Registration is closed on the first event of the 2019 Triton Poker Series, and we’ve started as we surely mean to go on. Despite numerous poker players still jetting toward South Korea from all corners of the globe, those who have already made it to the Landing Casino at the Jeju Shinhwa World Resort have built a prize pool of HK$15.275 million.
That would be extraordinary on most normal poker tours, but it’s only to be expected among these high rollers. The buy-in for this curtain-raiser — a Short-Deck Ante-Only event — is HK$250,000 (US $30,000 approx), and there were 65 entries, including 28 re-entries. It means that the first champion of the festival, crowned tomorrow, will be taking HK$4.6 million (US$586,000 approx). Eight players will be paid.
Tournament organisers knew before any card was dealt that the strength of the field would be exceptionally high, and when the early arrivals included Justin Bonomo, Isaac Haxton, Stephen Chidwick, Jason Koon, David Peters and Sam and Luc Greenwood, the rest of the audience quickly twigged as well.
They were latterly joined by Mikita Badziakouski, Bryn Kenney and Daniel Cates, with Triton co-founder Richard Yong pulling up a chair to lead the glittering collection of local talent. Paul Phua, Ivan Leow and Wai Kin Yong, were all also among those firing bullets. Each player was allowed a maximum of three and seven took them all.
Here’s the full payout schedule for the tournament, with the complete player list below.
Triton Jeju Event #1: Short-Deck Ante-Only
Buy-in: HK$250,000
Entries: 65 (inc. 28 re-entries)
Prize pool: HK$15.275 million
1 – HK$4,600,000
2 – HK$3,300,000
3 – HK$2,140,000
4 – HK$1,620,000
5 – HK$1,250,000
6 – HK$975,000
7 – HK$780,000
8 – HK$610,000
Full player list
| Name | Country | Entries |
| Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 2 |
| David Benefield | United States | 1 |
| Justin Bonomo | United States | 2 |
| Rui Cao | France | 1 |
| Daniel Cates | United States | 3 |
| Wai Leong Chan | Malaysia | 3 |
| Stephen Chidwick | England | 2 |
| Wei Lim Chin | Malaysia | 2 |
| Hing Yaung Chow | Malaysia | 2 |
| Ying Lin Chua | Malaysia | 1 |
| Seth Davies | United States | 2 |
| Daniel Dvoress | Canada | 1 |
| Robert Flink | Sweden | 1 |
| Lucas Greenwood | Canada | 1 |
| Samuel Greenwood | Canada | 1 |
| Isaac Haxton | United States | 2 |
| Peter Jetten | Canada | 1 |
| John Juanda | Indonesia | 1 |
| Benjamin Lamb | United States | 2 |
| Ivan Leow | Malaysia | 2 |
| Gabe Patgorski | United States | 3 |
| Paul Phua | Malaysia | 2 |
| Furkurt Rakhimov | Russia | 1 |
| Gilbert Romain | France | 1 |
| Michael Watson | Canada | 2 |
| Richard Yong | Malaysia | 2 |
| Tong Siow Choon | Malaysia | 2 |
| Jason Koon | United States | 1 |
| Sergey Lebedev | Russia | 3 |
| Xian Ong | Singapore | 2 |
| Wei Hsiang Yeu | Malaysia | 3 |
| Bryn Kenney | USA | 3 |
| Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | 3 |
| Beh Kok Weng | Malaysia | 1 |
| Cheok Ieng Cheong | Macau | 1 |
| David Peters | USA | 1 |
| Lin Ern Chio | Singapore | 1 |