Triton's 100,000 No Limit Hold'Em Main Event in Hoi An, Vietnam drew the largest Main Event field in the tour's history. In the end, Talal Shakerchi triumphed over a record 135 entrants to take home the 3,250,000 first prize. For Shakerchi, it was his first win on the tour and brought his career Triton earnings up to over four million.
Here's how play looked entering the final table:
Place | Name/Country | Chips | BBs |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Talal Shakerchi (Great Britain) | 7,400,000 | 74 BB |
2. | Adrian Mateos (Spain) | 7,050,000 | 71 BB |
3. | Daniel Smiljkovic (Germany) | 5,325,000 | 53 BB |
4. | Fedor Holz (Germany) | 3,975,000 | 40 BB |
5. | Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) | 3,100,000 | 31 BB |
6. | Timothy Adams (Canada) | 2,450,000 | 25 BB |
7. | Michael Soyza (Malaysia) | 2,275,000 | 23 BB |
8. | Nick Petrangelo (USA) | 1,800,000 | 18 BB |
9. | Roman Hrabec (Czech Republic) | 525,000 | 5 BB |
The bust outs came quickly initially, with three players out in the first level of the day.
Roman Hrabec was the first of that group. After being blinded down to 3 BB, he called all-in preflop with pocket 3's against Adrian Mateos, who held king-ten offsuit. Mateos backdoored a straight on the river to win the hand. The ninth-place cash boosted Hrabec's winnings over one million while in Vietnam.
Winfred Yu was next out, in eighth place. Yu was the new short stack at the table, with 12 BB. He jammed his ace-ten offsuit but ran into Fedor Holz' pocket kings and Michael Soyza's ace-king suited. An ace came on the flop, and Soyza won a massive 4,900,000 pot to vault from seventh in chips up to third. Meanwhile, Holz went from a pot that would have given him the chip lead down to seventh in chips.
Nick Petrangelo busted in seventh place when he got his 29 BB all-in preflop against Soyza's pocket aces. That pot brought Soyza into the temporary chip lead.
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Timothy Adams was named by two players entering the final table as the most dangerous combatant left in the field. But his day was over when he squeezed ace-queen offsuit preflop and was called by Shakerchi's pocket jacks. An ace was in the window of the flop, but a jack came out next and Shakerchi's flopped set took the hand down.
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After Adams' bustout, Soyza's chip lead came crashing down. He was coolered in back-to-back pots. First, he doubled up Fedor Holz when his ace-king flopped top pair. Holz flopped a pair and a backdoor flush draw. When that flush draw came in on the river, Holz wisely checked and called Soyza's value shove. Next, Soyza jammed jack-ten suited in the small blind but ran into Daniel Smiljkovic's pocket aces. Those two hands redistributed the chips and put Soyza near the bottom of the field.
Holz couldn't hold onto those chips for long either. He had his kings cracked for the second time at the final table, four-betting all-in preflop and getting called by Smiljkovic's ace-queen offsuit. A turned ace sent Holz out on a brutal run of luck.
With just four players left, Adrian Mateos jammed 12 BB's effective from the small blind with king-seven offsuit and was called by Soyza's ace-five offsuit. Soyza flopped a five to take down that pot, and Mateos put his last two BBs in a few hands later with king-eight offsuit versus the eight-three offsuit of Shakerchi. The turn came an eight, and Mateos, who was card dead all day, was out.
Smiljkovic was the next player out. He called Shakerchi's button raise with six-seven suited and flopped top two pair against Shakerchi's gutshot straight and flush draw. All of the money went in, and Shakerchi made his flush on the turn to send Smiljkovic packing.
That left the heads-up battle between Soyza and Shakerchi, which didn't last long. Shakerchi started the battle with a two-to-one chip lead but Soyza battled back to even it up.
The pivotal hand came with Soyza holding jack-three suited to Shakerchi's ten-seven offsuit. Soyza made a hero call on the river with second pair, but it was no good against Shakerchi's straight. That gave Shakerchi 88 percent of the chips in play. After some more back-and-forth, Soyza called off the rest of his stack preflop with queen-jack offsuit against the ace-seven suited of Shakerchi. A seven on the turn gave Shakerchi the win.
“I’m feeling pretty good," Soyza told The Sporting News afterwards. "I didn’t play too good heads-up, so that’s a shame. But it’s okay. Maybe in my life I’ll get one more chance.”
Shakerchi insisted that he's "definitely not a pro" after the win, but he sure played like it. He made multiple tough correct decisions throughout the day to earn the impressive victory and 3,250,000 first prize.
Payouts for 100,000 No Limit Hold'Em Main Event
Total prizepool: 13,500,000
Finish | Name/Country | Prizemoney |
---|---|---|
Champion |
Talal Shakerchi |
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 (USA) | 566,800 |
8th | Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) | 418,400 |
9th | Roman Hrabec (Czech Republic) | 324,000 |
10th | Lun Loon (Malaysia) | 270,000 |
11th | Seth Gottlieb (USA) | 270,000 |
12th | David Yan (United Kingdom) | 237,000 |
13th | Wiktor Malinowski (Poland) | 237,000 |
14th | Brian Kim (USA) | 216,000 |
15th | Johannes Straver (Netherlands) | 216,000 |
16th | Sam Grafton (United Kingdom) | 195,400 |
17th | Bryn Kenney (USA) | 195,400 |
18th | Erik Seidel (USA) | 175,000 |
19th | Sam Greenwood (Canada) | 175,000 |
20th | Mike Watson (Canada) | 175,000 |