Category: My news, views and fun facts

Star Trek has never been the same since James Tiberius Kirk left the Nexus to help defeat Soran and ended up in a hole with Jean-Luc Picard holding a dirty spade. Every magnificent ship has a leader standing on the bridge, decorated with more stars than the Milky Way, and they never move as gracefully once the cord is cut.

Ask one hundred people, clueless about poker, to name a famous poker player, and Daniel Negreanu is going to get more hits than most. The 44-year-old is one of those rare finds – a poker player who makes an impression in the mainstream. I mean, come on, he starred in an X-Men movie for peat’s sake.

Over the weekend, Negreanu announced that the rubber band that had held him close to the beating heart of the PokerStars machine had snapped. Despite being of paramount importance to the Red Spade organisation for 12-years, the band didn’t erode through old age. Negreanu and Eric Hollreiser each grabbed the scissors and sheared, amicably. 

There is a clip in the Netflix documentary ‘Kid Poker’ where Phil Ivey says, “few have done more for poker than Daniel,” and it’s hard to refute such a bold claim from such a titan. Negreanu ensures he’s always in the public eye. In the beginning, it was his humour and engaging table manner. Then his illuminatingly honest interviews and blog posts, then later his vlogs and intense activity on social media. Each clip, word or image was growing poker and PokerStars, but not everyone adored Negreanu. 

In the aftermath of the Supernova Elite disaster, Negreanu publicly criticised PokerStars for the way they communicated (or didn’t communicate) the changes, while simultaneously backing his employers over the ‘why’ behind the decision. 

Negreanu’s stance led to a vitriolic attack from poker players affected by the changes, and those that didn’t agree with his viewpoint. The longest and nastiest pointed finger accused Negreanu of being a shill. 

In my dealings with PokerStars and Negreanu, I never believed that he was a shill. He was loyal to PokerStars, but he didn’t tow a corporate line. I’ve no doubt, had Negreanu been opposed to anything that PokerStars had done, he would have left. His controversial views were his own, and we will get to see that now he is a free man. 

Negreanu spoke about his split in a short video posted on Twitter explaining that his recent marriage to Amanda Leathermen and his desire to start a family tied in with his decision to leave. I hope that doesn’t mean that Negreanu will be spending more time away from poker. The game needs people like Negreanu – honest, transparent and willing to give the community an insight into a world that we rarely see from our stance on the rail.

One thing is for sure; we are never going to see the likes of Daniel Negreanu again. Relationships between ambassadors and online poker rooms will be more’ War of Art’ than ‘War and Peace’. A decade plus ambassadorial relationship is going to be a rare thing indeed. 

And for Negreanu, the captain, what next?

He says he is looking forward to the future, so let’s leave him with some words of wisdom of one of the best captains in the business. 

“You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown — only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.” – James. T. Kirk.

Most live poker tournaments are Bruce Banner. Triton is Bruce Banner after the gamma rays ate into his marrow. THE high stakes tournament series on the planet rose to another level with a 12-event series at the Maestral Resort & Casino in Budva, Montenegro. 

The initial plan to hold ten events was bold, two more were added at the request of players whose only medicine for boredom seems to be a seat at a table surrounded by beasts determined to hunt them down and eat every last chip. 

Those 12-events attracted 691-entrants (403 unique, 288 re-entries), $41,564,198 in prize money, and 12 people left with more than seven-figures in gross profit. 

Let’s take a look at the numbers and the primary stories from the most ambitious and most exceptional Triton Poker Series in the tour’s short history.

There were many stars at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, but none burned brighter than Bryn Kenney. The New Yorker arrived on the Adriatic Coast irritated that the buy-ins were too low for a man of his stature. He’s not complaining anymore. 

Kenney won two events, and what a pair to win taking down an HK$500,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed competition for $1.4m, and the HK$1m No-Limit Hold’em Main Event for $2.7m. All told, Kenney earned more money, gross, than anyone else throughout the series, with $4,145,235 ending up in his coffers before leaving early to play some online poker. 

It was another superb series for Mikita Badziakouski who was one of three previous Triton champions who added more titles to the resume. The Belarusian made money three times, and won an HK$750,000 Short-Deck event, for a combined haul of $2,912,467, taking him to the top of the Triton All-Time Money List with $11,778,001 in gross profit. Badziakouski has now won three Triton titles. John Juanda (2) and Daniel Cates (2) were the other repeat champions. 

Triton’s co-founder, Paul Phua, had a sterling series cashing five times, earning $3,594,983. Phua holds the record for the most Triton ITM finishes (13), although he’s likely miffed that he’s still not got a blue baseball cap with the word ‘Triton Champion” stitched into the fabric. 

One of the challenges for a tour like Triton is finding fresh blood given the stakes are so high, so it was refreshing to see new faces from the pro stables in Montenegro. Modern-day online legend Linus “LlinusLove” Loeliger competed in the No-Limit Hold’em events and took part in a live-streamed cash game. The Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, Alex Foxen, also made his debut, as did Jesus Cortes.

One of the most interesting appearances was from the UK pro, Max Silver, who arrived in Montenegro to compete in the Short-Deck events after playing them online and studying his arse off. Will more follow Silver’s lead? Triton will hope so. 

It was also a fantastic series for the non-professionals. Leon Tsoukernik and Tony G both competed without much success, but the non-professionals from the East excelled with Quek Sheng, Hing Chow and Winfred Yu all winning titles. 

Daniel Dvoress was another top, top performer in Montenegro, earning $2,717,155 in gross profit, tying with Phua at the top of the ITM finish list with five. And Danny Tang also made an impressive debut, leaving with $1,976,217 in gross profit after and an eighth in an HK$500,000 event and a second in the HK$1m event, two payscales he had never competed in before. 

The next stop will be in London at the end of July where these lovely people will compete in a £1m buy-in event, the most expensive tournament in the history of the game.

Triton Montenegro Million Plus Winners (Overall)

1. Bryn Kenney – $4,145,235
2. Rui Cao – $3,611,031
3. Paul Phua – $3,594,983
4. Mikita Badziakouski – $2,912,467
5. Daniel Dvoress – $2,717,155
6. Arnaud Romain – $2,130,372
7. Danny Tang – $1,976,217
8. Sam Greenwood – $1,943,613
9. Peter Jetten – $1,865,303
10. Ben Lamb – $1,192,009
11. Kenneth Kee – $1,082,033
12. Ivan Leow – $1,060,282

Triton Montenegro ITM Finishes

1. Paul Phua/Daniel Dvoress – 5
2. Peter Jetten – 4
3. Rui Cao/Mikita Badziakouski/Sam Greenwood/Isaac Haxton/Jason Koon – 3

Triton Top Ten Earners

1. Mikita Badziakouski – $11,778,001
2. Jason Koon – $10,884,804
3. Bryn Kenney – $9,683,224
4. Paul Phua – $7,783,159
5. Rui Cao – $6,774,900
6. Peter Jetten – $6,605,911
7. Richard Yong – $$6,033,631
8. Wai Leong Chan – $5,946,225
9. Fedor Holz – $5,617,727
10. John Juanda – $5,334,133

The most endearing thing about the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series is the intimacy, and most heroes began the journey in the same way – a home game. Over time, you miss those days, and Triton brings them back at epileptic stakes.

Take the most recent in Montenegro. When the schedule first hit media’s white space, those paid to put pen to poker paper billed it as the most ambitious, most extensive and most expensive Triton tour to date. 

Ten tournaments spread over a 13-day stew, only we got twelve, and the reason we had two additional events is because of that home game feel.

As we moved into the final day, with most of the sharks moving into deeper waters, those left behind demanded more action. Heads came together like a teddy bears picnic, and an HK$300,000 (US$38,000) buy-in event materialised out of the ether. It would be the first-ever No-Limit Hold’em/Short-Deck Mixed, and it would be a turbo. 

The whole thing lasted eight hours, and when all was said and done, Daniel  ‘Jungleman’ Cates had added a second Triton title to his ever-expanding list of impressive poker achievements.

Despite most of the players leaving for pastures new, the final event of the series still attracted 27-entrants (inc. 10 re-entries), and that’s not too far off the million buck prizepool mark. 

Only three players would bank any money, and the man who came closest without smoking a cigar was Mike Watson, and he was as unlucky as a bear walking into a cave with the intestines of wild animals hanging from the roof just beyond his claws. 

Watson got it in with QdJs on AsTs6s and was up against Td9h of Cates. The Jungleman had the lead; Watson had all the outs, and none of them leapt from the deck, sending Watson to the rail on the stone bubble.

That left three players at the top of their game, and six Triton titles between them. Rui Cao won his first title a few days ago, and he chose a big one taking down the HK$1m Short-Deck Main Event for $3.3m, but he couldn’t make it title #2. The Frenchman ran AdKc into the pocket aces of Cates to leave him on fumes, and then ran 8d2d into Koon’s AsQh in a hand of No-Limit Hold’em to see him go in third place for HK$ 1,560,000 (US$199,000).

Cao’s elimination left us with the rather tasty heads-up encounter of Jungleman versus Koon. This trip had been the quietest of Triton trips for Koon, and so he would have been eager to finish with a win. Also, had Koon won, he would have collected a record fourth title. 

It wasn’t to be.

In the shortest heads-up imaginable, Koon and Cates clashed with the three-time Triton champ holding AhKh against the As6d of the Jungleman who sucked out on Koon to win the second Triton title of his career (Cates won an event in Manila back in 2016.)

The win was Cates’ sixth live tournament win, and his HK$ 3,930,000 (US$501,000) cash moves his All-Time Live Tournament Money needle to the $6.7m mark. Add that to the $11m profit he has claimed during his online cash game sessions, and the untold millions he has won playing live cash games, and it’s safe to say that Cates is one of the greatest players of his generation.

ITM Results

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

The next time we will see the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series will be in July when they roll into London for the first time, planning to set a new record with a £1m buy-in event. 

Some fairies turn up in crusty old kitchens turning green lizards into coachmen, pumpkins into carriages, and mice into beautiful white mares. Then there are the fairies who whizz around the baseball cap of Bryn Kenney waving their wand, sprinkling him with crusher dust.

And the crusher keeps crushing. 

A few sleeps shy of Kenney winning his first Triton Poker title, he has won another, only this one was considerably more significant. 

Kenney has just conquered a 75 entrant (inc 31 re-entries) field to take the HKD 21,300,000 ($2,713,876) first prize in the HKD 1 million (USD 127,000) Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro Main Event. Incredibly that means, Kenney’s past three ITM finishes, since March, have all been seven-figure scores. 

Take a gander.

2/48, HKD 2m Triton Main Event in Jeju for $3,062,513.

1/79, HKD 500k Triton NLHE 6-Max in Montenegro for $1,431,376.

1/75, HKD 1m Triton Main Event in Montenegro for $2,713,859

The win means Kenney extends his lead at the top of the 2019 Money List to $9,116,562 ($1m+ more than when he topped this list in 2017). He also moonshot passed Fedor Holz and David Peters landing in fourth place in the All-Time Money List with $34,799,434. 

“I was in the zone, played well and crushed the table,” Kenney told Triton reporters after his win.

What next for the great man?

After five days of competing at the highest level for such long periods, he might take a rest, and that’s good news for everyone else.

“I’m just going to chill, relax, let my brain relax.” 

The Action in a Nutshell

With four of the final table returning with stacks smaller than 20 big blinds the action was always going to be stock market floor crazy (Erik Seidel (8), Paul Phua (10), Sam Greenwood (14) and Jason Koon (18).

The first pot of the final table saw Phua move all-in holding pocket fours and Koon lost a flip with AcKc. Seidel then doubled through Eibinger AhTs v Ad4d, and it was both Koon and Eibinger who would leave first. 

Jason Koon and Matthias Eibinger Out in 9th and 8th

Koon shoved the button for five big blinds with Ac7d, the defending champion Mikita Badziakouski moved all-in from the small blind with pocket eights, and Eibinger called in the big blind holding AdQh. A queen on the flop gave Eibinger the lead, but an eight on the turn and a big fat brick on the river gave Badziakouski Koon’s and Eibinger’s chips.

Erik Seidel Out in 7th

Badziakouski opened the button with AsTd and then called when Seidel shoved the small blind holding Qh9h. Seidel flopped a queen, but Badziakouski once again turned a better hand, this time a flush, and the New Yorker was out. 

Paul Phua Out in 6th

Paul Phua was making his seventh final table, but unlike his Triton co-founder, Richard Yong, he had never managed to convert one into a win. Today, was no different. Phua doubled through Badziakouski when QJ outdrew KJ, and his A4 cracked Peter Jetten’s pocket kings when rivering the case ace, but like Achilles, he couldn’t escape the arrow in the foot shot from the bow of Bryn. Kenney limped the button with pocket queens, and Phua checked 7s4d in the big blind. Kenney flopped the top set, and Phua moved all-in with middle pair. Kenney snap-called and Phua was out.

Greenwood Out in 5th

Greenwood is another player putting poker players in prison for fun, and after this latest cash, ranks fourth in the 2019 Money List with $4,688,680 in live tournament earnings. It was another outstanding performance after coming fifth in the first event. And it was fifth again after Badziakouski eliminated him in this funky hand. 

Greenwood limped the cutoff with AdQd and 11 big blinds, Danny Tang called with Ks5d in the small blind, and Badziakouski checked Kc9h in the big blind off 14 big blinds. The flop of Kd4s2c gave Tang and Badziakouski top pair. Both checked. Greenwood bet 120,000. Tang called, Badziakouski clicked it back, Greenwood burned through two-time bank chips before moving all-in, Tang folded, and Badziakouski called. Neither the turn nor the river came to Greenwood’s aid, and he was out.

Badziakouski Out in Fourth

Next, we lost the defending champion after the former back-to-back Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Main Event winner, became embroiled in a blind on blind turf war with Kenney, and pocket sevens beat AcJs in a sprint. 

Jetten Out in Third

The elimination of Badziakouski turned the tournament into a man versus boys scenario with Kenney sitting behind a stack of 94 big blinds, and Tang (17) and Jetten (6) looking decidedly diminutive. Jetten, who was making his seventh Triton final table, and his second of this series, finished third once again, this time when Ks6h lost to the Th9s Kenney.

Heads-Up

87 – 7 Chip disadvantage.

Hardly a fair fight, right?

Kenney eventually took out Tang when QhJh turned a straight, but Tang was nonplussed – this was his first HKD 1 million buy-in event, and he left with $1.8m, the first seven-figure score of his career. 

Here are the final table results.

Final Table Results

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)

The first of multiple seven-figure scores have been handed out at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, and it has gone to a man who almost didn’t turn up because the ‘buy-ins weren’t high enough.’

Speaking in a short interview, the day before Event #2: HK$500,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed, Kenney said he came to the event out of respect to the co-founders Richard Yong and Paul Phua, but was disappointed that there were no HK$2,000,000 buy-in events, and wasn’t sure he was going to compete.

Then he smelt the felt, heard the riffle of chips, and saw his hotel bathrobe and slippers and everything changed. 

Kenney, defeated Daniel Dvoress, heads-up, to win the HK$11,230,000 (US$1,431,264) first prize, his third big win of the year after taking down the Aussie Millions Main Event, and a $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the US Poker Open in Las Vegas. 

It’s also a sweet moment for Kenney after the punch in the gut he received in Jeju, finishing second to Timothy Adams in the HK$2,000,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. 

The victory also means that Kenney has won more money playing live tournaments in 2019 than any of the other 7.5 billion souls that call this planet home, accruing $6,402,574, with six months of the year still to go (Kenney topped the 2017 Money List earning $8.5m). 

The event attracted 79 entrants (inc. 34 re-entries), and at the end of Day 1, Short-Deck expert, Xuan Tan, finished on top of a pile of 24 people who had made it through to the final day. 

The man situated in the 24th position was Daniel Dvoress, so it was an incredible performance for the Canadian to reach heads-up. Not that we should expect anything less from a man who finished 4th in the €100k and 8th in the €25k  at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Monte Carlo, recently.

By the time the final six parachuted onto the final table, Dvoress wasn’t the only player who had experienced a decent time in Monte Carlo. Sergio Aido, who won the €100k in that series, also made the cut. Joining him was Christoph Vogelsang (who finished 18th in the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event), and two Triton Titans in Jason Koon and Ivan Leow who have 16 Triton final tables between them.

The first person to hit the rail was Christoph Vogelsang. The former Super High Roller Bowl winner, moved all-in for eight big blinds, holding pocket fours, and Jason Koon called and won in the big blind holding pocket sixes. 

Koon may have taken the first scalp, but he couldn’t prevent Kenney taking his in a five-handed cooler that saw the winningest player in Triton Poker history get it in with pocket jacks versus the pocket kings of Kenney to kill his dream of a third title.

Aido exited in third when playing 60k/120k/120k he moved all-in for 1.44m holding Ah3c, and Dvoress called and won in the big blind holding Kd5c. We reached heads-up after Ivan Leow moved all-in on the button for 1.06m and JhTs, only for Dvoress to cut him up with pocket queens. 

When heads-up play began, Dvoress enjoyed an almost 2:1 chip lead over Kenney, but the Aussie Millions Champ doubled-up to take a leave he never relinquished. The final hand saw Kenney come from behind to river a flush, to win the 19th live tournament of his career.

“I made a lot of really good value bets, really good bluffs, played really ferocious, feel real strong,” Kenney said after his win. “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.”

ITM Finishes

Bryn Kenney, USA – HK$11,230,000 (US$1,431,264)
Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $7,430,000 (US$946,954)
Ivan Leow, Malaysia – HK$5,070,000 (US$646,172)
Sergio Aido, Spain – HK$3,820,000 (US$486,859)
Jason Koon, USA – HK$2,970,000 (US$378,527)
Christoph Vogelsang, Germany, HK$2,300,000 (US$293,135)
Richard Yong, Malaysia, HK$1,820,000 (US$231,959)
Danny Tang, Hong Kong, HK$1,410,000 (US$179,705)
Cheong Cheok Ieng, Macau – HK$1,080,000 (US$137,646)

Here are the remaining events:

#3 Tue May 7 – HK$100k – Short-Deck Ante-Only (Two-Day Event)*
#4 Wed May 8 – HK$1m Triton Montenegro No-Limit Hold’em Main Event (Three-Day Event)**
#5 Fri May 10 – HK$250k Short-Deck Ante-Only (Two-Day Event)*
#6 Sat May 11 – HK$200k Short-Deck Ante-Only Turbo (Two-Day Event)*
#7 Sun May 12 – HK$250k Pot-Limit Omaha (Two-Day Event )*
#8 Mon May 13 – HK$500k Short-Deck Ante-Only (Two-Day Event)*
#9 Tue May 14 – HK$750k Short-Deck Ante-Only (Two-Day Event)*
#10 Wed May 15 – HK$1m Triton Montenegro Short-Deck Ante-Only Main Event (Three-Day Event)*
* Indicates a 3:00 pm start
** Indicates a noon start

Day 2/3 Resumptions begin at noon.