Nick Schulman adds to his legend with $3.8M Triton Main Event win

Schulman has finally topped his first - and biggest - ever tournament payout.

A second Triton title for Schulman

It was only a few days ago that Schulman chopped the $50K 7-handed event in this series in Jeju, Korea, banking $810K but losing the trophy to fellow American Matthew Wantman.

This time around, he made sure the famous three-pronged Triton trophy is his to keep.

He already has one, though it may be collecting dust in his trophy cabinet. It was won in 2018, in the exact same room where he picked up his second on Wednesday night, playing a $13K short-deck hold’em event that drew 61 runners.

Back on Jeju Island eight years later, the buy-in was higher and the field was bigger. 196 entries at $100K a pop built a huge prizepool of $19.6M, which was dished out between 32 players.

Everyone at the final table earned at least $424K.

It took a little over two days to thin the field down to the final table, which featured the likes of Japanese star Ryuta Nakai, longtime star Isaac Haxton and last year’s WSOP Paradise Super Main Event winner Bernhard Binder.

Binder received $10M for that victory in The Bahamas last December, but had to settle for ‘only’ $3M on Wednesday. And a serious misstep almost meant he didn’t get that.

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Binder cuts loose

With four players remaining — the two finalists plus Gytis Lazauninkas and Xu Yang — it was Schulman and Binder who held the top two spots in the chip counts, with Binder ahead.

In the big blind, wielding the biggest stack at the table, Binder came over the top of Schulman’s under-the-gun open to put his opponent all-in. Binder had . The trouble was, Schulman had , and made the snap-call.

Binder got no help from the board and took a damaging blow, while Schulman was propelled into a commanding lead.

He carried that lead into the heads-up phase, which began with the American up 3-to-1. Austria’s Binder had begun the day first of 12, but has shown he is more than capable of mounting a challenge even when the chips are down.

Binder's career to date has been short, but incredibly successful.

Binder also has a Triton trophy at home, and also won it here in Jeju, back in March. His $17M in career earnings have been considerably boosted by that $10M win last year, but all his recorded results come from the past four years, and he’s become a fixture on the high roller scene.

If Schulman and his decades in the game represent the old guard, Binder is surely one to watch among the younger crop of talented high rollers.

But on Wednesday, at least, we watched him finish a respectable second to Schulman, one of the most popular players of his or any generation. With a deal struck, the two played for the remaining $130K and a spot in the winner’s photo.

Kings for the king

The final hand turned out to be a tricksy affair. Schulman limped with to set the trap, Binder, with , put one foot in the snare with a raise to 3.5x, and Schulman merely called along.

After striking a heads-up deal, Schulman and Binder played for $130K and the title.

The was surely not the flop Schulman wanted to see, but when Binder c-bet, Schulman called — and the pattern repeated on the turn.

On the river, Binder finally slowed down with a check. Schulman put him to the test for the rest of his chips — at this point just 4bb. With nothing but a king-high bluffcatcher, the Austrian flicked in the call. It would be the last action of the tournament.

Ever gracious, whether in victory or defeat, Schulman had nothing but kind words to say about his defeated opponent.

“This is basically the final level of the game, playing Bernie heads-up in a Main Event,” he told reporters. “He’s unbelievable.”

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju continues this with two more tournaments yet to play: the $150K 10th Anniversary Special (which has already started) and the $30K Turbo on Thursday.