The $106,000 buy-in Triton Jeju NLH Main Event produced a record 285 entries for a prizepool of $28.5 million. Of that amount, $5,555,000 awaited the winner and the top 16 players advanced to the final day.
However, we will focus on the final nine players for today's article. They were led by Indian businessman Santhosh Suvarna with a stack of 12,000,000. He was kept company by such names as Artur Martirosian, Sam Greenwood, Nacho Barbero and Dan "Jungleman" Cates.
A newcomer took the floor
Although the final table was packed with world-class names, it was Chinese Triton rookie Huang Wenjie who took all the attention, knocking out Sam Greenwood, Santhosh Suvarna, Artur Martirosian, and getting into heads-up play with Dan "Jungleman" Cates.
Heading into heads-up play, Huang Wenjie entered with a stack of 52,800,000 (88 bb) and Dan Cates entered with a stack of 18,500,000 (31 bb). Heads-up play lasted just 4 hands, after which newcomer Huang Wenjie became the new champion of the record-breaking NLH Main Event of the Triton Jeju Series. His previous live tournament winnings were worth only $80,000, but now he has won $5,555,000 in one tournament. In addition to the trophy and prize money, he also won a luxury watch from Jacob & Co.
Dan "Jungleman" Cates had his third Triton title on his hands, but in the end had to settle for a $3,528,000 second-place prize. He need not be disappointed, however, as this amount is his highest career payday, and it helped him surpass the 18 million mark in live tournament winnings.
Punnat Punsri the latest NLH champion
While we were getting to know the NLH Main Event champion, the final day of the last NLH tournament of the Triton Jeju series was also underway, which had a buy-in of $132,500. This tournament brought 93 entries and a prizepool of $11,625,000.
Names such as Dan Smith, Joao Vieira, Chris Brewer, Mikita Badziakouski, Punnat Punsri, and Chris Vogelsang sat at the final table here. It was the latter duo who faced each other in the final heads-up.
Both of them negotiated an ICM deal, after which Punsri secured $2,504,555 and Vogelsang secured $2,456,445. However, there was still the trophy to play for and an extra $90,000 for the winner. The playoff was eventually won by Punnat Punsri, who became champion for the third time and took home $2,594,555.
The interesting thing about this win is that during the final day, the information that Punnat Punsri is a three-time Triton champion appeared on the LED screen in the casino. However, at the time he was only a two-time, and so this mistake actually foreseen the future.
Source - Triton Poker, Youtube