Austin Yang Wins Triton ONE Tournament in Jeju for First Major Title

The latest Triton Poker Series event was a very special one. The Triton ONE series appeals to players who have a lower bankroll level than the Triton Super High Roller Series (SHRS) regulars, with buy-ins typically around the $3,000 price point. That was the entry fee for the Triton ONE High Roller that concluded this week, and when the dust settled, it was a new name in the Triton winner’s circle in Jeju, South Korea.

Huge Field Plays Inaugural Triton ONE Event

A massive field of 490 entries took part in the $15,000 Triton ONE High Roller event in Jeju, South Korea as 80 players made the money and were all chasing a million-dollar plus top prize. Among those to make money but not challenge at the business end of the event included 80^th-placed Alex Kulev, who min-cashed for $23,500.

Stephen Chidwick made $25,500 in 59^th place, Byron Kaverman scored $28,500 in 51^st, while Alex Foxen finished 33^rd for $32,500. Mustapha Kanit (26^th for $42,500), Justin Saliba (23^rd for $45,750) and Daniel Dvoress (16^th for $63,000) all went close to the nine-handed final table but missed out along with Finnish superstar Eelis Parssinen, who bubbled the final table in 10^th place for $96,000.

Once the final table began, the chip leader was German professional Chris Nguyen with 18.4 million chips, the equivalent of 61 big blinds. A little behind on 50 bigs was the All-Time Money List leader Bryn Kenney with 14.97m chips, while Lithuanian pro Paulius Vaitiekunas (14.4m) and Austrian Manuel Fritz (11.7m) hovered close by. Aren Bezhanyan (10.3m) and Zhang Yang (8.35m) both had very playable stacks, with only the American poker legend Isaac Haxton (7.4m), Spanish tournament crusher Sergio Aido (6.75m) and the eventual winner Austin Yang (5.7m) on 25 big blinds or fewer.

Early Exit for Aido

While nine players sat down to play for another huge title in Jeju, their number was quickly reduced by one. All-in for his final seven big blinds, Aido’s jack-eight lost to Chris Nguyen’s queen-ten when a ten hit the flop and the Spanish player was out for a score of $117,000.

Soon, the field was reduced to seven players. Yang Zhang has previously met with a lot of success in Triton Poker events, and he deserves a lot of credit for making it to eighth place for $149,090. Zhang was all-in with pocket deuces and ran into ace-nine, which got fortunate to counterfeit the Chinese player’s hand as a board of J-J-6-6-7 played out.

After the Armenian player Aren Bexhanyan busted in seventh place for $214,000, Chris Nguyen went from the leader with nine left to out in sixth place for $287,100. All-in with king-deuce of spades pre-flop, he lost to Brhn Kenney’s eight-seven, which four-flushed in diamonds to reduce the field to five.

Yang Breaks New Ground

“Hey, can I steal your luck? Can I shake your hand?”

A swift exit for Lithuanian Paulius Vaitekunas in fifth place for $366,000 was followed by the same fate for Manuel Fritz in fourth for $466,000. The Austrian shoved for eight blinds with king-jack suited only to be called by the ace-queen of Bryn Kenney. A jack landed on the flop but Keney made a wheel straight on the river to send play three-handed.

With three players left, ICM numbers were discussed and a deal was done. The deal was sensible to say the least, with each man having between 26 and 29 big blinds at the time. Soon after the deal, Bryn Kenney got his chips in at-risk with king-jack and lost to his caller Yang who had woken up with ace-ten. An ace on the flop meant Kenney was always chasing in the hand and he never caught up to score a vital $891,000 in the race to become the first player to cash for $100m in ranking tournaments.

Heads-up, Yang got the better of Isaac Haxton in a couple of big pots before his ace-ten held against the dominated ten-seven of Haxton. The American had the chip lead when the ICM deal was done, so cashed for the biggest amount of $940,000 as runner-up but Yang was delighted to win the trophy and $932,000.

“I think I just got lucky to be honest,” Yang said modestly after victory. “Before I got to the final, I was so short-stacked, but I saw Paul Phua sitting right there and I said, ‘Hey, can I steal your luck? Can I shake your hand?’ And I ran super-hot.”

Yang’s win was his fourth cash in six Triton ONE event sin Jeju, a record that he said should inspire others to take part in the innovative new variant on the Triton Poker Tour.

“Give it a try, you might get lucky like me,” Yang smiled.