A few days ago another Triton high roller series started in Cyprus. In previous series', in addition to high stakes daily tournaments, players had fun at big buy in cash tables. At the end of the summer, new episodes with cards up were posted on YouTube.
The April series was also held in Cyprus, and on the tournament side of things, there was no equal Phil Ivey.
But other heroes were lit during the series. There was a game featuring $500/$1,000 blinds and a $1,000 ante in the big blind, with a $100,000 minimum buy in.
Jason Koon was the only professional at the table, accompanied by Elton Tsang, Paul Phua, Wai Kin Yong, Will Tiokro, Vladi Shaulov, Johan Gilbert and Xiangen Yu. Almost all of them will play the $200,000 buy-in tournament in the coming days, taking the places of businessmen.
In the biggest hand of the first episode, the players decided to sort things out preflop.
Paul Phua opened with kings to $3,000 from second position, Johan 3-bet the HJ with K9 suited, Vlady, in the BB, called, then Paul 4-bet. The hand didn't end there. Johan surprised commentator Randy Lew and shoved $91,500, Vlady shook his head and decided that there was no point in throwing it away.
They decided to run the board once with the curious comment "it will be easier to calculate this way."
After the hand, Vlady informed Koon that it was an easy call against Johan, and he didn't expect Paul to stay in the hand.
Gilbert asked the floor to bring him a $200k double stack, Vlady rebought for $100k.
The second episode began with another non-standard hand.
– “Very interesting,” Tsang studied his opponents, “but I have a perfect hand. After these words, he shoved his stack. Jason Koon shrugged, called and asked for a new stack to be prepared for him.
– “Standard set-up,” Jason appraised the deal.
Half an hour later, Vladi Shaulov finished his session.
He raised preflop, Tsang called, and Shaulov cbetted on the flop and shoved versus his opponent's raise.
His place was taken by Artur Martirosyan who almost immediately doubled.
Yu folded, Gilbert shoved, Arthur quickly paid and won both boards.
The third episode began with a hand in which five people came to see the flop.
Tsang bet half the pot, only Koon called. Elton check-called $20,000 on the turn and bet $30,000 on the river.
– “Look what they did,” Jason laughed, “I have a set, what should I do with it now?” If you'd made a big bet, I'd have folded right away. But now I think you might have some A7s. Apparently, I'm behind, but still need to call.
– “You win,” Elton immediately reassured him.
– ''Did you raise on the flop?'' Paul Phua asked.
– ''No, I just called, I'm a fish.''
– “And if I checked the river, would you bet?” Tsang asked.
– “Probably not,” said Koon, which made the Asian Businessman laugh.
Tsang had a good session, he practically did not miss with his hands.
He trapped Artur by calling preflop with kings.
The flop and turn all checked, and on the river Tsang overbet.
Arthur thought long enough and called.
– “Today it's Elton's show, and we are all his guests,” Koon chuckled.
– “I hoped on the river that Wai Kin would not stand for it and go for a play” Tsang explained his game.
– “And I had a great hand for this,” Yong Jr. smiled.
Then Elton subtly tangled with Xiangen Yu.
The Malaysian 3-bet $20,000 pre-flop and c-bet $25,000 on the flop, Tsang called both times. The turn was checked and on the river Elton made a small bet and got paid.
At the end of the session, Artur took from Will Tiokro on the river.
After a $2,000 straddle, Arthur raised to $5,000 on the CO and Tjokro called on the button. The flop was checked, Martirosyan check-called $10,000 on the turn and bet $16,000 on the river.
The session ended with a hand in which Wai Kin Yong 3-bet one from some secret charts.
On the flop, Paul Phua did not play tricky and simply declared all-in, which scared everyone a lot.
Arthur finished the session with a profit of $64,000, and Elton Tsang was the best performer, he turned his starting $100,000 into $800,000.
In May, Triton moved to Madrid.
New victories by Addamo, Bodyakovsky and Hecklen, Dwan's first offline successes, a successful debut of a Ukrainian crypto investor and other interesting events of the series in Madrid.
Cash blinds have been raised to €1,000/€2,000/€2,000. Started with a mixed line-up – Tony G, Rui Kao, Paul Phua, Wai Kin Yong, Timothy Adams, Bali G and Tom Dwan.
Timothy Adams took the first pot with a raise on the flop and was immediately scolded by Tony G.
– ''Did you raise to €47k so carefully to annoy us? Play faster, have fun, we don't have much time here.''
“Yes, I'm sorry, I could have bet 45k much faster,” Timothy agreed. “It's just that I think too much, that's my problem.''
“It’s not customary to think at this table,” Rui Kao cleared the air.
Tom Dwan and Bali G played the biggest pot of the session.
Durrrr put in a straddle and squeezed after three limps. Only Bali G called.
Dwan bet €15,000 on the flop, check-called €35,000 on the turn, and Bali bet €70,000 on the river.
“It feels like after this hand I will feel like a fool, no matter how I play,” Tom plunged into deep thought. As a result, he pleased the opponent and made a call.
Bali G, who played under the flag of Hong Kong, is clearly not a frequent live player.
– ''Can I tip the dealer?'' he quietly asked his neighbor Tony G.
“Probably better at the end of the session,” Tony hesitated. ''They need to know the exact number of chips.''
“Everything is fine, you can do it right now,” the owner of Triton, Paul Phua, commented.
– ''And how much is it customary to leave? I don't know at all.''
– ''2k would be very generous. Those are two red chips,” Tony came to the rescue again.
– ''A great flop, the flush didn't complete, and most importantly, there was a fish who paid for everything'' – Rui Kao conducted a quick analysis of the hand.
– ''Tom, what did you have, AT?'' Tony G asked.
– ''Then I would make an instant call.''
At the end of the episode, Tom Dwan managed to win back a bit.
Dwan 3-bet preflop, bet a third of the pot in to two on the flop, and the turn was checked. On the river, Dwan check-raised.
– ''Bluffed?'' Kao asked after the fold.
– ''Let me just say that preflop I confused Wai Kin's raise (€5k) with a straddle, so I made a mistake with the size of the 3-bet (€13k).''
– “I’ll look stupid on TV,” Rui said upset.
– ''Why do you care?'' Wai Kin was surprised. ''You might think someone is looking at you.''
– “It used to be a plus,” Tom remembered the old days. “If you were bad on TV, it allowed you to get more action. And now it makes no sense, the cash game is dead.''
Bali G said goodbye to everyone on this, in the second episode Elton Tsang took his place.
In the first hand, he made a flush.
Despite the raise preflop, the flop was seen by five people. Rui Cao bet, Wai Kin and Tsang paid. The turn was checked, and on the river, Tsang bet almost pot.
– ''Bluff?'' Rui asked his favorite question as he folded his cards.
– ''No, I should have check-raised on the flop.''
– “Then you would have taken the whole stack from me. I had a set.''
– ''How good are you?''
– ''Well, what kind of bluffs can you have in a three-way pot on such a board? I only bet 45. Heads-up, you would have won all my money, I would have bet and called your shove.''
The players then decided to double the ante in the big blind to €4,000.
“It's much better than straddles, which often kill the game,” explained Tom Dwan. “The best games I've played have been deep stacks and big antes.''
''Is everyone betting $4k?'' Tony G did not understand what had happened, but happily agreed.
“Ha ha, just say that you just want to flip,” Rui Kao saw through his plan.
To the backdrop of playful banter and copious drinking, Rui Kao received another cooler, one which he could no longer evade.
Paul Phua raised to €5,000 and Rui called. Kao then check-raised the flop and bet 2/3 of the pot on the turn. On the river, Rui shoved, Phua immediately called and laughed.
– ''Why didn't you slowroll him?'' Wai Kin Yong was surprised.
– “Yeah, that would be cool for TV. Didn't think about it at all.''
– ''And this time a slowroll would be very appropriate'' agreed Rui Cao. ''I would not doubt my victory, even if you only thought for 5 seconds. But as soon as I saw your snap call, I immediately realized that I was in trouble.''
In one of the next hands, Tom Dwan limped UTG, Kao attacked with 53o, but chose not the best moment.
Rui threw his cards face up.
– “Damn, he has my outs,” Elton Tsang pretended to be upset, and then made the call.
– ''Rui showed a jack?'' Dwan didn't understand.
– ''No, he had 53.''
– ''I should have said that I threw away a pair of jacks'' – replied Kao.
Wai Kin Yong and Rui Cao played another 3-bet pot with some less popular hands.
Yong bet all the streets, Kao gave up only on the river.
In the final hand of the session, Timothy Adams was very tempted to pay Paul Phua on the river, but elected to fold.
Preflop, Timothy bet straddled and called the raise. Phua bet half the pot on the flop and 75% of the pot on the turn.
Before folding, Adams grimaced as if he had a toothache and checked his cards several times:
– “He must have played terribly.''
– “I had at least a king,” Phua showed one card.
– “The king was enough,” Tony G said confidently.
To be continued...