Champion Ngo Khoa Anh

The thinking behind Triton ONE, the mid-stakes tournament series launched last year by Triton Poker, was to give a taste of the full Triton experience to more players around the world. It was also aspirational: players could perhaps earn their stripes in the smaller events and maybe one day leap up to the big leagues.

No one knows better what's possible than Vietnam's Ngo Khoa Anh, who not only became the first player to win two Triton ONE events — one in September 2025, one in March this year — but tonight took the big step up to win on the Super High Roller Series too.

The 34-year-old won $1,090,000 for taking down the $25,000 NLH Titi Poker in Jeju, beating a field of 210 entries and etching his name in Triton folklore.

"Winning Triton ONE two times gave me a lot of confidence, so I can go ahead and try the Triton Super High Roller," Ngo said, talking to Triton's Stanley Ma in front of a different coloured backdrop this time. "Today is the hardest final table I've ever played. Playing against top players in the world is never easy, never comfortable. But I tried my best today. And I think I ran so well."

Ngo now stands in front of Super High Roller Series branding

Ngo certainly didn't have it easy. Even after the vast majority of players had departed, the final table still featured two American titans, Isaac Haxton and David Coleman, as well as former Super High Roller Series champions Anatoly Filatov and Aren Bezhanyan. But Ngo was sure to get the maximum when the dealer gave him the goods, and ultimately none could match the pride of Vietnam.

"I always believed, but to win a tournament, we need to run so well," Ngo said. "Last night I received a lot of messages from Vietnamese players, and many others back home. I really feel that I am loved. That gives me a lot of belief and confidence in the final six today."

Ngo repaid the faith by becoming only the second Vietnamese champion on the tour, and by proving that Triton ONE can indeed be a tremendous first step towards greatness.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The third event on the schedule this week bore the name of Triton's new official Online Poker Sponsor, Titi Poker. The online site added an extra incentive to players in the form of a last longer, whereby the player who went deepest while wearing the Titi Poker logo could earn a free $25K buy-in to the corresponding event in North Cyprus in November.

There were resultantly numerous players among the 210-entry field hoping for that added bonus to their payday — although the $1.09 million up top, from a $7.2 million prize pool, was clearly the ultimate goal.

Before that, though, there was the bubble. And with 34 places paid, and still plenty of chips around the room as the field contracted close to the landmark, it dragged on for more than an hour. Eventually, however, it was a player with a healthy 20-blind stack who ended up taking the fall: Wang Jun three-bet jammed pocket 10s over Yan Jingyao's early-position open, but got picked off by jacks.

Not much is known about Wang. His two previous results came in short deck events here in Jeju, and this unfortunate demise perhaps won't help him fall in love with the full deck version of hold'em. But as an indication of how anyone is susceptible to the cruel fortunes of poker, the very next player out, on the same table on the next hand, was Phil Ivey. The difference was that Ivey won $43,500 for his 34th-place finish.

Wang Jun came so close to a first full-deck cash

The plan for the remainder of the second day was to get down to a final table, and then play on if time permitted. That was certainly possible, largely thanks to American pro David Coleman going on a real tear.

As the field got ever closer to the final, Coleman jumped into a steamroller and knocked out, among others, Ander Vallinas (jacks holding against Q10), Victor Chong (kings beating Q) and then Laszlo Bujtas ( holding off ). He was then the adversary in the final hand of Danilo Velasevic's tournament too (Coleman's beating Velasevic's jacks), which took them to a final table.

Coleman had a mighty stack of more than 90 blinds when the tournament went nine handed and, thanks then to a roll-back of the levels, seemed even more formidable when they assembled to play on.

The final table line-up was as follows:

David Coleman - 18,250,000 (122 BBs)

Isaac Haxton - 9,450,000 (63 BBs)

Anatoly Filatov - 4,775,000 (32 BBs)

Joe Hindry - 4,725,000 (32 BBs)

Aren Bezhanyan - 4,600,000 (31 BBs)

Ngo Khoa Anh - 4,500,000 (30 BBs)

Batmunkh Unubukh - 2,500,000 (15 BBs)

Chu Chi-Jen - 2,250,000 (15 BBs)

Thomas Boivin - 1,450,000 (10 BBs)

Event 3 final table (clockwise from back left): Ngo Khoa Anh, Chu Chi-Jen, Anatoly Filatov, Joe Hindry, David Coleman, Batmunkh Unubukh, Aren Bezhanyan, Isaac Haxton, Thomas Boivin.

The aforementioned roll back is essentially designed to give everyone a bit of play at the final. But even though Thomas Boivin's six blinds magically became 10, he still had his back against the wall. And he couldn't wriggle free.

His first significant pot at the final was also his last. Boivin had A4 and left himself one big blind after his pre-flop raise. Anatoly Filatov called the bet in the small blind, but then pushed in the rest after the Q flop. Boivin called and saw that he needed to hit to beat Filatov's pocket sevens. But he missed, and took $111,000 for ninth instead.

Thomas Boivin had a mountain to climb at the final

Relatively speaking, it then took a while before the next elimination. During that period, Coleman saw his lead gradually recede as the others took chips in small chunks. Aren Bezhanyan, who won a similar-sized NLH event here in Jeju in March, emerged as more of a challenger, particularly after he won a flip to send Batmunkh Unubukh home in eighth.

Unubukh, from Mongolia, has become a Triton Jeju regular over the past couple of years, but picked up his first cash on the road in Montenegro in May. He then came 21st in the $20K event this week, which he followed up with his first appearance at a final in this one. His day ended with JJ losing to A, with the king coming on the river. Unubukh's seven blinds went to Bezhanyan; Unubukh won $134,000 for eighth.

Batmunkh Unubukh unbuckled in seventh

With Unubukh now on the rail, Chu Chi-Jen and Joe Hindry were the shortest stacks, and Chu lost back-to-back pots to bust next. In the first of those, Chu opened with A10 and Anatoly Filatov defended his big blind holding . Filatov flopped a king and, by the end of the hand, had a full house thanks to three nines falling on the board. Filatov made a big river bet and Chu slipped clear, but only after losing a third of his chips.

He had eight blinds when he looked down at A2 on the next hand and ripped it in from UTG. Isaac Haxton had pocket nines in the big blind and called the shove, with the dealer then providing something of a Hollywood ending to the day. There was an ace on the flop, alongside the and . The turn gave Chu a flush draw to go with his top pair, but the river gave Haxton an unlikely straight.

It was a pretty gross way for Chu to depart his second final table of the week, this time picking up $184,000 for seventh. He is clearly in good form though, with two terrific finishes already.

A second final of the trip already for Chu Chi-Jen

With six left, Day 2 came to its conclusion. Coleman still led, with 40 blinds, but Haxton (37), Bezhanyan (36) and Filatov (34) were close behind. Ngo Kho Anh (22) and Hindry were below the 29-blind average stack.

As was always likely, Hindry was the first out on the new day. The British player slipped down to five blinds through the early exchanges and then got them in from the cutoff holding K9. Filatov, one seat to his left, h[k]Q and called, with both blinds then moving out of the way.

The board bricked and Filatov's queen played. Hindry, who is playing his first ever Triton festival here in Jeju, has a maiden cash. It was worth $250,000 for sixth place.

Joe Hindry is on the board at the Triton Poker Series

If Hindry's demise had been somewhat expected, the next elimination was the opposite. The overwhelming chip leader at the start of the final, Coleman, was likely bitterly disappointed to be heading away in fifth. Coleman's day was not especially old when he four-bet jammed KJ from under the gun, slamming into Ngo Khoa Anh's aces. That doubled up Ngo. Coleman dwindled further to only 10 blinds, which he then got in against Bezhanyan's A.

Coleman had been the wrecking ball that took the field to its final. But, as can so often be the case, it went downhill fast. He was out in fifth for $330,000.

David Coleman couldn't covert a big ch

Bezhanyan soared to the top of the leaderboard, but immediately lost a chunk back to Ngo. And he then lost an absolute pile to Haxton in especially disgusting fashion. The pair got everything in preflop, with stacks close to equal, holding the same hand. But Haxton's AK ended up with a flush on the 10 runout, leaving Bezhanyan's in its wake.

Haxton assumed the chip lead while Bezhanyan now had to rebuild from four blinds.

Though he scored one double, back through Haxton, he ultimately couldn't do it. There was one more act of cruelty from the deck, when his QQ lost to Nos J. Ngo made another spade flush. Bezhanyan won $417,000 for fourth.

The tournament went on a break, with Ngo now leading the three remaining players. The average stack sat at 35 blinds, with Ngo holding 52 and his two opponents stacking 28 (Haxton) and 25 (Filatov), respectively.

This tournament had already shown that nothing was to be taken for granted. Chip leaders had been taking nosedives; short stacks had been soaring. And then when Haxton ran J9 into Filatov's aces (they got involved in a raising battle pre-flop, with Haxton then flopping a not-good-enough jack), it seemed that even the American great was not immune to the turbulence.

The pot left Haxton third of three, and though he all but doubled up soon after, Ngo ended his participation a few hands later. Ngo had 33 blinds and opened A7 from the button. Haxton had 13 blinds and three-bet from the small blind with A. Ngo shoved, Haxton called off, and the seven on the flop only strengthened the dominance of the better hand.

Haxton ultimately perished in third for $515,000.

Isaac Haxton was also once chip leader, but went out in thir

The last two decided to look at the numbers. Filatov's 37 blinds trailed Ngo's 51, and both had managed to close out from this position before in this very room. However, after a spirited discussion, they couldn't agree on a chop so settled themselves back down for what could become an intricate heads-up battle.

But it didn't happen like that.

Instead, only eight hands in, it was quickly all over.

Ngo limped with 85 and Filatov checked, holding Q. An eight-high flop made it interesting. Filatov checked his top pair and Ngo put out a small bet. Filatov, who started the hand with 18 blinds (the levels had gone up), moved all in, and Ngo called.

Filatov was looking good for a double, but the 5 on the turn killed almost all his hope. The 6 on the river completed the board and Ngo's win was secured.

Anatoly Filatov jokingly questions the dealer after his hand is outdrawn

Filatov, who won the equivalent event last year, picked up $733,000 for second, and also won the Titi Poker freeroll last longer.

But Ngo's surge from the Triton ONE streets is now complete. His $1,090,000 victory is the biggest of his career and confirms that he is here to stay.