Triton Million for Charity 10-Episode Series set for Worldwide Digital Release

The Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity poker tournament, which costs £1,050,000 to participate, is set to be released as a 10-part series on Triton Poker’s official YouTube channel

Held in London during 2019, the prestigious competition still holds the record for being the most expensive poker tournament of all time and will now be available for all viewers with an internet connection to enjoy.

Episodes 1 and 2 of the post-produced series will make its digital debut starting Thursday September 23rd, 2021, on the Triton Poker YouTube channel, with the duo of poker legend Daniel Negreanu and television personality Ali Nejad as your commentators. 

Triton’s innovative structure pitted an array of the world’s most talented poker players such as Bryn Kenney, Daniel’ Jungleman’ Cates, and Tom’ durrrr’ Dwan against high profile businessmen (and businesswoman) such as Paul Phua, Tony G and Haralabos Voulgaris in one of the richest purses in sports and gaming history.

In the entry fee of £1,050,000, £50,000 was taken from each buy-in and distributed to over 15 charities globally, including the One Drop Foundation, Raising for Effective Giving (REG), and the Malaysian Red Crescent.

The tournament previously aired on television with NBCSports in the United States, Canada’s TSN channel, FreeSports in the UK, Sport 5 in Israel, and across several Eastern European countries.

Learn More 

Triton Poker Agree TV Deal with FreeSports to Broadcast Triton Million in the UK

Triton Poker has signed a TV deal with FreeSports to showcase coverage of the Triton Million: A Helping Hand For Charity, a £1m buy-in event that took place in London, 2019. FreeSports will spread the Triton Poker love to 22 million homes in the UK through their free-to-air model. 

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series may be on an imposed hiatus, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your fix of the biggest high-stakes poker tour in the world.

The first of ten episodes will hit UK TV screens on Thursday, October 1 at 10:00 pm, and is available on several UK networks such as Freeview HD channel 64, Sky HD channel 422, Virgin HD 553, TalkTalk 64, and BT Vision channel 64. Additionally, the series will also be available on the FreeSports online player, downloadable at www.freesportsplayer.tv

The Triton Million remains one of the most innovative and incredible poker tournaments of its time with 54 pros and business people alike creating a £54m prize money, and a £19m first prize, the biggest in the history of the game.

The Triton Million recently broadcast on Canada’s largest sports network TSN, Sport 5 in Israel, and Sport 1 across several Eastern European countries. 

Timofey ‘trueteller’ Kuznetsov: True Genius

By Lee Davy

Who Has An Itch

To Be Filthy Rich?

Who Gives A Hoot

For A Lot Of Loot?

Who Longs To Live

A Life Of Perfect Ease?

And Be Swamped By Necessary Luxuries?

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Frank Sinatra may have sung it, but it’s a dream stitched into the double helix of everyone ejected into this world, and for most the gestation period continues into the grave. 

But ‘most’ isn’t ‘everyone.’

Some buck the trend.

Like the people sending ‘success’ screaming through the ventricles and atriums, radiating and reverberating a reverent YES! YES! YES!

People like Timofey ‘trueteller’ Kuznetsov.

During a tete-a-tete in Jeju, South Korea, a ball of wax must have taken possession of my cochlea, because I swear that he told me that he set the goal to make $1m playing online poker at Paul Hardcastle’s age. 

If I’m going to write about it, I had better do my due diligence, so I contacted him.

Kuznetsov did create an ambitious poker goal when 19, and hit it within three-years. Only it wasn’t $1m. 

I had missed a crucial zero.

It was $10m.

Kuznetsov grew up in Novosibirsk, on the banks of the Ob River in Siberia, the third most populous city in Russia, and a place of serene beauty according to Kuznetsov, waxing lyrical over his school walks through the vast forestry that blocked out the horizon.

The Russian star describes the people of Novosibirsk as ‘nice’ and calls it a ‘healthy’ place to grow up thanks to the clean forest air. Novosibirsk is home to a sizable scientific contingent. Still, Kuznetsov’s mother was a doctor; his father, a businessman, peddling in music stores, video rentals and toy shops. Little wonder that Kuznetsov would develop a keen fondness for games citing ‘Heroes of Might and Magic 3’, ‘Monopoly’, ‘Alias’, ‘FIFA’, and ‘Chess’ amongst his favourite games, outside of poker.

The University Years

The eldest of three children all born within nine years, Kuznetsov left his home city, moving to Moscow aged 17, to study mathematics and applied theory of probabilities at Moscow State University. To give you a sense of the support Kuznetsov received from his parents at that age, they also moved to Moscow at this time. 

The brilliance of Kuznetsov’s mind became apparent very early in life. Moscow State University has one of the most respected math departments in the world, and Kuznetsov was one of the top young mathematicians in Russia at that time. 

“I was positive about the future during those years,” recalls Kuznetsov. “I harboured hopes of becoming involved in stocks or hedge funds, and for a time, I entered some consulting competitions, thinking I may end up working for an organisation like KPMG.”

It sounded like a plan.

Plans change.

“A friend won $7k playing online poker in a few months,” recalls Kuznetsov, “I thought that was pretty cool, and as I am competitive, love playing games, and there was money to be won, I thought, why not give it a go?”

Kuznetsov loved poker instantly as it allowed him to combine his passion for mathematics with his love for gaming. Candidly, Kuznetsov wanted to be a high stakes poker player and believed it was possible. 

“Many smart people have believed they could play high stakes poker, and eventually went broke,” said Kuznetsov’s close friend and high stakes star, Furkat Rakhimov. “Timofey was different because he had the skills to match his ambition.”

That Ambition

A 19-year-old Kuznetsov began to realise that poker was more than a pastime. It was a way to make some serious money. So Kuznetsov set his first poker goal – to make $10m playing online poker. 

An illusion?

Delusion?

A naive sense of confusion?

“I was overconfident in a way, but sometimes overconfidence doesn’t hurt,” said Kuznetsov.

After depositing $25 on partypoker, Kuznetsov began playing 1c/2c, and within his first six months, he broke the $10k mark, a milestone he says was one of his most significant. 

By this time, Kuznetsov had decided that he would never work a single day in his life. Poker would be his vehicle for success. At first, his parents didn’t think it was a good idea, especially given how gifted he was.

“They assumed I would have a great career in finance and wondered what the hell I was doing with my life playing cards,” said Kuznetsov.

Kuznetsov won $40k playing online cash games, and decided to continue with his university studies, but turn his back on the planned summer school position with KPMG. It was a decision that his parents supported. 

$5/$10

Then came Kuznetsov’s first big challenge. 

$5/$10.

After cruising through the menu of delicacies available at $2/$4 and $3/$6 establishing a 5bb/100 win rate, Kuznetsov kept donating it through $5/$10 shot taking.

“Bad luck is always a part of it,” said Kuznetsov, “but that time, I was unknowingly lucky that I didn’t run good right away.”

Kuznetsov is pointing to the problem of running so good that when you stare at your reflection, you see Phil Ivey. You don’t put in the work because you think you’re the nuts. The $5/$10 walls forced Kuznetsov to study, and that’s where Phil Galfond enters the fray.

“I studied hard, and during this time, I stumbled across Phil Galfond’s old No-Limit videos, which opened my eyes on a couple of key thinking patterns in poker,” said Kuznetsov.

After four months of $5/$10 driving a stake through his heart and countless nights of seeing the spectre of Phil Galfond standing by the side of his bed, Kuznetsov got lucky – his exams forced a clean break from the game. 

Deprived of the one thing, he loved, at this critical juncture in his career, turned out to be life changing.

The Break

The story of the poker player refusing to return to school to concentrate wholly on poker is a well-trodden path, but not for Kuznetsov. The Siberian native finished the full five years of his maths degree even specialising in probability theory.

Once the exams were in the bag, Kuznetsov returned to poker, and “something had changed,” said Kuznetsov.

Upon returning to the tables, Kuznetsov had a $40k bankroll. He made $70k EV and $40k profit in his first month back. By the end of the second month, Kuznetsov had earned another $100k, and that happened again in the third month. By the end of the year, Kuznetsov’s bankroll had risen from $40k to $1.7m playing mostly 25/50 cap games – quite the soufflé.

“My subconscious finally had a break to decompress, analyse and properly encompass the missing parts of the puzzle I’d received from Phil’s videos.” Said Kuznetsov. “It was the second year of my poker career, and I thought it couldn’t go any better, but turned out I was wrong.”

By this time, Kuznetsov’s online avatar’ trueteller’ had become recognised as one of the best, if not the best, short-stack poker player during that period.

“The action never seemed to die,” said Kuznetsov. “I had people playing me every day at 50/100 -200/400 mostly, some 500/1k. I couldn’t believe how much money I was making and took a total of two days off poker in the next year and a half.”

By the time Kuznetsov had reached his 22nd birthday, he had achieved his $10m goal. 

Mathematical Olympiads

Is poker a game of nature or nurture?

It seems Kuznetsov leaned more towards the nature side of that complicated question.

Here’s his good friend Furkat Rakhimov to explain.

“Timofey competed in Math Olympiads, which are high-pressure global competitions, which test your creative thinking skills. It makes your mind very adaptable and capable of thinking about new subjects deeply on a time limit and is very good for poker.”

And if you wondered ‘how good?’

“Recently, we discussed a short deck hand, questioning if 89s is better against AK or AQ on AQ7 board with a backdoor,” said Rakhimov. “It took Timofey two seconds to tell me that there are 16 runouts against the first hand, and 15 runouts for the second to win. I was like holy moly! How does he do that?!”

The International Math Olympiad is the most prestigious math tournament in the world. Aimed at pre-college students, it’s the oldest of the International Science Olympiads stretching back till 1959. It’s that prestigious, in the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, the schools would select the teams years in advance, and specially train the kids to compete. 

Kuznetsov not only learned to improve his mathematical dexterity, but he also learned how to compete, and he loved it.

 “I won my first math contest when I was seven,” said Kuznetsov. “I recently found letters to my grandparent bragging about the results. Hard evidence that those tests were deeply important for me from the start.

 “I did the team and individual contests; normally the concept is that you have about 4 hours for 4-8 problems and they are very hard, sometimes crushing hard. The feeling of cracking one was the highest I felt during ten years I participated. I’ve travelled to several cities in Russia and twice to Kazakhstan to participate. My biggest achievements are a bronze medal in the final of the All-Russian Olympiad and silver in the Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad both in 2008. I was and still am very proud of those results.”

So Kuznetsov accrued his mathematical knowledge early doors. The kid was a smart cookie, but what about the sugar?

“I was very much inside my head until very late on,” said Kuznetsov. “I would say I was very introverted until 21/22. It was at this time that I realised that being introverted didn’t make me happy. I didn’t reflect emotionally. I didn’t feel. I was lonely.”

Kuznetsov worked on this aspect of the game of life, ultimately conquering his emotionally intelligent end bosses, but his process came at a price.

“People aren’t aware of how hard it is to manage emotions and play well when you’re losing, especially live and big. As I became more social and emotional, I started to feel more, and realised for the first time what tilt was. I had to face it, and fight it, and that’s been one of my biggest challenges.”

“Live”.

“Big”.

When did that happen?

The Transition to Completeness

In 2014, Kuznetsov began feeling contemptuous towards the No-Limit Hold ’em cash games and started playing 2-7 Triple Draw, PLO, and other mixed games on Full Tilt. 

Here’s Rakhimov to reminisce on the 2014 Full Tilt era.

“For those who don’t know, that year, the action on Full Tilt was crazy in all the games – 400-800nl deep with ‘MalACEasia’, 2-7td 1k-2k, O8 1k-2k, mixed games, always jumping in the highest stakes games right away with no preparation and learning on the fly.”

It’s during this ‘crazy’ time that an opportune moment arose for Kuznetsov – one that sent his career on a whole new trajectory.

“I was playing triple draw online, and with Gus {Hansen}, and one-week ‘Samrostan’. And we all lost a lot, and the game stopped,” reminisced Kuznetsov. “For a few weeks there was no action above $10/$20 No Limit, and I was stuck a lot. It hurt. I needed to find big action, and nobody was willing to play big. Then I heard about the Macau thing and said, “Let’s go!”

The Phil Ivey Game

If you want proof that Kuznetsov learned and earned plenty in Macau, then have a listen to this little tale. 

After some time playing live, Kuznetsov had the idea to compete with Phil Ivey in a mixed game match. 

“For all of us young players, Ivey was like a god of poker,” said Rakhimov. “There were no programs that would help you get ready for limit games, and also Timofey is kind of an intuitive player that always prefers practice. After practising mostly in PLO, and heads-up HORSE on his phone with his friends during live Macau games, he decided he was ready.”

The match started in late 2015, and Rakhimov remembers railing the game intensely because “I admired a guy who took his chance to play a Phil Ivey who had been at the top of the food chain for 20+ years.”

Rakhimov remembers that the game never seemed to end with the pair competing for 25-30 hours straight, and then back on it after a few hours of sleep. After months of fighting, and with Kuznetsov leading, the game came to an end.

How did Kuznetsov feel about beating the best in the business?

He told Rakhimov that he felt like he had played Mortal Combat for five straight years, eventually beating the End Boss ‘Shawkan’. 

A Bump in The Road

After Macau, Kuznetsov took his game to Bobby’s Room in Las Vegas, one of the most famous high stakes poker rooms in the world. 

“It’s the toughest poker game by far in the world,” said Rakhimov. “The difference of this mix is that limit games turn into pot-limit games, which makes it way more complicated. Timofey had no experience in those games at all!”

It showed.

After losing $750k on the first night, Kuznetsov continued dusting every single session until the regs gave him a special VIP seat. For the first time since he began competing, trueteller looked around the room and couldn’t find the sucker.

That year, Kuznetsov lost ‘a lot,’ but his competitiveness drove him to practice like a banshee, competing in games such as pot-limit Badugi, pot-limit 2-7 triple draw, BigO, etc. 

Within a year, the Bobby’s Room regs had removed the name of ‘trueteller’ from the VIP seat.

Today, he’s one of the most formidable players in that game.

The Best Player in the World?

It’s challenging to rank cash game players, in terms of the best in the world, but his peers believe Kuznetsov is right up there. 

Wiktor ‘limitless’ Malinowski called him the ‘Messi of Poker.’ 

Rui Cao said he is ‘the smartest person I know. He’s fearless and deserves everything he has now. I was always cosy and overconfident, and he humbled me.”

Daniel’ Jungleman’ Cates calls him one of the ‘best professional gamblers there is.”

Rob Yong called him a ‘modest’ guy; ‘humble’, and always willing to help other people – a ‘natural born wizard.’

Phil Galfond, the man who Kuznetsov credited with ‘filling in the blanks’, said, “I have nothing but positive things to say about Timofey. Despite how incredibly tough he is as a player, his kindness, intelligence, and sense of humour make him a pleasure to have at the table.”

And his good friend Furkat Rakhimov?

“Not only is he the best player in the world, he’s also the best friend, the kindest person – a true genius.”

Triton Poker pens Triton Million Broadcast Deals in Major TV Markets

Triton Poker have secured several more key TV markets for their 10-episode ‘Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity’ tournament from London 2019 after joining forces with Protocol Sports Marketing.

Following the successful release on Canada’s largest sports network TSN, the biggest poker tournament of all time will broadcast on Sport 5 in Israel and Sport 1 across several Eastern European countries. 

During the Triton Super High Roller Series London 2019 poker festival, the feature event was the ‘Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity’, with the tournament buy-in no less than a staggering £1,050,000 for entry. 

54 invited participants, divided by half professional poker players and half wealthy businessmen, fought it out for the chance to win a massive 1st place £19,000,000 payout, the biggest in poker history. 

Additionally, £50,000 from each player was collected to form a pool of money for charity, totalling £2,700,000 donated to various foundations

Triton Poker was created by Seng Chen “Richard” Yong and Wei-Seng “Paul” Phua back in 2016 with a distinct ethos and identity, catering to poker’s high rollers.

Richard Yong and Paul Phua

“Our vision for the Triton Poker brand has always been about bringing the world’s best players and providing them with the opportunity to play the highest stakes imaginable while also giving back to charity,” says Paul Phua.  “We are finding that this vision is resonating with major media platforms, leading to coverage on some of the world’s biggest channels.”

Protocol Sports have also hinted that the Triton Million series will enter even more markets in the near future, with the United States’ and the United Kingdom’s broadcasters interested.

“There is much more to come,” says Protocol Sports Marketing President Lowell Conn. “We have numerous broadcast partners and sponsors that are expressing interest in Triton Poker, and we expect to very soon announce deals in more major markets, including the United States and the United Kingdom.”

Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London 2020 Cancelled Due to Coronavirus Risk

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London 2020 festival scheduled for July 29 – August 13 2020 has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

We are experiencing unprecedented feelings of uncertainty in our personal and professional lives due to the global Coronavirus outbreak. With this in mind, the Triton team believe it’s crucial to lessen this uncertainty, giving you advanced warning of the cancellations and resumption of Triton events.

It’s vitally important to us that we provide you with a safe environment, not only to play the game you love but to travel to and from the incredible locations that host Triton events. We don’t believe we can offer you this safety in the current climate, and so we have cancelled The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series planned for London Jul 29 – Aug 13.

The London event was the last Triton event scheduled for 2020, meaning the next time you hear from us we hope to be bringing you good news!

Keep safe.

Poker King Confirmed as Triton Poker SHR Series Presenting Sponsor for 2020

Poker King have announced a partnership with Triton Poker, which will see the company as the Presenting Sponsor on all Triton Super High Roller Series festivals in 2020.

The first stop of the year will be in Jeju South Korea from February 10-22, with Budva, Montenegro and London, England next on the Triton SHR roadmap. Other locations are also being planned, but have yet to be confirmed.

Poker King was founded by the world’s leading gaming group: Sun City Group and AG Group, which is headquartered in the Central Business District of Manila in the Philippines.

Poker King is currently the largest and most popular online poker site in Asia with more than 1.2 million registered members.

Poker King’s platform supports all Texas Hold’em formats, such as full deck, short deck, Pot Limit Omaha, SNG and more.

There are between 50,000 to 80,000 daily online games, and the number of players exceeds 100,000.

Poker King have previously partnered with some of the world’s most prestigious tournament brands, including the Asian Poker Tour (APT), the World Poker Tour (WPT) and recently the Boyaa Poker Tour (BPT).

As of 2017, 40 Poker King competitions have been held in different locations across Asia.

Tom Dwan, who is the Ambassador of both Triton Poker and Poker King, stated:  “I will carry out my understanding of poker games onto the Poker King platform and support them to promote a credible and fair gaming environment for all of poker players.”

For more information on Triton Jeju 2020, please visit this link.

Triton Poker returns to Jeju South Korea for First Stop of 2020

After taking you to a whole ‘nother level during the Triton Millions: A Helping Hand for Charity we felt like you needed a break from all of the excitement.

Well, break time is over!

Pack your bags, or prepare to tune in from home, because the Triton Super High Roller Series returns with its first event of 2020, and it promises to be another whizz, bang, wallop of a high stakes series.

February 10-22, 2020, Triton returns to South Korea and Jeju Shinhwa World for 12-days of mind-blowing poker, at the highest-stakes involving the best pros and semi-pros in the business. 

When the Triton Poker Series first planted a flag in the Jeju Province in 2018 there were five events on the schedule. The return in 2019, saw that increase by two. 2020 adds even more value for the players and consumers of world-class poker content with an increase to 11 tournaments, featuring No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), and Short Deck formats, as well as a Mixed Short Deck and No-Limit, Hold’em game.

The two eye-catching events are the HKD 1m NLHE Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Main Event, and the HKD 1m Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Short-Deck Main Event.

In 2018, when the Main Event buy-in was HKD 2m, Mikita Badziakouski became the first player to win back-to-back Triton Poker Super High Roller Series NLHE Main Events, defeating 55-entrants on his way to an HKD 41,250,000 (USD 5,257,027) first prize. Kenneth Kee took down the 60-entrant HKD 1m Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Short-Deck Main Event for HKD 22,500,000 (USD 2,867,009).

The series returned in 2019, with Timothy Adams winning the HKD $2m Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Main Event, conquering a field of 48-entrants to win the HKD 27,760,500 (USD3,536,550) first prize. Jason Koon vanquished 81-entrants to win the HKD 22,300,000 (USD 2,840,945) first prize in the HKD 1m Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Short-Deck Main Event.

Here is the full schedule:

Amongst the glitterati confirmed to participate in the festival, include Triton Poker Ambassadors Tom Dwan and Jason Koon, Triton Million London winner Aaron Zang and the legendary poker ace Phil Ivey

Players receive five nights free accommodation at the Marriott Hotel Jeju Shinhwa World for every HKD 1m in tournament buy-ins they compete in. For example, if you compete in HKD 2m worth of buy-ins then you receive 10 nights free accommodation. 

Once again the Triton Super High Roller Series offers unparallelled digital coverage, available in English for free on the official Triton Poker Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook channels, and the Triton website. 

English Coverage:
Triton Website: www.triton-series.com
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/tritonpoker
YouTube: www.youtube.com/tritonpoker
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tritonpoker

Chinese Coverage:

ZhiboTV: www.zhibo.tv/10004

For more information on the Triton Jeju 2020 festival, CLICK HERE.

Brilliant Bonomo wins Triton short-deck, then hints at retirement

Justin Bonomo started this month as the No 1 money earner in world poker, the result of a stellar 2018 in which he won more than $25 million and leapt to the top of the all-time money list. He will go into the second week of the month in second place, having yielded his top spot to the all-conquering Bryn Kenney–but Bonomo tonight had one last laugh.

The brilliant New Jersey native, long a tournament poker crusher, added his second title on the Triton Super High Roller Series tonight, beating Malaysia’s Wai Kin Yong heads up and winning £2.67 million. It still leaves him short of Kenney, but it was yet another superlative tournament display from Bonomo, not least because of the man he beat at the end.

Two days ago, Yong won the full deck main event, and was on for a remarkable double. But Bonomo was able to deny Yong the title, not long after Yong’s father had fallen slightly short in his bid to win another event going on tonight.

“There was part of me that was rooting for you and your dad to win at the same time,” Bonomo told Yong. “That would have been super cool.”

Could have been very different for Justin Bonomo, who doubled heads up

But the ruthless streak that has earned Bonomo so many plaudits and trophies kicked in, and he left Yong with £1.835 million for second.

Bonomo previously won on the Triton series in Jeju in March, but hinted that he might not be doing all this for much longer. “My 2018 was incredible, so I’m kind of easing my way into retirement,” Bonomo said. “My plan is to play less poker, Bryn’s plan is to play a lot of poker, so as far as I’m concerned I’ll probably never get number one again. It’s not really a goal of mine, and I’m totally fine with that.”

He added: “I’m not going to completely retire, but I’m playing a lot less. Because of 2018 I’ve nothing but pride to look back on. I’ve nothing left to prove to anyone.”

Bonomo also said that behind the placid exterior, and the two titles, he finds the volatility of short deck to be a strain on his calm temperament.

“I like it when I win, but honestly I don’t like crazy all ins,” Bonomo said. “I don’t like getting it all in with 55 percent but you have to in this game. Some people enjoy the all ins. I find them extremely stressful. Obviously when you win tournaments it’s great, but other than the fact that I’m winning these tournaments, I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite game.”

The tournament only ended tonight about after a series of double ups between the two last players, which followed a tortuous five-hour three-handed session.

“The hardest part was three handed,” Bonomo said. “There was a very big pay jump from third to second and we were all aware of that. The big stack, whoever it was, just tried to put on the pressure. There were a lot of very tough bets made on the turn, especially by Wai Kin.”

Beaten heads up, Wai Kin Yong

The final hand came about at around 12.10am, when Yong got his stack in with Ac8c and Bonomo called with KcJd. The dealer left it to the river on a board of 7s8sQhTdJc to seal Yong’s fate and wrap it up for Bonomo.

The final table started at around 1pm with plenty of play still guaranteed.

Ming Zhong Liu became the first player out from, pushing all in for 1.76 million from the hijack with 9c8c and seeing Justin Bonomo re-shove to isolate from the cutoff with AcKh. In short deck, this set-up is as good as a flip, but Bonomo’s 54 percent equity vaulted to 89 percent on the 6sKc6d flop. The Jc and 8s completed the board, and Liu took £482,200 for seventh.

Tough break for Ming Zhong Liu

The only player with a shorter stack than Liu at the beginning of the day was Isaac Haxton, but the American high stakes regular had done good work in gradually building his stack. But that climb only made the crumble even more dramatic: Haxton perished in a huge three-way all-in that sent Yong flying even higher into the clouds.

Haxton committed his 2.85 million stack with AsAc from under the gun and Yong, with a stack three times as big, re-raise shoved to isolate. He had KcKs. Rui Cao, the Montenegro short deck champion, then looked down at JdTd and in short deck that’s probably a call. Sure enough, he committed his stack of close to 3 million, but needed to outdraw both bigger pairs.

Tea? Oh, OK. Isaac Haxton busts

Everything has been running impossibly smoothly for Yong over the past few days, and the flop of Qd6sKh was dreamy. He faded all the outs through the Tc turn and 6c river, and won a monster. His stack grew to 16 million, which was about half the chips in play four-handed.

Haxton, meanwhile, was confirmed as the sixth-placed finisher and won £611,900. Cao picked up £783,000.

Rui Cao

Talk now began in earnest not only of a back-to-back victory for Yong, but also that he could end up going heads-up against Phua for the second day in a row. Phua was short stacked, but had come back from more perilous positions in previous tournaments.

However, lighting did not strike twice. Phua pushed for his last 1.105 million with KsQc and Yong made an easy call with his AsQs. Yong again flopped beautifully, with the KhJsTc board making Broadway. The 7s turn and 9s river turned it into a flush.

Paul Phua: Out for good from Triton London

Phua went out in fourth, cashing for £974,500, his third in-the-money result of the week. When you add his most recent score to the £2.07 million from the other main event, and the £49,500 from the six-handed turbo, it’s been another pretty good week.

Yong, Bonomo and Liang Xu then settled down for what proved to be a long session of three-handed play. Xu was the shortest, but doubled up through Bonomo with AhKd against AcQh when he got his 6.16 million stack in pre-flop. The best hand held up. Then Yong proved that his game isn’t only about hitting big hands: he pulled off a terrific fold to ensure he didn’t give more chips to Bonomo.

In this one, Yong flopped trips with QsTs on a KsQcQd board, but he correctly folded to Bonomo’s aggression on the river — after the 8d turn and 7d river completed the board. By that point, Bonomo had Kd6d for the flush.

The stacks were deep and the players were reluctant to get them on in unnecessarily. The trio played small ball for upwards of five hours (there were one or two double ups and split pots) before two big hands between Yong and Liang. Liang won the first, doubling up with QhKd to Yong’s QsTc. But then Yong doubled back shorly after, with AsQs against Liang’s KcKd. Yong spiked an ace on the river.

Wai Kin Yong hits an ace on the river to double

That left Liang with fewer than 40 antes and in real trouble, while putting Yong back on the top of the pile.

Bonomo finished Liang off. They got it in pre-flop, with Bonomo’s Th9h very much more than live against Liang’s KcQh. The TcTd6s flop smashed Bonomo in the face, and Liang was drawing dead after the 7h turn.

Liang, who is becoming something of a fixture in the deep stages of super high roller events, won £1,202,500.

Liang Xu’s tournament ends

They were all but even as heads up began, with around 105 antes apiece. The best of Asia versus the best of the rest of the world. In many ways it was the perfect representation of the Triton brand, which brings these two factions together for this peerless series of high roller tournaments.

West vs. East: Bonomo vs. Yong

While most of us were settling in for a very long duel, the pair at the table actually started playing some sizeable pots right off the bat. One particularly huge encounter came about with a board of 9d6hQcJc7h on the table. Bonomo bet about 4 million at it, a third of his stack. Yong used two time-bank chips before calling with Js7s and Bonomo’s Tc9h was beaten.The pot gave Yong a near three-to-one chip lead.

But Bonomo chipped back and then doubled himself, setting up the big finale. Kenney was long gone from London, back in the United States and enjoying his new status on top of the world. But for all Bonomo’s insistence that’s he’s not chasing, results like this put him right back in the hunt.

Champion Justin Bonomo

Triton London Short Deck Main Event
Dates: August 6-8, 2019
Buy-in: £100,000
Entries: 108 (inc. 55 re-entries)
Prize pool: £10,370,000

1 – Justin Bonomo, United States, £2,670,000
2 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia, £1,835,000
3 – Liang Xu, China, £1,202,500
4 – Paul Phua, Malaysia, £974,500
5 – Rui Cao, France, £783,000
6 – Isaac Haxton, United States, £611,900
7 – Ming Zhong Liu, Macau, £482,200

8 – David Benefield, United States, £368,100
9 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, £269,600
10 – Jason Koon, United States, £217,700
11 – Furkat Rakhimov, Russia, £217,700
12 – Tom Dwan, United States, £191,900
13 – Cary Katz, United States, £191,900
14 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong, £177,000
15 – Richard Yong, Malaysia, £177,000

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.

partypoker LIVE was created in January 2017 as a global poker tour, with the aim of bringing large field, high guarantee tournaments to players all over the world. Within just 12 months the partypoker LIVE tour has grown into the world’s largest ever poker tour and is guaranteeing over $70,000,000 in the 2018/2019 season.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Liang chews up the raptor, claims Triton £50K short deck title

The Marshall Islands, a tiny country in Micronesia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, does not exactly have a rich poker history. But as of tonight, it has a Triton Super High Roller Series champion after the quiet, unassuming and ruthless Yu Liang beat David Benefield heads up to win the £50,000 buy-in short deck tournament at London’s Park Lane Hilton.

Two days ago, Benefield won the first major poker tournament of his career when he took down a £25,000 short-deck event. But even the Texan, who goes by the name “raptor” online, couldn’t chew up Liang. As the clock struck midnight on the final day of this long and lucrative festival, Liang’s Tc7c flopped best against Benefield’s AcQc when the dealer put the Qh7s7d on the board. All the chips went in and a long and gruelling tournament ended with the As turn and 8d river not enough to push Benefield back in front.

Liang too £777,000 for the victory, while Benefield adds another £560,500.

No back-to-back for David Benefield

The tournament started slowly yesterday, with a clock ticking down above empty seats. But then four hardy souls — Peter Jetten, Daniel Dvoress, Sam Greenwood and Mikita Badziakouski — got things started, and others eventually decided that they wanted in too.

With registration remaining open into the second and final day, it allowed for 52 entries to land on the cash desk and a prize pool of £2.465 million. It was the smallest of the festival, but not a single person would sniff at the £777,000 first prize.

£50K took a while to get going, but got there in the end

Sniff was all that all of those four pioneers — plus a roll call also including the likes of Jason Koon, Cary Katz, Seth Davies, Gabe Patgorski and Danny Tang — could do, however, as they perished before the final table was even close. But we then saw a Triton first: a double knock-out on the stone bubble, on two different tables, meaning two players split the seventh place prize.

Those two were Malaysia’s Tong Siow Choon, whose AhQc lost to Richard Yong’s AdKh and Mike Watson, whose QsQh lost to David Benefield’s As8h.

Bubble 1: Tong Siow Choon

With all due respect to Choon, the latter bust-out was far more significant. Watson was sitting in second place in the overall chip counts nine-handed when he got it in, with Benefield the only player who could possibly knock him out. It was particularly grim, therefore, for Watson to see an ace on the flop: his wretched fortune in Triton events continues, even though he took £64,750 for a chop of seventh. (He was only in for one bullet, so that’s a profit.)

Yet another Triton sickener for Mike Watson

The knock-on effect of this was that Beh Kok Weng was the retrospective bubble boy, though he was long gone by that point.

Thanks in a large part to that huge hand, Benefield went to his second short-deck final of the week as a soaraway chip leader. The full line up looked like this:

1 – David Benefield, 5.98 million
2 – Richard Yong, 2.585 million
3 – Yu Liang, 2.08 million
4 – Romain Arnaud, 1.41 million
5 – Chin Wei Lim, 1.41 million
6 – Stephen Chidwick, 815,000

Final table in the £50K (l-r): Yu Liang, Richard Yong, Stephen Chidwick, Romain Arnaud, Chin Wei Lim, David Benefield

Chidwick has had a brilliant Triton London festival, cashing four of the five tournaments he has entered, including the £1 million event. He was in for four bullets in this final event, however, so needed to finish fourth or better to return a profit.

He doubled his short stack through Benefield early in final table play, but almost immediately sent the whole lot over to Yong, when his AcKd lost to Yong’s As8d when Yong rivered a flush. Chidwick rounds off his week with £160,200 on to the ledger.

The last event, last knockout of Stephen Chidwick

As for Yong, his star was in the ascendant. Though Benefield was still clear at the top, Yong also then managed to knock out Romain Arnaud in fifth place in a standard AcKh > AdQc coup. Arnaud won £209,500.

Romain Arnaud busts, with no tears

As tends to happen in short deck tournaments, the stacks were suddenly relatively deep so the action slowed down a little. But Chin Wei Lim found himself growing shorter and made a stand with AsKh. Benefield had all the chips to play with and TcTh was plenty good enough to take a free hit at Lim.

Benefield flopped a set, Lim turned a straight and then Benefield rivered a full house. Anyone still questioning why short deck is a volatile game should replay that run out over and over. It happens all the time. Lim cashed three times this week, including in the £1 million tournament, and this one was worth £271,300.

As tends to happen in short deck tournaments, the stacks were suddenly relatively deep so the action slowed down a little. But Chin Wei Lim found himself growing shorter and made a stand with AsKh. Benefield had all the chips to play with and TcTh was plenty good enough to take a free hit at Lim.

Benefield flopped a set, Lim turned a straight and then Benefield rivered a full house. Anyone still questioning why short deck is a volatile game should replay that run out over and over. (In full, the board was Js7cTsQdJc) Lim cashed three times this week, including in the £1 million tournament, and this one was worth £271,300.

A rap on the table and it’s goodbye for Wei Lim Chin

Much like in the short deck main event, taking place on the neighbouring table, three-handed play took a good long while. But unlike in the main event, the Yong in this tournament found himself in trouble. And then he was out. With young Wai Kin Yong occasionally wandering over to see how his father, Richard, was faring, Yu Liang did his bit in trimming the Yong quotient in half.

Liang’s QhKd stayed better than Yong’s QsTc through a board of AdQc9s7c6s. Yong won £357,000.

Richard Yong knocked out in third

Benefield had found himself heads up for a short deck tournament only a matter of two days ago, and had come through that battle with flying colours. But this one proved to be much more of a test. Even though Benefield opened up a big lead, it was Liang who scored the first major double up when his tournament life was hanging by a thread.

They got their stacks in on a flop of 8s6dJh with Benefield’s 8c6c representing a very fragile two pair against Liang’s 9sTd. The 9c turn gave Liang even more cause for optimism, then the Qd river completed his straight. That then gave Liang a three-to-one chip lead: 150 antes to Benefield’s 45.

Benefield tried to get something going, and had seemingly abandoned his strategy from yesterday when he said the key to short deck was just to “go all in”. The pots were comparatively small. But then there was that huge flop, with trips to Liang and top pair to Benefield, and neither was backing down.

Benefield congratulates Liang at the end

Triton London Short Deck
Dates: August 7-8, 2019
Buy-in: £50,000
Entries: 52 (inc. 21 re-entries)
Prize pool: £2.465 million

1 – Xu Liang, Marshall Islands, £777,000
2 – David Benefield, United States, £560,500
3 – Richard Yong, Malaysia, £357,000
4 – Chin Wei Lim, Malaysia, £271,300
5 – Romain Arnaud, France, £209,500
6 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, £160,200
7= – Mike Watson, Canada, £64,750
7= – Choon Tong Siow, Malaysia, £64,750

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.

partypoker LIVE was created in January 2017 as a global poker tour, with the aim of bringing large field, high guarantee tournaments to players all over the world. Within just 12 months the partypoker LIVE tour has grown into the world’s largest ever poker tour and is guaranteeing over $70,000,000 in the 2018/2019 season.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Prize pools push past $100 million at Triton London

Registration closed today on Event #8 at the Triton Super High Roller Series in London, the last of seven tournaments held in the Park Lane Hilton. This festival included the £1.05 million buy-in Helping Hand for Charity tournament, making it the biggest poker event held outside the World Series.

If we include the £1 million event, the total prize pools accumulated over the past eight days weigh in at £89.425 million. But even if we discount it, the remaining six tournaments attracted 622 entries (many of which were re-entries) and built prize pools of £35.425 million.

Even some of the hyper wealthy residents of Mayfair might have blinked had they known the money changing hands on their doorsteps.

Here’s the complete run-down of entry numbers and prize pools at this festival.

FormatBuy-inEntriesPrize poolFirst prize
16-Max Turbo£25,000117£2,749,500£690,000
2Triton Million£1,000,00054£54,000,000£19,000,000
3NLHE£50,000109£5,123,000£1,321,000
5NLHE£100,000130£12,200,000£3,080,000
6Short Deck£25,000106£2,517,500£650,000
7Short Deck£100,000108£10,370,000£2,670,000
8Short Deck£50,00052£2,465,000£777,000
  TOTALS676£89,425,000£28,188,000

Total prize pools USD: $108,726,492
Without Triton Million USD: $43,071,132

Note: the stated first prize is the original amount; some tournaments ended in deals being struck between remaining players.

Further note: The exchange rate between the British pound and US dollar has fluctuated significantly this week. The USD conversion is spot rate on August 8.

Here’s the payout schedule for the £50,000 short deck:

Triton London Short Deck
Dates: August 7-8, 2019
Buy-in: £50,000
Entries: 52 (inc. 21 re-entries)
Prize pool: £2.465 million

1 – £777,000
2 – £560,500
3 – £357,000
4 – £271,300
5 – £209,500
6 – £160,200
7 – £129,500

ABOUT OUR PARTNERS

Les Ambassadeurs is one of the most prestigious private clubs and casinos in London, with a history dating from the early 19th century. Situated in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district, it is formerly the favoured gambling destination of Victorian aristocracy and diplomats and is still one of the most elegant and stylish casino floors in the world.

partypoker LIVE was created in January 2017 as a global poker tour, with the aim of bringing large field, high guarantee tournaments to players all over the world. Within just 12 months the partypoker LIVE tour has grown into the world’s largest ever poker tour and is guaranteeing over $70,000,000 in the 2018/2019 season.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive