Wai Kin Yong takes Triton London Main Event Title; Carrel and Loeliger also lift trophies

Triton London has been a breath of fresh air for high-stakes tournament poker, with the £1,000,000 (US$1,215,096) event having established itself as one of the most exciting and well-run events of 2019

Everything has been excellent, from the format, shot-clock and rules through to the standard of play and live coverage. It has been such an eye-catching event that Daniel Negreanu has spent most of the last week lamenting his lack of being there through numerous tweets. With that mammoth tournament now concluded however, the Triton London series moves onwards to more top-level tournament action in its Main Event and side events.

Every morning I wake up to watch @tritonpoker livestream and kick myself in the head for not being there.

Got a honeymoon coming up, then will gear up for my next series of events at WSOP in Rozvadov.

I’m sickened that I didn’t go. Just sick.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) August 4, 2019

Event 5 – £100,000 Main Event – Winner: Wai Kin Yong

The Main Event was a £100,000 (US$121,509) buy in tournament, with 130 players paying the entry fee. This created a £12,200,000 (US$14,828,171) prize pool, with just over £3,000,000 set aside for the winner.

The latter stages of the Main Event provided fans with some great action, as Daniel “jungleman12” Cates quickly emerged as the star of the show. He made an exceptional fold on the river with trips aces against a flopped full house and later, called a river bet by Phua while holding just king high.

Despite the heroics of Cates, it was not enough to propel him to victory, as he eventually fell in 8^th place. Stephen Chidwick added a little extra to his winnings for this series too, following up his 4^th place in the £1,000,000 event with a 7^th place in the Main.

As the action got down to the final 5, Paul Phua emerged as the chipleader having eliminated Michael Chi Zhang in 6^th place. Sam Greenwood was the next to fall in 5^th before Malaysian star Michael Soyza hit the rail in 4^th to bring play down to three-handed. Ben Heath was next to face the axe, busting in brutal fashion after getting it in with KK vs the AK of Phua.

Tritonco-founder Phua flopped broadway and no help arrived for the British pro. Phua’s chip advantage heads up only continued to grow early on as he fought heads up with Wai Kin Yong. The gap continued to extend to a near 5 to 1 until Yong clawed some back before a huge bluff with a missed open ender went wrong for Phua. From there, Yong rode the momentum, opening up a lead before grinding Phua down and eliminating him. The players agreed to chop most of the money, and so both pick up over £2,500,000.

Without doubt, Paul Phua would have been very fitting winner of the Main Event. Victory here would have been a fairy-tale story for one of the man who made Triton happen. Phua is a hugely popular figure in the Asian high-stakes world and it is only through his hard work that the Triton series exists at all. Sadly for Phua, he will have to wait for another day.

Here are the final payouts:

1^st – Wai Kin Yong (Malaysia) – £2,558,305 (US$3,108,586)
2^nd – Paul Phua (Malaysia) – £2,591,695 (US$3,149,158)
3^rd – Ben Heath (UK) – £1,350,000
4^th – Michael Soyza (Malaysia) – £1,120,000<
5^th – Sam Greenwood (Canada) – £902,000
6^th – Michael Chi Zhang (UK) – £711,000
7^th – Stephen Chidwick (UK) – £544,000
8^th – Daniel Cates (USA) – £410,000
9^th – Wai Leong Chan (Malaysia) – £305,000

Event 3 – £50,000 NLH – Winner: Charlie Carrel

The third event of this series was a £50,000 (US$60,754) tournament which attracted 109 runners. With 43 re-entries, this created a £5,123,000 (US$6,224,937) prize pool with £1,321,000 (US$1,605,142) up top. The final table saw three-time Triton winner Jason Koon seeking out another victory to add to his collection, with Linus Loeliger, Robert Flink, Matthias Eibinger, Kahle Burns and Charlie Carrel also in contention.

As play got down to heads up, it was two of the better know names who were left to fight it out. Koon and Carrel duelled long into the night in their attempts to determine a winner, with play eventually being paused at 4am. The two came back to finish the event the following day, with Carrel catching some rungood to get the best of Koon.

The final payouts are as follows:

1^st – Charlie Carrel, UK, £1,321,000 (US$1,605,142)
2^nd – Jason Koon, United States, £907,000
3^rd – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland, £594,000
4^th – Kahle Burns, Australia, £481,500
5^th – Matthias Eibinger, Austria, £386,000
6^th – Robert Flink, Sweden, £302,100
7^th – Jun Wah Yap, Malaysia, £238,000
8^th – Dvoress Daniel, Canada, £182,000
9^th – Isaac Haxton, United States, £133,000

Event 1 – £25,000 6-Handed Turbo

This fast-paced £25,000 (US$30,377) opening event drew a crowd of 117 players, with 44 re-entries helping to create a prize pool of £2,749,500 (US$3,340,906). The late stages of the tournament saw the likes of Paul Phua (13^th), Ben Lamb (12^th), Erik Seidel (11^th) and Michael Soyza (7^th) all making deep runs. As the final table became just three players, Timothy Adams, Luc Greenwood and Linus Loeliger were the last men standing. It wasn’t long before Adams relinquished his claim on the title, leaving Greenwood and Loeliger to contest the trophy and top prize.

Greenwood’s efforts were ultimately, not enough to get the best of Loeliger who plays online under the screen name “LLinusLLove”. The Swiss pro swept Greenwood aside to claim his first major live victory, picking up £690,000 (US838,416) for his efforts.

The final payouts are as follows:

1^st – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland, £690,000 (US$838,416)
2^nd – Luc Greenwood, Canada, £466,600
3^rd – Timothy Adams, Canada, £307,000
4^th – Cary Katz, USA, £251,500
5^th – Elior Sion, UK, £202,900
6^th – Kahle Burns, Australia, £160,000

Article by Craig Bradshaw