Triton Super High Roller Series Archives - Page 3 of 6

Rampant Rajkumar takes monstrous lead to final of Triton Million London

The nature of the Triton Million – A Helping Hand For Charity tournament, which is taking place this week in London’s Park Lane Hilton, was always guaranteed to bring thrills, spills and heartbreak. And today, as the field of players who paid £1.05 million just to sit down was trimmed to its final eight, we enjoyed and endured it all.

For some, such as Vivek Rajkumar, pictured above, and Stephen Chidwick, there was nothing but glee. They have by far the two biggest chip stacks going into tomorrow’s final day, and are the favourites to win the £19 million first prize, the biggest ever awarded at a poker tournament.

However, if you ever mention today to the Russian pro Igor Kurganov, you should do so solemnly and from a long distance, for your own safety. Kurganov finished this tournament in 12th place, on the stone bubble, leaving with nothing to show for his work. The 11 players from whom he was estranged guaranteed themselves a minimum £1.1 million. It was the bitterest pill for Kurganov to swallow.

Kurganov was one of a small clutch of players whose hopes hung by a thread as the original starting field of 54 was whittled towards its top 20 percent. By that point, other superstars including Jason Koon, Sam Greenwood, Justin Bonomo, Nick Petrangelo and Christoph Vogelsang were also already on the scrapheap.

The end of the road for poker’s most unfortunate bubble boy, Igor Kurganov

But then Kurganov’s pocket tens ran into the pocket jacks of Bill Perkins, and Kurganov was unable to find an outdraw when he really needed it most. It was actually Perkins who was officially under threat, with marginally fewer chips, but the hedge fund manager’s better hand remained more powerful and kept him alive. Kurganov was left only with shrapnel and lost it to Rajkumar moments later.

Perkins kindly agreed to donate 10 percent of his winnings from this tournament to REG charity, the foundation established by Kurganov and friends, and to whom he had made the same pledge. The donation will be in addition to the £2.7 million already heading to charitable concerns from this tournament, the result of the £50,000 entry fee going directly to charity.

After Kurganov’s departure, the original plan was then to lose two more players and set a final table of nine. But Hong Kong businessman Winfred Yu was quickly knocked out in 11th, collecting £1.1 million, before two more Asian stars went out almost simultaneously. Bryn Kenney knocked out Chin Wei Lim and Adams sent Wai Leong Chan home. It left us with only eight still in the hunt and a line-up for tomorrow as follows (in seat order):

1 – Timothy Adams, Canada, 5.735 million
2 – Bryn Kenney, USA, 5.54 million
3 – Alfred DeCarolis, USA, 5.455 million
5 – Vivek Rajkumar, India, 18 million
6 – Bill Perkins, USA, 2 million
7 – Stephen Chidwick, UK, 9.79 million
8 – Dan Smith, USA, 2.35 million
9 – Aaron Zang, China, 5.06 million

Winfred Yu, top, Chin Wei Lim, left, and Wai Leong Chan depart

“I could not have scripted this better,” said Rajkumar, the leader. He admitted that he wasn’t sure if he was even going to play the event, but became a last-gasp registrant when Rick Salomon extended an invitation to him. “I had other commitments with family and stuff, but then I thought I’d come and play this awesome event.”

Coincidentally, Salomon was the first player out of the tournament, busting yesterday within two hours of it starting. But Rajkumar’s superlative show raises the prospect of that partnership bookending the entire tournament in hugely unlikely fashion. “It’s nuts,” Rajkumar said.

The two other partnerships of note are between Alfred DeCarolis and Chidwick, and Perkins and Smith. All four have made it to the final, guaranteeing a significant payday for all of them. Both Chidwick and Smith have a further incentive: either of them could overtake Justin Bonomo as poker’s all-time leading money winner if they he prevails tomorrow. The same applies to Bryn Kenney, who has made yet another final table on the Triton Series.

Stephen Chidwick, left, and Alfred DeCarolis: the power partnership

Play will begin tomorrow at 1pm when the stakes have never been higher. The players are also all now required to dress for the occasion — a prospect that will mean a last-gasp shopping trip for both Perkins and Rajkumar at least.

“Holy shit! I gotta get a suit!” Perkins said. These are different types of businessmen.

PAYOUT INFORMATION

Triton Million for Charity
Dates: August 1-3, 2019
Buy-in: £1.05 million
Players: 54
Prize-pool: £54 million

1 – £19 million
2 – £11.67 million
3 – £7.2 million
4 – £4.41 million
5 – £3 million
6 – £2.2 million
7 – £1.72 million
8 – £1.4 million

9 – Wai Leong Chan, China, £1.2 million
10 – Chin Wei Lim, China, £1.1 million
11 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong, £1.1 million

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

Triton’s Helping Hand extends to REG and OMS

The Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity is about much more than just the biggest buy-in and first prize in tournament poker history. In fact, in his introductory speech to the event earlier this week, Triton co-founder Paul Phua said the first priority when organising this spectacular tournament was its unique charitable aspect.

Don’t forget, the £50,000 entry fee appended to each £1 million buy-in goes directly to charity—that’s a helping hand worth at least £2.7 million.

Richard Yong and Paul Phua insisted their Triton extravaganza would profit numerous worthwhile causes

Though Triton has long-established charity partners in south-east Asia, the company sought new, additional causes to support as the tour came to Europe. Donations from this week’s tournament will also be heading to the Germany-based REG charity – short for Raising for Effective Giving – and also Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis, based in the UK, which aims to help people affected by the degenerative neurological disease.

REG is especially well-known in the poker community having been founded in 2014 by the prominent pros Liv Boeree, Igor Kurganov, Phil Gruissem and Stefan Huber. Other players, including the 2014 World Champion Martin Jacobson and poker’s leading money earner Justin Bonomo, regularly pledge a percentage of their winnings to the charity.

REG seeks to apply the kind of logic and reason that has made its founders top poker players to the world of philanthropy. It specifically seeks charitable endeavours that are proven to be the most effective – sometimes looking in stark and emotionless detail at things like the number of lives that can be saved per dollar of donation.

Boeree said: “When we choose to donate, there are so many different choices, so many problems in the world, which have many different solutions and many different charities working on those solutions. It can be really hard to know which is the most effective thing you can pick. What REG does is it looks at all the evidence out there and asks ‘What are the biggest problems? What are the most urgent problems? And most importantly, what are the most neglected problems?’”

Liv Boeree, REG founder, on presenting duties at Triton Million

She added: “It’s relevant to poker players because poker players get the importance of things like ROI [return on investment]. We don’t just sit down in any old game, you think about it first and you make strategic decisions with your chips, where to bet, who to bet against, and so on. You want to achieve your maximum ROI. When we donate to charity, we should be thinking in a similar way.”

Boeree said that Triton is a perfect fit to partner with REG because Richard Yong and Paul Phua, the Triton co-founders, immediately understood the charity’s guiding philosophy. “It’s testament to it that Paul and Richard get it,” Boeree said. “They completely agree…It’s such an honour. To me the biggest win is getting someone to understand the concepts of what we’re trying to do.”

(See below for a full interview with Boeree on the subject of REG.)

Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis (OMS), based here in London, aims to inform, educate and empower the estimated 2.5 million people in the world who live with M.S. The disease, which affects the body’s central nervous system, can cause life-changing symptoms like extreme fatigue, numbness, tingling, tremors, slurred speech and loss of balance and muscle co-ordination, loss of vision and, in the worst case, paralysis.

There is currently no cure, but OMS aims to help people with the disease not spend the rest of their lives as hostage to their condition. Gary McMahon, the charity’s CEO, said, “Overcoming MS aims to educate, support and empower everyone who is diagnosed with MS. We want people to live well with MS, by adopting evidence-based, positive lifestyle changes including a plant-based diet, regular exercise as well as medication and mental wellness.”

OMS offers a wealth of resources, including books and free information packages containing everything from exercises, recipes and guided meditations. It also supports an extensive community of people with personal experience of either having MS or working in a support role.

“We are very grateful to all our sponsors, fundraisers and donors for their invaluable support in helping us deliver and raise awareness of our free resources and active community,” McMahon added.

LIV BOEREE, CO-FOUNDER OF REG, ON THE CHARITY’S MISSION

Liv Boeree, pictured at Triton Montenegro

What’s the principle behind REG?
REG is an advisory service for people who want to achieve the maximum amount of good with their donation. When we choose to donate, there are so many different choices, so many problems in the world, which have many different solutions and many different charities working on those solutions. It can be really hard to know which is the most effective thing you can pick. What REG does is it looks at all the evidence out there and asks “What are the biggest problems? What are the most urgent problems? And most importantly, what are the most neglected problems?”

Some things, like cancer for example, it’s obviously a very big problem and it affects so many people. But compared to other things that can also kill as many people, it’s very well funded in terms of research. On the other hand some things are extremely neglected. They get one thousandth of the funding and yet could potentially kill as many people. So that’s what REG, and this general philosophy of effective altruism is looking to figure out, to find those opportunities.

How does it work?
It’s an advisory service where we say, ‘We recommend you donate to one of these five places.’ [There are often more, but five is an example number.] It also acts as a transfer service. We facilitate the donations, because it’s not often easy for people if they don’t have the right tax code or whatever. It takes zero percent. It doesn’t take any fee or anything like that. REG itself is purely funded by us, who choose to donate to keep it running. It doesn’t have that many overheads anyway. So basically, it looks for what are the biggest problems in the world, what are the most neglected of those problems, and prioritises the ones that are the most neglected.

What’s an example of that?
The outcome is usually things like malaria. There’s one particular charity that provably can save a human life for $4,000. So literally every $4,000 you give to that charity, you are saving someone from dying. That’s how it works out. You compare that to many other charities and it may be millions of dollars to save a life.

Why is REG particularly relevant to poker players?
It was founded by poker players: me, Igor [Kurganov], Phil Gruissem and Stefan Huber. I think it’s relevant to poker players because poker players get the importance of things like ROI [return on investment]. We don’t just sit down in any old game, you think about it first and you make strategic decisions with your chips, where to bet, who to bet against, and so on. You want to achieve your maximum ROI. When we donate to charity, we should be thinking in a similar way. You have a limited number of chips that you’re ever going to give and it would be really silly to go and donk them all off on a bet where actually you might have a barely positive ROI. Especially compared to a situation where you might have 1,000 percent ROI. It’s that kind of business-type mindset, a strategic mindset.

Igor Kurganov and his REG patch, still going strong in the Triton Million

On top of that, charity has always been a thing that people think has to be emotion based — go with your heart, what your heart says — but you would never do that with your business. You would never do that in many things. In medicine. You’d never go with your heart on what you think’s going to be the best thing for a patient. You look at evidence and reason. Philanthropy should be the same. These are the highest stakes you can be playing: you’re trying to save lives, trying to save the future of humanity or the environment or whatever you’re looking at. It’s important to involve your heart to the extent that you want to take joy from giving, but the decision needs to come from your head. And poker players get that. We know that our intuitions aren’t perfect and that really sometimes you just have to sit down and do the numbers. It’s the same with philanthropy.

How did it come about?
We met with these guys who are professors, they are data scientists and philosophers, and they have realised how neglected some of these highly important causes are. And how we need to raise funds for them. But we need to convince people, who are likely to have the funds to give and are likely to understand the logical arguments for this, and we think poker players are good for this. They’re logically-minded people, on average. That’s why they pitched it to us and it resonated. We thought the rest of the poker world would get it too.

What does Triton’s contribution mean to REG?
It’s such an honour, first of all. To me the biggest win is getting someone to understand the concepts of what we’re trying to do, because they’re not the easiest things to get. It’s not an easy, fun, sexy sell, explaining about expected value of life saves. People just want to see the happy child’s face. But no, this takes the emotion out of giving, to an extent. It’s testament to it that [Triton co-founders] Paul [Phua] and Richard [Yong] get it. They completely agree. Even though we don’t know some of the south east Asian charities they have picked, they used the same sort of framework. They wanted to pick the most effective charities in Asia. It’s really amazing to see those principles have been adopted by them too. So we feel that we’ve done a good job when we’ve explained the concepts to them and they appreciate the decision-making process that goes into them.

What projects are ongoing at the moment?
We’re working with The Forethought Institute and the Against Malaria Foundation. That’s where the donations from Triton will be going.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Late night heater sends Perkins clear in race for record-setting £19m at Triton London

It’s still very early days, but we are excited. Anyone who set foot today in the banqueting suite of London’s Park Lane Hilton knew they were witnessing history: the biggest buy-in poker tournament ever held, costing £1 million to play and promising to award its winner £19 million.

That will be the biggest purse ever won by a tournament poker player, and is a more lavish reward than would be earned by a golfer or a tennis player if he won all four majors in a single season. It’s big money. The biggest. And today it all landed on the table.

“Thanks for turning my dream into a reality,” said Triton co-founder Paul Phua as he welcomed the players to the tournament room. He then made a point of stressing the additional benefit to this event, that the £50,000 admin fee was heading directly to charity. With 54 players in the field, that’s a £2.7 million charitable donation before a card was even dealt.

Richard Yong, left, and Paul Phua welcome players to their dream tournament

“Poker is more than just a game to me,” Phua said. “It unites people from all walks of life and we have proven that.”

By the time the entrants had then played ten one-hour levels, only 36 were still remaining. All of Rick Salomon, Tom Dwan, David Peters, Fedor Holz, Leon Tsoukernik, Dan Cates, Talal Shakerchi, Sam Trickett, Elton Tsang, Andrew Pantling, Benjamin Wu, Pat Madden, Wai Kin Yong, Bobby Baldwin, Haralabos Voulgaris and Michael Soyza saw their chips sent elsewhere. Salomon’s didn’t hit its flush draw against Andrew Pantling’s flopped set of queens. His £1 million buy-in bought him less than two hours of action, but it set us on our way.

Fedor Holz also among the early casualties

Phua too was toast by the conclusion, having lost with to Vivek Rajkumar’s . He went out amid much cheering, having turned a straight but losing to a rivered full house. There are no re-entries in this tournament, but Phua will be certain to return for the remainder of this eight-event series. The same likely applies to Richard Yong, the other Triton co-founder. He was also knocked out late in the day but will not have played his last.

The chip-leader at this early stage is Bill Perkins, pictured top, who overcame the early frustrations of the card dead to go on a late-night heater. “Someone told me just calm down, be patient,” Perkins said. And it worked for him.

Perkins won a massive pot after midnight when he flopped top set of tens. He was doubly blessed because Tsang, who won the previous biggest event held on European soil, had flopped bottom set of threes. Baldwin had top pair, top kicker. Perkins won the three-way skirmish, then doubled up again through Rajkumar, and built his stack to 3.56 million, the biggest in the room.

“Now I’m tired, but it feels great,” Perkins said.

Though he’s a regular poker player, Perkins is best known and most successful as a hedge fund manager and has amassed a fortune that allowed him to speculate £1 million on a poker tournament, and also to invite Dan Smith to play. Smith had a good day too, bagging 2.81 million and sitting in the top three of the overnight counts.

Dan Smith made the most of his late invitation from Perkins

Only Timothy Adams, a last-minute addition to the line-up for this tournament, has more than Smith. Adams, who won the Main Event at Triton Jeju earlier this year, has 3.095 million.

Timothy Adams set for another fine Triton show

To remind you of the format: half the field are invited amateur poker enthusiasts and the other half are their guests, balancing the total field between pros and recreational players. The two factions were kept apart for the most part today, but the seat draw is random from now on, with the only manipulation coming if a recreational/pro partnership lands on the same table. They will then be separated.

The full chip counts will appear below soon, with their seat allocation for tomorrow’s second day. We’ll also start the £50,000 buy-in Event #3 as the Triton Million field thins.

Rest well, we have a lot of poker still to play.

DAY 1 END CHIP COUNT

Name	Country	Chips
Bill Perkins	United States	3,560,000
Timothy Adams	Canada	3,095,000
Dan Smith	United States	2,810,000
Rui Cao	France	2,700,000
Nick Petrangelo	United States	2,700,000
Aaron Zang	China	2,185,000
Justin Bonomo	United States	2,050,000
Wei Lim Chin	Malaysia	2,050,000
Igor Kurganov	Netherlands	2,015,000
Hing Yaung Chow	Malaysia	1,975,000
Sam Greenwood	Canada	1,865,000
Ferdinand Putra	Indonesia	1,830,000
Stephen Chidwick	England	1,815,000
Christoph Vogelsang	Germany	1,765,000
Vivek Rajkumar	India	1,715,000
Bryn Kenney	United States	1,645,000
Rob Yong	United Kingdom	1,625,000
Tony G	Lithuania	1,445,000
Qiang Wang	China	1,430,000
Danny Tang	Hong Kong	1,390,000
Wai Leong Chan	Malaysia	1,235,000
Martin Kabrhel	Czech Republic	1,155,000
Sosia Jiang	New Zealand	1,150,000
Jason Koon	United States	1,120,000
Ivan Leow	Malaysia	1,080,000
Andrew Robl	United States	1,075,000
Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	815,000
Xuan Tan	China	765,000
Yu Liang	Vanuatu	750,000
Winfred Yu	Hong Kong	730,000
Alfred Decarolis	United States	675,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu	Turkey	475,000
Matthias Eibinger	Austria	375,000
Stanley Choi	Hong Kong	320,000
Timofey Kuznetsov	Russia	320,000
Cary Katz	United States	275,000

DAY 2 CHIP COUNT/SEAT ASSIGNMENT

	Name	Chips
Table 1
1	Mikita Badziakouski	815,000
2	Bill Perkins	3,560,000
3	Sam Greenwood	1,865,000
5	Stanley Choi	320,000
6	Martin Kabrhel	1,155,000
7	Xuan Tan	765,000
8	Alfred Decarolis	675,000

Table 2
1	Hing Yaung Chow	1,975,000
2	Rob Yong	1,625,000
3	Tony G	1,445,000
5	Cary Katz	275,000
6	Stephen Chidwick	1,815,000
7	Winfred Yu	730,000
8	Orpen Kisacikoglu	475,000

Table 3
1	Yu Liang	750,000
2	Matthias Eibinger	375,000
3	Ferdinand Putra	1,830,000
5	Timofey Kuznetsov	320,000
6	Justin Bonomo	2,050,000
7	Jason Koon	1,120,000
8	Wai Leong Chan	1,235,000
9	Bryn Kenney	1,645,000

Table 4
1	Dan Smith	2,810,000
2	Rui Cao	2,700,000
3	Nick Petrangelo	2,700,000
5	Sosia Jiang	1,150,000
6	Vivek Rajkumar	1,715,000
8	Wei Lim Chin	2,050,000
9	Danny Tang	1,390,000

Table 5
1	Igor Kurganov	2,015,000
3	Timothy Adams	3,095,000
5	Aaron Zang	2,185,000
6	Ivan Leow	1,080,000
7	Andrew Robl	1,075,000
8	Qiang Wang	1,430,000
9	Christoph Vogelsang	1,765,000

PAYOUT INFORMATION

Triton Million for Charity
Dates: August 1-3, 2019
Buy-in: £1.05 million
Players: 54
Prize-pool: £54 million

1 – £19 million
2 – £11.67 million
3 – £7.2 million
4 – £4.41 million
5 – £3 million
6 – £2.2 million
7 – £1.72 million
8 – £1.4 million
9 – £1.2 million
10 – £1.1 million
11 – £1.1 million

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.

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Triton Million for Charity seat draw

The seat draw took place this afternoon for the Triton Million for Charity event, to run August 1-3 at the Park Lane Hilton, London. The buy-in is £1.05 million, with the £50,000 entry fee donated to charitable causes.

Designated recreational players will play only against other recreational players for the first six one-hour levels, while the professional players will play other professionals. The fields merge after six hours.

Rob Yong, left, and Sam Trickett select their seats

Triton Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi invited the 54 players to draw their seating assignment, with the result as follows:

TABLE 1
Seat 1 Hing Yang Chow
Seat 3 Richard Yong
Seat 6 Alfred DeCarolis
Seat 7 Rick Salomon
Seat 8 Sosia Jiang
Seat 9 Qiang Wang
Seat 10 Andrew Pantling

TABLE 2
Seat 1 Stephen Chidwick
Seat 2 Michael Soyza
Seat 3 Jason Koon
Seat 6 David Peters
Seat 7 Sam Trickett
Seat 8 Bryn Kenney
Seat 9 Matthias Eibinger

TABLE 3
Seat 1 Ferdinand Putra
Seat 2 Tony G
Seat 3 Stanley Choi
Seat 7 Pat Madden
Seat 8 Bobby Baldwin
Seat 9 Bill Perkins
Seat 10 Talal Shakerchi

TABLE 5
Seat 1 Paul Phua
Seat 2 Rob Yong
Seat 3 Leon Tsoukernik
Seat 6 Orpen Kisacikoglu
Seat 8 Winfred Yu
Seat 9 Zang Shu Nu

TABLE 6
Seat 2 Justin Bonomo
Seat 3 Dan Smith
Seat 7 Martin Kabrhel
Seat 8 Andrew Robl
Seat 9 Fedor Holz
Seat 10 Tan Xuan

TABLE 7
Seat 1 Cary Katz
Seat 2 Yu Liang
Seat 3 Wai Kin Yong
Seat 6 Ivan Leow
Seat 7 Haralabos Voulgaris
Seat 8 Wai Leong Chan
Seat 9 Benjamin Wu

TABLE 8
Seat 1 Christoph Vogelsang
Seat 2 Danny Tang
Seat 3 Rui Cao
Seat 7 Nick Petrangelo
Seat 8 Mikita Badziakouski
Seat 9 Daniel Cates
Seat 10 Sam Greenwood

TABLE 10
Seat 1 Elton Tsang
Seat 2 Timothy Adams
Seat 3 Igor Kurganov
Seat 6 Timofey Kuznetsov
Seat 7 Chin Wei Lim
Seat 9 Tom Dwan
Seat 10 Vivek Rajkumar

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Triton London: Massive first event builds £2.75m prize pool

Note: This event is still ongoing. See below for details.

Everything about this Triton Super High Roller festival in London this week was always certain to be enormous. Don’t forget, tomorrow we’re starting officially the biggest buy-in poker tournament in the game’s history, which will pay the biggest ever first prize.

This afternoon, however, we’re just dipping our toes in the deep water with a £25,000 buy-in single-day turbo tournament — a gentle warm-up for the coming nine days of very, very expensive action. But this one too is very well worth winning.

During a re-entry period lasting 12 levels, tournament organisers accepted 117 buy-ins, including 44 re-entries, which built a prize pool of £2.75 million. That means that the winner will get £690,000 (around $840,000) from a single day’s work.

Educated predictions put the finish time at between 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning, so stick around (or come back in the morning) to find out how this one played out.

NOTE: This event did not finish inside its allocated single day and seven players will return at 1pm on August 4 to play to a winner.

Current chip counts:

Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – 5,055,000 (51 BBs)
Lucas Greenwood, Canada – 4,400,000 (44 BBs)
Timothy Adams, Canada – 4,090,000 (41 BBs)
Kahle Burns, Australia – 3,755,000 (38 BBs)
Cary Katz, USA – 2,540,000 (25 BBs)
Michael Soyza, Malaysia – 2,055,000 (21 BBs)
Elior Sion, UK – 1,500,000 (15 BBs)

Triton London Million
Event #1 — Six-Handed Turbo
Date: July 31, 2019
Buy-in: £25,000
Entries: 117 (inc. 44 re-entries)
Prize pool: £2,749,500 ($3,359,311 approx)

	Name	Country	Prize	USD
1			£690,000	$838,302
2			£466,600	$566,886
3			£307,000	$372,984
4			£251,500	$305,555
5			£202,900	$246,509
6			£160,000	$194,389
7			£122,300	$148,586
8			£92,100	$111,895
9			£68,700	$83,466
10			£56,300	$68,401
11			£56,300	$68,401
12			£49,500	$60,139
13			£49,500	$60,139
14			£45,300	$55,036
15			£45,300	$55,036
16			£43,100	$52,363
17			£43,100	$52,363

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

Triton London kicks off on Park Lane

It’s Wednesday afternoon in central London and all appears normal on Park Lane. There are buses and taxis and businessmen and tourists. There’s even some rain in the air.

But on the first floor of the Hilton Hotel, something extraordinary is afoot. What is normally a nondescript function suite has been transformed into a poker room par excellence: 12 tables surrounded by soft, luxurious seats, information boards dangling beneath chandeliers, the incessant riffling of thousands of chips. Two of those tables are mounted on a slick, jet-black stage with a phalanx of cameras sliding around them, and two on extendable booms.

The biggest hint as to the reason for all this is to be found in the bronze logo that floats on a video wall, between depictions of the London Eye and Tower Bridge. That three-pronged icon represents Triton Poker and this is the set-up for the latest stop on the Triton Super High Roller Series — by far and away the most prestigious poker tour on the planet.

Stephen Chidwick: Among the early arrivals

Over the coming week and a half, this room will host seven exclusive poker tournaments, with buy-ins starting at £25,000 ($30,400 approx.) The centrepiece is the spectacular Triton Million for Charity, whose £1.05 million ($1.275 million) buy-in is the biggest ever required to play a poker tournament.

The three-day event, from which the $50,000 entry fee will be donated to charitable causes, is certain to produce the biggest first-place prize ever awarded. At present, Antonio Esfandiari’s $18 million win in the inaugural Big One for One Drop holds that accolade, but somebody else will be taking that on Saturday night.

Right now, the festival has got under way with a £25,000 turbo event — a gentle introduction when you’re playing these stakes. It’s certainly proved to be exceptionally popular: more than 50 players entered within the first hour, quickly building a prize pool of more than £1 million.

As ever on the Triton Series, the line-up is a who’s who of the absolute cream of the crop. Stephen Chidwick, David Peters, Isaac Haxton, Patrik Antonius, Sam Greenwood, Christoph Vogelsang, Alex Foxen and Charlie Carrell are just a handful of early registrants from the western game, while Paul Phua, Ivan Leow and Stanley Choi are among the familiar Asian players already seated. We also have former tennis pro Boris Becker in the field.

The idea is to wrap this tournament up tonight ahead of tomorrow’s big one. What time that happens is anyone’s guess, but we’ll have a recap at the end.

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Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

Triton Announce £1m Buy-In Tournament for London, Richest Ever Held

The rumours have been flying around for several months, and today the details can finally be revealed. It’s true. It’s official. The Triton Super High Roller Series is coming to London, and will include the biggest buy-in poker tournament ever held.

Get ready for the Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity.

From August 1-3, 2019, in the Grand Ballroom of London’s Park Lane Hilton, the highest high rollers in the global game will play a tournament costing £1.05 million to enter.

The £50,000 entry fee will go to charity, promising several million pounds to a variety of worthwhile causes. Meanwhile the £1 million buy-in — more than it has ever cost before to play a poker tournament — will create one of the biggest prize pools of all time. The champion will likely earn more than has ever been won at a poker tournament anywhere in the world.

Uniquely, the field is guaranteed to provide a perfect balance between high-rolling recreational poker enthusiasts and the game’s top professionals. The only way to secure a seat into the event is to either be a recipient of an official invitation from Triton, or to be an invitation holder’s nominated guest.

Invitations have been sent to some of the best-known and successful businessmen and women (or recreational player) around the world, who share only one thing in common: their love for poker. The invitation holders are then permitted to register a guest to play the tournament too, with these official “plus-ones” likely to be poker’s top stars.

Triton Ambassador Tom Dwan and Triton Co-Founder Paul Phua

The field will be split for most of the first of three days, allowing the recreational players to play only against other recreational players, while the pros do battle with the pros. As players are knocked out, the fields will merge for the second and third days.

Further rules, intended to level the playing field between the recreational players and the professionals, include a prohibition on sunglasses, hats and hoodies. Players will not be allowed to cover any part of their body from the neck up. Furthermore, players in the final nine will be required to wear a formal suit for the final day’s play. (Full Triton Million Details Here)

The full Triton Super High Roller Series London festival will last for 10 days and feature at least seven events. Confirmed events and starting days so far are:

Note: Schedule subject to change, and other events may be added.

VENUE
London Hilton on Park Lane Grand Ballroom
Address: 22 PARK LANE, LONDON, W1K 1BE, UNITED KINGDOM

Please check out the Triton London 2019 Landing page for more information.

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Jungleman Cates swings in to claim last-gasp Triton Montengro victory

True to form on the Triton Super High Roller Series, the completion of the pre-scheduled slate of tournaments did not mean the end of this festival in Montenegro. Where there are players, there is a game, and a last-minute turbo was added on the final day giving players one more chance to mix it up at the Maestral Resort, Budva.

This was a HKD 300,000 buy-in event, combining the players’ two greatest loves: short deck and full deck hold’em, alternating every six hands, with 25-minute levels. There were 27 entries including 10 re-entries and that produced a prize pool of HKD 7.86 million — as near as dammit to $1 million. There aren’t many places in the world where a last-minute event can build a seven-figure prize pool, but the Triton Series is one.

There also aren’t that many places in the world — the real world, at least — where you’ll find three titans of poker named Dan Cates, Jason Koon and Rui Cao engaged in a three-way scrap for heaps. Cates is best known as “Jungleman”, the online cash-game sensation (and sometime soft porn actor), while Cao sometimes goes by “PepperoniF” as he clashes with the best for the biggest online pots. Koon is a Triton Ambassador and three-time champion on this series, and the fact that it was those three left at the end gave an indication of how tough and prestigious these events are.

In a matter of about eight hours, it was all done and dusted and Cates posed for the winner’s picture this time. The week began for him writhing on a poker table with a harem of women in various states of undress. It ended with him sitting with in one hand, a trophy in the other, and another title, plus HKD 3.93 million ($501,000) to his name.

“Pretty good,” he said, when asked how it felt to become the latest Triton champion, earning his second title. But he was’t yet sure what the future held for him. “I didn’t think of that,” he said when asked how he was going to celebrate. “There’s a party. I guess I’ll go to that and see what happens next.”

With Jungleman, that could mean absolutely anything.

Cates beat Koon heads-up, although it only lasted one hand. Koon’s was outdrawn, ending this festival in some-way appropriate manner. “What a heads-up battle that was,” Koon chirped after watching his hopes of a fourth title vanish. “Good game, buddy,” he added. Koon took HKD 2.367 million ($302,000) for second.

Triton Ambassador Jason Koon has to settle for second

With only three places to be paid from this small field, the usual pre-bubble tension only really descended after Paul Phua had departed in fifth. Phua should look back on the week in Montenegro with fondness, having cashed a remarkable six times. But it was bittersweet for him as he still doesn’t have a title, and he could’t get one at the last opportunity either. He clung on with a short stack, but eventually he lost it.

Mike Watson, who became the actual bubble boy not long after, probably won’t remember this trip with any real enthusiasm. He’s been on the receiving end of more than his fair share of beats, and today went out on the bubble with to Dan Cates’s . It was a short deck hand and equities were close, but it’s another sickener for Watson. They got it in on the flop of , when Watson had tons of outs. But he shook his head resignedly as he missed, finishing a series in which he cashed only once, for HKD 850,000 ($108,306).

Another sickener for bubble boy Mike Watson

With the last three now assured a minimum of HKD 1.56 million ($199,000), the pressure eased. Cao was the first to bust in the money, losing a massive pot with to Cates’s aces. He couldn’t fully recover and eventually succumbed to Koon in a full-deck hand. We know it was full deck because Cao got his last shrapnel in with and lost to Koon’s .

The blinds were big and the stacks were shallow, so a titanic heads-up duel was always unlikely. But they got it all-in on the first hand, the dealer delivered the outdraw, and that was that for the festival.

We had close to 1,000 entries, a combined prize pool of more than $42 million, and 11 champions from 12 events. Steve O’Dwyer was the first, Cates was the last and Bryn Kenney won two.

All the reports are on the news page of the Triton website. We’ll see you in London in a couple of months.

Triton Montenegro Event #13 – Short Deck/NLHE Mix
Dates: May 17, 2019
Buy-in: HKD 300,000 ($38,000)
Entries: 27 (inc. 10 re-entries)
Prize pool: HKD 7,857,000 ($1,000,000)

1st: Dan Cates, USA — HKD 3,930,000 ($501,000)
2nd: Jason Koon, USA — HKD 2,367,000 ($302,000)
3rd: Rui Cao, France — HKD 1,560,000 ($199,000)

Photography by Joe Giron/www.pokerphotoarchive.com

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Lamb prepares for WSOP tilt with maiden Triton title

Through the past decade, Ben Lamb has become one of the United States’ most successful tournament poker players, making the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event twice within six years. More recently, Lamb has decamped to Asia, where he has become a regular in the biggest cash games on the planet. But this week, as the Triton Super High Roller series visited Montenegro, Lamb has been mixing it up in both — and tonight he made a winning return to the tournament tables taking first place in the HKD 500,000 short deck event.

Thirty-four-year-old Lamb beat Romain Arnaud heads-up to top a 42-entry field, banking HKD 7.65 million ($994,500), his largest tournament cash outside of his two WSOP finals. He came second in the pot limit Omaha tournament only a few days ago here at the Maestral Resort & Casino, Budva, but now has his hands on a first trophy.

Ben Lamb: Biggest win outside of WSOP finals

The tournament played out in only one day and wrapped at 3.30am on Friday morning, with Lamb’s staying good against Arnaud’s . “Staying good” is far from a foregone conclusion in short deck hold’em, and the tournament saw countless outdraws and huge chip swings.

Heads up between Romain Arnaud and Ben Lamb

But Lamb retained his composure to leave Arnaud still seeking his first Triton title — and then said he’s heading back to Las Vegas tomorrow for a golf trip, before preparing again for the WSOP.

“It feels good,” Lamb said.

After the announcement that the start would be delayed and the levels shortened, a rush of players arrived to the poker room and quickly built a prize pool of HKD 20.8 million ($2.56 million). That came from 42 entries, including 13 re-entries.

Most of the usual suspects were in attendance, but many of them quickly departed too. When seven gathered around the final table, Romain Arnaud led, from Ben Lamb, with Tan Xuan, Timofey Kuznetsov and Robert Flink comfortable, and Isaac Haxton and Ivan Leow in the danger zone.

Last seven in Event #9 (l-r): Romain Arnaud, Timofey Kuznetsov, Isaac Haxton, Ivan Leow, Xuan Tan, Ben Lamb, Robert Flink

Leow found the quickest way out of that wretched zone, by winning a tournament-ending pot from Haxton. Haxton’s was undone by Leow’s and, though stacks were close, Leow had the most. He all but doubled just ahead of the bubble, whereas Haxton was free to make other plans.

That put them on the stone bubble, the difference between zilch and nearly a quarter of a million dollars. We sometimes grow immune to the sizes of the prizes, especially on the Triton Series, but a bubble that size is never something to be taken lightly. Certainly Flink, who fell on the wrong side of it, didn’t look especially pleased.

His last hand involved a couple of limps and then shove from him with . Unfortunately one of the player behind him was Arnaud, with both big stack and a big hand, . There was a king on the flop and Flink was drawing dead on the turn.

Robert Flink ups and leaves on the bubble

The bubble was not long burst before Kuznetsov — aka “Trueteller” — was next to depart in a hand that took a long time to play out, but which would have ended exactly the same way whatever had happened. Lamb opened with a raise to 320,000 and Kuznetsov, with a stack of around 2 million, used a time bank chip and then called. Tan Xuan used two time banks before he opted to fold, and that meant just two of the world’s best cash game players went to a flop. Lamb moved all in pretty much instantly, and Kuznetsov’s chips beat Lamb’s into the pot.

However Kuznetsov’s was behind Lamb’s and stayed there through turn and river. Kuznetsov won HKD 2.35 million ($305,500).

The next big moment also featured a kings vs. aces showdown, but it had a third hand involved as well for good measure. Leow found , Tan had , but Arnaud’s was menacing, especially when he had the covering stack.

The flop made the threat of a double knockout very real, then the turn increased the likelihood. But the river was a blank, giving Leow more than a double up and sending Tan, with the smallest stack, out in fourth. He won HKD 2.35 million ($305,500) from his second final table of the day. (He previously finished sixth in Event #10 for HKD 2.7 million.)

The last three players — Lamb, Arnaud and Leow — were all pretty even and the blinds hadn’t yet really caught up with their stacks. They had the time and the chips to pass a few between them, and the game slowed for a while. Arnaud ended up short when he had to fold to a big river shove from Lamb, but doubled up a couple of hands later with pocket nines, which flopped a set and Leow’s flush draw missed. He then moved into the lead.

After an hour or so, everything did shallow out, and Leow found himself on the slide. He got his last 2 million in with but he got properly short-decked by Arnaud’s . The board ran . Leow has had a tough time of it in Montenegro, but at least he got on the board at the end. He won HKD 3.25 million ($422,500).

Ivan Leow: Belatedly on the board in Montenegro

Both Lamb and Arnaud were in the money for the fourth time on the Triton Series, but neither yet had a title. This was obviously their big chance, and it could have gone either way. Arnaud had a lead of 98 antes to 60 when they went heads up, but Lamb chipped away until he had more than a two-to-one lead.

That soon evened itself out again, however, when Arnaud got it all in with and turned a flush to beat Lamb’s .

But back Lamb came and Arnaud could not get the chips to stick. Eventually, Arnaud made a weary push and Lamb made the call with his dominating hand. And then belatedly that was the end of that.

Triton Montenegro Event #9 – Short Deck
Dates: May 16, 2019
Buy-in: HKD 500,000 ($64,000)
Entries: 42 (inc. 13 re-entries)
Prize pool: HKD 20,080,000 ($2,560,000)

1st: Ben Lamb, USA — HKD 7,650,000 ($994,500)
2nd: Romain Arnaud, France — HKD 4,920,000 ($639,600)
3rd: Ivan Leow, Malysia — HKD 3,250,000 ($422,500)
4th: Tan Xuan, China — HKD 2,350,000 ($305,500)
5th: Timofey Kuznetsov, Russia — HKD 1,910,000 ($248,300)

Photography by Joe Giron/www.pokerphotoarchive.com

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Brilliant Badziakouski claims third title, rises to top of Triton rankings

Late last night, as the poker room at the Maestral Resort & Casino, in Budva, Montenegro, emptied, only a handful of reporters, a security guard and one player remained. The tournament — the HKD 750,000 ($96,000) short deck — was long over for the night but that player, the Belarusian superstar Mikita Badziakouski, sat hunched over his phone, alone. He was watching the Triton Series live stream, on a 30-minute delay, and was desperate to know what had happened on the last two hands he played.

The truth was he had lost them both. He was out-flopped and maybe outplayed by Tan Xuan on the first, and on the second attempted to run a bluff against the same opponent and got raised off his hand. He will have learnt that Xuan had the nuts — Badziakouski was correct to fold — and then he went back to his room for some sleep to return at noon today to play on.

Flash forward another few hours, and Badziakouski is again the last player remaining in the room. But this time it’s because he is the champion, booking his third outright win on the Triton Series and adding another HKD 13.3 million ($1.73 million) to his name. Badziakouski may have struggled in the late stages last night but he was unstoppable today, racing up the counts and sitting at the top for hours, then knocking out four of his last five opponents to seal the deal.

He now leapfrogs Jason Koon at the top of the Triton Series all-time rankings and pushes his winnings on the series beyond $10 million.

The final hurdle today, from a field of 52 entries (including 23 re-entries) was the Canadian pro Sam Greenwood, who had also been heavily involved in the action at the end of Day 1. Greenwood scored an enormous double up with one of the last hands of the day, and that allowed him similar big-stack comforts today. But when only two were left, Badziakouski’s heads-up lead was too much and Greenwood had to settle for second, worth HKD 8.6 million ($1.118 million).

Sam Greenwood, left, and Mikita Badziakouski

It’s the penultimate tournament of this 11-event festival, and the third to name two millionaires. There are few more deserving than Badziakouski and Greenwood.

“This was the first time I went deep in a short deck tournament. I was losing for a long time in short deck. I’m happy to finally win,” Badziakouski said. “It feels great, obviously.”

The early going today was brisk and brutal — starting up again when it left off last night. There were 17 players who came back, but ten went within the first two levels. Goodbye Isaac Haxton, Richard Yong, Jesus Cortes, Timofey Kuznetsov, Ivan Leow, Sergey Lebedev, Michael Soyza, Wai Leong Chan, Winfred Yu and Daniel Dvoress. Every one of those players has had a story to tell from this year’s Triton Montenegro, but it was only as a bit part in this particular tournament.

Last seven (l-r): Sam Greenwood, Devan Tang, Mikita Badziakouski, Tan Xuan, Qiang Wang, Paul Phua, Andrew Robl.

It was also a bit part only for Devan Tang, but his elimination in sixth afforded him special bubble-boy status. Tang won a short deck event in Jeju in March, but he was eliminated when his pocket jacks lost to Andrew Robl’s pocket aces. They both flopped a set, but Tang couldn’t his another one-outer to survive. Robl, playing his first tournament of the week, and who had also been all in and survived on the bubble, was delighted.

Tang’s knockout was great news in particular for Paul Phua, the overnight short stack, who had again managed to cling on and cash again — his fifth of this festival and 12th overall, more than anybody. “Oh my god, Paul again?” said John Juanda as he dropped by the poker room to check on the latest.

Phua was potentially going to be the first man out in the money as he got his stack in with in a three-way coup. He was covered by Robl’s stack, but Robl’s was drawing thin. The other player, overnight leader Tan Xuan, had , and he was in even more trouble.

The board bricked out, which meant Phua all but tripled, but Xuan was knocked out. Even his big stack from yesterday wasn’t insurance against the short-stack buffeting, but Phua’s resurgence showed the possibilities on the other side of the coin. Xuan won HKD 2.7 million.

Although Robl survived that confrontation, he suffered what proved to be more than just a flesh wound. He had only 22 antes left and was plenty good enough to speculate it all against Mikita Badziakouski’s pocket nines. By the time they got the full stacks in, Robl had a pair of queens on the flop but Badziakouski then turned a nine and Robl was toast. His HKD 3,422,500 ($444,925) payout it probably not much more than a big blind in the cash games he’s been playing, but it was fun while it lasted.

“It feels good,” Robl said after he was knocked out. “It’s always disappointing to go out of tournament, but I never had any chips. Once the bubble went down that was a relief. In a tournament, especially a short deck tournament, you have to win your all-ins to make a final table. It’s always fun to win them.”

“Always fun” might be Phua’s motto at the poker tables too, and no one has played more this week than him. However, his trophy cabinet still remains empty as his tournament this time ended in fourth place. Phua got his stack of 2.125 million all in with pocket queens, but Badziakouski’s turned an ace to win. Phua added another…ah, he doesn’t care about that, it’s all about the trophy!

Paul Phua, in customary final table pose

Badizakouski was on a tear and Wang Qiang, aka Shanghai Wang, must have feared the worst when he got his chips all in with to be faced by Badziakouski’s . Although Wang was a decent favourite, Badziakouski couldn’t miss today. And sure enough, the turn won another one. Wang played exceptionally solid poker, but had to make do with HKD 5.7 million ($741,000).

Badziakouski had a near four-to-one chip lead when they got heads up — 316 antes to 81 — and it seemed a foregone conclusion. That was especially true when Badziakouski limped his button, Greenwood pushed for about 1.5 million, and Badziakouski called, quickly tabling to Greenwood’s . Greenwood, however, wriggled out of this trap thanks to a couple of queens on the board.

The remarkable comeback faltered again, however, and Badziakouski closed it out just after 6pm local time. This time his held against Greenwood’s and that was the end of that.

Triton Montenegro Event #10 – Short Deck
Dates: May 15-16, 2019
Buy-in: HKD 750,000 ($96,000)
Entries: 52 (inc. 23 re-entries)
Prize pool: HKD 38,122,500 ($4,860,000)

1st — Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – HKD 13,300,000 ($1,729,000)
2nd — Sam Greenwood, Canada – HKD 8,600,000 ($1,118,000)
3rd — Wang Qiang, China – HKD 5,700,000 ($741,000)
4th — Paul Phua, Malaysia – HKD 4,400,000 ($572,000)
5th — Andrew Robl, USA – HKD 3,422,500 ($444,925)
6th — Xuan Tan, China – HKD 2,700,000 ($351,000)

Mikita Badziakouski and girlfriend Melika Razavi

Photography by Joe Giron/www.pokerphotoarchive.com

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