Mikita Badziakouski Wins Triton Poker Jeju $100,000 Short Deck Event

Mikita Badziakouski took down the 2024 Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju $100,000 buy-in short deck event, topping a 34-entry field to earn $1,153,000 and his fifth Triton title. The 32-year-old now sits in a three-way tie for second on the tour’s title leaderboard alongside Phil Ivey and Danny Tang.

The only player ahead of this trio of five-time champions is ten-time Triton winner Jason Koon, who joined Badziakouski at this event’s final table. Koon finished fifth this time around, earning $306,000 for his 46th in-the-money finish in a Triton tournament. He now has more than $27.1 million in earnings in Triton events, which accounts for almost half of his total career earnings of more than $56.2 million.

Koon now sits fourth on poker’s all-time money list, just one spot ahead of Badziakouski. The Belarusian poker pro’s career total grew to $55,265,551 thanks to this latest victory. He is one of only five players in poker history to cash for more than $55 million on the tournament circuit.

This was Badziakouski’s first Triton win since taking down a €50,000 no-limit event in Madrid in the spring of 2022. He’s had a few close calls in the interim, but finally battled his way back to the winner’s circle in South Korea.

“Back in Cyprus (in 2022), I got second twice and I wasn’t really caring about winning another one,” Badziakouski told Triton reporters. “But then I went to London and Monte Carlo and didn’t get close. And by that time I’ve really been wanting to win one. I’m really happy.”

This was the first title and third final-table finish of the year for Baziakouski. The 480 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured for the win moved him into 57th place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Only the top six finishers made the money in this event. The second and final day of play began with 10 contenders remaining. Isaac Haxton, Kiat Lee, Daniel Dvoress, and Sam Greenwood hit the rail outside of the money. Greenwood ran A-Q into the pocket aces of Badziakouski, who was already sitting atop the chip counts. Wu Xiao was the first to be knocked out inside the money, earning $240,000 for his first cash on the tour.

Koon’s run concluded when his last antes went in with 9-7. He was up against pocket aces for Triton co-founder Paul Phua, which held to narrow the field to four contenders. Phua held pocket aces again in the next key clash. They held up against the A-Q of two-time Triton champion Winfred Yu to see him finish in fourth place ($391,000).

The last of Sun Ya Qi’s chips went into the middle with his pocket tens trailing the pocket aces of Badziakouski. The bigger pair held up through the river and Qi was sent home with $510,000 for his third-place showing.

Badziakouski held roughly a 3:1 chip lead over Phua, who was looking for his second victory on the tour. Phua managed to overtake the chip lead at one point, but Badziakouski edged back out in front in time for the final hand of the tournament. His AJ held up against the A7 of Phua. The board came down 10868Q and Badziakouski faded Phua’s flopped flush draw to lock up the pot and the title. Phua earned $800,000 as the runner-up, growing his career tournament earnings to more than $30.1 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Triton Poker / Joe Giron.

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