charity poker Archives - Paul Phua Poker

I could be watching a Russian ballet, preparing for Triton’s return to London, the site of the world’s most expensive poker tournament, or standing in a park stocked full of strangers watching submarine shaped clouds fire fluffy torpedos at the sun.

Alas, I have been at home for 3-months, afraid of joining the 40,000 people who catch Covid-19 daily in the United States.

So, I for one am so utterly grateful for the work carried out by ‘1Day Sooner,’ an organisation seeking volunteers to become exposed to the virus in a bid to increase the search for a vaccine.

To date, ‘1Day Sooner’ has found 30,108 volunteers from 140-countries, each willing to take on the virus to save more lives, and the number of lives saved if the world’s medical experts can find a vaccine is insane.

Speeding up a vaccine by…

1 day saves 7,120 lives

1 week saves 55,000 lives

1 month saves 220,000 lives

3 months saves over half a million lives

One of the challenges that ‘1Day Sooner’ has is marketing, and the World Poker Tour (WPT) and partypoker are willing to help with that.

Introducing the WPT Shooting Stars For Charity Event

As part of the WPT World Online Championships, there will be a $1,100 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event with a $500,000 guarantee. The $100 registration fee goes straight into the ‘1Day Sooner’ coffers, and the players get the opportunity to earn an additional $500 for every player with a bounty on their head that they barge into the rail.

High stakes bounties include partypoker ambassador, Sam Trickett, Raising for Effective Giving (REG) founder, Igor Kurganov, and the former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion, Ryan Riess (Kurganov has agreed to donate 100% of his winnings to 1Day Sooner).

Organisers have also drafted in the celebrities with former Manchester United stars Wes Brown and John O’Shea in the mix as well as actress, Aylar Lie, and the Argentinian rap star, Alejandro “Papo MC’ Lococo.

The event takes place across two days starting Wed July 29, and you can watch the final table live on Twitch, YouTube and other partypoker and WPT partner channels.

The WPT Online Championships with $100m in guarantees runs on partypoker from July 17 to September 8.

This picture taken on December 31, 2019 shows firefighters struggling against the strong wind in an effort to secure nearby houses from bushfires near the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)

Australia is in crisis.

Mother nature has torched the country like no country has been torched before. Flames from the 130+ fires have reached 230 feet into the sky, with temperatures rising to 1,000 degrees Celcius.

The smoke is destroying air quality, and firefighters have to contend with a new phenomenon as the fire creates thunderstorms and lightning strikes, fire clouds and ember attacks.

Help is needed.

The Aussie Millions is the most prestigious poker tour in the Asia-Pacific region and the first significant event of 2020. In November, hosts, the Crown Melbourne, and it’s owner, James Packer, donated $1m to help bushfire fighting services and provide community support. This week that donation rose to $5m.

Speaking to the press, Packer said:

“Australians are digging deep to support each other in these tough times; it’s truly inspiring. My family and Crown are eager to do more, and the best way we can help is to significantly increase our donation.
We hope these funds play a small part in helping our firefighters and easing the suffering of people who have lost their homes and the poor wildlife caught up in the blaze. We just want to do our bit.”

The money will go to areas where Crown properties exist such as New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, and here is a breakdown of fund distribution:

N.S.W. Rural Fire Service – $1m

Victorian County Fire Authority – $1m

Western Australia Bush Fire Brigade – $500,000

Australian Red Cross – $500,000

Victorian Government Fund in Conjunction With Bendigo Bank and the Salvation Army – $1m

Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service, Zoos Victoria – $1m

Aussie Millions News

The Aussie Millions consists of 23-events with buy-ins ranging between AUD 1,500 – 100,000, and Dzmitry Urbanovich is the first player to experience the comfort blanket feel of a win.

The Pole defeated Julien Sitbon after close to five hours of heads-up action at the boiling point of Event #2: AUD 2,500 H.O.R.S.E. Urbanovich collected AUD 28,755 (USD 19,964) for the win, after agreeing upon a heads-up deal.

It’s Urbanovich’s thirteenth live career title, and his second in H.O.R.S.E. after winning a 30-entrant $500 buy-in event during the 2017 partypoker MILLION in Sochi, Russia.

The partypoker pro’s Aussie Millions experience has resulted in 7 in the money (ITM) finishes, including 3 in 2018 along with a runner-up finish to Kenny Hallaert in an AUD 1,200 No-Limit Hold’em (N.L.H.E.) Shot-Clock event. Urbanovich has now earned more than $6m playing live tournament earnings and is the Polish All-Time Live Tournament Money Earner.

The 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event attracted a record 822-entrants, and Bryn Kenney won the AUD 1,272,598 (USD 914,617) first prize – launching himself into the year of his life.

**Sam Trickett is among the top pros sitting pretty after Day One of the Triton SHR Series Main Event. Others have had to rebuy. The Paul Phua Poker team reports**

Day One of the Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro Main Event has just gone, and what a day it was! Some of the biggest names in poker were among the 47 (including re-entries) so far who have stumped up the HK$1m (US$128k) entry fee, making for some exciting poker tournament action and some very difficult tables.

At one point Paul Phua found himself seated in the most unfortunate position of all: with the young internet legend Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov to his left, and veteran five-time WSOP bracelet winner John Juanda to the left of that! Perhaps it’s not surprising that Paul Phua was knocked out twice during the day. Undaunted, he has bought in a third and final time for Day Two!

Top pros who suffered an early knock-out, and then bought in again, include Steve O’Dwyer, Wai Kin Yong and David Peters. Even the recent Triton SHR Series 6-Max Montenegro champion, Fedor Holz, busted out and rebought. And despite the tournament experience born of two bracelets and more than 33 cashes at the WSOP, Dominik Nitsche was forced to buy in three times just as Paul Phua was.

Qiang Wang, the million-chip man

There is just one million-chip man going into Day Two: Qiang Wang. Top pros with significantly bigger stacks than the 250k they began with include Mikita Badziakouski (825k), Sam Trickett (715k) and Steffen Sontheimer (600k). Montenegrin local hero Predrag Lekovic, who came third in the Triton SHR Series 6-Max warm-up event, is sitting in tenth place with 357k. Lekovic busted Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsoz out of the tournament on the very last hand of the day!

Registration remains open until the beginning of Day Two. The big question is, will Tom Dwan make a last-minute appearance? Or is he too caught up in the exciting side action of high-stakes cash games at the Maestral Resort and Casino?

Interviews for the Paul Phua Poker School

Once the tournament broke up for the night, the Paul Phua Poker team filmed even more video interviews with the top pros. We’re really excited by the great strategy advice they have given us, as well as their insights into the life of a professional high-stakes poker player. We can’t wait to get all the footage edited so we can share it with you in the Paul Phua Poker School.

In the meantime, follow @PaulPhuaPoker on Twitter for updates on the Triton SHR Series Main Event.
No one can tell the future, least of all in poker. But there is one thing we can say for sure: with some of the world’s top poker pros competing, it’s going to be a thriller.

**Fedor Holz, Dan “Jungleman” Cates and Sam Trickett are just some of the poker pros playing in the exclusive Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro. The Paul Phua Poker team reports**

Is it really just a year and a half since the first Triton Super High Roller Series took place? Already it has become a key fixture in the top poker pros’ calendars, and Day One of the Triton SHR Series in Montenegro shows why.

The Main Event, starting on July 18, is expected to bring out the very brightest stars in poker. We’re now only just on the warm-up tournament: the 6-Max Texas Hold ’Em, with an entry fee of “only” HK$250,000 (US$32,000). And yet some of the world’s finest poker pros are playing already.

The great, late Fedor Holz

Fedor Holz, the likeable German poker prodigy who at 23 has already amassed $23m in live tournament earnings, arrived fashionably late – by three hours! Even so, true to form, he wasted no time in building a commanding stack. He finishes Day One in sixth place, with more than double his starting stack of 50,000.

Three places above him, with 129,000, is Steve O’Dwyer. The US high-stakes specialist, who has $18.5m in live tournament earnings, is now poised to notch up another big win. Pity the Canadian pro Lucas Greenwood, who started the day with the fearsome Steve O’Dwyer to his left – and then, having busted out and rebought, drew the legendary Dan “Jungleman” Cates to his left instead!
Greenwood has a comfortable 64,600 as he enters Day Two. He’s not sitting pretty, however. Who’s that two places to his left? It’s Steve O’Dwyer, yet again!
Other huge poker names who have survived to Day Two include John Juanda, Sam Trickett, Richard Yong, Winfred Yu and Mikita Badziakouski.

Paul Phua Poker interviews the poker pros

The Paul Phua Poker team was at the Triton SHR series too, with cameras at the ready, to bring you live action on Facebook and Twitter (follow @PaulPhuaPoker). We also conducted exclusive interviews with Fedor Holz, Dan “Jungleman” Cates and the British No 1 Sam Trickett – we’ll add those videos to the Paul Phua Poker School in due course – and there will be many more to come as the Triton SHR Series unfolds.

Wish you were here? You can have the next best thing: tweet your question for the Triton poker pros to #PhuaTriton, and Paul Phua will do his best to get them answered.

Maestral, Montenegro, magnificent

Another reason to love this particular Triton SHR Series is the idyllic location. The five-star Maestral Resort and Casino where the tournaments are being held has been comprehensively refurbished over the last few months, and the Montenegrin Prime Minister himself cut the ribbon on its reopening last week. The Maestral now has 183 rooms and 22 suites, all finished to the highest design specifications, with superb cuisine and a Wellness & Spa Centre that already in 2016 had been named Montenegro’s best. It also offers a private beach and an expansive terrace bar overlooking the sea.

Montenegro has some of the most beautiful coastline in Europe, with dramatic hills rising above perfect sandy beaches in tranquil coves. But even by Montenegrin standards this particular stretch is prized as one of the best. In the immediate vicinity of the unique island resort of Sveti Stefan, near Budva with its Old Town and modern nightlife, it is well worth visiting – even without Fedor Holz enjoying a post-tournament dinner on the Maestral’s sea-view terrace a few tables to your right!

For more Triton SHR Series action, follow @PaulPhuaPoker on Twitter, like and follow Paul Phua Poker on Facebook, and tweet your questions for the Triton pros to #PhuaTriton

Over nearly 50 years, the Main Event at the World Series of Poker has witnessed extraordinary dramas and created huge stars. The Paul Phua Poker School picks the top 10 events you really need to know

How did the poker tournament expression “a chip and a chair” come about? Why is 10-2 known as “the Doyle Brunson”? Where did the poker movie Rounders get its final hand? How did Phil Hellmuth become famous at 24? In what way did the WSOP’s 2003 live tournament change the face of internet poker? All is revealed below. If only history lessons at school had been this fun…

1970-1: The World Series of Poker is born

The very first World Series of Poker was not even a tournament: the pros were simply asked to elect the man they thought was the best player. Legend has it that at first they all voted for themselves, so a winner was only announced after they were told to name the second best player! That man was Johnny Moss, and the very next year, when a tournament structure was introduced to the WSOP, Moss proved the vote right by winning fair and square. He went on to be known as “The Grand Old Man of Poker”. Read more

1976-1977: How the “Doyle Brunson hand” got its name

There are lucky hands, and then there is the “Doyle Brunson hand” – a hand so ridiculously lucky that it forever more bears the name of the man who played it. Aged 83, Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson has now won 10 WSOP bracelets, but none more spectacularly than his two back-to-back Main Event wins. Holding just 10-2, he made a house to knock out his heads-up opponent Jesse Alto in 1976. Incredibly, the very next year he again made a house with 10-2 to knock out Gary “Bones” Berland. Read more

1982: Jack Straus and the original “chip and a chair”

You may have heard the poker expression, “as long as you’ve got a chip and a chair…” It means that no matter how few chips you are left with in a poker tournament, you always have a chance. But you may not know that this saying was born at the World Series of Poker in 1982. The story of how Jack “Treetop” Straus recovered from a single chip to win the Main Event and $520,000 is not just the greatest underdog story in poker, but possibly in any sport. Read more

1988: Johnny Chan retains his WSOP title with the “Rounders” hand

Johnny Chan, nicknamed “The Orient Express” for the speed with which he demolished his opponents, was one of the finest players of the 1980s. Not content with winning the World Series of Poker Main Event in 1987, he repeated the feat with a back-to-back championship title in 1988. And he did it with a trap so well laid that this final hand against Erik Seidel was immortalised in the poker movie Rounders… Read more

1989: Phil Hellmuth becomes the youngest ever WSOP champion

Johnny Chan nearly pulled off the historic feat of a WSOP Main Event hat-trick. For a third year in a row, he found himself heads-up after defeating all comers. Even better, he was up against some inexperienced young kid of 24. Unluckily for him, that young man just happened to be Phil Hellmuth, and he was so focused on winning that he’d left a message on his answerphone saying, “You’re talking to the 1989 world champion of poker”. This was the WSOP that propelled “the Poker Brat” to fame. Read more

1995: Barbara Enright is the first woman to reach the WSOP final table

When asked to name a female poker pro, you might immediately think of Annie Duke, Vanessa Selbst, or Liv Boeree. But to players of an older generation, Barbara Enright’s name would roll first off the tongue. As the first (and still only) woman to reach the final table of the WSOP, she paved the way for future female players in what is still a very male-dominated environment. And she would have done better than fifth place, too, if it wasn’t for a painful bad beat… Read more

1997: Stu Ungar wins a historic third WSOP Main Event

Ask any poker player who was the greatest of all time, and there’s a good chance they’ll say Stu Ungar. With a photographic memory that got him banned from blackjack tables, and poker reads so acute he once won a $50,000 WSOP heads-up event by calling with 10-high, Stu “The Kid” Ungar was one of the greatest natural talents ever. But after winning the world championship in 1980 and 1981, he fell prey to drug addiction. His extraordinary story was to have a triumphant conclusion at the 1997 World Series of Poker… Read more

2003: Chris Moneymaker launches the internet poker boom

Was there ever a poker player more aptly named than Chris Moneymaker? In 2003, the accountant and amateur poker player turned a $39 entry to an online satellite tournament into $2.5 million when he won the WSOP Main Event. His victory was the personification of the American Dream that anyone can make it big, and inspired a whole generation of online poker players. Over the next three years, entries to the WSOP Main Event increased tenfold. Read more

2007: Annette Obrestadt becomes the youngest WSOP bracelet winner

Annette Obrestadt was a few days short of her 19^th birthday when she won the World Series of Poker Europe, in the WSOP’s first official bracelet tournament outside America. She was young; she was a woman; she was part of a new breed of aggressive online players who would change the face of poker strategy. Annette Obrestadt once won an online poker tournament playing “blind”, with her cards covered up – but she would need all her resources to triumph over the WSOPE Main Event… Read more

2012: Antonio Esfandiari wins $18m in the Big One for One Drop

The Main Event of the World Series of Poker has traditionally awarded the biggest first prize of all poker tournaments. But a side-event of the WSOP, first held in 2012, dwarfed even these sums. This was the Big One for One Drop, in aid of the water charity set up by the founder of Cirque du Soleil, and the first prize was a record $18 million. Antonio Esfandiari, a former magician, pulled off the greatest trick of his career: making a final table that included Phil Hellmuth, Brian Rast and Sam Trickett disappear. Read more

**In the final part of our series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School revisits the Big One for One Drop of 2012, where a former magician won the biggest prize in poker**

The Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has traditionally awarded the largest first prize of any poker tournament, peaking at $12m in 2006 and standing at just over $8m in 2016. But a side event, first held in 2012, dwarfed even those sums. Up for grabs was the biggest tournament prize in poker history: $18,346,673.
The event was the Big One for One Drop, a charity dedicated to providing access to clean water for all, set up by Cirque du Soleil founder and keen poker player Guy Laliberté. The buy-in was a record $1m per person, with the WSOP waiving its usual 10% rake and $111,111 from each entry going directly to the charity.
The final table was a Who’s Who of poker, including Phil Hellmuth, Brian Rast, Sam Trickett and Richard Yong. But it was a former magician, Antonio Esfandiari, who emerged the victor.

Who is Antonio Esfandiari?

Antonio Esfandiari is one of the most colourful figures in poker. Born in Tehran, Iran, he moved to California with his family when he was nine. While many magicians develop their interest in childhood, Esfandiari’s curiosity was sparked when working as a waiter, aged 17. He saw a bartender perform a trick, went to a magic shop to find out how it was done, and began to perform his own for extra tips. Soon the tips outgrew his pay check, and he switched to performing magic full-time.
Esfandiari discovered poker at around the same time. His new-found earnings from magic allowed him to play, and the reading skills he learned as a magician allowed him to win. Soon poker became the job, with magic merely a hobby for entertaining players at the poker table – he became best friends with Phil “Unabomber” Laak as a result of their shared fascination for tricks, before either was a famous player.
In 2004 Esfandiari became the youngest ever winner of a WPT event, taking down $1.4 million in the L.A. Poker Classic. His first WSOP bracelet followed a few months later. He was still just 24 years old.

Esfandiari wins the Big One for One Drop

By the time of the Big One for One Drop in 2012, Antonio Esfandiari was an experienced poker pro. He needed to be: as the biggest prize in poker history, with a platinum rather than gold bracelet to match, the Big One for One Drop attracted some of the biggest names in poker.
Coming into the final table, Esfandiari and Sam Trickett both held the largest stacks, and they maintained their lead throughout until just the two of them were left. By this stage, Esfandiari had three times as many chips as the British pro.
Their heads-up battle lasted just 16 hands. On a J-5-5 flop, multiple re-raises took both men all-in: Esfandiari held trips, Trickett a flush draw. Few real diamonds are as valuable as the one Trickett was praying for: the difference between first and second place was more than $8 million. But the magician’s luck held, and it was Trickett’s turn to do a disappearing act.
“From day one I just believed I was going to win this tournament,” Esfandiari said in a post-game interview. “I just saw it. I saw me winning the bracelet.”

Who is Antonio Esfandiari? Poker player profile

Antonio Esfandiari was born Amir Esfandiary in Tehran, Iran, in 1978. His family emigrated to California when he was nine.
He is nicknamed “The Magician”, after his profession before he took up poker.
He is famed for his outlandish prop bets and desire to have fun at the poker table.
He has more than $27 million in live poker tournament earnings
At the 2012 WSOP Antonio Esfandiari won the biggest single prize in poker history: more than $18 million in the Big One for One Drop poker tournament.

As we wrote about, many of the best players in the poker world arrived in Manila to play the Triton series in February.

The first tournament played over the first two days was the smaller of the two when it came to prize money. But it had a great field and a really exciting finish between two of the best players in the world. The third day though saw the start of the big one. There were 39 buy ins (from 29 players) into the HK$1,000,000 (approx. USD 128,800) main event. Would Dan Colman be able to repeat his good performance? Or would we see different faces at the final table than the ones we saw at the 6 max in the first couple of days? The answer was – as so often in poker – the latter. Different days, different outcomes.

The Main Event was a three-day affair. The first two days were all about getting to the money – whittling the 29 players down to the final six.

And some big names didn’t survive the process. 6-Max champion Dan Colman, poker legend Phil Ivey and the 2016 one drop winner Elton Tsang all didn’t make the final six.
There were two clear chip leaders, and therefore favourites, at the start of the money levels: Sergio Aido from Spain with 2,490,000 and Germany’s Koray Aldemir with 2,420,000, both a long way ahead of their four rivals. Would they be the last two standing? In third was Wai Kin Yong (1,705,000) who won the November 2016 version of this same tournament. Dan Cates (1,475,000) was also there (as he so often is), as were Devan Tang (1,045,000) and Bryn Kenney (615,000), who finished second in 2016 to Wai Kin.
With those sorts of numbers Bryn Kenney was clearly the most vulnerable with his smaller stack. He had just 20 big blinds. Would he play safe or go for broke? But, actually, he wasn’t the first player at the final table to go to the rail. That, very surprisingly, was Wai Kin Yong, previous winner and third chip leader.
Yong had been playing a lot of hands – losing pots as often as winning them – so he was unable to make much ground on Aido and Aldemir who were pulling away from the rest of the field. And he came out on the wrong side of a couple of hands with Bryn Kenney, who was valiantly getting his way into the game despite starting at such a huge chip disadvantage to the rest of the finalists.
In fact, he wasn’t the next person to fall away either. That was Devan Tang. He flopped two pairs, but was blown away by Aldemir who made an Ace High straight with a ten on the turn.
Bryn Kenney’s run did end, however: he was the next to go. Having started the final table with just 615,000 chips he had done incredibly well to get his way up to over a million. But he lost out to Cates on a close hand.
That win for Cates meant the last three players all had similarly sized stacks – 3.5m for Aldemir, 3.2m for Aido and 2.9m for Cates. Cates had done very well to pull his way back to almost level terms with Aido and Aldemir. And he was feeling confident enough to reject a prize money sharing deal between the last three at the start of the 3-way hands, proclaiming “I feel like a gamble!!”
He may have regretted that a few moments later, coming out second best in a series of hands, first to Aldemir, then in a big one and a half million chip pot to Aido. Cates then did agree a deal with the other two – which meant that he would take 28% of the winnings, Aldemir 35% and Aido the remaining 37% no matter the result from then on. Good work for all. But there was still the trophy and HK$400,000 the three players kept aside to make things interesting.
Just as well that Cates struck the deal, as he busted out a few hands later, as his king jack off suit lost out to Aido’s king queen suited with the kicker.

So we were left with Aido and Aldemir, the two chip leaders when the final table started.

Aido had a 6 million to 3.7 million chip lead at the start of the heads-up, but that didn’t end up being the insurmountable advantage it appeared to be. Aldemir soon caught up – taking two pots in the first ten minutes of heads up play. He never looked back, taking pot after pot from Aido – and within the hour the trophy was his. What a comeback! An amazing hour of play from the German. Though he has had a string of good results since the summer of last year, this was Aldemir’s first major title in his career. We’re sure there will be more.
It was really exciting action, with some of the top players from around the world. And although we saw some big bets and pots, it wasn’t just about the winnings. Like the One Drop, the Triton Poker Series has a charity aspect too. The series donates a percentage of the prize pool to a number of charities, including: women’s cancer support group, project pink and the Red Cross. Giving in poker is something that players are increasingly passionate about. Players really want to do something outside the poker community, and to donate to causes that they feel strongly about. Winning means a lot to these players – but it isn’t everything.

When two of the best players in the world end up capturing the first and second prize in a contest that is not even the main event, then you know you have a great tournament on your hands.

That’s precisely what took place at the Triton Series in February at the Solaire Resort in Manila. Dan Colman, Dan Cates, Phil Ivey and others came to play at what is now one of the most established dates in the Asian poker calendar.
The Solaire is a great venue for this tournament. If you haven’t been, it’s a very new development right on the sea. The attention to detail in the rooms, the tables, and the restaurants is incredible. All in a friendly environment with excellent service. It’s a great place to spend a few days.
The pros arriving from all corners of the world had two bites at the cherry. One a 6 max tournament with a HK$ 250,000 buy in over the first two days. And then a HK$1,000,000 main event which took place after. The winners of both would have to beat some of the greats of the game – players firmly established in the all-time money earning list.

Triton poker tournament manila — Triton Poker Tournament at the Solaire in Manila

The first tournament had 43 entries (including eight re-entries) each withtheir eye on the HK$3.6mn prize.

At the start of the second day fresh faced Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov was the early chip leader. Paul Phua fell away early, as did great players like John Juanda and Dan Cates. Rainer Kempe was the beneficiary. He quickly built up a big stack and got to second place.
Other players who fell away included Koray Aldemir, who would have a much better time of it at the higher buy in event starting the next day. You never want to be the bubble in a poker tournament but the tournament organiser Richard Yong graciously performed that role by bowing out in eighth place!

The last seven players left in the tournament congregated at one table to play out the remaining action.

Mikita Badziakouski lost to a pair of Kings with his ace-ten. The popular Italian player Mustapha Kanit was next.
Kuznetsov, who had done so well early on day two, went to the rail in fifth place – a prize of US$92,040 equivalent still not a bad return — losing almost all of his chips in just two consecutive hands. A tough sudden turnaround for the young Russian. Sergio Aido was next, narrowly missing out on a place on the podium.
So the last three players were Rainer Kempe from Germany – who had done so well during many of the early levels – against two Americans, Eric Seidel and Dan Colman, who are 2^nd and 4^th on the all-time money list. That shows you just how strong the field was at that last table in Manila.
Kempe was the first to go. His pocket queens were no match for Colman’s ace-six suited. A six appeared on both the flop and the turn too – leaving Colman with the winning hand.
So then it was Colman versus Seidel – two of the biggest poker prize winners in history facing each other off in heads up action. Colman started with almost twice as many chips as his opponent. But that was by no means the whole story. The lead would change more than once.
Seidel caught Colman bluffing for jack-high. But then Colman bravely called his opponent soon after and the lead went back to the young American again. The tournament ended in great style – the sort of hand you would want the first prize to be won with in this sort of company. Colman began what would be the last hand with ace-jack suited. His eyes must have lit up inside when he got two jacks on the flop. And, you guessed it, he scored an ace on the turn! With the full house in Colman’s hands, the six max came to an end, with the HK$D 3,641,600 (USD 473,408) prize going to the young American star.
However, despite the action-packed finish, that was only the starter to the main course that would get underway the following day. The million Hong Kong dollar 10 max tournament with unlimited buy-ins on day one. Another very strong field – but with a totally different outcome.

Lots of fun was had at the Solaire casino in Manila on the 9^th and 10^th September 2016.

Some of the world’s best players came to play at the Triton Charity poker tournament with Tom Dwan, Daniel Cates, Paul Phua and friends among the buy ins. Great news was that many more poker players arrived than expected, meaning more money raised for charity.

17 players and 60 buy ins over the two days, saw Wai Kin Yong take the top prize of 6,155,600 HKD (ca. 800,000 USD), with Paul Phua coming a respectable third, claiming 2,572,000 HKD (330,000 USD).

Triton Poker donated 1,150,000 Philippine Pesos (ca 24,000 USD) to Project Pink Philippines, a support group for cancer patients and their families in the Philippines. To find out more about them, and to donate, visit http://www.projectpink.org.ph/