The headline news on a fine May afternoon on the Adriatic Coast is that deep inside the Maestral Resort and Casino, Budva, Montenegro, a poker player will tomorrow win HKD 26.3 million ($3.35 million).
Registration closed at around 2.30pm today on the Triton Series Montenegro short deck main event, with 47 players contributing 98 HKD 1 million ($127,000) entries. It built a prize pool of HKD 92.12 million ($11.74 million), from which the top man will earn that staggering payout.
POS
HKD
USD
1
$26,300,000
$3,350,725
2
$17,100,000
$2,178,608
3
$11,800,000
$1,503,367
4
$9,070,000
$1,155,554
5
$7,200,000
$917,309
6
$5,620,000
$716,010
7
$4,400,000
$560,578
8
$3,400,000
$433,174
9
$2,630,000
$335,073
10
$2,300,000
$293,029
11
$2,300,000
$293,029
Barring something miraculous in the smaller buy-in events next week, this will be the single biggest prize-pool of the 11-event series and will determine yet another major winner on the richest and most prestigious tournament series in the world.
Eleven players will be paid, with a “min-cash” redefining that term. The smallest payout is HKD 2.3 million ($293,000).
Players celebrated news of the enormous prize pool with a visit to an exclusive buffet — replete with goldfish and bubbling cauldrons of red liquid (not for consumption) — before settling back to play into the money tonight.
Buffet time!
They’ll play the final table tomorrow, at the same time as the first Pot-Limit Omaha event gets started on the Triton Series.
As one main event finishes, another begins on the Triton Series.
Tonight in Montenegro, inside the poker room of the Maestral Resort, Bryn Kenney completed the job on the full deck main event, winning $2.7 million and his second trophy of the week. But over his shoulder, the short deck version was just getting started, and it will certainly be even bigger.
A last-minute change of schedule was necessary to accommodate the arrival to Montenegro of a charter plane carrying a valuable cargo short deck poker aficionados. They had only a couple of days and they wanted to play big, so the HKD 1 million event was brought forward and got under way at 3pm.
There was time for six levels and 69 entries (46 uniques; 23 re-entries), meaning the prize pool is already at HKD 65 million ($8.25 million). It will only grow larger tomorrow as registration is open for another two hours. The poker room was as busy at it has been all week, and 38 players were still there at the end.
Tournament room fills for short deck main event
Fulin Sun was the man out front. You could say he had put all of his better known opponents in the shade. The man from China, with no recorded cashes on the western poker databases, bagged 1.35 million chips, which was a good deal more than everyone else in the room. If his chip count wasn’t enough to demonstrate his enthusiasm, Sun was also the first player to register for the tournament, booking him ticket No 1. It sat beside his ever growing stack all day, and he’ll come back tomorrow as No 1 in the leader board too.
Fulin Sun: Player #001
Sam Greenwood, Isaac Haxton, Mike Watson and the Triton Ambassadors Tom Dwan and Jason Koon also reached for a bag tonight. They find themselves in the chip-counts below. Of the established stars, Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov had the most successful time of it. He finished with 893,000. Dwan, by contrast, needed a late triple to finish with his 202,000.
Timofey Kuznetsov: Telling some short deck truths
The chart below shows name, country, count and the seat draw for day two. That starts at noon, and they’ll play all the way to a final table. Please join us then.
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A Triton Series final table featuring Jason Koon, Mikita Badziakouski and Bryn Kenney is truly the moment that three immovable objects meet three irresistible forces and still none can be sure of success. No other trio of players are so commonly referred to as “beasts” (a compliment in this context) and no other trio are as likely to find themselves battling still at the end of a Super High Roller event.
The HKD $1 million Main Event at Triton Montenegro booked all of those superstars for its showdown today, and they duly hogged most of the headlines as a HKD 70.5 million ($8.98 million) prize pool was carved between them and six others.
With so many viable candidates for victory (none of the other six are slouches either) it perhaps came down to the controllers of poker karma to point to Kenney as the champion. Badziakouski won two Main Events last season, Koon crushed the short deck both here and in Jeju. And today it was Kenney’s turn, runner up in South Korea in March, to pick up the major title, only a matter of three days since he won his first Triton tournament in the same room at the Maestral Resort, Budva.
The man, the menace: Bryn Kenney
“Very good,” Kenney said when asked how he was feeling at the end of his latest success. “I mean, tired, but really strong. I just really was in the zone, played very well, crushed the table, had a few things go my way, it’s always the best.”
He admitted that his session here in Montenegro had taken it out of him and that he was looking forward now to winding down. “I’m just going to chill, relax, let my brain relax,” Kenney said. “It’s now five days in a row thinking at a high level, so I need a few days to get back to normal.”
Kenney’s latest triumph was worth HKD 21.3 million ($2.7 million approx), and actually came after both Koon and Badziakouski had long departed for pastures new. Koon never really managed to challenge today, whereas Badziakouski was crushed by Kenney and lost a tournament-defining flip to bust in fourth. Kenney was left to do battle heads-up with Danny Tang, and ended up taking all the plaudits for yet another uncompromising display.
Danny Tang first to congratulate Bryn Kenney
Kenney never put so much as a toe out of line, while finding angles of attack that so many others would miss. “He has the nature and the nurture,” said Joe Stapleton on the live stream commentary.
Play resumed at noon today, only about 12 hours after an extended day two session concluded. The additional couple of hours of play last night, during which no one was eliminated, meant only that the stacks shallowed out coming into today’s final straight. Erik Seidel’s eight big blind stack was under most pressure, but Paul Phua (10 BBs), Sam Greenwood (14 BBs), Koon (18 BBs) and even Matthias Eibinger (32 BBs) can’t have felt comfortable.
“It’s a long shot,” Koon admitted in a pre-game interview when asked of his chances for victory.
Jason Koon: Long-shot didn’t hit
The Triton Ambassador’s odds slimmed even further during the very first pot of the final table. Phua, the Triton co-founder, pushed all-in under the gun with and Koon looked him up with . Fours are supposedly unlucky around the gaming tables of Asia, but on this time they gave Phua a lifeline. The board made Phua a straight, doubled him up, and cut Koon to the quick.
When Seidel doubled on the very next hand, with beating Eibinger’s , Koon was now bottom of the pack. Eibinger was also now vulnerable, and the next meaningful skirmish accounted for both of them.
Koon shoved his button, for five big blinds, with . Badziakouski, with a comfortable chip lead, found in the small blind and shoved to isolate, but Eibinger found in the big blind.
“It’s tricky because ace-queen here is usually the best hand against both opponents,” Randy Lew said in the commentary booth. Eibinger used a couple of time-bank chips before agreeing with that assessment. He called off.
It initially seemed to be precisely the right decision as a queen appeared on the flop. But an eight came on the turn to make Badziakouski a set and send two sharks out in one fell swoop. “Having a flip against Mikita is never a good feeling,” Eibinger chuckled afterwards. “Even though the queen on the flop was good, it wasn’t over, as we have all observed. I had high hopes going into the day, but sometimes it goes quick.”
Matthias Eibinger quickly joined Koon on the rail
Koon added of Badziakouski: “He’s a beast. This might be number three for him.”
At that point, title No 3 was far from assured, but knockout No 3 followed very quickly. This time, it was Seidel who had the misfortune of tangling with Badziakouski, pushing all-in from the small blind with after a button open. Badziakouski called with and although Seidel flopped a queen, Badziakouski turned a diamond flush and Seidel’s race was run.
Having laddered up two spots, Seidel can’t have been too disappointed with the way things panned out. He took HKD 3.46 million ($440,814).
Erik Seidel: One double, but then out
With Seidel on the rail, Phua was now the most senior player at the table, but he has the gamble of someone many decades younger. He doubled up with against Badziakouski’s , hitting a queen, and then almost immediately shoved again with . He got no callers.
There was time for someone else to quickly double-up — Greenwood hitting with to beat Kenney’s , but then it was back to Phua and another double. Phua had 1.11 million and three-bet pushed with . Peter Jetten snapped behind with , and Phua, who flopped a flush draw, rivered the case ace. (Greenwood had folded one.) “Aaaacccccceeeee!” a delighted Phua said.
To this point, it had been nothing but plain sailing for Badziakouski, but it’s only ever a matter of time until Kenney comes to any party. He started his ominous rise through the ranks when he flopped two pair after raising under the gun holding . Badziakouski defended his big blind and flopped a straight draw, but he didn’t get there and yielded the lead to Kenney.
With six hanging around for the best part of three levels, the tournament really shallowed out event more. They pushed chips here and there — Badziakouski lost some more to Kenney; Jetten doubled back through Phua — and it seemed clear that the next elimination might bring a few of them in quick succession.
With the short deck main event starting in the same room, Phua knew that he would still be able to find action even if his full deck participation ended. He was therefore able to laugh without a care in the world when he fell headlong into a trap laid by Kenney.
Kenney limped the button with pocket queens, and Phua checked his big blind with . Kenney flopped top set and Phua shoved with his middle pair. Kenney called and Phua was done. He took his HKD 4.4 million ($572,000) straight over to the other tournament.
Greenwood was next out, but the hand that sent him home was a good deal more complicated. Hopefully we’ll get this one dissected properly in due course, because it was “next level poker”, according to Lew in the commentary box.
It started with Greenwood in the cutoff with a 11 big blind stack. He limped with , which immediately had the commentators purring. Danny Tang had in the small blind, and he called, with Badziakouski then checking his option behind, sitting with and a 14 BB stack.
The flop was a super-interesting . Both Tang and Badziakouski had flopped top pair, and checked. But then Greenwood bet 120,000, the minimum. Tang called and Badziakouski made it even more interesting when he clicked it back, a check-raise.
Greenwood then used up two time-bank chips before moving all-in, representing one hand only: pocket aces. Tang was a believer and folded. Badziakouski also thought Greenwood was on aces — he said as much — but considered himself to be pot committed. Badziakouski called, saw the hand, and said: “Ohh, nice.”
Greenwood whiffed turn and river and went out in fifth, winning HKD 5.65 million ($734,500), but he went out in one of the “coolest, weirdest hands”, according to commentator David Tuchman.
Sam Greenwood: Gone
The prepared script now dictated that Tang and Jetten hit the rail, leaving the big stacked Badziakouski and Kenney to battle to the death. But poker rarely follows what has been pre-ordained. Instead the dominant pair did their jousting in a blind-on-blind encounter with both players probably thinking the other was simply trying to flex his muscles.
As it was, Badziakouski had and Kenney had , and short-stacked Tang and Jetten looked on with nothing but glee as they got it all in. Badziakouski couldn’t hit and Kenney smashed him out. The three-peat hopes were ended as Badziakouski took HKD 7,260,000 ($925,011).
A broken Mikita BadziakouskiThe tamed beast departs
Kenney’s three-handed chip-lead was enormous. He had 94 big blinds, while Tang had 17 and Jetten six. Kenney simply open-pushed every opportunity, and the other two had to fold. Jetten once found pocket sevens and doubled up, but was still the tiny stack. he found pocket eights and doubled again, but was still tiny. Similarly Tang managed to chop one when he and Kenney had rag aces.
Peter Jetten: Third this time
But Jetten’s event eventually ended in third when his lost to Kenney’s . And though Tang turned in a determined heads-up performance against the odds, he couldn’t overcome an 87-to-seven chip disadvantage.
Danny Tang: Having fun with the super high rollers
He survived perhaps longer than many would have expected, but then lost when Kenney’s turned a straight. This was Tang’s first HKD 1m buy-in event, and he was outstanding too, taking HKD 14,100,000 ($1,796,509) for his efforts.
But there’s no shame in losing to Bryn Kenney. If you haven’t done it yet, you just haven’t been playing long enough.
Triton Montenegro Main Event Dates: May 7-9, 2019 Buy-in: HKD 1 million ($127,000 approx) Entries: 75 (inc. 31 re-entries) Prize pool: HKD 70.5 million ($8.98 million)
1 – Bryn Kenney, USA, HKD 21,300,000 ($2,713,876) 2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong, HKD 14,100,000 ($1,796,509) 3 – Peter Jetten, Canada, HKD 9,600,000 ($1,223,155) 4 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus, HKD 7,260,000 ($925,011) 5 – Sam Greenwood, Canada, HKD 5,650,000 ($719,878) 6 – Paul Phua, Malaysia, HKD 4,400,000 ($560,613) 7 – Erik Seidel, USA, HKD 3,460,000 ($440,846) 8 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria, HKD 2,680,000 ($341,464) 9 – Jason Koon, USA, HKD 2,050,000 ($261,195)
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He had to wait a long time for it, but Denmark’s Henrik Hecklen secured his first title on the Triton Super High Roller series in the early hours of Friday when he beat Alex Foxen heads up to win the unscheduled Event #12 in Montenegro.
The tournament was a last-minute addition to the 10-event schedule, requested by Canadian pro and Triton Jeju champion Timothy Adams. With full deck hold’em giving way to short deck (and Pot Limit Omaha) for the remainder of this festival, Adams was among a handful of players who fancied one more chance at a major payday playing the game they have mastered. They arranged a HKD 250,000 ($32,000) buy-in turbo event — and quickly amassed 37 entries.
With five players set to be paid, and the likes of Isaac Haxton, David Peters, Rui Cao, Linus Loeliger and Igor Kurganov already laid to waste, they watched Ivan Leow, Michael Soyza and Steve O’Dwyer depart in ninth, eighth and sixth, respectively, to bring them to the bubble. (It was particularly rough on Leow, who was in for five bullets.)
Adams then enjoyed some home-field advantage when his flopped top pair of tens to beat Jun Wah Yap’s , and that took them into the money.
It was around 2.20am local time, and players were given the option of bagging and returning the next day to play. But they opted to close it out and so began a brief battle that resembled a North American home game. Three Canadians — Adams, Daniel Dvoress and Mike Watson — went up against a lone American, Foxen, and Hecklen, the ringer from Europe.
They dispensed with the Canadians first: Watson (5th – HKD 850,000), Dvoress (4th – HKD 1,052,500) and Adams (3rd – HKD 1,460,000) hit the rail, leaving Foxen and Hecklen heads-up. Foxen had only ten big blinds when they got it all in pre-flop at around 3.30am, with Hecklen’s beating Foxen’s .
Alex Foxen: Last-gasp cash
Hecklen has played at a couple of Triton stops, without previously troubling the cashiers on his way out of the room. Meanwhile Foxen, on his Triton debut, had also found the action tough this week. However Foxen took HKD $2.2 million ($280,286) for his second-place finish and Hecklen $434,444 alongside his trophy.
That’ll give them both slightly fonder memories of Montenegro than before — and they should thank that man Adams for the chance.
Event #12 – “The Tim Adams Invitational” Date: May 9, 2019 Buy-in: HKD 250,000 ($32,000) Entries: 37 (inc. 15 re-entries) Prize pool: HKD 8.972 million ($1.14 million)
1 – Henrik Hecklen (Denmark) HKD 3,410,000 ($434,444) 2 – Alex Foxen (USA) HKD 2,200,000 ($280,286) 3 – Timothy Adams (Canada) HKD 1,460,000 ($186,008) 4 – Daniel Dvoress (Canada) HKD 1,052,500 ($134,091) 5 – Mike Watson (Canada) HKD 850,000 ($108,292)
12BET is an online betting company specializing in sports
betting and casino products. 12Bet became operational in 2007, quickly becoming
one of the most popular online betting options throughout Europe and the
Asia-Pacific region.
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.
“Welcome to the Tim Adams Invitational,” said Triton Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi, telling his dealers to put the cards in the air on a special last-minute addition to this week’s Triton Montenegro schedule.
With the Main Event down to its last two tables, and plenty of underemployed poker players (particularly those who favour full-deck play) still kicking around the Maestral Resort, Adams floated the idea of a turbo tournament, suggesting there would be at least 20 entries regardless of buy-in.
Timothy Adams: Tournament organiser
Adams’s friend Daniel Dvoress said he expected closer to 40, and Vivaldi was persuaded. The tournament was arranged, the buy-in set at HKD 250,000 ($32,000 approx), and Adams and Dvoress sat down to play. And then in they all came. By the time registration closed after seven 25-minute levels, we were looking at a prize pool of HKD 8.972 million ($1.14 million) and another champion’s prize of HKD 3.410 million ($435,000 approx).
Some of the players simply gave up their (reluctant) night off, and others were migrants shuffling over following their elimination from the main event.
Alex Foxen was the most prominent example of those. Within a matter of minutes of suffering the coldest of cold decks (losing with pocket kings to Danny Tang’s aces, with Paul Phua also having ace-king), Foxen took a few deep breaths and sat back down in the hastily arranged event. As any unseated jockey will tell you, you have to immediately get back on the horse.
Foxen was one of those still playing as the clock ticked past midnight, and the last nine in the main event reached for their bags. He was happily just a spectator as a similar three-way showdown accounted for both David Peters and Linus Loeliger late on, with Michael Soyza’s aces holding against two rag aces when it all went in pre-flop.
Not long after, Wai Kim Yong departed, then Dietrich Fast, sent to the rail by Mike Watson’s turned pair of queens. And then they were down to nine, enough to fit around one table.
Dietrich Fast busts in 10th
The best thing was that there were seats at the table for both Adams and Dvoress, who were behind the tournament, as well as for Foxen. Meanwhile Ivan Leow, who showed his enthusiasm by firing five bullets, also had the chance to make some of his money back.
At 1am, with players intending to play down to the last five and through the money bubble, the line-up was:
Seat 1: Tim Adams Seat 2: Mike Watson Seat 3: Jun Wah Yap Seat 4: Ivan Leow Seat 5: Steve O’Dwyer Seat 6: Henrik Hecklen Seat 7: Michael Soyza Seat 8: Daniel Dvoress Seat 9: Alex Foxen
We will catch up with the action when they return tomorrow.
12BET is an online betting company specializing in sports betting and casino products. 12Bet became operational in 2007, quickly becoming one of the most popular online betting options throughout Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
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.
A squalling storm broke out across the Adriatic coast today, barreling tyrannous waves onto the cliffs outside the Maestral Resort, Budva. Though everyone was warm and safe amid the five-star luxury inside, there was similar commotion in the poker room, where the Triton Series Montenegro Main Event played into the money and took grand leaps towards finding its latest champion, who will earn more than $2.7 million.
Registration closed after two levels, capping our field at 75 entries (including 31 re-entries), each of which cost HKD 1 million ($127,000). And once the $9 million prize pool was assured, the wrecking began, with the great and the good of global poker smashed into tiny pieces.
Wrecker in chief was a very familiar figure. Mikita Badziakouski is quiet, polite and diminutive, but he is a menace of the highest order at the poker tables. Many experts name the Belarusian in the top five tournament players in the world, and his domination on the Triton Series bears it out. He has won two titles already, worth $2.5 million and $5.3 million, including this very tournament last year. And there he is again atop the leader board with only nine players now remaining. Badziakouski signed for a stack of 4.74 million, the most in the room.
The fierce and focused Mikita Badziakouski
Badziakouski actually took a back seat for the night’s most dramatic hand: a three-way all-in pre-flop confrontation between Danny Tang, the overnight chip leader, Paul Phua, the Triton co-founder, and Alex Foxen, the current GPI No 1 ranked player in the world. Phua had the most chips, but his was behind Tang’s and Foxen’s .
The best hand held up, which was great news for Tang. He vaulted back into contention after sliding all the way down the pecking order through the previous nine hours. Phua was cut back (increasing Badziakouski’s overall lead) and Foxen was knocked out. It’s been a baptism of fire for him on the Triton Series.
Danny Tang thanks the heavensBad news for Alex Foxen
As Badziakouski and Jason Koon began calculating and discussing the percentages of each of the hands, getting it pretty much precisely right, of course, the tournament entered its bubble phase. Erik Seidel was the short stack, but is in possession of the patience and the instincts of the very best. Meanwhile all of Dan Cates, Peter Jetten and the recently dissected Phua were also just about clinging on.
Erik Seidel
Something had to give and, to the great dismay of Playboy bunnies across the world, it was their new favourite son Jungleman who hit the rail. He made a big bluff against Matthias Eibinger, firing with at a board of . Eibinger thought about it but called with his .
After Seidel then doubled, Cates was left in further strife and got it in with . Eibinger again had his number, however, and his pocket queens sent Cates out with nothing.
Tough times for Dan Cates
With everyone now assured a pay-day, they convened around the final table and requested to play a couple of levels more than what was originally scheduled. All of these guys are very accustomed to precisely these circumstances: there was Triton Ambassador Jason Koon again; there was Phua still; there was Bryn Kenney, fresh from his victory a couple of days ago.
Final Table players in Triton Montenegro Main Event (standing l-r): Matthias Eibinger, Danny Tang, Mikita Badziakouski, Jason Koon; (sitting l-r): Erik Seidel, Bryn Kenney, Sam Greenwood, Paul Phua, Peter Jetten
Although this extra period of play saw some significant chip movement, mostly away from Sam Greenwood’s stack and into Badziakouski’s, no one fresh hit the rail. That meant they will return nine-handed tomorrow to play to the champion, with Badziakouski again the favourite.
His visage already peers from two banners in the Triton Series lobby. It may be time to call in the printers again, same design please.
Final table chip counts
Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – 4.74 million Peter Jetten, Canada – 3.34 million Danny Tang, Hong Kong – 3.26 million Bryn Kenney, USA – 2.54 million Matthias Eibinger – 1.945 million Jason Koon – 1.070 million Sam Greenwood – 669,000 Paul Phua – 575,000 Erik Seidel – 450,000
Confirmed payouts
Triton Montenegro Main Event Dates: May 7-9, 2019 Buy-in: HKD 1 million ($127,000 approx) Entries: 75 (inc. 31 re-entries) Prize pool: HKD 70.5 million ($8.98 million)
12BET is an online betting company specializing in sports betting and casino products. 12Bet became operational in 2007, quickly becoming one of the most popular online betting options throughout Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
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.
Winfred Yu is best known across the poker world as the kingmaker for the legendary Asian cash games. It’s from this environment — invite-only get-togethers held behind closed doors, where pots regularly swell into the millions — that the short-deck variant of poker originates. Take the low-ranking cards away and there’s even more gamble to the game, perfect for the deep-pockets and action hungry poker fans of the east.
However, today at Triton Montenegro, where short-deck finds its natural home in a high-stakes tournament series, Yu showed that he’s as good a player as he is organiser. Yu finished first in Event #3, the first short-deck tournament of the week at the Maestral Resort, Budva, earning a payday of HKD 2.04 million ($260,000). He beat a field of 70 entries of HKD 100,000 apiece, including many of the top-ranked poker players in the world. His last opponent, Isaac Haxton, is already regarded as one of the absolute elite, and he admitted that he’s been studying short-deck play keenly over the past few months. But even he couldn’t get past the obdurate Yu.
Winfred Yu and Isaac Haxton go head-to-head for the title
Yu played this one especially snugly, spending much of a turbulent day flying under the radar as huge pots and vicious beats continued to fly in front of him. But he also showed plenty of his own fearlessness and picked his spots perfectly, getting lucky when it mattered most. When his chance came to seal the deal he took it, and was quickly joined on the stage by his friends and Triton co-founders Paul Phua and Richard Yong, keen to share in Yu’s moment.
“I’m very excited,” Yu said. “It’s my first Triton championship. Last year I came fourth in the short-deck main event, this time I got the job done.”
Richard Yong, Paul Phua and Ivan Leow join Winfred Yu for his presentation ceremony
The day started at noon with 11 players left, and all eyes were on Leon Tsoukernik and Peter Jetten, who played a massive pot at the end of the first day to decide the overnight chip lead. Jetten won that one, but Tsoukernik, the Czech casino owner, was quickly back on the horse today to push everyone into the money, knocking out both Phua and Sam Greenwood in 10th and ninth, respectively.
Tsoukernik flopped two pair with to beat Phua’s pocket queens. Then Tsoukernik cracked another pair of queens, Greenwood’s, when he flopped bottom set with a pair of sixes. Tsoukernik said he “had a feeling”. It must have felt good.
Tsoukernik tells the story of his “feeling” as Sam Greenwood bursts the bubble
With a minimum HKD 260,000 ($33,800) now guaranteed, players set about determining where the biggest money would go. Dutchman Jordi Urlings was not the biggest stack, but neither was he the smallest, when he saw his connect rather excellently with a flop. He got his 50 ante stack in at that point, but Haxton, sitting behind him, had , which was a bigger straight. Urlings missed his flush outs and was instead flushed out, finding himself first in the payouts line, and missing out on the official final.
Jordi Urlings: Pipe dreamsFinal table players (l-r): Tam Tek Lon, Leon Tsoukernik, Winfred Yu, Isaac Haxton, Steffen Sontheimer, Ihor Shkliaruk, Peter Jetten
Haxton almost laid the same treatment on Tam Tek Lon very soon after, when Haxton’s flopped a straight draw on the board. Lon was sitting with pocket jacks and so had flopped a set, and he scored a double when the case jack rivered for quads. It sent Lon to the top of the counts.
But that was only a very temporary state of affairs. Not long after, Lon lost heaps when he had the misfortune of tangling with Tsoukernik. Lon had in the hole and Tsoukernik had . The flop had a ten on it, and all the money went in. Lon was still a 69 percent favourite, but the king on the river was terminal. “He played his hand perfectly,” Randy Lew said in the commentary booth. “Unfortunately, in short deck, things happen.”
Tek Lon Tam: A bad turn of events
It left Lon with three antes and Haxton took them on the next hand. Lon won HKD 330,000 ($42,900).
The next things to happen were the eliminations of Ukraine’s Ihor Shkliaruk and Germany’s Steffen Sontheimer, sandwiching a massive double up for Jetten through Tsoukernik.
Shkliaruk’s bust-out came first, and it is one that will confuse spectators who only understand full-deck hold’em. He got into a pot against Tsoukernik while holding . The board read when Tsoukernik bet 100,000 and Shkliaruk moved all-in for 1 million.
Ihor Shkliaruk: Straightened out
Why? Well, because an ace plays as the lowest card in the deck in short-deck and Shkiliaruk had a straight, ace-six-seven-eight-nine, completed on the turn. However Tsoukernik had and had filled a full house by the end. Shkliaruk shook his head and hit the rail with HKD420,000 ($53,500) to his name.
Then came the latest in a growing list of major pots between Jetten and Tsoukernik. Jetten flopped a set of tens on a board of , but there was no way Tsoukernik was going to fold his even after Jetten got all his chips in. However Tsoukernik’s royal flush draw whiffed turn and river, which meant Jetten doubled his near 4 million stack.
Jetten then turned his attentions to Sontheimer, winning another huge pot in a classic match-up. Short-deck changes some fundamentals about the game we all know, but queens versus ace-king is still very often a pre-flop all-in shove-call situation. So it was this time, with Sontheimer’s life on the line.
Steffen Sontheimer: Another dream dies
If the queens had held, Sontheimer would have moved into the lead. But they didn’t — an ace came on the river — and that meant Sontheimer moved only to a seat in the main event, via the cashier, where he collected HKD540,000 ($69,000).
At this stage, it was still essentially anyone’s game. Jetten was out in front, followed by Tsoukernik, but both Yu and Haxton were still also sitting with enough to challenge. But this is a game that encourages gambling, and things change very quickly. Tsoukernik had been on a wild ride, and it would end with him next on the rail.
The nature of his elimination was especially grim: he got 5.2 million chips in with and was up against two opponents, Haxton and Jetten, who both held ace-jack. The dealer placed the all-in triangle next to Haxton’s cards because he had the smallest stack. But the dealer’s next action was to put two jacks on the flop, giving both of Tsoukernik’s opponents trips and leaving his tournament in tatters. “I think I played it perfect,” Tsoukernik said, when he had recovered his composure after the beat. “The last hand was a miracle hand. It was a great tournament, I’m happy to be in fourth place.” He took HKD700,000 ($90,000) for that.
Leon Tsoukernik’s wild ride ends in fourth
Jetten now took possession of more than 50 percent of the chips in play, and Haxton admitted in a quick interview that he and Yu were battling now for second, simply trying to outlast one another. But it didn’t work out like that.
Haxton was the first to double through Jetten with against . And then Yu did it too, flopping a set of aces and turning quads, when Jetten had called all-in with a flush draw. Jetten therefore went from leader to last, with Haxton and Yu tied at the top. The three of them buckled down for another couple of hours.
And then Jetten suffered the last of his beats, flopping a pair of aces and turning two pair, but watching helpless as that also filled Haxton’s straight. Jetten had to make do with HKD 920,000 ($117,000).
Peter Jetten busts in third
Haxton had a big chip lead — nearly three-to-one — when he went heads up with Yu, but true to the way this tournament had played over both days, there were plenty of shocks still to come. Yu doubled with to Haxton’s , which put him in the lead. Haxton then wrestled it back. But then Yu doubled again with to beat Haxton’s . And then Yu cracked Haxton’s kings with , rivering three jacks.
No luck for Isaac Haxton
They shook hands and the news quickly spread across the room that Yu was a champion. “Finally!” Phua bellowed from his table as the room broke out in applause.
Event #3 – Short Deck Ante Only Dates: May 7-8, 2019 Buy-in: HK$100,000 (US$12,750 approx) Entries: 70 (inc. 28 re-entries) Prize pool: HK$6.58 million (US$838,000 approx)
1 – Winfred Yu, Hong Kong – HK$2,040,000 (US$260,000) 2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – HK$1,370,000 (US$174,551) 3 – Peter Jetten, Canada – HK$920,000 (US$117,217) 4 – Leon Tsoukernik, Czech Republic – HK$700,000 (US$89,185) 5 – Steffen Sontheimer, Germany – HK$540,000 (US$69,000) 6 – Ihor Shkliaruk, Ukraine – HK$420,000 (US$53,510) 7 – Tam Tek Lon, Macau – HK$330,000 (US$42,044) 8 – Jordi Urlings, Netherlands – HK$260,000 (US$33,126)
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The first short deck hold’em event of the 2019 Triton Series Montenegro is under way — and an explosive final hand of the evening offered further evidence why this variant is so beloved of the game’s gamblers and thinkers alike.
Until the very last deal of a 12-level day, Czech casino owner Leon Tsoukernik had made the tournament his own, building a stack of more than 5 million (from a starting 300,000) when pretty much nobody else crossed the 3 million mark. However he then found Peter Jetten in particularly obdurate mood, re-raise shoving over Tsoukernik’s open and putting his entire 2.2 million stack on the line.
Tsoukernik had in the hole, a super-strong hand in short-deck, and was put through the wringer, evidently unsure whether he might even be a favourite against pocket aces. (Short-deck does all kinds of odd things to established poker probabilities.)
Leon Tsoukernik: Couldn’t resist a last-hand call
Tsoukernik couldn’t resist and slammed in a call, learning he was up against Jetten’s . Tsoukernik flopped a straight draw, but the turn and river were blanks, and that rocketed Jetten up to 4.445 million and the chip lead. Tsoukernik can rebuild tomorrow from 2.92 million.
Those two are still strong favourites to make the money. Eleven players remained at the close of play and eight will cash, so they will quickly enter bubble play on the resumption. The full payouts schedule is below.
As is customary on the Triton Series, plenty of players fired, missed and reloaded on multiple occasions today. Of the 70 total entries, 28 were re-entries. John Juanda and Michael Soyza had four each, and both are out now for good. Tsoukernik was on his first bullet, while Jetten had two.
Jetten’s closest challenger is Tek Lon Tam, from Macau, whose tournament resume is blank at present, suggesting a cash game player taking a stab at these high buy-in events offered by Triton. Tam had 2.925 million, a single chip ahead of Tsoukernik, with Steffen Sontheimer one further place back.
Tek Lon Tam: A rare trip to the tournament tables
Triton’s short-deck specialist Paul Phua has started in Montenegro as he finished in Jeju, with another deep run. Winfred Yu, best known as the organiser of many of Asia’s biggest cash games, also enjoyed this opening flight and bagged 2.225 million. The full counts of the final 11 are below.
Paul Phua: the king of short-deckWinfred Yu: Nothing to see here
Although the tournament has the smallest buy-in of the 10-event festival, the 70 entries at HK$100,000 apiece built a prize pool of HK$6.58 million (US$838,000 approx). It allowed a few of the more circumspect players a chance to test their skills at this variant, with players from across Europe, Asia and North America taking their seats. If they like it, there will be plenty of other chances to sample short deck here in Montenegro. Events #6, #7, #9 and #10 are short-deck, while Event #11 is the short-deck main event and has a buy-in ten times the size of this one.
This tournament plays to its champion tomorrow, with HK$2.04 million on offer to the winner. The full deck hold’em Main Event also gets under way, with a HK$1 million (US$127,500 approx) buy-in, and the poker room at the Maestral Resort will likely be full as a result.
Although the tournament has the smallest buy-in of the 10-event festival, the 70 entries at HK$100,000 apiece built a prize pool of HK$6.58 million (US$838,000 approx). It allowed a few of the more cautious players a chance to test their skills at this variant, with players from across Europe, Asia and North America taking their seats.
The tournament plays to its champion tomorrow, with HK$2.04 million on offer to the winner. The full deck hold’em Main Event also gets under way, with a HK$1 million (US$127,500 approx) buy-in, and the poker room at the Maestral Resort will likely be full as a result.
12BET is an online betting company specializing in sports betting and casino products. 12Bet became operational in 2007, quickly becoming one of the most popular online betting options throughout Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
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.
Bryn Kenney is the latest champion at Triton Montenegro, winning HK$11.23 million (US$1.43 million) in the second event of the week — and describing his performance as “ferocious” as he blasted away a 79-entry field.
The list of the fallen from this HK$500,000 6-Max tournament included such luminaries as Steve O’Dwyer, Linus Loeliger, Tony G and Mikita Badziakouski. The overnight chip leaders — Xuan Tan and Erik Seidel — went out on the bubble. And then all of Daniel Dvoress, Sergio Aido and Ivan Leow led at the final table only to find themselves wrecked.
But Kenney is the perfect man for such occasions. There are few players in world poker with a skill set so equipped to master these forces. Kenney can be ruthless when ahead and sneaky when chasing; he has a savant’s grasp of critical calculations and the mind-reading skills of a clairvoyant. He looked like running away with proceedings at one point, but was happy to take a back seat as Dvoress went on a rush and led nearly two-to-one heads-up. But Kenney turned the tables quickly, flopping a straight and fading Dvoress’s flush draw to double up, and then pressing home his advantage. It left Dvoress still seeking the first major title of his career, while Kenney added another to his bursting collection.
“I made a lot of really good value bets, really good bluffs, played really ferocious, feel real strong,” Kenney said in the immediate aftermath of his victory. “When you get in such a zone for a while, you can only really think about cards. I feel great, just because I only really care about how I play.”
Kenney rises in triumphDaniel Dvoress: Second in Event #2
Both these men had already outlasted the previously unimpeachable Triton Ambassador Jason Koon, who departed in fifth, and Richard Yong, the series co-founder, who cashed in seventh. And there are still eight more events in this series for everyone else to seek redemption. But for now, Montenegro belongs to Kenney, whose reputation as one of the modern greats is once again underlined.
In fairness, we should have seen the collisions approaching when the overnight leader board turned itself upside down in the run-up to the money bubble. Tan and Seidel finished the first day on a high, sitting pretty at the top of the counts. But they both left with nothing today. Seidel’s elimination came after a classic one-two combination: he flopped a set of fours, but Dvoress rivered a flush. Then he flopped two pair to lose to Kenney’s runner-runner two pair. Similar happened to Tan. Richard Yong won a huge flip to leave Tan in tatters, and the last of his chips went to Sergio Aido.
Xuan Tan: Bubble boy can barely lookErik Seidel: Two sucker punches
Even for someone with Seidel’s experience, the game can sometimes hurt. “Poker isn’t always fun,” he tweeted soon after elimination, with the footage of the hand against Dvoress included.
Cheong Cheok Leng and Danny Tang were the two short stacks as they edged into the money, and they were quickly dispatched. Leng’s lost to Ivan Leow’s , and a few hands later Tang pushed with and a flop of exposed, but Kenney had and called. That took them down to a final table.
Danny Tang: First cash of the week Final table (l-r): Sergio Aido, Richard Yong, Daniel Dvoress, Bryn Kenney, Ivan Leow, Jason Koon, Christoph Vogelsang
Richard Yong, the Triton co-founder, was in the money again, but he couldn’t ladder any further after running pocket nines into Dvoress’s pocket aces. Christoph Vogelsang, who had also nursed a short stack for a while lost with fours to Koon’s sixes. Yong’s prize was HK$1.82 million, while Vogelsang took HK$2.3 million.
Richard Yong: Easy come, easy goEarly series cash for Christoph Vogelsang
Despite his pedigree, and a useful double-up with against Kenney’s ace-king, Koon was next out. He lost with pocket jacks to Kenney’s pocket kings in the kind of hand that would have played the same way in any poker tournament across the world, including one costing HK$500,000 to play. Koon has three titles to his name already, but didn’t emerge with the trophy this time.
Not this time, Jason Koon
The Spanish whiz Aido won the biggest tournament of his career last week in Monte Carlo, where he won a Super High Roller event on the EPT. And Aido continued his form after trading one Monte for another, finding his way to the last four in this one. He dwindled to a short stack, however, and pushed with . It couldn’t beat Dvoress’s .
Another good run for Sergio Aido
Kenney and Dvoress, who were now two of the last three, have spent plenty of time opposite one another at poker tables the world over. But it’s only in recent years that they have also been facing off against Leow, the man who joined them this evening. Leow is a former winner on the Triton series and already has $6.5 million in cashes to his name, which is all the more remarkable when you learn he only took up the game four year ago.
This time, he had to settle with third, the same place in which he finished this event last year. Dvoress’s pocket queens did for Leow’s and Leow took HK$5.07 million (US$646,172).
Ivan Leow: Moving up the Malaysian money list
Dvoress had 9.98 million chips when the table was rearranged and Kenney sat at the other end with 5.85 million. But true to form in this event, everything quickly span around and Kenney never let the advantage slide again. He closed it out by rivering a flush with and forced Dvoress to depart with “only” $7,430,000 (US$946,954), the biggest single result of his career.
Heads up between Daniel Dvoress and Bryn Kenney
There’s only one thing certain: that won’t be the last we see of either of them, and the Triton Series is all the better for it.
Triton Montenegro Event #2: 6-Max Hold’em Dates: May 5-6, 2019 Buy-in: HK$500,000 Entries: 79 (inc. 34 re-entries)
1 – Bryn Kenney, USA – HK$11,230,000 (US$1,431,264) 2 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $7,430,000 (US$946,954) 3 – Ivan Leow, Malaysia – HK$5,070,000 (US$646,172) 4 – Sergio Aido, Spain – HK$3,820,000 (US$486,859) 5 – Jason Koon, USA – HK$2,970,000 (US$378,527) 6 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany, HK$2,300,000 (US$293,135) 7 – Richard Yong, Malaysia, HK$1,820,000 (US$231,959) 8 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong, HK$1,410,000 (US$179,705) 9 – Cheong Cheok Ieng, Macau – HK$1,080,000 (US$137,646)
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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.
Jan 28 2019 (Jeju, South Korea) – Triton Poker’s Super High Roller Series (SHR) returns March 2 – 9, 2019 with the first of five international stops that will cement the tour’s position as the leading high stakes poker tournament series in the world.
For eight
days, throughout six tournaments, the world’s leading professionals and
amateurs alike will flock to Korea’s Jeju Island to lock horns and share lots
of laughs in six high stakes tournaments, including the world’s first
Short-Deck, Ante-Only Bounty event.
As in 2018,
the Landing Casino in Jeju’s Shinhwa World will be the home of the most
fearsome and fun high stakes poker cash games and tournaments anywhere on the
globe, culminating in an HKD 2,000,000 (KRW 140,000,000) buy-in No-Limit
Hold’em Triton SHR Series Main Event.
Players who
compete in both the HKD 2,000,000 Triton Poker SHR Main Event, and one other
side event, will enjoy free accommodation for nine nights at the Jeju Shinhwa
World Marriot Resort. The Landing Resort Hotel and Somerset Jeju Shinhwa World
are also walking distance from the casino.
The Triton Poker SHR Series also offers unrivalled broadcast coverage across a myriad of platforms with the dynamic duo of Twitch sensation Lex Veldhuis and online pro Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew reuniting for the English stream. Macau Millions Champion Chen An Lin, EPT Barcelona 2018 Main Event Runner Up Haoxiang Wang and Two-Time Red Dragon Champion Celina Lin will cover the Chinese stream respectively.
Triton
Poker was founded in 2015 by the Malaysian businessman, philanthropist and
poker lover, Richard Yong, who felt there was a gap in the market for an
exclusive tournament series for affluent businesspeople and high-end
professional poker players set in some of the most luxurious locations in the
world all in the name of charity. Funds from Triton Poker events have helped
charitable organisations such as Project Pink and the Red Cross.
Previous
winners of Triton Poker events include Manig Loeser, Fedor Holz, Daniel
‘Jungleman’ Cates, Koray Aldemir, Stefan Schillhabel, John Juanda, Dan Colman,
Jason Koon, Phil Ivey, and Mikita Badziakouski.
About Jeju Shinhwa World
Jeju
Shinhwa World is a fully integrated world-class resort spanning 2.5 million
square meters, chocked full of top-class dining experiences, and entertainment
facilities including Shinhwa Theme Park, Shinhwa Water Park and, of course, the
elegant Landing Casino.
and Koon looked him up with 
. Fours are supposedly unlucky around the gaming tables of Asia, but on this time they gave Phua a lifeline. The board made Phua a straight, doubled him up, and cut Koon to the quick.
beating Eibinger’s 
. Badziakouski, with a comfortable chip lead, found 
in the small blind and shoved to isolate, but Eibinger found 
in the big blind.
after a button open. Badziakouski called with 
and although Seidel flopped a queen, Badziakouski turned a diamond flush and Seidel’s race was run.
against Badziakouski’s 
, hitting a queen, and then almost immediately shoved again with 
. He got no callers.
to beat Kenney’s 
, but then it was back to Phua and another double. Phua had 1.11 million and three-bet pushed with 
. Peter Jetten snapped behind with 
, which immediately had the commentators purring. Danny Tang had 
. Both Tang and Badziakouski had flopped top pair, and checked. But then Greenwood bet 120,000, the minimum. Tang called and Badziakouski made it even more interesting when he clicked it back, a check-raise.
and Kenney had 
lost to Kenney’s 
. And though Tang turned in a determined heads-up performance against the odds, he couldn’t overcome an 87-to-seven chip disadvantage.
.
. Eibinger thought about it but called with his 
.
to beat Phua’s pocket queens. Then Tsoukernik cracked another pair of queens, Greenwood’s, when he flopped bottom set with a pair of sixes. Tsoukernik said he “had a feeling”. It must have felt good.
to beat Haxton’s 
and called. That took them down to a final table.
