Jason Koon
Jason Koon won his latest Triton Poker Series event in Vietnam, further confirming his high ranking on the All-Time Money List.

The Triton Poker Series gathered pace in the middle stages, with the $100,000-entry Main Event at the Hoiana Resort & Golf venue awarding the biggest prize of the winner’s poker career – $3.25 million. Elsewhere, there were victories for Jason Koon and Orpen Kisacikoglu among others.

 

Cowboy Goes Close in Event #6 as Dao Does It

 

If you’re yet to read all about the opening events in the 2023 Triton Poker Series Vietnam, head to our round up of the action in Events #1 – #5 to find out who took away trophies. The sixth event saw its final table start very soon after the conclusion of the previous event and there was excitement in the air for the $50,000 buy-in 8-max NLHE Event #6.

 

With a total of 139 entries, that meant a prizepool just shy of $7 million and seven-figure scores for whoever came first and second. With 20 players getting paid, superstars of the felt such as Steve O’Dwyer and Stephen Chidwick min-cashed for $90,400, while others such as Chris Brewer (15th for $111,200) and Sam Greenwood (9th for $166,800) made profit but fell short of the final table.

 

In the last eight, Ben Heath bagged another good finish, coming seventh for $291,800, while Finnish poker legend Patrik Antonius came fifth for $497,000. In the top three places, Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith was shot down in third place, banking $750,500 but leaving Biao Ding to take on Minh Phus Dao. It was the Vietnamese player Dao who claimed the crown and top prize of over $1.6 million, pleasing the home country crowd.

Triton Poker Series Vietnam Event #6 Final Table Results:

Place Player Country Prize
1st Minh Phu Dao Vietnam $1,670,000
2nd Biao Ding China $1,135,000
3rd Dan Smith U.S.A. $750,500
4th Viacheslav Buldygin Russia $618,000
5th Patrik Antonius Finland $497,000
6th Karl Chappe-Gatien France $389,000
7th Ben Heath United Kingdom $291,800
8th Linus Loeliger Switzerland $215,500

 

Orpen Kisacikoglu Wins Event #7 for $1. 7 Million

 

The wins kept coming for the big names in the next event as the buy-in was ramped up to $75,000. The price hike took a few entries out of the equation, with 85 players taking part in this event, creating a prizepool of over $6.3 million that saw a top prize of $1.75 million won by Turkish player Orpen Kisacikoglu. The British-based player won heads-up against Britain’s finest, with Stephen Chidwick falling just short. Chidwick, who is the most successful British player of all-time in ranking tournaments, took home $1,245,000 for his runner-up result.

 

Elsewhere in the event, with 11 players of the 85 cashing, there were small returns on their entry fee for Adrian Mateos (11th for $159,000) and Michael Soyza (182,500), who again paid off his PokerStake investors handsomely, finishing ninth for a score worth almost double his and PokerStake players investments.

 

Once the action got to the final table, Jason Koon (6th for $389,000) and Steve O’Dwyer (3rd for $816,000) were unable to win for American fans everywhere, falling just short of glory after two deep runs against the toughest of opposition.

 

Triton Poker Series Vietnam Event #7 Final Table Results:

Place Player Country Prize
1st Orpen Kisacikoglu Turkey $1,753,000
2nd Stephen Chidwick United Kingdom $1,245,00
3rd Steve O’Dwyer U.S.A. $816,000
4th Santosh Suvarna Russia $628,000
5th Henrick Hecklen Denmark $497,500
6th Jason Koon U.S.A. $389,000
7th Punnat Punsri Thailand $306,000
8th Rob Yong United Kingdom $239,000

 

Mark Rubbathan Wins Mystery Bounty Event #8

 

In Event #8, the buy-in was reset to $10,000 but the Mystery Bounty element as in play and that led to the usual fun and games at the felt. It was a British winner in this event as Mark Rubbathan went one place farther than Stephen Chidwick, capturing the title and top prize of $396,000. Rubbathan’s win came at the expense of Wiktor Malinowski, the Polish player whose online reputation precedes him. Malinowski picked up the consolation prize of $268,000.

 

With 27 of the 179 entries cashing, plenty of big names bagged their piece of the $1.79m prizepool. Lee Wai Kiat continued his fine series, cashing in 26th place for $17,900, the Malaysian having been one of the series most consistent performers. Elsewhere, Ben Heath grabbed yet another cash, winning the same amount at Kiat in 24th place. Phil Nagy bagged $21,500 in 20th, Patrick Antonius cashed again in 19th place fot the same amount, and Dan Smith made $24,100 in 16th place.

 

By the time the final table arrived, players such as Pedro Garagnani (9th for $40,100) and Timothy Adams (8th for $48,500) were early casualties. Adams wasn’t the only Canadian to finish in the top eight, but Daniel Dvoress fell short too, ending up in 4th place for $150,400.

 

Shakerchi Wins Triton Poker Series Vietnam Main Event for Record $3.25m

 

The Triton Poker Series Main Event saw Talal Shakerchi mop up the top prize of $3.25m, getting the win ahead of Michael Soyza (2nd for $2.2m) and Daniel Smiljkovic (3rd for $1,450,000). We told the story of how Shakerchi managed to grab the trophy in more detail here, but it was a peak day in the Brit’s career, the title representing his biggest-ever win in ranking tournaments.

 

Triton Poker Series Vietnam Main Event (Event #9) Final Table Results:

Place Player Country Prize
1st Talal Shakerchi United Kingdom $3,250,000
2nd Michael Soyza Malaysia $2,207,000
3rd Daniel Smiljkovic Germany $1,450,000
4th Adrian Mateos Spain $1,201,000
5th Fedor Holz Germany $965,000
6th Timothy Adams Canada $756,000
7th Nick Petrangelo U.S.A. $566,800
8th Winfred Yu China $418,400

 

Jason Koon Wins Turbo in Double-Quick Time for $574,000

 

The 10th event of the 2023 Triton Poker Series in Vietnam cost $50,000 to play and was No Limit Hold’em with a turbo twist. Wrapped up in one day, it was won by the American player Jason Koon, who top score of $574,000 saw him consolidate fifth place on the all-time money list, Koon now a million dollars clear of Erik Seidel in sixth place.

 

With just five players making the money from 31 entries, the prizepool of $1.55m saw Isaac Haxton min-cash for $147,000 in fifth place before Punnat Punsri continued his excellent form in fourth for $182,000. Chris Brewer got another result for Team America in third place, banking over a quarter of a million dollars, and that left Koon to clean up, winning heads-up against the popular Russian professional Artur Martirosian, who cashed for $395,000 in second place.

 

Triton Poker Series Vietnam Event #10 Final Table Results:

Place Player Country Prize
1st Jason Koon U.S.A. $574,000
2nd Artur Martirosian Russia $395,000
3rd Chris Brewer U.S.A. $252,000
4th Punnat Punsri Thailand $182,000
5th Isaac Haxton U.S.A. $147,000