An invitational tournament with an equal (theoretically!) representation of amateurs and professionals has already become the hallmark of the Triton series. This time the buy-in was raised to $250,000, but this did not affect the attendance in any way. The field was 118 entries. In Cyprus, when Ramin Khadzhiev won the $200,000 tournament, there were 86 entries.
Again, there were strange decisions of the organizers to divide the players into amateurs and professionals.
Among the amateurs, for example, were Eric Wasserson and Chris Moneymaker. And this time, Punnat Punsri from Thailand was enrolled as a professional.
During the last series in Cyprus, Jason Mo was outraged that he was rejected, although Punnat was declared an amateur. It seems that Jason was heard, but obviously not in the way he expected.
One businessman did not find a match at all this time, 46 amateurs and 45 professionals registered in the tournament, before the registration closed, the participants made 27 re-entries.
Early in the day, Dan Smith lost a big pot with a full house against a full house.
It is the $250k Luxon Pay Invitational Day 1, and @DanSmithHolla ALREADY being put to the test in the most brutal way possible! pic.twitter.com/XeesBbkeoL
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) August 3, 2023
At the end of the day, Dan was dealt jacks again:
I stick in 200k of my 300k chips w JJ. Opponent thinks I’m Allin and tabled his hand (QQ). To be sporting I put in the other 100k blind 842 flop…. JACK turn 🚀 Ended w 604 from 300 and pretty giddy about it.
Leaders at the end of the day:
More than 200 blinds were enough for Sean Perry for three hands, he busted in the area of 60th place. First, he called and saw a straight, then he lost a three-way all-in with jacks against QQ and AK, and as part of his last hand, he caught two pair on the flop, but his opponent showed a straight.
The bubble passed quickly, which is not typical for such tournaments.
With three people to go, Tan Xuan and Robert Flink played a hand that was captioned on Triton's twitter, "Doubt anyone has studied this part of the game tree."
Preflop, Tan raised, Flink called, as did Shakerchi with 74o. On the flop, Tan c-bet, Flink raised 3x, Shakerchi folded. The turn was checked. On the river, Xuan bet a third of the pot and after much deliberation called the all-in.
Don't think anyone has studied this part of the game tree... 😲🌲🤯 pic.twitter.com/G2s63jUGHq
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) August 5, 2023
In 25th place, Erik Seidel busted with aces.
At another table, Wiktor Malinovski shoved 22 blinds with A3s.
Jason Koon went into the money with two blinds and was immediately eliminated in 23rd place for $342,000.
22nd place went to Soxia Jiang. Her push with aces for 30 blinds was called by Bryn Kenney with queens and he flopped a set.
Pedro Garagnani, Santosh Suvarna, Seth Davies, and Cary Katz were also eliminated in the min-cashes.
Paul Phua entered the money as one of the chip leaders.
However, in the top 20, this hand against Aleksejs Ponakovs, he put 1.3 million out of a stack of 1.5 million into the pot, but never made it to showdown.
Aleksejs had , Phua . Left with three blinds, Paul managed to sit out a few people but ended the tournament in 17th place for $410,000.
The final table bubble boy was Christoph Vogelsang.
Stacks of finalists:
In one of the first hands of the final table, James Chen busted.
Kayhan Mokri left the tournament next.
Punnat Punsri folded a pair of nines this hand after raising and 3-betting.
Nick Petrangelo finished 7th.
Immediately after him, Robert Flink left the tournament.
Robert defended the big blind and check-shoved the flop.
Chris Moneymaker was eliminated 5th.
“I didn’t expect such a result,” Chris wrote after the departure. – There was practically no chance to enter the game, but I laddered up to $2 million. I am satisfied with my decisions. It's all Jeff Platt's fault.
– Great result, – Chris was congratulated in the comments, – it's hard to believe that you won almost as much as in the main tournament in 2003 ( ed. – Then Moneymaker got $2.5 million ). Great job. I hope you have a tangible percentage of yourself.
“Yes, thank you,” the former PokerStars pro confirmed.
By this point, less than an hour had passed since the start of the final table.
The next bustout had to wait almost 40 minutes.
Aleksejs raised and Talal called. On the flop, Aleksejs checked-call, the turn was checked, on the river Ponyakov checked again, Talal bet 60% of the pot and instantly called his opponent's all-in.
3rd place was taken by either amateur or professional Punnat Punsri. First, he lost a big pot with kings, and then he fell victim to a bad beat.
Punnat made a raise, c-bet the flop, and check-call the turn. River was checked.
“If you had raised preflop, I would have already finished,” he said after the hand.
He busted a little later when he shoved with the best hand.
The heads-up started with even stacks, but Bryn quickly pushed his lead to overwhelming.
Talal fought to the last and in one of the hands correctly folded trip kings.
Shakerchi raised and c-bet the flop, Kenny bet on the turn and shoved the river.
– "Full house or flush?" Talal asked, throwing away the cards.
– There was a full house on the river, but there were already trip kings.
– You moved me off on the river.
"Did you fold the king? Wow," Kenney said
Shakerchi immediately doubled up, collecting a straight against the opponent's kings.
But it was not possible to build on the success.
In one hand, Kenny made the correct call with K-high.
Bryn raised preflop and c-bet, the turn was checked.
Kenney had the best hand for most of heads-up, but in the final hand he 3-bet all-in and was under. It didn't stop him from winning.
The entire final table lasted less than four hours.
The $125,000 Series Main Event had 151 entries (54 re-entries).
Brazilian regular Pedro Garagnani finished the first day as a chip leader. But like Sean Perry a couple of days earlier, he didn't even make the money. In the middle of day 2, Pedro decided to face off against Bryn Kenney, who entered the game right after his resounding victory.
Bryn 4-bet all-in, Pedro thought for a long time and called.
“I'm too lucky,” Bryn stated on the river.
A few hands later, Pedro tried to bluff Bryn and lost another half stack.
Kenney opened, Pedro and Ben Heath with called, and the flop was checked. On the turn, Kenney bet a third of the pot, and only the Brazilian called. Bryn bet-called on the river.
Doug Polk, who was at his first Triton series, was short-stacked almost the entire tournament but tripled with aces six people from the money.
“Breaking news! This just in! Our top story tonight.”@DougPolkVids pic.twitter.com/ugUadhGPPc
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) August 6, 2023
Bryn Kenney came to the bubble with the chip lead, two people before the money he had the biggest stack. Bryn seemed capable of anything these days, but even he failed to bluff Seth Davies with a full house.
On the river, Bryn bet and quickly folded to an all-in.
The bubble boy was Daniel Dvoress, his ATs didn't improve against Stephen Chidwick's AKo.
Ramin Khadzhiev, Alex Kulev, and Santosh Suvarna were eliminated for a min-cash, all receiving $189,000 each.
Santosh showed up with against Timothy Adams, but players with jacks have not lost such hands lately.
Bryn Kenny's luck turned out to be not eternal, he busted in 21st place. Nick Shulman then lost with kings.
Jean-Noel Torel knocked out Seidel and Malinowski in one hand.
After his raise, Viktor saw two all-ins, but couldn't fold the queens.
Espen Jorstad had a very successful first half of the series, but failed to make the fourth final table.
Cates, like Polk, came to the series for the $250k tournament and immediately signed up for the main after being eliminated. This time, Jungle chose the image of a football player and, as usual, fully got used to the role. He brought the ball with him, which caused a bit of a mess.
A POKER PLAYER’S WORST NIGHTMARE 😫@junglemandan retrieved all his chips and is still in the $125K Main Event with 22 players left!#poker #tritonpoker pic.twitter.com/k3TXGqXjxU
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) August 6, 2023
Nick Shulman fired three barrels with A-high against Juan Pardo.
On the river, the Spaniard thought for a long time and made the call. Nick had half of the blind left, in the next hand he spun up to 3 BB, but still busted in 11th place.
The final table bubble boy was Seth Davies.
Chip counts of finalists:
In the second hand, Doug Polk shoved against Isaac Haxton.
When the hand went live, comments from Doug's official account appeared in the chat: “What a terrible call. How can you give away 20bb here with eights?”
Polk had seven blinds left and two hands later he busted with against Torel.
8th was Lun Loon, who started the day the shortest. He shoved nine blinds with and did not come back against the Chidwick.
James Chen finished in 7th place, also falling to one of Torel's premium hands.
Jean-Noel had to wait 40 minutes for the next aces.
After a 4-bet from Chidwick, Cates quickly folded and Pardo thought about it. At this time, Torel announced all-in out of turn. Juan spent a few more time bank cards and threw away the kings. After Chidwick and Torrel showed, he looked like the happiest man in the world.
“Well, at least the spades are alive,” Chidwick found the strength to joke.
*That* hand from the Triton series that nobody seems to want to post the video of.
by u/itsaride in poker
Stephen had eight blinds left, but in one of the next hands, he doubled up (AKs>JJ Torel).
Pardo busted in 6th, as he did not manage to escape from the ubiquitous aces of Jean-Noel.
For Chidwick, the tournament ended in 5th place, Torel showed him only queens this time.
Adams, with eights, thought for a while and threw it away.
The advantage of the Frenchman became intimidating.
Haxton finished in 4th.
Thorel raised 5x and Ike called for half a stack. Jean-Noel shoved on the flop. Turn and river blanks.
Torel has 23 million, his rivals have from 14 million for two million.
Daniel Cates shoved the last 13 blinds with QJo.
Heads-up started with Thorel's 2x lead (83 blinds to 43), but Timothy quickly doubled up to take the lead.
Torrel opened with his trademark 4x raise, Adams called and check-shoved the flop. The turn and river didn't change anything.
After that, the heads-up continued for about an hour, the chip lead passed from one to another several times, but no one could get an overwhelming advantage.
The opponents approached the final hand with a difference of just a few blinds.
Torel opened, Adams 3-bet, and quickly called all-in.
Phil Ivey won the $60,000 one-day turbo tournament.
The only $25,000 Omaha tournament had 77 entries. Seth "LevMeAlone" Gottlieb became the champion.
The final $60,000 hold'em tournament drew 106 entries. First place went to Danny Tang. On the final hand, his Brazilian opponent came up with a nice bluff, but Tang turned out to be too strong (straight).
For Mikita Badziakouski, the tournament ended with a bad beat.
The popularity of the short deck is falling with each tournament. In London, only three tournaments were left on the schedule. The first one, with a buy-in of $30,000, collected a modest 37 entries.
The $60,000 Main Event continues with 46 entries.