The 2019 Triton Poker Series in Jeju, Korea is almost half-done. Three events are in the books. Justin Bonomo won the opening event or 250K HKD Short Deck Event for a HKD 4.6 million (or $586K USD). Hong Kong's Devan Tang won HKD 9.7 million (or $1.24 USD) for taking down Event #2 HKD 500K Short Deck. Malaysian Michael Soyza binked Event #3 HKD 500K 6-Max for a heady HKD 11.15 million (or $1.420M USD).
Three up and three down in JeJu. Last year, Mikita Badziakouski made a name for himself with a huge win at the 2018 Triton Poker Series Jeju. Who will dominate this year? The 2019 Triton High Roller Series returned to Korea with a series of six exciting events of the high-roller and short deck variety. It was no surprise to see Justin Bonomo win another tournament. He kicked off the Triton Poker Series Jeju with a victory in the opening event.
The final eight in Event #1 Short Deck included John Juanda, Ben Lamb, Ying Lin, Chua, Choon Siow, David Benefield, Sergey Lebedev, and Yue Wei Hsiang.
John Juanda, who is like one of the Godfathers of poker in Asia, finished in eighth overall for HKD 610K. American pro Ben Kamb busted in seventh place. A pair of Malaysians finished in fifth and sixth with Ying Lin Chua busting in sixth place, and Choon Siow hitting the road in fifth place.
David Benefield, a.k.a Raptor back in his old-school online poker days, went deep in Jeju. He finished in fourth overall but could not pull off a victory. He settled on a $206K score for fourth place.
The lone European at the final table, Sergey Lebedev from Russia, was picked off in third place. He banked $272K USD for his work, or roughly HKD 2.1M. His bustout setup a heads-up victory between Justin Bonomo and Yue Wei Hsiang from Malaysia. Hsiang could not beat Bonomo, and that's okay. Not too many people can beat him heads up. Yue Wei Hsiang banked a super-heady $420K USD for a runner-up finish, or HKD 3.3 million. Bonomo got off to a hot start in Jeju with a HKD 4.6 million score (or approximately $586K USD).
Event #2 250K Short Deck attracted 69 runners including 24 re-entries. The final table included Paul Phua, Mikita Badziakouski, Ike Haxton, Leong Chan, Jason Koon, Romain Arnaud, Peter Jetten, and Devan Tang. Phua hit the bricks first in eighth place followed by Badz,an in seventh place. Wait busted in seventh, followed by the two Americans. Ike Haxton's run ended in fifth place, while Jason Koon busted in fourth place. Romain Arnaud, the lone Frenchie at the final table, went deep but his run ended in third place.
Devan Tang from Hong Kong picked off Canadian pro Peter Jetten to win the second event on the docket. Jetten settled on HKD 7.04 million, which is worth $904K USD. Not too shabby, eh?
Tang banked a first-place booty worth HKD 9.7 million, or approximately $1.24M USD.
Earlier on Tuesday, Michael Soyza went all the way in Event #3 HKD 500K 6-Max. Soyza shipped the 6-Max event and faded 81 total runners. They added 32 additional bullets. The total prize pool topped HKD 38 million.
The final table included Sam Greenwood, Bryn Kenney, Jason Koon, Stanley Choi, Xu Liang, Beh Kok Weng, Tong Siow Choon, Ivan Leow, and Sam Greenwood.
Stanley Choi hit the bricks first in ninth place, followed by Choon in eighth place, and Liang in seventh place. American pro Jason Koon made another final table, but his run halted in sixth place. Beh Kok Weng from Malaysia took down fifth place.
Bryn Kenney, fresh off the Aussie Million victory at the start of the year, is traveling the circuit again this year. He finished in fourth place, which paid out a little more than a half-million.
Ivan Leow is no stranger to High Roller events. He busted in third place, which paid out HKD 5.2 million.
Sam Greenwood could not pull off the victory. He busted in second place, which paid out HKD 8 million, or approximately a cool million in American greenbacks.
Soyza's winning payout was worth $1,420,00 USD or HKD 11.15 million.
