Champion Rene Van Krevelen

The short-deck specialist Rene Van Krevelen is the first champion of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series latest trip to Jeju, finally getting his name on the winner's board after five near misses and more than $2.3 million in final-table appearance checks.

Van Krevelen only plays short deck, but plays it extremely well, accounting for every penny he has previously won on this prestigious tour. And here in Jeju, against a relatively small but hugely talented field, he finally went all the way and won the $308,000 first prize.

This was the first event of the Super High Roller Series: a brisk $25,000 buy-in single day event. At least that was the plan. It actually ended up lasting until 5 a.m. local time, and ended in a short-stack slug fest that even Jason Koon and Stephen Chidwick couldn't survive.

Those Triton stalwarts perished in third and fourth, respectively, clearing the stage for Van Krevelen to square off against Malaysian Triton regular Lun Loon. Loon was similarly hunting his first win on the series, despite $3.3 million in previous prizes, but he could not quite get there in the end.

In a crazy final few hours, the stacks shallowed well beyond what is usually possible, and any pot could put any player into or out of the chip lead. But Van Krevelen managed to survive when he was shortest and ultimately picked up the winning hand at the crucial, final moment.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The first event of the Super High Roller Series was just a teaser for what is to come. At $25,000 it had a modest buy-in, and the 40 entries kept things intimate. But this was a wild ride.

After busting his first bullet, Jason Koon max late re-entered and ran up a chip leading stack. But just as the tournament closed in on its final, Koon took a huge tumble. It was an aces-against-ace-king clash versus Rene Van Krevelen, which put the Dutchman into a commanding lead. Koon managed to cling on to get into the money, but he was much diminished.

Little did we know at that point how many similar twists and turns we'd see.

Martin Nielsen turned out to be the stone bubble player. He had only a handful of antes which he risked with A9 after Michael Zhang's late-position open. Zhang had Q9 and was behind all the way as the dealer put the flop of JQK on the table, followed by the 10. But the 7 river filled Zhang's flush, and Nielsen, belatedly, noticed that his straight wasn't good enough.

Martin Nielsen bubbled

Nielsen went home with nothing, while the others were guaranteed at least $51,000 and arranged themselves at the final with the following stacks:

Rene Van Krevelen - 6,805,000 (136 antes)

Lun Loon - 2,420,000 (48 antes)

Michael Zhang - 2,295,000 (46 antes)

Stephen Chidwick - 2,260,000 (45 antes)

Danny Tang - 1,565,000 (31 antes)

Lin Alp - 1,550,000 (31 antes)

Jason Koon - 720,000 (14 antes)

Event 26 final table players (clockwise from back left): Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick, Michael Zhang, Rene Van Krevelen, Lun Loon, Lin Alp, Danny Tang.

Action at the final got started quickly. Danny Tang's pocket jacks flopped a set and turned a boat to earn him a double through Lun Loon's pocket queens. And then on the next hand, the queens found their way into Tang's hand, and they were enough to beat Lin Alp's A10.

All the money went in pre-flop on both these hands, and Tang smashed both flops. The second was KKQ, and Alp was dead on the turn of 9. Alp, in only his second ever Triton event, took the $51,000 min-cash.

However, Tang soon got a taste of his own medicine as Koon began a remarkable rise back into contention thanks to back-to-back doubles through Tang. Koon got KQ to hold up against Tang's K9, then found aces to beat Tang's AK. Koon then jammed the flop of Q6K in a three-bet pot against Van Krevelen, and was suddenly into second place.

And when Loon then doubled through Tang, holding AK to beat KQ, Loon was up into third and Tang was near the foot of the counts once more.

Stephen Chidwick was next to double. His AQ beat Van Krevelen's 108 for 37 antes, and it meant Koon now leapt into the overall lead.

Zhang then doubled through Koon, with J9 beating Q10, and the level went up, making everyone incredible short. There were now only 175 antes between six players, so it was something of a lottery.

Zhang now took over the chip lead thanks to the latest double through Loon. This was queens for Zhang and AJ for Loon, which couldn't catch up.

Something eventually had to give, and it was Tang's rollercoaster car that fell off the tracks. He had only a few antes when he under-called all-in holding A6 and Koon, who made the opening raise, had A8. The better hand stayed that way, and Tang won $63,000 for fifth.

Up and then down for Danny Tang

Moments later, Koon was at it again. He had pocket queens this time, and raise/called Zhang's shove holding 10J. The short-deck blockbuster wasn't good enough this time, and the queens held. Zhang took $83,000 for fifth.

Another short deck expert Michael Zhang fell short

Koon had 57 antes and the chip lead. Chidwick was second with 33; Loon was third with 32 and Van Krevelen had 19 in fourth. But when Van Krevelen quickly doubled through Chidwick, he was Koon's closest challenger again.

By this point it was clearly foolish to try to predict, or even document, anything that went on. It was 4 a.m. local time, and anybody could still win it. Chidwick was the short stack, but then four uncalled pre-flop raises later, he was the leader. But then Loon did the same to rise to the summit.

Chidwick slipped to the bottom in a pot against Van Krevelen, but then doubled with A7 against Koon's pocket kings (the first real outdraw of this crazy period) and was back in front again. But then Loon also cracked kings, this time with A10 and doubled back into the lead, leaving Van Krevelen with only three antes.

He doubled once through Koon, and then again through Chidwick. And then after a little bit more of the same, all four players had almost precisely equal stacks of 18 antes each.

The finally the dam burst. Van Krevelen's aces beat Chidwick's QJ and a huge pot went in the Dutchman's favour. He found kings on the next hand and finished off Chidwick, whose Q9 wasn't good enough. Chidwick's fourth place was worth $107,000 -- and he had seven hours until he needed to return for the $15K Triton ONE Day 2.

Stephen Chidwick, right, and Jason Koon were knocked out within two hands

Koon lasted just one hand longer. The American's QJ lost to Loon's A9 and Koon's was out in third. That won him $141,000 but, for once, he didn't take the title.

So it was Van Krevelen versus Loon for the win, with Van Krevelen holding 33 antes to Loon's 25. Loon shoved his way back to parity, but then the big, tournament-ending showdown occurred. Loon four-bet jammed AQ and Van Krevelen was amenable with KQ. A king on the flop was devastating for Loon, but locked it up for Van Krevelen, who finally earned his stripes.

A near miss for Lun Loon

Loon took $222,000 for second; Van Krevelen was the champion and $308,000 richer.