The final event of Triton Million London is in the books, and while the 52-entrant turnout proved to be the smallest field of the week, nobody was sneering at the £777,000 first prize.
After the horns and bugles had sounded, the winner of Event #7: £50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck was Xu Liang, an unknown entity to most of the poker world, but with enough shrapnel in his piggy bank to compete in the £1m buy-in Triton Million earlier in the week.
As was the case in the £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck Main Event, the £50,000 ended with a classic duel between East & West. David Benefield achieved notoriety as an online cash game star, and it seems he’s reinvented himself as a Short-Deck tournament specialist making four final tables this year.
Benefield won the $25,000 Short-Deck event a few days ago, but try as he may, he couldn’t find a way past Liang to make it title #2. Let’s see how the whole thing went down.
The Bubble
Seven players would finish in the money, and after two players hit the rail simultaneously, the Tournament Director hawed the seventh-place prize money down the middle. As Triton co-founder Richard Yong was shoving Tong Siow Choon over the rail AK>AQ, Benefield took a dominating chip lead into the final table after eliminating Mike Watson. It was a tragedy for the Canadian who was second in chips with nine remaining when he ran QQ into Benefield’s A8, the only man with a superior chip stack.
Final Table Results
1 – David Benefield, 5.98 million
2 – Richard Yong, 2.585 million
3 – Yu Liang, 2.08 million
4 – Romain Arnaud, 1.41 million
5 – Chin Wei Lim, 1.41 million
6 – Stephen Chidwick, 815,000
The Nutshell Action
Stephen Chidwick found it tough going in this one, firing four
bullets to the tune of £200,000. The man from Deal dealt with it in his usual
aplomb, making the final table. Wai Kin Yong was his executioner when A8 beat
AK, sending him to the cash desk to pick up his £160,200 prize. It looks like a
loss until you remember that Chidwick has cashed for more than £6.2m during
this trip.
Yong continued
his tear, eliminating the Frenchman Romain Arnaud AK > AQ, and Benefield’s
pocket tens beat the AK of the highly-rated Chin Wei Lim. The Benefield v Lim
hand had Short-Deck written all over it as Benefield flopped a set, Lim turned
a straight, and Benefield rivered a boat.
Three-Handed Play
Three-handed play was slow as stacks deepened, and an exciting dynamic emerged with Wai Kin Yong competing three-handed for the £100,000 Short-Deck Main Event title on the next table. Father and son periodically checked on each other’s progress, until Yong Senior hit the rail after Liang’s KQ beat QT when all-in pre-flop.
Heads-Up
Despite Liang beating Yong, Benefield still entered heads-up with a big chip lead. Then Liang scored a big double-up when they got it in on J86 with Benefield holding two-pair versus the open ender, which duly arrived on the river.
The final hand saw Benefield all-in for his tournament life holding AQ on Q77, only for Liang to overturn T7 for trips.
The Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London, is a mausoleum. The people you never see in front of the TV cameras have deconstructed the stage, taken the legs off the tables, and stowed the lot away, in readiness for the next Triton adventure.
It’s going to have to be something special to beat this.
The £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck Main Event attracted 108-entrants (55 re-entries), and Justin Bonomo prevented Wai Kin Yong from winning both London entrées after beating him to the title.
Coming into Triton Million London, Bonomo knew that his position at the top of the All-Time Money list was tenuous with a den of carnivores looking to eat his record alive.
Bryn Kenney was the man to usurp Bonomo’s throne, but the New Jersey native reacted brilliantly to win the Short-Deck Main Event. Poker fans will be disappointed, however, to learn that there will be no clash of the titans in the ensuing years.
After Bonomo put thought to the mic at the end of a gruelling competition, the two-time Triton Champion declared his intention to play fewer hands of poker, claiming that he has nothing left to prove after his incredible performances in 2018.
“My plan is to play less poker, Bryn’s plan is to play a lot of poker, so as far as I’m concerned I’ll probably never get number one again. It’s not really a goal of mine, and I’m totally fine with that,” said Bonomo.
And by ‘less poker’ that means even less Short-Deck.
“I like it when I win, but honestly I don’t like crazy all-ins,” Bonomo said. “I don’t like getting it all in with 55 percent but you have to in this game. Some people enjoy the all-ins. I find them extremely stressful. Obviously, when you win tournaments, it’s great, but other than the fact that I’m winning these tournaments, I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite game.”
It’s a feeling shared by Wai Kin Yong, who in 2018, told us about the toll that Short-Deck can have on your playing career, but it hasn’t stopped the young man having a blinding Triton London series.
Yong won the £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event for £2.5m, and came a few flops, turns and rivers away from winning the £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck until Bonomo’s KcJd beat Yong’s Ac8c, thanks to a jack on the river. Yong received £1.8m for finishing second, totalling £4.4m earned in the time it takes the binmen to clear your trash. Not bad, for someone who declared his poker idleness in the build-up to this series.
Here’s the nutshell action.
The Nutshell Action
Final Table
1st – Wan Kin Yong – 253 antes 7,595,000
2nd – Justin Bonomo – 197 antes 5,910,000
3rd – Rui Cao – 146 antes 4,375,000
4th- Paul Phua – 130 antes 3,905,000
5th – Liang Xu- 120 antes 3,585,000
6th – Ming Zhong Liu – 118 antes 3,530,000
7th – Isaac Haxton – 117 antes 3,510,000
The first player who saw their final table experience expire like a lit matchhead was Ming Zhong Liu who moved all-in from the hijack holding 9c8c, only for Bonomo to isolate and win with AcKh.
Bonomo’s buddy, Isaac Haxton, was next to fall, and he took Rui Cao tumbling over the edge with him. Haxton moved all-in from the first position holding pocket rockets, Yong jammed his massive stack in the middle with pocket kings, and Rui Cao called with JdTd. Yong flopped a king, Haxton and Cao failed to improve, and suddenly Yong had half of the chips in play with four left.
Yong overcame Paul Phua, heads-up, to win the No-Limit Hold’em Main Event, but ruled out a repeat confrontation when he eliminated the Triton co-founder when AsQs flopped Broadway and then rivered a flush for good measure when all-in against KsQc.
Three-Handed
The three-handed play was an exhaustive affair with everyone briefly sitting at the summit before Bonomo set up a classic East v West heads-up confrontation eliminating Liang Xu when Th9h beat KcQh, after flopping trip tens.
Heads-Up
Heads-up play began on an even keel with 105 antes a piece, until Yong stretched to a 3:1 chip lead. Bonomo fought back like a true champion to retake the lead before dragging the final curtain off the rails in the last hand of the game.
Final Table Results
1 – Justin Bonomo, £2,670,000
2 – Wai Kin Yong, £1,835,000
3 – Liang Xu, £1,202,500
4 – Paul Phua, £974,500
5 – Rui Cao, £783,000
6 – Isaac Haxton, £611,900
7 – Ming Zhong Liu, £482,200
8 – David Benefield, £368,100
9 – Stephen Chidwick, £269,600
10 – Jason Koon, £217,700
11 – Furkat Rakhimov, £217,700
12 – Tom Dwan, £191,900
13 – Cary Katz, £191,900
14 – Elton Tsang, £177,000
15 – Richard Yong, £177,000
The Triton Poker Super High Roller in London began as a construction site. Today, the scent of broken records hangs in the air. Tables occupy the outer rim like a graveyard. Underneath the hue of the TV cameras is the grandest table of them all – shimmering in purple, gold and black, feeling the burden of seven plastic bags full of chips.
Wai Kin Yong
The bag that contains the most belongs to Wai Kin Yong, the 28-year-old from Malaysia, who two days ago, won the £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. At 1 pm, a row of patient crocodiles awaits him, each desperate to swallow him whole. If he can manage to avoid becoming a snack, he will achieve something remarkable.
Mikita Badziakouski once won back-to-back Triton Super High Roller Series Main Events (Jeju & Montenegro). Nobody has ever won the two core Main Events (Short-Deck and No-Limit Hold’em) at the same series, and Yong could do that, today.
The chip lead may belong to Yong, and his blood may run through the DNA of the Triton brand, yet he has no claim to this title. Amongst those crocodiles are some of the fiercest teeth, you will see in poker.
Trailing Yong by a mere 33 antes is Justin Bonomo. The man who accrued more than $25m in live tournaments in 2018, could do nothing but watch as Bryn Kenney took his live tournament annual haul record, and his number one seat at the head of the All-Time Money List this week. Bonomo only knows one way to react – winning titles and large sums of money. Bonomo already has a Short-Deck title on his resume; a second is six eliminations away.
Sitting in third place is Rui Cao. The enigmatic Frenchman who rarely plays tournaments told us after his Triton Million exit that he’s still not comfortable with tournament elimination. The high stakes cash game specialist will be hoping to become the first player to win back-to-back Short-Deck Main Event titles if he can avoid swallowing that bitterest of pills.
The fourth-place currently belongs to Paul Phua. It was the Triton co-founder who faced Yong heads-up for the No-Limit Main Event title, and he makes his 16th Triton cash (a record). It’s undoubtedly a matter of time before Phua wins one, and with £2.6m up top, and all profits from Triton going to charity, this is the one to win.
Isaac Haxton is the last familiar name to take a seat at the top table. Haxton is arguably the best live tournament player not to have played in the Triton Million. Haxton is preparing for his tenth Triton final table, without a victory, and his third cash in London.
Here is the final table lineup.
The action begins at 1 pm London time.
Short Deck Main Event Final Table
Final Table
1st – Wan Kin Yong – 253 antes 7,595,000
2nd – Justin Bonomo – 197 antes 5,910,000
3rd – Rui Cao – 146 antes 4,375,000
4th- Paul Phua – 130 antes 3,905,000
5th – Liang Xu- 120 antes 3,585,000
6th – Ming Zhong Liu – 118 antes 3,530,000
7th – Isaac Haxton – 117 antes 3,510,000
ITM Finishes
8th – David Benefield – £ 368,100
9th – Stephen Chidwick – £ 269,600
10th – Jason Koon – £ 217,700
11th – Furkat Rakhimov – £ 217,700
12th – Tom Dwan – £ 191,900
13th – Cary Katz – £ 191,900
14th – Elton Tsang – £ 177,000
15th – Richard Yong – £ 177,000
Heads Up Paul Phua
The axiom that Paul Phua is an architect is beyond doubt. Consider what Phua and his partner, Richard Yong, have created at Triton. The brand has become synonymous with high stakes poker, globally, and this week, he created the crown jewels – the Triton Million.
So it will irk, Phua, that he has been unable to build a sturdy enough bridge allowing him to reach a Triton title. He’s created 14 of them, and all of them have failed him, sending him tumbling to the depths of despair.
Will this one be his strongest yet?
Phua has roared into the chip lead at the final table of Event #5: £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event, at the Triton Million London, like a Sopratic scream.
There was a moment when Phua felt in his bones that he would be the bubble boy. But Phua knows how to dig deep and outlast adversity. He did so and will start the final table with a small chip lead over Ben Heath and Wai Kin Yong.
Wai Kin Yong is the son of Richard Yong, Triton’s other co-founder, so it’s a family affair of sorts. Wai Kin does know how to reach the summit of these things, taking down two Triton titles, previously, and he would be over the moon to win this one given he came into the Triton Million with zero preparation or tuition.
Wai Kin isn’t the only two-time Triton Champion left in the field. Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates scrambled into the final in ninth place after losing THE pot that gave Phua the chip lead when he flopped trips with AJ only to stare in disbelief as Phua’s boat came crashing into his sturdy frame.
Heads Up Paul Phua & Wai Kin Yong
Cates told us that the Poker Gods had deserted him during the Triton Million event (although he used stronger words than ‘deserted’), and he’ll be hoping for a little more Perseus love this time around.
Michael Soyza is the other Triton champion in the field. Soyza led this event on numerous occasions during Day 2 and was responsible for sending everyone into the money after his A7 jam on the button got lucky when it beat the AK of Siow Choon to guarantee everyone a £192,000 ITM finish.
Like Phua, Wai Leong Chan is another Triton regular who knows his way to the final table but hasn’t found the dictator in him needed to take home the title. Chan’s appearance at the final of the Main Event is his second of the series after finishing ninth in the Triton Million, and that makes it 12 ITM finishes, and zero titles.
Luc Greenwood came close to claiming his first Triton title when finishing runner-up to Linus Loeliger in Event #1: £25,000 No-Limit Hold’em, and now it’s the turn of his brother Sam to bring home the bacon. Sam starts in seventh place. Ben Heath, won the £50,000 No-Limit Hold’em event during the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and has the chips to hurt people.
However, if you want to pick a favourite, then you can’t shift too far from the orbit of Stephen Chidwick. The UK’s All-Time Money earner finished fourth in the Triton Million for £4.4m, and also picked up his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the summer. Chidwick begins with a smidgen under 3m chips.
Here are all the flashy details.
We’ll see you at 1 pm to see if Triton’s chief architect, Paul Phua, needs to start building a trophy cabinet.
Final Table
Paul Phua – 5.875m
Ben Heath – 5.81m
Wai Kin Yong – 5.03m
Michael Soyza – 3.87m
Michael Zhang – 3.74m
Stephen Chidwick – 2.955m
Sam Greenwood – 2.385m
Wai Leong Chan – 1.65m
Daniel Cates – 1.2m
Payouts
£3.08m
£2.07m
£1.35m
£1.12m
£902,000
£711,000
£544,000
£410,000
£305,000
ITM Finishes
Matthias Eibinger – £250,400
Liang Xu – £250,400
Isaac Haxton – £220,000
Xuan Tan – £220,000
Sosia Jiang – £201,600
Justin Bonomo – £201,600
Timothy Adams – £192,000
Wiktor Malinowski – £192,000
Six days of the highest quality poker in the world has whizzed by quicker than a spear flying into the gut of some TV villain. We’ve had barroom brawls, handbags at ten paces, and one man even won £19m.
Still, there’s a long way to go.
Champion Charlie Carrel
The third Triton Champion in London is Charlie Carrel. The man from the South of England defeated Jason Koon in a heads-up encounter detached from the rest of the tournament thanks to gambling regulations insisting the Hilton stop dealing cards at 4 am.
But before Carrel and Koon tried to catch a dream or two…
Event #2: £50,000 No-Limit Hold-em attracted 109 entrants(inc. 43 re-entries), and 15-players earned a minimum £87,000 after Sergio Aido exited on the bubble.
The remaining testosterone tickled Titans ploughed on until only six-players remained, and the big hand struck two on the Rolex’s around the room. The first to leave at this stage was Robert Flink after Carrel flopped an eight when all-in, and behind, with A8 facing AT.
That’s how you win tournaments, folks.
Carrel ensured his presence in this event would prolong when his pocket jacks survived a five-card free for all against the KT of Linus Loeliger before we lost Matthias Eibinger in fifth with the Q9 of Kahle Burns beating KT thanks to a queen on the river.
Koon seemed the likely sparring partner for Carrel when his AQ doubled through the young wizard: AQ>A8, before eliminating Burns AK>K9 (Burns had to grab forty-winks before appearing in the protracted final of Event #1).
Loeliger would join Burns in the final of Event #1 (he would go on to win it), after leaving this one in third-place. Carrel put him all-in after rivering a straight, and Loeliger called with his two-pair hand, and that was the end of the action for the day.
Heads-Up
Carrel and Koon, the two enigmas, returns to finish things the following day, and the chip lead got tossed about like seashells in a tsunami before Carrel’s Q2 beat Koon’s K9 when a deuce hit the river.
It was Carrel’s first victory on the Triton circuit, and his most significant score to date beating the $1.2m he earned for winning a €25k at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Monte Carlo back in 2015. It also continues an epic run of form that saw Carrel make the final table of four high rollers at this years EPT Monte Carlo.
Carrel’s win prevented Koon from winning an unprecedented fourth Triton title, but the £907,000 consolation prize fills a hole made by his failure to make an impression in the £1m buy-in Triton Million, and sees him move ahead of Mikita Badziakouski at the top of the Triton All-Time Money list with close to $12m in earnings.
Payouts
Charlie Carrel – £1,321,000
Jason Koon – £907,000
Linus Loeliger – £594,000
Kahle Burns – £481,500
Matthias Eibinger – £386,000
Robert Flink – £302,100
Jun Yap – £238,000
Daniel Dvoress – £182,000
Isaac Haxton – £133,000
Talal Shakerchi – £107,500
Mikael Thuritz – £107,500
Sam Greenwood – £94,700
Jesús Cortes – £94,700
Christoph Vogelsang – £87,000
Benjamin Pollak – £87,000
You get the impression that Linus “LLinusLlove” Loeliger is going to be a permanent fixture in Triton Poker events. The 24-year old has taken down Event #1: £25,000 Triton London Six-Max Turbo, at only his second ever Triton event.
Champion Linus Loeliger
We first saw the Swiss wizard in Montenegro back in May when he finished 3/45 in the HKD 250,000 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed Turbo for $219,262, for only his fourth-ever live cash. Then he rocks up to London and takes down the first event.
There was nothing particularly ‘turbo’ about the turbo given that it took five days to finish it. The organisers had to shimmy and shake after the sheer volume of interested players (73+44 re-entries), and the inclusion of three of the final seven in the £1m buy-in Triton Million, prompting the need for a second day.
It was a lovely little top table.
Michael Soyza, Cary Katz and Timothy Adams were all fresh off their £1m experience. Soyza and Katz failed to make money in the Million, but Adams finished eighth for £1.4m.
Elior Sion doesn’t play too many tournaments but put a £25,000 in his backyard, and he’s going to stick a fold-up chair in the ground and get stuck in.
Kahle Burns finished runner-up to Anuj Agarwal in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship 6-Handed at the WSOP, and Luc Greenwood is a Triton Poker reg, albeit still looking for his first cash.
The Action
The first man to dive into the consolatory £100,000 No-Limit Hold’em event was Michael Soyza. The Natural8 ambassador shipped his last 17 big blinds from the small blind, holding QcTh, only for Loeliger to wake up with pocket sixes in the big blind. A call came, the sixes held, and Soyza was out.
With Soyza out of the way, we had our ‘official’ six-handed final table, and the first to bow out, albeit gracefully, was Burns. Once again, Loeliger played the role of executioner after his pocket queens held against AJ.
The former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Poker Player’s Championship (PPC) winner, Sion, was the next to leave when he pushed holding JcTh on a board of QsJh4s. Greenwood gladly made the call, holding AcQh, and the dominating hand held.
Katz told us that he used all of his ‘run good’ on Day 1 of this event and it proved a correct assessment after his pocket fours lost to Greenwood’s pocket sevens despite flopping a set. The dealer placed the 9d6c4d onto the flop. The 5d gave Greenwood a straight draw, and the 3d on the river handed Greenwood the pot, leaving Katz with nothing but a shaky head.
Greenwood became the chip leader with that hand but lost it to Loeliger in dramatic fashion in the pivotal moment of the tournament. Greenwood looked down to see pocket aces, opened to 500,000, and both Loeliger (pocket fives), and Adams (J4cc) made the call in the blinds. The flop of 6h4s3s had ‘fight! Fight! Fight!’ written all over it. Loelieger led for 375,000, Adams called, Greenwood raised to 1.5m, Adams folded, and Loeliger called. The 2c on the turn gave Loeliger the straight, and he checked to Greenwood who bet 1.5m. Loeliger moved all-in for 7.25m, and Greenwood reluctantly called.
That left Greenwood and Adams on fumes, with Loeliger light-years ahead. Adams got it in with AK versus the A5 of Loeliger, only for a five to land on the flop to set up a heads-up encounter between Greenwood and Loeliger.
It lasted a single hand.
Greenwood got it in with Ts7s, Loeliger called with Jd7h, and jack-high ended being the winning hand.
It was a sweet moment for Loeliger, who also finished third in Event #3: £50,000 No-Limit Hold’em, a tale for another time.
Payouts
Linus Loeliger – £690,000
Luc Greenwood – £466,600
Timothy Adams – £307,000
Cary Katz – £251,500
Elior Sion – £202,900
Kahle Burns – £160,000
Michael Soyza – £122,300
Kyle Carlston – £92,100
Tong Siow Choon – £92,100
Orpen Kisacikoglu – £56,300
Erik Seidel – £56,300
Ben Lamb – £49,500
Paul Phua – £49,500
Wai Chan Leong – £45,300
Dan Smith – £45,300
Ben Heath – £43,100
Patrik Antonius – £43,100
Champion Aaron Zang
If you spend three days watching the world’s greatest professional poker players competing against a selection of successful business people, entrepreneurs and philanthropists in a poker tournament, the presence of luck and skill blinds.
Bryn Kenney arrived in London with more than $9m locked up in winnings since Christmas. He had won seven of his past eight heads-up confrontations, with only Timothy Adams able to dodge the Lone Wolf’s eclectic mix of missile systems and mines in Jeju recently.
Coming into Triton Million: A Helping Hand For Charity, Kenney was adamant that he would win, and take his rightful place at the head of the All-Time Money List.
“Poker needs someone like me to represent the game,” he told me in one of our many discussions this week.
The reigning Aussie Millions Champion and two-time Triton Champion used that confidence, sprinkled with experience, skill, and gangster poker to make it to the heads-up stage of the event.
Standing in his way was Aaron Zang. In the minutes before Zang settled down to face Kenney, he told me that he had ‘no idea what he was doing,’ that he never realised these players would be ‘so good,’ and it would be ‘a miracle’ if he overturned Kenney’s 4:1 chip lead and became the Triton Million champion.
A miracle?
Let’s see what we can do.
Eight players landed on the shores of the Triton Million Final Table each hoping to win the £19m first prize and to own a small piece of poker’s history, and the overwhelming favourite was Vivek Rajkumar who began proceedings with more than double the stack of Stephen Chidwick, in second.
Final Table Seat Draw
Seat 1: Timothy Adams – 5.735m
Seat 2: Bryn Kenney – 5.54m
Seat 3: Alfred DeCarolis – 5.455m
Seat 4: Vivek Rajkumar – 18m
Seat 5: Bill Perkins – 2m
Seat 7: Stephen Chidwick – 9.79m
Seat 8: Dan Smith – 2.35m
Seat 9: Aaron Zang – 5.06m
A Poor Start For Rajkumar; Perkins Doubling
Bill Perkins had the shortest stack in the room, and his strategy was a simple one – choose your spots wisely, and ship it. The entrepreneur stuck with the plan, doubling through Vivek Rajkumar twice – a sign of the times to come for the cash game pro.
The man of the level was Dan Smith, who added 4m chips to his stack with some well-timed moves and intelligent plays. Alfred DiCarlos also showed that the razzmatazz of the final table wouldn’t phase him, after running a successful bluff on Timothy Adams and showing the table.
Smith & Chidwick Soar; Rajkumar Plummets
Smith’s incredible run continued in the next two-levels, although he needed some luck along the way. Smith went into the second break of the day with the chip lead, after doubling through Rajkumar in fortunate circumstances.
Double Up Dan Smith
With blinds at 125k/250k/250k, Smith opened from the first position to 500k holding pocket jacks, and Rajkumar called on the button with Th9h. The flop was a perfect looking Tc9s4h for both players, and they got it in. After the inconsequential 3d hit the turn, Smith was one card away from elimination before a third jack hit the river to change everything.
Chidwick also moved into the frame at this time, and once again Rajkumar was the man handing out chips. With blinds at 100k/200k/200k, Rajkumar opened to 450k on the button holding As8c, and Chidwick called from the big blind holding Jd5d. The flop fell Jc9s4h to give Chidwick top pair, and he called a 300k bet from Rajkumar. The Qs landed on the turn, and this time Chidwick called an 850k Rajkumar double-barrel. Rajkumar then fired a third barrel of 2.9m at the sight of the 6h. Chidwick moved all of his time bank chips into the middle, and when he had finished thinking, he had made the right call.
Rajkumar’s only slice of luck arrived with the elimination of Timothy Adams. The Triton Jeju Champion had a horrible final table, encapsulated by his final hand finding pocket kings, only for Rajkumar to find an ace on the flop when all-in, pre holding ace-ten, to send the Canadian to the rail in eighth.
Alfred DeCarolis joined Adams, in seventh place, after running Ah3h into the pocket aces of Chidwick. The UK All-Time Money Earner was chosen by DeCarolis to compete in this event, so it was with a twist of irony that the real estate developer would fall at his hands.
Rajkumar Falls; Kenney Leads
The fifth and sixth levels spelt the end of a dreadful final table experience for Rajkumar, although you would never have thought it if you had seen the smile on the man’s face as he left the competition.
The demise began when Perkins doubled through Rajkumar for the third time when AK beat A3 in a blind on blind thing. Perkins, however, couldn’t keep hold of those chips, eventually handing them to Bryn Kenney, running KT into aces in a standard spot.
Bryn Kenney
After eliminating Perkins, Kenney turned his attention to Rajkumar. It could have been a tough spot for Kenney with the big stack to his left, but it wasn’t to be. Kenney found aces for the second time in succession. Rajkumar held A8ss, and five community cards later the pre-final table favourite was out.
In between eliminations, Kenney had also faced elimination, doubling through Aaron Zang nines versus 87dd, dodging a myriad of outs on a Jh9d3h6d board. The Qs on the river forcing Kenney to come to the rail to tell his mother he needed a break because he was on such a rush.
Zang recovered from his smash on the nose by winning a flip against Dan Smith.
Zang Takes The Lead
When four-handed, the only non-pro left in the field suddenly found himself with the chip lead. First, Zang doubled through Kenney when flopping two pair against top pair, and then he doubled through Smith for the second time when AK flopped a king against pocket eights.
Kenney Emerges as The Major Contender; Chidwick and Smith Struggle
Zang didn’t hold the lead for too long before Kenney began to take over. Chidwick and Smith couldn’t seem to put anything together, and as their chip stacks dwindled, Kenney’s increased.
Smith doubled through Zang when 97o flopped a seven against the A3o of Zang in a blind on blind confrontation, and then we lost Chidwick when he called a shove from Kenney holding pocket sevens against KJo, only for the deck to produce a second king on the flop to send the man from the UK home in fourth.
Smith exited in the third spot when his ATo lost to Kenney’s QThh in a race to the death, and Kenney’s rail erupted in jubilation, a sense of victory in the air, as he prepared to take on Zang with a 4:1 chip lead, all of the momentum, and all of the experience.
Heads-Up: Kenny v Zang
Heads Up Bryn Kenney & Aaron Zang
Kenney: 44.2m
Zang: 9.8m
As soon as Smith exited in third, Zang asked Kenney for a deal, and a nod and handshake later, here were the scores on the doors.
Kenney: £16.89m
Zang: £12.6m
The Tournament Director insisted that the pair play for £1.1m, and the finale of Triton Million: A Helping Hand For Charity contained two main scenes.
In the first, Zang doubled through Kenney when pocket sixes beat KQo, reducing the gap between them to 7m chips. Then Zang took the chip lead, before the final all-in and call.
Zang moved all-in on a flop of 8s4s3c, holding 8d5d for top pair, and Kenney made the call with As6s for the drawing hand. The 9c was black, but the wrong emblem for Kenney. The Kd on the river was another card that Kenney didn’t want to see, and Zang took the title.
It was a strange feeling at the end. Typically, we have a winner and a loser, but today, we had two winners. Zang banked £13,779,491 and the title of Triton Million winner. Kenney collected £16,890,509, meaning he wears the All-Time Money List crown with $55.5m in lifetime earnings. He also broke the record for most earnings in a calendar year with $29.8m and the most significant single prize in poker with $20,563,324.
“I lost two flips,” said Kenney. “That’s what it boils down to. It’s poker. I’m happy. I would have loved the title, but I told you, I wanted that spot on the All-Time Money list, and now I have it. I couldn’t be happier.”
During the closing ceremony, Triton co-founder, Paul Phua, grabbed the microphone and told the crowd that he had played with Zang in Macau for the past nine years.
“It goes to show, that anyone can win,” said Phua.
Zang and Kenney weren’t the only winners, so were Triton.
The production and the action matched the pre-tournament buzz around the event. Let’s hope that in the future if they ever do this again, more successful people in business will find hope and inspiration from Zang’s win, and join the fray, but will they ever do this again?
Final Table Results
Aaron Zang – *£13,779,491.
Bryn Kenney – *16,890,509
Dan Smith – £7,200,000
Stephen Chidwick – £4,410,000
Vivek Rajkumar – £3,000,000
Bill Perkins – £2,200,000
Alfred DeCarolis – £1,720,000
Timothy Adams – £1,400,000
*Indicates a heads-up deal.
Vivek Rajkumar
Nine dreadnoughts of a different race, creed and colour have surged confidently to the final table of the Triton Million: A Helping Hand For Charity leaving behind a contrail of inspired moves, lucky cards, and broken hearts.
Butterflies are stoking a dragon’s roar.
The dreams of eight players will go up in smoke, stuck in the orbit of someone else’s perpetual paradise, and only one will emerge through this furious fight handing over the digits that will be pressed during the wiring of £19m.
It’s time to make history.
Thirty-six players began Day 2 of the richest buy-in event in the history of the game. Bill Perkins, Timothy Adams, and Dan Smith started the day in the top three positions, and they all made the final table.
Of the two hemispheres, those who call the west ‘home’ featured more prominently. Aaron Zang led the charge for the east, taking the chip lead midway through the day after winning a 6m pot, set-over-set against Danny Tang. Zang, a cash game player from Shanghai, sailed to the final table on that jetsam and is the only Asian-based player left in the field.
Vivek Rajkumar comes from Asian stock, but the land of the Stars and Stripes is his home, and the high stakes cash game star, left everyone with stars as he strode triumphantly through the field to take his seat at the top table with more than double the chips of his nearest competitor.
Stephen Chidwick is Rajkumar’s closest rival.
Chidwick’s appearance at the final table is no accident. In many ways, you can call it a formality, such is the consistency of the man, and he was the bookie’s number one pick before the tournament began. If Chidwick wins, and the other finishing positions go his way, he could replace Justin Bonomo at the top of the All-Time Money List.
Two more finalists can overtake Bonomo at the top of that illustrious Hendon Mob list. Dan Smith and Bryn Kenney can both take that number one spot should they find the right spots, and cards, to take this one down.
The Triton Poker Super High Roller Main Event winner, Jeju, Timothy Adams, takes a pew at the final table after the added cushion of eliminating Wai Leong Chan in ninth place. Adams is another player more than capable of winning this thing should momentum choose him.
Joining Adams is Alfred DeCarolis and Bill Perkins.
DeCarolis is the Poker Gods version of Perseus after getting it in pocket tens versus the pocket tens of Stanley Choi, only to hit runner-runner flush. The former real estate developer will be hoping to continue building a path to the £19m first prize.
Then you have Perkins, who in many ways has been the star of the show. The hedge fund manager began the day with the chip lead, before finding himself all-in on the £1.1m money bubble with his tournament life on the line.
Fortunately, Perkins was facing Igor Kurganov, as an overwhelming favourite with jacks versus tens. Perkins’ hand held, and Rajkumar would take Kurganov’s shrapnel a few hands later. For a fleeting moment, it was a sad moment for charity, as Kurganov had planned to donate 10% of his winnings to Raising for Effective Giving (REG), only for Perkins to step in and pledge 10% of his winnings to Kurganov’s charity.
They don’t call this event ‘A Helping Hand for Charity’ for nothing.
The final table begins at 1 pm, where these nine players will make history.
Final Table Seat Draw
Seat 1: Timothy Adams – 5.735m
Seat 2: Bryn Kenney – 5.54m
Seat 3: Alfred DeCarolis – 5.455m
Seat 4: Vivek Rajkumar – 18m
Seat 5: Bill Perkins – 2m
Seat 7: Stephen Chidwick – 9.79m
Seat 8: Dan Smith – 2.35m
Seat 9: Aaron Zang – 5.06m
Payouts
£19m
£11.67m
£7.2m
£4.41m
£3m
£2.2m
£1.72m
£1.4m
£1.2m
Harry S Truman once said, “Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skilful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better” – courageous and skilful leaders like Paul Phua and Richard Yong.
Opening Ceremonies
Less than a year ago, over a few whiskies during the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in Rozvadov, Yong and Phua, together with Dusk till Dawn (DTD) owner, Rob Yong, skirted around the idea of creating a £1m buy-in event to raise money for charity.
Yesterday, Triton gave birth to Triton London: A Helping Hand for Charity.
Daniel Negreanu summed up the excitement perfectly in this tweet.
Biggest mistake of the year for me was not going to London to play @tritonpoker
It won’t happen again.
I didn’t think the FOMO would be this bad, but it’s bad.— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) August 1, 2019
Triton Million exceeded all expectations.
The set, resplendent with a tunnel walkthrough that made Wembley look like one of those children tunnels you pick up in Ikea, was world-class. The event surpassed expectations. 54-players (a record for a seven-figure buy-in), created a £54m prize pool (a record outside of the WSOP Main Event), raising £2.7m for charity, with the winner receiving £19m (the most substantial first prize ever given to a player).
Before The Merger
Triton Million was also an innovative project.
For the first time in history, a high buy-in tournament found a way to satisfy both pros and non-pros alike, by separating them into two mini-tournaments. The mini-tournaments lasted six levels, during which time, the Tournament Director, Luca Vivaldi, kept both types of players separated from each other.
The results were interesting with the pros taking full advantage of the shot-clock to slow the pace of the game down, eager to get to the merged part of the draw with a beating heart. The non-pros were just having fun.
The first casualty was the most consistent player in the history of seven-figure buy-ins. Rick Salomon had made the final table of three $1m buy-in One Drop events, but he wouldn’t be making the final of this one. Andrew Pantling sent Salomon to the rail and cemented himself as the early chip leader.
The next person out of the door was Tom Dwan.
The Triton Ambassador headed for an early shower after missing his flush draw when all-in versus Timofey Kuznetsov’s top pair. When Kuznetsov first began climbing the online ranks, Dwan was his idol.
“It felt good,” Kuznetsov said with a smile when asked how it felt to eliminate Dwan.
Six players could overtake Justin Bonomo at the top of the All-Time Money List should results go there way during this event. One of them, David Peters, crashed early when his trip jacks ran into a boat moored in front of Jason Koon’s house. Peters failed to make the first break in the 2018 One Drop. He was unable to make the second break in this one. Koon moved into the chip lead.
World’s Collide
Going into the merger, Timothy Adams, had a slight chip lead over Jason Koon, but it was Vivek Rajkumar who would be the first player to eclipse 3m in chips. Rajkumar seemed to revel in the atmosphere, playing every other hand, bossing his table.
At the other end of things, Paul Phua was hanging on by his fingernails, winning flip after flip, before Rajkumar finished him off to extend his lead further at the top.
Bill Perkins
Then Bill Perkins showed how quickly you could turn a mediocre stack into the biggest pile in the room. Perkins eliminated the 2016 One Drop winner, Elton Tsang, in a set-over-set hand Perkins would later call ‘pure Casino Royale.’ Then he finished the night as the chip leader, doubling through Rajkumar when his set held against a straight flush draw.
The players return for Day 1 at 1 pm (UK time), when 36 of them will play through the most expensive bubble in history before ending things at a final table.
The stalls are up, the curtain has opened, and the traps are sprung – Triton Million London has a green light.
Triton Poker Super High Roller Series London 2019 – Day 1
It seems absurd to say that ‘only’ 54 players get the opportunity to compete in the £1m buy-in Triton Million event, but think about it. The Triton brand is much more than a £1m buy-in tournament. In a few years, it’s grown to become one of the most loved high stakes events in the world.
Triton has plenty of customers, and it took care of them by creating Event #1: £25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Turbo. Thanks to unlimited re-entries until the end of 12-levels, the tournament amassed a 117-entrants (inc. 44 re-entries) field, creating a £2,749,500 prize pool.
The winner will pick up £690,000, but the podium remains empty after the massive turnout resulted in the tournament running into an impromptu second day. Seven players remain in the field, and they will resume play on August 4, the day after the Triton Million ends.
Leading the way is Linus Loeliger.
The Swiss star made his Triton debut in Montenegro, finishing third in an HKD 250,000 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed Turbo for $219,262 and was so impressed by his welcome that he vowed to attend more of them. A little birdie told me that he was one of the players who seriously considered competing in the Triton Million.
Here are the chip counts for the Final Table.
Final Table Chip Counts
Linus Loeliger – 5,055,000
Lucas Greenwood – 4,400,000
Timothy Adams – 4,090,000
Kahle Burns – 3,755,000
Cary Katz – 2,540,000
Michael Soyza – 2,055,000
Elior Sion – 1,500,000
Three Triton Million players had less sleep than they would have liked with Timothy Adams, Cary Katz and Michael Soyza all making the final table. Triton Million combatants Örpen Kisacikoglu, Paul Phua, Wai Leong Chan, and Dan Smith also made money. Phua’s cash extends his Triton ITM record to 14.
Payouts
£690,000
£466,600
£307,000
£251,500
£202,900
£160,000
£122,300
Carlston Kyle – £92,100
Tong Siow Choon – £68,700
Orpen Kisacikoglu – £56,300
Erik Seidel – £56,300
Ben Lamb – £49,500
Paul Phua – £49,500
Wai Leong Chan – £45,300
Dan Smith – £45,300
Ben Heath – £43,100
Patrik Antonius – £43.100
Seat Draw For the Triton Million
Barring any last-minute miracle, it looks like the final headcount for the Triton Million is 54-players. That means Triton’s players have raised £2.7m for charity. The £54m prizepool is the most substantial in history outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, 54-players is the most significant number for a seven-figure buy-in, and the first prize will also win a record.
During the dinner break in the £25,000, Tournament Director, Luca Vivaldi organised the seat draw for Day 1 of the Triton Million. For the first six, one-hour levels, the pros and non-pros will compete in separate halves of the draw before merging from Level 7 onwards. In another twist, pro and non-pro pairings (for example, Talal Shakerchi and Igor Kurganov), cannot face each other until the final table.
Here is the seat draw.
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 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
