Page 13 – Triton Poker

SCHEMION MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON TRITON SERIES, WINS $1.35M IN $50K BUY-IN NLH

The world’s best tournament poker players tend to gravitate to the Triton Series. It has the biggest buy-ins, the most prestigious locations and is the undisputed market leader in high stakes events. But even now, as we start our third season, there are still a handful of players who you know would love it here, but who have strangely stayed away.

When Ole Schemion first walked into the tournament room at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House for the Triton London event this week, he finally became the Triton Super High Roller player everyone knew he could be. Schemion has been one of the world’s best for more than a decade, but he had never registered a Triton event before this week.

But now, in his fourth event, Schemion is a Triton champion. He led pillar to post in today’s final table of the $50,000 8-Handed NLH, earning $1.35 million and yet another trophy for his bulging cabinet.

After the insane volatility of the three previous final tables this week, this one was plain sailing. It helped that the big stack was with the fearless Schemion, and so were most of the best cards. He eventually saw off the obdurate Dao Minh Phu, a Triton champion from Vietnam earlier this year, heads-up.

Schemion became the second 30-year-old German player to win a title this week, following Fedor Holz.

“I was a bit lazy the last few years,” Schemion said, explaining his mysterious absence from Triton events to date. “I didn’t want to play so much. I was thinking of coming this year, to Cyprus and Vietnam, but I didn’t make it. But here I am.”

He added that he enjoyed everything about the experience, and once suspects we’ll be seeing much more of him from hereon out.

“It was a fun final table,” Schemion told Ali Nejad. “I had a really good feeling from the start.” Of Triton itself, Schemion said: “Actually it’s a really nice experience. Nice tournaments. Nice fields. Lot of fun to play. Nice people.”

That trophy is pretty nice too.

FINAL DAY ACTION

Day two resumptions have not been kind to overnight leaders so far at the Triton Series’ visit to London. Seth Davies plummeted out before the money in Event 1, and the dame thing happened today to Ignacio Moron. The Spaniard led the 43 remaining players into the concluding day, but was knocked out before the money bubble.

The bubble itself was quick but far from painless. On the first deal of hand-for-hand play, two players were all in and called. One was Wai Kin Yong, who played a pot through all the streets against David Yan. Yan raised from early position and Yong defended his big blind with .

It went check, bet, call after the flop, then check, bet, call after the turn. The completed the board and Yan now moved in. Yong called it off.

Unfortunately for Yong, Yan’s had made trips, so that knocked Yong out. But he had one last chance to rescue something from the tournament: Sam Grafton was all-in on a neighbouring table, and if he busted Yong and Grafton would split the 20th-place money.

Wai Kin Yong salvaged half a buy-in thanks to the bubble split

Grafton was in great shape, though. He had pocket aces to Erik Seidel’s pocket kings and table chatter revealed that one king had been folded. Grafton got his phone out to film it, giving animated commentary about how Seidel had “lost his head” with pocket kings.

But even though Seidel was drawing to just one out, that case king duly arrived on the flop. That meant Grafton and Yong perished on the same hand and chopped up the $73,000 prize. Both were disappointed, but $36,500 is a lot better than nothing.

From there, players quickly accelerated towards the final table, with Schemion, Jamil Wakil and Phu flying up the counts, while others such as Linus Loeliger, Ike Haxton and Mikita Badzikouski hit the rail (via the payouts desk).

After Event 1 winner Luc Greenwood was frozen out by Schemion in 10th, they assembled around the final table with stacks as follows:

Ole Schemion – 47 BBs
Jamil Wakil – 42 BBs
Dao Minh Phu – 37 BBs
Orpen Kisacikoglu – 33 BBs
Roberto Perez – 32 BBs
David Yan – 32 BBs
Leon Sturm – 24 BBs
Nacho Barbero – 22 BBs
Danny Tang – 10 BBs

Event #5 final table players (clockwise from top left): Jamil Wakil, Dao Minh Phu, Orpen Kisacikoglu, Leon Sturm, Nacho Barbero, Roberto Perez, Danny Tang, David Yan, Ole Schemion.

Tang didn’t last long. Pocket jacks was far too good a hand to be letting go with his stack, and it was just unfortunate for Tang that Schemion was sitting with queens. That was the first hand of the final. It was pretty brutal for David Yan that Schemion had aces a few hands later. Yan had and hit the rail.

Schemion had knocked out three players in fewer than 10 hands. Tang won $134,000 for ninth and Yan took $173,000 for eighth.

David Yan was coolered out of it by Schemion

While big hands accounted for both Tang and Schemion, Nacho Barbero’s demise was death by a thousand small cuts. He lost pots to Leon Sturm and Dao Minh Phu, then had to fold his blinds a couple of times to aggression elsewhere. He took a stand with but Jamil Wakil had , which was decisively better.

Barbero has made a happy habit of reaching final tables on the Triton Series, but this one ended in a seventh-place finish. It earned the Argentinian $235,000.

Sturm has become a familiar face on the tournament tables of Europe over the past couple of years, graduating from the online game to become one of the most respected young hotshots. He burnished his reputation by winning a first World Series bracelet this summer, and the logical next step is a debut appearance on the Triton Series.

Sturm whiffed his first three events, but got himself into the black thanks to a final table appearance in the $50K, but his good run came to its conclusion in sixth place. Like others before him, Sturm was knocked out holding a premium, but his opponent, Roberto Perez just had a better hand.

Sturm’s was down by Perez’s . Sturm won $313,000.

Leon Sturm continued his good form this summer

At this stage, the double Triton champion Orpen Kisacikoglu was the shortest stack, while Schemion was still sitting pretty at the top. Kisacikoglu managed one big double through another Triton title holder, Phu, and that left three players close to even staring up enviously at Schemion.

But the best hands kept going to the relentless German, and he was then able to turn his attention to Jamil Wakil. The Canadian is another Triton newcomer making a debut in London, and he too whiffed the first three events.

But even though his tournament ended in fifth, falling with a dominated queen to Schemion’s , he banked $400,000, which puts him in profit for the trip so far. Wakil is another player with a fine online reputation, who has enjoyed a great 2023 to date. It’s just getting better.

Kisacikoglu was again the short stack, but two hands after Wakil’s departure, the London-based Turkish businessman looked down at in the big blind and saw Schemion open-shoving his button.

That was a snap-call, but Schemion was winning every race, including this one. Schemion had pocket deuces which held up and bounced Kisacikoglu. There was $497,000 waiting at the payouts desk on his way out.

Orpen Kisacikoglu remains a double champ after busting in fourth here

At this point, it seemed as if no one could lay a glove on Schemion. He had more than 70 big blinds while his two challengers had only half of that between them. But Phu proved in Vietnam that he had little respect for reputations and he managed to find the first chink in Schemion’s armour.

It came thanks to in his hand, which beat Schemion’s . Schemion flopped top pair, but the same board gave Phu a straight and prompted his trademark jubilant celebration.

The Spanish player Roberto Perez was not quite so fortunate. Perez was yet another Triton debutant here in London, but he cashed the only two events he had played so far, landing 20th in the $40K Mystery Bounty and 19th in the $25K GGMillion$.

He had made it three from three when he got through the bubble again in this one, and here he was now sitting in the last three. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t translate the position into a win. He three-bet shoved with after yet another Schemion open. Schemion again was packing, though. His hit nothing but didn’t need to.

Perez was toast in third, earning $604,000.

When they started heads-up play, Schemion had an enormous advantage. He was sitting with 17 million to Phu’s 4.5 million. However, Phu has demonstrated before some remarkable staying power in the late stages of tournaments, and once again he showed he was up for the battle.

Phu scored a major double up when he managed to find a miracle deuce to win with to beat Schemion’s . That gave Phu a decent stack and the chance to try to take down the German boss.

However, Schemion soon dished out a dose of the same medicine on Phu. They got it in again pre-flop, with Phu holding against Schemion’s .

Schemion flopped a straight draw and then spiked the on the turn. Phu offered his hand to Schemion, but the German jokingly waved it away, knowing Phu still had seven outs on the river. This time he missed, however, and was condemned to a second-place finish and “only” $915,000. He now has a first second and a third on this series. Schemion of course now did shake his hand and gave him a hug.

Ole Schemion and Dao Minh Phu embrace at the end

And as for Schemion? He has now made his indelible mark on the Triton Series, just like he has everywhere else in the world.

RESULTS

Event #5 – NLH – 8-Handed
Dates: July 30-31, 2023
Entries: 112 (inc 73 re-entries)
Prize pool: $5,600,000

1 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $1,350,000
2 – Dao Minh Phu, Vietnam – $915,000
3 – Roberto Perez, Spain – $604,000
4 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $497,000
5 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $400,000
6 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $313,000
7 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $235,000
8 – David Yan, New Zealand – $173,000
9 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $134,000

10 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $112,000
11 – Erik Seidel, USA – $112,000
12 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $98,000
13 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $98,000
14 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $89,000
15 – Johannes Straver, Netherlands – $89,000
16 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $81,000
17 – Sean Perry, USA – $81,000
18 – Biao Ding, Vietnam – $73,000
19 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – $73,000
=20 – Sam Grafton, UK – $36,500*
=20 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $36,500*

*eliminated on same hand from different tables; chop 20th place money

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

JORSTAD LANDS MAIDEN TRITON VICTORY AFTER SHORT-HANDED TURBULENCE IN LONDON

Three of the best players in world poker played an incredible short-stack shootout tonight to decide the latest winner on the Triton Super High Roller Series. The fickle finger of fate finally pointed at Espen Jorstad and named him the winner of what was an extraordinary contest.

“The three-way was the craziest three-way I’ve ever played,” Jorstad said, shortly after securing the first Triton title of his career. It was every bit as hard fought as the WSOP Main Event victory that vaulted him into the esteemed company he finds on the Triton Series.

“Legends left, legends right,” Jorstad, 35, said of his first impressions of this tour.

The Norwegian was the last man standing after a captivating conclusion to a $40,000 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament, which had 133 entries and an incredible final three: Jorstad alongside the UK’s leading talent Stephen Chidwick and the player many consider to be the greatest of all time, Phil Ivey.

It was an irresistible line-up but the three players must have often felt like mere pawns in some metaphysical game. The stacks grew incredibly short and each player was both chip leader and short stack numerous times as a series of double ups kept things going late into the night.

Jorstad came back from about two big blinds on more than one occasion, eventually downing Chidwick in third and then busting Ivey heads up. Ivey missed out on the chance to become a four-time winner, as Jorstad banks $639,000 for his win — so far.

Half of this $5.32 million prize pool is still technically to be played for. They will draw the Mystery Bounty envelopes tomorrow, with a top prize of $400,000 still lurking inside one of them, alongside a minimum $40,000 per bounty token. Jorstad has five of them, so a minimum $200K more. (See below for more about the Mystery Bounty portion of the tournament.)

We have all of that fun to look forward to tomorrow, but take a deep breath and prepare for an epic recap from this final day. It was full of bizarre twists and turns and incredible comebacks, none moreso than from that man Jorstad.

FINAL DAY ACTION

The second and final day of the tournament began with 38 players still involved — otherwise known as 38 bounties now on offer. The regular payout structure offered prizes to the top 20 finishers, so there was a delicate line to be trod between bounty hunting and self-preservation.

One of the biggest pre-bubble pots took place between Henrik Hecklen and Eric Wasserson, with the former three-bet shoving his big stack over Wasserson’s only marginally smaller holding. Wasserson had the goods — — which dominated Hecklen’s , and Wasserson scored an enormous double. It left Hecklen with only two big blinds.

Henrik Hecklen weeps over his one big blind

Chris Brewer, sitting between Wasserson and Hecklen, will have greatly enjoyed watching the hand play out, especially because he had only seven big blinds in front of him. However, Hecklen managed to cling on a few more hands, enough time for Wasserson to turn his attention to Brewer.

Wasserson open-shoved with three tiny stacks sitting to his left, including both Hecklen and Brewer. Brewer looked down at pocket eights and spent a couple of time-bank chips before deciding whether to risk his tournament life. He determined that it was.

What he didn’t know at this juncture was that Wasserson hadn’t even looked at his cards. It was only after Brewer had called off that Wasserson saw he had pocket kings.

Brewer leapt out of his seat in mock incredulity and, after action finally concluded on neighbouring tables, the dealer put out five cards that all missed Brewer’s eights. Brewer has been in incredible form of late, including a second-placed finish yesterday, so he didn’t seem too cut up about this bubble. Everyone else was now in the money, including Hecklen and his one big blind.

Chris Brewer bubbles: “How do you find kings when you haven’t looked!?!”

There were, of course, only eight spots around the final table so the focus now shifted to reaching that marker. Players such as Nacho Barbero, Elton Tsang and Ben Heath couldn’t rally sufficiently to get to final stages. (Hecklen surrendered his short stack too.)

Spain’s Ignacio Moron led the field for some portion of the day, but it was his elimination in ninth place that set the final. He took a rough beat too: he was involved in three-way pot against Phil Ivey and Keat Liu Chun and had the best hand with to Ivey’s pocket jacks and Chun’s . However, the dealer put a jack on the turn to give Ivey close to a triple up and send Moron out.

Ivey is good enough without that kind of assistance.

We therefore assembled the following final table:

FINAL TABLE STACKS

Johannes Straver – 69 BBs
Phil Ivey – 59 BBs
Daniel Dvoress – 39 BBs
Espen Jorstad – 37 BBs
Stephen Chidwick – 28 BBs
Eric Wasserson – 18 BBs
Keat Liu Chun – 15 BBs
Alek Boika – 3 BBs

Event 3 final table players (l-r): Keat Liu Chun, Stephen Chidwick, Johannes Straver, Eric Wasserson, Phil Ivey, Daniel Dvoress, Alex Boika, Espen Jorstad

Alek Boika was obviously the man in most jeopardy, but he found aces to double through Stephen Chidwick and was then able to hang on long enough to watch Chun’s unfortunate streak continue. Chun picked up in the big blind, which was plenty good enough to ship all in after an open from the chip-leading Straver.

However Straver had a real hand, , and it stayed best. It sent Chun to the rail, earning a second Triton cash, worth $82,500.

Boika’s stay of execution endured for another few orbits, but his stack was still the smallest at the table and it couldn’t last forever. He ended up getting his last chips in in a decent spot — sitting with to Ivey’s , but fortune favoured Ivey again as he hit an eight on the river to take another bounty.

Boika won $111,500 for seventh.

Alex Boika brought a short stack to the final but laddered one spot

There was no let up in the fierceness of this competition, of course, and players of the calibre of Stephen Chidwick and Daniel Dvoress now found themselves the shortest. Chidwick clung on a bit longer, but Dvoress perished at Ivey’s hands too. Dvoress was in the big blind after Ivey open-pushed the small blind. Dvoress found and called all in. Ivey had pocket fives, however, and held.

Dvoress, who won his first Triton title to end the recent Triton Cyprus festival, banked $149,000 for this sixth-place finish.

Daniel Dvoress fell short of a second title

Three hands later and there was another elimination. But this one was a pretty gross cooler, which accounted for Wasserson. Wasserson has only one tournament cash on his resume outside of the United States (in the Bahamas, in 2012), but he has been tempted to London by the Luxon Invitational taking place later this week.

He had enjoyed his time in this tournament though, particularly during that bubble period where he was central to all those fun and games. Back then, Wasserson had pocket kings, the very same hand he now found at this six-handed final table. It was plenty good enough to get his chips in again. The problem this time was that Straver had aces and there was no getting away from it. (They were in the blinds too, to make it even more gross.)

Wasserson couldn’t hit the two-outer and so headed to the payouts desk to pick up $190,000. He can come back tomorrow and cash his bounties, of course.

The last four headed to a quick dinner break, with Straver’s 69 BBs in front of Ivey (35), Jorstad (19) and Chidwick (10). It didn’t take very long after the resumption for the shortest of those stacks to go in, but Chidwick’s won a race against Jorstad’s pocket jacks for them to swap places on the leader board.

Never mind. Jorstad doubled back up through Straver on the next hand, with turning a four to beat Straver’s . That brought the stacks pretty even again.

The first two final tables so far in this festival have been characterised by topsy-turvy late stages, where double ups were far more common than bustouts. This one began to follow the same pattern. Jorstad doubled up through Ivey, with beating . But then Ivey doubled through Straver, getting pocket fours to hold against .

The Straver v Ivey sub-plot had been compelling, with the less known Dutchman putting Ivey into the tank for numerous, extended periods, Ivey invariably emerging having made the correct laydown. (Ivey had also made an incredible laydown of trip kings on the bubble, faced with river aggression from Dvoress.) But Ivey went on to double Straver right back again, when pocket kings stayed good against Ivey’s .

That put Ivey on a downward tick, and he lost a race to Chidwick soon after — Chidwick’s besting Ivey’s pocket sixes — for the two to swap positions again. Ivey was down but he wasn’t out, and one final skirmish with Straver got him relatively healthy again.

Straver’s pocket nines lost to Ivey’s pocket jacks, and it was terminal this time for the Dutchman. He won a stack of bounty tokens that he’ll cash in tomorrow, but his own bounty went to Ivey. Straver, for the time being, wins $236,500.

Johannes Straver tangled frequently with Phil Ivey at his first Triton final

The average stack was now only 30 big blinds, but this was a mouthwatering final three. Ivey, by most estimation the best player the world has seen, up against Chidwick, a man whose name always appears on the “best of” lists, and Jorstad, who has done something neither of his opponents has done in winning the WSOP Main Event.

Chidwick was the first to apply serious pressure on Ivey, assuming the chip lead in a huge pot against Jorstad. Chidwick had aces and bet all the way, finding calls at every street from Jorstad’s , which flopped a flush draw and turned top pair. It left Jorstad with only a couple of big blinds, but true to form he doubled up almost immediately, with beating Chidwick’s .

He then did it again, also through Chidwick, with beating . And even Ivey struggled to collect the bounty when Jorstad hit a flush with and beat Ivey’s .

That meant that when Jorstad found aces soon after, he had enough to put a serious dent in Chidwick’s stack, especially because Chidwick had and the money went in. Jorstad was now back in the lead.

The players took a break and pushed into Level 28, further than the pre-published structure sheet had planned. But all Jorstad’s good work was undone in one hand after the break when his lost to Chidwick’s . “We’re back to where we were about an hour ago,” Chidwick said, looking at his own chip lead and Jorstad’s micro-stack.

Jorstad moved his last 3 BBs in on the next hand, and Ivey called. And it looked like Jorstad might be mounting another comeback when his stayed better than Ivey’s . It got better for Jorstad on the next hand, when Chidwick shoved, Ivey folded pocket fives and Jorstad called with to Chidwick’s . “Wish I’d have called now,” Ivey said when the board ran completely dry.

A sheepish Espen Jorstad on the comeback trail

This wasn’t done yet. Ivey, now the short stack, picked up red pocket aces and doubled through Chidwick’s . He did it again soon after with through Chidwick’s . Chidwick had now taken the journey from leader to short stack.

But he started his own move back into contention with a couple of blind steals and then a come-from-behind double, finding a five with to beat Jorstad’s . No matter for Jorstad. He got the chips back on the next hand with against Chidwick’s . They were trapped in the never-ending story.

Jorstad nosed ahead of Chidwick, as Ivey started applying big stack pressure. And the dam wall finally crumbled when Chidwick was simply forced to defend his big blind to a shove from Jorstad, even though he was sitting with only . Jorstad’s was ahead all the way — particularly as three more threes appeared to give him quads.

Chidwick won $287,000 for this third place, but a second title still eludes him.

Stephen Chidwick had to settle for third

After that titanic three-handed battle, Ivey sat down behind 28 BBs to take on Jorstad’s 17. However, tables quickly turned as Jorstad moved into the lead without showdown and left Ivey on the ropes. The American great got out of jail when he was all in and called with to Jorstad’s but they chopped it up.

However, he couldn’t wriggle free a couple of hands later when went up against and nothing changed on flop, turn or river.

“Playing heads up against Ivey, the biggest legend of the game in my opinion, just makes it even more special,” Jorstad said, adding, “I’m extremely grateful for all the run good I’ve had on the last three years. It’s insane.”

It certainly was.

MYSTERY BOUNTY DRAW

As is now customary, the draw for the Mystery Bounties took place the day after the main tournament concluded and, with $2.66 million wedged inside those bounty envelopes, it was worth waiting for.

Johannes Straver pulls the biggest bounty prize

The top prize was $400,000, while the smallest bounty prize was $40,000. There were numerous prizes in between. There were also a couple of bonus prizes/red herrings. One was a trip on a luxury yacht, courtesy of Triton’s partner Bombay. That was a brilliant prize. The other was cruel: a bounty worth nothing, but which would have looked like the $400,000 prize when it was squeezed out of its envelope.

Ali Nejad hosted the bounty draw during the dinner break of Event 5. It quickly became the Johannes Straver show. The Dutchman had nine bounty tokens and snagged the $400K prize on his first pull. He added a further $500,000 through the next eight and boosted his overall haul by $900K. It meant he finished this event with $1,136,500, more than anybody else.

Kate Badurek pulled a $180K bounty on behalf of Dan Shak

The title winner Espen Jorstad added $260,000 from his five bounties. Meanwhile, the runner up Phil Ivey will be Bombay’s guest for its amazing luxury experience. Ivey’s three bounties earned him $140,000, plus that wonderful package.

The results below now reflect the additional prizes.

RESULTS

Event #3 – $40,000 7-HANDED MYSTERY BOUNTY
Dates: July 29-30, 2023
Entries: 133 (inc. 43 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,660,000

1 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $639,000 (plus $260,000 in bounties)
2 – Phil Ivey, USA – $434,900 (plus $140,000)
3 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $287,000 (plus $40,000)
4 – Johannes Straver, Netherlands – $236,500 (plus $900,000)
5 – Eric Wasserson, USA – $190,000 (plus $40,000)
6 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $149,000 (plus $380,000)
7 – Alek Boika, Belarus – $111,500 (plus $40,000)
8 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – $82,500 (plus $80,000)

9 – Ignacio Moron, Spain – $63,800 (plus $280,000)
10 – Antoine Saout, France – $53,200
11 – Thai Thinh Chu, Vietnam – $53,200 (plus $80,000)
12 – Ben Heath, UK – $46,600
13 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $46,600 (plus $120,000)
14 – Dan Shak, USA – $42,600 (plus $180,000)
15 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $42,600 (plus $80,000)
16 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $38,600
17 – Jonathan Pardy, Canada – $38,600
18 – Brian Kim, USA – $34,600
19 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $34,600
20 – Roberto Perez, Spain – $34,600

Patrik Antonius, Finland – $40,000 in bounties

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

HOLZ IS BACK! GERMAN RETURNS TO TRITON WINNER’S CIRCLE SIX YEARS SINCE LAST TRIUMPH

It’s been six years since the last victory on the Triton Series for Fedor Holz, an eternity by the standards of the young German phenom who used to win a title pretty much every week. But after a tenacious display in the $25,000 7-Handed No Limit Hold’em event here at Triton London, Holz is back in the winner’s circle, claiming a third career Triton title and banking $609,853.

Holz completed his triumph over a field of 120 entries by downing the in-form Chris Brewer heads-up and after the pair agreed an ICM deal. Brewer himself has two Triton titles, both won in the past year, and he added two World Series bracelets this summer to underline his sensational pedigree.

It’s crazy that we consider Holz to be a veteran. He turned 30 only last week. But he has reigned so powerfully over poker for so long that this seemed like a blast from the past, a victory for the old guard over the relative newcomer Brewer — actually six months Holz’s senior. But Holz is still stoked to be playing high level poker, as he explained to Ali Nejad.

“It’s really the competition and the love for the game,” Holz said when asked what keeps him motivated. “These moments! I’m sad when I bust out, not necessarily because I’m missing out on the money but because I can’t continue playing. When it ends, there’s a little moment where you realise it’s over and you switch to real life again.”

Brewer had a small chip lead when the two of them looked at the numbers, and secured himself $600K plus change. But a topsy-turvey, shallow-stacked final shootout eventually went to Holz and he adds this Triton London title to those he won in Manila and Montenegro back when he was in his early 20s.

The tournament provided another feast for poker fans, with the tremendously hard-fought final stages featuring players from four continents. It ended with that transatlantic battle and another famous victory for Holz — setting him up nicely for the festival to come.

“I think it gives a lot of confidence if you win a tournament,” he said. “I think you just believe more in your decision-making, so I’m super excited for the rest of the week. I think I’ll have a lot of fun.”

FINAL DAY ACTION

The returning field of 27 (from 120 total entries) was led by Seth Davies, a Triton stalwart with 13 cashes on the tour but no title. However, even someone as steady as Davies couldn’t survive a turbulent opening few levels and he crashed out in 22nd place, two spots off the money.

Davies lost a ton of chips with pocket sevens to Brian Kim’s pocket deuces after Kim turned a full house. He then ran into Ben Heath’s aces. Davies’ demise underlined how volatile the game can be when the tournament enters its business stages.

The stone bubble was an especially protracted affair, with numerous short stacks and two micro-stacks finding new ways to cling on. Dan Smith had only one big blind when he doubled with against . Then Johannes Straver managed a triple, when his pocket eights made a four-flush and beat Yuri Dzivielevski and Fedor Holz out of one.

Michael Soyza won a flip, rivering an ace, to beat Bruno Volkmann, and with the clock continuing to tick on, nearly half the field had less than 15 big blinds.

Smith had never quite managed to pull himself completely out of trouble, but he found a pretty good spot to get the last of his chips in again. He had versus the chip-leading Kai Bong Lo’s . The flop was fairly benign: . And although the turn hit Smith, it also gave possibilities to Lo.

The river filled the flush and Smith’s long vigil came to a close. Everyone else was in the money and guaranteed a payout of at least $39,000.

Dan Smith watches the last of his chips head elsewhere on the bubble

RACE TO THE FINAL

With bubble pressure now alleviated, things loosened up a touch. All of the short stacks now found reason to try to accumulate, with the obvious associated risks. Straver hit the rail, as did his neighbour Jason Koon. Soyza couldn’t survive past 14th, but even Lo tumbled down from the top of the counts and hit the rail in 11th.

After David Yan went out in ninth (a day after a 13th-place finish in the opening event here), they had a final table of eight. Fedor Holz sat at the top, having prospered the most from the tetchy session leading into the final. He was the only player at this stage with a bigger-than-average stack, and had put it to good use.

FINAL TABLE STARTING STACKS

Fedor Holz – 65 BBs
Brian Kim – 30 BBs
Roman Hrabec – 24 BBs
Renat Bohdanov – 23 BBs
Bruno Volkmann – 17 BBs
Chris Brewer – 15 BBs
Danilo Velasevic – 9 BBs
Tobias Schwecht – 7 BBs

Event 2 final table players (l-r): Bruno Volkmann, Fedor Holz, Renat Bohdanov, Chris Brewer, Danilo Velasevic, Roman Hrabec, Tobias Schwecht and Brian Kim

As is increasingly common, players had what in other formats would be considered shove/fold stacks, but in Super High Roller events, where every pay jump is enormous, there is no longer any such thing. Players dug in and prepared to wait for their spots. The shortest stack, Tobias Schwecht, soon found one and got pocket nines to hold up for double.

On the very next hand, Schwecht picked up pocket jacks and must have thought his time for climbing the leader board had come. However, Chris Brewer had , called Schwecht’s three-bet shove, and watched the dealer put four diamonds on the board.

Schwecht was out in eighth for $93,000.

Tobias Schwecht was first out from the final

Bruno Volkmann took over short-stack duties, but after three consecutive shoves — resulting in one double, with jacks through eights, and two folds all around — he was up into fourth in the counts, leaving Danilo Velasevic and Roman Hrabec with six and seven blinds, respectively.

Hrabec had been the player with the eights when Volkmann doubled, and he never recovered from that one. The leading Czech player on the Triton Series banked a runner-up finish in his first ever event in Vietnam, and here he was at his third final table.

However, Volkmann wasn’t done with Hrabec and three-bet shoved with after Hrabec opened with . Hrabec called off but lost after Volkmann flopped a queen.

Hrabec added $126,000 to his ledger for seventh.

Roman Hrabec added another final table appearance to his resume

Velasevic was still critically short-stacked, so surely looked on with glee as Renat Bohdanov moved all in from the button and Chris Brewer looked him up from the small blind. Brewer’s stayed best against Bohdanov’s and Bohdanov was out.

The Ukrainian is visiting the Triton Series for the first time here in London and put himself in the black with a $168,000 score for sixth.

Velasevic, another Triton newcomer, had laddered four spots despite coming to the final with a tiny stack. However, his resurgence couldn’t take him past fifth and he became Brewer’s second victim in consecutive hands. Brewer open-shoved his button with two shorties to his left, but Velasevic’s was plenty good enough for a call.

Brewer had only but drilled a ten on the flop and that was that for Velasevic. He takes $214,500 back to Serbia, a new career best.

Despite his big lead coming into the final, Holz had mainly stayed away from the action as the shortest stacks perished. Then when he did get involved in his first significant pot, he lost a big one to Volkmann, doubling the Brazilian again. Holz opened with from under the gun and Volkmann defended his big blind with what viewers on the Triton live stream knew was .

The flop of therefore probably looked pretty safe for Holz, but was anything but. Holz bet, Volkmann called, taking them to the on the turn. The pattern repeated with another bet and a call. The on the river was enough for Holz to move in, and Volkmann called off for the double up.

That put Holz at the bottom of the standings, but he built himself back into contention with two doubles through Brewer. On the first, he got to hold against . And then Holz hit a five when he got it in with against Brewer’s .

It was anyone’s game once more.

After players agreed to truncate their dinner break to 10 minutes (they had only around 55 big blinds between them) Kim was now the short stack. He duly got it in very quickly after players returned from their repast, and he was very quickly out. Kim was in the big blind with and called Volkmann’s shove.

However, Volkmann had and flopped a full house. That was the end of the road for Kim, who banked $267,000 for fourth.

The average stack was now 20 big blinds and we were into a three-handed end-game. Holz secured another big double when he looked down at in the big blind and watched Volkmann shove from the small.

Holz called and Volkmann only had which didn’t catch up. That left Volkmann under the most extreme pressure and he was out a couple of hands later, losing with to Brewer’s .

Volkmann’s short Triton career has already bagged him more than $1 million in earnings, and he is now two cashes from two tournaments here in London as well. His third place in this one was for $324,000.

Bruno Volkmann is getting ever closer to a first Triton title

Holz versus Brewer was a mouthwatering heads-up duel. The form player of this year squared off against the man who redefined what a hot streak could be only a few years ago. They both already had two Triton wins and were therefore gunning for a third.

Brewer had the lead when they reached heads-up — 35 BBs to 25 BBs — but they decided to eliminate some variance and quickly came to a deal. Brewer locked up $600,647 to Holz’s $569,853, leaving $40,000 to play for, plus the trophy.

Deal negotiations at the end of the tournament

For the second night in succession, viewers were treated to an intriguing heads-up match, albeit with shorter stacks and for much less money. (Manuel Zapf and Luc Greenwood did not do a deal in yesterday’s encounter.) Holz took the lead after a succession of small pots, but Brewer wrestled it back.

They then remained all but even as the levels ticked ever upward.

Holz, however, then won what seemed to be a pivotal pot. They got all their chips in preflop in a straight flip: Holz’s against Brewer’s pocket fours. Holz hit his six on the flop and took a huge lead.

Chris Brewer played his part in another fun heads-up duel

Brewer did manage to find two double ups of his own, but he never pulled back into the lead. Eventually, with both players sitting with sub 15 BB stacks, all the money went in for one last time. On this occasion, Holz had and flopped all kinds of opportunities when the appeared.

But Brewer’s was actually still ahead, and stayed there after the turn. The on the river was one of Holz’s myriad outs, however, and Brewer seemed ready for it. “Good game,” he said immediately.

And so it is that Fedor Holz pushes his Triton earnings closer to $11 million, and puts a third Triton trophy on his shelf.

Event #2 – $25,000 NLH 7-Handed
Dates: July 28-29, 2023
Entries: 120 (inc. 37 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,000,000

1 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $609,853*
2 – Chris Brewer, USA – $600,647*
3 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – $324,000
4 – Brian Kim, USA – $267,000
5 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $214,500
6 – Renat Bohdanov, Ukraine – $168,000
7 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $126,000
8 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $93,000

9 – David Yan, New Zealand – $72,000
10 – Yuri Dzivielevski, Brazil – $60,000
11 – Kai Bong Lo, Hong Kong – $60,000
12 – Ben Heath, UK – $52,500
13 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $52,500
14 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $48,000
15 – Thai Thinh Chu, Vietnam – $48,000
16 – Choon Tong Siow, Malaysia – $43,500
17 – Michael Rossi, USA – $43,500
18 – Jason Koon, USA – $39,000
19 – Johannes Straver, Netherlands – $39,000
20 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $39,000

*denotes heads-up deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

OH BROTHER! LUC GREENWOOD MATCHES BROTHER SAM WITH LONDON TRITON TITLE

The Triton Super High Roller Series’ second trip to London kicked off with a bang tonight, crowning Luc Greenwood as the festival’s first champion and awarding the Canadian $897,000. He is the winner of the $25,000 buy-in GG Million$ Live event, which started a two-week festival at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House.

Poker fans around the world have grown accustomed to seeing the name “Greenwood” etched on major trophies, but it’s more commonly preceded with a “Sam”. However tonight Luc added his name to the roll-call of Triton champions, matching Sam’s achievement, and the pair become the first brothers to claim titles on this exceptional series.

More than that: Sam and Luc, 34, are identical twins, and their images side-by-side on the Triton winners’ banners is going to leave many observers very confused indeed. But Luc tonight proves that not all the poker talent belongs on his brother’s side of the divide.

It was an emotional moment for Luc, who described a difficult few years since he last appeared on the Triton Series, here in London in 2019. The Greenwoods’ father passed away in 2020 and Luc paid tribute to the people who had kept him going.

“There are some things that are more important than poker, and obviously I miss my dad a lot,” Greenwood said. “But I’m very grateful to have so many friends and family cheering me on. My mum and my brother at home. And my brother Sam and my girlfriend. I’ve had a very blessed life and the blessings continue here in London.”

Luc Greenwood is joined by brother Sam and girlfriend Montana Skuoka

He added that he had not been expecting this superb triumph.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “I remember when I walked in here with my girlfriend and I saw all the faces on the wall, I thought, ‘I’m not up there yet.’ I didn’t think it would happen this fast. But obviously it’s amazing. Normally I feel that these things don’t happen to me. But it actually happened. It’s pretty amazing.”

Luc has returned in some style and claims a victory that sets him up for the long festival to come.

Greenwood prevailed from a record-setting field of 162 entries in this tournament, defeating Germany’s Manuel Zapf heads up. Zapf won his way into this event as part of a $100K package offered to online streamers by the online cardroom ACR Poker.

After Mark Rubbathan won a tournament in Vietnam after earning his trip as an ACR Stormer, Zapf was in great shape to follow his lead. Zapf was the dominant force through almost all of the second and final day here, but lost a titanic heads up duel against Greenwood.

The final hand came when both Greenwood and Zapf flopped top pair on a board of . Greenwood had and his kicker played against Zapf’s . Money went in on both the flop and then after the turn. And the river only sealed it in Greenwood’s favour.

Zapf still took $605,500, which is the biggest score of his life. That said, Greenwood’s haul was the biggest of his career as well. The Triton Series tends to offer that.

Manuel Zapf became another ACR Stormer to win big

FINAL DAY’S ACTION

After 15 levels of play on Day 1, there were 33 players remaining when play resumed today, with only 27 players due to be paid.

It meant the first bubble of the festival came around 90 minutes into the day. With a handful of shorter stacks scattered around the room, Jonathan Jaffe wasn’t under the most extreme pressure with his 10 big binds. However, when he found it was plenty good enough to get his chips in. The only problem was that the larger-stacked Manuel Zapf had and made the call behind him.

Jaffe wasn’t stone dead on the flop, but he wasn’t far off. The turn made it certain and Jaffe was flushed away. The remaining 27 were in the money and the race began to reach the final table.

Jonathan Jaffe burst the first bubble of Triton London 2023

Zapf was now in pole position, and he remained there pretty much without contest for the next seven or eight hours. That was the period during which the field shrank quickly and luminaries including Webster Lim, Dan Smith, Danny Tang, Matthias Eibinger, Nick Petrangelo and Christoph Vogelsang hit the rail.

Poker’s form player Chris Brewer departed in 11th, followed swiftly by Bruno Volkmann in 10th. It meant the assortment of players around the final table mirrored the complexion of the field as a whole: some Triton stalwarts and multiple champions alongside some first-timers.

Nick Petrangelo was among those to hit the rail before the final

Zapf, firmly in the latter category, led the way.

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Manuel Zapf – 90 BBs
Luc Greenwood – 48 BBs
Sam Grafton – 44 BBs
Pablo Brito – 31 BBs
Henrik Hecklen – 25 BBs
Oliver Bithell – 24 BBs
Kiat Lee – 23 BBs
Aleks Ponakovs – 21 BBs
Juan Pardo – 20 BBs

Event 1 final table (clockwise from top left): Juan Pardo, Manuel Zapf, Oliver Bithell, Henrik Hecklen, Luc Greenwood, Sam Grafton, Pablo Brito, Aleks Ponakovs, Kiat Lee.

By Triton standards, 20 big blinds is absolutely plenty, and so there was no furious rush to the door. Zapf and Luc Greenwood remained ahead, while the other seven players exchanged chips and the prospect of a nine-handed table for the dinner break became a reality. However, Sam Grafton’s food would have tasted more bitter than the others’ thanks to the final hand before the break. Grafton lost a huge flip with pocket jacks to Henrik Hecklen’s , doubling Hecklen and leaving Grafton short.

When they returned from dinner, Grafton became the first player out from the final table. He couldn’t get pocket fours to hold against Zapf’s . Grafton left with $91,000 for ninth.

Sam Grafton couldn’t recover from losing a flip to Hecklen

Juan Pardo had all but tripled up on the hand that sent Volkmann to the rail in tenth, when his pocket aces beat his countryman Volkmann, as well as Zapf’s pocket sixes, in a significant pot for him. He then also scored two relatively early doubles at the final table, first through Kiat Lee and then out-racing Hecklen’s over-cards with pocket sevens.

However the Spanish player could only tread water from thereon, and never built what could be called a dominant stack. He found himself in trouble and got his chips in with . Zapf was lurking with pocket jacks, however, and Pardo’s day was done. He took $109,800.

There is a strong Brazilian contingent here in London, and even though Volkmann departed before the final, Pablo Brito was still involved deep into the night. He was another player who largely kept out of danger in the early stages of the final table, but then found his first significant pot to be his last.

He was yet another victim of Zapf, getting his chips in with but failing to out-run Zapf’s pocket eights. Brito, who first appeared on the Triton Series in Vietnam earlier this year, improved on his two small cashes there with a $151,500 score for seventh.

Pablo Brito was the last Brazilian in the field

Aleks Ponakovs had already picked up five Triton Series cashes since his debut in Madrid last year, but has not yet got deeper than fourth place despite four final tables. Although Ponakovs’ day will surely come, this was to be another frustrating finish for the Latvian, who perished in sixth from this one.

It all looked very rosy for Ponakovs when he picked up pocket aces and doubled through Hecklen, whose jacks were dominated. But on the very next hand, Ponakovs open-shoved from the small blind, hoping to pinch Greenwood’s big blind. However Greenwood found a hand — pocket tens — and beat Ponakovs’ .

Ponakovs won $208,200 for sixth.

Aleksejs Ponakovs still looking for a first title

The skirmish with Ponakovs had put Hecklen on the ropes and the two-time champion couldn’t recover. Only a few minutes after his previous nemesis departed, Hecklen followed Ponakovs out the door. And it was Greenwood again who did the damage.

This time, Greenwood had and it was an easy four-bet shove over Hecklen’s three-bet. Hecklen had pocket sixes but lost this race. There was a king on the flop and another on the turn. Hecklen departed in fifth for $271,000.

Greenwood was now on a roll and Kiat Lee became the next person under the steamroller. Lee was Player of the Series in Vietnam after six cashes from eight events, but he is another player still looking for a maiden title. He kicked off here in London with yet another deep run, but had to settle for fourth and $339,800.

Lee’s chip stack remained healthy for long periods of the final, but he was eventually caught up by the blinds. He got his final nine bigs in with , but Greenwood snapped him off with . (Lee found a six on the flop, but the ten on the river crushed him.)

Although a relative unknown on the live circuit, the UK’s Oliver Bithell has already known the joy of a six-figure score. He picked that up in 2019, when a great run in the World Series Main Event notched him $324,650 for 27th. This was a step up, however: a first appearance on the Triton Series.

Bithell was absolutely loving it, and was near the top of the counts through almost all of the first day and a half. It was only when play got short handed that he found himself under pressure — and he too hit the rail when he first made a real stand.

On the hand immediately after Lee’s bust-out, Bithell, with 16 big blinds, open pushed . Zapf called with and hit an eight. Bithell’s brilliant run earned him a career best $416,700.

That brought them down to the final two, Greenwood versus Zapf. Between them, they had knocked out all others at the final and they both had decent stacks. Zapf’s 82 BBs was ahead of Greenwood’s 53. But there was every reason to expect a long one.

There seemed to be some kind of discussion about potentially looking at the numbers, but the idea never took hold. They sat down and prepared to play for all of it.

Heads up between Manuel Zapf and Luc Greenwood

As ever, the best way to learn all the twists and turns of a tumultuous heads-up is to seek out the replay of the live stream on the Triton Poker Plus app. But the general gist is that Greenwood surged into the lead, Zapf hauled it back, but then Greenwood’s later charge was unstoppable. Greenwood also made an exceptionally disciplined fold, letting top pair go when Zapf went big and had him beaten.

Greenwood rebuilt from there and he was in a dominant position when that heads-up cooler came. It was the last hand for both of them.

Hats off then to the Greenwoods. The family mantlepiece is now symmetrical at last.

Champion Luc Greenwood and girlfriend Montana Skuoka

Event #1 – $25,000 GG Million$ Live
Dates: July 27-28, 2023
Entries: 162 (inc 55 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,050,000

1 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $897,000
2 – Manuel Zapf, Germany – $605,500
3 – Oliver Bithell, UK – $416,700
4 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $339,800
5 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $271,000
6 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $208,200
7 – Pablo Brito, Brazil – $151,500
8 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $109,800
9 – Sam Grafton, UK – $91,000

10 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – $77,000
11 – Chris Brewer, USA – $77,000
12 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $66,800
13 – David Yan, New Zealand – $66,800
14 – Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – $60,700
15 – Drew Gonzalez, USA – $60,700
16 – Thai Thinh Chu, Vietnam – $54,600
17 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $54,600
18 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $48,600
19 – Roberto Gomez, Spain – $48,600
20 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $48,600
21 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $44,500
22 – Alex Peffly, UK – $44,500
23 – Dan Smith, USA – $44,500
24 – Jack Germaine, UK – $40,500
25 – Alexandre Pruneau, Canada – $40,500
26 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $40,500
27 – Andriy Lyubovetskiy, Ukraine – $40,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

TRITON NORTH CYPRUS — ALL THE REPORTS, PHOTOS AND NEWS

The Triton Super High Roller Series returned to the Merit Casino & Resort in North Cyprus from May 10-25, 2023. There were 15 tournaments on the schedule, with buy-ins ranging from $20,000 to $200,000, in no limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha and short deck. Here are all the reports and results.

EVENT 1 – $25,000 GG SUPER MILLION$ LIVE

SUVARNA LIVES HIS DREAM TO LAND FIRST TITLE
Three players were left when they agreed a deal to end the first tournament of the festival, with the chip-leading Santhosh Suvarna happy to take a pay-cut to ensure he took the title — the first ever Triton trophy to head to India.

Top five finishers:
1 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $700,000*
2 – Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon – $636,000*
3 – Salahaddin Bedir, Turkey – $620,000*
4 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $339,500
5 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $272,500

158 entries | $3,950,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 2 – $20,000 NLH 7-HANDED

THAT MAN AGAIN: KOON MAKES IT SIX!
Jason Koon already had more titles than anyone else on the series for which he is an ambassador, but the 35-year-old American was in awesome form to secure a sixth career victory — and another $663,000.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jason Koon, USA – $663,000
2 – Kanan Taherkhani, Turkey – $451,200
3 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $298,000
4 – Eduard Barsegian, Russia – $245,500
5 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $197,300

138 entries | $2,760,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 3 – $30,000 NLH 6-HANDED MYSTERY BOUNTY

DING DOWNS BARBERO TO TAKE BOUNTY MILLION
An emerging star from China, Ding won $540,500 from the main prize pool and added another $545,000 in bounties, taking his first Triton title by beating Nacho Barbero heads up.

Top five finishers:
1 – Biao Ding, China – $540,500 (plus $545,000 in bounties)
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $366,200 (plus $195,000)
3 – David Yan, New Zealand – $244,200 (plus $435,000)
4 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $200,000 (plus $195,000)
5 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $160,500 (plus $80,000)

155 entries | $2,325,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 5 – $40,000 NLH 8-HANDED

FRENCHMAN AUZOUX WINS FIRST TRITON TITLE AFTER HEADS-UP CHOP
After seeing off Justin Bonomo, and denying Santhosh Suvarna a second win of the week, Gregoire Auzoux and Robert Heidorn chopped heads up and took a million each, with Auzoux claiming the title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Gregoire Auzoux, France – $1,050,024*
2 – Robert Heidorn, Germany – $1,057,976*
3 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $552,500
4 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $457,500
5 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $369,000

125 entries | $5,000,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 6 – $50,000 NLH 7-HANDED

BULDYGIN BLASTS THROUGH $50K FIELD FOR $1.3M PAYDAY
The Russian player Viacheslav Buldygin was in irresistible form as he steam-rollered the $50K final table, defeating Brian Kim heads up for a $1.3 million prize. “More rebuys,” Buldygin said when asked to explain his success, but there was more to it than that.

Top five finishers:
1 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $1,342,000
2 – Brian Kim, USA – $920,000
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $603,000
4 – Sean Winter, USA – $488,000
5 – Teun Mulder, Netherlands – $392,300

104 entries | $5,200,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 7 – $25,000 NLH 8-HANDED TURBO

ZLOTNIKOV COMPLETES MONDAY NIGHT RUSSIAN DOUBLE IN CYPRUS
Two Triton first-timers played deep into the North Cyprus night, eventually settling the $25,000 single-day turbo with a heads-up deal and a rapid conclusion — and with Anatoly Zlotnikov the latest Triton champion.

Top five finishers:
1 – Anatoly Zlotnikov, Russia – $496,100*
2 – Niko Koop, Germany – $480,100*
3 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $265,600
4 – Barak Wisbrod, Israel – $204,500
5 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $161,900

83 entries | $2,075,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 8 – $75,000 NLH 8-HANDED

SOYZA HOLDS OFF BADZIAKOUSKI COMEBACK TO LAND TRITON DOUBLE
The Malaysian pro Michael Soyza seemed to be cruising to the title after knocking out almost everyone at the final table — but Triton veteran Mikita Badziakouski gave him a fright before Soyza managed to complete the job for a $1.7 million score.

Top five finishers:
1 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $1,735,000
2 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $1,200,000
3 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $796,000
4 – Dan Smith, USA – $623,000
5 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $502,500

87 entries | $6,525,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 9 – $200,000 NLH LUXON INVITATIONAL

TENTH TIME LUCKY FOR HAJIYEV, TAKES $4.1M IN INVITATIONAL
After nine blanks on the Triton Series, the Azerbaijani entrepreneur Ramin Hajiyev hit the big time with victory in the Luxon Invitational, striking a heads-up deal with Tobias Duthweiler and landing a $4.1 million first prize.

Top five finishers:
1 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $4,122,554*
2 – Tobias Duthweiler, Germany – $3,606,446*
3 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $2,100,000
4 – Sean Winter, USA – $1,640,000
5 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $1,325,000

*denotes deal

86 entries | $17,200,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 10 – $25,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA

BREWER DENIES KOON A SEVENTH IN CONFIDENT PLO CRUISE
The Californian Chris Brewer nearly quit poker for good after his last trip to North Cyprus, but has returned to the game with new focus and added a second Triton title to his resume, denying Jason Koon a record-extending seventh. Brewer knocked out everyone at the final to win.

In-the-money finishers:
1 – Chris Brewer, USA – $292,449*
2 – Jason Koon, USA – $239,551*
3 – Daniel Perkusic, Germany – $138,700
4 – Eddie Ke Ti Tran, Australia – $106,300
5 – Maxim Kolosov, Russia – $83,200
6 – Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon – $64,800

*denotes deal

37 entries | $925,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 11 – $100,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

SEVENTH HEAVEN FOR EMOTIONAL KOON AFTER MAIN EVENT WIN
Jason Koon put further distance between him and the chasing pack by winning a seventh Triton title in the North Cyprus, taking down the $100K Main Event for more than $2.4 million — and taking top spot in the POY race as well.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jason Koon, USA – $2,451,082*
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $1,923,918*
3 – Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $1,171,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $946,000
5 – Dan Smith, USA – $762,000

*denotes deal

101 entries | $10,100,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 12 – $50,000 NLH TURBO

TWO UP FOR TANG AFTER TURBO TRIUMPH
It took Danny Tang 53 attempts at Triton Series events until he won his first title. But just two months and 10 tries later, he is the latest double champion on this prestigious series, celebrating his mother’s birthday in style.

In-the-money finishers:

1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $545,000
2 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $376,000
3 – Igor Yaroshevsky, Ukraine – $240,000
4 – Brian Kim, USA – $184,000
5 – Ding Biao, China – $144,000
6 – Dao Minh Phu, Vietnam – $111,000

32 entries | $1,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 13 – $30,000 POT-LIMIT OMAHA

WATSON CARVES THROUGH PLO FIELD TO LAND SECOND TRITON TITLE
Canada’s Mike Watson joined the Triton two-time champions club after a high-speed finale to the $30,000 Pot Limit Omaha event in Cyprus ended with Sir Watts the last man standing.

In-the-money finishers:

1 – Mike Watson, Canada – $347,000
2 – Andriy Lyubovetskiy, Ukraine – $239,500
3 – Gergo Nagy, Hungary – $153,000
4 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $117,000
5 – Eddie Ke Ti Tran, Australia – $92,000
6 – Daniel Perkusic, Germany – $71,500

34 entries | $1,020,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 15 – $25,000 SHORT DECK (ANTE ONLY)

TRITON FAMILY DELIGHTS IN SECOND WIN FOR YONG
The first short deck event of this trip to North Cyprus produced an incredibly popular winner as Triton co-founder Richard Yong, his passion for poker undimmed, beat the best in the world to claim a second title.

In-the-money finishers:

1 – Richard Yong, Malaysia – $323,000
2 – Chris Brewer, USA – $222,000
3 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $143,000
4 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $110,000
5 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $85,500
6 – Mike Watson, Canada – $66,500

38 entries | $950,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 16 – $50,000 SHORT DECK MAIN EVENT

TANG TAKES SHORT DECK MAIN EVENT TO COMPLETE TRITON HAT-TRICK
After ending his trophy drought in Vietnam at the last stop, Danny Tang has got into the trophy-winning habit, taking down his second title of the trip to North Cyprus and his third overall.

In-the-money finishers:

1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $750,000
2 – Mikita Badziakouski – $515,000
3 – Jason Koon, USA – $330,000
4 – Richard Yong, Malaysia – $253,000
5 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $198,000
6 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $154,000

44 entries | $2,200,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 17 – $20,000 SHORT DECK TURBO

DVORESS ENDS LONG WAIT, SNATCHES MAIDEN TRIUMPH IN TURBO
With more than $7m in Triton cashes and 16 final tables, Canada’s Dan Dvoress finally has a title to his name, wrapping up the North Cyprus festival in a crazy turbo success.

In-the-money finishers:

1 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $214,000
2 – Tom Dwan, USA – $148,000
3 – Mike Watson, Canada – $94,800
4 – Denys Chufarin, Ukraine – $68,000
5 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $55,100

29 entries | $580,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

DVORESS ENDS LONG WAIT, CLOSES TRITON CYPRUS FESTIVAL WITH MAIDEN TURBO TITLE

At the end of a long and draining Triton Series stop in North Cyprus, there was time for one last short-deck turbo. And true to both the game, the format and the players involved, this was a wild one for long periods and ended with a thrill.

“Aye-yah!” yelped Tom Dwan as he saw the dealer drive the nail in his heads-up coffin, capping a remarkable comeback from Daniel Dvoress and earning one of Triton’s most durable performers his first Triton title.

It’s crazy that Dvoress had to wait this long. The Canadian has more than $7 million in Triton cashes and has been to 16 final tables. That’s surely the most of any player who had not won.

But Dvoress battled against what had seemed to be an overwhelming tide sweeping Dwan to a third title, pegging back the American great and then hitting him with a final-card victory.

Dvoress won $214,000 in this $20,000 buy-in event, alongside the trophy and the Shamballa Jewels bracelet. Dwan had to make do with $148,000. But it was surely the manner of the triumph that pleased Dvoress most: Dwan had seemed unstoppable until Dvoress did just that.

“There are segments of the tournament where it gets a little bit silly,” Dvoress admitted when asked whether he found short deck to be a more skilful game than regular hold’em. “There’s runaway stacks at the final table, things like that. By no means it is simpler. It’s a more gambly game than no limit, but it’s no less skilful…I think at the beginning of the tournament, there’s more skill because there are more multi-way pots.”

Dwan, left, congratulates Daniel Dvoress

Dvoress was one of short deck’s early adopters and it was fitting he finally took down his first Triton tournament in this format. He is a short deck evangelist, keen to see the game grow.

“One of the issues is that the barrier to entry feels like it’s a little bit high,” he said. “All of the tournaments that are running, that are televised, that are running online, they’re high buy-ins. The people that are good, they’re really good, and it’s kind of hard for someone who might feel that they’re a little mediocre to enter the scene.

“Jason [Koon] had a good idea where you have a tournament where you have an amateur and a pro tournament, so if you’ve never played short deck before you can play with people who have never played short deck before. And then you combine them after. Not my idea, but thought I’d float that.”

Regardless, Dvoress will play. And will be one of the favourites, especially after this exceptional performance to rein in Dwan.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The tournament, which rounded off the schedule in North Cyprus, swelled to welcome 29 entries, including 12 re-entries, as players sought one last chance to pack the coffers. For Jason Koon and Stephen Chidwick, it was one final chance for Player of the Year points — and Koon only needed to cash to make his victory certain.

He didn’t, however. He was knocked out in 12th, a long way short of the money. When only six players were left, Chidwick on the other hand still had chips, but knew he needed to win the tournament to seize top spot in the leader board.

Seven-handed play was a hoot. Dwan doubled through Dvoress in a massive coup and it gave him more than 100 antes, while all of the others had fewer than 20. Dwan moved in every hand, and when others were prepared to risk their tournaments, two of them doubled up.

Paul Phua was first with pocket nines beating . Then Chidwick did it, with queens beating sixes. However, the blinds were huge and Dwan was relentless, and Phua was again all-in and at risk.

This time Phua’s lost to Dwan’s and Phua hit the rail on the bubble.

A bubble to end the trip to Cyprus for Paul Phua

Chidwick had a plane to catch, literally, but there’s no doubt the Player of the Year prize was still of interest. However, after a quick photograph, they settled back down and Dwan started up again. And now Chidwick was unable to stick around.

Perhaps the only point of interest was that Dvoress actually knocked Chidwick out. Chidwick raised pre-flop with . Dvoress three-bet with pocket tens and Chidwick called, leaving himself crumbs.

The money then went in on a ten high flop, but Chidwick couldn’t pull off the miracle. He took $55,100 for fifth placed here and made his flight, but Koon was now a lock for POY.

Dwan’s obvious shoving tactic was slowed a little by the slightly bigger stack in front of Dvoress, and then Mike Watson also found a double up to halt the Dwan show. Watson’s came from behind to beat Dwan’s . It gave Watson 50 antes to play with.

Dvoress came again to the fore. He knocked out Denys Chufarin with pocket jacks holding against . Chufarin recorded his first ever Triton cash, picking up $68,000 for fourth.

Watson had some chips. But then he didn’t have some chips. He got his stack in with after Dwan’s latest pre-flop shove. But his timing was unfortunate. This was one time that Dwan actually had it. His pocket queens stayed good to oust Watson in third.

Watson was another player who could have recorded a Cyprus double, but this time took $94,800 and a pat on the back.

So there were two players now left, and true to short deck form, there was actually a heads-up battle to be played. Dwan had 6.58 million (132 antes) to Dvoress’ 2.97 million (59 antes). How long could this last?

The answer was until 1.45am local time, thanks to a brilliant Dvoress comeback. He bossed the heads-up encounter through three levels, drawing the stacks level and even nosing slightly ahead.

Then came the big one, the first all-in call of the heads up duel. Dvoress had and limped. Dwan, with raised. Dvoress called.

The flop gave Dwan a pair and Dvoress a flush draw. All the money went in, with Dvoress check-raising Dwan.

The turn didn’t look like it would really matter, and actually now gave Dwan a flush draw too. But the river produced that yelp from Dwan and that victory for Dvoress.

The Triton tournament room was emptying out, and even Dvoress said he wouldn’t get a proper chance to celebrate.

“I am going to have zero party tonight,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’ve gotta pack! I have a car to catch in about an hour.”

And with that, our new champion was gone and the curtain came down on a brilliant festival in Cyprus. Join us again soon!

Event #17 – $20,000 Short Deck Ante-Only (Two Bullets)
Dates: May 25, 2023
Entries: 29 (inc. 12 re-entries)
Prize pool: $580,000

1 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $214,000
2 – Tom Dwan, USA – $148,000
3 – Mike Watson, Canada – $94,800
4 – Denys Chufarin, Ukraine – $68,000
5 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $55,100

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

‘THIS IS DIFFERENT’: DANNY TANG TAKES DOWN SHORT-DECK MAIN EVENT TO COMPLETE TRITON HAT-TRICK

Reporters have been kept busy this week in North Cyprus with amazing tournament poker feats and crazy to-the-wire leader board races, but on the final day there was still time for one more outstanding achievement.

Step forward Danny Tang, another of Triton Poker’s best-loved sons, who tonight completed his own double at this Super High Roller festival in the middle of the Mediterranean, winning the $50,000 Short Deck Main Event and banking $750,000.

Tang picks up another Triton trophy to go alongside the one he won in the $50,000 NLH turbo. It came after he defeated fellow Triton boss Mikita Badziakouski heads-up, denying Badziakouski a fifth victory, and bringing Tang’s own tally to three. It was a repeat of a heads-up battle in Madrid last year, where Badziakouski beat a frustrated Tang. But fortunes have shifted dramatically since then.

Only a few months ago in Vietnam, Tang was still bemoaning his inability to get over the line in Triton events despite numerous tries since the series’ inception. But now Tang can’t stop himself. It’s a very nice habit to have acquired.

“Revenge is sweet but this is different,” Tang said, referencing the previous battle with Badziakouski. “This is the Main Event. This is my seventh stop, it took me a while to get one under my belt. I got it in Vietnam, but that was a small field, smaller buy-in. This is the Main Event. Against these two three-way. It was a very tough final table.”

The other player referenced by Tang was Jason Koon, the Triton Ambassador, who notched another cash but perished in third. The Triton co-founder Richard Yong was also at the final, and Tang referenced him as he looked back on his journey to this point.

“I started many years ago, back in the UK, at Rob Yong’s Dusk Til Dawn casino,” Tang said. “I just made my way up, and luckily I met these nice people around me, Richard, Paul, these people. Everyone has helped me along the way. I’ve been given these opportunities to play these stakes.”

As he had during his first emotional win back in Vietnam, Tang also remembered the late Ivan Leow, who had a formative influence on his career.

Tang said: “He’s here. I can feel his presence. I walk through these corridors every day and I look at the two-time champion banner, all these pictures of him. He will always, forever be with us, and part of the Triton family.”

Tang is a happy fixture in that family too.

FINAL DAY ACTION

Registration remained open not only into the second day, but through the entire first level. It allowed for anyone still desperate to play to have as much opportunity as they needed to get involved.

The policy worked because numbers swelled to 44 entries, including 24 re-entries, which put $2.2 million in the prize pool. There was $750K up top and plenty of twists and turns to come.

One of those was the Player of the Year award, which was still neck-and-neck between Stephen Chidwick and Jason Koon. Chidwick perished in 13th, and Koon knew that if he could edge into the money, he would take top spot in the leader board once more. Chidwick obviously bought into the $20K Turbo in a bid to boost his chances, but there was nothing he could do about Koon.

Event 16 final table players (l-r): Mike Watson, Kiat Lee, Danny Tang, Sam Greenwood, Richard Yong, Jason Koon, Mikita Badziakouski.

With seven left and six due to be paid, Koon was still battling. And then Mike Watson, who had already won the PLO and made the final table of the first short deck event, found himself all-in and called on the bubble.

Watson had pocket kings. Danny Tang had pocket aces. And for once the short-deck demons stayed away. Tang flopped an ace, then faded a straight draw. Watson was today’s bubble boy (and Koon was in the money and the box seat).

That left six players in the money, and with Tang in the lead.

PLO champ Mike Watson burst the bubble in the short deck main event

Final six stacks:
Danny Tang — 5.405m (270 antes)
Mikita Badziakouski — 3.21m (161 antes)
Sam Greenwood — 1.245m (62 antes)
Jason Koon — 1.225m (61 antes)
Richard Yong — 1.085m (54 antes)
Kiat Lee — 1.03m (52 antes)

That lead immediately got even more enormous. Tang wona huge three-way all-in, which sent both Sam Greenwood and Kiat Lee to the rail. Lee shoved first, with . Tang re-shoved behind him with and Greenwood looked down at and realised he needed to be all-in too.

Kiat Lee was third from three in a post-bubble showdown

There was both a nine and a queen on the flop, keeping Tang ahead of Lee but behind Greenwood, but then when the fell on the river, Tang had everyone beaten. He had the biggest stack too, so the opponents were out.

Lee, who was Player of the Series in Vietnam, took $154,000 for sixth. Greenwood, who was Player of the Series last time in North Cyprus, took $198,000 for fifth. Meanwhile, Koon, Player of the Series elect for this festival, looked on with glee.

There were 15 Triton titles between the final four players: seven for Koon, four for Badziakouski and two each for Yong and Tang. The list of multiple champions was going to need a refresh whatever happened, but the only question was who was moving up.

Koon made an early play for his name to be promoted even further up that page. He knocked out Yong. The last hand for Mr Richard was one of those standard match-ups: Yong shoved with and Koon called with .

An ace and a queen on the flop gave Koon a near-lock, and the blank turn confirmed it. Yong, who won the first short-deck event yesterday, fell short of an unheralded back-to-back, taking $253,000 for fourth.

Koon now had about 2.6 million, which was still only half that of both Badziakouski and Tang, but enough perhaps to make a charge. However, Koon found himself at his opponents’ mercy in the biggest pots, unable to call after they made a series of big river bets.

Eventually Koon did scent what looked like opportunity: after a limp from Tang, he looked at and ripped in it. Tang sprung his trap with and there was nothing on the board to change the dominance.

Koon tucked another chunk of POY points under his arm — perhaps a crucial amount — and walked to the payouts desk looking for $330,000.

Jason Koon’s quest for a Cyprus triple ended here

Tang versus Badziakouski was a tremendous pairing for a heads up battle. Both have proved their abilities time and again on the Triton Series, and both have been playing and mastering short deck for many years.

The heads-up battle ebbed and flowed, with both players into and out of the chip lead, willing to take on one another in pots both big and small.

Mikita Badziakouski came up short in his bid for a fifth win

However, Tang managed to grind Badziakouski down as the tournament played on into the night, and he had the best of it when all the chips went in for the first time. Badziakouski’s was inferior to Tang’s , and the double was complete.

Tang now wins a prestigious Jacob & Co timepiece to go with his third trophy, cheque and winner’s cap. He is now a Main Event champion as well.

Event #16 – $50,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Main Event
Dates: May 24-25, 2023
Entries: 44 (inc. 24 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,200,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

TRITON FAMILY DELIGHTS IN SECOND WIN FOR CO-FOUNDER RICHARD YONG!

The Triton Super High Roller Series family is celebrating tonight after a famous victory for its co-founder Richard Yong in the first short deck event of this trip to North Cyprus.

Although Yong is often less prominent than his friend and partner Paul Phua in Triton’s tournaments and cash games, his passion for poker is undiminished, and he is a mean short deck player. Yong tonight beat a field of 38 entries, comprising the best players in the world, to win a second Triton title of his career and bank $323,000.

The money is perhaps of secondary concern. Yong epitomises the VIP side of Triton’s exceptional brand: he’s a player who does this for the fun, for the love of the game. If he is on the wrong side of the deck, no big deal. But when he wins, it’s time to celebrate.

“I know everybody like Triton Series tournaments because everybody is very friendly, like family,” said the man affectionately known as Mr. Richard. “I would like to see Triton go up and up. Be strong, the best in the world.”

After a hasty start to today’s final table, in which four players were knocked out in double-quick time, Yong had to survive multiple all-in encounters during a topsy-turvy heads-up battle with Chris Brewer, that lasted more than two hours. Yong won all the most crucial pots, denying Brewer a second victory of this series. Brewer took everything in fine spirits, ambling away from the tournament stage with a chuckle and allowing Yong to revel in the accolades.

“Short deck is easy for me to play, because full deck has a lot of super players and it’s difficult for me to beat them,” Yong said. “They’re so good and so young. I’m the old man. I can just play this gamble game, very fast.”

He added that Triton was a passion project for him and Phua, which just continues to get better every day.

“When we learned poker, me and Paul liked to play tournaments everywhere,” he said. “So we started Triton and we are very happy that Triton has grown so much.”

There will be no more popular champion this year.

Ticker-tape celebrations for Richard Yong

FINAL TABLE ACTION

After the bubble burst last night, with Danny Tang finishing in seventh, play resumed this afternoon with six players involved and some familiar names near the top of the counts. In case you don’t recognise them, they include a four-time Triton champion, two previous winners from here in Cyprus, a man still chasing the Player of the Year title, plus the Triton co-founder, of course.

The stacks were as follows:

Mike Watson – 2.92m (146 antes)
Stephen Chidwick – 2.38m (119 antes)
Chris Brewer – 2.095m (105 antes)
Richard Yong – 2.08m (104 antes)
Anson Ewe – 1.12m (56 antes)
Mikita Badziakouski – 810,000 (41 antes)

Event 15 final table players (l-r): Richard Yong, Stephen Chidwick, Mike Watson, Mikita Badziakouski, Anson Ewe, Chris Brewer.

The previous day’s action had concluded with Watson winning a big pot to take the chip lead from Stephen Chidwick. The same thing had happened on the last hand of Monday night, when Watson assumed the chip-lead on the final hand of Day 1 in the PLO event that he later went on to win.

Although it looked ominous for the rest of the field, this Day 2 was cruel to Watson. He went from first in the counts to first out the door after a series of losses in big pots. Firstly, Watson doubled up Mikita Badziakouski, with losing to Badziakouski’s .

Watson held firm for a while, but then couldn’t avoid a confrontation with Yong, in a typical hold’em match-up. Watson’s pocket queens lost to Yong’s when four diamonds came on the board. Yong had marginally more chips and so Watson was eliminated in sixth for $66,500. (He still had his winner’s cap from the previous day, of course.)

Mike Watson, champion yesterday, out first today

Yong’s star was now very much in the ascendent, although he was able to briefly take a back seat to allow Anson Ewe to make his presence felt. Ewe accounted for Badziakouski, whose attempts to move up the counts had stalled. Badziakouski was eliminated with , losing to Ewe’s .

They were all in pre-flop, but the run out gave spectators some thrills. It ran . Ewe ended up with a better straight than Badziakouski as the latter’s flush draw also missed. Badziakouski won $85,500 for fifth.

Mikita Badziakouski still looking for a fifth Triton title

Although Chidwick hadn’t been involved in any of these early pots, he had slipped down the leader board as a result of the others all rising. And then he spotted a chance to get his chips in against Brewer, who had also managed to sit most things out. It turned sour for Chidwick as well, however.

Chidwick had to Brewer’s and the brutal run-out this time came . Yes, Chidwick flopped a full house, but Brewer ended up rivering a better one when the third king appeared.

Calculations suggest that Chidwick’s fourth place, for which he also won $110,000, should put him back into the lead in the Ivan Leow Player of the Year race. But it may not be enough, with Jason Koon likely to pick up a bonus 100 points for being Player of the Series in Cyprus. That subplot continues to run.

Brewer was now the man with momentum, and the short deck gods were smiling on him. Brewer picked up — aka, the short-deck nuts — and found Ewe with , which is usually enough to get all the chips in in most games.

If you were in any doubt as to the jack-ten’s potency, however, the board of should end that. Brewer rivered a winning straight to send Ewe out in third for $143,000.

Anson Ewe sees the funny side as he’s eliminated in third

Brewer, looking for a second title of this trip to North Cyprus, took a lead of 7.33m (183 antes) over Yong’s 4.075m (102 antes). Those were deep stacks to begin heads-up, but this tournament had been tearing along and anything was still possible.

Shortly before heads-up play commenced, Yong, Brewer and Ewe chatted on the rail and joked about how ridiculous the tournament had been so far. Brewer admitted the ace-seven hand, in particular, had been pretty crazy, while Ewe sought confirmation that he was potentially a three-time champion.

“I’ve got to win it yet,” Brewer said.

But then they sat down again and Brewer soon learned that winning it wasn’t going to be easy. He became embroiled in a crazy, yo-yoing fight.

Yong made the early running, picking up a succession of small pots. Brewer turned it around, however, and got the momentum moving back in his direction. Then they had the first major showdown: Yong’s beating Brewer’s earning Yong a big double.

It put Yong into the chip lead, 113 antes to 77. But the lead didn’t last long. Brewer found aces a little while later, while Yong had jacks. The money all went in again, and despite Yong’s rail calling for a jack (or as many cards as it took for him to hit one), the board bricked out and the aces held. Advantage Brewer once again.

Yong now had only 40 antes, but he soon scored another double. It was beating this time, and stacks were even once more.

Chris Brewer enjoyed the heads-up battle despite eventual defeat

The levels were increasingly quickly now and that took some of the play out of it. Brewer nosed ahead, but Yong doubled up once again, this time turning pocket queens into quads. It was pretty important because Brewer’s flopped two pair, only for running queens to come on turn and river.

Yong now had the lead once more — and was finally able to land a killer blow. When they got it all in for a final time, it was Yong with the and Brewer with the .

Yong’s rail was being led by Tang, the bubble boy who was now back to support the potential champion. And when the flop came , that rail was delighted.

The turn and river changed nothing, and Yong was crowned.

His previous victory came in Montenegro in 2018, and he finally became champion again from his eighth short-deck final. And one thing we know for sure: he’ll keep coming back.

Jason Koon among the first to congratulate champion Richard Yong

Event #15 – $25,000 Short Deck Ante-Only (Two Bullets)
Dates: May 23-24, 2023
Entries: 38 (inc. 19 re-entries)
Prize pool: $950,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

MIKE WATSON CARVES THROUGH PLO FIELD, LANDS SECOND TRITON SUCCESS

Canada’s Mike Watson is the latest player to join the Triton two-time champions club after a high-speed finale to the $30,000 Pot Limit Omaha event in Cyprus today ended with Sir Watts the last man standing.

Watson knocked out all three opponents he faced today, riding the momentum he picked up at the end of the first day, when the opening field of 34 entries had been reduced to just a quartet.

Watson shot up the chip counts with a huge pot against Laszlo Bujtas that ended the opening day, and he finished the job on Bujtas, before also sending Gergo Nagy and Andriy Lyubovetskiy to the sidelines at the end of authoritative display.

Watson finished seventh in the NLH Main Event yesterday, but hopped into the PLO and took it down for $347,000. His previous title came in Vietnam earlier this year, in a short-deck event, and it put the new champion in a good position with three short deck events remaining on the Cyprus schedule.

“My main focus the last few years has been hold’em and short deck,” Watson said. “I haven’t had much time for PLO.”

But Watson has a strong online history in all mixed games, and demonstrated that he is a master of anything he turned his hand to.

“Obviously doubling up on the last hand last night gave me confidence coming into today,” Watson said. He was unflustered and characteristically calm as he closed this one out for a that second Triton triumph.

Lyubovetskiy, another player best-known for his online prowess, particularly in PLO, banked $239,500 for his second place.

Mike Watson’s first congratulations came from Andriy Lyubovetskiy

TOURNAMENT ACTION

After the final no limit hold’em event of the week ended on the main stage, any migrants who fancied their four-card chances joined the fray. That included both Jason Koon and the man he had displaced at the top of the POY leader board, Stephen Chidwick, with both still eager to maximise their chances of success in the Ivan Leow Player of the Year race.

It wasn’t to be for either of them in this one, however. Koon was knocked out in 13th, followed by Chidwick in 12th. With Patrik Antonius, Bogdan Capitan and Marius Torbergsen perishing next, there were eight players left with six due to be paid.

When is a bubble not a bubble? Well, when you get a hand like the one that occurred at this final table. Raphael Schreiner, Chris Brewer and Laszlo Bujtas were the three smallest stacks in the tournament at this stage (Brewer had only 25K) but they all went to war.

After Gergo Nagy limped pre-flop, Bujtas limped behind him. Schreiner then raised to 110,000 (the big blind was 20K) and Brewer committed his last chip. Nagy folded, but Bujtas’ call took them to a flop. It came .

Bujtas bet 300,000 and Schreiner moved in for not much more. Bujtas called and we saw three hands:

Bujtas:
Schreiner:
Brewer:

The turn left Brewer dead, and the river finished the job on Schreiner too. It was great news for Bujtas, of course, who climbed high into contention.

The original plan for the day had been to end it there, allow the six in-the-money finishers to bag up and return to play to a winner tomorrow. But the opted to play a couple more levels instead, until the next tournament break. That was a target that neither Daniel Perkusic nor Eddie Ke Ti Tran could make.

Perkusic became another of Bujtas’s victims. He had and played through all the streets as the board ran . He had a straight draw on the flop, but only a pair by the river. Bujtas’s was two pair.

Perkusic, who cashed the previous PLO tournament this week, took $71,500 from this one.

Tran had also run deep in the $25K PLO, and followed up fourth place in that tournament with fifth in this one. Tran’s elimination came at the hands of Lyubovetskiy, with aces cracked.

Bujtas opened and Lyubovetskiy called, prompting Tran to three-bet with . Bujtas folded, but Lyubovetskiy called. The Ukrainian was sitting with .

The flop was a frankly absurd , giving Lyubovetskiy two sets, or two full houses, whatever you want to call it. One was enough, of course, and the turn and river locked it up.

Tran won $92,000 for fifth.

Although he had sat out most of this carnage, Day 1 ended on a high note for Watson, when his beat Bujtas’s aces. The money went in on the flop and Watson turned a straight.

That meant that the tournament paused overnight, with players sitting with the following stacks:

Andriy Lyubovetskiy – 3.025m (61 BBs)
Mike Watson – 1.59m (32 BBs)
Laszlo Bujtas – 1.445m (29 BBs)
Gergo Nagy – 740,000 (15 BBs)

After returning with four players, however, the field was reduced to two in the blink of an eye.

Final four in PLO (l-r): Mike Watson, Gergo Nagy, Laszlo Bujtas, Andriy Lyubovetskiy.

Watson continued his persecution of Bujtas. After cracking aces at the very end of Day 1, Watson’s aces now held against Bujtas’s on the second hand of Day 2.

Watson again had the smaller stack, but there was only one chip in it, meaning Bujtas suffered the indignity of having just 5K left after Watson’s double double. Inevitably Watson took that too on the very next hand, with Bujtas now watching helpless as queens were downed by Watson hitting a flush, holding .

It was a fairly miserable demise for the Hungarian PLO master, who departed shocked and looked for $117,000 for fourth.

Laszlo Bujtas can’t quite believe how things went wrong

The other Hungarian at the table, Gergo Nagy was still the short stack, but had now laddered at least one spot. Watson soon demonstrated that he was an equal-opportunities destroyer, however, and sent Nagy to the rail next.

Watson limped from the small blind with and Nagy raised from the big blind with . Watson called for a flop of .

Watson put out a chunky bet with middle pair and a gutshot. Nagy moved in with his open-ended draw. Watson called the small amount more.

The turn hit Watson, and the river was too little too late for Nagy. He was eliminated in third for $153,000.

The two heads-up players then prepared for the mano-a-mano duel, each with decent sized stacks. Watson had 78 big blinds to Lyubovetskiy’s 56 big blinds. They also probably knew one another’s game from online battles.

Both players seemed content to keep things small ball in the opening exchanged, but Watson then applied his foot to the accelerator. He won five hands on the bounce, including the first sizeable heads-up pot, which also ended the tournament.

Lyubovetskiy completed the small blind with and Watson, with raised from the big blind.

Lyubovetskiy now three-bet and Watson called.

The flop came . Watson jammed and Lyubovetskiy called for his last 15 big blinds, ahead at this stage.

The turn changed that, however, and the river was a blank. Watson’s two pair was enough to take him to the title, with the final day lasting less than two hours.

Andriy Lyubovetskiy was the last man with a chance of halting Watson

Plenty of time for short deck, and more trophy hunting…

Event #13 – $30,000 Pot Limit Omaha
Dates: May 22-23, 2023
Entries: 34 (inc. 12 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,020,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

SEVENTH HEAVEN FOR EMOTIONAL JASON KOON AFTER PHENOMENAL CYPRUS MAIN EVENT SUCCESS

Jason Koon wrote another chapter in his Triton Series fairytale tonight after the 37-year-old from West Virginia completed yet another awesome tournament victory.

A highly emotional Koon won the $100,000 buy-in NLH Main Event in North Cyprus, bagging a seventh title on the series for which he is an ambassador. No one else has more than four. It was Koon’s second victory of the trip (he also has a runner-up finish to his name this week) and will have far-reaching implications in the Ivan Leow Player of the Year race too.

Although final calculations are still being made, and this festival has three more days yet to run, Koon may have done enough to overhaul Stephen Chidwick at the top of the leader board for the inaugural PoY trophy.

“I was here a little under a year ago when we lost Ivan,” Koon said, choking back tears after the tournament wrapped. “Ivan was a good friend of mine. And walking through these halls every day I feel a little bit emotional about that. Just the title of Player of the Year, it gets me emotional. I miss the guy.”

Tears begin to fall after Jason Koon secures victory

Koon’s victory tonight, after a heads-up deal with Sam Greenwood, earned him $2,451,082, the Main Event trophy, and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece. Koon might also earn himself a watch for the other arm after Triton founder Paul Phua offered him a timepiece from his personal collection if he could win the Player of the Year race. Koon has done everything he can to make that happen.

“I’ve been studying all night,” Koon told reporters before the start of play today. “Even if it might only last one hand.” He was referencing his position in the overnight chip counts, where he was placed second-last of nine remaining players. But Koon weathered the many storms that played out, got his big hands to hold up when he needed them, and remained focused even as the final table became something of a tetchy affair in places.

“I’m always trying to hold it together most days,” Koon said, when asked by Ali Nejad about the emotions that were running through him, and spilling out after the event. “I feel pretty good. I’m always a happy guy when I’m playing. But it’s been a long trip. I’ve made a lot of long, deep runs and I’ve pushed myself really, really hard.”

After doubling up early, and earning another double through PoY rival Chidwick, Koon could do no wrong, and downed Greenwood on the very first hand of heads-up play.

There has surely never been an affinity to rival this one between brand ambassador and tour. And there has surely never been a modern tournament talent to rival that of Jason Koon.

“You deal with a lot,” Koon added. “You hold in a ton of your feelings, and this was one of those ones where it wasn’t just joy. It was just, like, ‘I can’t believe this.’ This is it for me. I don’t really play other poker tournaments. These are the most important to me. I’m sure [Phil] Hellmuth would feel the same whenever he wins a bracelet. To me, these are the most important. I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude.”

Jason Koon holds aloft his seventh Triton trophy

TOURNAMENT ACTION REVIEW

The Main Event played out over three days, and it follows that much of the tournament was shaped during the first two sessions. On Day 1, it was about registrants and re-registrants, building a prize pool of $10.1 million before the entry desk closed at the start of Day 2. There were 101 entries, including 36 re-entries.

Day 2 was always likely to be a long one, with the target of the final table beginning as a speck on the horizon but gradually creeping nearer. In tournaments of this type, with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line (not to mention Player of the Year points), recklessness takes a back seat to security. Players will now nurse a stack of literally any size. If someone gets knocked out elsewhere, your tournament equity sky-rockets so it’s worth clinging on.

Sean Winter spent a lot of time at the very foot of the counts as the field thinned towards its bubble. Fifteen would be paid in this one. Winter managed a double to earn some breathing space, however Seth Davies lost a cooler (jacks beaten by queens); Wai Kin Yong took a bad beat (kings beaten by ) and then then Triton superstar Mikita Badziakouski sampled the real hurt of a last-gasp bubble.

Badziakouski’s was far too good to do anything but three-bet with pre-flop, leaving himself only crumbs behind, and Mike Watson became his sole opponent. They both checked a flop of , before the turn.

A rough way to end for Mikita Badziakouski

Watson now bet. Badziakouski committed the last of his chips and the cards were exposed. Watson’s pocket eights was now a full house and Badziakouski was drawing dead. We were in the money.

By the standards of the day, the next six eliminations happened rapidly. Each of Chris Brewer, Kiat Lee, Fedor Holz, Michael Addamo, Nacho Barbero and Aleksejs Ponakovs busted short of the final, but each with a payout to their name.

That took us to the end of Day 2 and set a final table led by Henrik Hecklen, but at which nobody could feel entirely comfortable. They lined up like this:

Seat 1: Jason Koon – 1.45m (15 BBs)
Seat 2: Sean Winter – 875,000 (9 BBs)
Seat 3: Sam Greenwood – 3.6m (36 BBs)
Seat 4: Mike Watson – 2.6m (26 BBs)
Seat 5: Steve O’Dwyer – 2.55m (26 BBs)
Seat 6: Dan Smith – 2.75m (28 BBs)
Seat 7: Viacheslav Buldygin – 3.65m (37 BBs)
Seat 8: Henrik Hecklen – 5.525m (55 BBs)
Seat 9: Stephen Chidwick – 2.25m (23 BBs)

$100K Main Event final table players (l-r): Sam Greenwood, Jason Koon, Mike Watson, Sean Winter, Steve O’Dwyer, Henrik Hecklen, Dan Smith, Stephen Chidwick, Viacheslav Buldygin.

FINAL DAY ACTION

Although the scene was set for a cagey affair, Viacheslav Buldygin was prepared to get involved from the very outset. However, the approach turned out to be his undoing as he slipped from second in the overnight counts to rock bottom, losing consecutive pots to Stephen Chidwick and then Sam Greenwood.

Chidwick turned three queens in the first of those hands, and Buldygin did well to bin his top-pair aces on the river, faced with Chidwick’s bet. The second was even more significant, for 2.4m chips, and vaulted Greenwood into the lead.

In this one, Buldygin got involved with against Greenwood’s . The flop brought the and Greenwood slow-played it all the way, including after the turn gave Buldygin encouragement and the river gave Greenwood a lock.

Greenwood check-jammed the river and won piles.

Viacheslav Buldygin has to fold after Greenwood’s river shove

Koon completed Buldygin’s demise. In a pot opened by Dan Smith, Buldygin under-called all-in with . Koon, in the small blind, also called. Three players saw a flop of . The two active players checked.

The came on the turn and Koon now bet 325,000. Smith let his hand go, and Koon tabled his , which was now ahead of Buldygin. The Russian had a wheel draw, but whiffed the river and that was that.

Buldygin was first out from the final, collecting $263,000.

Viacheslav Buldygin: A final table to forget

Koon stacked up some more chips but, in truth, the more significant hand for him happened slightly earlier. Smith opened this pot too, but Chidwick three-bet the small blind with . Koon then four-bet jammed the big blind with .

The better ace won it, and this pot carried enormous Player of the Year implications. The two challengers in that flipped their position in the counts here and left Chidwick, the POY leader, in a spot of bother again. Koon was riding high.

Hecklen had started the final as chip leader, but after Greenwood overtook him, Steve O’Dwyer managed it too, this time as a direct result of a big clash between the two. Hecklen’s pocket eights were outraced by O’Dwyer’s after they got it in pre-flop.

Hecklen also then doubled up Sean Winter, whose beat Hecklen’s . Winter, doing everything he could to ladder up, only had one big blind going into this pot, so it didn’t do Hecklen much damage. At least not on the face of it.

Winter’s refusal to budge put plenty of others under pressure, however. And the man who ended up busting next was Chidwick. The UK pro managed one double up, with through Greenwood’s , but despite both Watson and Winter lower than him in the counts, Chidwick went to battle with O’Dwyer. It didn’t end well.

Chidwick opened from mid position with and O’Dwyer called in the big blind with . The flop came . O’Dwyer checked and Chidwick moved all-in.

O’Dwyer had top pair with no kicker, but he had to try to figure out if he was prepared to risk half his stack. He decided he did and got the good news. The turn and river were blanks, and Chidwick departed in eighth for $358,500. With Koon still seated, the Player of the Year race only heated up.

Chidwick was gone, but Watson and Winter had no intention of joining him. They both doubled up their short stacks to survive, but were still in real peril. And it was Watson who lost the crucial flip first to bust.

Watson had pocket sevens and Hecklen had . A jack on the turn sealed Watson’s fate and he was out in seventh for $469,500. Winter’s extraordinary survival skills continued.

A seventh-placed finish extended Mike Watson’s fine month of May

The next pot of note was again huge for Koon. He won another race with versus O’Dwyer’s and that put him at the very summit. He was so untouchable that he even then managed to win a pot against Winter, and that finally ended Winter’s incredible durability.

Winter was in the big blind for the Koon vs. O’Dwyer race, which meant he gave up two of his four blinds. Another one went in on the next hand, when he was in the small blind, and after Koon raised from the button, Winter decided he had to call as well.

Winter only had , live against Koon’s . But the board bricked out and Winter was finally frozen out. He had been the short stack since well before the bubble yesterday, but now was heading out with a $595,000 payday.

The atmosphere had turned a little frosty at the table, with Dan Smith and Koon disagreeing on a point of etiquette and both making their opinions loudly known. Other players had tried to broker peace — “Let’s get cocktails,” said Winter — and although tempers calmed eventually, there was something inevitable that the next major battle would play out between Koon and Smith.

This time is was a more familiar hold’em match-up of pocket pair versus over-cards. Smith jammed his 10 big blinds with . Koon called with pocket tens. The board ran dry, and Smith was out in fifth for $762,000.

Hecklen’s tournament lasted only two hands longer. Almost immediately after Smith’s demise, Hecklen found pocket queens. Even better for him, he saw Koon open raise and then O’Dwyer call, with this now the perfect spot to push.

Koon called, O’Dwyer folded, and Hecklen was in great shape against Koon’s . However there was an ace in the window and Hecklen couldn’t find the last queen in the deck. Instead, he looked for a payout of $946,000.

Three were left, and all were guaranteed seven figures. Koon had 66 big blinds, while the others had fewer than 20 each. But O’Dwyer doubled almost immediately, with beating Koon’s . So it was game on again.

Except it wasn’t. Koon and O’Dwyer went to war once more, in a rare pot that played through the streets. O’Dwyer completed from the small blind and Koon checked his option. The flop fell . O’Dwyer checked, Koon bet 375,000 and O’Dwyer called.

The came on the turn and the pattern repeated. It went check, bet (1.5 million), call. That took them to the river, and O’Dwyer only had 1.8 million behind.

O’Dwyer checked, Koon bet all of it, and O’Dwyer called off. Koon’s was a straight. O’Dwyer’s was not.

O’Dwyer took $1,171,000 for third.

There were two players left, ranked second and third on the Player of the Year leader board at that point. Koon had a big chip lead — 80 BBs to Greenwood’s 21 BBs — and they immediately asked to do a straight ICM chop and to leave 10 percent to play for.

Tournament staff facilitated it, and the confirmed payouts guaranteed Koon $2,367,082 and Greenwood $1,923,918, with $84,000 to play for.

They took their seats again quickly, but were standing up again in a matter of minutes. All the money went in on the very first hand of heads-up play: Koon completing the small blind with and Greenwood moving all in with . Koon called it off and flopped a queen.

Sam Greenwood landed himself another huge payday

The full board ran . And that was it. Seventh heaven for Jason Koon.

Koon celebrates with Seth Davies, Nick Petrangelo and Tim Adams (with wife Bianca joining via video link)

Event #11 – $100,000 NLH Main Event
Dates: May 20-22, 2023
Entries: 101 (inc. 36 re-entries)
Prize pool: $10,100,000

1 – Jason Koon, USA – $2,451,082*
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $1,923,918*
3 – Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $1,171,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $946,000
5 – Dan Smith, USA – $762,000
6 – Sean Winter, USA – $595,000
7 – Mike Watson, Canada – $469,500
8 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $358,500
9 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $263,000

10 – Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – $215,000
11 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $215,000
12 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $190,000
13 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $190,000
14 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $175,000
15 – Chris Brewer, USA – $175,000

*denotes heads up deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive