There have been loads of lucky mascots in poker throughout the years, but Roman Hrabec’s Jeju Hallabong orange and matching hat may just top the list. The Czech player sported both as he scooped the $100k Triton Poker Main Event in South Korea today for a monster $4,330,000 payday.
There was always likely to be something special in the air as the SHR crowd descended upon Jeju for two weeks of huge buy-in poker tournaments, and it showed up in the Main Event – an incredible 216 entries made it the biggest $100k buy-in tournament of all time.
Coleman busts on the bubble
The prize pool was a monster $21,600,000, and 39 players would share in the booty. After Henrik Hecklen and Punnat Punsri’s rather ridiculous bubble confrontation in the $50k just a few days ago, this one was a more sedate ‘who can hang’ on affair. Lithuania’s Paulius Plausinaitis, with two big blinds, outlasted David Coleman’s one big to secure a nervous cash.
Next stop for the 39 paid pros was the final table and a sniff at glory, but the trio of Canadian crushers – Tim Adams, Mike Watson, Luc Greenwood and Andrew Pantling would all fall before then. Likewise, the UK contingent, the Russians, the Malay crew and all of team USA except for Chris Brewer. Who did that leave?
Well, the Bulgarians, for a start – Alex Kulev and Fahredin Mustafov looking to finish what Dimitar Danchev started with his $40k Mystery Bounty win earlier in the series. Kulev, however, wasn’t long for this final table.
First up, he lost a chunk to Patrik Antonius when his big slick couldn’t catch the Finnish legend’s pocket kings, then he had his own chance with a big pair. Unfortunately, his queens lost to Hrabec's A-K.
Antonius doing it for the old school
Mustafov later followed his countryman out in sixth spot for the first of the seven-figure payouts, and there were several stories in the making:
Could Antonius win one for the old school? Would Jean-Noel Thorel take it down for the ‘even older’ school? Or would Elton Tsang go back-to-back, having broken his Triton duck just a few days earlier?
Austria’s Matthias Eibinger was another to succumb to Hrabec – his pocket threes were no match for the Polish resident’s tens, which turned into quads by the river.
Ahead or behind didn’t seem to matter much to Hrabec. His jacks felled Antonius’ queens, with the flying Finn taking $1,697,000 for his fourth-place run.
Next, Thorel decided he should contribute something to the battle, finding A-Q to fell Tsang’s double-victory hopes. But heads-up didn’t go as the Frenchman hoped.
Thorel, with Q♣4♣, opened and then called Hrabec’s three-bet.
Hrabec bet the 9♦️️J♠3♣ flop, and Thorel called to see the K❤️ turn. That gave Thorel a gutshot, and the Czech’s check induced a bluff-shove, but Hrabec’s trap with kings was sprung.
The river bricked, and Hrabec had scooped the lot – $4.33 million, an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece, the trophy and a place in Triton history.
Triton Jeju $100K NLH Main Event results
Place
Player
Prize
1
Roman Hrabec
$4,330,000
2
Jean Noel Thorel
$2,875,000
3
Elton Tsang
$2,105,000
4
Patrik Antonius
$1,697,000
5
Matthias Eibinger
$1,330,000
6
Fahredin Mustafov
$1,008,000
7
Igor Yaroshevskiy
$739,000
8
Chris Brewer
$543,000
9
Alex Kulev
$451,000
Images courtesy of Triton Poker/Joe Giron
