Category: Tournament

The final stages of the biggest event on the Triton Madrid schedule so far pitted against each other two players who had taken very different roads to end within touching distance of a title.

On the one hand, there was Mikita Badziakouski, already a three-time Triton Series champion, who assumed the chip lead early on the second day of this €50,000 buy-in event and then barely relinquished it for hours, sitting calm and comfortable and making all the right decisions to keep his eye on the top prize — and a record-setting fourth success.

Sitting opposite him was Danny Tang, a Triton regular seeking a first win, whose passage through the tournament was anything but serene. His tracking graph went up and down precipitously, and he was staring at near certain elimination six-handed, when he somehow managed to win with the worst hand in a three-way all in.

However, Tang took the triple up, bludgeoned past another couple of players, and then squared off against Badziakouski, the last two of a 101-entry field. There was €1,340,000 on the line for first place and €932,000 for second. Perhaps wary of each other’s skills, and aware of how fickle the poker gods can be, the pair talked about a deal.

But they opted not to do one and returned to the table to play it out. And by then, all bets were off. Tang and Badziakouski somehow became locked in one of those titanic heads-up duels where it looks as if either man could win it at any moment, but also that it might go on forever.

After more than three hours, the real winner was the tournament structure, which shallowed the stacks to the point that there was no longer much room for players to manouevre. They eventually had only 25 big blinds between them, but still neither could get one to stick. When it honestly looked as though they might just have to somehow arrange a tie, the deadlock was finally broken.

Tang shoved with , Badziakouski called with and the pocket pair held.

This was a majestic moment for Badziakouski. He is nothing if not stubborn — a fact he has demonstrated numerous times on the Triton Series and beyond, and which had earned him those three previous wins — in Montenegro in 2018 and 2019 and Jeju in 2018. By his standards, a three-year period without a victory was an eternity — and Badziakouski was eventually able to end the drought.

Tang’s search for a title goes on, but it can’t be long. He has been pictured in many winner’s photos down the years, hugging friends and celebrating as they all earned their silverware. Surely soon enough he will be allowed sit there by himself and hoist the trophy aloft.

He takes €932,000 as consolation. But Badziakouski becomes the first seven-figure prize winner of this stop, and collects €1,340,000 plus the fourth trophy. Not that he was bragging about it. “I put in high volume and have been lucky sometimes,” he said. “It’s pure luck. We had a couple of all ins and I was the one to win it.”

FINAL DAY’S ACTION

The tournament resumed on Day 2 with 23 players, meaning some exceptional talents hit the rail before the bubble bobbed into view: Patrik Antonius, Stephen Chidwick and Erik Seidel were among those who fell short. Tournament organisers arranged a redraw when 14 players were left, with the next man out leaving with nothing.

At this stage, there were five players with fewer than 20 big blinds, but tournament strategy is so advanced these days, that that by no means guaranteed a quick bubble resolution. So it proved, as these wily operators picked their spots and refused to call it quits for at least 75 minutes. There were a few double ups, a few big folds, and lots of nerves, even from these seasoned campaigners.

The unfortunate player ended up being the Polish cash-game crusher Wiktor Malinowski, whose fortunes took a three-stage nosedive. Firstly, he was very unfortunate that Henrik Hecklen didn’t bust on the feature table, when Hecklen went up against Adrian Mateos with to Mateos’ . Hecklen turned a seven to survive.

At that exact point, Malinowski was involved in a pot against Phachara Wongwichit on the outer table, where Malinowski flopped two pair with but Wongwichit’s rivered a set.

Had either of those situations ended differently, Malinowski would have made the money. But the way it went was that Badziakouski then polished him off, with staying good against Malinowski’s .

Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief and Brian Rast, the shortest of short stacks, got it in immediately, lost, but knew he would be picking up €101,000 for 13th place. That was fortunate for him, because his elimination was grim: pocket queens losing to Bruno Volkmann’s pocket 10s. At least he had the comfort blanket of a debut cash.

With only eight spaces at the last table (and seven at the “official” final), some more top names would need to depart. And, in fairly order, the tournament lost Wongwichit, Phil Ivey, Mateos and then Hecklen, taking them to that single table and the dinner break. They all won more than $100K and a handful of all-important Player of the Year points.

When they reconvened, Badziakouski was some way clear at the top of the counts. The stacks were as follows:

1 – Mikita Badziakouski, 5,450,000
2 – Kevin Paque, 3,720,000
3 – Fedor Holz, 3,195,000
4 – Michael Watson, 2,470,000
5 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, 1,635,000
6 – Bruno Volkmann, 1,430,000
7 – Danny Tang, 1,170,000
8 – Linus Loeliger, 1,125,000

Blinds 40,000/80,000 Ante 80,000

Loeliger had dazzled on the opening day of this tournament, his first day of action for the stop. But he’d had his wings clipped somewhat on the second day, unable to get much going, and he became the next elimination. Loeliger moved his last 1.025 million (about 13 big blinds) with , and was called by Badziakouski’s . There was a king on the flop, and nothing else meaningful, which meant Loeliger was done in eighth for €187,000.

The next player out was also seeing his first Triton Madrid action in this event: Tom-Aksel Bedell. A regular on the European tournament circuit, Bedell often pops up in the big events where his talents belie his appearance. He is far from a spring chicken, but he has the aggression and fearlessness to surprise many of his opponents. It’s a result of his Norwegian heritage — although he now lives in Spain, and visits Casino Gran Via regularly.

Bedell decided to give things a spin on the Triton Series, and if the Twitch and YouTube chat is anything to go by, he became a quick favourite. Everyone was sorry to see him go in seventh, when his lost to Fedor Holz’s . Bedell won €240,000.

Nobody at this stage was an enormous stack, but things were looking a tiny bit perilous for Tang, who had about 15 big blinds. But things suddenly took a real turn for the better for Tang, precisely as they turned very sour for Volkmann.

Volkmann is one of a cadre of top Brazilian pros who dominate the online tournament scene. But he decided to take a stab at some live poker this week and hopped in here in Madrid, a decision that earned him €389,000, but even so, ended in a sickener.

Tang opened a pot with a shove for 1.5 million, sitting with . In the small blind, Holz looked down on and re-shoved for his 2.5 million stack. Volkmann, who covered both of them, then woke up in the big blind with . Volkmann called.

The flop was immediately bad for Volkmann. It was . The turn was then the and the river was a further twist: . That gave Tang two pair, for a huge triple up; it gave Holz a pair of kings to win the side pot, and it gave Volkmann nothing. He lost all but three big blinds.

They were in very soon after, when Holz this time had pocket queens and Volkmann’s couldn’t find a miracle.

In the commentary booth, Randy “nanonoko” Lew was delighted by the poker he was seeing, describing every hand as being full of complexity and nuance. There was one hand in particular that grabbed him, when Holz made a big and convincing bluff with ace high to get Kevin Paque to fold a pair of sixes. It wasn’t the biggest pot Paque had played (that one he won: a big flip against Badziakouski to put him temporarily into second place), but Paque had seemed like he knew he might be being pushed out of it. And he never recovered.

Paque left the tournament in fifth place, when his lost to Tang’s . Paque, primarily a cash-game player, but with a string of decent tournament scores too, banked €389,000.

Tang was now the man with the momentum. Ever since that incredible triple up escape versus Holz and Volkmann, the Tang player couldn’t put a foot wrong. He was responsible for the next knockout too, sending Mike Watson to the rail in fourth.

There was nothing controversial about this one. Watson had pocket fours and shoved over Tang’s open. But Tang had aces, and there was nothing to help Watson on the board. Watson has had a very good trip here so far, cashing in three of the five tournaments he has played. He has finished in second, seventh and now fourth, this time adding €482,300 to his coffers.

Tang seized the chip lead with that knockout, even though all three remaining players still had relatively comfortable stacks. That very quickly changed, however, and sent Tang soaring to the summit, when he knocked out Holz in third. This one was another cooler: Tang opened to 300,000 with and Holz three-bet to 1.1 million with . Tang moved in, and Holz called off the extra 3.7 million.

There was a king on the flop to leave Holz drawing thin. He was drawing dead by the turn. Holz took €482,300 for third.

From near-certain elimination, Tang now took a two-to-one chip lead — 13.375 million to 6.825 million — over Badziakouski. And although the pair stepped outside apparently to discuss some business, they did not resolve anything and returned to play it out.

Tang’s lead grew to four-to-one, then eight-to-one, and then ten-to-one. And only then did Badziakouski find a double up, with beating Tang’s . Then Badziakouski did it again, this time with beating Tang’s .

The pendulum had swung back to the Belarusian, and he now edged closer and closer. Badziakouski retook the chip lead when both players had a queen in the hole and the flop brought another, but Badziakouski’s kicker played. They now had only 50 big blinds between them, and a rapid conclusions seemed inevitable. But still they managed to stretch it out some more, neither willing to budge an inch.

Every small pot was now the difference between first and second place, until eventually, at 1am local time, it finally ended. Badziakouski’s girlfriend was the first to congratulate him, as his friends also draped a Ukraine flag over his shoulders.

Both heads-up players will probably try to grab some rest before registering for Event 7, whose second day starts at 1pm tomorrow.

Triton Madrid – Event 6
€50,000 7-Handed NLHE

1 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – €1,340,000
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – €932,000
3 – Fedor Holz, German – €616,000
4 – Mike Watson, Canada – €482,300
5 – Kevin Paque, Netherlands – €389,000
6 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – €303,000
7 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – €240,000
8 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – €187,000
9 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – €141,500
10 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – €108,600
11 – Phil Ivey, USA – €108,600
12 – Phachara Wongwichit, Thailand – €101,000
13 – Brian Rast, USA – €101,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

The buy-ins went up again at Triton Series Madrid today — and so did the number of entries. Playing Event #6, the latest long-deck hold’em tournament — costs €50,000 for one entry, but by the time registration had closed, there had been 101 of them, including 45 re-entries.

We were into three figures in the entry column for the first time since the tour arrived in Spain, the first time since London in 2019, in fact. And that’s the way these things go on the Triton Series. It’s never that the buy-in is too expensive; it’s usually that it’s not high enough.

That flurry of activity at the registration desk means a prize pool for this one of more than €5 million, and a first prize that will make someone a millionaire. There’s €1.34 million up top, and even a min-cash is €101,000.

As we edge closer to the Main Events, we’re getting back to the enormous pay-checks that people particularly love about the Triton Series.

With all that money up for grabs, the very best in the world will have designs on it. And that’s how we account for the likes of Linus Loeliger appearing back on the Triton Series for the first time since before the enforced break.

Loeliger doesn’t just show up to make up the numbers: he built a strong chip lead at about the mid point of Day 1 and never gave it up today. The Swiss phenom will return tomorrow to a stack of 2,216,000 (185 big blinds), heading the field of 29 that made it through the day.

Loeliger’s closest challengers include two other players who skipped the opening of this festival, and only joined the action in this tournament. They’re Norway’s Tom-Aksel Bedell (1.184 million) and Henrik Hecklen, of Denmark (1.158 million).

And, look, there’s Adrian Mateos too — the home-town hero, who has come to the Triton party. Mateos bagged 1,075,000, which puts him sixth overall. Mikita Badziakouski and Mike Watson are also back near the top.

It’s a super tough field, and a thrilling one to watch on the live stream, when we’ll play down to a champion. That’s also when another big hold’em event gets going — a €75K buy-in 8-handed tournament — which will make things even more exciting. Join us tomorrow.

Here are the chip stacks overnight, and the payout schedule is below that.

Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – 2,210,000
Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – 1,212,000
Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – 1,184,000
Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – 1,158,000
Mike Watson, Canada – 1,093,000
Adrian Mateos, Spain – 1,075,000
Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – 1,006,000
Danny Tang, Hong Kong – 975,000
Fedor Holz, Germany – 974,000
Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – 918,000
Stephen Chidwick, UK – 687,000
Phil Ivey, USA – 682,000
Jeremy Ausmus, USA – 675,000
Tony G, Lithuania – 638,000
Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – 570,000
Yaman Nakdali, Spain – 564,000
Luuk Gieles, Netherlands – 521,000
Patrik Antonius, Finland – 476,000
Daniel Dvoress, Canada – 472,000
Brian Rast, USA – 452,000
Kevin Paque, Netherlands – 450,000
Bjorn Li, Hong Kong – 440,000
Phachara Wongwichit, Thailand – 380,000
Teun Mulder, Netherlands – 292,000
Sergio Aido, Spain – 262,000
Erik Seidel, USA – 260,000
Isaac Haxton, USA – 236,000
Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – 235,000
Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – 44,000

Triton Madrid – Event 6
€50,000 7-Handed NLHE

1 – €1,340,000
2 – €932,000
3 – €616,000
4 – €482,300
5 – €389,000
6 – €303,000
7 – €240,000
8 – €187,000
9 – €141,500
10-11 – €108,600
12-13 – €101,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

The biggest mystery through the Triton Poker Series’ first six years was how come Paul Phua had not won a tournament. The Malaysian businessman turned poker shark has been an ever present on the world’s premier high stakes tournament series, and had amassed 19 cashes from these incredibly elite fields — the most recent of them coming yesterday, in the opening event of Triton Madrid.

It was more than any other person, and just made it all the more confusing that he had never crossed the finish line first.

But hold the front page for here is some spectacular news. The mystery endures no more. Paul Phua is now, finally, a Triton Series champion!

Phua staged an incredible heads-up comeback to beat Erik Seidel and win the €30,000 buy-in seven-handed event at Triton Madrid tonight. Phua’s title came with a payday of €740,400 and brought his career tournament earnings past $25 million. But none of that money will matter to Phua: it’ll be all about the trophy that he can now, finally, call his own.

“I thought the fourth second place is coming,” Phua said. “But somehow the cards fell for me.”

Nobody can begrudge Phua this one, not even Seidel, who had staged a pretty remarkable comeback of his own to be in touching distance of his first win on the Triton Series. Seidel had been down to two big blinds at one point, but built a big heads-up chip lead against Phua. However, Seidel’s pocket sevens lost to Phua’s when the reverse result would have given Seidel the win; and Phua then also won with against Seidel’s .

Phua then closed it out with versus Seidel’s to cue pandemonium inside the Casino Gran Via, Madrid. Friends and supporters mobbed a delirious Phua, who could scarcely contain his delight.

It was lucky number 20. Finally it was not just a cash, it was a win.

Phua hugged Seidel, high-fived everyone on the rail, clenched his fists and pretty much crumpled to his knees. The monkey is finally off his back.

“I knew he’d be tough,” Phua said of his heads-up opponent. “Erik’s so experienced, such a great player, but anything can happen.”

Asked by commentator Ali Nejad if he could have ever have dreamed of Triton Series becoming so popular, Phua said, “Honestly, no. After the first few series, it began to get serious. We tried to get the best things in, the best equipment, the best people…We did a good job. But we will always keep improving.”

The same could be said of Phua’s game.

FINAL DAY’S ACTION

Returning with a field of 21, players knew that eight of them would still need to depart before the remainder were in the money — and it proved to be a real battle to decide those coveted spots.

With such talents as Rui Cao, Timothy Adams and Andras Nemeth already on the sidelines, there were at least 10 short-stack double-ups during the crucial pre-bubble period — “bubble-ups”, if you will.

On the one hand, it was just a matter of sitting and waiting for all those with plenty of chips, including Kevin Paque, Phua and Mike Watson, who led the way at the time. But on the other, they will have been just as keen to try to knock out the obdurate shorties, bringing us to the drawn out impasse.

When the pressure finally became too much, it was Tom Vogelsang who became the bubble boy. His debut on the Triton Series in Cyprus ended in pure delight; this follow up in Madrid gave him a taste of the other side of tournament poker. (He’s made of stern stuff, however, and will surely be back.)

POST-BUBBLE ACTION

The drawn-out bubble period meant that stacks shallowed considerably and most of the players in most danger soon got their last chips in. Fedor Holz, Michael Soyza, Kevin Paque, Danny Tang and Patrik Antonius were all in and out, picking up between €56,000 and €78,100.

There are many ways to understand how impressive the fields are on the Triton Series, but just look at that little lot who fell short of the final table.

How about if we add one more name to that list: Phil Ivey, because it was indeed the all-time great who went out in eighth, officially the final-table bubble in this seven-handed affair.

Ivey is on an incredible run of form through these past couple of months, but there was no room for him at this final. He lost with against Isaac Haxton’s . They both flopped and ace, but Haxton’s kicked played. Ivey took €103,200 for eighth.

And so we were left with seven, including all of Haxton, Daniel Dvoress and Seidel, who had been critically short on the bubble but somehow managed to survive. They were, however, looking up to Kannapong Thanarattrakui when the final table assembled: the Thai player having managed to navigate this incredibly tough field to sit with 43 big blinds at the start of final table play.

Final table stacks:

Kannapong Thanarattrakui – 5.4 million
Paul Phua – 4.425 million
Isaac Haxton – 4.175 million
Erik Seidel – 1.8 million
Michael Watson – 1.125 million
Ben Heath – 900,000
Daniel Dvoress – 775,000

Blinds: 50K/125K/125K

At the other end of the ladder, Dvoress, Heath and Watson had fewer than 10 big blinds each, and predictably they were the first three out.

Haxton opened to 250,000 with and Watson moved all in for his last 1.125 million with . Dvoress folded pocket eights after thinking long and hard about it, but Haxton made the call.

The flop gave Watson two pair, but he was far from happy. It came , which left Haxton with a ton of outs. The turn wasn’t one, but the river was. Haxton made a straight and Watson was out, for €132,500.

Having seen his decision to fold those pocket eights vindicated, Dvoress might have thought his luck was in, especially when he quickly doubled through Haxton with . However, he lasted only a few more hands and was knocked out by Phua is another cooler.

Phua opened with and Dvoress took a flop in the big blind with . Like Watson before him, Dvoress flopped two pair, but again like Watson, it still wasn’t great. The specific flop was , so that was a flush draw for Phua.

The money went in and Dvoress was at risk. The didn’t immediately kill him on its own, but in combination with the river, it certainly did. Phua had filled a straight, and Dvoress was toast. He won €167,400 for sixth.

With the two Canadians eliminated, pressure fell on Seidel and Heath. Seidel doubled with pocket tens, again through Haxton, but Heath wasn’t so fortunate. He got his last chips in with the pretty looking on the button, and although Seidel’s in the big blind looked pretty raggedy, he called, turned an ace, and Heath was finished. Heath’s fifth place earned him €214,800.

If you’d have asked Thanarattrakui at the start of the day whether he’d be happy with a fourth-placed finish, chances are he would have jumped at the chance. But having been in the chip lead seven-handed, he might have reassessed. However, Thanarattrakui did indeed make it to fourth in this one, his first Triton cash, and one suspects he’ll come to be very happy about it.

He had dwindled to a short stack four handed, the result of some mistimed aggression, and got his last two big blinds in with . Haxton, who had recently doubled through Phua, called with and the board bricked out. Thanarattrakui’s maiden cash was for €266,500.

Haxton’s bumpy ride wasn’t to last much longer, however. Phua had been more aggressive during today’s play than perhaps we had ever seen him before, and he open-pushed with . Haxon, with 10 big blinds and did the math and called.

But there was a king on the flop, and Haxton was out in third for €340,300.

When they got heads up — two absolute legends of the game — there was only the matter of four big blinds between them, with Phua slightly ahead. But Seidel’s experience really told as he edged further and further ahead.

Phua was faced with elimination, yet another second place, until he hit those miracle cards. Seidel could only chuckle and offer his heartfelt congratulations. He will almost certainly join Phua’s party tonight.

And what about Phua. What will he do now?

He was clear: “Honestly I don’t care. I won!”

Triton Madrid – Event 2
€30,000 NLHE 7-Handed

1 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – €740,400
2 – Erik Seidel, USA – €514,800
3 – Isaac Haxton, USA – €340,300
4 – Kannapong Thanarattrakui, Thailand – €266,500
5 – Ben Heath, UK – €214,800
6 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – €167,400
7 – Mike Watson, Canada – €132,500
8 – Phil Ivey, USA – €103,200
9 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – €78,100
10 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – €60,000
11 – Kevin Paque, Netherlands – €60,000
12 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – €56,000
13 – Fedor Holz, Germany – €56,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

The Triton Series’ first trip to Spain is happily now into its groove, crowning one champion on the festival’s second day, and playing through the first 15 levels of a second event — an event with another enormous prize pool, of course.

We have heard all about Michael Addamo already, so let’s focus here on that second tournament: a seven-handed no limit hold’em event with a €30,000 buy-in.

That entry fee was a slight increase on the series opener, and there were also a handful more players sneaking through the door on this one. When registration closed at the end of Level 10, the tournament closed with 93 entries, including 37 re-entries, and a prize pool of €2.79 million.

Thirteen players will be paid and the winner will get €740,400. Things are gradually growing as the series continues to gather momentum.

The tournament paused overnight with 21 players left, neatly arranged around three full seven-max tables, but still a way from the money. But the man who will sleep most soundly is the Triton regular Mike Watson, from Canada, who bagged 1.995 million, or 80 big blinds.

Actually, sleeping soundly is probably not something anyone can do when you look down the list of players who will be attempting to hunt Watson down tomorrow. Fedor Holz is only narrowly behind Watson, and he even found a way to defeat Addamo right at the death tonight. Holz knocked out Addamo with aces versus jacks, played slowly through three streets.

Below Holz is the former Master Classics of Poker champion, Kevin Paque, who is playing his first Triton event. And then, lo and behold, there’s Paul Phua. He was near the chip lead at the end of the first day of Event 1, and he is duly there again.

Phil Ivey also showed up today to play his first event of this festival. Patrik Antonius, who fired five bullets for no return in Event #1, is back and this time faring better. Then there are the other Triton stalwarts including Timothy Adams, Rui Cao, Daniel Dvoress, Ben Heath and Michael Soyza.

At one stage this evening, the television table featured Ivey, Erik Seidel and Holz, representing about 30 years of poker’s very best tournaments talents. (Nick Petrangelo, Max Silver and Pete Chen were there too, which is not bad as a support act.) That’s the kind of quality we have come to expect on the Triton Series, and many of them are still involved heading into Day 2.

Here are the stacks of the remaining 21 players. The payouts are below. This tournament concludes tomorrow, alongside the start of Event #3, which is a €20K short deck event.

CURRENT STANDINGS:

Michael Watson – 1,995,000
Fedor Holz – 1,970,000
Kevin Paque – 1,870,000
Paul Phua – 1,680,000
Tom Vogelsang – 1,275,000
Isaac Haxton – 885,000
Danny Tang – 865,000
Tim Adams – 860,000
Phil Ivey – 815,000
Erik Seidel – 765,000
Patrik Antonius – 760,000
Michael Soyza – 745,000
Rui Cao – 610,000
Ben Heath – 550,000
Danie Dvoress – 460,000
Bruno Volkmann – 460,000
Kannapong Thanarattrakul – 460,000
Ruida Lin – 420,000
Morten Klein – 420,000
Aleksejs Ponakovs – 405,000
Andras Nemeth – 340,000

Triton Madrid – Event 2
€30,000 NLHE 7-Handed

1 – €740,400
2 – €514,800
3 – €340,300
4 – €266,500
5 – €214,800
6 – €167,400
7 – €132,500
8 – €103,200
9 – €78,100
10-11 – €60,000
12-13 – €56,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Over the past couple of years, Australia’s Michael Addamo has graduated from the ranks of high-level poker talents to stand alone at the very top of the tree. He has put together a streak of results that stands comparison with any seen before, slicing through elite tournament fields to bank millions.

Addamo today added another title, winning the opening event of the Triton Series Madrid festival, worth €478,000. It is by no means the biggest payday of this incredible purple patch, but it might go down as Addamo’s most satisfying performance.

Addamo was the overnight chip leader of nine players returning today, but was then reduced to a tiny short stack, sitting with fewer than 10 big blinds seven-handed. However, he managed to pick his spots like a true artist, refusing to put his fortunes in the lap of the gods and instead always backing his impeccable judgment. It meant that he was able to rebuild, bounce back from any downturns, and eventually defeat the Malaysian pro Michael Soyza heads up.

It’s Addamo’s first Triton Series victory, over a field of 90 entries in this €20,00 buy-in tournament, but it will not be his last.

THE STORY OF THE DAY

There were some interesting ICM implications at the start of the day, especially for the medium-sized stacks. Morten Klein had only seven big blinds and Fernando Garcia had 14, which meant it would have been suicidal for anyone sitting in the middle of the pack to bust before them. However, with such a ruthless and well-stacked chip-leader in Addamo, those medium stacks also knew they might easily be targeted by the bully if they were to play too passively.

START OF DAY CHIP COUNTS

Michael Addamo – 4,695,000
Paul Phua – 3,250,000
Tommy Kim – 2,210,000
Michael Soyza – 1,790,000
Heung Wayne – 1,650,000
Rob Young – 1,545,000
Danny Tang – 1,485,000
Fernando Garcia – 700,000
Morten Klein – 345,000

Blinds: 25K/50K/50K

Soyza set a tone on the very first hand of the day, refusing to fold a flush draw despite Addamo’s aggression, and being rewarded by rivering that flush. That gave Soyza a big early pot and showed an early chink in Addamo’s armour. On the very next hand, the Klein problem was solved — the short stack shoved into Paul Phua’s , and received no help.

Klein departed in ninth, having played only two hands at the final, but earning €50,400 from his first foray into the Triton shark tank. Phua meanwhile recouped some of the chips he lost in yesterday’s huge final hand against Addamo.

With the absolute short stack eliminated, play settled down for a while. Addamo was still trying to push things, but wasn’t getting it all his own way, and Phua managed to move back into the chip lead. And Phua received another fillip when Garcia thought his time had come to either double up or go home.

Garcia had 550,000, with the big blind and 80K, and action folded to him in the cutoff. His holding wasn’t amazing — — but he shoved it in, and it folded all the way to Phua in the big blind. Phua’s holding also wasn’t great — — but Phua made the sighing call.

Garcia was fine with it, especially after he picked up even more equity when the first four cards off the deck were and . But the came on the river, only improving Phua, and Garcia’s day was done.

The lone Spaniard at the final shrugged his shoulders and grinned his way away from the table, happy that his debut on this series had ended with such a deep run. He earned €66,600 and looked keen to get back into the action next time.

At this stage, it might have been fair to assume Addamo would take over. He still had heaps of both chips and experience of precisely these kinds of situations, and he could have now expected to change gears and run things over. However, the only gear he found was reverse.

Addamo doubled up Heung Wayne in a huge pot when both flopped top-pair jacks, but Heung had a better kicker. And the pair then played another 1 million-plus pot, when both had ace high and Heung had the better kicker again. Addamo slumped to 10 big blinds, and will therefore have been grateful to see Danny Tang next to take the fall.

Tang doubled up Rob Yong in a huge pot, when Tang’s queens lost to Yong’s kings. And even though Tang doubled back through Soyza, it was only for a few blinds, and he was eliminated in seventh shortly after the first tournament break of the day.

Tang had to Tommy Kim’s when he shoved for 825,000. But there was a jack on the flop and another on the river, and Tang hit the rail winning €85,600.

Everyone had now locked up a six-figure score and Addamo was still the short stack, but the tournament then underwent another peculiar swerve. Yong, who had scored that huge double up to dent Tang, somehow became the next to bust, and then Phua, who had been a dominant chip leader seven-handed, was out in fifth.

Yong’s elimination was a simple error of timing. Wayne had been making a lot of plays as he chipped up on the final table, and Yong had probably noticed. So when Wayne opened to 300,000 from a 2.6 million stack from the cutoff, with mostly short-stacks behind him, Yong decided to rip in his last 1.85 million with .

However, this was one time when Wayne actually had it, to be precise, and Wayne snapped him off. (Addamo folded ace-queen.) Wayne ended up with a king-high flush, while Yong was out in sixth for €108,000. That’s his first cash on the Triton Series.

The same was not true for Phua, of course, who was in the money for the record-extending 17th time. But Phua couldn’t convert it into a title once again, and he busted soon after Yong. His final hand was a tiny bit more tricky: Soyza opened the hijack with and Phua defended the big blind with , from a stack of 1.8 million.

The flop was the all-action , which meant top pair versus the nut flush draw. Phua check-shoved over Soyza’s c-bet of 300,000, and the dealer put the on the turn to end it for Phua.

“GG,” Phua said, taking €138,500 for fifth, still trophy-less.

Even though he had been on a precipitous decline for much of the final day, Addamo had never been all-in and at risk. He had actually dodged two close calls when that might have been the case — once when Yong shoved the small blind with ace-eight and Addamo folded his ace-three, and once when he let that ace-queen go during Yong’s elimination hand.

But he did then shove for his last six big blinds with and earned a double when Wayne called him with . That proved to be another major turning point, because Wayne now spiralled downward as Addamo climbed up again. On the very next hand, the same two went at it with the same result. Addamo’s hitting trip kings to earn a double again through Wayne’s .

Addamo was now motoring once more.

It took at least another 45 minutes until those same players tangled again, but this time Addamo had Wayne comfortably covered when the dealer set up a time-honoured versus clash.

Addamo had the queens; Wayne had the over-cards, but the queen on the flop made the king all but irrelevant. Addamo took Wayne’s last 2 million chips and left the Hong Kong cash-game specialist looking for his fourth-place prize of €172,000.

Soyza still had the chip lead among a very shallow final three. He had 23 big blinds to Addamo’s 21, with Kim sitting with 15. It didn’t seem likely to last very long.

Sure enough, Soyza open pushed the first hand of three-handed play with and Kim called all-in with . After nothing much for the over-cards through flop and turn, the river was the and that was it for Kim. He took €219,500 for third.

That left Addamo to do battle with Soyza, and the Malaysian had a near two-to-one chip advantage. Soyza had 38 big blinds to Addamo’s 21. But the table were quickly turned when Addamo won the first flip, hitting a seven to match his to beat Soyza’s pocket sixes. Addamo this time never lost the lead again.

Soyza did manage one double up after he pushed for his last 2.5 million (nine big blinds) with and spiked a 10 on the river to beat Addamo’s .

But Addamo again had an off-suit ace-four (this time ) when Soyza pushed for 2.5 million with . This time there was no drama on the board and Addamo was the winner.

Soyza took €332,000, which is a nice way to start any festival. But this one was all about Addamo, who has laid down a formidable marker at the start of this 13-day festival.

Triton Madrid – Event 1 – €20,000 NLHE 8-Handed
Date: May 13-14, 2022
Entries: 90 (inc. 34 re-entries)
Prize pool: €1,800,000

1 – Michael Addamo, Australia – €478,000
2 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – €332,000
3 – Tommy Kim, South Korea – €219,500
4 – Heung Wayne, Hong Kong – €172,000
5 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – €138,500
6 – Rob Yong, UK – €108,000
7 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – €85,600
8 – Fernando Garcia, Spain – €66,600
9 – Morten Klein, Norway – €50,400

10 – Andriy Lyubovetskiy, Ukraine – €38,700
11 – Cristobal Hidalgo, Spain – €38,700
12 – Jeremy Ausmus, USA – €36,000
13 – Ni Liangce, China – €36,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive