There are few players in world poker who have wanted a Triton Series title more than India’s Santhosh Suvarna. Ever since he took his first steps onto the scene last year, he has been the most enthusiastic presence at every table, also joining in the huge cash games that take place when the tournament day is done.

Tonight, Suvarna is wearing the biggest smile in poker, about as wide as the Crystal Cove bay outside the Merit Casino and Resort in Northern Cyprus. That’s because this 43-year-old realtor and amateur poker enthusiast from Bangalore got his wish, winning the $25,000 buy-in GG Poker Super Millions event.

This, the opening tournament of Triton’s third visit to Northern Cyprus, boasted a field of 158 entries and it gave its champion $700,000. Suvarna strapped a Shamballa Jewels bracelet around his wrist, and will need to find space in his luggage for two trophies: the regular Triton one and one from GG Poker too.

“I’m so happy,” Suvarna said, struggling through the emotions to find any words. “Finally, I won this tournament.”

Suvarna will take whatever he can get in the way of silverware. He was the chip leader three-handed and was prepared to give up a sizeable portion of his projected prize money to ensure he could be called the champion.

Although that pushed the tournament’s conclusion into something of a grey area, the three players agreed a deal that all but guaranteed everyone got their wishes. Nicolas Chouity and Salahaddin Bedir, also involved at that stage, took more than $600,000 as well, while Suvarna prepares to see his face on the winners’ banners decorating the venue.

It was a hugely popular success, cheered by all in the room. Many of those players elsewhere, all of whom had fallen by the wayside, had been Suvarna’s inspiration for this victory.

“This tournament, big big pros are playing,” Suvarna said, when asked how he had improved his game so much recently. “I’m easily learning, actually. I am watching Triton videos.”

He added: “Triton is the best.”

BLOW BY BLOW ACTION

After a long opening day, the starting field of 158 entries had become only 29, so the first order of business on Thursday was the bubble. It’s always possible that it goes on forever, but sometimes it passes in a flash.

The latter was true this time, as with 25 players left (and 23 due to be paid), both Ben Heath and Seth Davies were all-in pre-flop and called by covering stacks. And both were knocked out simultaneously, to take us through that bubble.

Heath had only a short stack, but was still pretty unlucky to lose it with against Henrik Hecklen’s . There were two sevens on the flop. Davies, meanwhile, had a bigger stack and a bigger hand — — but had the misfortune to slam into Karim Rebei’s pocket kings.

Davies was the official bubble boy, but everyone else locked up a minimum $45,800.

Rebei was an enormous chip leader at this stage. The Triton newcomer, representing Algeria, had close to double the stack of his closest challenger and seemed like an absolute lock for the final, if not the title itself.

However, as he later related to friends on the rail, he went card dead for three hours – yet also took his job as chip leader seriously and attempted to knock out short stacks. The result was that he hit the rail in 11th, swept away before the final alongside other newcomers Stoyan Madanzhiev, Dylan Linde and Enzo Vito, as well as Triton stalwarts including Mike Watson, Adrian Mateos and Henrik Hecklen.

When Orpen Kisacikoglu busted in 10th, we hit the final table.

AS is typical in these events, only a handful of players had stacks at this stage that could be considered comfortable, while most had fewer than 20 blinds. Yaroshevskyy was bossing, with Chouity close behind, and the POY-chasing Sam Greenwood in third.

At the other end, the final table short stack was Christopher Putz, and although he managed to chip up slightly, he was still the first out. He he lost the vast majority of his remaining chips when Alex Boika doubled up with a full house, and the remaining crumbs went to Chouity. Putz’s debut Triton score was worth $91,600.

Boika’s bounce didn’t last all that much longer. The Belorussian player, also making his first appearance on the Triton Series, hit the rail in eighth after losing a flip against Greenwood. Greenwood opened his button with and Boika pushed for 15 BBs from the small blind with pocket threes.

Greenwood missed his overcards, but the board was smothered in diamonds, and Boika was flushed away. He marks his new Triton card with a $115,000 score.

A third debutant, Tobias Schwecht, hit the rail in seventh. His elimination hand played out with a degree of drama as it required a showdown of three hands. Greenwood open-shoved his button, with . He had two tiny stacked players in the blinds, so it was a predictable play.

Schwecht looked down at and committed his four big blinds. That might have been it had Salahaddin Bedir, in the big blind, not found pocket kings, with which he was more than happy to risk his last 10 blinds.

Those kings held, which sent Schwecht out, earning $156,400, and put a dent in Greenwood. Bedir, meanwhile, more than doubled up.

Bedir’s newfound wealth allowed him to take a backseat as Greenwood set about chipping up again. He did so thanks to the demise of Robert Heidorn, who perished in a way that every other poker player would have perished, given the cards.

Heidorn had and raised from the cutoff. Greenwood called on the button with . After an all-heart flop — — the remainder of Heidorn’s chips went in. Greenwood called.

There were no more hearts to be seen, however, nor an ace. It meant that this one went to Greenwood, while $211,300 went to Heidorn.

As further indication of how shallow this was playing, Greenwood now moved into second in the chip counts, but also then moved next out the door. Greenwood lost a massive pot in doubling up Santhosh Suvarna after Suvarna opened with red pocket eights and Greenwood shoved from the small blind with .

The flop couldn’t have been much better for Greenwood without giving him the win. It cam . But it way maybe a case of too-many-outs syndrome after the turn and river bricked and vaulted Suvarna to the chip lead.

Greenwood had one big blind left and Chouity took that two hands later. Greenwood banked $272,500 and a healthy chunk of Player of the Year points. However, registration was closed on Event 2, so he wandered into the night for a rare night off.

With four left, the stacks had evened out. No one had more than 40 blinds; no one had less than 29. Any pot that went to a flop changed things at both top and bottom of the counts.

This was a great time for Suvarna to find another gear. Having weathered the early storms, the Indian player suddenly became the dominant force and watched his chip graph trend upward and upward. He took a massive pot from Yaroshevskyy when the Ukrainian bet on every street looking at a board of . Suvarna called all the way, until he raised the river. Yaroshevskyy nodded his head and folded.

The reason for all this? Suvarna flopped two pair with his and filled up on the river. Yaroshevskyy was bluffing with his .

Yaroshevskyy didn’t have the option of a dignified retreat on the next hand, however, when he shoved with pocket sixes and Suvarna called with . There was a jack on the flop and a king on the turn and Yaroshevskyy was done.

He earned a tidy $339,500 from his first try at the Triton Series, but it ended there.

With only three players remaining, none of whom had been in this kind of position in a Triton event before, they asked tournament staff what they could do to remove some of the variance. The players seemed happy to agree to a deal they had negotiated personally and let Suvarna take the trophy. But with two trophies actually on the line (the regular one and the GG Millions trophy), as well as the Shamballa Jewels bracelet, they learned that they couldn’t just finish things there and then. They needed to leave a significant amount to play for and play it out.

They looked at the official even so, and after some friendly gesticulating agreed speedily on how they would chop it. It was neither ICM nor a chip-chop, and was more than slightly controversial. Suvarna was an enormous chip leader, but agreed to lock up $630,000. Chouity, was the most experienced player, and earned himself $636,000, while Bedir was guaranteed $620,000.

There was $70,000 and all that bling still to play for.

Suvarna wore a huge smile despite having given up quite a lot of money; Chouity was keen to get back to it; and Bedir banged his chest, Tarzan-like, and called over to his friends in another tournament. Everyone seemed very happy indeed.

Players had intimated at this point that part of the deal meant they were happy to let Suvarna have the trophy. He desperately wanted it, and had apparently given up such a large portion of his equity to guarantee it. Bedir and Chouity seemed less concerned about that and were content to let the chip leader get what he wanted, handing him the chips if necessary.

Tournament director Luca Vivaldi explained that it wasn’t really something the series wanted. Triton titles are prestigious and worth fighting for, and he encouraged the last three to play in the spirit of the game, while admitting he was powerless to stop them doing whatever they wanted. He repeated in public that he thought the deal was not strictly fair. His concerns were listened to, the players thanked him, but then got on with their plan.

Within two hands, it was done. Suvarna had and made a flush on a board of . Bedir and Chouity got their chips in but they couldn’t beat that flush.

With that, this festival is up and running. Congratulations Santhosh Suvarna: India’s first Triton champion.

RESULTS

Event #1 – $25,000 NLH GG Super Millions Live
Dates: May 10-11, 2023
Entries: 158 (inc. 57 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,950,000

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
6 – Robert Heidorn, Germany – $211,300
7 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $156,400
8 – Alex Boika, Belarus – $115,000
9 – Christopher Putz, Germany – $91,600

10 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $77,000
11 – Karim Rebei, Algeria – $77,000
12 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $67,100
13 – Kevin Paque, Netherlands – $67,100
14 – Dao Minh Phu, Vietnam – $61,200
15 – Enzo Vito, UK – $61,200
16 – Mike Watson, Canada – $55,300
17 – Sergio Aido, Spain – $55,300
18 – Brian Kim, USA – $49,700
19 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $49,700
20 – Stoyan Madanzhiev, Bulgaria – $49,700
21 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $45,800
22 – Dylan Linde, USA – $45,800
23 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $45,800

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Triton Super High Roller Series’ trip to Vietnam ended tonight with a crazy finish to a madcap turbo and presented Sam Greenwood with a fun and famous victory.

As is customary in turbo events, with rapidly escalating blind structures, the stacks were short and there was plenty of gamble — all of which goes double when it’s short deck. This one cost 20K to enter and presented one last chance to rescue the trip to Vietnam’s east coast.

As it turned out, it actually became a light-hearted investigation into players’ knowledge of push/fold charts, coupled with a good run out for the poker gods. The players were, of course, impeccable, and fate played its part too, delivering double-ups and outdraws aplenty.

But Greenwood had just enough when it came down to it to overcome the challenge of Lun Loon, who lost heads-up. Greenwood’s first Triton title has an asterisk beside it as it came from the tournament that was abandoned in Cyprus owing to the tragic events that occurred there. Greenwood was leading at the time and was declared the winner.

But this time, they went all the way and the Canadian picked up a cheque for 207K alongside the Shamballa Jewels bracelet and the trophy. Loon secured his biggest Triton payday of 143K.

It was a terrific end to a spectacular trip to Vietnam, with many of the game’s leading players returning to the tournament room to drink beer and watch it play out. They were enthusiastic supporters of Greenwood, who claimed some valuable Player of the Year points to take that race into the final stop.

He also revealed that he was “celebrating” his first wedding anniversary, even though his wife was back in Toronto. “At least I’ve come home with a title and I love you Paige, and I’m really excited to see you when I get back,” Greenwood said.

ALL THE ACTION

It was the final day of the series and, with many players already departed, there wasn’t the usual snaking line at the registrations desk when the tournament got started at 4pm. However, by the time registration closed, there were 28 entries including nine re-entries, which made for a prize pool of more than half a million. And this is the smallest event of the week.

The usual suspects came and went, and the tournament condensed down to a single table. With only five places in the money, it became pretty tense, particularly for the short-stacked Lun Loon and Yake Wu.

The button skipped around the table and the antes were peeled from stacks. When blinds went up entering Level 15, Wu had only seven antes left and finally needed to take a stand with his . Seth Davies had and made the call, and the dealer gave Wu hope with a flop of .

Davies, however, held up the ace and pointed to the diamonds on it. He knew. The turn brought a chorus of “GGs”. Yu was flushed out on the bubble.

LOON’S ESCAPOLOGY ACT

With the micro-stack now departed, all eyes were on Loon’s tiny stack. He got it in with and cracked Haxton’s aces to double. And then he got it in again with and chopped a pot with Davies whose ended with the same full house as Loon.

Haxton also doubled up through Wei Hsiang Yeu, with a more typical hold’em match-up: pocket queens beating . Yeu had been the dominant force on the bubble, wielding the big stack with unforgiving menace. But this pot put a stop to it and brought Haxton into contention.

The Main Event had now ended on the feature table, so these five received an unexpected promotion to star under the studio lights. All of them had been there before, but probably not in such rapidly-escalating circumstances, with blinds now flying upward every 20 minutes.

The general trend didn’t change, however. Loon doubled again, with making a straight against Sam Greenwood’s . This time the double put him into the lead.

SHORT STACKS AND DOUBLE UPS

The tournament was beginning to get a little sticky. No one was getting knocked out. Greenwood, having lost the big pot to Loon, now doubled up through Yeu, cracking pocket queens with when the under cards turned a straight.

That pot left Yeu, who had once been so dominant, with only eight antes. And they found their way into the pot very quickly. But true to form he doubled up, not once, but twice. Both times through Loon, and Yeu now retook the chip lead.

However, no one stuck around in the lead for very long, and Yeu took a nosedive once again. Haxton doubled up through him, and then a pot against Greenwood finished him off. It was against and for once the best hand held.

Davies was the next to depart. Another former chip leader dispatched to the rail. Davies got his last chips in with against Greenwood’s .

After the first four cards off the deck were , Davies seemed certain to chop it. “How can I lose?” he said. But then the river was the and Davies was done. He took 65,800 and Greenwood built his stack some more.

GREENWOOD’S SURGE TO THE TITLE

Loon, Greenwood and Haxton were left, with Greenwood nominally in the lead, but any pot changing that. However, Greenwood continued to get the cards to do the most damage, and he next dispatched Haxton to the rail in third.

Haxton shoved with and Greenwood made the call with . There were no further dramas, and Haxton was out in third for 91,000. He still hunts that elusive first Triton win.

Greenwood had 86 antes to Loon’s 19 when they reset for heads-up play.

It wasn’t long, of course, before the chips went in for the first time. Loon doubled with against Greenwood’s .

However, the second time the money went in, Loon’s couldn’t catch up after Greenwood’s flopped a straight on the board. The turn left Loon drawing dead.

Greenwood is another short deck acolyte, keen to encourage others to join the fray. “I just think more people should give it a try,” he said. “I think it’s a really fun game. I don’t think it’s been as solvable post-flop. I think it’s more of a social game because more pots are multi-way.

“At first people might be a little intimidated by it, and at the start you’re going to make some mistakes. But the good thing about short deck is that any mistakes you make can’t be that bad.”

With that, we say goodbye from Vietnam at the end of another spectacular Triton Series festival.

RESULTS

Event #14 – 20,000 Short Deck Turbo
Dates: March 13, 2023
Entries: 28 (inc. 9 re-entries)
Prize pool: 560,000

1 – Sam Greenwood (Canada) – 207,000
2 – Lun Loon (Malaysia) – 143,000
3 – Isaac Haxton (USA) – 91,000
4 – Seth Davies (USA) – 65,800
5 – Wei Hsiang Yeu (Malaysia) – 53,200

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

When Aaron Zang won the Triton Million — A Helping Hand for Charity tournament in London in 2019, few people had heard of the mild-mannered Chinese player, and in some ways the victory didn’t get the notice it deserved because of a heads-up chop that gave more money to the runner-up, Bryn Kenney.

But Zang didn’t mind in any way. He was used to flying under the radar, and was happy to continue to do so.

But here in Vietnam, Zang popped up again and returned to his disruptive best. Zang is the new Triton Series short deck Main Event champion, beating a field of 49 entries paying 100K apiece and heading home with a second Triton title to his name and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece around his wrist.

That and 1.544 million.

Zang closed out the win after beating his near namesake Michael Zhang heads-up, landing the knockout blow with beating after a one-sided heads-up encounter. “He always had it,” Zhang bemoaned afterwards, adding, “Still been a good trip.” He banked 1.115 million after making back-to-back short deck finals.

But thie one belonged to Zang, who has now won two of the biggest events on this tour. He is a force to be reckoned with.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After the first day’s play, there had been 45 entries, 17 players remained and there were four more re-entries. It brought the total to 49 entries and a 4.9 million prize pool — second only to the NLH Main Event from tournaments played at Triton Vietnam.

Almost as predictable as that multi-million prize pool was the name of Michael Zhang at the top of the chip count. Zhang led two other short deck events overnight, although cashed only one of them.

Short deck is a perilous place to be a chip leader, and there were some intense fluctuations as the tournament condensed towards its final table and it bubble. Most dramatically, Daniel Dvoress assumed the chip lead with a massive double up through Aaron Zang when they were 11 handed — pocket aces holding firm against — but the same two players went at it a little later, precipitating Dvoress’s bubble demise.

The second confrontation pitted Dvoress’ against Zang’s , all in pre-flop. But a jack on the flop gave Zang a double big enough to put him back in the lead and leave Dvoress on fumes.

The third skirmish between the two — when Dvoress had and Zang — again when Zang’s way. He ended up with a straight and Dvoress burst the bubble for the second time on this stop in Vietnam.

SEVEN LEFT FOR MAIN EVENT GLORY

The remaining seven now reassembled around the final table, after the last jet-propelled walk on. The line-up was as follows:

Aaron Zang – 5,250,000 (263 antes)
Michael Zhang – 3,380,000 (169 antes)
Paul Phua – 1,735,000 (85 antes)
Jason Koon – 1,375,000 (69 antes)
Kiat Lee – 1,285,000 (64 antes)
Mikita Badziakouski – 1,020,000 (51 antes)
Phil Chiu – 685,000 (34 antes)

There were sub-plot aplenty, even aside from the potential Zhang vs. Zang showdown. Jason Koon and Mikita Badziakouski renewed their personal battle for Triton dominance. Kiat Lee hit the final table yet again, searching for a first win. Phil Chiu was at his third short deck final table out of three attempts. Meanwhile Triton founder Paul Phua’s Vietnam drought was over. Mr Paul was in the money once more.

The first of those sub-plots to end centred on Koon. Having declared he would win two events here in Vietnam, and making it halfway with victory in the 50K NLH Turbo, this was a chance for him to honour his word.

However, he lost a major portion of his stack in a three-way pot against Zang and Zhang, missing a big combo draw with but bluffing that he had it on a coordinated board. However, Zhang had a full house by that point and wasn’t going anywhere.

The remainder of Koon’s chips went to Lee with jacks losing to kings.

A SIX-HANDED SLOWDOWN

Short deck is supposed to be the game full of gamble, with players coming and going in double-quick time. However, when the deck doesn’t cooperate, a stasis can set in with chips being pushed in circles around the table.

After Koon’s elimination, it took about two hours until we saw the next. During that period, Phua, Lee, Badziakouski and Chiu all doubled up, while Zhang reasserted himself at the top of the counts (mainly because Zang was the one paying off most of the doubles).

“There’s been too many double-ups at this table already,” Badziakouski said, when Phua found his chips in the middle one more time, this time in a dominant position against Zhang. Phua’s was a good favourite against Zhang’s , but Badziakouski’s premonition was about to come true.

A ten on the flop was followed by another on the turn, and though Phua had chop outs, he missed on the river. That condemned Phua to a sixth-place finish and 318K. “Mikita, I owe you one,” he said on his way out.

THE ZANG/ZHANG RAMPAGE

Phua quickly exited the tournament room after his elimination. He couldn’t even enter the turbo as registration was long closed over there. However, Zhang soon added Badziakouski’s scalp to his list of victims, picking up the whole of the Belorussian’s short stack with rivering a straight to beat .

It wasn’t one of Badziakouski’s best showings at a Triton stop, but he finished with a 416K payday. It left four players still in with a shout, but Zhang had more than half the chips in play.

However, that changed almost immediately. And the chips went to his near neighbour Zang, who managed an enormous double with pocket kings holding against Zhang’s . That put Zang in touching distance from Zhang, and allowed him to pick up the next elimination.

This time it was Chiu whose tournament came to its end at the hands of Zang. Chiu had pocket kings but lost to when the connected cards made a straight.

Chiu has been on fire in the short deck this week, finishing seventh, fourth and fourth again, the last one for 540K. It has hopefully been a memorable first visit to the Triton Series.

What Zang could do, Zhang could do as well, and on the hand immediately after Chiu’s elimination, another Triton final table stalwart, Lee, hit the rail. Lee had to Zhang’s , and Zhang ended with a full house.

Lee made four final tables on this trip, and cashed another tournament, from only eight tournaments played. It’s surely not long before he has a title, but tonight has to make do with 710K consolation.

ZANG VS. ZHANG FOR THE TITLE

And so here we were: Zhang (Michael) against Zang (Aaron) for the short deck Main Event title. They were both guaranteed more than 1 million already, but there was a Jacob & Co watch and a trophy to scrap over, not to mention the significant bragging rights.

As winner of the Triton Million, Zang had already proved his mettle, but maybe wanted to prove that it was not a fluke. As for Zhang, he had flown into Vietnam purely for the short deck portion of this festival, and this would represent a terrific justification.

They were close. Zhang had 159 antes to Zang’s 135. They resettled and prepared to play heads-up, with the chit-chat not abating one bit.

Most of the major pots went to Zang in the heads-up portion of play. And most of the minor ones too. The players went through the motions in a friendly manner for more than an hour, and when they got it all in, Zhang had the best hand and was looking for a big double.

But after the jack flopped — “Oh!” Zang said — he then instructed the dealer to keep it low. She obliged and the title was his.

RESULTS

Event #13 – 100,000 Short Deck
Dates: March 12-13, 2023
Entries: 49 (inc. 23 re-entries)
Prize pool: 4,900,000

1 – Aaron Zang (China) – 1,544,000
2 – Michael Zhang (UK) – 1,115,000
3 – Kiat Lee (Malaysia) – 710,000
4 – Phil Chiu (Hong Kong) – 540,000
5 – Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) – 416,000
6 – Paul Phua (Malaysia) – 318,000
7 – Jason Koon (USA) – 257,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Nothing is ever easy on the Triton Series, and you need look no further than the figure of Mike Watson to realise how difficult it is to secure a title on this incredible tour.

A much decorated player, with high-profile titles from across the world in all variants of the game, Watson came to Vietnam still in search of a maiden title despite 14 previous cashes.

However Watson is one of relatively few western players who have embraced short deck, the format of the hold’em that proliferates at the high stakes cash tables of Asia. And this willingness to experiment in poker’s newest tournament format finally unlocked the door for Watson tonight.

The 38-year-old from Toronto, Canada, took down the 50,000 Short Deck event here in Vietnam, banking 695K in the process and strapping a Shamballa Jewels bracelet around his wrist for the first time.

“It feels great,” Watson said of his first title. “I’ve played a lot of these events and had a lot of close calls. These are the biggest tournaments, the best series so it feels good to finally win one.”

On the subject of short deck, he added: “I think if more people played it they would find that they really liked it. It’s a gambling game, especially in cash. It’s a real fun, action game.”

Watson needed to defeat another North American tournament titan Isaac Haxton heads up to win this, but the main threat had previously come from Michael Zhang, who at one point seemed to have an unimpeachable stranglehold on the tournament.

However Zhang and Watson played an enormous pot on the final table that swung the pendulum in Watson’s direction. Zhang’s big pocket pair flopped a set, but Watson’s flopped a bigger one. That proved to be the pivotal pot and Zhang soon went out in third.

All credit to Watson, however, a player who has endured tough spells on the Triton Series, but who backed his talent to turn it around. He is now a winner too — and in great form heading into the short deck main event, which gets started today.

FINAL DAY ACTION

Ten players from a starting field of 44 entries returned after the first day’s play, with only seven set to be paid. They lined up like this to start proceedings:

Day 4 starting stacks

Michael Zhang – 3,285,000 (164 antes)
Jason Koon – 1,740,000 (87 antes)
Isaac Haxton – 1,590,000 (80 antes)
Tan Xuan – 1,340,000 (67 antes)
Phil Chiu – 1,190,000 (60 antes)
Michael Watson – 1,120,000 (56 antes)
Lun Loon – 950,000 (48 antes)
Rob Yong – 795,000 (40 antes)
Mikita Badziakouski – 605,000 (30 antes)
Leo Qin – 585,000 (29 antes)

The rapid departures of Leo Qin and Lun Loon left a couple of short stacks on the stone bubble, with players spread across two tables. Tournament director Luca Vivaldi instigated hand-for-hand play, but it wasn’t necessary. We ended up with a one-hand bubble.

One of those short stacks belonged to Rob Yong. And there’s nothing a short stack wants to see more in the circumstances than pocket aces. Yong got his chips in, and the massive leader Michael Zhang made the call with .

One gruesome run-out of later, and Yong was straightened out the door.

The last seven were therefore all in the money, and Zhang had 263 antes — more than 150 more than his closest rival, Phil Chiu.

FINAL TABLE ASSEMBLES — AND TAN XUAN BUSTS

China’s Tan Xuan survived the bubble with only 17 antes. That earned him a place in the dramatic boxing-style walk on to the final table, but he barely had a chance to get seated before he was knocked out.

Zhang, as ever, was the assassin. The British player just limped pre-flop in late position, and Xuan saw . That was enough to get those antes in, but Zhang had laid a trap with .

There was no miracle for the ragged under cards this time and the aces held, bringing the tournament down to six players and sending Xuan out with 116K.

NINE-TITLE DUO HIT THE RAIL

One of the neat sub-plots coming into the final was the presence of the two Triton tournament beasts Jason Koon and Mikita Badziakouski. Prior to the trip to Vietnam, the pair had four Triton titles each. But Koon’s victory in a 50K NLH turbo a couple of days ago edged him clear.

Badziakouski was on the short side coming into the final, so the prospect of him catching Koon were slim. Koon didn’t have many more chips, so at least Badziakouski could content himself in the knowledge that Koon was an underdog to open a two-title gap.

There were no surprises. Badziakouski and Koon departed one after the other in sixth and fifth place, banking 140K and 187K respectively.

Badziakouski’s chips went to Phil Chiu in an encounter pitting against and the better hand holding. Everything was in pre-flop.

Koon’s elimination was a little more complicated. He limped with and Zhang checked with .

The flop was huge for both of them. It came , giving Koon a straight and Zhang top two pair. Zhang bet, Koon raised, Zhang jammed and Koon called, but then the dealer put the on the turn and the on the river.

Zhang ended up with a flush and Koon was sent packing. He predicted two titles this week in Vietnam, and has two tournaments left to pick up a second.

WATSON TAKES CONTROL

To this point, Zhang had seemed unbeatable. He had the biggest stack and was hitting the biggest hands, relentlessly building to what seemed to be certain victory. But what followed was a reminder of how quickly things can change.

Zhang got involved in a massive pot against Watson, where the pattern of big hands continued, but there was a bigger on in the Canadian’s possession.

Zhang had pocket jacks and limped. Haxton called and Watson looked down at pocket queens on the button. He raised and only Zhang called.

This being short deck, the flop was full of possibilities. It came and the fireworks went off. Zhang checked, Watson bet, Zhang raised and Watson called. That brought the on the turn. Oh boy.

Zhang jammed for his last 3.2 million, covering the 2.3 million Watson had in his stack. Watson called off and his bigger full house earned him the full double. It vaulted him to the top of the counts and put Zhang to the bottom.

Watson only consolidated his chip lead when he sent Phil Chiu to the rail in fourth. This started out as a flip, when they got it in pre-flop and Chiu had pocket queens to Waton’s . However, Chiu went further ahead after the flop. And that made it all the ore brutal when the next two cards out were and .

Watson made the straight and Chiu departed with 242K.

Watson now had more than two thirds of the chips in play and was in cruise control three-handed.

ZHANG BECOME’S WATSON’S LATEST VICTIM

After the enormous cooler between Watson and Zhang, the latter might have been forgiven for capitulating and vanishing quickly. But a quick double up through Watson — beating — bought Zhang some time to try to get back into it.

However, the deck was no longer co-operating with Zhang and he trod water for an hour or so before Watson applied the finishing touch.

On what turned out to be Zhang’s final hand, he raised with and then watched Watson move all in, with . Zhang called but only saw Watson hit a set on the flop and never lose the advantage.

Zhang’s turbulent race was run. He hit the rail in third for 320K.

Watson was still in total command. His stack was 10.4 million (209 antes) to Haxton’s 2.7 million (55 antes), but the job still needed to be finished. Before today, Watson had cashed 14 times on the Triton Series without ever recording an outright win, so this was far from a foregone conclusion.

Perhaps the only salvation was the fact that Haxton had cashed 21 times without ever getting his hands on a trophy. So one of these long winless records had to come to an end.

They certainly didn’t keep us waiting.

On only the third hand of heads-up play, Watson open-jammed and Haxton made a mandatory call with . The board then ran and that cast-iron cooler put the winner’s tick finally beside Watson’s name.

It was as smooth a ride to the title as Watson could have possibly hoped for — and more may now be to come.

RESULTS

Event #12 – 50,000 Short Deck
Dates: March 11-12, 2023
Entries: 44 (inc. 19 re-entries)
Prize pool: 2,200,000

1 – Mike Watson (Canada) – 695,000
2 – Isaac Haxton (USA) – 500,000
3 – Michael Zhang (UK) – 320,000
4 – Phil Chiu (Hong Kong) – 242,000
5 – Jason Koon (USA) – 187,000
6 – Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) – 140,000
7 – Tan Xuan (China) – 116,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Triton Series exists to bring together two sections of the poker-playing community: the elite pros, likely schooled in online poker, and high-wealth businesspeople, keen to play their favourite game for stakes that mean a lot even to them.

Talal Shakerchi, from London, UK, could comfortably sit in either camp. And now Shakerchi has once again proved his enormous talents with victory in the 100K Triton Vietnam NLH Main Event — a tournament that brings with it a prize of 3.25 million.

That is Shakerchi’s biggest poker score, even if we factor in his major successes in the online game. And it came on the biggest stage, against the toughest field. But it should come as no surprise: Shakerchi is as exceptional a poker player as he is hedge fund manager.

That’s where Shakerchi made his name and built his bankroll. But the 59-year-old has long been taking on and beating poker’s elite too. This just underlines it further.

“Poker is my hobby and I want to play the best players,” Shakerchi said. “That’s how you get satisfaction out of any activity that you do. Challenge yourself and try to do the best you can.”

But he pushed back against claims he could be called a poker pro. “Don’t start moving me into the other zone!” he told Ali Nejad in the winner presentation. “I’m not a professional player. I spend quite a lot of time playing poker. It’s my main hobby. But I’m definitely not a pro.”

Shakerchi came into today’s nine-handed final table as the chip leader, but with the likes of Adrian Mateos, Fedor Holz and Timothy Adams also alongside him, there was nothing that could be taken for granted. However, Shakerchi was only ever out of the lead for brief moments, usually when Malysia’s Michael Soyza was on a charge.

But Shakerchi beat Soyza in an adrenalin-fuelled heads-up battle, winning the pots that mattered most in their brief two-handed duel, and sealing the deal with against Soyza’s .

Soyza, whose took a turbulent route to second, wins more than 2.2 million, his biggest career cash as well.

But the Jacob & Co timepiece goes around the wrist of Shakerchi, who is also paying for extra baggage on his flight home to London to accommodate the huge Triton Main Event trophy. This is a stunning victory from one of poker’s standout stars, all wrapped up on the final day in less than six hours.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

At three days, this was the longest event on the Triton Vietnam schedule, and the word “Main” in the title also points to its prestige. All the very best no limit hold’em players in the world had sat down, building a new Triton Main Event record of 135 entries. That put a staggering 13.5 million into the prize pool.

While the tournament’s first day was all about the field expanding, registration closed on Day 2 and the contraction began. They fell at a speedy rate until the bubble loomed into view, preparing to burst when the 21st finisher was eliminated.

That ignominy fell to Kahle Burns this time, the usually talkative Australian silenced by Shakerchi, whose beat Burns’ . Burns shoved for 12 big blinds from the small blind, but the fearless Shakerchi called and was good.

Everyone still involved thus guaranteed themselves 175K minimum, with an incredible succession of superstars taking the fall. Between 20th and 16th, we lost Mike Watson, Sam Greenwood, Erik Seidel, Bryn Kenney and Sam Grafton, in that order.

The next major target was reaching the final, which would end the day. Johannes Straver, Brian Kim, Wiktor Malinowski, David Yan and Seth Gottlieb hit the rail, before Lun Loon’s elimination in 10th reached that landmark.

Loon has been in great form here in Vietnam, cashing the 50K and 25K Turbo, and although his finish here denied him the chance to play on the final day, he picked up his biggest career cash of 270K.

That brought us to today’s final, where they lined up with the following stacks:

Talal Shakerchi – 7,400,000 (74 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 7,050,000 (71 BBs)
Daniel Smiljkovic – 5,325,000 (53 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 3,925,000 (39 BBs)
Winfred Yu – 3,100,000 (31 BBs)
Timothy Adams – 2,450,000 (25 BBs)
Michael Soyza – 2,275,000 (23 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 1,800,000 (18 BBs)
Roman Hrabec – 525,000 (5 BBs)

THREE QUICK ELIMINATIONS

Reaching the final table was obviously a notable success for anybody, and Roman Hrabec can feel hugely satisfied with his debut appearance on the Triton Series. He was the runner up in the first event he played, then made the last day in his first 100K — even if he knew he’d need a miracle to spin up his five big blind stack.

That miracle did not occur. The final table was only about an orbit old when Hrabec found pocket threes in the hijack. Adrian Mateos min-raised ahead of him, and Hrabec moved in for less than a blind more. Everyone else left them to it.

Mateos had and ended with a straight, forcing Hrabec out the door. He bowed gently, just enough to make his traditional Vietnamese hat wobble a little. He took 324,000 for ninth, bringing his week’s total cashes to just shy of 1 million. He’ll have warm memories of Vietnam.

If Hrabec’s quick elimination was only to be expected, the next two took everyone by their surprise. Winfred Yu is well-known for his abilities to move silently through poker tournament fields, flying below the radar until it’s too late to stop him.

However, Yu’s incredible laddering skills couldn’t help him through a three-way skirmish that also happened to put Michael Soyza on a remarkable surge up the counts. Yu, with 12 big blinds, found and moved all in from the hijack. But then Fedor Holz, in the cutoff, looked down at . He reshoved for 5 million, which covered the player behind him, Soyza and Tim Adams.

Soyza found and reasoned this was the right spot for his 17 bigs to go in too.

Holz, then, was way ahead, in terms of both chips and holding. But an ace on the flop changed all that. It relegated Holz to third in the coup, with Soyza getting Yu’s chips as well as a full double through Holz. Yu took 418,400 but continues to seek his third title.

Nick Petrangelo was now the table’s short stack, but he doubled up with through Shakerchi’s pocket tens. It might have been the springboard for Petrangelo to put together a hunt for his long overdue first title, but instead his chips just ended up being added to Soyza’s new-found wealth.

Only two hands after landing the double, Petrangelo was gone. He had pocket jacks and raised. Soyza three-bet. Petrangelo jammed and Soyza called. This time Soyza had found aces and there was no getting out of the corner for Petrangelo. Instead, he took 566,800 for seventh.

His cash hoodoo is over — he somehow hadn’t cashed on the Triton Series before this trip to Vietnam — but he still isn’t yet a champion.

A CONSOLIDATION, BEFORE ADAMS DEPARTS

Things did slow down for a bit now. But not for long. Soyza went on a slide, losing two big pots to, first, Holz and then Smiljkovic. In the former, Holz made a flush with to beat Soyza’s . They both hit their kicker on the flop, but the turn and river were both diamonds.

There was already 3.8 million in the pot and Holz checked, inducing Soyza to move all in. Holz called with the nuts and hit 12 million, with Soyza cut right down. And on the very next hand, Soyza open-shoved his small blind with and Smiljkovic, in the big blind, calmly peeled pocket aces and called.

Smiljkovic doubled to 6 million, but Soyza was now back down to around 3 million.

Uncharacteristically, Tim Adams had barely had a say during all this action at the final. But he then played three hands that ended with his elimination. On the first, both he and Shakerchi flopped top pair queens, and bet through flop and turn. They slowed down to a check after the king on the river, but the 1.6 million pot still went to Shakerchi thanks to his bigger kicker.

Adams won a good chunk back on the next hand, when his hit three of a kind. But shortly after, he lost an even bigger pot with to Shakerchi’s — and that was the end of that for Adams.

The richly decorated Canadian banked 756,000 for this sixth-placed finish.

HOLZ AND MATEOS NEXT TO PERISH

There are many players in the world game with resumes quite like those boasted by Adrian Mateos and Fedor Holz. They are the leading lights of two of Europe’s powerhouse poker nations, with young Spaniards wanting to be just like Mateos and countless Germans modelling themselves on Holz.

Some of the latter — namely Matthias Eibinger and Mario Molboeck — were in the audiences for the Main Event this afternoon, watching their friend and icon Holz take on this 100K final table. But they ended up having to be there only to console him after a fifth-place finish.

Holz had trundled along as a medium stack in the final, but for the second time today fell victim to the curse of the pocket kings. This time when Holz had them, and four-bet jammed in a pot against Smiljokovic, the cowboys were downed by .

There was an ace on the turn and the near 5 million pot went to Smiljkovic. Holz’s first cash of the week was worth 965,000 — the last man to depart without a million.

The first man to depart with a million turned out to be Mateos. He was third in chips with four remaining, but picked the wrong time — or, more accurately — the wrong person to face when trying to steal a big blind with a small blind shove.

Mateos had 3.725 million and . (Blinds were 125K/250K/250K.) Soyza, in the big blind, had 3.1 million and . Soyza is not one to back down from a confrontation, and the ace was enough to persuade him to gamble for his tournament life.

The ace stayed good and Soyza doubled, leaving Mateos on fumes. The little he had left went to Shakerchi soon after, when Mateos’ fell to Shakerchi’s .

THREE BECOME TWO

Daniel Smiljkovic was visiting the Triton Series for the first time and, having cashed in 16th in the opening event of the series, hadn’t managed another payday since then. However, the German player had demonstrated his abilities in this Main Event, translating some of his online form to the live tables.

He played a lot of pots and had the jagged graph to underline it, but was unable to arrest a pretty steep decline as the tournament grew short-handed. He ended up getting involved in a big pot against Shakerchi with , flopping top two pair.

But there were also two hearts on the flop and Shakerchi had . Two more hearts came on turn and river, by which point all the money was also in the middle. Smiljkovic perished in third, picking up a career-best 1.45 million.

The stage was now set for what could have been a long heads-up battle — Shakerchi had a two-to-one lead — but in keeping with what we’d seen to this point, there was drama.

On the very first hand, Shakerchi’s turned a straight on the board of . Soyza had an ace, but his huge aggression persuaded Shakerchi that he had the flush.

After Soyza shoved, a Shakerchi call would have ended it. But instead, Shakerchi folded. It might have preyed on a lesser player’s mind, but Shakerchi just got on with things again.

It was, in fact, as good as it got for Soyza. Shakerchi won one big pot with , turning another straight. Soyza tried to win it with his pair of jacks, but Shakerchi didn’t buy it this time. He raised with the best hand and Soyza called with a weaker one, losing almost everything.

The next significant pot was the end of it.

The final hand was a little weird. Shakerchi accidentally moved all in out of turn. Soyza was allowed to take this information and make his next move. He decided to limp. Shakerchi now shoved and Soyza called for his last 13 big blinds.

He had those picture cards, but Shakerchi called with his ace. Job done.

Businessman or poker pro? It doesn’t really matter. Shakerchi is superb at both.

Event #9 – 100,000 NLH Main Event
Dates: March 8-10, 2023
Entries: 135 (inc. 45 re-entries)
Prize pool: 13,500,000

1 – Talal Shakerchi (UK) – 3,250,000
2 – Michael Soyza (Malaysia) – 2,207,000
3 – Daniel Smiljkovic (Germany) – 1,450,000
4 – Adrian Mateos (Spain) – 1,201,000
5 – Fedor Holz (Germany) – 965,000
6 – Timothy Adams (Canada) – 756,000
7 – Nick Petrangelo (USA) – 566,800
8 – Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) – 418,400
9 – Roman Hrabec (Czech Republic) – 324,000

10 – Lun Loon (Malaysia) – 270,000
11 – Seth Gottlieb (USA) – 270,000
12 – David Yan (New Zealand) – 237,000
13 – Wiktor Malinowski (Poland) – 237,000
14 – Brian Kim (USA) – 216,000
15 – Johannes Straver (Netherlands) – 216,000
16 – Sam Grafton (UK) – 195,400
17 – Bryn Kenney (USA) – 195,400
18 – Erik Seidel (USA) – 175,000
19 – Sam Greenwood (Canada) – 175,000
20 – Mike Watson (Canada) – 175,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

There’s a a huge story coming out of Triton Vietnam tonight as Jason Koon, the Triton Ambassador and one of the game’s undisputed megastars, took down the 50K Turbo, in the process becoming the first man to reach five titles on the series.

Playing beneath the two banners that show both Koon and Mikita Badziakouski as the only four-time Triton winners, Koon was able to overcome a short stack at the final table to defeat Artur Martirosian heads-up and pick up No 5.

Koon won 574,000, another trophy and a Shamballa Jewels bracelet. As he said as the congratulations began to rain in: “Update the banner!”

One of the most popular players on the circuit, and an absolute beast to play against, Koon was humble and magnanimous in victory, stating that it’s moments like these that help him overcome the home sickness and keep him playing at the top of his game. He has a young son at home, and another new arrival due soon, and is out on the road doing all of this for them.

“The motivation, at the end of the day, is that I’m earning a lot and I want to do that,” Koon said. “I’m leaving my family at home. I wouldn’t do that for prestige. I’m doing it because I know that there’s a short window of time where I have the energy and the passion to be good at this, and I want to make the most of it while I can.”

Making the most of it today meant beating a field of 31 entries, featuring, as you’d expect, the very best in the world (who happened to have bust the Main Event). The final table was as difficult as you’d imagine, with Chris Brewer, Isaac Haxton, Artur Martirosian and Punnat Punsri standing between Koon and the title.

But he hit the cards when he needed, and managed to outthink everyone in a couple of crucial spots.

“I had to fade some all ins,” Koon said. “I was the short stack, but that’s how these things work once in a while. You get to win all the all ins.”

He was keen to pay tribute to the player he now draws clear of on with respect to Triton titles — and extended the praise to the rest of the field too.

“Mikita [Badziakouski] is one of the greatest poker players of all time and all the other people here are legends too,” Koon said. “I was talking with a person who works here and they were talking about observing, being here, and it’s just special to see the best players in the world battle each other. It’s true. You look around and the best players from online, live, whatever, they’re here playing the highest stakes and we’re truly blessed to get to do it.”

And Koon, already a Triton legend, has eyes on even further glories.

“I said before we got here I’d win two on this trip. We still got short deck, so we’ll see if we can do it.”

ALL THE CRUCIAL ACTION

With the Main Event progressing from the close of registration to the final table, the 50K Turbo got started to make sure the eliminated players still had some cards to play. It started on just one table, but expanded gradually as more players, including Koon, arrived.

By the time registration was closed over on this side of the room, there were 31 entries including seven re-entries, with 1.55 million in the prize pool. Five players would be paid.

After that, things contracted quickly and a final table came close.

As the bubble approached, two of the game’s luminaries were in the kind of trouble even they couldn’t wriggle out of. Stephen Chidwick’s three big blinds went to Brewer when jacks lost to queens. Shortly after, Dan Smith’s seven bigs went in the same direction, with Brewer’s undoing Smith’s pocket fives.

That brought them to a stone bubble, with nobody especially short, but where plenty of medium stacks were vulnerable. One of them belonged to Triton newcomer Warwick Mirzikinian. Until it suddenly belonged to Brewer too.

After being raised off the previous hand, when he defended his big blind, Mirzikinian laid a trap for Brewer on the next, when he was in the small blind. Action folded to him, Mirzikinian just called and Brewer moved all in with the covering stack.

Mirzikinian couldn’t call fast enough and tabled . Brewer was dominated with . However the flop of looked dicey for Mirzikinian, and then the turn was even worse.

The river helped no one but Brewer and Mirzikinian was toast. Everyone left earned a minimum of 147K.

They went to the final with the following stacks:

Chris Brewer – 3,100,000
Punnat Punsri – 980,000
Artur Martirosian – 815,000
Jason Koon – 720,000
Isaac Haxton – 560,000

Blinds were still at the 15K/30K/30K level, so there was play left in this one.

Brewer had a lead big enough that he could take some liberties, and he played the bully in the early proceedings to keep the flop of chips coming in his direction.

He took a back seat, however, as Martirosian dispatched the short-stack Haxton in fifth. Haxon opened under the gun, and then called off when Martirosian shoved from the big blind. Haxton’s pocket eights lost the race to Martirosian’s and he took 147K.

That hand spurred Martirosian and he took two big pots from Brewer. The first came about when Martirosian flopped middle pair with his on a flop of . Nobody knew it at the time, but Brewer had the biggest of all combo draws with his and they bet it through flop and turn.

The draw missed, however, while Martirosian hit another 10 on the river and checked. Brewer checked back, then disconsolately tossed his cards in the air, revealing how he had been favourite on the flop.

Not long after, the same two players tangled again, with betting on every street through a board of . Martirosian showed and Brewer mucked. Martirosian was now in the lead.

By this point, Koon had also all but doubled up once, thanks to pocket sixes. He and Brewer checked it down and Koon won, but he had left one or two chips behind pre-flop. Even so, it was enough to keep him going a few more orbits.

It also gave him a bigger stack than Punsri, which was crucial because those two then got it in. Koon raised almost all in again, Punsri shipped and Koon called. Koon’s pocket threes beat Punsri’s . That sent the Cyprus Main Event champion out in fourth with 182,000.

Brewer had now assumed the short stack, with Koon resurgent. And when the two Americans went head-to-head, Koon came out on top. Brewer had and Koon had when they got it all in, and the ace played. Brewer picked up 252K for third after another deep run.

Koon and Martirosian had almost equal stacks starting heads up, and the pair clearly respected one another’s game a lot. By now, a crowd had gathered in an otherwise empty side of the tournament room, sensing Koon’s shot at history.

And then the defining hand took place. Koon limped and Martirosian checked, taking them to a flop of for the minimum.

Martirosian check-called 60,000 from Koon. The came on the turn and it went check-call again, this time for 450K.

The appeared on the river and Martirosian checked for a third time. Koon shoved for 2.2 million, the smaller stack.

Martirosian then went deep into the tank. He burnt through four time-banks before checking with the dealer how many he had used up. She told him, and he burnt another two. And then he dumped the chips forward to call.

Koon tabled for two pair, and Martirosian’s was beaten.

“I knew I had the best hand,” Koon said afterwards, talking through the hand. “It’s a situation where I made a gigantic bet on the river, and the reason why is that I overbet the turn and the river completed the five, which made seven-eight the nut straight. And I can have all the seven-eight that I was bluffing with that made the straight, and he can have none of it.

“And for that reason you get to make an enormous bet. So I bet over 2x the pot. Artur is a great poker player and he identified that he has to call a lot of hands that aren’t very good there, because I could be coming after him. I just happened to have it there.”

That left Martirosian with nine big blinds. He doubled soon after, but within three or four more hands it was over. They got it in with for Martirosian and for Koon.

Once again, the ace held and the tournament was over. Martirosian gets 395,000, but Koon gets his face on the wall, on a whole new banner. Should they start printing No 6 already?

RESULTS

Event #10 – 50,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: March 9, 2023
Entries: 31 (inc. 7 re-entries)
Prize pool: 1,550,000

1 – Jason Koon (USA) – 574,000
2 – Artur Martirosian (Russia) – 395,000
3 – Chris Brewer (USA) – 252,000
4 – Punnat Punsri (Thailand) – 182,000
5 – Isaac Haxton (USA) – 147,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Triton Series’ first stop in Vietnam is now seven tournaments through, and so far there have been five first-time Triton champions. The latest had to pick his way through a final table in the 25K Turbo at which three of the last four players had all previously hoisted a Triton trophy, two of them this week.

But in defeating Nacho Barbero heads up, after Dao Minh Phu had also hit the rail in third, Triton first-timer Andrew Leathem earns his own place on the Triton winners’ board. When you add the fact that the fourth-placed finisher was Matthias Eibinger, winner of two previous Triton turbo titles, you get the full measure of Leathem’s achievement.

“That’s the idea,” Leathem said, reflecting on his victory. “You want to test yourself against the best players in the world.”

This mild-mannered 43-year-old software developer from Edinburgh, Scotland, usually plays only lower-stakes tournaments but said he liked the look of a trip to Vietnam and took a stab at the Triton Series. “I’m just an amateur, really, but I try to play in different places, different countries,” he said.

He bubbled the first event he played — “That was pretty horrible” — but rode the turbulent waters to the title this time, banking 670,000. He also takes home the Shamballa Jewels bracelet handed to winners on the Triton Series.

“I was determined not to bubble this one,” Leathem added. “I sort of hung in to the final table, and it worked out. I’m super happy, but I’m also tired. It will sink in tomorrow probably.”

FAST AND FURIOUS

The first single-day event of this stop in Vietnam drew the masses searching for a quick payday, or a free evening to visit the player party. There were 104 entries by the time registration closed, including 25 re-entries, and the field quickly began to shrink.

Many of the game’s top talents fell by the wayside as the day wore on, edging closer to the money. Fifteen were due to be paid.

The fun of the turbo means that no one is ever really safe, but even a couple of blinds means you can still hope to turn things around.

That was never more evident than on the bubble of this one, where Eibinger, for instance, was one of the shortest stacks but secured a double up and then went on a charge to be chip-leader.

Jeffrey Sluzinski, an ACR qualifier, also demonstrated that he wasn’t scared of putting everything on the line, burning through several time bank chips after Isaac Haxon had pushed all in with a covering stack, before eventually calling. Sluzinski had pocket tens to Haxton’s , and Sluzinski won the flip.

Had he lost, Sluzinski would have been out and several sub five-blind stacks would have rejoiced. As it was, the call and the win helped propel Sluzinski to the final table, with Haxton busting in 11th.

The coup was all the more significant given the miniscule size of so many other stacks. One of them was sure to bust soon. As it turned out, it wasn’t necessarily soon, but Pablo Brito did indeed hit the rail. He was the third part in a pot between Barbero and Phu, those two players who had already won titles this week.

Phu’s pocket jacks ended up beating Barbero’s , with Brito perishing with . Had Barbero hit, two players would have gone out together, but Phu survived the bubble for the second time in consecutive days. Brito left with nothing.

With the dam now burst, it was a turbo-propelled flood to the rail. Some of Asia’s finest players — Wai Kin Yong, Kiat Lee, Kannapong Thanrattrakul — went bust. They then reassembled with the following line-up:

25K Turbo final table

Nacho Barbero – 5,050,000
Matthias Eibinger – 4,055,000
Talal Shakerchi – 3,600,000
Sebastian Gaehl – 2,765,000
Jeffrey Sluzinski – 1,800,000
Dao Minh Phu – 1,170,000
Ana Marquez – 920,000
Lun Loon – 770,000
Andrew Leathem – 760,000

Leathem’s strategy of just clinging on had got him this far, and he was also prepared to take a back seat to most of the earliest final table action.

After a long barren spell at the beginning of his Triton career, Lun Loon was now at back-to-back final tables. However, he got a reminder of how unfair things can be when his pocket jacks lost to Barbero’s not long after the final table started. Barbero flopped two aces.

Two brilliant plots were now brewing. First, there was Eibinger’s three-time bid. He made his name (and built a bankroll) playing high-stakes hyper turbos online, and proved his mettle winning both of his Triton titles in precisely this format. In short, he know precisely the spots to get his chips in.

Then there was Phu, who was also seeking a back-to-back triumph. And Phu was hot. He doubled up twice, winning flips with against Talal Shakerchi’s pocket tens, then flopping a set with pocket sevens as Eibinger’s made two pair.

Phu cheered as Ana Marquez became the next to fall. Marquez got involved as the shortest stack in a three-way pot, losing with to Eibinger’s . Barbero had them both covered, but his hit only a deuce and so Eibinger doubled too.

Marquez’s first Triton cash earned her 92,300.

It goes without saying that stacks were short, but that plain fact does explain why chips were going in with all manner of hands. Sluzinski’s fun tournament came to its end with a seventh-placed finish. He lost with to Barbero’s , but took 121K.

Shakerchi then became Phu’s latest victim, falling with to pocket tens. Shakerchi’s fifth Triton cash was worth 153,500.

Eibinger then knocked out Sebastian Gaehl, with bettering Gaehl’s . Even after that, Eibinger only had nine big blinds.

It was at this point that they crossed the streams. The two most exciting storylines — the back-to-back and the three-time — came crashing into one another in a head-on collision. Eibinger had only one big blind left and he got it in with . Phu was vocally disappointed to have a dominated , but then said, “Thank you, thank you,” as the dealer put a seven on the flop.

The turn and river were blanks and Eibinger headed out. He now has a first, a first and a third from three Triton turbos. It’s not going to switch him from one banner to another, but he’ll take 245,000 and sleep well.

That left us with yesterday’s hero Phu, the Event 2 winner, Barbero, and Leathem, whose trip so far had offered a steep learning curve but nothing more.

But all that was about to change.

In the first of three pivotal short-handed pots, Barbero opened his button with and Leathem called in the small blind. Phu then moved all in for five big blinds and both Barbero and Leathem called.

They checked the flop of and the turn of and then Barbero bet 2 million on the river. Leathem called but Barbero’s flush knocked out Phu and took a chunk from his other opponent.

Phu has barely been able to put a foot wrong for two days, but ended this tournament in third for 301,000.

The first couple of small heads-up pots went Barbero’s way, but Leathem then surged upward. He raised from the small blind with and Barbero called, taking them to a flop of . Barbero check-raised Leathem’s bet of 600K, but Leathem moved all in with his middle pair.

Barbero called with , a flush draw and overcards, but the board bricked out and Leathem doubled.

They got all their chips in pre-flop on the next hand, and Barbero was looking good for the win with against Leathem’s . But Leathem came from behind to win it, leaving Barbero fuming, and on fumes.

It was done on the next hand, with Leathem’s staying good against Barbero’s five high.

Time for it to start sinking in, Andrew. That’s the win.

Event #8 – 25,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: March 7, 2023
Entries: 104 (inc. 25 re-entries)
Prize pool: 2,600,000

1 – Andrew Leathem (UK) – 670,000
2 – Nacho Barbero (Argentina) – 460,000
3 – Dao Minh Phu (Vietnam) – 301,000
4 – Matthias Eibinger (Austria) – 245,000
5 – Sebastian Gaehl (Germany) – 196,000
6 – Talal Shakerchi (UK) – 153,500
7 – Jeffrey Sluzinski (USA) – 121,000
8 – Ana Marquez (Spain) – 92,300
9 – Lun Loon (Malaysia) – 67,600

10 – Kannapong Thanrattrakul (Thailand) – 54,600
11 – Isaac Haxton (USA) – 54,600
12 – Biao Ding (China) – 48,000
13 – Kiat Lee (South Korea) – 48,000
14 – Wai Kin Yong (Malaysia) – 44,200
15 – Anson Ewe (Malaysia) – 44,200

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Not long ago, the London-based Turkish player Orpen Kisacikoglu wasn’t sure whether to describe himself as a poker player or a businessman. He had made his name and reputation in pursuits away from poker, but had started a second life around the high stakes tournament tables.

But after getting some coaching and focusing more on his poker game, Kisacikoglu has become a real force in these tournaments and tonight sealed a second victory on the Triton Series, banking 1,753,000 in the process.

To do so, he had to beat the British No 1, and leader of the Triton Player of the Year race, Stephen Chidwick heads up. That’s no easy feat. After a long and evenly-balanced heads-up encounter, Kisacikoglu found himself on the right side of a cold deck when both players had two pair by the turn.

All the chips went in, Kisacikoglu’s two pair was bigger, and Chidwick was left with crumbs. Kisacikoglu took those very soon after to seal the deal.

Kisacikoglu’s trip to Asia started badly after he burnt the souls of his feet in a hot-sand related incident. It meant he has been unable to walk, instead being pushed around the resort in a wheelchair. But after tonight’s performance he can levitate back to his room.

This was a defining triumph, smaller in cash terms than his runner-up finish to Henrik Hecklen in the Triton Madrid Main Event, but one that brings him a trophy to sit beside another he picked up in Rozvadov in 2019.

Chidwick, meanwhile, takes 1,245,000 as well as a stranglehold on the Player of the Year race on the Triton Series. Chidwick was already leading coming into the Vietnam stop and he has cashed three events already. This, his fourth, comes with a ton of additional points and he’s going to be a difficult man to catch.

FINAL DAY ACTION

The opening day of this tournament played alongside the conclusion of the 50K event, with plenty of players still involved on Day 2 of that. It meant a huge influx of players before registration closed at the start of play today, bringing numbers to 85, including 29 re-entries.

That put 6,375,000 in the prize pool and guaranteed two prizes of more than a million.

With 159K being paid to the 11th placed finisher and nothing going to the 12th, this was the biggest bubble of the series so far. The man to finish on the wrong side of the line this time was one of the week’s top performers to date: Daniel Dvoress.

Dvoress made the final table in both the 20K mystery bounty and the 30K NLH, and had been leading this tournament after Day 1. But there had been few bright moments on the tournaments concluding day, capped when he shoved his last eight bigs from the small blind with and picked up a call from Michael Soyza in the big blind with .

Soyza flopped a pair, turned trips and ended with a full house. It was overkill. Dvoress was already off the stage and out the door.

BANG, BANG – FINAL TABLE SET

The bubble bursting ended hand-for-hand play, but each of the two tables saw only one more hand before the final was set. Up on the feature table, Soyza was now in the small blind and for the second hand in succession watched a short stack ship before him.

This time it was Adrian Mateos, and Soyza looked down at pocket nines and made the call. Mateos had and Soyza won the flip. Meanwhile, David Yan and Jason Koon were tangling on the outer table. Koon raised from early positon, Yan jammed from the small blind and Koon called with the marginally bigger stack.

Yan had pocket threes; Koon had pocket queens. Another queen on the flop, followed by two blanks, sent Yan out. Mateos and Yan picked up 159,500 each, and the last nine prepared to hit the final table.

A TYPICAL TRITON FINAL

Newcomers to Triton Poker tend to see a table of players and marvel at how a random draw could place so many superstars together. But they soon look around the room and realise every table is like that. Every table is, to use the favoured word, “stacked”.

The final here was typical, featuring a four-time champion, the Player of the Year leader, and winners of the two most recent Triton NLHE Main Events. And none of those were even Steve O’Dwyer, the chip leader.

At start of nine-handed action, the table looked like this:

Steve O’Dwyer – 2,630,000
Michael Soyza – 2,505,000
Stephen Chidwick – 2,490,000
Santhosh Suvarna – 2,480,000
Rob Yong – 1,750,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu – 1,715,000
Jason Koon – 1,470,000
Punnat Punsri – 1,050,000
Henrik Hecklen – 910,000

(Blinds were 25K/50K with a 50K BB ante)

Nobody had a stack that could be regarded as especially huge, but both Michael Soyza and Chidwick were likely happy with their standing in second and third, respectively. However, after a few small pots resulted in them swapping places, an enormous skirmish, and a sick beat for Soyza, sent the pair in diametrically opposite directions.

Orpen Kisacikoglu began proceedings, opening to 180K. Chidwick called in the cutoff and Soyza shoved for 1.6 million from the big blind. No problem with that. He had aces. Kisacikoglu folded but Chidwick called, showing pocket jacks.

Only a day ago, Chidwick ran kings into aces to bust the 50K, but this time he hit his two-outer. A jack flopped, destroying Soyza’s hopes and pushing Chidwick back to the top of the counts.

Always cheerful, Soyza will have found even his positive outlook in jeopardy after this one. He took 182,500 for ninth, but it’s a case of what might have been.

DOUBLE KNOCKOUT AFTER DINNER BREAK

Eight players went on a dinner break, and two of them probably hoped it had lasted longer. Not long after the return, Punnat Punsri found pocket fives under the gun and moved all in for 1 million.

One seat over, Rob Yong looked down at and he too committed everything, about half of Punsri’s stack. However, Santhosh Suvarna woke up with the dream pocket aces in the small blind and made an easy call with a covering stack.

This time the aces held and two players hit the rail simultaneously. Yong took 239,000 for eighth, while Punsri won 306,000 for seventh. It was a first cash of the trip for both of them, although Yong was playing his first event while Punsri was in his seventh.

SIX-HANDED SLOWDOWN

As is now familiar, players were sitting with short-ish stacks and most significant pots meant either a double-up or an elimination. And we had at least two of the former before one of the latter.

O’Dwyer, now a short stack, doubled through Suvanrna. It was a straight flip pre-flop, but the run out was dramatic. O’Dwyer’s ace in his played against Suvarna’s after a run out of .

Then Kisacikoglu doubled with against Koon’s pocket nines. Again, this was a flip but Kisacikoglu won it the hard way, thanks to a board of .

The same two tangled in the pot that sent Koon to the rail in sixth. This time, Kisacikoglu started and finished with the better hand. His beat Koon’s . Koon picked up his first cash of the week, but would have wanted more than 389,000.

CHIDWICK ON THE CHARGE

O’Dwyer continued to show some incredible escapology skills, doubling out of trouble three times and keeping his hopes alive. Suvarna trailed the field with a micro-stack, but in a push-fold game, nobody is safe.

As it happened, Hecklen was the first to find out how cruel it can be, getting the last of his chips in with a dominant against Chidwick’s .

These were the two players both sporting their exclusive Jacob & Co timepieces, won for triumphs in the two Triton Main Events in Madrid last year. But this time the poker gods were the ones to separate them, putting four hearts on the board to fill Chidwick’s flush.

Hecklen won 497,500 for fifth.

Had he clung of an orbit longer, he might have still been there to see Suvarna become Chidwick’s next victim. Again, this one was a come-from-behind success for Chidwick — the joy of having the big stack — as his turned a straight to beat Suvarna’s .

THREE LEFT, ONE SHORT

O’Dwyer has won tournaments across the world, sometimes appearing blessed as he crushes all opponents. Chidwick and Kisacikoglu are a cut above most opponents, obviously, but the American/Irishman managed another double, with pocket fours against Chidwick’s to keep his hopes alive in this one.

It proved to be a false dawn, however, because Chidwick was on something of a sun-run himself. All it actually required for Chidwick to get the job done on O’Dwyer was for him to have by far the inferior hand when they next got it in pre-flop.

Chidwick had the pretty and shipped from the small blind. O’Dwyer looked down at and made an easy call. However, Chidwick flopped a straight draw and filled it on the river. O’Dwyer was done, earning 816K this time.

HEADS-UP MILLIONAIRES

The biggest buy-in so far obviously meant the biggest prize pool so far, and the last two remaining players both locked up seven-figure scores. There was no talk of a deal as they settled in to play a tense heads-up battle.

Chidwick was seeking his second Triton title, Kisacikoglu his first, but both had been in solid recent form.

The chips swung in small increments to the left and to the right, until that huge hand occurred. Chidwick had and Kisacikoglu had . After the flop, Kisacikoglu only called Chidwick’s bet, allowing his opponent to catch a bigger piece on the turn.

Here’s where all the money went in, with Chidwick drawing very thin. It was a massive pot, leaving Chidwick in tatters, and a flush with later wrapped it up.

Chidwick and Kisacikoglu are friends and the former stopped by to celebrate the victory. They both now go into the Main Event tomorrow with bankrolls significantly swelled.

Event #7 – 75,000 NLH – 8 – Handed
Dates: March 6-7, 2023
Entries: 85 (inc. 28 re-entries)
Prize pool: 6,375,000

1 – Orpen Kisacikoglu (Turkey) – 1,753,000
2 – Stephen Chidwick (UK) – 1,245,000
3 – Steve O’Dwyer (Ireland) – 816,000
4 – Santhosh Suvarna (India) – 628,000
5 – Henrik Hecklen (Denmark) – 497,500
6 – Jason Koon (USA) – 389,000
7 – Punnat Punsri (Thailand) – 306,000
8 – Rob Yong (UK) – 239,000
9 – Michael Soyza (Malaysia) – 182,500
10 – David Yan (New Zealand) – 159,500
11 – Adrian Mateos (Spain) – 159,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive