Page 10 – Triton Poker

ADRIAN MATEOS’ ‘GOOD DAY’ IN JEJU ENDS SPAIN’S LONG TRITON SERIES WAIT

With nearly $40 million in live tournament earnings, four World Series bracelets and victories across all events on the European Poker Tour, you might have assumed Adrian Mateos had at least one victory on the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series to his name.

But it’s only after tonight’s performance in Jeju that that assumption is true.

Mateos blitzed through the final day of the $30,000 buy-in Event 5 here in South Korea, surviving the inherent turbulence of a short-stacked final table to down David Peters heads up and win $1,175,000.

Mateos had 10 previous cashes on the Triton Series, including a $3.1 million score when he chopped the Main Event in Monte Carlo last year. But he ended up yielding that title to Matthias Eibinger.

The Spanish No 1 was not to be denied in this return to the top table, however, and finally got his hands on a Triton trophy at around 8.30pm local time. By that point, the rest of the 185-entry field had departed, and even Peters had now been vanquished.

Having been his country’s pioneer in so many poker pursuits, Mateos became the first Spaniard to lift a Triton Series trophy too.

“Thank you to everyone supporting me,” Mateos said in victory. “Especially the Spanish poker community.”

Many of them ran on stage to celebrate with him at the end.

“I feel amazing,” Mateos said. “I’ve had a really good day.” He referenced the Monte Carlo Main Event where he came so close but fell at the final hurdle, and added too that he had bubbled five or six times on the Triton Series. “But that’s part of the game.”

His father came to watch his final table in Monte Carlo, but was viewing from afar this time around. “They’re supporting me,” Mateos said. “My dad, my mum, all my family…We will have some celebration.”

For Peters, who took $790,000 for second, it represented a welcome return to the Trion Series after a near year-long absence. Peters had had a relatively barren time of it on his most recent visits to this tour, and he opted to skip the previous three stops.

David Peters returns with a top two finish

But he came back here in Jeju with renewed purpose, and showed incredible guile to survive for long periods with a micro-stack. He doubled it up at critical moments and managed to get heads-up with Mateos. But the Spaniard’s momentum was just too much.

They survived a final that also featured Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Mateos’ friend Joao Vieira. And Mateos said the presence of those other greats helped him bring his A-game.

“I wasn’t nervous, but super focused,” Mateos said. “It was a tough final table. I respect them a lot but I just try to beat them.”

And beat them he did.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With another huge field, it meant another long Day 1 — and a late night race to the bubble. Soft hand-for-hand took a while, but hard hand-for-hand was relatively quick. That’s because a cooler ended up ousting an unfortunate Aleks Boika in 32nd place.

Boika had 14 big blinds when he looked down at and raised. Yulian Bogdanov three-bet with pocket jacks and Boika called. The dealer put the flop of on the table and, with top pair and backdoor possibilities, Boika committed the last of his chips.

Bogdanov called and was rewarded instantly with the on the turn. Boika still had outs but the river turned Bogdanov’s set into full house and turned Boika’s hopes to ruin.

Alex Boika, pictured during Event 1, hit the rail on the bubble of Event 5

The remaining field was now guaranteed a minimum $49,000 apiece — and a good sleep for the 24 players who made it to the end of the day.

INTO DAY 2

The returning field was a who’s who of Triton — and, by extension, global poker — greats, topped by one of the game’s form talents Jesse Lonis. But Lonis followed previous overnight chip leaders here in Jeju by hitting the rail before the final table was set.

Lonis perished in 13th, shortly before Event 1 champion Fedor Holz. Even so, the final table still found room for Phil Ivey, David Peters, Adrian Mateos, Joao Vieira and Patrik Antonius, giving poker fans an absolute treat on the live stream.

The full final nine lined up as follows:

Patrik Antonius – 7,700,000 (39 BBs)
Seth Gottlieb – 6,000,000 (30 BBs)
Joao Vieira – 5,200,000 (26 BBs)
Ramin Hajiyev – 5,100,000 (24 BBs)
Yulian Bogdanov – 3,775,000 (19 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 3,375,000 (17 BBs)
Lun Loon – 3,150,000 (16 BBs)
David Peters – 1,450,000 (7 BBs)
Phil Ivey – 1,275,000 (6 BBs)

Triton Jeju Event 5 final table players (clockwise from back left): Lun Loon, David Peters, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Seth Gottlieb, Ramin Hajiyev, Adrian Mateos, Joao Vieira, Yulian Bogdanov.

For Ivey and Peters, the mission was simple: find a spot to get the chips in and hope to double up. Ivey managed it quickly, taking up against Antonius’ and winning. Peters shoved a few times and picked up blinds and antes, which kept him afloat with rapidly shallowing stacks all round.

How shallow? Well, after a few orbits of final table play and no players knocked out, the average stack was 16 big blinds and the chip leader had 28. Those ICM handcuffs were locked around all nine pairs of wrists, as even Antonius, Mateos and Hajiyev, who were exchanging the chip lead, couldn’t really afford to put a foot wrong.

Eventually, the dam broke. And it was Ivey who took the long walk from the final table first. Ivey’s pocket tens lost a flip to Mateos’ and sent the US great out in ninth. He banked $119,000 for this one, but still seeks a sixth Triton title.

Malaysian businessman Lun Loon soon followed in Ivey’s footsteps. Already at his second final table of the trip to Jeju, Loon continues to improve event by event and it’s easy to forget he’s only been playing this game for around three years.

This time, his run was halted by Yulian Bogdanov. With action folded to Loon in the small blind, he pushed his last six blinds in with . Bogdanov found in the big blind, snap-called and won.

Loon was out, earning $145,000 for eighth.

Pretty much any pot now could mean the difference between elimination and a top half stack, and Gottlieb’s double through Hajiyev put the former back near the top and put the latter into the danger zone. Meanwhile David Peters dwindled to two big blinds but managed back-to-back double ups to stick around.

As if to underline the enormous volatility, the next player to hit the rail was the previously imperious Antonius. He too was undone was Mateos, who opened with and called when Antonius shoved with .

Antonius endured a rough trip to Triton Monte Carlo last year, but has bounced back with a final table appearance early in this festival. However, his $198,000 for seventh was probably less than he was hoping for when they got down to the final.

Patrik Antonius is back in the black in Jeju

Mateos now had close to 60 big blinds, which was the biggest stack anybody had seen for a good few hours. Bogdanov was his closest challenger; everyone else had fewer than 15.

The next set-up sent Hajiyev out. Bogdanov this time found the ace-king, specifically , and Hajiyev picked up pocket fives in the small blind. He pushed for eight big blinds and Bogdanov called. The king on the flop won him the race.

Hajiyev, the champion of the Invitational event in Cyprus last year, had to make do with sixth place in this tournament. It came with a $271,500 consolation prize.

Ramin Hajiyev returned for another Triton deep run

Peters had watched all this carnage from behind a tiny stack, but he managed to double it up again through Gottlieb and rise to the dizzy heights of third overall. Naturally, Mateos kept up the pressure on everyone else with continued pre-flop raises, knowing that if anyone wanted to tangle, they were risking the end of the line.

So it proved for Vieira, who had largely kept away from most of the danger until he could hold on no more. The Portuguese No 1 has started his trip to Jeju strongly, with cashes in three out of four tournaments played so far. But his first serious skirmish with Mateos proved to be his last, with Mateos pairing his jack with and beating Vieira’s .

Vieira’s $358,000 for fifth was his biggest Triton cash to date.

Joao Vieira extends his lead at the top of the Portugal money list

Peters doubled up again. But then he lost an enormous pot to double up Gottlieb. This was gross in any circumstances — Gottlieb’s pocket kings outdrawing Peters’ pocket aces — but Peters must have felt that he was freerolling anyway, having nursed so few chips for so long.

He was soon back down to three big blinds and looking to rebuild again. And rebuild he did. He doubled through Bogdanov, Mateos and Mateos again, which left Bogdanov in trouble. But then Bogdanov doubled through Mateos twice and then Gottlieb and he was able to tread water some more.

Not so Gottlieb. It’s important to note here that none of the four remaining players ever really put a foot wrong, each of them finding the correct spots to get their chips in but learning that winning flips is very important. Gottlieb’s money went in with when he ran into Bogdanov’s aces, then with when he saw Mateos’ river a straight.

Had he have won the pot, Gottlieb would have been chip leader. As it was, he was out in fourth for $452,000. Having already finished runner up in another event, Gottlieb continues to amass plenty of Player of the Year points.

Seth Gottlieb with another top four finish

Mateos might have run away with it again, but Peters doubled with against the Spanish player’s to put them neck-and-neck.

Mateos pulled away again, however, with the elimination of Bogdanov. For such a short-handed passage of play, there were numerous premium hands, and Mateos found another one — pocket queens — to finally end Bogdanov’s resistance.

Bogdanov had and three-bet shoved. He couldn’t hit.

There seems to be a Bulgarian at every Triton final table these days, and it was Bogdanov’s turn to return in this event. A third place for $557,000 is a very good result.

Yulian Bogdanov: A sad way to end a fine tournament

The heads-up battle began with only 62 big blinds between the two of them. Mateos had 40; Peters had 22. After last night’s battle between comparative unknowns, tonight’s duel saw two of the world’s best known — 10th and 15th on global poker’s all time money list — squaring off.

Mateos won most of the small pots, with Peters forced to three-bet shove to keep himself alive. However, when Peters pushed for 13 big blinds holding , Mateos did the math and made the call with .

It stayed good and Mateos finally got his name, and his country, on the Triton board.

Event #5 – $30k – NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 8-9, 2024
Entries: 185 (inc. 59 re-entries)
Prize pool: $5,550,000

1 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $1,175,000
2 – David Peters, USA – $790,000
3 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $557,000
4 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $452,000
5 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $358,000
6 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $271,500
7 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $198,000
8 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $145,000
9 – Phil Ivey, USA – $119,000
10 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $101,000
11 – Vincent Huang, New Zealand – $101,000
12 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $90,500
13 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $90,500
14 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $82,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $82,000
16 – Weiran Pu, China – $73,500
17 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $73,500
18 – Phil Nagy, USA – $65,500
19 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $65,500
20 – David Yan, New Zealand – $65,500
21 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $60,000
22 – Tony Truong, China – $60,000
23 – Wang Yang, China – $60,000
24 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $54,500
25 – Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – $54,500
26 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $54,500
27 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $54,500
28 – Dylan Linde, USA – $49,000
29 – Changjie Zhang, Singapore – $49,000
30 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $49,000
31 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $49,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

PAULIUS VAITIEKUNAS REGROUPS TO BEAT RECORD TRITON SERIES FIELD AND CLAIM FAMOUS WIN

Even poker’s best know superstars had to start somewhere, and during the third tournament of the Triton Poker Series trip to Jeju, South Korea, it quickly became clear that we would be finding a new breakout star.

This was another record-setting field. There were 298 entries of $25,000 each in the tournament billed as the Silver Main Event. But by the time the tournament reached its business end, in the early hours of Saturday morning, three relative newcomers were the only ones left.

Paulius Vaitiekunas, of Lithuania, laid down a marker on the Triton Series, carrying a huge chip lead for most of the day, and then recovering to close out the tournament even after that lead turned to dust. He eventually denied Germany’s Alex Tkatschew a maiden title, with that pair having been two thirds of a deal that also included Aram Oganyan, of the United States.

All three won close to $1 million, with Vaitiekunas nosing ahead thanks to the $100,000 the three of them left to play for after the deal. Tkatschew banked $1,002,000 and Oganyan $989,501.

For each, it was the biggest win of their career.

Celebrations begin for Paulius Vaitiekunas, right, with Alex Tkatschew beaten heads up

It might be tempting to call out Vaitiekunas for having turned down an ICM chop four handed, when he was clear chip leader, that would have netted him more than his eventual prize. But he should be celebrated really for regrouping after surrendering that lead. He managed to regain focus and take down the dogged Tkatschew in a short-stacked heads-up blitz.

“I rejected a deal four-handed, not because I had an advantage in skill, but because of the chips,” Vaitiekunas said. He added clearly that he knew all of his opponents at the final were very good players, but knew that they were “hand-cuffed by ICM”.

Vaitiekunas fired numerous bullets at Triton’s last stop in Monte Carlo and came up short, but said it only inspired him to perform here. “I did everything I could to come to Jeju, and somehow I won,” he said.

“Poker is a game of doing as less mistakes as possible,” the new champion said. “I learnt a lot in Monte Carlo and I learnt a lot here and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.”

It was far from easy, despite the massive stack he held for long periods. Triton Ambassador Jason Koon was at another final table. So was Koon’s countrymen Dan Smith and Joseph Cheong. But this one turned out to be the tournament for the newbies. Or should we say the future stars.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The new record-setting field meant 47 players were due to be paid, a new high for a Triton tournament too. Seven tables were still in play as the bubble approached, with a system of soft hand-for-hand helping to smooth the process.

It was plenty smooth for everyone bar Biao Ding, who was seated at the fastest-playing table and who was knocked out in 48th place before some rivals at other tables had even played as many hands.

Ding got his last chips in with and lost when Steve O’Dwyer’s rivered a queen. Even though there were still catch-up hands to be played across the rest of the field, and anybody busting would have meant a chop of the 47th-place prize money for Ding, the short stacks all wisely folded.

It meant Ding left the tournament floor alone in 48th, while 47 others were in the money.

At the beginning of this tournament, as players arrived in their dozens, tournament organisers briefly feared this was an event that might need an additional day to complete. But it soon became apparent today that stacks were shallowing rapidly, and players were knocked out about as quickly as they arrived.

Overnight chip leader Steve O’Dwyer was among those to be cast aside long before a final table. And even Benjamin Chalot, who took over the lead after a few levels of Day 2, was knocked out before they got close to a winner.

As the field condensed even further towards a final, luminaries including Ike Haxton, Jonathan Jaffe and Juan Pardo departed. And when two-time Triton champion Michael Addamo hit the rail in 10th, we could finally convene for the last stages.

Overnight leader Steve O’Dwyer couldn’t make the final

The two men who had played wrecking ball most effectively to this point, Lithuania’s Paulius Vaitiekunas and Germany’s Alexander Tkatschew duly found themselves at the top of the counts. But Vaitiekunas had 80 big blinds to Tkatschew’s 42, with everyone else even less than that. This one seemed to be Vaitiekunas’ to lose.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS

Paulius Vaitiekunas – 16,075,000 (80 BBs)
Alexander Tkatschew – 8,325,000 (42 BBs)
Joseph Cheong – 7,825,000 (39 BBs)
Dan Smith – 7,325,000 (37 BBs)
Maksim Vaskresenski – 6,725,000 (34 BBs)
Aram Oganyan – 6,725,000 (34 BBs)
Roman Hrabec – 3,150,000 (16 BBs)
Jason Koon – 2,200,000 (11 BBs)
Chen Guangcheng 1,200,000 (6 BBs)

Triton Jeju Event 3 final table players (clockwise from back left): Chen Guangcheng, Dan Smith, Joseph Cheong, Paulius Vaitiekunas, Alexander Tkatschew, Roman Hrabec, Aram Oganyan, Maksim Vaskresenski, Jason Koon.

It’s usually about this point that Jason Koon starts rising through the ranks. If Koon gets to a final, he has the most enviable habit of going on to win. But not this time. Twelve big blinds was too few even for a player of Koon’s extraordinary abilities, and it didn’t help running into Dan Smith’s pocket aces either.

Koon opened from under the gun, Smith shoved the big blind and Koon called. Koon ended up pairing his queen, but it was not enough. He was agonisingly slightly too late to register for Event 5 too, but took $149,000 for this one and a night off.

Without question, the player who will have been most delighted by Koon’s demise was Chen Guangcheng. The Chinese Triton debutant had an even smaller stack coming into the final but had now laddered up.

He managed to pinch a couple of blinds with uncontested pre-flop shoves, but ended up on the rail when he got it all in good against the bullying chip leader. In what proved to be Guangcheng’s final pot, action folded to Vaitiekunas in the small blind. He had such a huge lead that he could shove with any two cards, and was indeed any two.

Guangcheng woke up with in the big blind and put his last chips in. However, the nine on the flop ended up being the killer. Guangcheng was out in eighth, landing a first cash on the series of $182,000.

Chen Guangcheng laddered one spot with his short stack

There were still a lot of medium-sized stacks out there, including the one in front of Smith. He had given some of the chips he won earlier to Joseph Cheong after the latter’s pocket sixes became a straight. And then another set-up earned Cheong another big pot, this time ending Smith’s participation.

Cheong picked up red pocket jacks and opened from the cutoff. Smith saw pocket eights in the big blind and moved all-in for 21 blinds. Cheong called. Smith flopped an eight to give him hope, but the turn brought a jack to swing it back to Cheong.

Smith won the big invitational in Monte Carlo last year and is clearly still in good form. But his run in this one came to a halt in seventh, for $248,000.

Cheong’s profitable run at the final temporarily reduced the gap at the top of the counts. But nobody else could seem to mount a challenge — and even Cheong got pegged back when he lost a flip to double Aram Oganyan.

Similarly, Maksim Vaskresenski lost half his stack to double up Roman Hrabec, and he could not recover. Vaitiekunas was waiting in the wings to finish the job.

Vaitiekunas pushed again from the small blind with his mighty stack and . Vaskrensenski called for his last chips with . There was a king on the flop to all but end it, and Vaskrensenski departed in seventh.

Vaskrensenski, from Belarus, was another player making his debut on the Triton Poker Series here in Jeju and he scored his first cash with this performance. It earned him $337,000.

A rap on the table for Maksim Vaskresenski

The last five went on a 15-minute break and returned with an average stack of 24 big blinds. Vaitiekunas had more than double that and Hrabec had only a sixth of it, which meant the new significant pot was crueller than most.

Hrabec got the last of his chips in with and, after Cheong called from the small blind, Vaitiekunas ripped it in from the big. It persuaded Cheong to let it go.

Vaitiekunas only had but the board ran to mean the played. That was a flush for Vaitiekunas and another knockout.

Hrabec has cashed all three tournaments so far here in Jeju, finishing 18th, 25th and now fifth. The $441,000 was his biggest on the Triton Series since his first ever appearance in Vietnam.

With only three big blinds now separating the “other” three players (i.e., not the chip leader Vaitiekunas), they paused the clock to look at a potential deal. Negotiations didn’t last long but they were not fruitful. It looked as though Vaitiekunas’s demands were to steep for Tkatschew, so they played on.

As can sometimes be the case, Vaitiekunas may have ended up regretting the failure of the deal. In quick order, Oganyan doubled up through the chip leader, winning with pocket jacks against Vaitiekunas’ . All of a sudden, the lead no longer seemed unassailable.

Vaitiekunas looked to steady the ship with the elimination of Cheong, his erstwhile closest challenger. Cheong moved in from under the gun with pocket sevens and Vaitiekunas found pocket tens in the big blind. That was a snap call and Cheong quickly learned from one of his opponents that he was drawing to one out. Another seven was already in the discard pile.

The board was blank and that was the end of Cheong’s tournament. The American player, with a whole string of enormous cashes from across the poker world, is taking a stab at the Triton Series for the first time in Jeju. He is $560,000 richer as a result.

Fist-bumps all round as Joseph Cheong departs

Vaitiekunas was only an observer as it became Tkatschew’s turn to double, winning a flip through Oganyan. This one was pocket fours against , resulting in a switcheroo between third and second place. When Tkatschew then doubled again, this time through Vaitiekunas, followed by Oganyan doing the same, the last three had 26, 25 and 24 big blinds, respectively.

It was now officially anyone’s game.

The combined Triton earnings of these three players before this event came in at only around $60,000. All of them were set to beat that by large multiples. But they belatedly tried again to take some of the variance out of things by discussing another deal. This time they agreed on the following.

Alex Tkatschew, who was now marginally in the lead, locked up $1,002,000. Aram Oganyan guaranteed himself $989,501. And Paulius Vaitiekunas now made $977,499 certain. There was $100,000 left on the side for the ultimate winner.

The final three negotiate, and agree, a deal

Short-handed deal-making doesn’t always speed things up. In fact, sometimes the contrary can be true. With everyone now knowing their main payout, they settled in for what was essentially a short-stacked winner-take-all tournament for $100,000, the likes of which many of these players play hundreds of times a week online.

They played a few small pots. And they played a few more. The level went up and blinds got steeper, and Oganyan’s stack became the smallest.

He then had to get it in as an open-shove from the button with . Tkatschew reshoved from the small blind with .

Aram Oganyan locked up close to a million before busting in third

Oganyan picked up a straight draw on the turn, but by that point his opponent had two pair. Tkatschew filled a boat on the river and that spelled the end for the last American in the tournament. Oganyan settled for the $989,501 he had negotiated for himself earlier.

Tkatschew took a near three-to-one chip lead into heads up play, with 36 big blinds to Vaitiekunas’s 13. The German rail featured Leon Sturm and Tobias Schewcht; the Baltics were represented by Aleks Ponakovs and Dominykas Mikolaitis. After a brief repositioning, they got ready to settle it once and for all.

The first blow went to Vaitiekunas. He doubled up to even with flopping a king to beat Tkatschew’s . The second significant blow went in his direction too, and by this time he had moved back into a small chip lead.

Tkatschew got his chips in with and Vaitiekunas called with . “Hold!” bellowed the rail. It held.

RESULTS

Event #3 – $25k Silver Main – NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 7-8, 2024
Entries: 298 (inc. 124 re-entries)
Prize pool: $7,450,000

1 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $1,077,499*
2 – Alex Tkatschew, Germany – $1,002,000*
3 – Aram Oganyan, USA – $989,501*
4 – Joseph Cheong, USA – $560,000
5 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $441,000
6 – Maksim Vaskresenski, Belarus – $337,000
7 – Dan Smith, USA – $248,000
8 – Chen Guangcheng, China – $182,000
9 – Jason Koon, USA – $149,000

10 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $125,000
11 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $125,000
12 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $110,000
13 – Vladimir Troyanovsky, Russia – $110,000
14 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $99,000
15 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $99,000
16 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $88,000
17 – Dong Chen, Hong Kong – $88,000
18 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $77,000
19 – Valeriy Pak, Uzbekistan – $77,000
20 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $77,000
21 – David Coleman, USA – $69,000
22 – Li Yuan, China – $69,000
23 – Yauheni Tsaireshchanka, Belarus – $69,000
24 – Chuck Chu, Vietnam – $61,500
25 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $61,500
26 – Adrian Chua, Singapore – $61,500
27 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $61,500
28 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $54,000
29 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $54,000
30 – Fazel Dawood, South Africa – $54,000
31 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $54,000
32 – Liang Xu, China – $48,000
33 – Dao Minh Phu, Vietnam – $48,000
34 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $48,000
35 – Sergio Aido, Spain – $48,000
36 – Wang Ye, China – $48,000
37 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $48,000
38 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $48,000
39 – Keith Lehr, USA – $48,000
40 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $42,000
41 – Ren Lin, China – $42,000
42 – Phil Ivey, USA – $42,000
43 – Romain Retiere, France – $42,000
44 – Vladas Tamasauskas, Lithuania – $42,000
45 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $42,000
46 – Aleksandr Shevliakov, Russia – $42,000
47 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong – $42,000

*denotes three-way deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

REAL DEAL ROLAND ROKITA SCORES MAIDEN TRITON TRIUMPH IN JEJU

The Austrian poker pro Roland Rokita came to the Triton Poker Series tournament room in Jeju today wearing a hoody with the word “FAKER” emblazoned across his shoulders. It was a reference to the esports legend, but it’s a bold word for a poker player to wear on his shirt in this exalted company.

However if anyone might have felt inclined to label Rokita a faker in this world of exclusive poker talent, his performance today would set the doubters right. He is the real deal. Rokita became the most recent Triton Poker Series champion, beating a field of 225 entries to lock up a first prize of $904,000.

The buy-in was $20,000. The competition was characteristically fierce. But Rokita’s performance was authentically excellent and landed him the biggest win of his career to date. It perhaps should be no surprise for someone who rolls with the likes of Fedor Holz, yesterday’s champion. But Rokita was clearly thrilled to have done it himself.

“It means a lot,” Rokita said. “I came here, I prepared a lot. To lift the trophy, it’s unbelievable.”

Having migrated to the poker tables after a former career as a ski-jumper in the Austrian national team, Rokita no doubt knows a fair bit about dangerous climbs and perilous descents. But while the first period of play today proved to be perfectly smooth for Rokita, he had to ride a few uncertain moguls during heads-up play against Sirzat Hissou.

“It was a roller coaster in the final table,” Rokita said. “I was really nervous…I won a big pot, he won a big pot, but I finished it in the end.”

A relieved Roland Rokita begins life as a champion

Rokita eventually got the job done on the stroke of 9pm, leaving Hissou with $599,000 for second — and a tale of how he actually thought he had won the tournament before realising his opponent had turned a better hand.

That will end as a footnote after a stellar performance from Rokita, in which he came of age on the Triton Series. He is 28 years old, a chemistry graduate, and a resident of the poker hotbed Vienna. It sounds like a perfect mixture for a new poker great.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The first three days of this trip to South Korea have been characterised by packed tournament rooms filled with enormous fields. The turnout has demanded additional levels added to Day 1s, which in the case of Event 2 meant bursting the bubble on the tournament’s opening day.

It was late in the night when Tony Truong became the unfortunate 40th placed finisher in this one, suffering a fairly nasty beat.

There were other players with smaller stacks still in the field when Truong picked up in the cutoff and called a min-raise from Roland Rokita. The pair went to a flop of . Rokita put out a continuation bet and Truong called with his top pair.

The turn brought a second flush draw and Rokita moved in, covering Truong. Nonetheless, he made the call for his last 10 blinds or so and was shown the in Rokita’s hand. When the river brought the case queen, Rokita made a boat and Truong’s trips were no good.

With everyone else now guaranteed a payday, they played down to the last 24, of which Tobias Schwecht was a runaway chip leader, with only Rokita and Alex Theologis anywhere close. They bagged and tagged and came back Thursday for Day 2.

RACING TO THE FINAL

As ever, the main focus from the players returning today was on reaching the final table, but the field needed to be trimmed by about two thirds before that would be decided. But no worries. In about four hours of play, 24 became nine with Triton stalwarts Biao Ding, John Juanda, Mike Watson and Danny Tang all falling marginally short.

Of the three overnight big stacks, both Rokita and Schwecht made it, with Theologis falling by the wayside. (Theologis’s Triton career has nonetheless started with two cashes from two tournaments entered.)

The last nine looked like this:

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – 14.6 million (73 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – 8.8 million (44 BBs)
Roland Rokita, Austria – 6.575 million (33 BBs)
Kiat Lee, Malaysia – 4.35 million (22 BBs)
Tobias Schwecht, Germany – 3.1 million (16 BBs)
Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – 2.45 million (12 BBs)
Leon Sturm, Germany – 2.3 million (12 BBs)
Sirzat Hissou, Germany – 2.25 million (11 BBs)
Yu Xiangyu, China – 725,000 (4 BBs)

Jeju Event 2 final table players (clockwise from back left): Kiat Lee, Sirzat Hissou, Aleksandr Zubov, Mikita Badziakouski, Tobias Schwecht, Roland Rokita, Yu Xiangyu, Leon Sturm, Damir Zhugralin,

Final table play got off to lightning-quick start with three players eliminated in a flash. Two went broke on the same hand, in the kind of set-up that was unavoidable for all concerned.

Action passed to the tiny stack of Yu Xiangyu on the button and, looking down at , he ripped it in. Rokita was in the small blind with a hand — — plenty good enough to go up against a small-stack’s button jam.

Rokita jammed to isolate.

However, Schecht, in the big blind, found pocket tens and correctly deduced that this was also plenty good enough to get his last 14 blinds in. So he was all-in too, and ahead of both opponents.

Yu Xiangyu, left, and Tobias Schwecht, right, stand up to leave as Roland Rokita, centre, remains seated

The dealer favoured only Rokita, however. The board ran and the pair of kings scooped the lot. Xiangyu was the official ninth-placed finisher, for $94,500, while Schwecht took $113,000 for eighth.

Damir Zhugralin got his first taste of Triton Poker Series action in Cyprus in 2022 and returned to the same venue the following year. That’s where he also secured his first cash on the series. It encouraged him to extend his wings and visit Jeju too, where he was rewarded with the first final table appearance of his career.

The Kazakh’s run ended in seventh as he became Mikita Badziakouski’s victim.

Zhugralin had 12 big blinds and opted to shove when he found in the cutoff. Button and small blind folded, but Badziakouski picked up pocket tens in the big blind and made the call.

Zhugralin needed to see an ace or some clubs, but neither appeared. Instead he trudged to the payouts desk where $154,000 awaited him for seventh place.

By common assent, Germany’s Leon Sturm is one of the game’s brightest new stars with a first Triton title only a matter of time. He showed his pedigree already again here in Jeju, navigating to this final table even though he never seemed to have a mighty stack.

Sturm couldn’t manage to take that small stack further than sixth in this tournament, however, as he perished mostly at the hands of Rokita (though Kiat Lee finished him off).

The hand that did the damage started with an early position raise from Rokita with . Rokita had more than 40 big blinds; Sturm, who was in the big blind, had only eight more after he posted the mandatory fee. Sturm had and called.

This was a pretty scary flop for both these hands: . Sturm checked with bottom pair, Rokita bet his straight flush draw, with his pair of eights still best. Sturm called.

Both players checked the turn, which brought the river. Sturm then made a near all-in bet, leaving himself only 25,000 behind. Rokita opted just to call with his low flush, and it was good.

Rokita took over the chip lead, while Sturm’s final chip went to Lee on the next hand. Sturm ended with another $210,000 in his bankroll as the field reduced to five.

Leon Sturm couldn’t spin up his one chip

Aleksandr Zubov came into this tournament having cashed Event 1 and then enjoying a hugely profitable Day 2 of Event 2. He ended up in the chip lead ahead of the final thanks to an aces vs. kings coup against Mike Watson, in which a micro stacked Daniel Palsson became collateral damage.

Zubov’s aces held up and he won a 3.8 million pot, principally from Watson, and that set Zubov flying high into his debut final table.

The Russian player mainly stayed out of the way of the early confrontations, losing a few small pots without ever really putting many chips at risk. However, his first major pot became his last when he slammed into the surging Rokita.

Rokita found pocket eights on the button and made a standard opening raise. With in the big blind, Zubov jammed for 25 big blinds. Rokita called and won another flop, flopping a set for good measure.

That was that for Zubov, who hit the rail in fifth for $278,000. Rokita, meanwhile, could do no wrong and had half the chips in play.

Aleksandr Zubov looks for support on the rail after he moves all in

There was a marked division in Triton experience between the two halves of the remaining field. Both Rokita and Hissou were at their first ever Triton final, but Lee and Badziakouski have made this stage their second home over the past few years. Badziakouski has four titles from 20 final table appearance. Lee has never gone all the way, but has been involved at the end 11 times.

But the natural order was upended here, with the joint strength of Hissou and Rokita quickly taking care of Badzikouski, before they repeated the trick to do terminal damage to Lee.

Firstly, Hissou doubled his 15 blind stack through Badziakouski with pocket nines holding against . And then when Badziakouski was the short stack, Rokita’s stayed good against .

The latter was in Badziakouski’s hand and defeat sent him out in fourth, with $355,000 to his name.

Another final for Mikita Badziakouski, but no fifth title yet

They were heading to a dinner break three-handed as Lee and Hissou got involved in a huge pot. Lee jammed his 15 big blind stack with pocket sevens and Hissou looked down at . That was a call for his last 13 bigs, and Hissou hit an ace to double.

It left Lee with two big blinds.

Although he doubled that amount twice after they came back from dinner, he couldn’t get the crucial third — although he can claim to have got a tiny bit unlucky to bust.

Lee had in the big blind and called Hissou’s raise. The flop came and Lee committed his final chips with middle pair. Hissou’s was actually now behind, but the ace on the turn swung it back in his direction.

That was that for Lee, who took $439,000 for third.

Two of them remained for the title, both at their first Triton final table and both already guaranteed their biggest career live cash. The only thing to decide now was who would be champion.

Rokita had a two-to-one chip lead and seemingly all the momentum after a pure run on the last day. But he soon suffered his first really rough beat, with Hissou doubling into a commanding lead.

Hissou opened with and Rokita found . He didn’t slow play and instead put in a three-bet. Hissou responded with a four-bet shove and Rokita made an obvious call.

With the tournament seemingly all but over, the dealer decided to prolong it. An ace on the flop vaulted Hissou into the lead and left Rokita looking for help. Although he also had a Broadway draw on the flop, he whiffed outs on turn and river, meaning Hissou scored the full double. It was now 57-18 big blinds in his favour.

But, but, but. The tables soon turned yet again. When all the chips next found their way into the middle, Hissou had the pocket pair — sevens — while Rokita had only .

With Rokita’s supporters calling for an ace, he actually ended up doing it another way. The board brought all low cards, filling a wheel for the all-in player. Hissou hadn’t noticed originally, but he soon did when the dealer started moving his chips in his opponent’s direction.

The level went up again and the stacks shallowed once more. And the next time all the money went in, the best hand held up. Rokita had pocket nines when he saw Hissou shove with pocket twos. It was a clear call and Hissou couldn’t catch a two-outer this time.

Rokita’s hands were shaking, but his smile told the full story. Add another one to the tally for Vienna and welcome Roland Rokita to the winners’ enclosure.

Roland Rokita with friends and fellow Triton champions

Event #2 – $20k NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 6-7, 2024
Entries: 225 (inc. 72 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,500,000

1 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $904,000
2 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $599,000
3 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $439,000
4 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $355,000
5 – Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – $278,000
6 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $210,000
7 – Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – $154,000
8 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $113,000
9 – Yu Xiangyu, China – $94,500

10 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $78,700
11 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $78,700
12 – Mike Watson, Canada – $68,800
13 – Daniel Palsson, Iceland – $68,800
14 – Yita Choong, Australia – $62,000
15 – John Juanda, Indonesia – $62,000
16 – Eric Tsai, Taiwan – $55,500
17 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $55,500
18 – Biao Ding, China – $48,500
19 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $48,500
20 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $48,500
21 – Wang Ye, China – $44,000
22 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $44,000
23 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – $44,000
24 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $39,500
25 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $39,500
26 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $39,500
27 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $39,500
28 – Cheok Leng Cheong, Macao – $35,000
29 – Dan Smith, USA – $35,000
30 – Vladislav Ivanov, Russia – $35,000
31 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $35,000
32 – Tom Heung, Hong Kong – $31,000
33 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $31,000
34 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $31,000
35 – Darren Elias, USA – $31,000
36 – Wei Hsiang Yeu, Malaysia – $31,000
37 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $31,000
38 – Hans Liu, China – $31,000
39 – Aram Oganyan, USA – $31,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

FEDOR HOLZ HITS FOUR AS TRITON JEJU GETS OFF TO RECORD-BREAKING FLYER

Poker’s young prince is back in the Triton Poker Series throne tonight after Fedor Holz defeated a record-breaking field to win the first event of this second visit to Jeju, South Korea.

Holz, who is still only 30 despite a reign of dominance that has lasted close to a decade, won the fourth Triton Series title of his career, taking Triton winnings past $12 million thanks to this $786,000 first prize.

That was the lion’s share of a $4.035 million prize pool, comprising 269 entries of $15,000 apiece. It kicked off the visit to Jeju in spectacular fashion, vastly increasing the numbers on this ever-growing series.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and in Holz we saw a very familiar champion. He won the first two Triton events he played, in the Philippines and Montenegro in 2016 and 2017, and added a third win last year in London.

“It’s just nice winning tournaments, no matter what,” Holz said, adding that the presence of his girlfriend Annelina here, along with many of his friends, made this one special.

Celebrations begin for Fedor and Annelina

Holz late-registered for this event but was his customary relaxed presence at the table, managing to find big hands and big outdraws at precisely the right time to down Seth Gottlieb heads up. Holz has seen it all before and told reporters, “I always try to focus on just the hand I’m playing. That’s always been my mantra.”

Although Holz has occasionally intimated that he may move away from poker, the Triton Series has continued to enthral this brilliant German. “It’s a really big deal,” he said. “The best players in the world play these tournaments…It’s the nicest feeling.”

Gottlieb, the 41-year-old Digital Marketing executive, was gunning for a second Triton title of his own, but found Holz in unforgiving form. Gottlieb had his aces cracked in the heads-up battle and could never recover. He took $500,000 for second.

Seth Gottlieb felt the force of Fedor Holz

Other superstars including Dimitar Danchev and Nick Petrangelo made the final table but fell short of the title. But when Holz is sitting close by, there only ever seems to be one man clutching the trophy at the end.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After a blockbuster opening day, which began with a traditional Lion Dance in the lobby and then moved to the lion’s den of the poker room, only 48 players remained. That was notable for two reasons: firstly, it was the remainder from a starting field of 269 entries, which represented a new Triton record.

Secondly, only 47 players were due to be paid, so they returned on the stone bubble. The first player knocked out today would leave with nothing, while the others could celebrate at least a min-cash from this opening event.

Quan Zhou not only had the smallest stack in the room, he was also drawn into the big blind for the first hand. That was an especially unfortunate turn of events, but he looked down on pocket sixes after the opening deal, which was likely far better than he might have hoped.

Jesse Lonis opened the pot from middle position, Zhou shipped in his last six blinds and Lonis then called. They were flipping. Lonis had .

“I could have burst the bubble last night,” Lonis said, detailing a pot in which his kings were beaten by the ace-king of Andrey Andreev. Had Lonis won that one, he would have stacked 3 million going into Day 2.

It was perhaps small consolation, but a king on the flop this morning accounted for Zhou and gave Lonis a small amount of chips. More importantly, it put everyone in the money.

Pocket sixes not good enough for Quan Zhou

Zhou still had some hope. Two other players were all-in and called on the same hand and, had either or both of them been knocked out, they would have split the $23,000 prize for 47th. However, both Alex Theologis and Xie Haoqi doubled their short stacks to survive, leaving Zhou the only person out. He applauded loudly as Luca Vivaldi announced that everyone else was in the money and that hand-for-hand was over.

Discounting the small matter of a few pay jumps, the principal focus now turned to making the final table. There were still 47 players left and only nine seats for the finale, and the field quickly went about filling those chairs.

Everyone involved in bubble shenanigans was knocked out. So was the overnight leader Stephen Chidwick, who perished in 12th. The American titan Ike Haxton had a decent-ish stack when they got 10 handed, but it ended up being slid in the direction of his countryman Seth Gottlieb to leave Haxton on the rail.

Haxton had to Gottlieb’s when it all went in pre-flop. The king paired and that was that. We reached the final nine.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS

Seth Gottlieb – 15,525,000 (78 BBs)
Dimitar Danchev – 7,975,000 (40 BBs)
Dominykas Mikolaitis – 6,940,000 (35 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 6,025,000 (30 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 5,600,000 (28 BBs)
Lun Loon – 3,850,000 (19 BBs)
Josh Mccully – 3,675,000 (18 BBs)
Ken Tong – 3,250,000 (16 BBs)
Pieter Aerts – 950,000 (5 BBs)

Jeju Event 1 final table (clockwise from top left): Seth Gottlieb, Ken Tong, Pieter Aerts, Dimitar Danchev, Nick Petrangelo, Fedor Holz, Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lun Loon, Josh Mccully.

Haxton’s elimination was especially welcomed by Pieter Aerts, who had been sitting with a short stack for a long while. The Belgian player, who won his first Triton title in Cyprus last year, locked up $81,000 by virtue of making it to the final here. But he could go no further.

On the very first hand of final table play, Aerts was in the big blind and found . Gottlieb opened from early position and Aerts called.

The flop of showed enough to encourage Aerts to part with his last two blinds. But Gottlieb had flopped best with and stayed good.

Pieter Aerts managed only a short stay at the final

That left only eight.

Ken Tong now assumed the duties of short stack and he similarly couldn’t spin it up. Tong made his debut on the Triton Series in Monte Carlo last November, and landed on the Main Event final table, where he finished sixth.

His tournament here ended at the hands of Fedor Holz, who opened with pocket tens. Tong, in the big blind, shoved with but whiffed the flop. Holz took over the chip lead, while Tong banked $98,000.

Australia’s Josh Mccully is riding a hot streak at the moment, having earned a career-best score of more than $275,000 at a WPT event in Cambodia in January. He returned to Asia for his Triton Series debut and made his way to the final table in the first event he played.

Mccully’s run ended in seventh, when he became the third player in succession to get into trouble defending his big blind.

Nick Petrangelo opened and Mccully paid to see the flop with . The flop seemed friendly. It came ten high. Mccully checked, Petrangelo shoved with the covering stack and Mccully called for his tournament life and about 12 big blinds.

Mccully was ahead. Petrangelo showed only , meaning he was drawing to three outs (or some backdoor flush possibilities). Unfortunately for Mccully, the was a killer. He hit the road in seventh for $134,000.

Josh Mccully’s hot streak took him to seventh in his first Triton event

By this point, Gottlieb had reassumed the chip lead, but it didn’t last long. Now came the rise of Lun Loon.

Loon initially profited from the perfect set-up: action folded to the big stacked Gottlieb in the small blind. He made an “any-two” shove, with three times the stack of Loon in the big blind. But Loon looked down at pocket aces and was more than happy to risk it all.

Gottlieb’s wasn’t quite the worst starting hand in poker, but it wasn’t far off. It didn’t catch the aces, so Loon doubled.

After the Malaysian businessman then pushed Petrangelo off a pot, Loon was top of the charts. However it was a very brief stay; after the rise came the fall.

Loon somehow conspired to become the next man out. Petrangelo got his revenge with pocket aces to Loon’s eights, and on the very next hand, Loon had but couldn’t beat Dimitar Danchev’s .

Loon added another $182,000 to his bankroll for a sixth-place finish.

Lun Loon: One minute chip leader, the next on the rail

Dominykas Mikolaitis was another Triton first timer enjoying a terrific run during the first event he had ever played. An online crusher from Lithuania, Mikolaitis flexed his muscles on the Triton Series too and took a seemingly effortless cruise to this final.

The run ended in fifth, however, with Holz doing most of the damage. Mikolaitis and Holz got it in pre-flop, with Holz at risk. Mikolaitis flopped top pair with his , but Holz’s pocket queens flopped a set.

Holz ended up with a full house and a full double, leaving Mikolaitis short. He was out not long later, with Gottlieb taking the last couple of blinds. Gottlieb had to Mikolaitis’ . Fifth place was worth $240,000, his best ever live result.

A fine first showing from Dominykas Mikolaitis

The tournament edged into Level 29, right around the time it starts to get incredibly short, even with a record-breaking number of entries. It followed that the chip lead swung wildly, with any pot of significance usually sending its winner surging and its loser down to the bottom.

Petrangelo’s rocky ride was the next to come to its conclusion. In a final table characterised by big hands, Petrangelo smacked into the latest: pocket kings belonging to Gottlieb.

Gottlieb raised it up, Petrangelo looked at and three-bet/called it off after Gottlieb shoved for 21 big blinds. Petrangelo couldn’t overturn Gottlieb’s advantage and was knocked out in fourth, earning $303,000.

Petrangelo is still without a Triton title, but is now knocking on the door frequently. It’s only a matter of time.

Gottlieb now had a significant advantage over the remaining three, but Holz pulled closer thanks to the hand that knocked out Danchev.

This was a tough coup between two comparative short stacks: Holz shipped from the small blind with and Danchev saw and only 16 big blinds in his stack.

In the commentary booth, Nick Schulman acknowledged that it was a difficult decision for Danchev, and he maybe regretted getting it in. The board only favoured Holz, eventually giving him a diamond flush.

Bulgarians have quickly become a force on the Triton Poker Series and with Monte Carlo champion Ognyan Dimov watching from the rail, Danchev went looking for the $375,000 that came with his third place.

The final two settled in for the heads-up duel, with Gottlieb’s 55 big blinds ahead of Holz’s 35. Both men had been here before: Holz already had three titles, while Gottlieb won his first in London last year (having only just learned the rules of PLO).

Most of the early small pots headed in Gottlieb’s direction, and it soon looked as though he would be finishing the job in no time. Gottlieb picked up aces and slow-played them to perfection, limping the small blind and then only calling after Holz bet.

That meant they then saw a flop of and Holz, with continued to bet. Gottlieb called again.

The on the turn, followed by a check from Holz, was the moment Gottlieb sprang the trap. He shoved with the covering stack. Holz called for his tournament and learned he was behind. But then the on the river was one of his miracle outs. Stacks were all but even once again.

“The five-eight hand I got lucky and I’m really happy about that,” Holz said when everything was said and done.

Heads up between Seth Gottlieb and Fedor Holz

Gottlieb tried to climb back on the horse and wear Holz down again. But although he continued to snag the smaller pots, Holz always seemed to come out on top when there was the most on the line.

Holz four-bet shoved with and 27 bigs, earning a call from Gottlieb’s . The board changed nothing and Holz doubled into the lead.

Gottlieb now had only 10 big blinds and Holz did not let this one slip from his grasp. He found pocket jacks while Gottlieb had and it all went in pre-flop.

The jacks held and Holz was champion once again. “It’s nice to win the first tournament,” he said. “It gives you confidence.” Like this man needs any more of that.

Event #1 – $15k NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 5-6, 2024
Entries: 269 (inc. 93 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,035,000

1 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $786,000
2 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $500,000
3 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $375,000
4 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $303,000
5 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $240,000
6 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $182,000
7 – Josh Mccully, Australia – $134,000
8 – Ken Tong, Hong Kong – $98,000
9 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $81,000

10 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $67,800
11 – Weiran Pu, China – $67,800
12 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $60,000
13 – Phil Nagy, USA – $60,000
14 – Wei Hsiang Yeu, Malaysia – $53,500
15 – Axel Hallay, France – $53,500
16 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $47,000
17 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $47,000
18 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $41,500
19 – Xie Haoqi, China – $41,500
20 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $41,500
21 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $37,500
22 – Dong Chen, China – $37,500
23 – Aram Zobian, USA – $37,500
24 – Li Yuan, China – $33,500
25 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $33,500
26 – Kevin, Indonesia – $33,500
27 – Andy Wang, Australia – $33,500
28 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $29,500
29 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $29,500
30 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $29,500
31 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $29,500
32 – Alex Boika, Belarus – $25,800
33 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $25,800
34 – Seth Davies, USA – $25,800
35 – Aleksander Zubov, Russia – $25,800
36 – Ognyan Dimov, Bulgaria – $25,800
37 – Michael Soyza, Malysia – $25,800
38 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – $25,800
39 – Andrey Andreev, Russia – $25,800
40 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $23,000
41 – Shi Chun, China – $23,000
42 – Frederic Delval, France – $23,000
43 – Alexandre Vuilleumier, Switzerland – $23,000
44 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $23,000
45 – Yu Xiangyu, China – $23,000
46 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $23,000
47 – Biao Ding, China – $23,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

RAISE FOR CHANGE CHARITY EXHIBITION GAME AT TRITON POKER SERIES JEJU SENDS $30K TO GOOD CAUSES

The set for the Raise for Charity Exhibition Game

Ever since its inception, the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series has made a firm commitment to helping charitable causes. The company’s founders and players have donated many hundreds of thousands of dollars through the years, with charities across the world benefiting from this philanthropy.

Underlining the commitment, the Triton Series’ second visit to Jeju, South Korea, kicked off today with the “Raise for Change Charity Exhibition Game” — a single-table tournament in which seven of the world’s best poker players did battle, and guaranteed another $30,000 for three charities.

Half of that came from the buy-ins of the poker players. Triton Series matched the other half.

It meant that when Chris Brewer, Dan Dvoress and Christoph Vogelsang finished in first, second and third places, respectively, their chosen charities benefited to the tune of $20,000, $12,000 and $8,000.

Chris Brewer was able to earn $20,000 for a charity close to his heart

Brewer opted to give the money to the Melanoma Research Alliance, a charity dedicated to end suffering and death due to melanoma; Dvoress’ went to Evergreen, whose mission is to create a healthier future through better public spaces; Vogelsang’s success benefitted Mary’s Meals, which seeks to find a simple solution to world hunger.

Each of the tournament’s seven participants — Brewer, Vogelsang and Dvoress, as well as Dan Smith, Mario Mosboeck, Seth Davies and Tony Lin — paid $5,000 to enter, creating a prize pool of $35,000.

The top three received their buy-in back, with the remaining $20,000 pledged to charity. The winner took $10,000, second took $6,000 and third took $4,000. Triton Series then matched each of these amounts.

“We were thrilled to organise the game,” said Andy Wong, Triton Poker Series CEO. “By matching the winnings of the top three players, we hope to encourage even more players to participate and support this worthy cause.”

Wong added: “Poker has the power to bring people together and make a positive impact and we were delighted to see this event succeed.”

As you would expect, the atmosphere was buoyant as the players took their seats, only a couple of hours before Event 1 of the Triton Series Jeju began. Triton players are good friends with one another, and the charity format allowed them to be even more relaxed than usual.

Brewer’s exceptional recent tournament hot streak extended into this event too, with a jubilant cruise to the win. “It feels good,” Brewer said, adding that he always has fun playing poker even if his own bankroll will feel no immediate benefit.

However the cause is close to his heart. “My mom had a melanoma scare this year,” Brewer said, adding that she is now having preventative infusions to ensure she remains cancer free. “I’m happy to be able to give something to a cause I care about.”

Today’s game is only the beginning of a process by which Triton will continue to ensure the money raised has maximum positive impact. Wong intends to visit the organisations to discuss their work and learn how the Triton Poker Series’ donation will be spent.

A second place for Dan Dvoress will benefit Evergreen charity in his native Canada

Triton Series is keen to make a lasting difference to local communities and is happy that three distinct charities from across the world will receive funds from this game.

In the broader context of the growing popularity of charity poker games, the Raise for Change Charity Exhibition Game presented an exciting opportunity for industry players to showcase their skills while contributing to worthwhile causes.

Triton has previously been instrumental in sending significant amounts to non-profit organisations, most notably from the Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity event in 2019. The £50,000 registration fee from each of 54 participants in the event went to a number of global charities selected by Triton.

Christoph Vogelsang took third and won $8,000 for Mary’s Meals

With numerous events planned for the coming year and beyond, there will be further opportunities for players to earn significant funding for charitable causes of their choosing.

Watch this space.

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

PERFECT 10 FOR KOON, ADDS PLO TITLE TO RECORD HAUL TO CLOSE MONTE CARLO EVENT

On a night when at one point we seemed set to raise a glass to the record-breaking exploits of Danny Tang, we instead find ourselves flabbergasted once again at an altogether more familiar result.

The Triton phenom Jason Koon — truly in a league of his own on the tour for which he is an ambassador — wrapped up this first trip to Monte Carlo with a last-gasp, high-speed turbo triumph, securing a 10th title.

This one came in the $25K PLO Turbo, which brought the curtain down on this spectacular festival in Monaco, and it earned him another $365,000. But this victory further cements his reputation as the leading Triton Series talent. In winning this one, Koon becomes the first player to win titles in hold’em, short deck and PLO — and he’s done so simply so many times.

The last player standing in Koon’s way tonight was the online PLO wizard Eelis Parssinen, who plays nosebleed stakes pretty much every day. But Parssinen was stepping into Koon’s manor on the familiar black and gold Triton set, and there’s usually only one winner.

“Happy to close it up,” Koon said, admitting that it had been a weird trip to Monte Carlo where he had been on the wrong side of variance.

“Every night I go home and I study my play and I think I played the best I’ve played in a couple of years,” Koon said. “It’s bizarre to get wiped out but playing really well.”

Koon was referring to the hold’em section of this festival in particular, where he had not quite got over the line in pretty much any event. But Koon always finds a way.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

After its structure was changed slightly to accommodate one more level in the registration period, the info board showed 50 entries, including 15 re-entries, and $1.25 million in the prize pool.

Levels were only 20 minutes long at the start, reduced to 15 minutes later, so there was no time to

The bubble slowed things down for a little while, but Li Tong ended up seeing his aces cracked by Laszlo Bujtas when his short stack was in the middle, and that took them through the money threshold.

Everyone else was now certain a payday of at least $36,500, but for the players of the Triton Series, all that really seems to matter is the title.

Bujtas was out in front. Eelis Parssinen was a distant second, with Jason Koon and Sam Greenwood further back. But such is the volatility of this game, particularly with a turbo structure, that Tom-Aksel Bedell, Ren Lin, Joao Vieira and Sergio Martinez would not have considered themselves out of it, despite sub 15-big-blind stacks.

Very quickly, and while the tournament was still eight handed, 15 big blinds would have been considered a luxury. It was pretty cagey and the average stack slipped to 10 big blinds at one point.

But the dam had to break eventually, and all of a sudden Martinez (eighth, $47,500) and Bedell (seventh, $61,500) were cast aside.

Tom-Aksel Bedell made two cashes on the same day

Bedell cashed for the second time today after also making the money in the $50K PLO that concluded earlier. And with that tournament now off the main stage, tournament organisers shifted the turbo up beneath the studio lights for its final short-stacked shootout.

Bujtas still led, with 22 big blinds. The average stack was only 11 and Eelis Parssinen was the only other player with more of that. All of Greenwood, Vieira, Koon and Lin had less than 10 bigs.

Lin hit the rail first. He was the latest player to lose with aces when Parssinen’s connected with the board containing two sevens. Lin took $77,500 and his third cash of the trip.

Ren Lin enjoyed a great trip to Monte Carlo

Another Omaha specialist Bujtas perished next, this time with kings losing to Parssinen’s . These two have likely clashed in online hands far bigger than the total prize pool in this event, but this one went to Parssinen and sent Bujtas out, looking for $100,000.

Koon started his charge right about now. He doubled through Parssinen after flopping a flush draw but hitting a crucial nine on the river to make two pair. He then knocked out both Greenwood and Vieira, mopping up their micro-stacks.

Greenwood banked $129,000 for fourth and Vieira took $171,000 for third. It left Koon and Parssinen to play for the title, with Koon holding a small chip lead.

They were spectacularly short and the first time it got all in this time, the dealer decided it in Koon’s favour. He had and Parssinen .

The board ran and that was that. It sealed Koon’s sixth title of the year and by the time his trophy was awarded, the wall banner bearing Koon’s face also showed the legend “10 TIME CHAMPION”.

“I’m going to go home, get myself in shape, and hang out with my family,” Koon said, describing his immediate plans. Amen to that.

See you all in Jeju!

RESULTS

Event #13 – $25,000 PLO Turbo
Dates:November 4, 2023
Entries: 50 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,250,000

1 – Jason Koon, USA – $365,000
2 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $262,000
3 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $171,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $129,000
5 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $100,000
6 – Ren Lin, USA – $77,500
7 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – $61,500
8 – Sergio Martinez, Spain – $47,500
9 – Li Tong, New Zealand – $36,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

DVORESS BAGS TITLE NUMBER TWO AS $50K PLO CONCLUDES IN MONTE CARLO

Canada’s Dan Dvoress has a habit of leaving things late.

Back in Cyprus earlier this year, he won the first Triton title of his career in the series’ very last tournament, telling reporters he had no time to party because he had to dash off to catch a flight home.

Tonight in Monte Carlo, Dvoress put himself among the multiple champions with victory in the $50,000 buy-in PLO event — and it too came on the very last night of play on Triton’s first trip to the principality.

Not only did Dvoress need to beat a 72-entry field, he had to overcome the Monte Carlo sensation Danny Tang heads up. Tang had an enormous chip lead too, and would have become the first player to win titles in no limit hold’em, short deck and PLO had he closed it out.

But Dvoress had other ideas. He found a couple of double ups as the heads-up game got short stacked, and then ground Tang down until they got it all in with Dvoress holding trips and Tang’s overpair needing to hit.

It didn’t, and Tang’s festival ended with one win, one second, two third places and a sixth. But this one belonged to Dan Dvoress.

“It’s fun!” Dvoress told Ali Nejad during his winner’s interview when asked how he stays motivated. “I enjoy the process. Of course, it’s great to win money as well.”

Dvoress took $956,000 for this one, beating by a huge margin what he won for his short-deck title in Cyprus. But Dvoress’ mastery of all games has earned him more than $10 million on the Triton Series, from 11 final tables and 28 cashes.

“There are elements that transfer,” he said, describing how one player manages to excel at more than one variant. “Skills such as keeping it together under pressure.” He went on to pay tribute to his friends and fellow pros with whom he can share frustrations and celebrations. “Most of the time tournaments don’t go that well and it’s extremely important to get things off your chest,” he said.

Tonight, it’s about celebration, however. And Dvoress has already said he’ll be back for Triton’s next stop in Jeju.

So will Tang, no doubt, with $664,000 more in his coffers from this second-place finish.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

After a comparatively steady opening day, the starting field of 70 entries had been reduced to 15 players. That left all the drama for Day 2: the bubble, which would appear when 14 were left (13 places paid), the subsequent push to the final, and then, of course, the crowning of a champion.

To deal with the first of those landmarks: our bubble boy this time was the Brazilian crusher Yuri Dzivielevski. He had been reduced to his last one-and-a-half big blinds, but must have watched in glee as Tom-Aksel Bedell was all-in and called on another table.

However, Bedell doubled up, which meant Dzivielevski had no choice but to watch the button pass gradually around the table and simply pray for good cards when the big blind next reached him.

Those prayers were not answered. When the time came he looked down as and ended up coming third in a three-way coup.

Yuri Dzivielevski couldn’t cling on with one big blind

With Dzivielevski out the way, they ground on toward a final. It was remarkably slow going, but eventually Rajamurthy Kabeelan, Eelis Parssinen, Bedell and two of yesterday’s final table players, Dylan Weisman and Iakov Onuchin departed.

That left another of yesterday’s feature table players, Dan Dvoress, ahead of the pack and the remarklable Danny Tang at yet another final. The last eight lined up like this:

Dan Dvoress – 49 BBs
Chris Parker – 48 BBs
Nacho Barbero – 25 BBs
Dylan Linde – 16 BBs
Keith Lehr – 11 BBs
Mads Amot – 11 BBs
Danny Tang – 10 BBs
Shyngis Satubaev – 10 BBs

Triton Monte Carlo $50K PLO final table players (clockwise from back left): Keith Lehr, Dan Dvoress, Shyngis Satubaev, Nacho Barbero, Chris Parker, Danny Tang, Mads Amot, Dylan Linde.

Shyngis Satubaev is the first player from Kazakhstan to play on the Triton Series and this was already his second cash. He would need something of a miracle to spin up his short stack at the final — and that miracle did not come.

He managed to double up on one of the first hands, getting the beautiful looking to make a flush and crack Chris Parker’s kings. But on the very next hand he ran queens into Dvoress’ aces and this time all his chips went to the Canadian.

Satubaev took $133,000 for eighth.

Shyngis Satubaev was first out from the final

Dylan Linde had endured a difficult trip to Monte Carlo, with no cashes before this one. (Don’t worry, there are plenty of players that endure that kind of run. Variance in tournament poker is a terrible thing.)

While it’s doubtful whether this tournament could provide a complete trip-saver, it’s always good to make a final — but Linde’s tournament ended in seventh. This was another case of aces cracked. Nacho Barbero limped, Linde raised with and Barbero called.

The flop might have seemed innocuous at first glance, but there was danger lurking. It was . Linde moved in, at least blocking the nut flush draw and the bottom end of the straight. But Barbero called with and his flopped straight stayed good.

Linde won $171,000.

Dylan Linde picked up a cash in the final event

Mads Amot decided to come to Monte Carlo for his first Triton event this week and played just the PLO events. The $30K Bounty didn’t work out for the Norwegian, but here he was at this final justifying his trip.

He was another to curse the sight of Nacho Barbero, however, as Barbero flopped another straight with on a flop of .

Amot’s pocket queens were already defeated, but Barbero ended up with a boat after the turn and river.

Amot had to make do with $216,000 for sixth.

Mads Amot’s trip to Monte Carlo was worth it in the end

Keith Lehr is another player for whom the Triton Series is quickly becoming something of a home away from home. The American businessman accepted an invitation to play the $250K in London this year, and subsequently received and accepted another one to play the $200K here in Monte Carlo.

Neither of those invitational tournaments worked for him, but he cashed a PLO tournament in London and here he was again with his deepest run yet.

Lehr made it to fifth, but couldn’t make it any further. He ended up being knocked out with three aces in his hand — not quite such a good thing in Omaha as it might seem. His ended up as only a pair of aces after a run-out of . Meanwhile Chris Parker and Danny Tang both had a straight.

Lehr took $277,000 but seems likely to return to the Triton Series for more.

Parker, however, was the next man out. The British player was yet another Triton first timer here in Monte Carlo, and had played two events before this one. Those were whiffs, but he had made this one stick and he’d been chip leader for periods today.

But Dvoress was now the man to beat, and Parker couldn’t do so in a big pot that ended the latter’s tournament. Dvoress had and Parker .

All the money went in after a flop of , where Parker had top two and Dvoress had a set. It was a rough way to end for Parker, but his $344,000 payout was three times his previous tournament scores combined.

Chris Parker tripled documented lifetime poker earnings

So it was that three Triton titans remained: Dvoress, Tang and Barbero. The latter led, but Tang doubled up to get back in contention, and that left Barbero most under threat.

Barbero had actually asked tournament officials to tinker with the schedule of the $25K Turbo taking place in the same room to potentially allow him time to register, should he be eliminated from the $50K. But by the time he was actually put at liberty, the turbo was on the bubble, with registration long closed.

Barbero’s elimination hand came in a four-bet pre-flop pot, with Barbero’s losing out to Dvoress’ .

Barbero this time had to settle for $439,000 — but at least didn’t lose heads-up yet again.

Nacho Barbero made yet another final table

That left the two Dans heads up: Tang versus Dvoress, both of whom were at their second PLO final in as many days. Chip stacks were fairly even, but stacks were short. This could go either way still.

But those aces just kept on coming out. They landed in Tang’s hand — — and the double-paired aces was plenty good enough to call after Dvoress five-bet shoved with .

“Hold!” Tang shouted, and hold it did, giving Tang more than 60 big blinds to Dvoress’ seven.

“Da-nny Tang! Da-nny Tang!” chanted Kiat Lee and Punnat Punsri as they answered the bat signal to come to the tournament room to watch another Tang show. They immediately learned the news that their man had doubled, and took their seats in the stands to watch it all play out.

Dvoress doubled up fairly quickly with a flush. He then doubled once again with a full house. And all of a sudden the stacks were even.

The heads-up duel from this point was conducted in precisely the way you would expect from players as skilled as these. They kept pots small and tried to gently out-manouevre one another.

But Dvoress had the momentum and the prevailing wind blew the chips in his direction. When he had ground Tang down to a short stack, they got it in on a flop of . Tang had but Dvoress was ahead with .

The turn and river couldn’t come to Tang’s rescue. And the title belonged to Dvoress.

RESULTS

Event #12 – $50,000 PLO
Dates:November 3-4, 2023
Entries: 72 (inc. 29 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,600,000

1 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $956,000
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $664,000
3 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $439,000
4 – Chris Parker, UK – $344,000
5 – Keith Lehr, USA – $277,000
6 – Mads Amot, Norway – $216,000
7 – Dylan Linde, USA – $171,000
8 – Shyngis Satubaev, Kazakhstan – $133,000

9 – Iakov Onuchin, Russia – $101,000
10 – Dylan Weisman, USA – $77,500
11 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – $77,500
12 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $72,000
13 – Rajamurthy Kabeelan, Malaysia – $72,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

ANDREANOFF COMES OUT OF THE SHADOWS TO CLAIM MAIDEN TRITON WIN IN PLO

Asked before he set foot on the Triton Series for the first time, back in his home city of London this summer, Gavin Andreanoff said that his poker ambition was “to win a Triton poker tournament!”

Flash forward a few months and that’s “Achievement Unlocked”.

Andreanoff may not be a very familiar name in tournament poker, but he’s been playing professionally for 16 years, mainly PLO cash games live and online, and here he showed just what he can do in the tournament format as well.

Andreanoff took down the $30K PLO Bounty tournament in Monte Carlo, picking up the $387,000 first prize, plus another $160,000 in bounties for knocking out four opponents en route. The last of those was Quan Zhou, the Chinese PLO expert, who also made a final table in the hold’em Main Event this week.

“Basically getting good cards in the right spots,” Andreanoff, 35, said when asked what was the secret to his success. He went on to detail three key pots where his decision-making was remarkably straightforward and earned him all the chips.

With bounties in play, and stacks rapidly shallowing, Andreanoff admitted that it was quite the roller coaster. “In that format, with the ante, it can go either way,” he said. “It was all over the place.”

He added: “It’s sick. It’s super hard. You obviously want the bounties but you want to get yourself in the spot to get in the top places too.”

Andreanoff managed both, and finished with a $547,000 haul.

Gavin Andreanoff receives his trophy from Ali Nejad and Luca Vivaldi

That’s going to please his family, particularly his uncle, who Andreanoff says claims half of all his poker winnings, remembering a family Christmas game where he supposedly “taught him all he knows”. One assumes Christmas will be lavish this year.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

The first day of competition in this tournament was as lively as you would expect and it ended with a final table of eight players already assembled. Bounties kicked in when 19 players remained, so a hefty chunk of the prize pool had already been awarded.

All that mattered today was who took the very biggest bucks.

All the PLO experts seemed to have made it deep — Dylan Weisman and Laszlo Bujtas barely played a hand of hold’em at this festival — while Danny Tang and Dan Dvoress carried over their good form from the earlier two-card phase.

The mercurial Tom Dwan, however, was sitting at the very top. He too had flown into Monte Carlo simply for the PLO events and was standing tall as the man to catch.

Tom Dwan – 130 BBs
Dan Dvoress – 87 BBs
Danny Tang – 76 BBs
Quan Zhou – 70 BBs
Gavin Andreanoff – 46 BBs
Laszlo Bujtas – 37 BBs
Dylan Weisman – 25 BBs
Iakov Onuchin – 23 BBs

Triton Monte Carlo $30K PLO final table players (clockwise from back left): Dylan Weisman, Danny Tang, Tom Dwan, Iakov Onuchin, Laszlo Bujtas, Gavin Andreanoff, Quan Zhou, Dan Dvoress.

There were fireworks right from the off, with a huge three-way pre-flop all-in shaking up the leader board immediately. Dwan opened with and Tang called on the button, sitting with .

If Tang was setting a trap with the aces, it worked perfectly because Weisman three bet from the small blind, holding .

Dwan four-bet, essentially asking the others if they wanted to play for stacks, and both opponents said that they did. Tang shoved, Weisman under called all-in and Dwan called the extra.

The flop hit both the smaller stacks: . Weisman tripled with his flush, Tang won the side pot with his straight and Dwan tumbled down the counts.

Unfortunately for Weisman, it proved to be a false dawn. Not lot afterwards, he ran kings into the aces of Bujtas — it was five-bet all-in pre-flop — and saw the rest go in the Hungarian’s direction too when beat .

Weisman hit the rail in eighth, for $54,000. That will certainly be reinvested in the $50K PLO starting later today.

As is always the case with Omaha tournaments, players were seeing enormous swings. Dvoress lost a huge pot, doubling up Andreanoff, in a hand where Zhou was also considering calling both of their shoves with the potential to knock them both out.

As it was, all the chip went in on a flop of and, after Zhou folded, Dvoress showed to Andreanoff’s .

The turn and river improved both of their hands, but Andreanoff’s flush scored a triple up, leaving Dvoress on fumes.

Dwan, who embraces the volatility of poker more than most, landed on the wrong side of a severe buffeting in this one. After the skirmish with Tang earlier, he managed to build his stack back, but lost a ton back to Zhou. He then doubled up Dvoress before becoming the second player out from the final, completing a journey from leader to the rail, when he lost another big pot to Andreanoff.

Dwan called Andreanoff’s pre-flop bet with and had top pair after the flop. Andreanoff bet, Dwan shoved and Andreanoff called.

Andreanoff was already ahead of Dwan with his and ended with a flush after the turn and river. Dwan was done, taking $69,500.

With the two Americans now out of the way, the Europeans turned on themselves. Bujtas and Iakov Onuchin got involved in a pre-flop battle that ended with Bujtas four-bet jamming and Onuchin calling.

Onuchin was the effective stack but he had the advantage with against Bujtas’ .

With the full board eventually reading , Bujtas had a straight and Onuchin was out. He won $87,000 for sixth.

Dvoress had done incredibly well to bounce back from a near tournament-ending pot earlier, but his event eventually unravelled in fifth. Shortly after doubling through Zhou with aces, Dvoress found himself defeated for the last time by the same opponent.

They bet on every street through a board of , with Zhou shoving the river and Dvoress calling all in for his final five big blinds.

Dvoress had a flush draw on the flop and two pair by the end, but Zhou had a straight. Dvoress was free to head to the $50K PLO event with $112,400 in his pocket.

Daniel Dvoress laddered a couple of spots after an early cooler

Bujtas, known as “omaha4rollz” online, was again fulfilling his role as one of the world’s leading four-card players. But even he was powerless to halt Zhou’s charge at this stage.

Zhou and Bujtas played an enormous pot, with the Chinese player’s ending up with a full house, which beat Bujtas’ .

That cost Bujtas almost all of his stack, but Tang ended up with his bounty. Bujtas got his remaining shrapnel in with a pair of sevens, single-suited, and Tang’s pair of eights remained better. Bujtas took $139,000 for fourth.

Tang has enjoyed an incredible week on the Triton Series, extending what has been a tremendous year. And here he was at a final table of a PLO event as well, having bossed it in NLHE.

Tang’s tournament ended in a third-place finish, however, as he was the latest player to be swept away by Zhou. In a three-bet pre-flop pot, Tang shoved the flop looking at on the board and holding .

Zhou called for what was only a couple more blinds and his ended up hitting two more spades for a flush. Tang grimaced, got up and left, taking $178,000 and $120,000 in bounties.

Zhou therefore squared off against Andreanoff, with a 70-20 BB advantage. It was barely 5pm local time and the final table had flown by.

Both players during the heads-up phase showed a willingness to get their chips in. There was the lesser-seen chopped pot at one point, then Zhou wore Andreanoff down to about 15 big blinds. But Andreanoff doubled back to level with making a straight on a board of . Zhou had two pair.

There was only 50 big blinds between them. And then, as the level went up, there was only 40 big blinds between them.

And then, all of a sudden, it was done.

Zhou had and raised pre-flop. Andreanoff had and called. It took them to the flop of .

Andreanoff check-called Zhou’s continuation bet.

The turn was the and the check-call pattern repeated, which then took them to the river. Andreanoff checked again and Zhou moved all in. Andreanoff now had a flush and made the call. He was good; Zhou’s straight was now beaten.

With that, Gavin Andreanoff comes out of the shadows to secure a first major title of his career.

Put your hands in the air for Gavin Andreanoff

RESULTS

Event #11 – $30,000 PLO Bounty
Dates:November 2-3, 2023
Entries: 74 (inc. 23 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,220,000 (inc. $760,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Gavin Andreanoff, UK – $387,000 (+ $160,000 in bounties)
2 – Quan Zhou, China – $269,000 (+ $120,000 in bounties)
3 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $178,000 (+ $120,000 in bounties)
4 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $139,000 (+ $160,000 in bounties)
5 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $112,400 (+ $40,000 in bounties)
6 – Iakov Onuchin, Russia – $87,000
7 – Tom Dwan, USA – $69,500 (+ $120,000 in bounties)
8 – Dylan Weisman, USA – $54,000 (+ $40,000 in bounties)

9 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $41,500
10 – Li Tong, New Zealand – $31,300
11 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $31,300
12 – Armin Ghojehvand, UK – $30,000
13 – Imad Derwich, France – $30,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

THREE UP FOR LIM AS MALAYSIA DOMINATES GG MILLION$ IN MONTE CARLO

Webster Lim is a three-time champion on the Triton Super High Roller Series after winning a fascinating all-Malaysian heads-up duel tonight in Monte Carlo and winning the latest GG Poker Million$ Live tournament.

This is actually Lim’s second GG Million$ Live victory having won the same $25,000 buy-in tournament in Vietnam earlier this year. It’s no mean feat because, at $25K, this is the lowest buy-in on the Triton Series and draws the biggest crowd.

This one was a Triton record, with 187 entries.

“Maybe I should play only this one,” Lim joked as he picked up his trophy.

Lim’s prize was $899,893, an adjusted total after he struck a heads-up deal with his countryman Hing Yong Chow. As ever, the seats around the final table were full with the great and the good of Asian poker, with this crew as tight as any in the world.

“It’s 1am and they’re here, I cannot ask for more,” Lim said.

He added that members of the crew — Danny Tang, Punnat Punsri, Kiat Lee, Lun Loon, Michael Soyza, among others — regularly share notes and tips and support. “You always learn every day,” Lim said.

He also said he enjoyed the fact that he took down the title with the most ever entries on the Triton Series. “It’s always good to see Triton growing,” he said.

Webster Lim’s amazing rail celebrates victory with him

TOURNAMENT ACTION RECAP

The tournament resumed overnight with 41 players left from that record-breaking field of 187 entries. As always, the only decisive thing that could happen in the early levels was that players could bust, and quickly the field reduced by nine to leave the tournament on its stone bubble.

Almost immediately, that particular milestone passed. Paul Phua opened a pot, Viacheslav Buldygin shipped with about 10 big blinds, and Phua made the call. It was a classic flip: pocket jacks versus , with Phua holding the jacks. And when another appeared on the flop, Buldygin was drawing to the straight only.

It never came.

The Russian left the field, Phua boosted his stack, and the race towards the final began.

For once in this Triton Series stop, the Asian contingent quickly rose to the top. Phua’s trajectory continued upward, and he was joined by fellow Malaysians Hing Yang Chow and Webster Lim, while China’s Biao Ding also found his stride.

The same couldn’t be said for Steve O’Dwyer, Tim Adams, Alex Kulev, Bruno Volkmann and Artur Martirosian, who were among the players knocked out ahead of the final. When Jean-Noel Thorel’s friend and traveling partner Frederic Delval went out in 10th, the final table was set, with the three Malaysians in the top spots.

Hing Yang Chow – 43 BBs
Paul Phua – 38 BBs
Webster Lim – 28 BBs
Yulian Bogdanov – 28 BBs
Ren Lin – 26 BBs
Biao Ding – 24 BBs
Igor Yaroshevskyy – 22 BBs
Ben Heath – 16 BBs
Ferdinand Putra – 9 BBs

Triton Monte Carlo $25K GG Million$ Live final table players (clockwise from back left): Ben Heath, Webster Lim, Yulian Bogdanov, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Paul Phua, Ren Lin, Biao Ding, Ferdinand Putra, Hing Yang Chow

Cash-game regular Ferdinand Putra had locked up a cash for the third time on the Monte Carlo trip, but his stay at this final table was brief. He became the first of three consecutive players to go broke at the hands of Ren Lin, unable to get to hold up against .

Putra picked up $100,200 for this one.

Ferdinand Putra came to the final as the short stack, and left first

Lin wasted little time before despatching Yulian Bogdanov next. Bogdanov pushed all in from the small blind with and Lin woke up with pocket queens in the big. That was an easy call and Bogdanov took $122,000 — another good result for the Bulgarians.

This tournament, which carried the GG Poker name, employed the “seat swap” format heading into the final table, which is used on the online site. It means that players can select their position at the final, with choices made in order of chip stack.

Ren Lin builds as Paul Phua looks on with envy

Phua, who was second in the standings heading into the final, cursed his luck with having swapped seats with Lin. That was certainly the hot seat — and it stayed warm for the elimination of Biao Ding next.

Lin raised from the button with and Ding called in the big blind, sitting with . Ding probably hoped to see a queen, but that was actually the last thing he really wanted. However, the dealer maybe heard his silent plea.

The board came queen high and all the money went in. Lin’s kicker played as Ding was ousted. He won $166,600.

Lin took a back seat now as Webster Lim — one spot along the keyboard only — took over. He knocked out Phua and Igor Yaroshevskyy in back-to-back hands and took over at the top of the leader board.

Lim found aces and, obviously, called Phua’s three-bet jam. Phua did pick up a straight draw with his , but it never came. Phua busted in sixth for $228,000.

On the very next hand, Yaroshevskyy moved all in from under the gun with and Lim snapped him off with , which stayed good.

Yaroshevskyy cashed this very event back in Cyprus earlier this year, where his third place earned him $339,500. This time he had to settle for $301,000 for fourth.

Ben Heath now assumed the unfortunate role of the short stack and he wasn’t able to get it moving in the right direction. In fact, he could do little but sit and stare as others picked up all the pots, then finally getting his last chips in with and losing to Hing Yang Chow’s .

Heath won $380,000, but Chow’s stack was near even with his two opponents as they began three-handed play.

Having scaled the heights earlier, Lin was now the player on the ropes. Lim’s surge had coincided almost precisely with Lin’s decline and there was no surprise when the duo played the pot that sent Lin out in third.

This was a bit of a cooler. Lin had and watched the board come . There was betting on every street, with a shove on the river, and Lin had every reason to think his straight was good.

But Lim had and rivered a full house. He scored a huge double.

Chow took the last few blinds from Lin’s stack with beating . Lin’s tournament ended with a $468,000 payout.

Ren Lin departs after being cold-decked out of it

The bleachers were now packed with supporters for this all-Malaysian showdown.

Lim had 62 big blinds; Chow had 31, but both players had been here before and closed it out.

Lim was already a two-time champion, having won this GG Super Million$ in Vietnam, after winning a €50K Short Deck in Madrid. Chow too had a Triton title. He won a PLO event in Montenegro in 2019.

The pair quickly decided on a deal, with Lim securing a minimum $859,893 and Chow locking up $760,107. That left $40K to play for on the side, plus the trophy. There was still life in this one yet.

Luca Vivaldi overseas the deal negotiation

Lim took the more aggressive lines heads up, but Chow actually managed to quickly pull into a chip lead in pots that went the distance. However, Lim managed to stay calm and continue to chip away at his opponent, opening up a lead of 41 BBs to 18 BBs when they entered Level 29.

Lim shoved on the first hand, but Chow tank-folded. However, Lim built an even bigger lead and Chow had only eight bigs when the chips all went in the middle for the first time. Chow was able to double, however, when his beat Lim’s .

Lim just set to work again and built his lead once more. But then a hand came up that was difficult for anyone to get away from, and it happened to favour Lim.

Chow had pocket sevens while Lim had . There was betting on every street as the board slowly ran .

Lim shoved on the end and Chow called, learning the bad news. Never mind: he dived into the crowd of supporters to show his appreciation too for Lim, who moves up the multiple champion standings and takes a third trophy home.

RESULTS

Event #10 – $25,000 NLH – 8 Handed – GGMillion$ Live
Dates:November 1-2, 2023
Entries: 187 (inc. 70 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,675,000

1 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $899,893*
2 – Hing Yang Chow, Malaysia – $760,107*
3 – Ren Lin, USA – $468,000
4 – Ben Heath, UK – $380,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $301,000
6 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $228,000
7 – Biao Ding, China – $166,600
8 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $122,000
9 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $100,200

10 – Frederic Delval, France – $85,000
11 – Yuri Dzivielevski, Brazil – $85,000
12 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $76,000
13 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $76,000
14 – Jans Arends, Netherlands – $69,000
15 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $69,000
16 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $62,000
17 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $62,000
18 – Francisco Benitez, Uruguay – $55,400
19 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – b$55,400
20 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $55,400
21 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $50,600
22 – Mario Mobock, Austria – $50,600
23 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $50,600
24 – Jan Schwipperts, Germany – $45,800
25 – Robert Flink, Sweden – $45,800
26 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $45,800
27 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $45,800
28 – Phil Ivey, USA – $41,000
29 – Ian Bradley, UK – $41,000
30 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $41,000
31 – Shyngis Satubaev, Kazakhstan – $41,000

*denotes deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

TRITON MONTE CARLO 2023: ALL THE REPORTS, PHOTOS AND NEWS

Full details of everything that happened at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Monte Carlo, which ran from October 24 through November 4, 2023

EVENT #13 – $25,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA TURBO

PERFECT 10 FOR KOON, CLOSES MONTE CARLO EVENT IN STYLE
It looked for a moment as though Jason Koon had forgotten to win a title at Triton Monte Carlo, but on the final night, in the final tournament, Koon came good to land his 10th career title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jason Koon, USA – $365,000
2 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $262,000
3 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $171,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $129,000
5 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $100,000

50 entries | $1,250,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #12 – $50,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA

DVORESS BAGS TITLE NUMBER TWO AS $50K PLO CONCLUDES
On the last night of the Monte Carlo festival — just as he had done when he had a flight to catch out of Cyprus — Dan Dvoress stormed through a final day final table to win the second title of his Triton career.

Top five finishers:
1 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $956,000
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $664,000
3 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $439,000
4 – Chris Parker, UK – $344,000
5 – Keith Lehr, USA – $277,000

72 entries | $3,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #11 – $30,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA – BOUNTY

ANDREANOFF COMES OUT OF THE SHADOWS TO CLAIM MAIDEN TRITON WIN
A PLO cash-game pro, Gavin Andreanoff cashed the first Triton title he played in London, then travelled to Monte Carlo to win the second. It’s his first live tournament victory and earned him more than $500K, including bounties

Top five finishers:
1 – Gavin Andreanoff, UK – $387,000 (+ $160,000 in bounties)
2 – Quan Zhou, China – $269,000 (+ $120,000 in bounties)
3 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $178,000 (+ $120,000 in bounties)
4 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $139,000 (+ $160,000 in bounties)
5 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $112,400 (+ $40,000 in bounties)

74 entries | $2,220,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #10 – $25,000 NLH 8-HANDED GG MILLION$ LIVE

THREE UP FOR LIM AS MALAYSIA DOMINATES GG MILLION$
Webster Lim is the man to beat in the GG Poker Million$ tournaments on the Triton Series as the Malaysian followed up success in this event in Vietnam with another victory, over a record field, in Monte Carlo. He beat his countryman Hing Yang Chow heads up.

Top five finishers:
1 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $899,893*
2 – Hing Yang Chow, Malaysia – $760,107*
3 – Ren Lin, USA – $468,000
4 – Ben Heath, UK – $380,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $301,000

187 entries | $4,675,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #9 – $50,000 NLH 7-HANDED

FAMOUS FIVE FOR TANG AS IN-FORM TITANS CLASH IN MONTE CARLO
There’s no stopping Danny Tang on the Triton Series as he completed an incredible fifth triumph in 2023, downing the Super High Roller scene’s other leading tournament winner, Ike Haxton, heads up.

Top five finishers:
1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,580,000
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $1,070,000
3 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $715,000
4 – Chris Brewer, USA – $585,000
5 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – $469,000

136 entries | $6,800,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #8 – $40,000 NLH 7-HANDED – MYSTERY BOUNTY

SUPER MARIO IN MONTE CARLO AS MOSBÖCK BLITZES BOUNTY
After coming up agonisingly short in the $200K Invitational, Austrian former soccer player Mario Mosböck made it count in the $40K bounty, landing his first Triton title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $718,000 (+$720K from 10 bounties)
2 – Imad Derwiche, France – $484,000 (+$80K from one bounty)
3 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $333,000 (+$280K from five bounties)
4 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $272,000 (+$240K and Bombay yacht stay from three bounties)
5 – Axel Hallay, France – $216,500

162 entries | $6,480,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #7 – $30,000 NLH 7-HANDED

DIMOV PUTS BULGARIA ON THE BOARD WITH FIRST-TIME SUCCESS
A strong Bulgarian contingent of players arrived to Monte Carlo for the Triton Series this week, and Ognyan Dimov landed the country’s first win in only his third tournament.

Top five finishers:
1 – Ognjan Dimov, Bulgaria – $1,010,000
2 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $685,000
3 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $457,000
4 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $374,000
5 – Travis Endersby, Australia – $300,100

145 entries | $4,350,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #6 – $100,000 NLH 8-HANDED

VOGELSANG BATTLES BACK FROM ONE BLIND TO END TROPHY DROUGHT
He’s been playing on the Triton Series since the very start, and finally Christoph Vogelsang landed a debut title, coming back from near-elimination to land a $2.6m prize.

Top five finishers:
1 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $2,644,000*
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $2,190,000*
3 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,296,000
4 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $1,068,000
5 – Ben Heath, UK – $858,000

*denotes heads-up deal

120 entries | $12,000,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #5 – $25,000 NLH TURBO

O’DWYER AT THE DOUBLE AS LATEST TURBO HEADS TO AMERICAN
It might have looked like a short-stack shootout, but Steve O’Dwyer picked his spots the best to claim a second Triton title, four years after he earned his first.

Top five finishers:
1 – Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $416,000
2 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $299,000
3 – Mike Watson, Canada – $195,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $147,000
5 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $114,000

57 entries | $1,425,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT #3 – $125,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

EIBINGER OUTLASTS MATEOS TO SNATCH MAIN EVENT TRIUMPH
The Austrian turbo specialist Matthias Eibinger managed to overhaul an enormous Adrian Mateos chip lead to claim the biggest cash of his career and a Triton Main Event title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $3,461,261*
2 – Adrian Mateos – $3,120,739*
3 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $1,772,000
4 – Chris Brewer, USA – $1,450,000
5 – Quan Zhou, China – $1,165,000

*denotes heads up deal

135 entries | $16,875,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 2 – $200,000 TRITON INVITATIONAL

SMITH HALTS MOSBÖCK TO LAND MONTE CARLO INVITATIONAL
The American pro Dan Smith overcame Mario Mosböck’s heads-up chip lead to bank a $3.8 million first prize and secure his first title on the Triton Series. The event featured a specially invited field of VIPs and elite pros.

Top five finishers:
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

73 entries | $14,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 1 – $50,000 NLH TURBO

JAFFE BLASTS THROUGH BOUNTY EVENT TO CLAIM FIRST TITLE
Triton Monte Carlo got up and running with a swashbuckling performance from Jonathan Jaffe who tore through the $50K bounty tournament to claim his first title — and picking up nine scalps, worth $20K each, along the way.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $501,000 (+ $180,000 in bounties)
2 – Brian Kim, USA – $359,000 (+ $80,000)
3 – Leonard Maue, Germany – $233,000 (+ $80,000)
4 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $176,000 (+$60,000)
5 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $136,000 (+$120,000)

57 entries | $1,710,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive