The Triton Invitational cash game is no place for the faint-hearted. In order to secure that coveted invitation, you’ve first got to be the sociable sort, but secondly you have to be prepared to put both your money and your reputation on the line.
They don’t come much more sociable than the Danish pro Henrik Hecklen, and he is rolled for these kinds of stakes thanks to some superlative tournament performances. But after a punishing session on Day 3 of this cash game at the Landing Resort, Jeju, Hecklen might be pondering whether he wants to come back.
Of the eight players who set foot on the streaming stage today, seven walked away with a profit. By the blunt mechanics of this zero-sum game, that meant that the eighth player had to pay them all. That man was Henrik Hecklen. His was the only name in the red letters.
Of course, Hecklen wasn’t the only one playing big pots. With the likes of Rui Cao, Tan Xuan, Elton Tsang, ST Wang, Andy Ni, Wai Kin Yong and Wiktor Malinowski also at the table, how could he possibly be? Ni in particular made today’s stage his own, and ended up with the biggest profit.
Let’s take a look at how some of the big ones went down. They were playing blinds of $1,000/$2,000 with a $2,000 big blind ante.
NI THE MYSTERY AGAINST CAO
Things had been going fairly smoothly in the opening exchanges, with only Tan Xuan’s stack having taken an early hit. Then the Mystery Hand landed in front of Andy Ni and viewers of the stream will have known something was brewing.
Wiktor Malinowski opened to $5,000 from the hijack with 
and Rui Cao called on the button with pocket sixes. Ni was in the small blind and bumped it up to $25,000, with only Cao calling.
The flop was the 
and Ni bet $21,000. Cao wasn’t scared of that. He called again for the 
turn. The pot was a little over $100,000 at this point, but Ni then rifled everything he had at it. It was a bet of $147,000, which covered Cao’s stack by only a couple of thousand.
Cao didn’t take very long to call with his sixes, forcing Ni to sheepishly table his 
for nothing but over-cards.
They ran it only once, and that was not enough for Ni to catch up. Cao took down this $391,000 pot with a boat after a third four landed on the river.
NI AT IT AGAIN, THIS TIME FARES BETTER
Andy Ni had clearly come to play, and he managed to profit in full from his earlier bluff when he picked up pocket aces and scored a full double up through Tan Xuan, who had 
and flopped a double belly-buster on the 
board. Ni’s hand held, and Ni was back in business.
He had the Mystery Hand again not long after and went to work once more. Ni quickly raised to $5,000 from UTG+1 and Wiktor Malinowski, with 
, was the only caller. Malinowski flopped very well when the first three cards out were 
. Ni bet $10,000 and Malinowski just called.
The turn was tricky. It was the 
. Ni led $24,000 and Malinowski took his only option, which was to call. That took them to the 
river. Ni found an enormous bet now. It was $84,000, the full pot. Malinowski took some time as he pondered what had become a very tough decision, and eventually decided to let this one go.
Ni slid his cards back to the dealer, but the viewers now got to find out what they were. Ni had been bluffing all along with 
and pulled off a worldie here. His impudence bought himself a $167,000 pot.
XUAN TRIES IT ON WITH FIVE HIGH
ST Wang had the solid 
and raised to $5,000 from UTG+1. Tan Xuan, from the hijack, three-bet to $18,000. He had the Mystery Hand, which put even the viewers in the same position as Xuan’s mystified opponents.
Wang liked the flop. It was 
but he checked it over to his aggressive opponent, and duly saw Xuan bet $18,000. Wang called, allowing Xuan to keep the betting lead.
The turn was the 
and Wang checked again, and Xuan went big. He put $53,000 in the middle, taking the pot to $130,000. Wang called again, with the 
completing the board. Wang checked for a third time, and Xuan bet for a third time. It was $165,000, a sizing that sowed some doubt even in the mind of Brian Rast, from the commentary booth.
Wang’s call put the pot up to $513,000 and Wang knew immediately it was coming his way as Xuan snap-mucked his 
. Despite his best efforts, five high was not winning this one.
HECKLEN NEEDS A KING. GETS TWO
Henrik Hecklen lost his first $200,000 buy-in before the first break in play, mostly when he ran pocket 10s into Wai Kin Yong’s pocket aces, but reloaded to return for the second frame and grew a narrow profit. However, he then found pocket kings at the same time as ST Wang had pocket aces and…well, no.
This actually *isn’t* the hand where Hecklen lost it all.
In fact, despite them getting it in pre-flop and running it twice, Hecklen somehow scored a full double-up this time — plus a little, as Tan Xuan had also been involved with 
pre-flop, before the two big pocket pairs got busy four, five and six-betting.
With Xuan out the way and all the money in the middle, the first run-out gave Hecklen a king on the turn to secure him half the pot. And the case king appeared on the turn on the second run-out too. This pot was worth $561,000 and it all went Hecklen’s way.
At this point, Hecklen had amassed a tidy profit.
NI SOMEHOW WRIGGLES FREE
Three players got to the flop following Wiktor Malinowski’s UTG open to $5,000. They were Henrik Hecklen, who called UTG+1, and Andy Ni who did the same on the button. Malinowski had 
. Ni had pocket threes. Hecklen had the Mystery Hand.
Ni flopped a set when the first three cards came down . Malinowski, with an open-ended straight draw, checked, but Hecklen bet $5,000. Ni kept his hand strength disguised with a call, and Malinowski called as well.
The 
turn added a flush draw to Malinowski’s hand but he checked again. Hecklen bet $25,000. Ni, still sitting with a set, opted just to call again, and Malinowski came along too.
The missed Malinowski’s draws and he checked. Hecklen, however, fired out once more. He put $75,000 out there and built the pot to $185,000. Ni had Malinowski still behind him, and clearly wasn’t comfortable with his bottom set. He took a good amount of time deciding what to do, using at least five time extensions. And he then decided to throw his hand away.
Malinowski folded immediately behind him, and we then found out whether Ni had been right. He was. Hecklen had pocket fives for a bigger set, and Ni’s incredible instincts somehow lost him the absolute minimum.
NI BAFFLES EVERYONE, LANDS NEAR-$1M POT
Yet again Andy Ni had the Mystery Hand and he looked around the table and saw Tan Xuan open to $12,000 (there was a straddle this time) from the cutoff. Viewers knew that Xuan had pocket queens, but Ni was obviously not partial to the same information. He three-bet to $47,000 from the big blind nonetheless. The other players all folded, but Xuan called.
The flop was the and Ni bet $60,000. Xuan made the call. The 
came on the turn. Ni bet another $80,000, a relatively small bet into a pot of $240,000. Xuan called again boosting the pot to $381,000.
The 
completed the board and Ni found the all-in shove. It was for $273,000. Brian Rast, in the commentary booth, put Ni on a bluff with the ace of diamonds in his hand. Xuan was the man who had to make the in-play decision, however, and after a while in the tank, he made the call.
Ni then rolled over his to confound everyone and haul in a pot of $927,000.
HECKLEN RUNS INTO CAO’S BOAT
Despite some momentous hands in which he had come from behind to win, Henrik Hecklen entered the final frame of the night about $400K down. And things were only about to get worse during the period of play that is always the wildest. He lost a pot of $705,000 to Rui Cao with what we can only assume was a cooler.
Cao was on the button and raised to $5,000 with red pocket 10s. Tan Xuan, with 
, called from the small blind and Hecklen three-bet to $30,000 from the big blind. There was a slight error with the card reading technology on the table, which meant viewers only knew that Hecklen had the . His other card was unknown. Cao called and Xuan folded.
The flop was 
and Hecklen bet $50,000. It didn’t shake Cao, who called and saw the best card for him: the fell on the turn. Hecklen was drawing dead regardless of what his second hole card was, but rifled another $90,000 at it. Cao just called behind him. The came on the river.
There was a chance now that Hecklen too had a boat, if he had the case eight in his hand. But his check suggested it wasn’t, and when Cao went for it with a shove for his last $179,000, Hecklen went into the tank.
It was clear now that he didn’t actually have an eight — that would have been a snap-call, almost certainly — but he still had something there he liked. After a good long time in the tank, Hecklen put out calling chips and insta-mucked when shown Cao’s full house. It’s not clear still what Hecklen had, but it was only good enough for a rueful shake of the head.
TOP PAIR NOT GOOD ENOUGH, TWICE
Not long after the hand described above, Henrik Hecklen was again crestfallen when his 
flopped top pair on a board of 
in a pot against Wiktor Malinowski. However, Malinowski had pocket queens and took down a near $150K pot.
Top pair wasn’t good enough for Hecklen again soon after, this time when playing Elton Tsang. In this one, Hecklen looked down at and raised to $5,000. Tsang found pocket queens this time — the exact hand Malinowski had above — and three-bet to $17,000. Hecklen called.
The 
may have looked good to Hecklen, but it was actually pretty terrible. Hecklen check-called Tsang’s $35,000 bet. The 
came on the turn and Hecklen now shoved for his last $129,000. Tsang snap-called.
They ran it only once but the river couldn’t save Hecklen. He was felted again, and called for another $200K to stay in the game.
Hecklen tried to get things going again in multiple pots during the final hour, but connected with nothing after pre-flop raises. He dwindled all the way to a difficult day of losses.
XUAN GETS OUT THE HOLE AGAINST CAO
As the day drew near its conclusion, Tan Xuan was the only other player at the table in red figures, but he soon managed to haul himself into the black in a big pot against Rui Cao. It wiped out most of Cao’s profit in one fell swoop, but put a smile back on Xuan’s face.
Andy Ni started things off with a raise to $5,000 from UTG with . Cao three-bet to $16,000 with 
from the cutoff and Xuan, with the Mystery Hand, four bet to $53,000 from the button.
The advantage for Xuan is that nobody believes that he has anything good at any time. He will get his chips in regardless of his holding. While Ni folded, Cao made the call and these two battlers saw the 
flop.
Cao now had top pair and a draw to the second nuts. His was looking powerful in this spot. However, he checked it, perhaps knowing he’d face a bet from Xuan. It was $35,000 and Cao called. The turn added a new layer of intrigue and Cao check-called an $85,000 bet from Xuan.
The 
completed the board and Cao checked once more. He had missed his flush draw, but still had top pair. Xuan dug deep into his stack and bet $250,000. Cao thought long and hard and was able to find the fold. It was a good fold. Xuan had , which would have been enough.
Cao did very well to get away.
*****
“One loser game!” said Brian Rast in the commentary booth as action concluded and the graphic showed the profit/loss totals for the day. It seems especially harsh on Henrik Hecklen that he ended up paying off everyone else at the table. He didn’t make many, if any, out and out errors, and he even got kings to beat aces, twice.
“But that’s how it is sometimes,” Ali Nejad added. And Hecklen will know that too.
The players headed off for their dinner (or to another game somewhere) as the broadcast ended for another night.
Two more days to come, so please join us then.
DAY 3: PROFIT/LOSS
Andy Ni: +$235,000
Esti Wang: +$218,000
Tan Xuan: +$144,000
Elton Tsang: +$105,000
Wiktor Malinowski: +$100,000
Wai Kin Yong: +$53,000
Rui Cao: +$20,000
Henrik Hecklen: -$875,000