Triton Poker Series Kicks in Jeju with Two First Time Winners

Two events, and two new winners. The opening weekend of action in the Triton Poker Series in Jeju saw wins for two stars of the online and live poker circuit. Alex Theologis, the star of the GGPoker documentary Online Poker Millionaires, won the opening event of the series and his win was followed by one for Klemens Roiter, who triumphed heads-up against Alejandro Lococo to claim victory in Event #2.

Theologis Puts in Practice

The opening event of the Triton Poker Series in Jeju, South Korea saw 206 total entries take part in the $15,000 No Limit Hold’em Event #1. In the end, the 33-year-old star of the GGPoker documentary Online Poker Millionaires, Alex Theologis, took the title and a top prize of $642,000 after getting the better of some illustrious company at the felt.

With 34 players making the money, Boris Kolev min-cashed for $25,500 in 34^th place, before exits for Ethan Yau (27^th for $28,500), Vladas Tamasauskas (21^st for $32,000), Justin Saliba (18^th for $35,500) and Nick Petrangelo (13^th for $50,000) followed before an eight-handed final table arrived, with Theologis leading the way. His stack of 74 big blinds was some way clear of Austrian pro Daniel Rezaei, who went from second in chips to one of the shorter stacks after a nightmare start.

The first player to bust the final table was Adrian Mateos. All-in with king-jack of hearts, the Spanish poker legend couldn’t win a flip against the pocket eights of Victor Chong as the Malaysian’s pair held and he sent Mateos to the rail to collect $79,000 in eighth place.

Soon, seven became six when Aussie Ehsan Amiri, who had doubled through Mateos earlier in the final table, found himself at the bottom of the counts again and lost after shoving with king-queen. Called by Rezaei with ace-jack, Amiri was hoping for paint but not the jack that landed on the flop, and no more came, meaning he slipped out of the race in seventh for $108,000.

Rezaei Hits the Rail

With six players left, the player who began second in chips lost them all. Austrian Daniel Rezaei came into play with a lot of experience and plenty of chips to do battle but lost his way to cash for just $147,000 in sixth place. All-in with queen-jack of diamonds, Rezaei lost to Chong’s ace-six as an ace landed on the turn to leave Rezaei drawing dead to the river and on his way out of the cardroom.

After the Chinese player Tao Yin cashed for $194,500 in fifth place, Triton regular Wai Kiat Lee ended his event in fourth place for $245,500. It was an unfortunate exit, too, as he was all-in with ace-ten against the ace-eight of Theologis. An eight on the flop put the Greek player into the lead, eventually ending Lee’s run, and when Thai player Punnat Punsri shoved with ace-three, Chong’s ace-jack made the call, surviving the hand to send the Thai player home with $302,000.

Chong held the lead going into the final battle but couldn’t hold on to that advantage. A straight on the turn of one hand put Theologis almost level and things got even better when a failed bluff from Chong was expertly picked off by the Greek player. Holding third pair only, his call was excellent and earned him over 90% of the chips in play.

Soon after, Theologis had them all.

“I’m very excited and very fortunate that I run this well to win,” Theologis told reporters afterwards. “I value the Triton trophies above others because of the competition and the buy-in, so I couldn’t have asked for anything else.”

Here’s the moment Alex Theologis broke his Triton duck.

Klemens Roiter Wins Debut Triton Title

Just as in Event #1, the second event of the Triton Jeju series was a thriller. Costing $20,000 to play, 174 total entries made a prize pool of $3.48 million. With a top prize of $771,000, 27 players made the money, with the Chinese player Yu Zhang leading the final table of eight players. The eventual champion, Klemens Roiter, started back in the middle of the pack, and initially got off to a bad start, losing a flip to double-up the short stacked Moroccan Medhi Chaoui.

The CoinPoker player Alejandro Lococo scored a double knockout with four players left, sending play heads-up. The American pro Justin Saliba was committed with queen-jack, as was Medhi Chaoui with pocket nines. Both of them lost to Lococo’s ace-ten of clubs, however, as the Argentinian player made a straight flush to reduce the field to just two.

Lococo held a lead of over 2:1, but Roiter came roaring back and, after getting Lococo to call with second pair to Roiter’s top pair, the Austrian turned trips and rivered a full house to take the lead. Possibly tilted by making the wrong call, Lococo called again, and with just queen-high. That was nowhere near good enough and after dropping to one big blind, he eventually lost with ace-nine to Roiter’s ten-eight to end the event as runner-up for $520,000. Roiter (below) took home his first ‘trident’ trophy and the $771,000 top prize.

“I’m so happy. I couldn’t be more proud,” Roiter told Triton Poker’s Stanley Ma after victory. “I’m grinding all the time, I’m barely home. I’m going from live stop to live stop, I put in the work. I think after all this work I’m being rewarded finally, and I’m just very happy how everything has turned out.”