Christoph Vogelsang Wins $4.1 Million In Triton Jeju Main Event

Christoph Vogelsang came into the 2025 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju festival with $43 million in career tournament earnings, despite only capturing three titles on the live circuit since making his first cash nearly a dozen years ago.

The German poker professional finally added a fourth title to his résumé, and did so in style. He defeated a field of 228 entries in the $100,000 no-limit hold’em main event in Jeju, earning $4,099,975 for the win. That brought his lifetime haul to more than $47.6 million.

This was the third-largest payday of Vogelsang’s career, trailing the $6 million that came with his 2017 Super High Roller Bowl win and the $4.5 million he earned for a third showing in the 2014 World Series of Poker Big One For One Drop. The 40-year-old now has six multi-million-dollar cashes to his name.

“This win feels special because it’s a main event, it’s the biggest Triton event, and the Triton tour is easily my favorite place to play poker,” Vogelsang told Triton reporters after coming out on top. “You really know people so well, both the players and the staff. Triton events are very special for me, so I’m happy to have won this one.”

This was Vogelsang’s second Triton victory. His first saw him win another $100,000 buy-in at the 2023 Monte Carlo stop for more than $2.6 million.

In addition to the title and the money, Vogelsang also secured 1,920 Card Player Player of the Year points with this win. That grew his total to 3,860, which is good for 35th place in the 2025 standings presented by CoinPoker.

Final Table Results

The huge turnout for this event built a prize pool of $22.8 million, with the top 39 finishers all earning a share of that hefty sum. Plenty of the biggest names in the game ran deep, including Phil Ivey (37th), Jason Koon (35th), Punnat Punsri (32nd), Matthias Eibinger (31st), Jun Obara (30th), Bryn Kenny (28th), Santhosh Suvarna (27th), Dylan Linde (25th), Michael Watson (22nd), Nacho Barbero (21st), Richard Yong (17th), Byron Kaverman (15th), Nick Petrangelo (14th), Igor Yaroshevskyy (13th), and Paul Phua (12th).

Vogelsang held the chip lead when the final table was set following Henrik Hecklen’s elimination in 10th place. Ho Qiang bowed out in ninth place ($477,000) when his A-3 suited was outflopped by the K-Q suited of Ben Heath, who hit a flush and held from there. Yu Lei was the next to fall, with his K-Q suited faring much worse. He flopped top pair with a high kicker and got all-in, only to find himself trailing the overpair of aces held by Xu Liang. Yu was unable to improve any further and settled for $575,000 as the eighth-place finisher.

The next knockout arrived thanks to the ultimate preflop cooler. Musk Thomas got all-in with pocket kings trailing the pocket aces of Vogelsang, who had slipped out of the lead during the early going.

💥 Rockets vs Cowboys at the final table!

Vogelsang picks up aces with a shot to take the chip lead. pic.twitter.com/268LUpTq4j

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 18, 2025

Thomas got no help from a queen-high runout and was sent packing in seventh place ($782,000).

Bluff Catch Propels Vogelsang Into Big Lead

Kuisong Wu bowed out in sixth place ($1,065,000), with A♠J♥ losing to A♥Q♦ for Heath.

The next key hand saw two-time bracelet winner Aleksejs Ponakovs attempt a massive multi-street bluff against Vogelsang. The Latvian flopped a combo draw with 10♦6♦ and checked to Vogelsang, who had flopped top pair with K♠2♣ on the K♦Q♦J♥ board. He also checked and the 3♣ appeared on the turn. Ponakovs bet 2,000,000 into the pot of 3,000,000 and Vogelsang called.

The river was the 8♣ and Ponakovs overbet the pot to the tune of 9,350,000, leaving himself with a single 25,000 chip behind. Vogelsang went into the tank and eventually made the call to take a commanding lead.

STONE COLD BLUFF!

Ponakovs fires it all against Vogelsang at the final table.

Will it get through? pic.twitter.com/WjLjcJSEzy

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 18, 2025

Ponakovs’ remaining chip ultimately went to Heath, and he headed to the payout desk to collect $1,409,000 for his fifth-place finish.

From Four To One

Liang Xu’s final stand pitted pocket eights against the A-K of Vogelsang for a classic race. The overcards prevailed this time around, with a king on the flop giving Vogelsang the lead in the hand. The turn and river changed nothing and Xu was eliminated in fourth place ($1,795,000).

The two shorter stacks managed a couple of double ups through Vogelsang, but eventually he won an all-in with A♥9♥ against the A♦5♦ of Heath. The bracelet winner from the UK was unable to come from behind and was sent to the rail in third place ($2,223,000). This was the second-largest score of his career, trailing only the staggering $8.2 million he earned as the runner-up in the 2024 Triton Million Invitational at last year’s WSOP Paradise festival. He now boasts more than $35.4 million in total cashes.

Vogelsang had roughly a 2:1 chip lead over bracelet winner Samuel Mullur when heads-up play began. The Austrian pro soon hashed out a deal with Vogelsang to redistribute the remaining prize money a bit, locking up roughly $3.95 million and $3.5 million for the two contenders while leaving $150,000 and the trophy to play for.

Mullur ultimately walked away with the $3,509,025 payout he negotiated. Just three hands after striking the bargain, he got all-in on a A♠K♠7♣4♦10♠ board with 7♥4♥ for sevens up. He was up against K♦10♥ for a higher two pair.

Mullur had taken down a Triton One event earlier this month, along with making two high roller final tables earlier in this series. The 1,600 POY points that came with his runner-up finish moved him into 21st place in the overall standings.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: Triton Poker Series.