On Friday, the eight remaining players in Event #9 of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series stop in Jeju, South Korea returned to the felt to crown a winner. Across the Day 1 and Day 2 registration period, the event garnered a total of 128 entrants (45 re-entries) to generate a prize pool of $19,200,000 with 20 places paid and $4,610,000 for the eventual winner.
When the final hand was dealt, Portugal's Joao Vieira helped all the chips and laid claim to the $4,610,000 top prize and his first Triton title.
Vieira's path to victory
After notching a double knockout the day before to send Phil Ivey and Ben Tollerene to the payout desk on the wrong side of the final table bubble, Vieira held a sizable lead over the eight remaining players as the tournament drew to a close. Still, with Aleksejs Ponakovs, Ding Biao, Kiat Lee, and Ye Wang not far behind him, Vieira still had his work cut out for him. Plus, with a trio of Dan Smith, Fedor Holz, and Alex Foxen rounding out the chip counts, Vieira's route to victory was anything but simple.
Vieira started the final table with clear intentions of wielding his chip advantage to apply pressure to the other players. After quickly extending his lead, Vieira took a chunk of Holz's chips when he cracked the German's pocket aces with 
on a 
board. Soon after, Holz sent a double up Foxen's way and found himself on fumes. When he picked up pocket eights, Holz sent the rest of his stack into the middle and Ye called with 
. On a queen-high flop, Holz had only two outs to the winner, but neither turn nor river provided and his day came to an end in an eighth-place finish.
It was Ponakovs' turn to send a couple of players to the rail next. After opening from under the gun, the Latvian faced a three-bet from Biao and opted to move all in over the top. Biao made the call to put his tournament life at risk with 
, but Ponakovs had him in bad shape with 
and the 
turn confirmed his elimination in seventh place.
With Biao out of the way, Foxen, on a short stack, picked up 
in early position and came in for a raise before Ponakovs found in the small blind and moved all-in over the top. Foxen made the call and needed to win the flip to stay in the game, but the ten-high flop improved only his opponent and his day came to an end with a sixth-place finish.
Ponakovs takes control but can't close
With the chip lead wrestled away from him, Vieira could only watch on as Ponakovs furthered his advantage on the very next hand. From the button, Ponakovs opted to open-jam with 
to apply maximum pressure to the short stacks in the blinds. Lee looked down at a hand he couldn't fold – – and called it off for his remaining 15 big blinds. It was another flip, but once again Ponakovs made a set on the flop and, despite hitting an ace, Lee's run ended in a fifth-place finish.
On the wrong side of the card distribution, Smith struggled to find any momentum at the final table and began four-handed play as the clear short stack. Over the course of three consecutive hands, Smith sent all of his chips to Ye and exited in fourth place.
With only three players remaining, the ICM pressure reached its peak as the next pay jump was for a seven-figure sum. Ponakovs, well aware of the situation at hand, was able to pressure Vieira, but Ye was on the hunt and managed to score two full doubles. On his third attempt, however, Ye got his chips in ahead, but couldn't hold across the runout as his 
fell to Ponakovs' 
on a 
board.
At the start of the heads-up battle, Ponakovs led Vieira with 46 big blinds to his opponent's 39, but the very first hand off the deck flipped the situation entirely. When facing an open from Ponakovs, Vieira peeled 
and came over the top with a three-bet. Ponakovs verbally announced his four-bet jam and Vieira wasted no time in making the call.
With the title on the line, Vieira needed serious help, and the 
flop provided exactly that as he made two pair. Now, it was Ponakovs who needed assistance, but the 
turn and river failed to deliver as Vieira improved to a full house.
Ponakovs managed to find a double up soon after to give himself some breathing room, but his hopes of a comeback didn't last long. On the turn of a board reading 
, Ponakovs check-jammed with in the face of a bet from Vieira. After thinking through the spot, Vieira made the call with 
and Ponakovs was somewhat surprised to find he was behind. On the 
river, Vieira locked up the pot and, with it, the $4.6M first-place prize.
Triton Jeju Event #9: $150,000 NLH
| Place | Player | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joao Vieira | $4,610,000 |
| 2 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | $3,139,000 |
| 3 | Wang Ye | $2,074,000 |
| 4 | Dan Smith | $1,708,000 |
| 5 | Kiat Lee | $1,372,000 |
| 6 | Alex Foxen | $1,076,000 |
| 7 | Ding Biao | $807,000 |
| 8 | Fedor Holz | $595,000 |
Images Courtesy of Triton Poker
