Champion Ngo Khoa An!

Triton ONE has its first ever double champion after Vietnam's Ngo Khoa Anh pulled off a tremendous short-stack-to-champion performance in the $10K 7-Handed event in Jeju tonight.

Previously a winner in a $2K single-night turbo at Triton ONE's debut stop here last September, this victory is an order of magnitude bigger. There were 347 entries at a much higher price-point, meaning Ngo earned $612,000 for his startling show. It was a true grind, with Ngo coming to the final table with only six big blinds, but steadily rising up the counts.

He doubled with pocket kings on the first hand of final table play, then held firm as eventual second and third-placed finishers Wang Yang and Lin Meng-Ling exchanged the chip lead. But Ngo managed to outlast them both as the tournament got incredibly shallow at the end.

"I'm speechless, to be honest," Ngo said at the end, as his achievement began to sink in. "It's beyond any expectation."

He said he took up poker during the Covid pandemic, "Just for fun, because I had nothing to do." But he began studying and started to improve, and is now a pro. He paid tribute to the organisers of Triton ONE for providing the stage for his success, stating: "Triton has made a perfect stage for mid-stakes players. I like everything here, it's so professional. I've really enjoyed my time here."

There was drama all the way to the final hand of the tournament, on which Wang's A3 initially seemed set to outdraw Ngo's A4. A three came on the flop, but a five on the turn gave Ngo a winning straight. It sealed the deal and that spectacular second Triton ONE trophy.

Ngo celebrates the crucial five appearing on the turn

He's the first person to do it. (He will not be the last.)

Wang took $388,000 for second, and Lin earned $280,000 for third.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Although billed as a Triton ONE side event, the $10,000 buy-in to this one was bigger than the Main Event. As such, a smattering of familiar names joined the throngs of mid-stakes players, with registration closing only after 347 entries had come through the door.

That put $3.15 million in the prize pool. Let's just say it again, this is a mid-stakes tour side event, yet there was $612,000 in the middle for the winner.

By the standards of Triton ONE so far, this tournament raced to its final table, leaving an average stack among the last seven of 40 big blinds. It was largely thanks to a rush of major collisions deep on Day 2, with the field slimming from 12 to seven in a hurry.

Ander Vallinas knocked out Human Ma and Lee Chang Hwan in 12th and 11th. Then on the neighbouring table, Ehsan Amiri and Chuyuan Peng lost tournament-ending pots to take the field down to eight.

Wenjie Sun had been the man to eliminate Amiri, but his own tournament then ended when he ran jacks into Yuan Yilu's aces, which completed the final table line-up. The following players bagged chips and prepared for a third day, tournament organisers having quickly determined it would be necessary, despite the original two-day plan.

Final table line-up:

Lin Meng-Lin - 20,825,000 (83 BBs)

Yuan Yilu - 14,700,000 (59 BBs)

Ander Vallinas - 11,500,000 (46 BBs)

Wang Yang - 9,300,000 (37 BBs)

Tang Yixi - 6,200,000 (25 BBs)

Zhou Yinan - 5,375,000 (22 BBs)

Ngo Khoa Anh - 1,500,000 (6 BBs)

Triton ONE event 8 final table players (clockwise from back left): Wang Yang, Ander Vallinas, Zhou Yinan, Lin Meng-Lin, Yuan Yilu, Ngo Khoa Anh, Tang Yixi.

Ngo Khoa Anh was propping up the counts at the start of the day, but received just the fillip he needed on the very first hand of final table play when he found kings and got them to hold against Ander Vallinas' A9. He three-bet shoved pre-flop and flopped a set to make things certain.

But Ngo's opponents all had healthy stacks of their own and no one was panicking, which meant he remained rooted to the bottom of the leaderboard. He needed another double, this time with aces through Tang Yixi's KQ to feel more comfortable.

While the most frantic attention always tends to focus on the short stacks, the tournament leaders of course also need to continue to do their thing. And the next significant pot shook things up at the top of the counts, as the previously unimpeachable Lin Meng-Ling suddenly took a nosedive.

Lin lost a massive pot to Wang Yang when she opened with 109 in the cutoff and called Wang's three-bet. Wang was in the big blind, holding KK. The flop of J38 brought an open-ended straight draw for Lin and she called Wang's bet. After the 3 turn and another bet from Wang, Lin jammed with the covering stack.

Eventual runner up Wang Yang

Wang was right not to bin his over-pair, completing the win when the river bricked. Lin slipped back into the pack, and then fell further when Vallinas doubled through her, holding A9 to beat K5.

By this point, the first player was out from the final table. It was Tang Yixi, whose only previous significant involvement was to hold the losing hand as Anh doubled up. Tang subsequently dwindled to only three blinds and got them in with pocket jacks. Zhou Yinan's pocket nines flopped a set and rivered a boat to crack the jacks.

Tang therefore had to settle for $103,000 for seventh place.

Bad news for Tang Yixi

There was still a lot of fight among the short stacks, despite rapidly escalating blinds. Yuan Yilu made his six blind stack a 12 blind stack when he got pocket 10s to beat the chip-leader Wang's A8. But after another few orbits, with blinds again gobbling up the stacks, Yuan got his chips in once more holding AQ but this time ran into AK.

It was Lin with the better hand, which ended up as a full house after a run out of K3233. Yuan took $138,000 for sixth, while Lin was back alongside Wang and in the chip lead.

Yuan Yilu ran into an unbeatable chip leader

Only those two had 40 blinds, while Vallinas, Zhou Yinan and Ngo had fewer than 15. And then when another level played out, the average stack slipped to 17 blinds and only the aforementioned Wang and Lin had more than 15.

Wang put his foot down and pulled away slightly. Meanwhile Vallinas was shoving his stack in regularly, often pinching the blinds but once, crucially, doubling up Ngo. Vallinas then slipped to six blinds after tangling with Wang, and the tournament went on a break with somehow five players still involved and only 70 blinds between them. Wang had 40 of them.

Something had to give, and an old-fashioned aces-against-kings cooler broke the deadlock. Zhou Yinan had the kings in the big blind, and saw Wang raise from UTG and Lin then three-bet before him. Zhou committed everything with the kings and got calls from both opponents. But Lin's shove after the 1068 flop got rid of Wang.

Lin tabled her aces and Zhou showed his defeated kings. Zhou's run ended in fifth, for $180,000.

Tough break for Zhou Yinan

Vallinas lasted only until the next hand. After Ngo opened with A8, Vallinas put his last five blinds forward with pocket nines. But Ngo flopped an ace to take the lead and send Vallinas out. The Spanish player won $227,000 for fourth.

Even after beating Vallinas, Ngo only had 12 blinds, and was third of three.

The end of the grind for Ander Vallinas

Wang might have thought he had the tournament sewn up when he won a big pot to cut Lin down to Ngo's size. But both opponents began firing at him with their short stacks, and gradually all three players were even, with 19 blinds apiece. It was truly anyone's game.

Having come to this final table as the short stack, Ngo would probably have been delighted to still be involved three-handed. But it got even better for him when he won the next significant pot, all but doubling up and sending Lin to the rail.

There were two aces out, one in each of Ngo and Lin's hands, and they got everything they had in pre-flop. Ngo's nine kicker ended up playing, beating the five that Lin had, even though the flop of QK8, followed by the Q turn, brought plenty of chop chances.

Lin couldn't survive this one, and headed out in third. She won $280,000.

Lin Men-Ling only veered off course at the end

Ngo therefore had the chip lead heads up, with 25 blinds to Wang's 18.

It started cagily, but Ngo eventually managed to open up a decent lead. And then came that huge drama. Wang looked down at A3 and announced that he was all in. Ngo asked for a count, holding A4. He made the call.

Heads-up for the title

This was another one that might well have ended in a chop, but the flop of 723 swung things in Wang's favour. Ngo's rail was poker-savvy enough to know that though the four would help, the card they should really be rooting for was the five, and started calling for it. Lo and behold, the dealer delivered.

The 5 put their man into a big lead, and the 5 river completed it.

Just like that, we have a double champ!