Triton Monte Carlo 2023: Matthias Eibinger clinches Main Event; Danny Tang and Webster Lim emerge victorious; Dan Smith claims season’s biggest prize; Jason Koon closes with tenth Triton title

The fourth and final Triton Super High Roller Series for 2023 played from October 24 through November 4 at Monte Carlo Sporting, Monaco and featured twelve days of action across the felt. Poker superstars from various parts of the globe gathered once again to battle amongst the industry’s fiercest contenders for a shot to claim some of the most lucrative top prizes out there. This season’s lineup consisted of twelve super high roller tournaments, nine of which played through the classic NLH format and the last three, in PLO. Slightly different from its predecessors, the latest series saw no short deck events on schedule but at the same time, featured more knockout tournaments.

Following nearly two weeks of games, Austria’s Matthias Eibinger came out on top of the Main Event taking a surreal USD 3.4 Million for his victory. Hong Kong’s Danny Tang finished strong, making five final table appearances in total and a fifth Triton title to boot. Malaysia’s Webster Lim followed closely with a win, earning him a third career Triton trophy. Additionally, USA’s Dan Smith booked the season’s biggest prize after crushing the $200,000 NLH Triton Invitational for USD 3.8 Million while brand ambassador Jason Koon closed out the series with a career tenth title to cap the festivities.

Triton SHRS $125,000 NLH Main Event: Matthias Eibinger – USD 3,461,261*

The highlighting Main Event kicked off on the third day of the festival with 135 entries recorded for a generated pot of over $16.8 Million by the time registration closed. It took three days of play before Austria’s Matthias Eibinger was crowned champion, taking home USD 3,461,261, a Jacob & Co timepiece, and a bonus two night stay on the luxurious Bombay yacht, for his victory. This monumental win for the 30 year old serves as his career best cash in addition to his USD 17.8 Million in total live earnings according to The Hendon Mob.

“The feeling is just amazing,” commented Eibinger on the Triton live stream. “It’s by far the biggest cash I’ve ever had. I’ve won two turbos and now I’ve won a main event. I’m just so happy.”

The final table gameplay began with Spain’s Adrian Mateos in the forefront, holding a commanding lead of roughly a third of the total chips in play. In a great spot to take it down, Mateos found no real threat up until the tail end of the tournament. First casualty of the final table saw Nick Petrangelo on the losing end of a flip with his pocket tens crushed against Ken Tong’s . Two aces on the board sealed Petrangelo’s ninth place finish for USD 391,000. Justin Bonomo followed suit after calling off for his tournament life with against Mateos’ three bet jam. Mateos had the best of it, showing down to eventually knock out his opponent.

Chris Brewer delivered the next two eliminations – Ken Tong, and Aleks Ponakovs, in 6th and 7th place respectively after calling off the two’s short stack all-ins with better holdings. Brewer won both races to claim the boost and ladder up the payouts. China’s Quan Zhou by this time was left all-in on his big blind and succumbed in fifth place for the first seven figure prize of the day. Down to the last four, Brewer found himself as the shortest amongst the field and soon hit the rails after Santhosh Suvarna put his to the test against the latter’s pocket eights. Suvarna’s pair held up and Brewer was left packing in fourth place for nearly USD 1.5 Million.

Not long after, three handed play saw Eibinger lay out a trap by limping on the small blind which urged Mateos to shove with . Eibinger got it in and cruised his way to a double up while overtaking his Spanish opponent in the running. Mateos however, would quickly recover as he sent Suvarna out in third place in the process. The stacks piled high in the middle on the turn – Mateos with and Suvarna with . Both with pairs and combo draws, Suvarna dominated his opponent but was crushed to see the roll off on the river, completing Mateos’ straight flush for the win.

Back in the lead with 62 big blinds against Eibinger’s 51 big blind stack, the two carried on to shuffle pots back and forth. After a number of scuffles and stacks getting shorter, the two struck a deal which left USD 100,000 to play for. Eibinger wrapped up the battle soon after as the final hand saw his land top pair against Mateos’ . Eibinger earned his first Triton Main Event victory and left Mateos to settle for a runner up finish and USD 3.1 Million in winnings.

Event #3 – $125,000 NLH – Main Event
Dates: October 26-28, 2023
Entries: 135 (inc. 47 re-entries)
Prize pool: $16,875,000
ITM: 23 players

Final Table Results

1 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $3,461,261*
2 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $3,120,739*
3 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $1,772,000
4 – Chris Brewer, USA – $1,450,000
5 – Quan Zhou, China – $1,165,000
6 – Ken Tong, Hong Kong – $902,000
7 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $668,000
8 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $491,000
9 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $391,000

*denotes deal was made

Danny Tang bags fifth Triton title, tops PoY race

Hong Kong’s Danny Tang shone bright above the rest after making five final table appearances in this season alone. The Natural8 ambassador started the series strong, garnering a sixth place finish in the first event, the $200,000 NLH Triton Invitational for USD 875,000. His impressive run wouldn’t stop there as he finally locked in his career fifth Triton win at Event #9 – $50,000 NLH after defeating Isaac Haxton in heads up play. Tang added the USD 1.5 Million score to his already stellar Triton record of cashes and carried on to make two more final table runs following the win. At Event #12 – $50,000 PLO, Tang was focused on clinching another title but was denied after Canada’s Dan Dvoress claimed the victory and left Tang with a runner up finish. Earning a total of five Triton titles throughout the year, Tang tops the Triton PoY race with 27 cashes in the bag and over USD 14.8 Million in Triton earnings.

Triton SHRS Event #9 – $50,000 NLH – 8 Handed: Danny Tang – USD 1,580,000
Dates: October 31 – November 1, 2023
Entries: 136 (inc. 46 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,800,000
ITM: 23 players

Final Table Results

1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,580,000
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $1,070,000
3 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $715,000
4 – Chris Brewer, USA – $585,000
5 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – $469,000
6 – Thomas Muehloecker, Austria – $363,000
7 – Rodrigo Selouan, Brazil – $270,000
8 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $198,000
9 – Daniel Rezaei, $158,200

Triton SHRS Event #10 – $25,000 NLH GGMillion$ Live: Webster Lim – USD 899,893

With Triton continuously growing its market, a new brand record was reached after 187 entries packed in to join Event #10 – $25,000 NLH GGMillion$ Live. One of the most sought out tournaments on schedule, this season’s pot grew to USD 4,675,000 with Malaysia’s Webster Lim claiming the lion’s share of the prize pool. The young pro’s outstanding victory landed him his third Triton title with his last one being the same $25,000 tournament in the Vietnam festivities earlier this March.

The final table began with three Malaysians – Hing Yang Chow, Paul Phua, and Webster Lim, topping the field. It was Ren Lin however, who soared quickly having delivered the first three eliminations one after the other. Lim then took over and sent Phua and Igor Yaroshevskyy out in a back to back bust to jump in the lead. Four players left in the games, short stacked Ben Heath fell into the hands of Chow, with Lin following shortly after an unfortunate cooler saw him stack off to Lim.

Upon reaching heads up play, the two Malaysians cut a deal where Lim was guaranteed a higher payout of USD 859,893 with his 2:1 advantage, and USD 40,000 left for the winner. Lim eventually secured the victory, bringing his winnings up to USD 899,893 in total and a third Triton trophy to add to his collection.

Event #10 – $25,000 NLH – 8 Handed – GGMillion$ Live
Dates:November 1-2, 2023
Entries: 187 (inc. 70 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,675,000
ITM: 31 players

Final Table Results

1 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $899,893*
2 – Hing Yang Chow, Malaysia – $760,107*
3 – Ren Lin, USA – $468,000
4 – Ben Heath, UK – $380,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $301,000
6 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $228,000
7 – Biao Ding, China – $166,600
8 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $122,000
9 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $100,200

*denotes deal was made

Triton SHRS Event #1 – $200,000 NLH Triton Invitational: Dan Smith – USD 3,870,000

The biggest buy-in of the series saw its share of businessmen and elite pros battle for the USD 3.8 Million top prize across three days of action, but it was American pro Dan Smith who emerged triumphant in the final games. Smith coursed through the tough final table and managed to outlast initial chip leader Elton Tsang as well as Mario Mosböck’s overwhelming lead by three handed play. Mosböck entered the heads up duel against Smith with nearly double of his opponent’s chips yet lost several pots to begin with and never fully recovered. With Smith having edged into the lead, the final hand broke out with both players tabling two pair, Smith with the better one to earn him his maiden Triton title.

“This is very special,” Smith told reporters after the tournament. “I’ve had a few bigger scores in my career…but it’s different when you win a tournament with 70 players like this. It’s one of the biggest events of the year and only so many guys get to win them.”

The 34 year old pro is no stranger to winning burly cash prizes with a total of $49.4 Million in career live earnings under his belt. Smith’s largest payout remains to be a third place finish in the 2019 Triton Million for Charity for a whopping USD 8.7 Million.

Event #1 – $200,000 NLH Triton Invitational
Dates: October 24-26, 2023
Entries: 73 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $14,600,000
ITM: 13 players

Final Table Results

1 – Dan Smith, USA – $3,870,000
2 – Mario Mosböck – Austria – $2,690,000
3 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $1,780,000
4 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $1,390,000
5 – Alexander Shelukhin, Russia – $1,125,000
6 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $875,000
7 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $694,000
8 – Ilkin Gabrili, Azerbaijan – $540,000
9 – Bob Voulgaris, Canada – $406,000

Triton SHRS Event #13 – $25,000 PLO Turbo: Jason Koon – USD 365,000

Living up to his name, Triton star Jason Koon closed the series with a tenth career win in the final event, $25,000 PLO Turbo after defeating online PLO wizard Eelis Parssinen in heads up play. Koon continues to impress, having successfully won titles across different formats – NLH, PLO, and Short Deck. The American pro pads on his USD 365,000 top prize to boost his 41 cash record to an astonishing USD 26.2 Million in Triton earnings alone. Koon stands in second place just behind Danny Tang in the Triton PoY race after the Monte Carlo festivities.

Event #13 – $25,000 PLO Turbo
Dates:November 4, 2023
Entries: 50 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,250,000

Full Payouts

1 – Jason Koon, USA – $365,000
2 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $262,000
3 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $171,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $129,000
5 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $100,000
6 – Ren Lin, USA – $77,500
7 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – $61,500
8 – Sergio Martinez, Spain – $47,500
9 – Li Tong, New Zealand – $36,500

Other Winners

Event #2 – $50,000 NLH Turbo Bounty
Dates: October 25, 2023
Entries: 57 (inc. 7 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,710,000
ITM: 9 players
Champion: Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $501,000 (+ $180,000 in bounties)

Event #5 – $25,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: October 27, 2023
Entries: 57 (inc. 13 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,425,000
ITM: 9 players
Champion: Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $416,000

Event #7 – $30,000 NLH 7-Handed
Dates: October 29-30, 2023
Entries: 145 (inc. 49 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,350,000
ITM: 23 players
Champion: Ognjan Dimov, Bulgaria – $1,010,000

Event #6 – $100,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: October 28-29, 2023
Entries: 120 (inc. 42 re-entries)
Prize pool: $12,000,000
ITM: 20 players
Champion: Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $2,644,000

Event #8 – $40,000 NLH – 7 Handed – Mystery Bounty
Dates: October 30-31, 2023
Entries: 162 (inc. 66 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,480,000 (inc. $3,240,000 in bounty pool)
ITM: 27 players
Champion: Mario Mosböck, Austria – $718,000 (+$720K from 10 bounties)

Event #11 – $30,000 PLO Bounty
Dates: November 2-3, 2023
Entries: 74 (inc. 23 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,220,000 (inc. $760,000 in bounty pool)
ITM: 13 players
Champion: Gavin Andreanoff, UK – $387,000 (+ $160,000 in bounties)

Event #12 – $50,000 PLO
Dates: November 3-4, 2023
Entries: 72 (inc. 29 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,600,000
ITM: 9 players
Champion: Dan Dvoress, Canada – $956,000