Towards the end of a week in which millions of dollars have changed hands every single day, it seems redundant talking about “The Big One”. But this afternoon, in the Landing Casino, Shinhwa World Resort, Jeju, the elites of the poker world sat down for the Triton Series Jeju main event. And even by the standards already established, this moves everything up a notch.
The buy-in for the main event is HK$2 million, which is around US$250,000. There were 45 entries through the opening 10 levels, and you have to expect a few more might sneak in before registration closes at 2pm tomorrow.
The prize pool with therefore swell past HK$90 million and the first prize will likely outstrip even the HK$22.3 million (US$2.84 million) Jason Koon won with his second short-deck title in Jeju today.
This was a tough day. Even Koon couldn’t survive in what were exceptionally shark-infested waters. He was one of those knocked out and headed out of the tournament room early for the first time this week. Having made three final tables out of four previously, that’s fair enough. He can always come back. And if he does, he’ll be surrounded, as is customary, by all the great and good, among whom Richard Yong has the most chips.
The Triton co-founder may still usually be labelled a “businessman” in the poker world, but he has absolutely no qualms about mixing it with the pros. He bagged 1.19 million chips tonight, and only Dan Smith, with 1.098 million, and Peter Jetten, with 1.020 million, also have seven figures. The three leaders only fired one bullet this afternoon too, while at the other end of the equation, David Peters fired four times. To state the obvious again: this was a tough day.
The outlay column is less important than what comes in, however, and we most likely won’t know who is in line for a payday until late tomorrow, when the final table will be set. We’ll play down to the last group tomorrow, now matter how long it takes. There’s also the start of the “refresh” tournament, the last of this jamboree. Last chance, folks, to get involved.
Here are the full counts of the 17 players remaining. A starting stack is 250,000, and blinds are at 5,000/10,000 when play resumes.
TRITON JEJU MAIN EVENT – DAY 1 END CHIPS
| POS | NAME | COUNTRY | CHIPS | TABLE/SEAT |
| 1 | Richard Yong | Malaysia | 1,190,000 | 2-7 |
| 2 | Dan Smith | United States | 1,098,000 | 2-6 |
| 3 | Peter Jetten | Canada | 1,020,000 | 3-1 |
| 4 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 974,000 | 2-1 |
| 5 | Justin Bonomo | United States | 884,000 | 1-7 |
| 6 | Timothy Adams | Canada | 883,000 | 3-9 |
| 7 | Seth Davies | United States | 832,000 | 1-8 |
| 8 | Luc Greenwood | Canada | 808,000 | 3-7 |
| 9 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | 688,000 | 1-3 |
| 10 | Jules Dickerson | United Kingdom | 580,000 | 1-2 |
| 11 | Bryn Kenney | United States | 504,000 | 1-1 |
| 12 | Isaac Haxton | United States | 443,000 | 2-3 |
| 13 | Paul Phua | Malaysia | 430,000 | 2-9 |
| 14 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | 374,000 | 3-3 |
| 15 | David Peters | United States | 261,000 | 2-5 |
| 16 | Stephen Chidwick | England | 154,000 | 3-5 |
| 17 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 128,000 | 1-6 |
Photography by Jamie Thomson/Poker Photo Archive.