More Than $11 Million USD Awarded In First Three Events of Triton High Roller Series JejuJustin Bonomo, Devan Tang, and Christopher Michael Soyza Each Secured A Title |
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The 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju is playing host to a total of six high-stakes events, with buy-ins ranging from $250,000 HLD ($31,847 USD) all the way up to $2,000,0000 HKD ($254,779 USD). The first three events of the festival have played out, with more than $11 million USD paid out so far. The three largest tournaments have yet to determine champions but will do so in the next few days.
The first event of the series was a $250,000 HLD ($31,847 USD) buy-in short deck no-limit hold’em tournament. A total of 65 entries were made, to create a $15,275,000 HKD ($1,985,750 USD) prize pool. In the end, it was poker’s all-time money leader Justin Bonomo that emerged victorious with the title.
Bonomo earned $4,600,000 HKD ($598,000 USD) for the win, securing his 24th career live title to bring his lifetime earnings to $44,625,047. He now has more than a $5.9 million lead over the next highest tournament earner on the money list in Daniel Negreanu ($38,663,630).
The American poker pro was also awarded 504 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second title and third final-table finish of the year. It was enough to see him move into 43rd place in the POY race standings.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Justin Bonomo | $598,000 | 504 |
2 | Yue Hsiang | $429,000 | 420 |
3 | Sergey Lebedev | $278,200 | 336 |
4 | David Benefield | $210,600 | 252 |
5 | Choon Siow | $162,500 | 210 |
6 | Ying Lin Chua | $126,750 | 168 |
7 | Ben Lamb | $101,400 | 126 |
8 | John Juanda | $79,300 | 84 |
Next up was the $500,000 HKD ($63,695 USD) buy-in short deck no-limit hold’em event. The 69-entry turnout built a total prize pool of $32,430,000 HKD ($4,215,900 USD). It was Devan Tang who came out on top, defeating Peter Jetten for the win. He earned $9,730,000 HKD ($1,264,900 USD) as the champion of this event.
Tang was nearly eliminated in seventh place. He called all-in on a board of KQ68 with 66 for bottom set. He was in horrible shape against Mikita Badziakouski’s QQ for a set of queens. Tang needed to hit a one-outer to stay alive in the event. That is precisely what happened, with the 6 rolling off the deck on the end to give Tang quads and the double up. Tang surged up the leaderboard after the hand, while Badziakouski went on to finish seventh for $214,500 USD.
Check out the crazy hand in the tweet from @tritonpoker below:
WHAT A COOLER!!!One of the biggest BAD BEATS you'll ever see.
Devan Tang hits a ONE OUTER to QUADS, making Mikita Badziakouski the short stack and eventually knocking him out of the tournament. Only 6 remain in the HKD 500k Short Deck event.
https://t.co/LEnzOPZrK8 pic.twitter.com/5L3Qgcm0cj— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) March 4, 2019
“I’m very, very happy about it,” Tang said in his post-victory interview. “I got very lucky. I was lucky the whole way. It was a tough field, for sure. When you’re playing this big and you make the final table, you have to play your best for sure.”
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Devan Tang | $1,264,900 | 612 |
2 | Peter Jetten | $915,200 | 510 |
3 | Arnaud Romain | $590,200 | 408 |
4 | Jason Koon | $446,550 | 306 |
5 | Isaac Haxton | $345,800 | 255 |
6 | Leong Wai | $269,750 | 204 |
7 | Mikita Badziakouski | $214,500 | 153 |
8 | Paul Phua | $169,000 | 102 |
The third event of the series was a $500,000 HKD ($63,695 USD) six-max no-limit hold’em event. The final number of entries grew to 81, which meant the prize pool swelled to $38,070,000 HKD ($4,949,100 USD). Christopher Michael Soyza defeated a stacked final table that included the likes of Jason Koon, Bryn Kenney, Ivan Leow and Sam Greenwood to secure the $11,150,000 HKD ($1,449,500 USD) top prize.
This was the largest score of Soyza’s career, and it brought his earnings to $5,079,797. He was awarded 816 Player of the Year points for his second final-table finish of the year. As a result of this win he moved into 49th place in the overall standings. Soyza had his breakout year on the live circuit in 2018, making 14 final tables and winning four titles to finish the year in 11th palce in the POY rankings.
Speaking of the POY standings, Bryn Kenney climbed into second on the 2019 POY leaderboard as a result of his fourth-place showing. The 2019 Aussie Millions main event champion has already cashed for $1,876,001 this year.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
1 | Christopher Michael Soyza | $1,449,500 | 816 |
2 | Samuel Greenwood | $1,040,000 | 680 |
3 | Ivan Leow | $676,000 | 544 |
4 | Bryn Kenney | $509,730 | 408 |
5 | Kok Beh | $395,200 | 340 |
6 | Jason Koon | $306,800 | 272 |