The ultra-exclusive Triton Super High Roller Series, which took place in Montenegro last week, culminated on Friday with the Short Deck Ante Only tournament, won by American professional poker player Jason Koon. The other highlight of the series, the $132K Main Event, ended Thursday, crowning Belarus’ Mikita Badziakouski as champion. Over the two last days of the series, the exciting live poker festival paid out the breathtaking $20 million in prizes.
The most anticipated tournament of the Triton Super High Roller Series at Maestral Resort and Casino in Budva, Montenegro, was certainly the 3-day Main Event, which started Tuesday, May 15. Attracting a strong field of 63 entries, the HK$1,000,000 ($132,000) Buy-in event collected an HK$59,270,400 (approx. $7,550,129) prize pool, which was shared among the 9 finalists. German player Steffen Sontheimer returned to the table as chip leader with nearly 4 million in chips, followed by Canada’s Peter Jetten and Mikita Badziakouski from Belarus, each with a stack of almost 2 million. Among the other players on the final table were defending champion Manig Loeser and Day 1 chip leader Wai Leong Chan.
It was Badziakouski who came out victorious after defeating French player Rui Cao in the heads-up and took the lion’s share of the prize pool. He took home HK$19,618,400 ($2,499,090), an impressive prize that pushed his live tournament winnings to over $9 million. For his second position, Cao claimed HK$13,217,000 ($1,683,648). The cash prizes for all who made it to the final table were actually quite attractive. The minimum prize that was awarded that day was nearly $250,000 – it was received by Dietrich Fast who busted in the 9th place.
Players who registered for the following event, however, boosted their bankrolls with even more exciting sums of money. On Thursday, the series held its last event, the Short Deck Ante Only which had an entry fee of HK$1 million, or $132,000. This did not stop a total of 103 entries to ante up and contribute to the incredible prize pool of $12,344,397. With the massive field and total prize pool, this tournament became the biggest Triton event ever, while many of the players that took part in it were notable high rollers from all around the world.
Among them were Main Event winner Badziakouski, who registered in the last minute, but did not survive to the final table, Peter Jetten who finished 6th ($641,918), Cao (5th, $802,430), and Winfred Yu (4th,$1,172,752). American legend Phil Ivey, who recently returned to the European live poker scene, was eliminated in the third place, but still managed to bank a nice cash prize of $2,308,434. His countryman Jason Koon saw tough competition in the heads-up action against Chinese player Xuan Tan. In the end, however, he overtook him and received the title, along with the first-place prize of HK$28,102,000, or the equivalent of $3,579,914. For his efforts, Tan took home $2,308,434.
The Richest Triton Super High Roller Festival in History
The popular Asian high roller series visited the beautiful town of Budva in Montenegro, which is situated on the picturesque coast of the Adriatic Sea. The venue hosting the festival was the Maestral Resort and Casino, a luxurious and modern hotel in the heart of the Mediterranean. As a true high-stakes poker festival, it drew some of the most notable names on the scene right now and offered colossal prize pools, although there were only four events scheduled from May 12 to May 18.
This year, the series introduced the so-called Short Deck Ante-Only Hold’em event, which quickly gains popularity among poker pros for its fast pace and thrilling gambling action. The first event of this kind opened the festival, creating a field of 61 players and a total prize pool of US$1,827,546. It was won by Phil Ivey who claimed the title and the first-place prize of $604,977. Richard Yong was the one who topped the second event of the series, the NLH 6-Max, which had a prize pool of $1,048,674. For his score, he received $388,030, the smallest first-place cash rewarded during the festival. Mikita Badziakouski took down the Main Event for almost $2.5, becoming the richest poker player in Belarus, while Jason Koon won the second Short Deck Ante-Only event, receiving more than $3.5.
The total amount of the prize pools during these several days of high-stakes poker at the Maestral Resort and Casino exceeded $22.7 million, making it one of the most intriguing live poker series of the year. The next stop of the current season of Triton Super High Roller Series will be Jeju in South Korea and players can expect the festival at the end of July.
