Registration officially closed on the Triton Poker Series Jeju Main Event at 2pm today at the Landing Casino, Shinhwa World Resord, Jeju. At the last moment, Ivan Leow re-entered for the third time, Michael Soyza fired his second bullet and Wai Leong Chan entered for the first time.
That brought total entries to 48, with 16 re-entries. They cost HK$2 million apiece, which meant we’re looking at a total prize pool of HK$90.204 million, approximately US$11.5 million. Six places are paid, with the champion set for a HK$30.6 million (US$3.9 million) payday.
As expected, that makes this event the richest of the week, and the first prize will be the second biggest ever awarded on the Triton Series. Only Mikita Badziakouski’s victory here last July was bigger–and Badziakouski is among the 18 players still with chips at time of writing here. It would represent one of the best back-to-backs if he could go all the way again, particularly since he squeezed a victory in Montenegro in the middle as well.
To be honest, the attempt to pick a winner from the remaining field would represent little more than wild guessing. With players like Dominik Nitsche, Christoph Vogelsang, Justin Bonomo, Timothy Adams, Ike Haxton, Bryn Kenney, David Peters and Stephen Chidwick all still seated, how can anyone choose between them?
In many ways, that’s why it is especially gratifying to see Richard Yong still out in front. He’s not only the loudest player still in the field, he is the most active, the most chipped and the most fearless. The Triton co-founder is sitting opposite his friend and business partner Paul Phua for the early stages of the day, with Smith and Haxton for company, as well as six-max champion Soyza.
Follow all the action via the live stream or our live text updates, which monitors chip counts for the whole field in real time.
FULL PAYOUT INFORMATION
Triton Series Jeju Main Event
Dates: March 7-9, 2019
Buy-in: HK$2 million (US$255,000)
Entries: 48 (inc. 16 re-entries)
Prize pool: HK$90,204,000
1- HK$30,600,000 (US$3.9 million)
2- HK$21,200,000 (US$2.7 million)
3- HK$13,600,000 (US$1.7 million)
4- HK$10,390,000 (US$1.3 million)
5- HK$8,150,000 (US$1.04 million)
6- HK$6,300,000 (US$803 million)