stacks — Heath’s 7 million on the line — Phua managed to wriggle off the hook. The flop of was greeted by gasps and Heath couldn’t catch even a chop. Heath maxed out at the £1.35 million.

Phua therefore took a chip lead of 61 big blinds to Yong’s 47 big blinds into heads up play, and they arranged a deal that left £150,000 on the side but guaranteed each of them close to £2.5 million.

When they got started heads-up, Yong made all the right moves to get the momentum moving in his direction. He called all in for his tournament life with on a board of . Phua was bluffing with a missed draw.

Yong then applied relentless pressure heads up and left Phua in the danger zone. He tried one too many shoves and was picked off by Yong — the last time when Phua had and Yong had and the river was a jack.

To Yong went the spoils, and a trophy handed to him by his father, but Phua was keen to point to the success of Triton in London this week.

“We feel a sense of pride,” Phua said. “The brand has been growing stop after stop. We’re very lucky to have a lot of friends, poker pros, to support the event. We try to make it as fun and as comfortable to players to make the want to come back every time. In this stop we see a lot of new faces, so we’re very, very happy.”

Eventually it will be a new face, his face, hoisting a trophy. But this time, it was all about Yong.

Triton London Main Event
Dates: Aug 4-6
Entries: 130 (inc. 52 re-entries)
Prize pool: £12.22 million

1 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia, £2,591,695*
2 – Paul Phua, Malaysia £2,558,305*
3 – Ben Heath, UK, £1.35 million
4 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia, £1.12 million
5 – Sam Greenwood, Canada, £902,000
6 – Michael Zhang, UK, £711,000
7 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, £544,000
8 – Dan Cates, United States, £410,000
9 – Wai Leong Chan, Malaysia, £305,000

10 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria, £250,400
11 – Liang Xu, China, £250,400
12 – Isaac Haxton, USA, £220,000
13 – Xuan Tan, China, £220,000
14 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand, £201,600
15 – Justin Bonomo, USA, £201,600
16 – Timothy Adams, Canada, £192,000
17 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland, £192,000
*heads up deal

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.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

As the main event was playing into its deep stages today, the first short-deck event of the week got under way at Triton London. And if you thought this variant might not make the safe transition over to the UK, you’d be wrong. This tournament was as healthily attended as any.

In fact, by the time registration closed there were 106 entries (including 53 re-entries) each of £25,000 apiece. That built a prize pool of more than £2.5 million and meant that tomorrow someone will win £650,000 as the champion. That’s not bad for a poker variant that probably dealt its first hand in this country only about 18 months ago. Ten players are left.

After a tortuous bubble period, with the tournament playing 17-handed for at least 90 minutes, Seth Davies was finally knocked out to give everyone at least £42,800, with Wei Lim Chin, pictured top, seizing the chip lead.

There were at least 10 bubble-ups, none more dramatic than one in which Peter Jetten survived. He was all in with and called by David Benefield’s . Jetten was out of his seat on the turn, with the board reading , the apparent victim of a grim out-draw.

But with tablemate Rui Cao claiming he had folded an ace, Jetten hit his one-outer when the rivered. Jetten then survived another hairy moment, when his looked like it had been outdrawn by Benefield’s . In that instance, the first four cards were to give Benefield a straight. (This is short-deck, remember.) Then, however, the ace on the river meant a chop.

Only Davies couldn’t pull off the miracle. He had to Cao’s . Though the flop looked good for Davies — it was — the turn hit Cao and the river was a blank.

Chin’s lead came about when he secured a huge double on the bubble, with his staying strong against Mike Watson’s .

FULL CHIP COUNTS

Wei Lim Chin, Malaysia – 6.455 million
Yu Feng Pang, China – 5.46 million
David Benefield, USA – 3.485 million
Cheok Leng Cheong, Macau – 3.485 million
Jordi Urlings, Netherlands – 2.77 million
Danny Tang, Hong Kong – 2.755 million
Bjorn Li, USA – 2.275 million
Mike Watson, Canada – 2.11 million
Talal Shakerchi, UK – 1.97 million
Peter Jetten, Canada – 1.02 million

Triton London Event #6 – Short Deck
Dates: August 4-5, 2019
Buy-in: £25,000
Entries: 106 (inc. 53 re-entries)
Prize pool: £2,517,500

1 – £650,000
2 – £445,000
3 – £292,000
4 – £236,500
5 – £190,000
6 – £148,300
7 – £117,000
8 – £89,000
9 – £65,500
10-11
11 – Jason Koon, USA, £52,800
12 – Devan Tang, Hong Kong, £46,500
13 – Jun Wah Yap, China, £46,500
14 – tbc £46,500
15 – Rui Cao, France, £42,800
16 – Gabe Patgorski, USA, £42,800

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.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

The Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity is about much more than just the biggest buy-in and first prize in tournament poker history. In fact, in his introductory speech to the event earlier this week, Triton co-founder Paul Phua said the first priority when organising this spectacular tournament was its unique charitable aspect.

Don’t forget, the £50,000 entry fee appended to each £1 million buy-in goes directly to charity—that’s a helping hand worth at least £2.7 million.

This donation is in keeping with Triton’s guiding principle. The organisation has always been run as a not-for-profit entity, with any additional money earned being donated to charity, typically in south-east Asia where both Phua and Richard Yong, the Triton co-founders, grew up.

The spectacular London event sent money to charities based in Europe and Hong Kong, but here we focus on three selected non-profits in Yong and Phua’s native Malaysia.

Each will be receiving a significant donation from Triton.

The Malaysian Red Crescent Society has a very simple mission statement: “To prevent and reduce suffering, wherever it may be.” As the official Malaysian affiliate of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the organisation has more than 20,000 volunteers across 16 states, and provides everything from ambulance services, disaster management relief and first aid training.

The Red Crescent Society also aims to engage and empower young people, inviting the “active and meaningful participation of youth and inclusion of their voice in the humanitarian work across governance, management, programmes, and service delivery and youth engagement centres”. More than 200,000 people between the ages of 10 and 30 are involved in the organisation’s activities. Having operated continuously since 1963, the Malaysian Red Crescent Society is globally respected and its volunteers are first responders to some of the most severe emergency zones.

“Go bald!” declares the website of the Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society (SCCS), inviting Malaysians to join the signature fundraising initiative of the Borneo-based charity, established in 1999, aimed at raising awareness of childhood cancer in the country. The first public head-shaving exercise took place in 2009 and since then the annual event has grown every year, with each shaven head offering crucial moral support to children with cancer as well as financial assistance to their families.

“Childhood illness is new and terrifying territory, and so we want each of our families to know that we are with them every step of the way,” a spokesperson for SCCS said. “SCCS recognizes the complexity of the pediatric cancer experience, and we understand that childhood illness affects every aspect of the lives of patients, siblings, and caregivers.”

The charity’s attention to detail is particularly special. It provides everything from “starter kits” to newly diagnosed children admitted to a ward, as well as buddy programs as children fight the disease. The “Wishing Star” project aims to create meaningful and magical moments for children undergoing treatment. Should the very worst happen, SCCS also offers bereavement support to families.

The charity is working 365 days a year to make sure that children living with cancer have the best care and the most enjoyable life they can. “No matter the prognosis and no matter the need, SCCS is there for its patients at every stage of the journey.”

The Miri Dialysis Centre is part of the Malaysia Red Crescent Society in Miri. It is the largest dialysis centre in the state and one of the modern centres in northern Sarawak, where it acts as the receiving end for local patients who are unable to get life-saving treatment for kidney complaints elsewhere. When the centre first opened in 1996, it had only six patients but the number of people using the centre on a regular basis has grown exponentially.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

One of online poker’s biggest stars today earned his stripes in the live arena when Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger took down the £25,000 Triton London Six-Max Turbo, his first major title. It was worth £690,000, more than three times his total previous live earnings.

He makes an absolute ton on the online tables, mind you.

Loeliger’s victory will have been cheered most enthusiastically in the online chat-boxes and poker forums, where his superlative cash-game skills have long impressed virtual railbirds. He was customarily unflustered as he parlayed his final-table chip lead into a trophy.

The tournament, which attracted 117 entries (including 44 re-entries) was originally intended to end on the opening day of this Triton London festival, but was postponed when they reached a final table. Seven players returned today, three days after they started, still technically in with a shot at the £690,000 first prize. But Loeliger was in unforgiving mood and barely gave them a chance, finding some help from the deck when he needed it too and to beating Luc Greenwood heads up.

Michael Soyza was the first man out, finding in the small blind and action folded to him. It was plenty good enough to push in his last 17 big blinds, but Loeliger, the only player to his left, had and made the call. Loeliger won the flip and Soyza left in seventh for £122,300.

This six-handed tournament therefore reached its official final, with Loeliger way out in front. His stack of 6.9 million was 30 percent of the chips in play, but the shallowness of the event meant it was only 69 big blinds.

Kahle Burns had only six of them, but quickly managed to double through Timothy Adams. However, it was only a temporary stay of execution because when he three-bet pushed with , he wasn’t to know that Loeliger’s open represented a real hand. Loeliger’s held to send Burns out in sixth, for £160,000.

Elior Sion headed home in fifth, pushing with on a board of but finding Greenwood lurking with .

Better known as “CrazyElior” online, but with significant live experience and a WSOP $50K Player’s Championship bracelet, Sion was has been making his Triton debut this week in his home town. This result earned him £202,900 but leaves him seeking his first title on the tour.

Something of a short-stack specialist, Cary Katz had again managed to grind his way into the big money in this turbo event, but his run came to an end in fourth. Though he had largely kept out of harm’s way, he ended up busting in one of the most entertaining pots of the week.

He got his last 16 big blinds in with and was called by Greenwood’s — so far, so standard — but then Katz flopped a set when the dealer put the out there.

All looked good at that point, until the next card was the . “Oh that’s terrible!” Katz said. Greenwood now had 10 outs, and the dealer duly delivered the on the river. “What the hell was that run-out?” Katz said, shaking hands and heading from the table. He took £251,500 and there were no hard feelings.

Greenwood’s rush put him on top of the counts, with about 11.6 million to Loeliger’s 8.5 million. (The third man, Timothy Adams, had 2.5 million.) But Loeliger hit a huge double up to flip everything back in his favour.

In what would turn out to be the tournament-defining hand, Greenwood raised his button to 500,000 with and Loeliger called in the small blind with . Adams also came along with his .

There was something for everyone on the flop and Loeliger bet 375,000 with his draw. Adams called, leaving himself only 1.8 million back, and Greenwood, with the best hand still, tried to protect it. He raised to 1.5 million.

Loeliger called, persuading Adams out, and the dealer gave Loeliger the guaranteed win with the turn. All that remained to be seen was whether he could get the maximum.

He laid the trap with a check and Greenwood bet 1.5 million, unknowing that he was only drawing to a chop, and with two of his outs in his opponent’s hand. Loeliger moved in for 7.25 million and Greenwood made a clearly crying call.

It put heaps back in front of Loeliger, and left Adams and Greenwood with only seven and eight big blinds, respectively. Adams found on the next hand, and called after Loeliger shoved with . Adams was in a great spot to double, but having busted the £1 million charity event with pocket kings, Adams was again sent to the rail in a grim one. A five came on the flop to give Loeliger the win. Adams added yet another Triton cash, this time worth £307,000, but couldn’t add to his trophy haul.

The heads-up “battle” was no such thing. It lasted one hand. Greenwood pushed with , Loeliger called with and nobody hit anything. It meant that Greenwood earned £466,600, but Loeliger banked £690,000 and, more importantly, his first title.

“Compared to yesterday it was pretty smooth,” Loeliger said, referring to a 12-hour session in the £50K event, which ended at 4am when he was knocked out in third. “I still got seven-and-a-half hours sleep,” he added. “I had to skip breakfast though.”

It was the smallest of sacrifices to become a Triton champion.

Triton London Million
Event #1 — Six-Handed Turbo
Date: July 31, 2019
Buy-in: £25,000
Entries: 117 (inc. 44 re-entries)
Prize pool: £2,749,500 ($3,359,311 approx)

1 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland, £690,000
2 – Luc Greenwood, Canada, £466,600
3 – Timothy Adams, Canada, £307,000
4 – Cary Katz, USA, £251,500
5 – Elior Sion, UK, £202,900
6 – Kahle Burns, Australia, £160,000
7 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia, £122,300
8 – Tong Siow Choon, Malaysia, £92,100
9 – Carlston Kyle, Sweden, £68,700
10 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey, £56,300
11 – Erik Seidel, USA, £56,300
12 – Ben Lamb, USA, £49,500
13 – Paul Phua, Malaysia, £49,500
14 – Chan Wai Leong, Malaysia, £43,300
15 – Dan Smith, USA, £43,300
16 – Ben Heath, UK £43,100
17 – Patrik Antonius, Finland, £43,100

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.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive