Bill Gates once said, “that with great wealth comes great responsibility.”
This morning, Darren Elias is likely thinking more along the lines of, “with great wealth comes too much attention.”
Darren Elias
The Hendon Mob states that the four-time World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event champion has earned more than $7.1m playing live tournaments. Those numbers are gross earnings, so the entirety of that payload hasn’t passed through his hands, but you imagine he has enough to live a comfortable life. It’s a thought that seems to have gone through the mind of Shannon Soroka.
Soroka is a 24-year-old from Philadelphia who plays poker amongst other less savoury things that he gets up to in life. On Thursday, Soroka knocked on the door of Elias’s New Jersey home, and when a young girl answered it, he produced a gun and forced his way into the house.
Elias and his wife weren’t home, and the young girl was their 19-year-old babysitter hired to care for their two-year-old child. Reports in nbcphiladelphia.com declare that Soroka thrust the gun into the back of the young babysitter and marched her around the house searching for money and valuables before leaving her in the bathroom.
Soroka didn’t physically harm either the babysitter nor Elias’s child during the robbery, and it’s unclear whether Soroka managed to leave with his booty.
What we do know is that the babysitter dialled 911, and local police picked up Soroka after identifying him via surveillance camera footage that caught him entering the Elias home.
Somewhat disturbingly, Elias told NBC10 that his house had been a target twice in a week.
“It’s incredibly scary for me and my family,” Elias told NBC10 reporters. “It was an awful feeling.”
Soroka is currently eating porridge in Burlington County Jail, Mount Holly, New Jersey, after a local judge charged him with robbery, aggravated assault, making terroristic threats, unlawful possession of a weapon, criminal mischief and a variety of other crimes.
It’s a reminder for high stakes poker players to remain vigilant, and to have adequate security in place. In 2011, thugs broke into the Canadian home of the former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion, Jonathan Duhamel, where they tied him up, beat and robbed him. Within 12-months, Duhamel’s former PokerStars Team Pro colleague, Theo Jorgensen was attacked, robbed, and shot in the leg at his home in Denmark.
It’s a black stain on what’s been a cracking start of the year for the WPT record-breaker. At the turn of the year, Elias won a small-field $25,000 High Roller at the WPT Gardens Poker Championships for $192,500, and earlier this month Elias finished third in the $10,000 WPT LAPC Main Event for $473,280.
In the build-up to the LAPC, Elias paid a visit to his old haunt: The University of Redlands where he spoke to students of his former mentor Dr Fred Rabinowitz.
Elias claims that Rabinowitz was a significant influence on his career, advising him to switch majors so he could continue to play poker in the night, and take creative writing classes in the afternoon.
Rabinowitz is also a keen poker player and runs a class called “Poker and the Meaning of Life.”
Elias has said that he will one day make use of that creative writing degree by writing a book, giving him the opportunity to turn a bitter experience into something worthy of note.
Jonathan Depa photo by partypoker
At the turn of January, Jonathan Depa asked his Twitter followers if there was a waiting list for a SureFly Octocopter, a drone-like miniature helicopter that anyone can fly if you have a spare $200,000.
After winning the $25,000 buy-in Enjoy Punta del Este Super High Roller at the partypoker MILLIONS South America in Rio De Janeiro, Depa has a plan to accumulate that spare $200,000
Everyone is invited to my new casino in Uruguay after I spin up these promo chips and take over ownership. https://t.co/6sSyPZv7Iy— Jonathan Depa (@JonathanDepa) March 24, 2019
The $25,000 buy-in Enjoy Punta del Este Super High Roller is one of two $25,000 high rollers on the MILLIONS South America schedule, but it’s the only one where the sponsor (Enjoy Punta del Este) gave $500,000 in complimentary casino chips to the final five players.
It’s the first $25,000 High Roller of the 2019 MILLIONS season, and the numbers are lower than anything the partypoker team saw in 2018. The £25k MILLIONS UK pulled in a crowd of 51 entrants, there were 47 in Sochi and Canada, 45 & 51 in Rozvadov, and 88 & 90 at the MILLIONS Barcelona Grand Final.
The Rio event captivated the interest of 41-entrants. The field might not be the same size as its 2018 counterparts, but the game was still as ferociously contended (it’s not an event you can advertise on a passing Rio bus).
Five people would make money, meaning three of the eight who made the final table would end up with nothing but a lava lamp bubble to show for their $25,000 (plus re-entries).
Triple Crown winner, Niall Farrell, began the final table with a chip lead twice the stack of his nearest competitor. Big piles can quickly become small piles, and that’s what happened when Farrell got it in threeway with pocket queens up against the ace rag of Ben Lamb and Patrick Mahoney. There were only two aces in the deck, and one of them emerged to triple-up Mahoney, send Lamb to the rail, and put a sizeable dent into the Great Wall of Farrell.
Farrell’s misery continued when Alex Keating doubled with pocket eights beating nine-deuce, and then he ran pocket jacks into the pocket kings of Depa. The mortal wound came when Farrell lost a flip against Mahoney, and John Cynn gobbled up the Scot’s last big blind.
The demise of the once mighty chip leader led to the money bubble, and Diego Zeitler took the honour running A8 into Cynn’s QT, with the reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP), Main Event Champion, turned a ten much to the joy of the remaining five players.
Ivan Luca was the first to exit after the bubble running K7 into the AT of Mahoney, Cynn moved all-in holding T9 in the small blind only for Depa to turn up with pocket kings in the big blind to send the World Champion to the rail in fourth place. And we were heads-up for the title after Mahoney lost a flip against Keating: KT<44.
It was Keating v Depa heads-up for the title.
Keating had a 50% win rate from four heads-up matches over the years, and Depa was experiencing a miserable run that had seen him lose all four of his professional heads-up encounters in the past eight months.
The pair exchanged the chip lead over two levels until the final hand saw Keating move all-in holding K3o, and Depa calling and holding with A6o to win the first live tournament of his career.
Here are the ITM finishes.
ITM Finishes
Jonathan Depa – $410,000 (inc. $150,000 in casino chips)
Alex Keating – $260,495 (inc. $125,000 in casino chips)
Patrick Mahoney – $174,175 (inc. $100,000 in casino chips)
John Cynn – $112,702 (inc. $75,000 in casino chips)
Ivan Luca – $61,475 (inc. $50,000 in casino chips)
The second $25,000 of the partypoker MILLIONS South America is currently underway, and we will bring you news of the result as soon as it ends.
The barista in your local coffee shop will remember your name if you act with all the airs and grace of a person who boils the contents of one’s skull. They will also not forget you if your presence at the till is illuminating enough to melt the darkness of the mind.
In the first instance, there is no utterance of your name – reviled like copperhead snakes, corpses and constipation. Act with the beauty and charm of the latter, and a shower of motivation rises from that optimistic spring.
Honest recognition is a pleasing thing, and it’s for this reason that Poker Award Ceremonies, for all the trolling and teasing, are a critical part of the poker ecology. It is a feedback loop. It informs the people, many of whom don’t have a leader, how well they are doing.
And it doesn’t matter if you are a dirty black crow flying through the filth of our air, or a Golden Eagle sitting in your nest, looking out across a panorama that makes a stone man cry.
We like feeling the work we do matters; because that means we matter.
On Friday, April 5, the Global Poker Index (GPI) merges the American and European Poker Awards to create The Global Poker Awards (GPA).
PokerGO hosts and broadcasts the event live from the PokerGO Studios at the ARIA in Las Vegas. Poker Central is a prominent partner, as is PokerStars.
The nomination process for short-listing the 13 Categories is complete, but not without a large wedge of controversy. Media outlets across the board and a smattering of high profile poker players complained about a nomination process that voted for the likes of Jason Somerville (Streamer of the Year), and Doug Polk (Vlogger of the Year) despite both cutting back to the bare bones of poker content.
The GPI reacted to the controversy by releasing the following statement.
The results of two awards are already common knowledge with the high stakes power couple Alex Foxen and Kristen Bicknell already in situ as The GPI Player of the Year and Female Player of the Year, respectively.
The Hendon Mob All-Time Live Tournament Money Earner, Justin Bonomo received two nominations: The Tournament Performance Category for his win at the Super High Roller Bowl IV, and The Moment of the Year Category for winning the One Drop.
The sight of John Cynn is a common one in high stakes cash games, and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event matches up with Bonomo in the Tournament Performance Category for that $8.8m win.
Bonomo also faces stiff opposition in the Moment of the Year Category with Doyle Brunson’s deep run in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw the likely favourite to win that one.
Two High Rollers appear in The Breakout Player Category showing it’s possible to rise to the highest echelons of the game in a short space of time. Imsirovic receives a nomination for his victory at the Poker Masters, and Michael Soyza’s run that saw him win the GPI Player of the Year for Asia sees him hit the nomination list.
Triton Poker Series broadcaster, Lex Veldhuis, is also in contention for two awards. Veldhuis is one of the favourites to win the Streamer of the Year award, and Maria Ho and former Triton Poker event winner, Nick Schulman, join him in the Broadcaster of the Year Category.
Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk once again square off in the controversial Vlogger of the Year Category, the community has recognised Rob Yong’s contribution to the growth of partypoker, and ditto Cary Katz for his work with Poker Central. Both Yong and Katz in the running for The Industry Person of the Year.
Finally, High Rollers have decreed that the ARIA Tournament Director, Paul Campbell, should be included in the Tournament Director of the Year Category.
Here is a full list of nominations.
Tournament Performance
Justin Bonomo (Super High Roller Bowl IV)
John Cynn (WSOP Main Event)
Maria Lampropulos (PCA Main Event)
Dylan Linde (WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic)
Breakout Player
Ali Imsirovic
Maria Konnikova
Ping Liu
Michael Soyza
Streamer of the Year
Jeff Gross
Jason Somerville
Jaime Staples
Lex Veldhuis
Vlogger of the Year
Marle Cordeiro
Joe Ingram
Andrew Neeme
Daniel Negreanu
Doug Polk
Podcast
LFG Podcast (Chad Holloway, Jamie Kerstetter)
Poker Central Podcast (Brent Hanks, Remko Rinkema)
PokerNews Podcast (Sarah Herring, Jeff Platt)
The Chip Race Podcast (Dave Lappin, Dara O’Kearney)
The Fives (Lance Bradley, Donnie Peters)
Broadcaster
Maria Ho
Lon McEachern
Nick Schulman
Lex Veldhuis
Poker Journalist
Drew Amato
Sarah Herring
Remko Rinkema
Christian Zetsche
Media Content
Drew Amato (Photo: Brunson Bids Farewell to WSOP)
Lance Bradley (Book: The Pursuit of Poker Success)
Haley Hintze (Article: Vayo v PokerStars)
Poker Central/Poker GO (Super High Roller Club: Schulman & Nejad)
Industry Person
Angelica Hael (World Poker Tour)
Cary Katz (Poker Central)
Matt Savage (World Poker Tour)
Ty Stewart (World Series of Poker)
Rob Yong (Dusk till Dawn, partypoker)
Tournament Director
Tony Burns (Seminole Hard Rock)
Paul Campbell (ARIA)
Jack Effel (WSOP)
Kenny Hallaert (Unibet Open)
Mid-Major Tour/Circuit
888Live
RUNGOOD Poker Series
Unibet Open
WPTDeepStacks
WSOP Circuit
Event of the Year
Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party Main Event
Super High Roller Bowl IV
WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic
WSOP Main Event
Moment of the Year
Jeremy Hilsercop receives PSPC Platinum Pass
Joe Cada wins WSOP The Closer
Doyle Brunson plays his final WSOP event
Justin Bonomo wins Big One for One Drop, completing Super High
Roller Streak of SHRB China, SHRB and One Drop.
Other Trophies Yet to be Determined
2018 GPI Poker Player of the Year – Alex Foxen
2018 GPI Female Poker Player of the Year – Kristen Bicknell
Lifetime Achievement in Poker
Charitable Initiative
Jury Prize
PocketFives Legacy Award
Poker Personality of the Year
We begin our weekly peek into the lives of the supernatural forces that suck up poker’s money with the efficiency of one of those ugly looking fish that suck up the ocean floor by focusing on the Far East, and the best goddam high stakes poker tour in the world.
The Triton crew set up camp in the Landing Casino on the island of Jeju in South Korea, and it was another sunny success for the team as they continue to provide world-class high stakes content.
Two events ended on the weekend: the HKD 2,000,000 (USD 255,000) Triton Poker Series Main Event and an impromptu HKD 1,000,000 (USD 127,000) No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck tournament.
The Main Event attracted 48-entrants, and the Canadian Timothy Adams secured the first seven-figure score of his career after beating Bryn Kenney, heads-up, for the title, banking $3,536,550 in the process – the single biggest prize of 2019 so far.
The winner of the HKD 1,000,000 Short-Deck event was Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov, who bested a field of 23-entrants, and Robert Flink, heads-up, to take the $1,859,940 first prize.
During the event, the Triton team announced that the Maestral Resort & Casino in Montenegro would host the next event 4-16 May.
Triton Ambassador, Jason Koon has become symbolic as the Triton Poker Titan, and he was once again the undisputed star of the series making four final tables, winning two events, and earning a gross income of $4,552,604.
But the man is tired.
It’s official.
In a new blog penned for his role as partypoker Ambassador, Koon, talked about the toll that competing at the highest stakes in the game is having on his health.
“It’s as though there is a callus that has thickened around my soul,” said Koon before continuing. “The calloused mental state can help you perform at your highest levels in poker; there is no doubt. That said, I’m not sure it’s a place any of us should linger for too long. In my opinion, it’s essential for us to try to reconnect with our human side as often as possible. The only way for me to achieve this is to get back to the basics of things that provide fulfilment in my life. Getting outside, being around loved ones, exercising, or slowing down for a minute to appreciate a beautiful sunset.”
Maybe Koon will get to appreciate a beautiful sunset during his tour of duty in Rio for the partypoker MILLIONS South America. The tour runs from March 15 – 24 and features a couple of $25,000 High Roller events. One high roller in town is Phil Hellmuth Jr., who partypoker has flown in to give the game some pomp and circumstance, and on Monday the 15-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner will be hosting a special poker seminar.
Live Tournament Round-Up: Cheong is a Winner; Mizrachi in Charitable Mood
One man who likes to flick in a $25,000 buy-in on occasion is Joseph Cheong, and it’s been a decent week at the tables for the former November Niner.
Cheong finished 8/280 in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Rolling Thunder Main Event for $38,190 and then went on to win a 113-entrant event at the Wynn Poker Classic for $73,269.
It hasn’t been a stroll in the park for Cheong though, who came across an interesting problem this week.
What do you do when a bad player at your table subjects you too racist chants, and it’s not +EV to land him with a penalty?
Some redneck said something racist to me just now. But hes so bad I dont want him to get a penalty. Thoughts?— Joseph Cheong (@subiime) March 10, 2019
Robert Mizrachi was in a more charitable mood that Cheong’s bully. The high stakes cash game star is giving his new Twitter followers the chance to win 1% of his action in the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship at the WSOP, and donate a further 1% to a charity of your choice.
With four WSOP bracelets already in the bag, it’s a fine freeroll.
Follow me and retweet for a chance to win 1% of me in the 50K championship this year wsop. Feeling good. And 1% donation to a charity of you’re choice. 😉.— Robert Mizrachi (@PokerRob24) March 12, 2019
On Life: Doug Polk and Bonomo Debate Immigration; Negreanu on Adoption
Jason Koon isn’t the only high roller writing about the need to take better care of himself. This week, Doug Polk continued to ease his foot off the accelerator by suggesting he may follow up with his retirement from poker by ending his vlogging exploits.
Havent had the passion to make videos lately. Been really happy spending my time working on being healthy and spending time with friends and family. I dont see that changing in the near future, not sure if im gonna get back into make videos or not.— Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) March 14, 2019
If Polk wants to reduce activities that negatively impact his health and wellness, maybe he should consider retiring from social media. Not one to shy from a Twitter debate, this week, Polk crossed swords with Justin Bonomo on the topic of immigration, specifically anti-Muslim bigotry in the States.
Bonomo began the debate by suggesting that people who choose not to speak out against Donald Trump and his ‘Muslin ban’ have blood on their hands.
Anti-Muslim rhetoric, hate, and violence are a disease. They spread, like a disease
We currently have a Muslim ban in the US
If you did not speak out against Donald Trump and his Muslim ban, you are responsible for the spread of this disease
You have blood on your hands today.— Bonologic (@JustinBonomo) March 15, 2019
Polk responded by stating that “blaming those who do not speak out against the Muslim ban as having blood on their hands, is completely ridiculous,” while voicing his opinion that you can’t hold Donald Trump responsible for ‘horrible people’ who ‘will kill people who do not share their beliefs.”
The back and forth even forced Polk to produce one of his famous graphs; only this one had nothing to do with poker.
Given that 49 Muslims were shot dead in New Zealand this week, it’s a timely debate, and you can have your say by following Bonomo’s post above.
Not many people can match Polk for kicking up a social media storm, but Daniel Negreanu is undoubtedly one of them.
On March 5, Negreanu told his Twitter followers that he had limited social media use to zero and then to 30-minutes a day, and how his quality of life is now ‘noticeably better along with my happiness level.’ Maybe he should have extended that ban to podcast appearances.
During an episode of the DAT Poker Podcast called “Twitter Questions, Crazy Stories…” Negreanu shares his plans to build a family with his fiancé Amanda Leatherman, and Unibet Ambassador, Dave Lappin, was not happy with his views on adoption.
Quoting Negreanu from the podcast:
“A boy first, a girl second + then we ‘re gonna buy a couple. I know you’re not supposed to say ‘buy’ because it’s somehow offensive to people but fuck it, I don’t care! ‘Adopt’ might be the word you use because it’s cute, but it’s fucking buying,” Negreanu said before continuing, “You pay these people money, and they give you a baby. I am going to purchase a couple of babies, along with a couple we are going to have. That’s the plan we are going to have four.”
When his host asked him if he would adopt home or abroad, Negreanu said, “I think you will get a much better deal going abroad. Maybe a two for one deal, we’ll see.”
Negreanu is laughing while making the statement, but Lappin didn’t think it was funny, and posted the quote on social media, resulting in this response from Negreanu.
Man is planning to adopt children and give them a better life.
He jokingly describes the process as “buying kids.”
Faux Twitter outrage focuses on the term “buying” rather than the act of helping children in need.
You can’t make this shit up.— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) March 15, 2019
What’re your thoughts?
Is Negreanu out of line, or is it ok for him to have a bit of banter seeing as he is likely to give two children a better life?
And that ladies and gentlemen, is this week’s Pinnacle.
Timothy Adams Wins The Triton Poker SHR Series Jeju 2019 Main Event
It wasn’t that long ago that ponytails were cool, denim wasn’t and winning a seven-figure score in a poker tournament was as rare as seeing a one-armed, albino sunbathing in the Las Vegas desert.
Today, seven-figure scores are handing out like kleenex in strange looking Soho cinemas thanks to the growth of high roller tournaments around the world of which the Triton Poker Series is the apex.
But one man was missing one when he woke up this morning.
Timothy Adams.
After two-days of scintillating stitch-breaking action, Adams topped a field of 48-entrants moving into the final day’s play of the HKD 2m (USD 250,000) Triton Poker Series Jeju Main Event after eliminating the powerhouse, Justin Bonomo, on the money bubble when the $44.6m man lost with JThh versus the Canadian’s queens.
Timothy Adams Main Event Day 1 Chip Leader
And it was a big lead.
Final Table Chip Counts 1 – Timothy Adams, Canada, 5.33 million 2 – Bryn Kenney, USA, 3.21 million 3 – Isaac Haxton, USA, 1.235 million 4 – Peter Jetten, Canada, 820,000 5 – Dan Smith, USA, 810,000 6 – David Peters, USA, 595,000
What a final table.
Main Event Final Table
Adams had begun the year well by winning an 18-entrant $50,000 buy-in event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for $372,508, Bryn Kenney had taken down the Aussie Millions Main Event and a US Poker Open side event, and David Peters sauntered into Jeju as the newest US Poker Open Champion.
Peter Jetten.
Isaac Haxton.
Dan Smith.
The lineup was as ridiculous as the first two hands.
In hand one, Bryn Kenney opened the action with pocket kings, Isaac Haxton moved all-in for 25 bigs holding A9o, and Kenney gobbled him up. The Aussie Millions Champion hadn’t finished rebuilding his stack when we lost player two. The action folded to David Peters in the small blind, and the US Poker Open Champion moved all-in with A3o only for Peter Jetten to call and win with KTss in the big blind after flopping a king.
That scalp didn’t stop Jetten from leaving next when he flopped top pair holding Kh9h on KsQh5s, only for Kenney to turn up with pocket kings again. They got it in on the turn, and there was zero empathy for Apathy. Smith followed soon after when K8o lost to the A2 of Kenney, and we reached heads-up with only three and a half hours on the clock.
Adams and Kenney, who have been playing against each other since they were teenagers, carved out a deal that saw Kenney collect HKD 24,039,500, Adams pick up HKD 23,760,500, leaving HKD 4,000,000 to play for ensuring that both players would leave Jeju with new personal best ITM finishes.
Bryn Kenney and Timothy Adams makes a deal
The final hand was brutal for Kenney.
A4o usually bests 85o, even more so when the flop rains down 4d4s3s. But occasionally, two more fives emerge from the deck, and that’s what happened to create ‘the nastiest run out’ Bryn Kenney had ever seen, and the trophy was heading to Canada and not the USA.
The win, Adams sixth of his career, was his best by a country mile; not only a coveted seven-figure score but a $3m+ score to boot.
Final Table Results 1. Timothy Adams – $3,540,000* 2. Bryn Kenney – $3,060,000* 3. Dan Smith – $1,700,000 4. Peter Jetten – $1,300,000 5. David Peters – $1,040,000 6. Isaac Haxton – $803,000 *Denotes a heads-up deal
Jason Koon
When you interview enough high stakes poker players, you notice similar traits, one of which is competitiveness.
Take the heads-up stage of Event #7 HKD 1m (USD 127,000) Triton Refresh, a No-Limit Hold’em tournament, that pulled in 25-entrants, and saw Stephen Chidwick and Jason Koon agree upon a chip-chop before playing on for the trophy.
Under normal circumstances, this is the time to move all-in blind. I mean, who gives a monkey’s about a trophy?
Stephen Chidwick and Jason Koon did.
With nothing on the line, the pair, armed with a ‘you’re going home in the back of an ambulance’ attitude, fought, scratched and screamed until the milkman began doing his rounds, at which time the tournament organisers begged them to finish things off so everyone could go to bed.
At 4.30 am, Koon got it in with pocket fours against the queen-high of Chidwick, and found enough spunk to take a super-sexy winner’s photo despite likely feeling like he had just smoked 15 pounds of weed.
Only four players received a return of investment after Michael Soyza lost in unfortunate circumstances against Paul Phua with AJ outdrawing AQ.
Koon would begin four-handed play with the lowest stack in the competition, but this is a man who has made the final table of four of the six events and won two of them. The guy is mustard.
Paul Phua rivered a flush to send Michael Addamo packing in fourth place, and it looked like we would have the repeat heads-up duel from the night before when Koon beat Phua in the HKD 1m (USD 127,000) Short-Deck, but Chidwick ran into the middle of the pair and gave Phua an uppercut he never recovered from when AJ beat 77.
You know the rest.
“It’s ridiculous to sign up for six tournaments and turn up and final table four of them, and win two of them,” Koon told the press after his win. “It doesn’t happen very often. I’ve run extremely, extremely well, but that’s what has to happen. Some weeks you run good; this week I ran fire hot.”
Here are the final table results.
Final Table Results 1. Jason Koon – $973,000* 2. Stephen Chidwick – $1,130,000* 3. Paul Phua – $535,039 4. Michael Addamo – $356,693 *Indicates a heads-up deal.
Jason Koon Wins Event #5: HKD 1,000,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck
If Jason Koon worked in a grocery store, he would stack more shelves than anyone. Give him a shoe shine business, and you would see your reflection each time you stared at the Devil’s playpen.
It’s his energy.
The man is always in the zone.
Last spring, Koon rocked up to play at the Triton Poker Series in Montenegro, and while most Western pros were avoiding Short-Deck like the plague, Koon was in like Flynn.
In his first appearance, the 33-year-old West Virginian finished fourth for $169,936 in an HKD 250,000 (USD 32,000) buy-in event. Not content with that baptism of fire, Koon jumped into the HKD 1m (USD 127,000) Short-Deck event and defeated 103-entrants to win the $3,579,836 first prize.
Those are substantial numbers.
Big digits.
And he’s only gone and done it again.
After finishing fourth in the HKD 500,000 Short-Deck, and sixth in the HKD 500,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event, Koon has taken down the 81-entrant HKD 1m Short-Deck event to bank another $2,840,945.
The win means Koon is the undisputed Short-Deck tournament money earner, and in his first series as Triton Poker Ambassador no less. It’s also a win that sees him move into the #9 position in the All-Time Live Tournament Money Earned list on The Hendon Mob with close to $27m in winnings.
It was a long, long tournament, with four players returning for an unscheduled third day of action. Koon began 3/4 in chips, but that changed when his AsJc beat the AhKh of Furkat Rakhimov in a super sexy hand that saw them both flop a piece on KsJh7s. Rakhimov improved to trips on the Ks turn, and Koon finally won the hand with a spade flush after the 8s closed out the action.
Koon then took the chip lead after eliminating Ju Wang JJ>QTss, and he would take on Paul Phua, heads-up, after the best non-professional in the business finished Rakhimov off AJ>JT.
The final throes lasted several hours with Phua taking a big chip lead when AK beat QQ, but Koon fought back to win thanks to 96cc finding a full house to beat trips, and KQ beating A9.
Paul Phua
And what does Koon think of Phua’s play?
“He is just so good,” said Koon.
Fine praise, indeed.
Final Table Results 1. Jason Koon – $2,840,945 2. Paul Phua – $2,025,607 3. Furkat Rakhimov – $1,330,021 4. Jun Wang – $1,006,434 5. Gabe Patgorski – $777,120 6. Richard Yong – $598,764 7. John Juanda – $471,368
Nearly killing yourself during a snowboarding trip to Japan, resulting in a broken arm pieced together with ten screws and a titanium plate, is a major pain in the arse, but it does leave a hand free for a poker trophy should one come along, and one did for Michael Soyza.
Maybe it was meant to be; Soyza has, after all, been playing bionic poker for the past 18-months, winning $2.6m in 2018 alone including a 449-entrant KRW 1,800,000 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Main Event in Korea for $148,629, and $588,249 for taking down a 2,877-entrant $1,655 buy-in event at the Venetian in Las Vegas.
But this was the biggest of all.
Event #3: HKD 500,000 (USD 64,000) No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed attracted 81-entrants (32-re-entries), dwarfing the 2018 field of 39-entrants when a severely jetlagged, David Peters, went on to win the $1,118,484 first prize.
More than 20-players returned for the second day of action, and the final table was a cracker. Triton Ambassador, Jason Koon, sat down at his second final table of the series, the Aussie Millions Main Event winner Bryn Kenney took a pew as did the Triton Titan, Ivan Leow.
Koon was the first to find the door marked ‘exit’ when he ran QTo into the pocket nines of Bryn Kenney. And the same hand was equally as useless for Kok Beh with Michael Soyza finding the bits and pieces necessary for A8o to come out on top.
The 29-year-old Malaysian took control from that point onwards eliminating every player left in the contest. Kenney lost A9 v AK, and after Sam Greenwood had cracked Ivan Leow’s pocket kings with ace-rag, Soyza took his remaining chips when the pretty looking KJdd beat A8o.
Greenwood would have been the slight favourite going into his heads-up encounter with Soyza for no other reason than Greenwood is Greenwood. But Soyza pulled off an incredible call on the river after the Canadian had moved all-in on a board of Td8d3c8hKc with Soyza holding pocket sevens to take charge and never looked over his shoulder.
The victory for Soyza is the 13th of his short career, and he has already moved over the $5m mark in live tournament earnings.
Final Table Results
1. Michael Soyza – $1,420,581
2. Sam Greenwood – $1,019,251
3. Ivan Leow – $662,513
4. Bryn Kenney – $499,560
5. Kok Beh – $387,315
6. Jason Koon – $300,679
When your job is to share mugs of hot chocolate with the best poker players on the planet, it’s nice to chalk up seven-figure scores, and Event #2 HKD 500,000 (USD 64,000) No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck turned up another one of those beauties.
Devan Tang has been a regular on the Triton Poker Series ever since Richard Yong and Paul Phua decided to turn their idea into something more tangible.
Super scribe, Howards Swains, called Tang’s final table performance in Event #2: HKD 500,000 (USD 64,000) No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck ‘dominating.’
Tang preferred to use the word, ‘lucky.’
“I was lucky the whole way,” said Tang.
69-entrants (24-re-entries) created a prize pool of HKD 32,430,000 (USD 4,132,105), and 14 players made it through to the final day. The final table took shape after Paul Phua left in eighth, and the hand of the series left us with six after Tang hit a one-outer on the river to find quads against Mikita Badziakouski. The Belarusian back-to-back Triton Poker Series Main Event winner then ran pocket eights into Jason Koon’s kings for his remaining few plastic bits.
It was at this time that the Poker Gods decided that Tang should only receive pocket aces. Chan Wai Leong exited in sixth place when his AK hit Tang’s two black bad boys, and then Isaac Haxton also fell to the same hand-person combo.
Four players remained, and Tang’s stack was so big you could barely see the man. Jetten tried to make a fist of things when his rivered a straight to end Koon’s tournament in fourth, but Tang picked up aces again to vanquish Romain Arnaud to take a 3:1 chip lead into the heads-up phase. Jetten clung on for an hour before Tang’s JTcc hit a straight to beat the AsJd of the Canadian.
The win was Tang’s fifth of his career and the first for three years. His personal best score remains the $1,405,500 he earned for finishing third in a $200,000 buy-in Triton Series Event held in Manila back in 2016. It was Jetten’s fourth Triton Poker Series Main Event, and the second highest score of his career after picking up a million for a third-place finish in the HKD 1m Main Event in Montenegro last season.
Final Table Results
1. Devan Tang – $1,239,758
2. Peter Jetten – $897,009
3. Arnaud Romain – $578,469
4. Jason Koon – $437,674
5. Isaac Haxton – $338,926
6. Leong Wai – $264,388
7. Mikita Badziakouski – $210,236
There’s nothing fake cheese and nacho about Justin Bonomo. In 2018, the 33-year-old won an unprecedented $25.4m playing live tournaments. I bet he’s still pinching, each night before his head hits satin.
The way we track time means nothing to poker. Years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds – it’s all one big game, and so there is no gap in the rail. Bonomo’s train keeps chugging.
In January, Bonomo headed to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), and he took fourth in the $50,000 and won a 32-entrant $25,000 for $383,650.
The streak.
Continues.
So when he turned up in Jeju for the Triton Poker Series, had the theme park not been closed, I am confident that’s where everyone would have ended up.
The tour de force of high stakes poker events began with a two-day Event #1: HKD 250,000 (USD 32,000) No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck. 65-entrants (including 28 re-entries) created an HKD 15,275,000 (USD 1,946,281) prize pool, and this is what the final table looked like.
Final Table Standings
Seat 1: Yeu Wei Hsiang – 6,970,000
Seat 2: Justin Bonomo – 4,230,000
Seat 3: Sergey Lebedev – 2,280,000
Seat 4: Tong Siow Choon – 1,875,000
Seat 5: Chua Ying Lin – 1,425,000
Seat 6: Ben Lamb – 1,405,000
Seat 7: David Benefield – 1,110,000
The Action
Yeu Wei Hsiang and Justin Bonomo sat on top of the chip counts, and the pair dominated the executions. First Ben Lamb fell to Hsiang when T9o failed to out pop AA. Then Hsiang flipped Chua Ying Lin over the rail when AK beat QQ.
Bonomo took over from this point when TT beat the A6o of Tong Siow Choon and the man with all the money hoovered up David Benefield’s chip dust after the Raptor suffered a cooler against Hsiang when bottom set lost to top pair after the perfect runner-runner combo. Sergey Lebedev would leave in third when Bonomo’s AJ outdrew TT, taking him into a 2:1 chip lead against Hsiang for all the peanuts.
The final fight didn’t last long.
Bonomo’s ATcc beat the AhQc of Hsiang, and the American had won his first Short-Deck and Triton Poker Series title.
There will be more, of that I am sure.
Final Table Results
1. Justin Bonomo – $586,114
2. Yue Wei Hsiang – $420,473
3. Sergey Lebedev – $272,671
4. David Benefield – $206,414
5. Tong Siow Choon – $159,270
6. Chua Ying Lin – $124,231
7. Ben Lamb – $99,385
