Triton Poker Vietnam 2023: 50,000 Short Deck Ante-Only results, champion, leaderboard, prizemoney
The 50,000 Short Deck Ante-Only Event at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Vietnam has a winner. Forty-four players took part and Michael Watson won first prize for 695,000. It was Watson’s first Triton Series title and a well-deserved win.
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This is what the stacks looked like on the last matchday:
| Location | Name/Country | crisps | ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Michael Zhang (UK) | 3,285,000 | 164 |
| 2. | Jason Koon (USA) | 1,740,000 | 87 |
| 3. | Isaac Haxton (USA) | 1,590,000 | 80 |
| 4. | Tan Xuan (China) | 1,340,000 | 67 |
| 5. | Phil Chiu (Hong Kong) | 1,190,000 | 60 |
| 6. | Michael Watson (Canada) | 1,120,000 | 56 |
| 7. | Lun Loon (Malaysia) | 950,000 | 48 |
| 8th. | Rob Yong (UK) | 795,000 | 40 |
| 9. | Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) | 605,000 | 30 |
| 10 | Leo Qin (Hong Kong) | 585,000 | 29 |
Rob Yong was the tournament’s unlucky bubble boy. He got his stack with pocket aces but was eliminated by Michael Zhang’s queen-six offsuit.
Tan Xuan was the next player eliminated in seventh place. Xuan became paralyzed when his aces were cracked by Phil Chiu’s king-queen offsuit. He got the last of his stack with king-jack offsuit against Michael Zhang’s aces.
Mikita Badziakouski retired in sixth place. His ace-jack offsuit was dominated by Phil Chiu’s ace-king offsuit, and a king on the flop eliminated him from the tournament.
WATCH: Triton Poker Vietnam 2023 LIVE Stream
Jason Koon went out brutally in fifth place. Koon flopped a straight with nine-seven offsuit against Zhang’s top two pair and was a 61% favorite when the money came in. But Zhang hit a runner-runner flush to knock out Koon, preventing Koon from increasing his record five Triton titles.
Phil Chiu ended up in fourth place. Chiu moved all in with pocket queens and a flopped top set. But Watson made a runner-runner straight with his ace-king to take out Chiu. This was Chiu’s second straight final table and he’ll be attempting three in a row later in the day in the 100,000 Main Event.
Watson continued his killing spree, winning a massive pot against Zhang to catapult himself into the chip lead. Watson flopped a set with pocket queens and Zhang flopped an underset with pocket jacks. The money came in on the turn and Watson doubled to a 161 ante stack.
Zhang was outside an hour later. It was a disappointing result for the chip leader coming into the final day, but he couldn’t do much with the coolers coming in from left and right. He got the last of his stack with queen-ten offsuit against Watson’s pocket jacks. The board came jack high, giving Watson a set and the winning hand.
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The heads-up match between Haxton and Watson only lasted two hands. Haxton grabbed pocket aces and put it into play preflop against Watson’s king-queen offsuit. Watson flopped top pair, took an open-ended straight draw on the turn, and made his straight on the river.
“It feels great to finally win one at Triton after coming so close before,” Watson told The Sporting News after clinching the win. “These are the best tournaments in the world.”
Payouts for 50,000 short deck ante-only event
Total Prize Pool: 1,425,000
| position | Name/Country | prize money |
|---|---|---|
| champion | Michael Watson (Canada) | 695,000 |
| 2 | Isaac Haxton (USA) | 500,000 |
| 3 | Michael Zhang (UK) | 320,000 |
| 4 | Phil Chiu (Hong Kong) | 242,000 |
| 5. | Jason Koon (USA) | 187,000 |
| 6. | Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) | 140,000 |
| 7 | Tan Xuan (China) | 116,000 |