It was Day 2 of the Triton Series Cash Game Invitational, and the hot seat got even hotter. With Linus Loeliger making way, the next pro to step up was a man by the name of Phil Ivey. You might have heard of him.
The table at the Maestral Resort, Montenegro, also found a space for the Lithuanian entrepreneur, politician, poker tyrant Tony G. So while Ivey may do his best work in concentrated silence, the volume around the table was going up.
Four of yesterday’s superstars returned for a second crack too: boss man, Paul Phua, took his customary seat, of course, alongside ST Wang and Andy Ni, both of whom emerged from Sunday’s action comfortably in the black. The same could not be said of Joe Zou, who suffered a barracking from the deck on the first day of the invitational. But Zou came back for more.
Tan Xuan, a Triton Series stalwart, made his first appearance of the week. And Mikhail Petrov, representing Cyprus, also pulled up a chair.
The format was the same as before: $200,000 minimum buy-in, blinds of $1,000/$2,000 with a $2,000 big blind ante. And there were an awful lot of pocket aces making an appearance tonight.
Let the fun commence…
SEVEN FROM HEAVEN PUTS TONY G ON THE UP
It didn’t take long for the first major pot and the first virtual felting.
Tony G found black pocket sevens and put in a raise to $6,000. A few seats around, in the small blind, Tan Xuan looked down at pocket 10s, black as well, and three-bet to $25,000. Everyone else folded, but Tony G called immediately. That took the pot to $54,000 as the dealer put the 
on the table.
Xuan led out, betting $20,000, and Tony G called in position. He nailed the 
and the turn and happily saw Xuan bet another $55,000. Tony G called.
The 
completed the board, making a possible straight for queen-ten. But Tony G didn’t worry too much about that and jammed for his last $95,000, putting Xuan in the blender.
His pocket 10s were a bluff catcher at best, but these two players have history. They have played tons together in Triton cash games. Xuan thought there was still a chance that Tony G was at it in this hand, and he tossed in the call.
“Seven from heaven!” Tony G sang as the $394,000 pot was pushed in his direction. “Good start,” he added.
Xuan reloaded for another $200K.
TONY G CAN’T STOP
The dust had barely settled on the previous hand before Tony G was at it once again. This time, his opponent was Joe Zou, who had 
but Tony G was playing the Mystery Hand, so we were as clueless as Zou as to what he was making his huge moves with.
Tan Xuan got the action started again, raising to $6,000 from UTG+1 with 
. Tony G was on the button and called with his Mystery Hand, with Zou then calling too from the big blind.
The 
flop, followed by two checks, presented an open invitation to Tony G to bet. He tossed out $12,000. Only Zou called, which meant two of them saw the 
turn. Zou checked again, but called again after Tony G barrelled for $40,000 this time. It took them to the 
on the river.
Zou checked again, and Tony G snap-jammed for a stack that comfortable covered Zou’s $146,000 chips. Zou thought a while before folding his pair of eights. That allowed Tony G to triumphantly declare “Made it!” as we saw he had 
for a total airball.
ZOU GETS SOME BACK FROM TONY G
Tony G had been steamrollering the table. Until he wasn’t.
In this pot, Tony G got things started with a raise to $6,000 with 
. Joe Zou called in the cutoff and Paul Phua also called, with 
in the big blind. Zou was playing the mystery hand, so only he knew how well he had connected with the 
flop.
Phua, of course, had flopped the nut straight and he checked it, surely hoping for someone else to bet into him. Tony G had top pair, but he checked too. That just left Zou, who also checked.
The 
turn meant Phua still had the nuts. He fired out $10,000. Neither of his opponents went anywhere.
The river was the and Phua’s hand was now not certain to be the best. He checked it for pot control. Tony G now had a straight too with his queen and he bet $30,000. It put Zou into the tank. Zou emerged with a hefty raise. He bumped it up to $91,000.
Phua was now in a tough spot. He’d flopped the best, but could hardly be sure he was still good given the action. Phua found an incredibly disciplined fold, but Tony G couldn’t let his straight go. He paid the extra, learning that Zou’s 
had him beat.
The $233,000 pot went to Zou.
DISCIPLINED IVEY REFUSES TO PAY XUAN
Phil Ivey’s relatively quiet start ended hastily when he managed to felt Tan Xuan for a second time, with queens holding against pocket nines. That one was straightforward, but Ivey faced much more of a test in the following hand, again against Xuan.
Action folded to Xuan on the button, who raised the $12,000. Ivey was in the $4,000 straddle with 
and he called the single raise. Xuan, by the way, was again on the mystery hand.
The dealer put the 
flop out there — two pair for Ivey — but both players checked. That brought the on the turn. Ivey checked again, then called Xuan’s $53,000 bet. The 
river completed all the draws, and Ivey checked again. Xuan sensed an opportunity and bet $200,000 into a $165,000 pot.
Ivey was now put to the stern test for almost all of his chips. He eventually resisted the urge to pay to find out what Xuan had and, true to Ivey’s form, the fold was the right decision. Xuan’s hand was revealed to be the , for a rivered flush. Xuan dug himself out of a bit of a hole, but Ivey got away with losing the minimum.
XUAN HAS THE GOODS AGAIN
There’s pretty much no way to know what Tan Xuan has when he puts in an opening pre-flop raise, but in the following hand it just so happened that he had the best of it: 
. He made it $6,000 to go from UTG+1. Andy Ni, in the cutoff, decided to play back at Xuan, holding , and made it $18,000. Bad timing alert.
Xuan four-bet to $52,000. He wasn’t playing it cute. But Ni was undeterred and called with arguably the best hand to do some damage to aces.
The flop came 
and Ni now had middle pair with a gutshot to go with it. Xuan led out for $58,000. Ni called, so they went to the 
turn with $225,000 in the middle already. Xuan bet again, this time $75,000. Ni wasted very little time before jamming for $206,000.
Xuan snap-called and had a big advantage for a $637,000 pot as they decided to run the river twice. The first was the , which kept Xuan ahead and locked up half the pot. But that was all he was getting. The gave Ni a winning three-of-a-kind. They chopped it up.
WANG PUTS JUNGLEMAN UNDER PRESSURE
The cash game line-ups change as the night of play progresses, and Paul Phua made way for Rob Yong at the first break, while Elizabeth Chen again came in for Joe Zou. Meanwhile Dan “Jungleman” Cates subbed in for Phil Ivey. Fans were no doubt disappointed to see Ivey depart (with a profit of $80K, it should be added), but Jungleman quickly showed that he could bring the fun.
Cates opened to $5,000 from UTG+1 with . ST Wang three-bet to $17,000 from the cutoff. He had the Mystery Hand, which we eventually learned was a handsome pair of red pocket aces. But by that time, there was more than $1.2 million in the middle and Cates in the blender.
Back to the chronological report: Cates got frisky and four-bet his king-high to $51,000. Wang opted just to call, and the flop of 
was good enough for a $25,000 bet from Cates. Wang called for the 
turn.
Cates now slowed down to a check, but Wang didn’t want that. He bloated the pot with a bet of $65,000. Cates still found reason, with his top pair, to make the call. The river was the .
Cates seemed to want this to slow down now and checked again. But Wang, who had $937,000 in his stack, pushed the whole lot into the middle. Cates only had $270,000, so he was playing for all of that. But after a long, long thinking time, Cates ditched it. Wang had to make do with only $287,000 for this one.
YONG’S MYSTERY HAND TAKES ON ACES
Andy Ni had black pocket aces. There was no mystery about that, and he raised to $5,000 from UTG+2. Rob Yong and Tan Xuan called in the blinds, but we only knew the in Xuan’s hand.
The dealer put the 
flop out there, and after a couple of checks, Ni bet $10,000. Only Yong called. The came on the turn.
Yong led out now, putting $26,000 out there, which Ni called in an instant. The river made this a hazardous board for aces.
Yong took his time before betting $85,000. At this stage, we had no greater idea than Ni about what Yong was hiding. Ni didn’t want to pay to find out. After a long time in the tank, he tossed away his cards, surrendering the $174,000 pot to Yong. Was he right to fold? Yong actually had for a flush draw, with a gutshot, that didn’t improve. But Yong’s gutsy bluff took it down.
CATES VERSUS ACES AGAIN
Shortly after the final break of the day, during which Tony G and Mikhail Petrov both left the table, meaning a return for Paul Phua and Handz, those pocket aces came out to play once more. This time they were in ST Wang’s hand, and he saw Dan Cates open to $10,000 in the hijack ahead of him. Cates had the Mystery Hand.
Wang, in the big blind, three-bet to $40,000 and Rob Yong, in the $4,000 straddle, let his go. Cates called, meaning two players saw the flop of 
. Yong did very well to keep quiet. He would have flopped top two.
Wang bet $32,000 with his aces and Cates called. The turn was another bad card for Wang’s hand, even if he now had a gutshot. But he was undeterred and counted out a small bet of $41,000. Cates called once more.
The was another card to complicate matters for the aces, albeit turning one pair into two. Wang came out firing once again, tossing $155,000 into the middle, and leaving Cates with another decision.
Cates had $280K behind. After spending a time-bank chip, he shipped it all in. Wang found a fold. It was another very shrewd play to ditch the big one. Cates had pocket jacks and had flopped a set.
Cates took the profit that was his, but Wang wriggled away.
CATES LAYS MORE PUNISHMENT ON XUAN
Tan Xuan was playing tons of hands and, even if he wasn’t winning them all, he was always topping up his stack whenever anyone else earned chips. He wanted to have the biggest stack at the table.
If things had gone slightly more favourably, Xuan would have ended the session with an absolute heap. But the deck did not help him out at all. In one such pot, Dan Cates opened his button to $10,000 with 
and Xuan called from the big blind with . Elizabeth Chen folded her straddle.
Xuan flopped top pair. The first three cards out were 
. Xuan check-called Cates’ bet of $12,000. The turn helped both of them, making two pair for Xuan and giving Cates both a wheel and a flush draw.
Xuan checked again, and Cates bet $52,000, a full-pot bet. Xuan just called. The was brutal for Xuan, and he checked. Cates then put $107,000 over the line.
Xuan didn’t like it. He knew something was up. However, he couldn’t resist calling and Cates won the $369,000 pot, denting Xuan again.
THREE-WAY SET UP AS DAY DRAWS TO CLOSE
There was just time left in this one for one massive set up between the three players in the three blinds. Andy Ni was in the small blind with and he opened to $15,000.
Dan Cates was in the big blind, with 
and he three-bet to $51,000. But then Handz, in the straddle, looked down at 
. He put in the cold four-bet to $135,000.
Ni knew he was up against strength, but his queens were too strong themselves. He jammed for $482,000. Cates now folded, but Handz was priced in for his last $400K.
They decided to run it three times, just to make sure someone actually won the hand. And it turned out to be Ni, who won the first and the third run out, sandwiching Handz claiming a third of the pot in the middle. It capped a very good day for Andy Ni.
DAY 2 PROFIT/LOSS
UP
Andy Ni: +$543,000
Dan “Jungleman” Cates: +$228,000
Tony G: +$130,000
Phil Ivey: +$80,000
Mikhail Petrov: +$51,000
DOWN
Elizabeth Chen/Joe Zou: -$28,000
ST Wang: -$70,000
Paul Phua: -$122,000
Handz: -$124,000
Rob Yong: -$221,000
Tan Xuan: -$467,000
Photography by Drew Amato