A massive field helped drive the prize pool to the largest in the Triton series so far
Mike Watson became the third Triton Poker Super High Roller champion after winning the series’ first prize of over $1 million in Montenegro, bringing his total Triton winnings to over $10 million.
The $30,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold ’em 8-Handed event attracted over 100 players, with 54 of them paying the buy-in twice after re-entering to increase the total prize pool to $4,630,000.
Stephen Chidwick ($103,400) was seventh in chips when the final table began, but was the first player eliminated in ninth place. Austrian Daniel Rezaei ($125,000) was short-stacked before Morten Klein beat him in two straight hands to send him to the rail in eighth place, and Leon Sturm ($173,000) fell in seventh place after moving all-in against Kiat Lee.
Sirzat Hissou’s luck ran out after he flopped a set of kings and ran into David Yan’s straight on the turn to finish sixth for $238,000. Yan continued increasing his stack after knocking out Klein ($309,000) in fifth place and was the chip leader until Ding Biao took most of them after hitting a flush. Yan put his last chips in the middle, holding ace-king vs. Lee’s king-queen suited, and a queen on the flop would eliminate him in fourth with $387,400.
Biao’s ($475,000) tournament ended in third place after his pocket jacks lost to Lee’s pair of aces, setting up the final showdown.
On the final hand, Lee improved his queen-six to top pair, with Watson holding eight-six before the flop came out nine-queen-seven. Watson hit a straight on the turn, and Lee called his all-in on the river to give him his fourth Triton title and $1,023,000. Lee secured $691,000 as runner-up.
