Champion Paul Phua

Life on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series can often feel like it's some kind of dream. But tonight in Jeju, South Korea, the elite poker players of the world truly did step into one of the most captivating fantasies.

In a tournament specially designated to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the world's leading high stakes poker tour, the man whose vision played the most significant part in the creation of the whole venture only went and won it all.

Paul Phua, known in the Triton world as "Boss", defeated American pro Brandon Wilson heads up at the end of this $150,000 buy-in event, known as the 10th Anniversary Special. And boy was this special.

"I'm a bit lost for words," Phua said, choking back tears as the emotional weight of the moment suddenly struck him. "We have a great team, and many great supporters. Many of them are not professional tournament players. They keep coming back. I just want to thank you all."

Paul Phua choked back tears as he remembered the late Ivan Leow

Remembering his great friend and fellow visionary behind the Triton Poker Series, the late Ivan Leow, Phua continued: "And I also want to thank Ivan, who is upstairs. Ivan was one of our founding players, thank you Ivan."

Phua was one of only very few men who had truly been there since Triton Poker's inception: every late-night discussion, every planning meeting, every tournament at every stop since 2016. The fact that he was then able to crown this staggering achievement with a $3.226 million first prize seemed just too cliched to be true.

But it was true. And it was spectacular.

"It's very special," Phua said. "It's been four years since I lifted a trophy in Madrid, and I almost didn't wake up to late reg for this event. I had two hours of sleep, but my assistant managed to wake me up."

By the time the tournament was done, it was close to 2 a.m. in Jeju, but the room was buzzing. Play stopped in the neighbouring tournament, staff joined fans on the rail to watch the moment of history.

The Triton Poker family celebrates with Boss

Phua battled up from a medium stack at the beginning of the final, then from a significant heads-up chip deficit, to beat Wilson into second place. The final hand was pocket queens against A8, and in an incredible, fateful touch, Phua's Triton Tempo timebank read 2:22, Ivan Leow's number after his final table and seat draw.

It was all too much.

The 2:22 beside Paul Phua's name on the Triton Tempo clock

"I want to thank [my opponents] for putting on a great game," Phua said, acknowledging that he had survived an incredible final. There were two Ivan Leow Players of the Year in the last nine, as well as two five-time Triton champions. "For me, I came in near the bottom of the chip count so it was quite easy for me to play, just wait for hands. The turning point was when I had aces and Klemens Roiter had ace-king on the big blind and I doubled up. From then on the cards just ran my way."

Any way you look at it, it was a remarkable night, arguably the most spectacular of the whole decade. But Phua is already looking to the future.

"We will do our best to make Triton better, for professionals and recreationals alike, in a safe environment for them to enjoy their poker," he said. "We strive to provide the best service we can, for players and staff alike. I just want to thank everybody for all the support all these years."

What a way to begin Triton Poker's 10th year.

Celebrations begin for Paul Phua

TOURNAMENT ACTION

At the conclusion of the Main Event, all attention switched to the celebrations for Triton Poker's 10th anniversary and, specifically, the 10th Anniversary Special. This $150,000 buy-in event is tentatively planned for all stops this year, where it will be the highest buy-in on the schedule.

This first running brought out the NLH superstars once more, who rapidly built a prize pool of $12.15 million. Registration remained open to the start of Day 2, which allowed the stragglers to enter or re-enter and bring 81 buy-ins across the desk.

The first significant target was the bubble, which would burst when the 14th-placed finisher departed. And it came about relatively quickly, with Alisson Piekazewicz hitting the rail in 15th and then Mario Mosböck finding himself all-in and at risk two hands later.

Having finished runner up to Kayhan Mokri in a similar event here last year, Mosböck has developed a particular liking to tournaments like these. But if he remembers this one it will be for the wrong reasons. His A6 lost to Johannes Straver's pocket nines. That meant a bubble bath for Mosböck.

A bubble for Mario Mosbo

As you would expect, the field here was exceptionally tough. Even with Mosböck out, two other Triton Ambassadors remained, alongside Triton founding player Paul Phua. But this only meant that everyone hitting the rail before the final was an exceptional talent as well: Isaac Haxton, Wang Ye and then one of those ambassadors, Jason Koon, were knocked out.

The elimination of defending champion Mokri in 10th set the final table as follows:

Brandon Wilson 4,165,000 (69 BBs)

Danny Tang - 2,705,000 (45 BBs)

Johannes Straver - 2,220,000 (37 BBs)

Paul Phua - 2,090,000 (35 BBs)

Klemens Roiter - 1,550,000 (26 BBs)

Artur Martirosian - 1,390,000 (23 BBs)

Elton Tsang - 900,000 (15 BBs)

Mikita Badziakouski - 625,000 (10 BBs)

Aleks Ponakovs - 555,000 (9 BBs)

Event 12 final table players (clockwise from back left): Brandon Wilson, Aleks Ponakovs, Johannes Straver, Klemens Roiter, Artur Martirosian, Danny Tang, Paul Phua, Elton Tsang, Mikita Badziakouski.

For obvious reasons, the biggest cheer during the walk-ons was for Phua, the man most responsible for providing this glittering stage. But none of his opponents will have had any intention on going easy. This was every bit as testing as any event with a $3.4 million first prize.

Artur Martirosian can attest to that. Martirosian started this festival by collecting his Ivan Leow Player of the Year trophy for season four, and vowed to do everything he could to try to defend it. But until this run, it had been a relatively fallow trip for Martirosian. Here was his chance to make amends.

Bt it didn't work out like that. Martirosian lost heaps to Elton Tsang when Tsang's KQ made a flush to beat the Russian's AQ. (It was all-in pre-flop.) And then Martirosian's last nine blinds went to Brandon Wilson with QJ not connecting and unable to beat Wilson's A10.

Martirosian therefore left in ninth with $340,000.

The reigning Player of the Year Artur Martirosian

Although Wilson still had plenty of chips at the top of the counts, with Tsang now relatively close behind, numerous other players were feeling the ICM pinch. It was a case of waiting patiently for spots then doing everything to try to seize them, but even that can never be a foolproof plan.

Take the hand that ended Klemens Roiter's run. Sitting in the big blind, he saw Paul Phua open from the cutoff from a 30 blind stack and looked down at AK. He moved in for the 16 blinds he had left. (Two players had smaller stacks.) Phua couldn't wait to get his chips into the pot, holding AA. Although Roiter threatened an outdraw when the K was among the flop cards, there was nothing else exciting.

Roiter therefore perished in eighth for $450,000. It's been a punishing series for Roiter, with the nature of this elimination maybe not helping too much.

Klemens Roiter couldn't recover from the hand that propelled Phua up the leaderboard

Once again, here was a final table where things were getting tetchy. Tsang managed to rein in Wilson at the top, and gradually everyone had fewer than 40 blinds. Aleks Ponakovs was still shortest of all of them, but when they went on a tournament break, Straver and Badziakouski also had only 12 or 13 blinds and, wisely, nobody was keen to take any risks.

Ponakovs didn't have that luxury, of course, and QJ soon proved plenty good enough to get his last four blinds in with. Phua had A3 and called Ponakovs' almost shove, taking them to the 495 flop. Ponakovs' final chip went in after Phua bet it, and there was no material change through the 6 turn and 4 river.

It was the end of the line for the Paradise Main Event champion, who banked $577,000 for seventh from this one.

The ever dangerous Aleks Ponakovs

The removal from the table of the micro-stacked Ponakovs suddenly hurried things up. In back-to-back hands, two of the most decorated players in Triton history hit the rail: five-time winner Mikita Badziakouski followed immediately by another five-timer Danny Tang.

Tsang accounted for Badziakouski first. Tsang three-bet jammed over Badziakouski's open and Badziakouski called for the last of his 10 blinds hilding KJ. Tsang's pocket nines held to seal Badziakouski's fate. His sixth place came with a $729,000 prize.

Mikita Badziakouski is still searching for No 6

Tang's tumble came from a higher position. He was in the small blind holding AK and with 25 blinds in his stack when he saw Wilson open from the button. Tang three-bet, Wilson piled it in, and Tang called. Wilson had pocket sixes and set up another race, with the six on the flop all but sealing it.

Tang's payout of $936,000 was the last of only six figures.

Triton Ambassador Danny Tang ended on the rail in fifth

Attention now turned firmly to Johannes Straver, whose 12 blind stack was by far the smallest. He had Wilson to his left, and when Wilson made a covering raise out of the small blind, attacking Straver's big, the Dutchman stuck it in with K10.

Wilson was behind with 54, but the momentum was still with the American. The dealer put the board of 8K674 on the table, and that was a straight for Wilson. Straver earned the first seven figure cash of this tournament, and the first of his Triton career. Fifth place paid him $1.161 million.

Johannes Straver was four

Only a week ago, Wilson found himself in a similar position in Jeju, sitting down opposite Felipe Boianovsky and Sebastian Gaehl to play for piles and his first trophy. But this time he had two Asian superstars opposite him in Tsang and Phua, while his guaranteed third place prize was already bigger than what Gaehl won when he eventually beat Wilson heads up in the previous event.

The other notable difference was that Wilson had a big lead this time. He had 50 percent more chips than Tsang and double Phua's holding. But they were now deep, and this was anything but over.

Tsang lost some chips to slide down alongside Phua, with Wilson consolidating his lead. But then when Tsang slipped below Phua, he was suddenly ripe for picking off from either of his opponents. And it turned out to be his friend and cash-game adversary Phua who did the permanent damage.

Phua opened A6 form the button and Tsang called with Q10 in the big blind. They each had the same suits, and that's a detail worth noting.

The flop was 3JK and they both checked, taking them to the J turn, and a high flush draw for each of them. Tsang also had a straight draw, and he bet two blinds. Phua called with the 9 river guaranteeing fireworks.

Tsang bet around five blinds, and Phua, who started the hand with 20 blinds, jammed. Tsang gave it some thought but ultimately couldn't manage to fold his second top flush. It proved to be his final hand. Tsang collected $1,482,000, following up his third in the Main Event with another third in this. That's quite a return from the past two days.

A third place for Elton Tsa

The tournament was now therefore heads-up, with Wilson's 69 blinds leading Phua's 39. This was a cross-generational and cross-cultural battle, but a near-perfect encapsulation of what makes the Triton Poker Series so special. The young gun against the seasoned veteran. West versus east. All united by the game of poker.

Heads up between Wilson and Phua

This turned into a gritty battle. Phua edged his way all but level, but Wilson was refusing to yield. But then when Wilson bluffed at a board of 8QQQJ with only 32, Phua's call with A5 won a big pot and put him ahead. Phua's K9 turned a pair of kings a few hands later, and that put distance between Boss and Wilson.

By this point, the tournament room was full of nervous excitement, and full of Triton staff, regular players, and the usual railbirds all keen not to miss out on history.

Brandon Wilson and Paul Phua

And then the dealer did what all of them were waiting to see. Wilson had A8. Phua had pocket queens. And there was no unnecessary drama on the run out. Wilson will settle for a new career best $2,241,000 and his second runner-up finish of the trip.

But tonight, just like every night, belongs to Paul Phua. Just extraordinary.