Champion Mehdi Chaoui!
The first turbo event of the Triton Super High Roller Series latest trip to Jeju, South Korea, ended in the small hours of Tuesday morning in the manner to which we have grown accustomed.
Wild swings? Check.
Impossibly short stacks? Check.
A champion surviving the carnage to earn a huge payout from a single day's work? Check.
When all the turbulence finally stopped, the player who had proved most adept at navigating these particularly choppy waters was Morocco's Mehdi Chaoui, who picked up a first title and $747,000.
He became Morocco's first ever champion in what was the 250th event in the Triton Super High Roller Series' 10-year history.
Chaoui proved to be an especially popular champion, with almost all of his defeated final table opponents, plus plenty more from across all strata of the Triton family, joining him in celebration.
It meant a lot to this 25-year-old, who extended his lead at the top of the Morocco money list. He said it brought him immense joy to win on his favourite series and to be able to share it with so many friends.
Friends from across the world joined Chaoui at the end
"If you look at me playing, I'm always trying to have a smile, to have good energy at the table," Chaoui said. "I'm always having fun. I love it so much here, the Triton scene is the only place I want to play poker.
"I love everyone pretty much over here. I'm friends with everyone, every group of players. I'm obviously happy that the people I'm happy for are also happy for me."
Chaoui let out a whelp of delight as the final card was dealt, taking him past the spirited Vietnamese first-timer Nguyen Le heads up. He leapt on a video call with his father to show him the trophy, forcing Mr Chaoui senior, who was driving, to pull over and admire the famous silverware.
The celebrations begin
Chaoui lost heads up to Jun Obara in a wild Mystery Bounty event in Jeju last year, and admitted that there's a lot of unpredictability in all tournaments, but especially the turbo events.
"I've been trying," Chaoui said. "I'm pretty new to the Triton scene — two or three trips — but I'm just trying to play good every day and it's hard, obviously. You're playing against the best players in the world and the variance is insane. But then the win comes here, in the turbo. I guess nothing's fair in the world we live in, so I'm just grateful. I know that I'm lucky.
"There's even more variance than the other ones. Obviously I've been running insane today. I'm super grateful about it."
TOURNAMENT ACTION
As a measure of how frantic these Triton turbos can get, when this 99-entry tournament was down to its final three tables, seating 24 players, there were 16 people with a stack of 16 blinds or fewer.
By this point, players knew that only 17 spots would be paid, so it was a crazy period in a crazy tournament.
All ins came thick and fast, with Mustapha Kanit turning out to be the unluckiest player in the room. To be honest, Kanit's real moment of misfortune came when he and Daniel Rezaei clashed a little bit before the bubble, with Kanit holding jacks and Rezaei with 10s. Rezaei flopped another 10 and doubled in a massive pot, leaving Kanit with two blinds.
MUSTAPHA KANIT BURST THE BUBBLE
He lost them to Kelvin Kerber an orbit or so later as the remaining 17 were in the money.
In the further blink of an eye, they reached a final table when both Ebony Kenney and Chan Wai Leong were knocked out simultaneously on separate tables. Mehdi Chaoui, who dusted Leong, soared up the leaderboard, but it was American pro Seth Davies who led the charge.
Seth Davies - 4,315,000 (35 BBs)
Mehdi Chaoui - 4,020,000 (32 BBs)
Daniel Rezaei - 3,155,000 (25 BBs)
Nguyen Le - 2,500,000 (20 BBs)
Ho Bao Qiang - 1,680,000 (13 BBs)
Kelvin Kerber - 1,620,000 (13 BBs)
Alex Foxen - 1,385,000 (11 BBs)
Richard Yong - 960,000 (8 BBs)
Pedro Padilha - 175,000 (1 BB)
EVENT 9 FINAL TABLE PLAYERS (CLOCKWISE FROM BACK LEFT): NGUYEN LE, DANIEL REZAEI, ALEX FOXEN, SETH DAVIES, PEDRO PADILHA, HO BAO QIANG, MEHDI CHAOUI, KELVIN KERBER, RICHARD YONG
Pedro Padilha had squeezed onto the final table by the very narrowest of margins and seemed like a lock to be the first man out. However, he wasn't even the first man to be all-in and under threat, much less the first elimination, as Richard Yong took the fall.
Yong, the ever-popular Triton founding player and two-time champion, was UTG+2 on the first deal. He looked down at QJ and shoved it all in, a move that might have worked had Daniel Rezaei not found pocket eights in the big blind.
The pocket pair held, Mr Richard was out, and Padilha celebrated. Yong earned $75,000 for this one.
MR RICHARD YONG WAS FIRST OUT FROM THE FINAL
Padilha now did get his chips -- or, more correctly, chip -- in the middle. And he doubled through Alex Foxen. On the very next hand, he looked down at pocket jacks and doubled again, once again through Foxen, who held KJ.
The Brazilian now had 10 blinds, which proved to be enough for him to survive the next elimination too. This time it was Ho Bao Qiang, whose last seven blinds went into Seth Davies' stack. Davies open-shoved 109 with the big stack, and Ho called holding AK.
It was a big hand for Ho, but Davies turned a straight to win. Ho earned $100,000 for eighth.
A HUNDRED BIG ONES FOR HO BAO QIANG
Part of Ho's downfall had been caused by a hand against Foxen in which the American pro's queens had beaten Ho's AQ. But Foxen had been able to do little more than tread water himself until he found the mighty A5 and, with nine blinds, made a committing pre-flop raise from mid-position.
Nguyen Le picked up pocket sevens in the big blind and jammed with the covering stack. Foxen called off, and they saw the potential-full 467 flop. Foxen had plenty of outs now, but the 4 turn took them all away. That was a boat for Nguyen, and Foxen took the walk. He'll find $132,000 more in his Triton account overnight.
EVEN ALEX FOXEN COULDN'T CLING ON IN THIS ONE
Finally, the reaper came knocking for Pedro Padilha. Having managed to ladder three spots against all the odds, the Brazilian was back down to only two blinds, and was in the big blind, when he saw Mehdi Chaoui open from the button. Padilha was in with any two, but the K10 he held was actually pretty good.
Except Chaoui had AK, which stayed best. Padilha won $172,000.
SOME EXCEPTIONAL LADDERING ENDED EVENTUALLY FOR PEDRO PADILHA
They played another orbit or so, with Nguyen doubling through Kelvin Kerber and the stacks levelling out a bit. There was only a 13-blind average, so this was now all about knowing your shoving and calling ranges, while under intense ICM pressure.
Kerber had only five blinds after the hand against Nguyen, and the same two players went at it once more when Kerber was in the big blind. Nguyen shoved his small blind with pocket sevens and Kerber couldn't fold J6. But he didn't connect.
The second and final Brazilian departed in fifth for $219,000.
KELVIN KERBER'S ELIMINATION ENDED THE BRAZILIAN HOPES
Chaoui was now the short stack, but one double, with Q10 beating Nguyen's AQ put him into the lead.
The average was now 12 blinds and Chaoui moved into control. He next picked off Rezaei, who raised his small blind holding Q8 and slammed into Chaoui's pocket queens in the big blind. Rezaei was a champion only two nights ago, but the virtual back-to-back remained out of reach.
He took $272,000 for fourth.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER FINAL FOR DANIEL REZAEI
Chaoui had 24 blinds to Davies' 11 and Nguyen's four. And there didn't seem to be a whole lot more play possible.
Nguyen was on life support, but when he was down to only two blinds, he managed to double twice, once off each of his opponents. The critical nature of everyone's stack meant that Nguyen now had more than Davies, and that was significant. The pair played another all-in pot quickly after, with Nguyen shoving from the small blind with seven blinds and Davies calling for six of them in the big.
Nguyen had A7, which was always ahead against Davies' Q2. This wasn't to be for Davies. He earned $328,000 for third.
THE LAST HAND IN THIS ONE FOR SETH DAVIES
All of a sudden we were heads up, with Chaoui looking to convert a 19-to-14 big blind lead. And while we've seen these kinds of encounters drag on plenty of times before, this was not one of those occasions.
Nguyen shoved 910, Chaoui looked at A5 and called. The dealer raced through the 8A10Q7 run-out, and that was that.
A runner up finish at his first Super High Roller Series stop for Nguyen Le
"Vamoooooos!" Chaoui yelled, as Manuel Fritz, Daniel Rezaei, Pedro Padilha, Kelvin Kerber, Thomas Eychenne and plenty of others rushed in for the hugs.
Event 9 - $30,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: March 23, 2026
Entries: 99 (inc. 22 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,970,000
1 - Mehdi Chaoui, Morocco, $747,000
2 - Nguyen Le, Vietnam, $505,000
3 - Seth Davies, USA, $328,000
4 - Daniel Rezaei, Austria, $272,000
5 - Kelvin Kerber, Brazil, $219,000
6 - Pedro Padilha, Brazil, $172,000
7 - Alex Foxen, $132,000
8 - Ho Bao Qiang, Singapore, $100,000
9 - Richard Yong, Malaysia, $75,000
