Daniel Dvoress Wins Seventh Triton Title in Jeju

Daniel Dvoress’ latest Triton win not only came against a fellow Canadian in Xuan Liu. IT put him on a par with Matthias Eibinger and Mike Watson on seven Triton titles, now just five behind the runaway leader in the format, Jason Koon on 12 titles. With players battling for a prize pool of over $4 million, the action was intense in Jeju, South Korea and the climax of the event was as exciting as ever.

Tang and Zhang Among Winners

With 135 entries and 44 re-entries, Event #5 paid out 23 players, and some of the biggest names in the game. Russian Artur Martirosian was among those to min-cash for $47,000 in 22^nd place, while Yu Zhang (20^th for $51,000), Nick Petrangelo (14^th for $66,000), Danny Tang (13^th for $66,000) and Samuel Mullur (12^th for $69,000) all cashed without making the final table.

When Ren Lin lost out in 10^th place for $86,500, only one more player needed to be busted before the final table of eight was set. That player turned out to be Alex Kulev, as the Dublin-based Bulgarian player exited for $86,500. With eight players left, Dvoress was the chip leader, holding 68 big blinds to his nearest rival Lun Loon, who had 42 big blinds.

Ben Tollerene started the final table with 21 big blinds and in sixth place of the eight, but he plummeted early and exited in eighth place for $118,000. All-in with ace-jack, he was miles behind Dvoress’ call with pocket queens and never caught up. Soon, the American’s exit was followed by that of the Malaysian player Lun Loon for $160,000, who shoved with ace-nine and ran into Xuan Liu’s pocket queens, who picked up another on the board.

Chidwick Not the Champion

With six players left, Chinese player Yan Jingyao was all-in with ace-king of clubs, three-betting for his tournament life. Dvoress called with ace-ten and needed to get lucky to score another knockout. He did so, hitting a ten on the turn. Jingyao still had a redraw to a jack for a Broadway straight, but the river was an eight and the Chinese player left with $217,000.

Down to five players, it was the turn of Stephen Chidwick to depart. Dvoress’ domination of the chips meant everyone bar Xuan Liu was in a position where they needed to double up to stand a chance of victory. Calling all-in with ace-king, Chidwick needed to hit against the shove of Gytis Lazauninkas with pocket jacks. No ace or king landed, a jack on the river an unnecessary dose of salt into the wound, sending Chidwick (below) to the rail with $279,000.

Next to leave was the Taiwanese player Lin Meng-Ling. All-in with pocket nines, she was favorite to double through Dvoress, who had called with king-eight. But a king on the flop changed everything, and Meng-Ling’s elimination meant that the first-ever heads-up between two women on the tour would have to wait as she collected $348,000 in fourth place.

Liu Left as Bridesmaid

“Taking a step back can be useful. It helps you think about things a little bit differently.”

The Lithuanian player Gytis Lazauninkas stood between Dvoress and Liu renewing their rivalry heads-up, but not for long. Lazauninkas was all-in for 17 big blinds with pocket queens, but couldn’t hold as Dvoress once again won with ace-ten, an ace on the flop doing the fatal damage to Lazauninkas’ chances, sending him home in third with $424,000.

The final duel was the first time that the same two players had reached a second heads-up battle for a Triton title. In Montenegro last year, Liu defeated Dvoress heads-up in when she won her first Triton event. Last time, Liu climbed the mountain to win, holding just 16 big blinds to the 61 piled up in front of Dvoress before performing a heads-up masterclass.

This time, the monumental gap between Liu’s 19 big blinds stack and Dvoress’ stack of 89 bigs proved too steep to surmount. On the first deal, Dvoress shoved with pocket threes and Liu called with king-jack. Needing to hit, the board was paint-free, and ended up completing a wheel straight for Daniel Dvoress as he became a seven-time Triton champion, taking home $942,000, with Liu collecting $638,000 as runner-up.

“[It’s] the first live poker that I’ve played since Montenegro, and I was like ‘Can I keep the momentum going?’… apparently, yes.”

Asked what he’s been doing since Montenegro, Dvoress said that he’d stepped back from poker to give his mind a rest, playing tennis, hiking and  gardening.

“I do think that occasionally taking a step back can be useful,” he said. “It helps you reframe things, helps you think about things a little bit differently. I just want to play my best every time I show up.”

That ‘best’ is now only behind Jason Koon’s in terms of victories, and Daniel Dvoress is the man in form on the Triton Poker Tour.