Two winners: Joao Simao and Nick Petrangelo

Nick Petrangelo and Joao Simao chopped up the last high buy-in tournament of this two week Triton Poker Super High Roller Series trip to Jeju, earning more than $2 million apiece. And while Simao took the most money — completing a near $10 million week for him in South Korea — Petrangelo claimed the title, the second of his decade-long association with the Triton Poker Series.

Petrangelo, 39, has been here from the start, playing everything, and perhaps never quite getting the results that his awesome talents deserve. But it was finally different for Petrangelo tonight, with the American pro banking $2,212,910 after the deal.

That he did it in the $150K 10th Anniversary Special is a neat sweetener for Petrangelo. He's a fitting winner of the event designed to commemorate a brilliant first decade of this prestigious high-stakes series.

"It was a long trip, had a lot of deep runs, it was nice to finish with a good one," Petrangelo said.

Nick Petrangelo tells Stanley Ma about his week

In a show of friendship and respect, the two heads-up players declared themselves both winners and did the traditional winners' interview and photos together. For Simao, it capped the best week of his poker career: he previously won the $200K Triton Invitational for $7.25 million, and only just fell short of an appropriate $10 million week. The Brazilian earned $2,212,910 after the deal for this one.

"Feels like I'm dreaming," Simao said. "I can't believe what's happening all this trip. It's my first time in Asia, I really love this place. Jeju is amazing. And just to make clear, we chop and this doesn't make the tournament less special, but the opposite. It's so special that we have now two winners. For me it really matters."

The $10m man Joao Simao

The two outlasted a superlative final table, filled to the brim with Triton champions and all-timers. But after Adrian Mateos was knocked out in third, the two quickly opted to end it and essentially flip for the title.

"There was a bunch of tough players," Petrangelo said. "And at the start a lot of us were pretty close. And then some huge hands happened that separated us pretty quickly."

Simao said: "Hard to say my favourite moment. I think it was where I stood up and chop with Nick." He went on to say he had previously watched Petrangelo play online during the early days of his career, and added: "It feels incredible to be battling with people that I used to watch. I open my phone and get messages from my idols. It's unbelievable what I'm living, so I'm very thankful."

It was a very appropriate way to bring down the curtain on a spectacular tournament series in Jeju. Next stop, Northern Cyprus!

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Only the Triton Invitational had a bigger buy-in than this, the last multi-day open event of the trip to Jeju. Many of the conquering heroes from the stop had already headed home, but there's no such thing as an easy ride in any Triton event, and the field of 67 entries that amassed was arguably the most densely concentrated pool of talent of the entire festival.

Seth Davies led at the end of Day 1, and after a flurry of re-entries to get Day 2 under way, Davies was still involved as the tournament shrank down to two tables. Only 11 places would be in the money, but there had been plenty of shuffling on the leaderboard. So much so, in fact, that Davies became the first player all in and under threat on the bubble.

Fortunately for him, Davies found a double when AK held against Nick Petrangelo's A. That put the burden on some of the other short stacks, including Alex Foxen, Joao Simao and Murly Manokharan. But it was actually the good friends and multiple Triton winners Danny Tang and Kiat Lee who went into the battle that eventually put the field into the money.

They were in the blinds with AQ in Lee's hand and A in Tang's. Lee's last 12 blinds ended in the stack of Tang, with everyone else guaranteed $251,000 at least.

Kiat Lee shipped his last to Danny Tang and bubbled

When Foxen and recent turbo champion Ben Tollerene were knocked out in 11th and 10th, respectively, the minimum anyone could win was now $286K and they were united around a final table. The stacks were as follows:

Thomas Boivin - 2,655,000 (66 BBs)

Nick Petrangelo - 2,175,000 (54 BBs)

Danny Tang - 2,050,000 (51 BBs)

Seth Davies - 1,400,000 (35 BBs)

Adrian Mateos - 1,265,000 (32 BBs)

Joao Simao - 1,200,000 (30 BBs)

Miroslav Atanasov - 1,015,000 (25 BBs)

Dan Dvoress - 895,000 (22 BBs)

Murly Manokharan - 750,000 (19 BBs)

Event 15 final table players (clockwise from back left): Danny Tang, Murly Manokharan, Miroslav Atanasov, Seth Davies, Nick Petrangelo, Dan Dvoress, Adrian Mateos, Joao Simao, Thomas Boivin

It was, by anyone's standards, an exceptional line-up to bring the curtain down on this festival. The nine players had 20 Triton titles between them, including two players who were aiming for a second of the trip. Even those players without a title were in excellent form: Murly Manokharan and Miroslav Atanasov both cashed the Main Event, with the latter making the final in what was the only other Triton event he's ever played.

Manokharan doubled early. He three-bet jammed with pocket queens over a Dan Dvoress open. Dvoress called with A5 but couldn't connect. It left Dvoress with eight blinds, and even though he found himself a pair of queens not long later, he wasn't able to get them to hold against Atanasov's . Atanasov flopped two aces and turned a nine for overkill.

Dvoress took $286,000 for ninth, as well as another chunk of PoY points. He'll be the man to catch when the race reaches the chequered flag in Cyprus in November.

A last cash of the trip for Dan Dvoress

Seth Davies has had a tremendous trip to Jeju, even if he came to this final table still looking for his first outright win of this festival. A third place in the Invitational, plus an earlier fifth-placed finish, ensured it was a profitable trip, but he'd have loved that piece of silverware to round things off.

Despite that excellent start to the tournament, he ended up on the rail in eighth. Davies had 20 blinds and was in the small blind when he saw Nick Petrangelo open the button. Davies had A8 and three-bet, but Petrangelo then jammed, with more in his stack than Davies.

Davies called for the last of it, but Petrangelo tabled AQ and stayed best. Davies won $377,000.

Seth Davies enjoyed another profitable trip

The chip distribution at this stage was fairly even. Only Manokharan had fewer than 25, while only Boivin had more than 40. There might have been an impasse had the dealer not provided a classic cooler, with Tang picking up AK while Atanasov had pocket jacks. They were also the two players in the blinds.

These pair were near equal in stacks, with Atanasov's 38 blinds marginally ahead of Tang's 36. But they all found their way in the middle pre-flop: Petrangelo raised, Tang three-bet, Atanasov four-bet, Tang jammed, Atanasov called. (Petrangelo was long gone.)

There was nothing on the board higher than a nine, and Atanasov took it down, busting Tang in seventh. The Triton Ambassador won $483,000.

No title this time for Danny Tang

Atanasov now had a big lead, but the formidable figure of Adrian Mateos suddenly appeared on his shoulder after busting Manokharan. This was another cooler, especially given Manokharan's stack, which still sat around 16 blinds.

He open-jammed from UTG holding AQ. But Mateos found Q in the small blind and re-jammed, getting the only other player with cards, Petrangelo, out the way. Manokharan couldn't find the ace he needed and was out in sixth, earning $613,000.

Manokharan earns his money in pursuits away from the poker table, but there's no doubt that this score, his biggest yet on the Triton Series, will have brought plenty of satisfaction.

A new high score for Murly Manokharan

The leader at the start of the final, Boivin, had barely played a pot as the field shrank from nine to five. But then he played a huge one, and it was very nearly his last. After Atanasov opened from under the gun, Boivin three bet from the cutoff holding AJ, but then Joao Simao, on the button with a near-equal stack to Boivin, jammed for 24 big blinds.

Atanasov folded but Boivin called, only just covering Simao. But he was in a world of hurt as Simao tabled AA and held. Boivin had less than one blind left.

Somehow he managed to build back to nine blinds, winning three hands on the trot.

But the Lazarus act was eventually snuffed out by Mateos, whose 76 beat Boivin's pocket fours. Boivin finished fifth and won $783,000.

Thomas Boivin led the final but was out in fifth

Mateos was now doing his thing, and joined a three-way tie at the top. In fact, when they went on a tournament break, Mateos, Atanasov and Simao all had 35 blinds, with Petrangelo hardly out of it on 30.

Atanasov has enjoyed a miraculous Triton debut here in Jeju, finishing 12th in the Main Event, his first ever Triton tournament, and now here at the final table of the $150K. But his tournament took a significant downward turn when he ran into Simao's rivered trip kings, and subsequently lost another big pot to Petrangelo.

Atanosov's final demise came in a crazy hand featuring both Simao and Mateos, which also put a huge dent in Mateos' title aspirations.

Atanasov had less than one blind left and it was in the middle, in the big blind. Simao raised the cutoff/UTG and Mateos called on the button. Atanasov now had the chance to triple up. The flop fell 3108. Simao led out, Mateos called, and the came on the turn.

Simao gave up the betting lead to Mateos, who stabbed at it. Simao called. The 4 completed the board, and Simao now led out once more. But Mateos raised, leaving only four blinds behind. (Mateos started the hand with 27 blinds; Simao had 48.)

Simao tanked for a long while, but then stuck in the call and was rewarded by the sight of Mateos' QJ, a combo draw on the flop that missed everything. Simao's Q was good -- and better than Atanasov too, who departed in fourth for $990,000.

Miroslav Atanasov enjoyed a fine Triton debut

Mateos was near to the felt, but doubled up with 65 beating Simao's deuces. But it was only a stay of execution. Soon after, he got 11 blinds in with A and lost to Simao's pocket threes. Mateos made way and took $1,286,000 for third.

A disconsolate Adrian Mateos went out in third

The last two players quickly beckoned over Luca Vivaldi and made an ICM deal. Simao's chip lead of 69 blinds to 21 translated into a guaranteed $2,517,090. Meanwhile Petrangelo locked up $2,132,910 and they ledt $80K to play for.

This, however, was another of those heads-up battles that they just wanted to get done quickly. On the first hand, they were all-in, with Patrangelo's AJ earning him a double through Simao's 9. On the next hand, Petrangelo's beat Simao's pocket threes.

A flippy heads up

Simao had only five blinds and shipped again, defeated again. Petrangelo's winning hand was A9, and his long hunt for a second title is over.