Dan Smith Rides Again as Cowboy Bags Second Triton Poker Series Title

In Jeju, the Triton Poker Series continued with an amazing win for Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith. The popular poker high stakes player and owner of the Double Up Drive charity endeavour beat David Coleman to the top prize of $1,2 million including bounties. With stars of the game such as Punnat Punsri, Seth Davies and Tom Dwan all making the final table, it was star-studded battle for the Triton trophy and only seven-figure score on offer.

Over 100 Play Huge Buy-In Event

With 108 entries all paying $50,000 to play the ‘Quattro Bouty’ event, the first 10 players to be paid from 27^th to 18^th would all receive $60,000 from the bounty prizepool, which was $15,000 from every $50,000 buy-in. Only the top 17 players were paid based on their tournament performance and it was the Lithuanian Dominykas Mikolaitis who bubbled that number, losing to the winner of the other high roller event in this series for $2 million Thailand’s Punnat Punsri.

Into those who did make the money and there were results for professionals such as Shyngis Satubayev, (15^th for $242,300 including $180,000 in bounties) and Canadian Luc Greenwood (12^th for $68,000 with no bounties). Only nine made the final table however and once there, Smith immediately took control, taking out Damir Zhugralin from Kazakhstan for $94,500 in that place and $120,000 in bounties.

Next to go was Chinese player Tom Heung who won $126,000 for finishing eighth but only $60,000 in bounties for a total score that was lower than the ninth-placed Zhugralin. His exit was followed by that of the Malaysian player Webster Lim from Malaysia who cashed for total winnings amounting to $288,000 when his pocket aces lost to David Coleman’s pocket deuces. It was a heartbreaking end for Lim, who if he had won that hand, may well have been in a position to challenge for the title.

Dwan Delivered by Flush Man Dan

Six remained and out in that position was the Thailand Triton Poker Series winner from earlier in the week, Punnat Punsri. All-in with king-jack of clubs, he had suited cards but somehow worse ones than his caller, David Coleman. The American had clicked the ‘call’ button with ace-queen in the same and suit and the hand that Doyle Brunson once said had cost him more than any other didn’t cost Coleman, as Punsri left with $460,000 including bounties.

In fifth place, German player Sirhat Hissou busted for $399,000 including bounties when his king-queen lost to Smith’s king-ten. A flush worked out well for the Cowboy and Hissou was shot down. In taking out the only non-American player at the table, Smith brought about a four-way shootout for the title for the first time in recent memory, with many Asian or European players winning recently on the Triton tour.

The first of the four remaining Americans to bust was Tom Dwan. The recently announced Americas Cardroom Pro got his chips into the middle with ten-deuce of diamonds for a rivered flush. Unfortunately for him, Smith called with jack-seven in the same suit and while Dwan lasted a couple of hands later, losing with pocket aces for two big blinds, it was again The Cowboy who had done the damage. Dwan cashed for a total of $346,000 in fourth place.

Davies and Coleman Shot Down

“Me and Tom were one and two in chips, in small and big blind and we both had flushes.”

Three players were left in the hunt for the trophy but not for long as Smith proved a quick killer as well as an accurate one. Seth Davies was short stacked when he moved all-in with queen-five, but Smith’s call with queen-jack made it near impossible for him to survive. Davies couldn’t hit the cards he needed to improve his lot and left in third place for $418,000.

Heads-up, Smith had a 2:1 lead and quickly put it to lethal use. All-in with ace-seven he had the better of it against Coleman’s queen-jack and a clear board meant that he was champion. Coleman cashed for $942,900 as runner-up, with Smith claiming an awesome $1.25 million up top.

Following victory, Smith talked about the crucial hand where his flush got the better of Dwan’s.

“Me and Tom were one and two in chips, in small and big blind and we both had flushes – unless you’re super deep, there’s no getting away from it.”

After winning his first Triton Poker Series title in Monte Carlo just three months ago, Dan Smith now has a second to add to his collection. Who’d want to take on ‘The Cowboy’ next?