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Millions of dollars will change hands during the Triton ONE festival in North Cyprus next month, but there's also a compelling subplot to the individual tournament action.
The season-long Player ONE leaderboard race will reach its conclusion when the 15 tournaments are finished, at which point the most consistent performer through two Triton ONE festivals will be revealed.
To be named the official Player ONE is a highly sought-after accolade and rewards the player who has rode out the variance and made their skills shine the most throughout an entire season of exceptionally tough action.
The reward, of course, is appropriate: the official Triton ONE Player ONE will receive $66,000 in tournament credit to spend at any Triton Poker Series event in 2027. They will also receive an exclusive Player ONE trophy and the respect and recognition of their peers for an exceptional year-long achievement.
At this stage, the Spanish pro Ander Vallinas sits in top spot of the Player ONE standings after taking Jeju by storm last September. His 982 leaderboard points include the bonus 100 points he earned by being named Player of the Festival in Jeju.
Vallinas' tally is significant, but it's far from insurmountable. Leaderboard races on the Triton Poker Series tend to go down to the wire, and there have been some dramatic last-gasp changes on the Super High Roller Series, for example. Memorably, Jason Koon pipped Stephen Chidwick to Player of the Year on the very last day of competition.
Josh McCully was only named last year's Player ONE — the first in Triton ONE history — after a nail-biting finish in Jeju.
Points are available in most Triton ONE tournaments, based on finishing position, the tournament buy-in amount and the field size. There are additional points available to players who register on time, or re-enter an event. After that, it's all about making the money and potentially going all the way to the title, and the biggest bundle of points.
See the Triton Poker Series website for full details of how Player ONE points are allocated.
With so many events on the North Cyprus schedule, there's still an awful lot to play for. Strap in for another thriller.
PLAYER ONE LATEST STANDINGS
The current top five in the Player ONE race are as follows:
1. Ander Vallinas - Spain (982 Points)
Spain's Ander Vallinas sits pretty at the leaderboard summit at this stage. Vallinas was in awesome form in Jeju in March, where he cashed four of the five events he played, making the final table in three of those. His standout performance came in the $8K Main Event, where he had the heads-up chip lead and arranged a deal with Zhao Wenjie that gave Vallinas the largest slice of the prize pool — $1.4 million — even though Zhao went on to claim the title. Vallinas won't be so easily caught in the Player ONE race though.
2. Nguyen Thi Xoa - France/Vietnam (860 Points)
Originally from Vietnam, but now a French national, Nguyen Thi Xoa had already made a name for herself with Triton thanks mainly to a runner-up finish in the $10K Mystery Bounty tournament at the first Triton ONE festival in 2025. But her performances in the same venue a year later were even better: another second place in a Mystery Bounty tournament, sandwiched by a seventh-place finish in the QQPK Genesis and another final table in a single-night $2K event. She also cashed the High Roller. Much more of that in North Cyprus and Nguyen could yet overhaul Vallinas.
3. Nguyen Huu Dung - Vietnam (773 Points)
Nguyen Huu Dung took the title in the $3K QQPK Genesis — the same event in which his namesake Nguyen Thi Xoa came seventh — and cashed three more times in Jeju in March. He is a serial casher at Triton events, with three deep runs at the first Triton ONE and four cashes on the Super High Roller Series too.
4. Wang Yang - China (766 Points)
Wang Yang is nothing short of a Triton crusher, with more than $5.7 million in earnings across both the Super High Roller Series and Triton ONE. Although the majority of that came in the high buy-in events, his lofty standing in the Player ONE race is thanks to a runner-up finish in the $10K 7-Handed tournament, a third place in a PLO single-night event, complimented by two more in-the-money finishes.
5. Zhou Yinan - China (746 Points)
China's Zhou Yinan played seven Triton ONE tournaments in Jeju in March and made the money in five of them. His best result was his first: a second-place finish in the enormous QQPK Genesis, worth $228,000. He also finished fifth in the $10K 7-Handed for another $180,000 to put him in striking distance in the Player ONE race.
