It was a lively atmosphere at the Triton Super High Roller Series with Day 1 of the HK $500,000 buy-in Main Event ($64,465) seeing a healthy turnout of 49 entries. Players were feeling quite casual at the felt with lots of table chatter and competitive banter throughout the day. With late registration open until the start of Day 2, including optional add ons that players will likely take advantage of, this event will surely turn up a very juicy prize pool.
The day began with players receiving a deep 200K stack with blinds increasing every 45 minutes. After the scheduled nine rounds of action, it was bagging time with 28 players remaining in the field. Finishing up Day 1 with the largest stack was Germany’s Steffen Sontheimer with 811,000 in chips. Sontheimer got an early jump-start to his stack after delivering the first casualty of the day, eliminating Connor Drinan in the third round.
Taking the second spot was American pro Tom “durrrr” Dwan with 719K in chips. Dwan put the brakes on fellow countryman David Peters, the Triton SHR series runner-up back in January. Peters did not re-enter but we may still see him make his return to the felt tomorrow.
Dwan and Cates Share the Felt
Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Daniel “jungleman” Cates found themselves seated at the same table today. While Dwan was able to keep a healthy stack, Cates was not so fortunate, busting out quite early. The two also shared the same table at yesterday’s event, engaging in some friendly table talk on both occasions. If the poker community is still wondering whether there is tension between them regarding the unfinished Durrr Challenge, by the looks of it, they seemed to be getting along just fine.
Timofey “trueteller” Kuznetsov in the house
Although Timofey “trueteller” Kuznetsov isn’t much of a live tournament player, seeing him here today at the Triton SHR Series Main Event comes as no surprise. For about a year, the Russian online pro has been a regular player in the Macau live cash games scene. Kuznetsov burned out on his first buy-in but the second bullet was the charm, ending the day with slightly above starting stack.
Juanda and Tran on their second bullet
With nothing but heavy hitters in the field, among those who remained were poker legends John Juanda and JC Tran, both of them riding on their second bullet. Juanda has been a regular follower of the Poker King Club since its inception, playing the high stakes cash games both in the Philippines and in Macau.
VIPs in the house
Among the players who survived the day were well known businessmen Paul Phua and Richard Yong. Both of them have been pivotal to the growth of the Triton SHR Series bringing in the Chinese VIP businessmen to participate in the live tournament scene. Several of those VIPs did make it through with some of them bagging up sizable stacks. Yong’s son, Yong Wai Kin, the second edition Triton SHR champion, was also one of the players who will be returning to Day 2.
Notable players remaining
Other high profile poker elites also making it through the day were UK’s Jack Salter, Italy’s Mustapha Kanit, Germany’s Philipp Gruissem, England’s Stephen Chidwick, and opening event’s third place finisher, Spain’s Sergio Aido. While Salter racked up a stack that earned him one of the top spots in the chip rung, Chidwick was on the other end of the totem pole, bagging up the lowest stack of the bunch.
Seidel and Holz missing in Action
There were a couple of players onsite today but opted not to enter Day 1 of the Main Event, poker legend USA’s Erik Seidel and the first Triton SHR series champion, German high roller killing machine, Fedor Holz. It was rumored that Holz was up all night playing the big cash game so it’s possible he is saving his energy for tomorrow.
The Triton SHR Series will resume at 2pm tomorrow for Day 2 of the Main Event. Late registration will be open until the start of the day. They will play another ten rounds. Final tally of players and the total prize pool will be posted tomorrow.
Recap and pictures by Somuchpoker
Chip counts of the 28 survivors
- Steffen Sontheimer – 811,000
- Tom “durrrr” Dwan – 719,000
- Arnaud Romain – 696,000
- Jack Salter – 607,000
- Zhang Ye – 580,000
- Bryn Kenney – 574,000
- Shi Jei Cai – 480,000
- Cheok Ingieng Cheong – 471,000
- John Juanda – 469,000
- Paul Phua – 406,000
- Rui Cao – 403,000
- Wai Kin Yong – 371,000
- Peter Chan – 341,000
- Sergio Aido – 306,000
- Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit – 301,000
- Yeong Jong Luun – 301,000
- Salman Behbehani – 249,000
- Timofey “trueteller” Kuznetsov – 237,000
- Sun Ya Qi – 204,000
- Philipp Gruissem – 193,000
- Cyril Andre – 185,000
- JC Tran – 168,000
- Lap Kay Chan – 159,000
- Mikael Thuritz – 150,000
- Wang Zuo – 130,000
- Richard Yong – 128,000
- Huang Shan – 119,000
- Stephen Chidwick – 104,000