It took almost a decade and nearly $20 million in winnings, but Isaac Haxton is finally a champion at the Triton Poker Series.
The 40-year-old has been to dozens of Triton final tables and his tour resume accounts for one-third of his $57 million in lifetime earnings, but the three-pronged trophy eluded him until Saturday. The drought finally came to an end when Haxton beat Nacho Barbero heads-up to win the $100K PLO Main Event in Jeju, South Korea.
"There's a lot of noise in poker," Haxton told Triton host Ali Najad after the win. "I've won in other places, obviously. I've made a lot of final tables, it was bound to work out eventually."
Haxton and Barbero take over
It worked out to the tune of $2.7 million and the bonus prize of an increasingly coveted Jacobs & Co. watch that Triton only hands out to Main Event champions. To get it, Haxton to wade through 116 entries and a talented final table that included Jesse Lonis, Rahul Byrraju, Robert Cowen, Danny Tang, Klemens Roiter, and eventual runner-up Barbero.
Haxton sat down at the final table in the second spot on the chip count leaderboard, behind Lonis and ahead of five others. Barbero was near the bottom, but an early double through Lonis set the table for a change in fortune. The Brazilian went on to eliminate Roiter and grab a big chunk from Byrraju to claim the chip lead.
Barbero bounced Tang in sixth before Lonis busted Bryaaju, setting up four-handed play with Lonis and two-time PLO bracelet winner Cowen fighting to stay alive against the runaway duo. Haxton stepped in and finished both of them off, capping off a run that left him with a three-to-one advantage against Barbero in heads-up play.
Barbero, who was coming off a heads-up win against Phil Ivey in the $30K NLH/PLO mix, but everything came up Haxton in the final clash. After working Barbero down to 12 big blinds, the champ's 
found a straight on the river to beat Barbero's 
and finally claim his first Triton victory.
Images courtesy of Triton Poker/Drew Amato.
