Tournament Archives - Triton Poker

SMITH HALTS MOSBÖCK TO LAND MAIDEN TITLE IN TRITON INVITATIONAL IN MONTE CARLO

One of world poker’s most respected and decorated tournament pros tonight earned a debut victory on the Triton Series, snagging that first title in one of the very biggest events.

Dan Smith, 34, is the champion of the $200,000 buy-in Triton Invitational in Monte Carlo, banking $3.87 million for his triumph.

It’s a measure of Smith’s reputation that such an enormous payday is only the third largest tournament score of his career, and pushes lifetime earnings close to $50 million. He has won titles across the globe, in tournaments of all sizes, but had to wait for tonight to lift the Triton trophy and add his name to this series’ roll call of winners.

“This is very special,” Smith told reporters after the tournament. “I’ve had a few bigger scores in my career…but it’s different when you win a tournament with 70 players like this. It’s one of the biggest events of the year and only so many guys get to win them.”

Smith battled past a final table of both leading tournament pros and tricky recreational players, repaying the faith shown in him by Danish businessman Theis Vad Hennebjerre. Vad Hennebjerre’s own tournament ended early, long before the money kicked in, but in Smith he picked a wily tournament pro who knew when to keep his head down, and when to change gears to lock up this famous success.

Smith beat the Austrian pro Mario Mosböck heads up after the former soccer pro had spent most of the final table in the chip lead. But it was one-way traffic when only two players were left, and Smith became a very worthy champion.

A delighted Dan Smith gets his hands on a trophy at last

TOURNAMENT RECAP

The starting field of 58 added 15 re-entries during the early period, putting $14.6 million in the prize pool. As is now traditional in tournaments in this invitational format, the field was half invitees and half elite pros, with the halves of the field kept separate for all of Day 1.

The story of the opening stages was Elton Tsang, the Hong Kong-basd high roller, who overcame early elimination to surge to the top of the chip counts. He knocked out pretty much everybody who tried to battle with him, and was also responsible for bursting the bubble when Juan Pardo went out in 14th place.

Tsang hit a queen to come from behind against Pardo’s big slick, and Tsang stayed top until the final table was set as follows. It would play to a champion on Thursday.

FINAL TABLE LINE UP

1: Elton Tsang – 3.69 milliom
2: Dan Smith – $3.585 million
3: Alexander Shelukhin – 3.28 million
4: Jean Noel Thorel – 2.735 million
5: Danny Tang – 2.37 million
6: Mario Mosböck – 1.995 million
7: Fedor Holz – 1.75 million
8: Bob Voulgaris – 1.505 million
9: Ilkin Garibli – 970,000

Triton Monte Carlo Invitational final table (clockwise from top left): Alexander Shelukhin, Bob Voulgaris, Fedor Holz, Jean Noel Thorel, Mario Mosboeck, Danny Tang, Dan Smith, Ilkin Garibli, Elton Tsang

Late last night, Bob Voulgaris had been all-in and behind in a huge pot against Elton Tsang. He needed to hit a gutshot to survive — and hit he did, propelling him to the final table. But Tsang got revenge early on the final day, when the pair got involved in the first meaningful confrontation at the final.

All the chips went in pre-flop, lining up a straight flip. Vougaris had pocket tens, while Tsang had . The flop brought an ace and Voulgaris couldn’t spike a two-outer. With his faithful dog Oscar in tow, Voulgaris made the slow walk out of the tournament room, banking $406,000 for his ninth place.

Bob Voulgaris was the first out from the final table

Ilkin Gabrili was one of two players at today’s final who had run all the way to the hallowed FT felt on their first appearance on the Triton Series. But his run was halted in eighth by someone for whom the Triton tables has come to feel like home.

Again, the telling showdown was a flip — Gabrili’s pocket jacks up against Tang’s — but this time the king appeared on the flop to end Gabrili’s event.

The Azerbaijani financier won the first high stakes poker tournament he ever played, having not even intended to enter it. This time, he meant it but the run ended in eighth, for $540,000.

Ilkin Garibli made it to eighth in his first ever Triton event

There had been a slight imbalance at the nine-handed final between businessmen and pros, but the first two eliminations tilted the balance back towards the poker superstars. But in a fascinating passage of play soon after, chips came and went from just about every player at the table, with Thorel getting short and doubling up, while the gloves came off in pots featuring Tsang, Smith and Tang.

Mosböck was building steadily, however, and he soon won a pot that underlined just how these super high rollers may be good friends away from the tables, but remain fierce competitors on it.

Mosböck became the man to knock out his mentor, friend and Vienna-based team-mate, Fedor Holz. To be honest, it was a fair fight when they got their chips in pre-flop, with Holz three-bet shoving his last 1 million chips over Mosböck’s early-position open.

Mosböck had and made the call, ending with a flush in spades to beat Holz’s pocket nines. Mosböck was the first to console Holz, although this German sensation doesn’t need too much consoling. He took his medicine, saw his bank account swell by $694,000, and went looking for a seat in the main event.

Mario Mosboeck’s arm reaches out to console Fedor Holz on his elimination

As we have seen many times before on the Triton Series, if players double up rather than bust when they’re all-in and called, the tournaments can get incredibly shallow. So it proved here, where Thorel managed another double up, while Tang and Smith went tumbling, and soon everyone bar Mosböck had stacks smaller than the average of 18 big blinds.

Thorel, in particular, was again demonstrating his remarkable ability for hanging around, and it was only fitting that he applied the knockout blow to Tang. Thorel had to Tang’s when the latter got his last four big blinds in.

Thorel ended the hand with a full house, while Tang went looking for an $875,000 payout. Tang had been chip leader for a while today, but the turbulence of this final table ejected him just before everybody else became a millionaire.

What can you do? Danny Tang gets Thorel-ed

For Thorel, this particular elimination was the most meaningful. He knew before the start of play that if he could finish in fifth place or higher, he would leap to the top of the France all time poker money list — an incredible achievement for a player who only took up the game age 60.

The departure of Tang secured the top spot for Thorel, and his loyal partisan rail cheered its support.

Still no one other than Mosböck really had anything like what you’d call a comfortable stack, but nobody was making any crazy moves either. It was all a bit of a grind as stacks dwindled and everyone waited for someone else to go bust first.

Alexander Shelukhin had largely managed to steer clear of all the big confrontations, but that meant he was on a steady decline. After seeing Thorel stuck his chips in from late position, Shelukhin saw suited connectors and risked his last two blinds. However couldn’t beat and Shelukhin was out.

This businessman from Moscow has been a poker enthusiast all his life, and he was another making his debut on the Triton Series. He ended with a $1.125 million payday, which will no doubt please him very much.

Mosböck congratulates his VIP partner Alexander Shelukhin

Thorel, of course, is always never short of pleased with anything he does at the poker table. Just being in the game often seems enough for the 76-year-old, but he sure plays a mean game too while he’s there.

He was at his characteristic best here in the Triton Invitational, long outlasting his pro partner Erik Seidel and playing merry havoc once again at the final. All good things must come to an end, and Thorel’s tournament halted in fourth.

Thorel, in the big blind, called Mosböck’s shove from the small and the Frenchman’s led his opponent’s at this stage. However, Mosböck drilled a nine on the river to stun Thorel.

Everyone around the table came over to shake his hand and hug him as Thorel headed away, with another $1,390,000 to his name. He is now the target for the rest of France’s poker players.

Mosböck, of course, now had an overwhelming lead. He had 59 big blinds, Elton Tsang had 18 and Dan Smith only eight. But nobody was giving it up just yet.

Smith has been in plenty of situations like this before, and knows his spots precisely. He got his chips in with and scored a double against and, crucially, those cards were in the hands of Tsang.

That meant the pair swapped places on the leader board, and on the very next hand, Tsang was heading out the door. Smith got him, with beating . Tsang, who once won $12 million in a poker tournament here in Monte Carlo, had to make do with third place and $1,780,000 this time.

Elton Tsang fell just short of a Monte Carlo double

Smith’s surge put him at 30 big blinds, in sight of Mosböck’s chip-leading 57. The last of the businessmen had gone and now it was two elite pros, from either side of the Atlantic, gunning for a maiden Triton title.

All the small early pots went in Smith’s direction. The same applied to the slightly bigger ones too, and the American boss gradually edged into a chip lead without ever really seeing a flop.

When they did eventually play a pivotal pot — the pivotal pot — Smith was on the right side of what was something of a cooler.

Smith raised with and Mosböck called with . They saw a flop of . Mosböck checked, Smith bet, Mosböck check-raised and Smith called.

That brought the on the turn and both players had a pair. Mosböck checked, Smith bet and Mosböck called, and when the rivered, they both had two pair and all the chips went in.

Mosböck’s surge was over, but he picked up a mighty $2,690,000 for his efforts.

Mario Mosbock had bossed the final table until Smith took charge

Smith paid tribute to all his opponents as he spoke at the end of a draining event. “Some days you feel the moment, and this tournament kind of felt good,” he said. “When I had a moment, I just got a good run of cards.”

He added: “People have this idea that pros always know what to do…but sometimes you’re just hoping others collide and bust out.”

With a 20-year career at the top of this game, Smith is a clear master. And now he is a Triton Series champion.

RESULTS

Event #1 – $200,000 NLH TRITON INVITATIONAL
Dates: October 24-26, 2023
Entries: 73 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $14,600,000

1 – Dan Smith, USA – $3,870,000
2 – Mario Mosböck – Austria – $2,690,000
3 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $1,780,000
4 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $1,390,000
5 – Alexander Shelukhin, Russia – $1,125,000
6 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $875,000
7 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $694,000
8 – Ilkin Gabrili, Azerbaijan – $540,000
9 – Bob Voulgaris, Canada – $406,000
10 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $315,000
11 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $315,000
12 – Murray Williams, USA – $300,000
13 – David Yan, New Zealand – $300,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

IVEY TAKES DOWN SHORT-DECK TURBO TO LAND LONDON DOUBLE

For the second time in a week, Phil Ivey came to Triton London and conquered.

The American great, already in the Poker Hall of Fame and, by many estimations, the best player ever to sit at a poker table, landed a fifth career Triton title in the $25,000 Short Deck Turbo.

It was, by Triton’s standards, a small event, played in its entirety on the final day of a long festival and in the shadow of the short deck main event. But it came with a $280,500 first prize and a stellar final table.

Ivey was heads-up against Danny Tang, who also had four career Triton titles and was searching for a second from this stop. But Ivey had a massive chip lead by this point and was able to brush Tang aside. Tang had to make do with $193,800 at the end of another successful festival for him.

As for Ivey, he now moves alone to second in the all-time champions list, with only the dominant Jason Koon ahead of him.

“I love the game of poker, I always have,” Ivey said, explaining to Ali Nejad what keeps him coming back. “I love to play. Hopefully I’ll get a few more.”

TOURNAMENT RECAP

It was the final event on the Triton London schedule, but for anyone keen on short deck who was no longer in the Main Event, here was one last chance to get on the honours board.

The buy-in was $25,000 and there were 33 entries (including 15 re-entries), which put $825,000 in the prize pool.

The min-cash in this one was “only” $57,800, the smallest of the series so far. But even for players of these kinds of means, it’s not insignificant — and that’s before you even factor in things like Player of the Year points. And prestige.

It meant that this tournament still underwent the kind of slowdown common when a bubble is close — although all things are relative in a turbo, where stacks are growing small.

After Mikita Badziakouski was knocked out in ninth, Anson Ewe was the short stack, and Paul Phua wasn’t comfortable either. But thankfully for those two, Cary Katz ended up on the wrong side of a pair vs. pair encounter with Ivey (Katz’s tens lost to Ivey’s jacks) and then Ivey polished him off too.

Katz’s final hand came when he took a stand with on a flop of . Ivey, who had raised pre-flop and bet the flop, actually had what he was representing. His condemned Katz to the rail

They now moved around a single table, but with still one player to bust until the money. It turned out that Phua couldn’t survive. He had no choice but to fold for more than 30 hands in a row before he was finally forced in only six antes. Danny Tang was his lone opponent and Tang’s made a straight.

Phua’s London trip ended in the disappointment of a tournament bubble.

They now lined up, in the money, as follows:

Danny Tang – 4.4 million (148 antes)
Phil Ivey – 2.235 million (75 antes)
Thai Ha – 1.325 million (44 antes)
Daniel Dvoress – 1.23 million (41 antes)
Stephen Chidwick – 550,000 (18 antes)
Anson Ewe – 275,000 (9 antes)

Event #17 final table players (l-r): Thai Ha, Dan Dvoress, Anson Ewe, Danny Tang, Phil Ivey, Stephen Chidwick

Ewe had inched into the money, but could go no further. In a three-way all in, Ivey’s pocket kings beat both Tang and Ewe with the latter hitting the rail in seventh. Tang took a massive hit in the hand too, with Ivey assuming the chip lead.

His closest challenge now came from Chidwick, who chipped up and then dumped Thai Ha on to the rail. Chidwick shoved with pocket tens and Ha called with . He couldn’t hit, and Ha was out, banking his first Triton cash. It was worth $74,200.

The next player out was Dvoress, falling short of his own remarkable back-to-back. Dvoress won this equivalent tournament in Cyprus, sealing the deal on his first ever Triton success while the cleaning staff were moving in, and his flight out out the country was nearing.

It would have been quite something to essentially defend his title, but, you know, with stacks short and , all his remaining chips went in. Ivey was lurking with and it held.

Dan Dvoress fell short of a title defence

Ivey was now on the rampage. After a relatively long period of three-handed play (maybe 20 minutes) Ivey accounted for Stephen Chidwick. Chidwick has been deep in pretty much every tournament this week, but hasn’t managed to convert and he took another beat here.

Chidwick had and Ivey had and a nine on the flop was all it took.

Yet another deep run for Stephen Chidwick

Ivey had 144 antes to Tang’s 21 so there was no surprise when this one ended rapidly. Tang got it all in with and Ivey was sitting there with . There was nothing unusual on the board and that was the end of that.

Danny Tang couldn’t overcome a big chip deficit heads up

The Main Event had finished moments earlier, leaving Ivey free to take to the stage and talk to Ali Nejad for the many fans watching on the stream.

What a phenomenal end to a phenomenal series here in London. See you at the next one!

Event #17 – $25,000 Short Deck Ante Only Turbo
Dates: August 10, 2023
Entries: 33 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $825,000

1 – Phil Ivey, USA – $280,500
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $193,800
3 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $123,800
4 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $94,900
5 – Thai Ha, Vietnam – $74,200
6 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $57,800

Photography by Nick Pope

KOON CONTINUES UNSTOPPABLE RUN, LANDS NINTH TITLE IN SHORT DECK MAIN EVENT

Jason Koon’s incredible stranglehold on the Triton Series shows absolutely no sign of slackening as tonight he won a sensational ninth career title and a second for this trip to London.

Koon was named champion in the $60,000 Short Deck Main Event, earning him another $828,000 and putting yet another Triton trophy on his aching shelf. What’s more, he now has an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece for each wrist, should he want, as he added this short deck title to his hold’em Main Event win in Cyprus in May. (He later said he will give the watch to his friend Paul Phua. “None of this would have been possible without him,” Koon said.)

At the turn of the year, Koon was tied with Mikita Badziakouski on four Triton titles each. But Koon has won five since then: one in Vietnam, two in Cyprus and now two here in London.

The Triton Ambassador is in a league of his own.

Koon will be the first to admit that he needed a huge slice of good fortune along the way today, hitting a miracle one-outer in a huge pot against Tan Xuan to keep him afloat. Both players had flopped sets — Xuan’s kings to Koon’s nines — but Koon rivered a fourth nine to make quads.

“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever one-outered anyone in a tournament,” Koon said. “I just accepted my fate, got up.” He then turned round and saw the river card.

A nine for a ninth? Pretty much. He needed to close it out of course, denying Kiat Lee a first title after a patient heads-up duel between the two.

Eventually, Koon’s turned a straight to beat Lee’s and this remarkable snowball just keeps on rolling.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After the epic bubble shenanigans that turned the $30K Short Deck into a rapid-fire shootout yesterday, the same thing appeared to be happening today. The first three called shoves on the bubble resulted in double ups — however, these were not just between micro stacks.

Quite the contrary. Tan Xuan and Masashi Oya had two of the three biggest stacks in the room but they started to go at one another as they had during at least one previous tournament. Xuan was pushing the action and was seemingly prepared to gamble with his tournament life with whatever two cards he was dealt.

Xuan pushed with and Oya called with a bigger stack and a bigger hand. He held . Short deck can be so cruel though and the board ran , with that final six completing a straight.

This was an enormous pot and it put Xuan into a massive chip lead. He then open-shoved every hand for a couple of orbits, until Chris Brewer was bold enough to look him up. Brewer had to Xuan’s and there was nothing miraculous on this board. Brewer therefore assumed the big lead.

Lun Loon doubled up his short stack, which left Isaac Haxton as the man under most threat. Haxton got his chips in with after Brewer had open shoved pre-flop, and was in decent shape against Brewer’s . However a queen on the turn ended Haxton’s hopes, burst the bubble, and extended Brewer’s lead.

Isaac Haxton bubbled after shorter stacks doubled

There was just time before they reached the official final for Dan Dvoress to bust in eighth, banking $111,000. That put them around the final table with the following stacks.

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Chris Brewer – 4.8 million (240 antes)
Jason Koon – 3.24 million (162 antes)
Tan Xuan – 1.76 million (88 antes)
Masashi Oya – 1.62 million (81 antes)
Wai Kin Yong – 1.06 million (53 antes)
Lun Loon – 660,000 (33 antes)
Kiat Lee – 655,000 (33 antes)

Short deck Main Event final table players (clockwise from back left): Lun Loon, Masashi Oya, Chris Brewer, Tan Xuan, Jason Koon, Kiat Lee, Wai Kin Yong.

Masashi Oya had managed to rebuild some of his stack after that massive tangle with Xuan (he was responsible for Dvoress’ elimination), but gave some back to Lun Loon at the final, and was then left in trouble again.

Wai Kin Yong doubled his short stack through Oya and on the next hand, Xuan finished the job. This one was pretty gross. Oya was one of four players paying the minimum to see a flop of . Kiat Lee bet, Xuan called, Oya raised, Loon folded, but Lee and Xuan called again.

The turn was the and after two checks, Oya moved in. Lee called and then Xuan raised. Lee folded.

Oya had so had smashed the flop. But Xuan had pocket jacks and had vaulted into the lead on the turn. Oya won $140,700 for his seventh place.

Masashi Oya’s turbulent ride ended in seventh

Yesterday’s hero Yong didn’t enjoy quite such an easy ride at today’s final table, and the four-time champion perished in sixth. Yong lost a chunk with the short-deck favourite to Lee’s , but even though he rebuilt, he was soon to run into Koon.

Yong found and moved in. Koon woke up with and made the call. Koon rivered an unnecessary third king and won the hand, sending Yong out with $176,700.

Wai Kin Yong couldn’t quite go back to back

Such is the volatility of short deck that no stack is so small to be without hope, and no lead is so mighty to be unassailable. You need only ask Loon and Brewer about that. Loon had been in real peril on the bubble, but he had gathered plenty of chips since then and took another big chunk from Brewer, who was chip leader during the nervous pre-money phase.

Loon’s kings held against Brewer’s and that started a nosedive. Brewer then lost a big pot to Xuan’s full house before the remainder of his chips went to Koon, whose beat .

Brewer’s trip ended with a check for $226,300 and a fifth place.

Chris Brewer took a nosedive and finished fifth

Stacks were pretty deep still at this stage, but the dealer had a special trick up his sleeve to keep this one rattling along at a crazy pace. Koon was dealt pocket nines and Xuan pocket kings and the two big stacks got to a flop for a single raise.

It came . That was a set for both of them, with Xuan well ahead. Koon checked, Xuan bet, Koon called and the came on the turn. Koon checked, Xuan bet, and now Koon moved all in, with the marginally smalled stack.

Xuan called obviously with his top set, but the landed on the river to give Koon quads and slice Xuan down to crumbs. Koon finished him off a couple of hands later and built an enormous lead.

Xuan took his beat as well as you could expect and picked up $292,500 for fourth place.

This trip to London has seen some spectacular performances from some established Triton greats, but one of the sub-plots has been the emergence of Lun Loon as a force to be reckoned with. The Malaysian cut his teeth on the Triton Series, and took a while to get off the mark.

But he made the final table of the $125K NLH Main Event, and now here he was at the final of the short deck Main Event as well. The run ended in third after Loon shoved his last 69 antes with . Kiat Lee called with and the bigger ace stayed best.

Loon added another $386,800 to his account.

So there they were, heads up, with only Kiat Lee standing between Koon and a ninth title. Lee was yet to win one of his own, but his elimination of Loon had given him some hope. Koon had 197 antes to Lee’s 148.

After all the huge pots that had brought us to this point, these two stalwarts kept it a little lower variance. However the momentum was really only in one direction.

Koon chipped and chipped away at Lee, showing his resilience and even more incredible stamina. And then came that big one, where Lee took the lead to the flop, but the turn card completed Koon’s straight and left Lee dead.

“I played one of the best short deck players in the world heads-up,” Koon said, offering solid praise to Lee. But he explained that short deck is a game in which he feels he has an edge.

“There was a three or four year span when I was off the grid playing the biggest short deck games in the world,” Koon said. “I don’t think that it’s just pure luck I’ve won four short-deck titles.”

For all that, he jumped straight on to a video call with his wife Bianca and two sons in which he explained: “Daddy’s a luck box!” One day he’ll tell them the truth, that it takes a lot, lot more than that.

Event #16 – $60,000 Short Deck Main Event
Dates: August 9-10, 2023
Entries: 46 (inc. 19 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,760,000

1 – Jason Koon, USA – $828,000
2 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $598,000
3 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $386,800
4 – Tan Xuan, China – $292,500
5 – Chris Brewer, USA – $226,300
6 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $176,700
7 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $140,700
8 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $111,000

Photography by Nick Pope

YONG HITS FOUR AFTER SHORT DECK SPRINT IN LONDON

The fastest final table in Triton Series history played out in London this afternoon, with Malaysia’s Wai Kin Yong tearing through the last seven in the $30,000 Short Deck event to claim a fourth Triton title.

It was blink-and-you’ll-miss it stuff. It took Yong only about 100 minutes to go from posing for the group photo to holding shaking hands with his last vanquished opponent, putting $350,000 more into his account and a fourth exclusive trophy on the mantlepiece.

“It’s crazy,” Yong said. “I just kept winning every hand. It was pretty insane.”

Last night, Yong’s friend Danny Tang won his fourth trophy, pulling him clear of Yong. But Yong was bullish about his chances of drawing back level.

“I told him [Tang] yesterday, I’m going to get my fourth one tomorrow,” Yong said.

Danny Tang comes over to sweat the final run-out

He added that his wife was intending to come to watch the final stages of the event if Yong was still alive when they got three-handed. But she wasn’t quick enough. Her husband was the champion before 2.45pm.

That was the point at which Yong managed to down Chris Brewer heads-up, the duo both getting dealt a premium pair and getting their chips all in. Yong’s pocket queens held up against Brewer’s pocket jacks. Brewer finished second for the second time on this trip and banked a further $252,400.

However for Yong, it marks a return to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2019, when he won the NLH Main Event here in London. This one was worth quite as much as the $2.6 million he won that time, but he’ll take it. He even gets an hour off before the start of the short deck Main Event.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Part of the reason for the swiftness of the final table today was a crazy period last night ahead of the bubble, when eight players shared chips around for several hours. There had been 37 entries, with only seven players due to be paid, and they sliced the field down to a final table pretty quickly.

Bubble for Daniel Dvoress after a wild phase of play

However, the bubble just refused to burst and with the ante level ever increasing, the stacks got very shallow indeed. Daniel Dvoress finally succumbed to the pressure and busted in eighth. It left the last seven, but only Yong had what you might call a big stack when they returned today.

FINAL TABLE LINE UP

Wai Kin Yong – 4.8 million (160 antes)
Karl Chappe-Gatien – 1.68 million (56 antes)
Paul Phua – 1.23 million (41 antes)
Chris Brewer – 975,000 (33 antes)
Sam Greenwood – 870,000 (29 antes)
Stephen Chidwick – 790,000 (26 antes)
Isaac Haxton – 755,000 (25 antes)

Last seven in Short Deck (l-r): Chris Brewer, Paul Phua, Stephen Chidwick, Karl Chappe-Gatien, Isaac Haxton, Sam Greenwood, Wai Kin Yong.

Stephen Chidwick is a fixture at Triton final tables, but his residence at this one could not have been briefer. On the very first hand after the photographic formalities, Chidwick got his stack in holding pocket jacks.

Stephen Chidwick was at the payouts desk before the final had even really begun

Paul Phua, who had limped pre-flop, made the call with . There was a queen on the turn and that did for Chidwick. He had been chip leader before all the bubble shenanigans last night, but suffered more than many others at that stage. His elimination in seventh earned him $58,200.

Phua’s victory in that pot all but doubled his stack, but short deck is so volatile that it didn’t take long until it had vanished again. The next hand, Phua lost with pocket tens to Sam Greenwood’s , and then two more stinging defeat, first to Haxton and then Chappe-Gatien sent him to the rail.

That last hand was especially brutal. Phua’s lost to . Chappe-Gatien rivered a straight. Phua ended this one with $72,100 for sixth.

Paul Phua was swept away in the early turmoil

The carnage was not done yet. Isaac Haxton was sitting with and saw Wai Kin Yong move in, with an enormous stack. Haxton made a simple call and was in good shape against Yong’s .

However, the queen on the flop was a killer, and the three sevens also on the board turned Yong’s hand into a full house. Haxton was left with a trip to the payouts desk where he picked up $94,300 for fifth.

Even Isaac Haxton couldn’t stop the rampage

Yong was finding his stride and then eliminated Sam Greenwood. The Canadian pushed his last 24 antes in with and Yong called with pocket queens. A ten on the river was not good enough for Greenwood and he departed in fourth, banking $122,000.

That wasn’t the end of the rampage. Chappe-Gatien had only 27 antes when he picked up . He shoved and Yong called with . The flop was , something for everyone, but Yong’s two-pair held after a turn and river.

Chappe-Gatien skipped away and picked up a $161,000 prize for third.

It left us with only two: Chris Brewer, who was heads-up for the second time on this trip to London, and Yong, who was seemingly romping to a fourth Triton title. Yong had 229 antes to Brewer’s 49.

The early stages were small ball, and then Brewer found the double up he needed to start his attempt to overhaul the disadvantage. He got it all in with pocket tens to Yong’s . By the time Yong hit a queen on the river, the smattering of other high cards also on the board meant Brewer made a straight.

That brought the stacks much closer: Yong’s 123 antes to Brewer’s 99. But the prospect of a small-ball grind quickly evaporated when they both got those pocket pairs. Yong had and called. Brewer had and put a raise in.

Yong then moved all in and Brewer called, essentially setting up a coup for the title.

There was scant help for Brewer. The board ran . And that was the end of that.

Chris Brewer and Wai Kin Yong heads up for the title

This Triton Series stop in London has seen both titanic fina table duels lasting long into the night, and now this one, which finished before afternoon tea.

Event #15 – $30,000 Short Deck Ante Only
Dates: August 8-9, 2023
Entries: 37 (inc. 13 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,110,000

1 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $350,000
2 – Chris Brewer, USA – $252,400
3 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $161,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $122,000
5 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $94,300
6 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $72,100
7 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $58,200

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive and Nick Pope

TANG JOINS THE FOUR-TIME CLUB WITH $1.6M TRIUMPH IN LAST NLH EVENT IN LONDON

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Danny Tang paid tribute to his late friend Ivan Leow

FINAL DAY ACTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

FINAL TABLE LINE UP

They stacked up as follows:

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

Event #13 final table players (clockwise from back left): Danny Tang, Lewis Spencer, Jason Koon, Mikita Badziakouski, Bruno Volkmann, Sean Winter, Keat Liu Chun, Elior Sion, Matthias Eibinger

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

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

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

Elior Sion, another cash in his hometown

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

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

Lewis Spencer made a deep run in only his second Triton tournament

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

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

Mikita Badziakouski’s hunt for a fifth title continue

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

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

Sean Winter showed some incredible tenacity at the final

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

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

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

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

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

Keat Liu Chun led for long periods before a tangle with Tang

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

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

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

Number nine will have to wait for Jason Koon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,600,000
2 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – $1,080,000
3 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $703,000
4 – Jason Koon, USA – $582,000
5 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – $469,000
6 – Sean Winter, USA – $370,200
7 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $283,000
8 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $213,000
9 – Elio Rion, UK – $159,000

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

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

ADAMS HALTS THOREL’S CHARGE TO CLAIM MAIN EVENT TITLE NO. 2

The Canadian crusher Tim Adams today became only the third player to win two Main Events in the history of the Triton Super High Roller Series, somehow repelling the seemingly unstoppable charge of French businessman Jean Noel Thorel.

Adams, 37, was the only man able to lay a glove on Thorel, a man more than twice his age, in a thrilling, high-speed final table of the $125K buy-in Main Event at Triton’s latest stop in London. It was the biggest Main Event ever hosted by this tour and Adams claimed $4.185 million for the win, the biggest single cash of his stellar career.

The triumph came four years after he picked up $3.5 million for victory on the Triton Series in Jeju, South Korea.

Adams also won $1.5 million for fourth place in the $200K event late last week, but this title also comes with an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece and a two-night stay on the Bombay Superyacht.

“I’m just lost for words because that was insane that I won this one,” Adams confessed at the end. “It was a battle heads up. Jean Noel, hats off to him. He is an insane competitor, super tough to play against.”

Adams seemed set to become the latest poker pro to be swept away by Thorel when the pair got their similar-sized stacks in pre-flop with Adams’ pocket eights up against Thorel’s nines. Thorel had repeatedly beaten other players of Adams’ calibre in a crazy final table, but an eight appeared on the river to seal the deal this time.

“When we got it in it was a bit of a cooler,” Adams said. “I thought that would be it for me. I couldn’t believe it when I smashed the eight on the river.”

Thorel — or JNT as he’s fondly known in the industry — is the oldest player ever to pull up a seat on the Triton Series, and is known as one of the most fearless and unpredictable players around. He is a super high roller regular who never backs down from any confrontation, and enjoyed the run of his life in this one.

Wearing a T-shirt and cap bearing the word “POLICE”, Thorel was the self-appointed law-enforcement officer when all of the young guns tried to get out of control. However, Adams somehow managed to prevail and condemn Thorel to a second-place finish, for which he won $2.83 million.

Thorel joined Adams on the stage for a winner’s photo — a stage that was also filled with numerous other high roller regulars, who are friends and competitors of Adams. There will scarcely be a more popular winner or runner up.

What a tournament.

The high roller community poured on to the stage to congratulate Tim Adams

TOURNAMENT ACTION RECAP

The opening two days of this event dominated the tournament floor at the cavernous Great Room of the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel. Tournament organisers were expecting a healthy turnout, but the field exceeded wildest expectations.

While Day 1 was characterised by either steady accumulation or hopeful speculation (with the knowledge that re-entries were always possible), the second day was a more tetchy affair. Missteps now were far more costly: when you were out, you were out. And only 27 players from a record-breaking field would make the money.

The Day 1 chip leader Pedro Garagnani tumbled down the counts and hit the rail. Meanwhile another winner from this week Bryn Kenney soared to the top of the counts. (Kenney took a lot of Garagnani’s chips.)

Meanwhile other Triton greats fell by the wayside, allowing them to hop into the $60K turbo and seek salvation there.

As usual, the rate of eliminations slowed at the money got closer, but a couple of the players with the biggest stacks were making life very tough for anyone hoping to cling on. Nick Schulman was dominating his table and accounted for Ignacio Moron with pocket tens against Moron’s . Moron busted in 29th.

That hand took place only moments before Dan Dvoress, another short stack, slammed into Stephen Chidwick’s on another table. Dvoress flopped a flush draw but it bricked out, and Dvoress too was toast.

Dvoress had a lifeline in that he might end up with a chop of 27th place if another player was knocked out in hands in progress elsewhere. But it never came to pass and Dvoress learned he was the stone bubble. His departure left everyone else in the money.

The following phase quickly accounted for some Triton greats as others made their surge towards the final. Jean Noel Thorel assumed the tournament chip lead after felting Erik Seidel and Wikton Malinowski in the same hand. Thorel’s kings beat Malinowski’s pocket queens and Seidel’s .

Kenney flew too close to the sun and lost a massive pot to Seth Davies, before being finished off by Isaac Haxton’s pocket aces, which stayed good against Kenney’s kings. Kenney followed up his Luxon Invitation triumph with $207,500 for 21st.

Bryn Kenney: Fell short of a second success

With the final table finally in sight, and players such as Nacho Barbero, Paul Phua and Matthias Eibinger falling narrowly short, the tournament entered a holding pattern. There were numerous short-stack double ups and only incremental changes to some of the big stacks. Meanwhile, the previously dominant Schulman and Davies both entered the danger zone.

Schulman then lost a big one when he bluffed ace high into Juan Pardo’s straight, and lost his final scraps to the same player soon after. It was then Davies’ turn to take the walk in tenth, losing with pocket queens to James Chen’s .

It was 2am and as Schulman and Davies hit the pay desk, the final nine bagged their chips to prepare for another huge day.

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Dan Cates – 8.2 million (66 BBs)
Stephen Chidwick – 6.65 million (53 BBs)
Jean Noel Thorel – 5.65 million (45 BBs)
Tim Adams – 5.15 million (41 BBs)
Doug Polk – 3.325 million (27 BBs)
Juan Pardo – 2.5 million (20 BBs)
Isaac Haxton – 2.325 million (19 BBs)
James Chen – 2.3 million (18 BBs)
Lun Loon – 1.675 million (13 BBs)

Triton London Main Event players (clockwise from back left): Jean Noel Thorel, James Chen, Juan Pardo, Doug Polk, Dan Cates, Stephen Chidwick, Tim Adams, Lun Loon, Isaac Haxton.

The late night slowdown last night meant the final table began with a relatively small average stack. Even so, the opening exchanges were hectic and we lost three players within the first couple of orbits.

The first drama featured Isaac Haxton and Doug Polk, with the latter raise/calling off with pocket eights against Haxton’s pocket tens. The stacks were close and while Haxton doubled, Polk was left on the ropes.

Two hands later, he was down and out, shoving into Jean Noel Thorel’s kings. Polk took $422,500, but a legion of fans were left disappointed by his early exit.

Doug Polk became the first to feel Thorel’s wrath

Lun Loon is a relative newcomer to poker, having first learned the tournament game on the Triton Series but jumping on a steep learning curve. By day, he is a businessman in the agriculture sector, but he is also now hitting his poker stride and was at his third Triton final.

Loon’s run here ended in eighth, when he ran the smallest pocket pair — deuces — into Stephen Chidwick’s pocket fives. It’s a measure of how far Loon’s game has come in a relatively short period of time that he was disappointed to cash in eighth for $510,000.

James Chen hadn’t visited the Triton Series for five years before accepting an invitation to play the Luxon Invitational in London this week and going on the make the final table. The break from poker had clearly done him good because he he was again at a second major final, looking for another major payday.

Thorel, however, had other ideas. Having already picked up pocket kings once to dispense with Polk, Thorel now found pocket aces. Even better for the Frenchman was the two kings in Chen’s hand. The money went in, the aces held up, and Chen was out in seventh, winning $705,000.

It is surely every poker player’s dream to make a final table of this size and significance, but imagine doing that and getting dealt premium pairs on numerous occasions. That was the dreamland being inhabited now by Thorel, who looked down at aces following a raise from Juan Pardo.

Thorel three-bet and must have been in heaven when Chidwick, the only player with a bigger stack, four bet to 2.3 million. Pardo got out the way, but Thorel moved in and Chidwick called. He had .

The board bricked and Thorel scored an enormous double up, surging into a mighty chip lead. Chidwick was cut down to only 10 big blinds.

It was only later, when the hand appeared cards-up on the live stream, that the true magic and mystery of this hand was revealed. After Chidwick’s four-bet, Dan Cates snap-folded pocket jacks. And after that, Thorel announced he was all-in out of turn. That then allowed Pardo to look down at pocket kings — yes, pocket kings — which he folded. It was pretty incredible.

Stephen Chidwick went from chip lead to fifth place

Thorel wasn’t done with the aces. Only a few hands after slicing through Chidwick, he found bullets again. This time he watched Pardo squeeze shove from the big blind (Cates had called in the small blind) and of course Thorel made the call.

Pardo had and he also couldn’t catch Thorel. That sent the Spaniard to the rail in sixth, for $970,000.

Another final table ends in a sixth place for Juan Pardo

Chidwick had managed one double of his short stack, and maintained some hopes of gathering some momentum. But when he picked up pocket sevens and moved in, guess what happened? Yep, Thorel was behind him with an even bigger pair. This time queens were enough, and Chidwick’s tournament was done.

The British No 1 extended his lead at the top of the European money list with a $1.26 million score. But even he couldn’t stop Thorel.

Next it was Haxton’s turn to try to stop the juggernaut. And next it was Haxton who failed. The pair were sitting in the blinds and Thorel opened with . Haxton called with . The flop brought possibilities. It came .

Thorel made a pot-sized bet and Haxton, with a straight draw, moved his last chips in. Thorel called. Haxton had eight outs twice, but the turn and the river missed twice. Haxton departed in fourth for $1.582 million.

Isaac Haxton was powerless to stop the Thorel juggernaut

Dan Cates had swung to the final table in the chip lead, and the passionate Triton audience was looking forward to a Jungleman show. However, even the charismatic American had to take a back seat to Thorel — even though it was Tim Adams who did most of the damage to Cates’s stack.

Adams applied the finishing touches to Jungleman too, getting pocket jacks to hold against after all the money went in pre-flop. To the great dismay of the watching public, Cates perished in third for $1.94 million.

And then there were two. Thorel’s stupendous rise had earned him a stack of 24 million at this stage (80 big blinds). But with Adams having eliminated Cates, he had a workable 13 million (43 big blinds). And now it was only the Canadian who could stop Thorel’s romp to the title.

It started pretty well for Adams. He secured a double up with and a flop of . Thorel had for the same top pair, but he didn’t hit anything else. Adams’ kicker played.

The heads-up was clearly exceptionally difficult for Adams. “JNT is so unpredictable,” Adams said. “That’s how he plays. He put me in so many tough situations. I don’t know if I made the right fold or a bad fold.”

However, Adams is a true competitor and arguably deserved the slice of good fortune he landed in the final hand. Certainly Thorel did not begrudge him, and continued to grin broadly as he allowed Adams to claim the limelight.

It was a final table for the ages; a fitting end to the biggest Main Event ever hosted on the tour.

RESULTS

Event #11 – $125,000 NLH Main Event
Dates: August 5-7, 2023
Entries: 151 (inc. 54 re-entries)
Prize pool: $18,875,000

1 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $4,185,000
2 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $2,830,000
3 – Daniel Cates, USA – $1,940,000
4 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $1,582,000
5 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $1,260,000
6 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $970,000
7 – James Chen, Taiwan – $705,000
8 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $510,000
9 – Doug Polk, USA – $422,500

10 – Seth Davies, USA – $360,000
11 – Nick Schulman, USA – $360,000
12 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $311,000
13 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $311,000
14 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $282,000
15 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $282,000
16 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $254,000
17 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $254,000
18 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – $226,000
19 – Erik Seidel, USA – $226,000
20 – Dan Smith, USA – $226,000
21 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $207,500
22 – Brian Kim, USA – $207,500
23 – Rodrigo Seiji, Brazil – $207,500
24 – Pablo Brito Silva, Brazil – $189,000
25 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $189,000
26 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $189,000
27 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $189,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

JUST ANOTHER MILLION DOLLAR DAY FOR PHIL IVEY, BECOMES FOUR-TIME TRITON CHAMP

You can never describe Phil Ivey as an attention seeker. The 46-year-old from the United States may be most people’s pick as the best poker player in the world, but you wouldn’t know it from his demeanour. He is quiet and calm; focused but polite.

Tonight at the Triton Series stop in London, Ivey quietly set about his business in the $60,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em turbo, a tournament that took place in the shadow of the Main Event on the other side of the room.

As the clock struck about 1am local time, Ivey stood up from the table, shook the hand of his heads-up opponent Cary Katz, and began life as a four-time Triton Series champion. He paid the massage therapist who had been working on him for the previous couple of hours, posed for some photos and gave some interviews. And then off he went again, $1,007,000 in his account.

This was vintage Ivey. The on-table action was fast and frantic, with some of the other best players in the world picking their spots and doing their thing. But Ivey was somehow just better than them on the day, and accepted a few blessings from the poker gods.

“Good,” he said, when asked how it felt to pick up a fourth Triton trophy. “It’s always nice to win one of these.”

He added that he enjoyed playing on this tour more than any other. “I love these Tritons,” he said, stating that he’ll continue to play a full slate here in London, before “going home and waiting for the next Triton, I guess.”

Ivey now tops $8.5 million in Triton earnings, and pushes past $40 million in lifetime winnings. But as he strolled out onto the London streets, it was just the end of another day.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Organisers always schedule a turbo tournament during Day 2 of the Triton Series Main Event, allowing players disappointed by elimination from the big one a chance to make immediate amends.

In keeping with everything that has happened here in London this week, the tournament attracted a massive field: 61 entries, including 14 re-entries, which put $3.66 million in the prize pool. The late stages are always insane, and for whomever survived the inevitable buffeting, there was a prize of more than $1 million.

Action sped along until the bubble appeared in view, and suddenly every decision was now worth thinking a little more deeply about — or at least appearing to think a little more deeply, while secretly hoping someone else would bust.

Luc Greenwood had the very shortest stack, but doubled it thanks to a miracle river that turned his into a winner against Nick Petrangelo’s .

That put the pressure on David Yan, who was fresh from a $3 million win in Event 7. Yan found an ace — to be precise — but he slammed it into Phil Ivey’s pocket nines. The pair held and Yan was out in 14th.

David Yan was eliminated shortly before the bubble

On to the stone bubble then, and the torture of hand-for-hand. Cary Katz was taking care of most pots on one table, while the short stacks were mostly on the neighbouring table — including that in front of Kiat Lee. Lee watched Biao Ding open shove from under the gun, and then looked down at . He agonised over his decision, but eventually made the call. However, Ding showed pocket queens and Lee couldn’t beat them.

The Player of the Series from Vietnam perished on the stone bubble this time.

It left us with a final table that stacked up like this:

Phil Ivey — 41 BBs
Biao Ding — 27 BBs
Rodrigo Selouan — 26 BBs
Wai Kin Yong — 25 BBs
Cary Katz — 22 BBs
Nick Petrangelo — 21 BBs
Tan Xuan — 18 BBs
Aleks Ponakovs — 17 BBs
Luc Greenwood — 5 BBs

Event 12 final table players (clockwise from bottom left): Wai Kin Yong, Aleks Ponakovs, Nick Petrangelo, Cary Katz, Tan Xuan, Biao Ding, Phil Ivey, Luc Greenwood, Rodrigo Selouan

Having dramatically survived the bubble, Luc Greenwood was already essentially free-rolling, and had actually inched onto the final table thanks to the elimination of Henrik Hecklen and Santhosh Suvarna in 11th and 10th respectively.

That brought with it a jump up the payouts ladder of more than $13,000. Nothing is small on the Triton Series, even in one of these turbos.

Greenwood therefore tapped the table and wandered away without recriminations when his lost to Cary Katz’s , with the latter making a flush. Greenwood won $104,000 for ninth, continuing a fine time in London for the Event 1 winner.

Luc Greenwood survived the bubble before finishing ninth

It kind of goes without saying in these turbo events that stacks were critically shallow, and only getting more so as time went on. Wai Kin Yong was the next to be swept away, in a hand that also accounted for Tan Xuan. Yong, a three-time Triton champion, open pushed his short stack with and quickly found a call from the big stack Cary Katz.

Xuan, on the button, looked down at and determined that was good enough to join the party and shoved as well. Katz called again.

There was very good reason for that. Katz had pocket aces. There was nothing to get excited about on flop, turn or river, and with that two were out at once. Yong had the smaller stack and took eighth place money of $137,200. Xuan earned $175,700 for seventh.

Wai Kin Yong is still hunting a fourth title

Tan Xuan swept away in a three-way collision

By the standards of a turbo, things slowed down for a while. They went at least 30 minutes without another elimination as Nick Petrangelo trebled his short stack through Ivey and Katz, and the others stayed away from danger.

The sword of Damocles began to hover over Biao Ding, and when he looked down at pocket tens it must have felt like the perfect opportunity to move it on to someone else. However, Ivey was sitting with pocket jacks at the same time and Ding was done.

Ding has already amassed $2.3 million and one title since his debut on the Triton Series in Vietnam. He added another $223,200 to his ledger for this six-placed finish.

Aleks Ponakovs was next out. He’s another player who has enjoyed a stellar trip to London already, making three final tables including the Luxon Invitational, where he picked up $2.5 million for fourth. But his run in this turbo ended in fifth, when he lost a major pot to Petrangelo.

Ponakovs had and butted into Petrangelo’s . Two spades on the flop were joined by a third on the river and Petrangelo’s flush accounted for the Latvian. Ponakovs won $285,500.

The tournament played four handed long enough for the average stack to shrink to 15 big blinds. Katz was still leading; Ivey was breathing down his neck. But chips were being traded in small pots only as the others stuck around.

It obviously couldn’t last forever, and Rodrigo Selouan was the next out the door. He moved in after Ivey opened his button and Ivey called quickly. Ivey had pocket jacks and Selouan’s didn’t connect. These turbo tournaments have been favourable to Brazilians this week, and Selouan earned $360,000, to complement the Pedro Garagnani/Bruno Volkmann 1-2 from the other night.

Rodrigo Selouan narrowly missed out on securing another Brazilian turbo win

Three Americans remained at the table, although Petrangelo’s further stay was brief. His money went in with , which was in good shape against Ivey’s . Good shape, that is, until the dealer put an eight on the flop.

Petrangelo has found his stride on the Triton Series in London this week and adds $360,000 to his tally for third.

Nick Petrangelo has found some form in London

Ivey had a big chip lead — 47 big blinds to 14 — when they started heads up play. And more importantly, he had all the momentum. Although bigger deficits have been overturned, this wasn’t to be one of those times.

Katz found what seemed to be a great spot to double when he got his last 10 bigs in with . Ivey had , but there were two more queens on the flop.

That’s how Phil Ivey does it. And that’s why he is now a four-time Triton champion.

Event #12 – $60,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: August 6, 2023
Entries: 61 (inc. 14 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,660,000

1 – Phil Ivey, USA – $1,007,000
2 – Cary Katz, USA – $715,500
3 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $468,900
4 – Rodrigo Selouan, Brazil – $360,000
5 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $285,500
6 – Biao Ding, China – $223,200
7 – Tan Xuan, Malaysia – $175,700
8 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $137,200
9 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $104,000
10 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $91,500
11 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $91,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

KING KENNEY REIGNS AGAIN IN LONDON WITH LUXON INVITATIONAL TRIUMPH

Bryn Kenney is the kind of poker player who wins tournaments wherever he goes. A career haul of close to $60 million attests to that, and that doesn’t include whatever riches he has won online.

But Kenney seems to have a special affinity to this particular district of London, at least when the Triton Series rolls into town.

Four years to the week since Kenney won the biggest prize ever awarded in a poker tournament, just a few yards down the street, Kenney has once again bossed a Triton Series final table and won the Luxon Invitational powered by Triton Poker, adding $6,860,000 to his career total.

This one was an outright win — last time, he was officially the runner-up — and it brings with it another Triton trophy and an exclusive trip on the Bombay Superyacht for Kenney and up to five of his friends.

“It’s so surreal,” Kenney said. “It’s crazy. Just I don’t know where I am really, but I’m in a good place, standing here at the end of the tournament.”

Referencing his runner-up finish at the Triton Millions, Kenney said: “I didn’t get to hold up the trophy then, but now I can hold up the trophy. I’m so blessed and thankful for this and everything.” Let us not forget, Kenney already has two titles from other Triton events, in Montenegro in 2019. So he is now in rare company as a three-time winner.

Bryn Kenney finally gets to hold the trophy

The success puts Kenney back to the summit of the all-time poker money list, leapfrogging Justin Bonomo. It is the ninth time he has won more than $1 million in a poker tournament. Both his two biggest cashes have come on the Triton Series.

Kenney outlasted the British businessman and Triton Vietnam Main Event champion Talal Shakerchi heads up after the two blasted through one of the fastest final tables the tour has seen. There were deep stacks and ferocious talents all assembled at the start of the day, pointing to what might have been a marathon.

However, Kenney was able to pick up the hands that he needed at the right time, and can play a big stack like no one else in the tournament game. Even Shakerchi was powerless to stop the Kenney juggernaut and had to settle for a second prize of $4,650,000.

Another incredible performance from Talal Shakerchi

Let’s rewind and take a look at how this one played out.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The Luxon Invitational continued Triton’s commitment to providing a perfect, level playing field for professional players and VIP recreational player alike. As at the Triton Million four years ago, everyone in the field needed to have received an invitation to play, either from the organisers or from one of the VIPs. They could invite one pro each to play.

The two sides of the field played separately for the opening stages, before merging. It’s the kind of treatment you get if you’re prepared to pay $250,000 to play a poker tournament.

By the time registration closed, there had been 118 entries, including 27 re-entries, and $29,500,000 in the prize pool.

The smallest cash in this tournament was $342,000 — considerably more than the first prize in almost all tournaments outside of the Triton Series. The safe prediction was that the bubble period would be especially fraught. Even for players with seemingly infinite bankrolls, nobody wanted to miss out on the really fun stages of this event.

What transpired, however, was one of those invisible, lighting-fast bubbles. It was gone before it had ever really arrived.

That was because two players were knocked out on neighbouring tables, all but simultaneously. The first took an absolutely gross beat. The second paid the price for some characteristic aggression that went wrong.

Firstly, let’s express our sympathies for Erik Seidel. The American great was seated on the feature table alongside Paul Phua — a fun spot, for the most part. But Phua was lurking behind Seidel with pocket jacks when Seidel got his last chips in with aces.

Paul Phua: Triton founder made a deep run

Isn’t that supposed to be good? Well, yes. Usually. But the dealer put four hearts on the board and only Phua had one of those. It meant that Seidel hit the rail in a cruel 25th, losing with the best hand pre-flop.

Little did Wiktor Malinowski know, but they were now on the stone bubble. Malinowski was on a neighbouring table with an average stack, pondering a hand against Robert Flink. Malinowski has made his name through his ultra-aggressive cash game style, and he blasted off in this one, three-bet squeeze-shoving from the big blind after an early position open from Flink and a call from Tan Xuan in the small blind.

Malinowski had and was probably hoping for a couple of calls. But Flink looked him up with pocket nines, and they held. Jason Koon was sitting on a third table with only two big blinds. But he was suddenly in the money as Malinowski was forced out.

“Somebody really f***ed up,” an incredulous Koon said, delighted to have inched into the money against the odds and without any pain.

An incredulous Jason Koon is in the money

THE RACE TO THE FINAL

With an in-the-money result confirmed, the last 23 then began a race to the final table. Koon was next out, followed by the player who had invited him, Sosia Jiang. Two payouts of $342,000 was not a bad result for that partnership.

We also lost Triton co-founder Paul Phua, who had led the field for a long period before things started to run against him. He nonetheless picked up $410,000 for 17th.

The clock passed midnight and it wasn’t certain that we would reach a final before the scheduled end time of 2am. But superstars Patrik Antonius, Stephen Chidwick and Steve O’Dwyer tumbled out of contention, as well as Italian businessman Leonardo Drago, who made it all the way to 11th.

When Christoph Vogelsang hit the rail in 10th, losing a flip to Kenney, we were at the final. Vogelsang’s businessman partner Talal Shakerchi led the way as they took to their hotel rooms ahead of the final day.

FINAL TABLE

The players lined up as follows for the final:

Talal Shakerchi – 7.2 million (72 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 5.85 million (59 BBs)
Punnat Punsri – 4.85 million (49 BBs)
Robert Flink – 4.525 million (45 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 4.175 million (42 BBs)
Chris Moneymaker – 3.025 million (30 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 2.55 million (26 BBs)
James Chen – 2.45 million (25 BBs)
Kayhan Mokri – 775,000 (8 BBs)

Luxon Invitational final table players (clockwise from top left): Aleks Ponakovs, Chris Moneymaker, Nick Petrangelo, Punnat Punsri, Robert Flink, Bryn Kenney, James Chen, Kayhan Mokri, Talal Shakerchi.

It was an irresistible mix of pros and VIPs, as well as those who blur the boundaries. The presence of Chris Moneymaker was also an extraordinary bonus. Rightly feted as the man who ignited the poker boom, it was an incredible sight to see him deep in the first Super High Roller he had ever played.

After glitzy introductions, the players settled in. But this very rapidly became an incredibly volatile final, with chips flying from the off.

When James Chen last sat down in a $250,000 buy-in event, he walked off with the title at the World Series of Poker Europe. Many of his opponents that day were here in London as well, but this time Chen could not repeat the trick.

Even though Kayhan Mokri was still alive with a tiny stack, Chen got involved in a raising war with Kenney pre-flop. Chen opened, Kenney three-bet and Chen moved in. When Kenney called, Chen, with must have feared the worst. He was right to. Kenney had and although both players hit their kicker on the flop, Kenney’s was bigger.

Chen hit the rail in ninth for $680,000.

James Chen: Out in ninth, Kenney’s first victim

Laddering up from ninth to eighth was worth $180,000 and so Mokri must have felt that he was now freerolling. However, the thrill ride ended pretty soon after for the Norwegian cash-game player. He couldn’t get pocket eights to hold up against Aleks Ponakovs’ . Ponakovs turned a straight.

Mokri, who cashed twice in Vietnam on his first visit to the Triton Series, banked $860,000. That’s surely enough to warrant a return visit next time.

Kayhan Mokri laddered a spot, but went out in eighth

Two players were out in the blink of an eye, and it didn’t take very long for us to lose a third. By his incredibly lofty standards, Nick Petrangelo has not enjoyed the best of times on the Triton Series, but his surge to the final table here gave him the perfect chance to get firmly in the black.

However, he became the latest player to get involved in a pre-flop ding-dong with Kenney, and to lose it all when the board came down. Kenney had pocket nines and four-bet shoved. Petrangelo, with , called it off. There was a nine on the flop, and Kenney faded straight outs on the turn.

Kenney stacked up a monster pile of chips as Petrangelo claimed $1,170,000 for seventh.

Nick Petrangelo fell on the wrong side of a flip

There was scarcely any let-up in the pace as Shakerchi now joined the wrecking party and Robert Flink landed on the wrong side of the rope. Shakerchi opened his button with and Flink defended his big blind with . Spectators quickly realised that a queen on the flop could be dangerous, but the was equally perilous.

Flink checked. Shakerchi bet 200,000. Flink now shoved with his straight draw. Shakerchi had the chips to call with second pair and the turn and river bricked out. Flink was done, winning $1,582,000 for sixth.

Chris Moneymaker had taken things steadily at the final table, allowing all around him to go haywire as he waited it out. However, the first significant pot he played turned out to be his last.

It also happened to be the first major confrontation that Punnat Punsri had played at the final, but neither man was bluffing. Moneymaker opened from under the gun with pocket jacks and Punsri moved in from the big blind after action folded all the way round.

Moneymaker called for his tournament life and saw Punsri table . It was a fair fight until the dealer put a king on the flop and Moneymaker could not catch a two-outer to survive. Punsri led the applause for Moneymaker, the man who inspired many people in the room to take up the game.

Moneymaker gave hugs around the table and wandered away, $2.03 million richer. That’s the biggest prize he has won since his 2003 WSOP Main Event title — and not far off even that sum.

An incredible Super High Roller debut for Chris Moneymaker

The speed of the play had taken everyone by surprise, and now there was no place to hide. Ponakovs is hugely experienced at the tournament tables, and knows that four-handed play requires everyone to get involved frequently. He found first to act, which was plenty good enough for a raise. Shakerchi called on the button with pocket sixes and both the blinds left them to it.

If the flop of was cruel to Ponakovs, the turn was brutal. Ponakovs now had under-repped trips, but he was drawing incredibly thin against Shakerchi’s full house.

Having bet the flop, both players now checked to lay the trap. The came on the river, and it sprung. Shakerchi bet big, but then Ponakovs jammed. Shakerchi snapped him off and won a big one. Ponakovs was dust in fourth, winning $2,540,000.

Aleks Ponakovs was coolered out by Punsri

Although we had seen fast and furious action, and any number of massive confrontations, we had yet to witness anything that might be described as truly gross. The best hand had tended to win. But Punsri’s ultimate demise was not quite so clean.

The Thai player, and Cyprus Main Event champion, got 25 big blinds in after limping pre-flop with and seeing Shakerchi raise from the small blind. Punsri then jammed and Shakerchi called. Shakerchi had , and so Punsri was in great shape.

However the dealer put the on the flop and that vaulted Shakerchi into the driver’s seat.

Punsri still had outs, but the turn and river didn’t hit. It sent Punsri out in third for $3,107,000.

Punnat Punsri bids farewell to Shakerchi

The stacks were pretty even as the heads-up play got started, and there was still the chance that this would go on a good few hours. However, both players act quickly and were prepared to get their chips moving — with the prevailing wind blowing them into Kenney’s stack.

Shakerchi was cut down but managed to double up with a straight to beat Kenney’s pocket kings. He also made arguably the most breath-taking play of the heads-up phase, folding trip kings. He was right because Kenney had a full house.

However, you can’t win a tournament through folds alone and when the money all went in for the second time, Kenney managed to secure the decisive come-from-behind success. Kenney had to Shakerchi’s and the dealer landed an eight on the flop.

Shakerchi never caught up, and Kenney was the champion.

The New Yorker has recently become a father and hasn’t played many poker tournaments over the past couple of years, but he hasn’t lost his knack. In his post-game interview, he described the grind of the early levels and then the exhilaration of the cruise through the final.

“It’s a roller coaster,” he said. For Kenney, it’s a roller coaster that always ends at the top.

Event #9 – NLH Luxon Invitational
Dates: August 3-5, 2023
Entries: 118 (inc. 27 re-entries)
Prize pool: $29,500,000

1 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $6,860,000
2 – Talal Shakerchi, UK – $4,650,000
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $3,107,000
4 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $2,540,000
5 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $2,030,000
6 – Robert Flink, Sweden – $1,582,000
7 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $1,170,000
8 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $860,000
9 – James Chen, Taiwan – $680,000

10 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $575,000
11 – Leonardo Drago, Italy – $575,000
12 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $501,000
13 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $501,000
14 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $455,000
15 – Tan Xuan, China – $455,000
16 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $410,000
17 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $410,000
18 – Cary Katz, USA – $371,000
19 – Seth Davies, USA – $371,000
20 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $371,000
21 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – $342,000
22 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – $342,000
23 – Jason Koon, USA – $342,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

PLO ROOKIE GOTTLIEB LEARNS FAST TO SNATCH TITLE AT TRITON LONDON

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FINAL DAY ACTION

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

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

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

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

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

Event #10 final table players (clockwise from top left): Seth Gottlieb, Dan Dvoress, Yian Zeng, Matthew Wood, Ole Schemion, Anton Morgenstern, Pascal Lefrancois, Michael Rossi, Gavin Andreanoff

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

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

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

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

Ole Schemion was first out from the final

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lefrancois took $234,000 for third.

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

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

Dan Dvoress and Seth Gottlieb shake hands after the huge pot

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

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

Daniel Dvoress fell one place short of a second title

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

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

1 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $511,000
2 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $355,000
3 – Pascal Lefrancois, Canada – $234,000
4 – Matthew Wood, UK – $184,800
5 – Michael Rossi, USA – $148,200
6 – Gavin Andreanoff, UK – $115,500
7 – Yian Zeng, Hong Kong – $91,500
8 – Anton Morgenstern, Germany – $71,200
9 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $54,000
10 – Keith Lehr, USA – $41,400
11 – Chris Brewer, USA – $41,400
12 – Sergio Martinez, Spain – $38,500
13 – Morten Klein, Norway – $38,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

YAN SEALS $3M+ WIN AFTER TITANIC BATTLE WITH BARBERO IN LONDON

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

This one was very hard won.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FINAL DAY ACTION

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

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

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

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

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

A huge bubble to suffer for Mikita Badziakouski

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In they went again.

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

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

Nacho Barbero took the most despite heads-up defeat

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

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

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

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

Just another day on this most remarkable poker series…

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

1 – David Yan, New Zealand – $3,052,002*
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $3,445,807*
3 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $2,766,191*
4 – Tim Adams, Canada – $1,550,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,247,000
6 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $970,000
7 – Chris Brewer, USA – $770,000
8 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $600,000
9 – Seth Davies, USA – $453,000

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

*denotes three-way deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive