Daniel Rezaei Wins Triton Jeju $60,000 High Roller For $1.9 Million

The 2026 Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju $60,000 no-limit hold’em eight-max event stretched well into the early hours of the morning on Sunday, Mar. 22. Finally, after 3:00 AM local time in South Korea, Daniel Rezaei closed out the win and hoisted his very first trident trophy. The Austrian poker pro overcame a field of 139 entries to walk away with $1,939,000, narrowly setting a new career-best payday on the live circuit.

Prior to this victory, Rezaei’s top payday had been the $1.9 million he earned for a win in the 2025 World Series of Poker Paradise $50,000 high roller. All four of his career seven-figure scores have come since last summer, including that win, a third-place finish in the Wynn Summer Classic $10 million guaranteed $10,000 buy-in event ($1,181,360), and a triumph in a $50,000 event at the Onyx High Roller Series ($1,043,530). The 31-year-old now boasts more than $13.2 million in total earnings after this latest triumph.

“2025 was great,” Rezaei told Triton staff after coming out on top. “I tried to get my hands on one of these trophies, but I couldn’t quite manage that. So it feels pretty good to have it on my first live stop [this year]. I really wanted one of these and now I have my first Triton trophy.”

This win also came with 1,122 Card Player Player of the Year points. While this was Rezaei’s first POY-qualified score of 2026, it alone was sufficient to catapult him inside the top 100 in the overall standings, which are presented by CoinPoker.

Big Names Bounced Early At Final Table

A total of 52 players returned for day 2 action, with only 23 set to earn a share of the $8,340,000 prize pool. Plenty of big names ran deep, including Matthias Eibinger (22nd), Ren Lin (21st), Sergio Aido (19th), Danny Tang (18th), Stephen Chidwick (17th), Christopher Nguyen (16th), Daniel Dvoress (14th), Brandon Wilson (13th), and Sean Winter (12th).

Triple crown winner Michael Watson held the chip lead going into the unofficial final of nine. The five-time Triton champion from Canada expanded his advantage when his A♦10♣ held against the A♠9♦ of Japan’s Kazuomi Furuse (9th – $194,000).

Watson soon lost an all-in confrontation that halted his upward momentum. His A-K was bested by the A-4 of short stack Aliaksei Boika, who flopped trips and held from there. Watson then made his final stand with K♠Q♥ against the A♥10♣ of Boika. This time the superior preflop hand remained best. Watson settled for $243,000 as the eighth-place finisher, increasing his career haul to just shy of $38 million.

Isaac Haxton

Seven-handed play continued for around 90 minutes, with Rezaei and Eelis Parssinen winning key preflop races to climb in the standings. The stalemate was finally broken when Parssinen’s pocket aces took all but a fraction of a big blind from Isaac Haxton, who committed most of his stack with A-10.

Parssinen surged to over 9.3 million after the hand, while Haxton was left with just 50,000. He was forced all-in from the big blind two hands later and picked up 2♠2♥. Unfortunately for him, he was up against the K♥K♣ of Nick Petrangelo. The larger pair held through a queen-high runout, and Haxton was eliminated in seventh place ($330,000). His lifetime earnings now sit at $65.3 million.

Setting The Final Showdown

Petrangelo’s surge continued when he shoved from the small blind with J♣8♠ and received a call from Juan Pardo’s A♥8♥ out of the big blind. The board came down A♠Q♦10♥2♦K♠ and Petrangelo rivered a straight to send the Spanish high-stakes star to the rail in sixth place ($446,000).

Despite the rapid ascension up the chip counts, Petrangelo’s run soon came to an end. Not long after busting Pardo, he was all-in and at risk with A♣Q♦ facing 9♠9♥ for Rezaei. The runout of 4♠2♠2♥6♥10♠ connected with neither player and Rezaei’s pocket pair was enough to lock up the pot. Petrangelo walked away with  $576,000 for his fifth-place showing. The two-time bracelet winner’s lifetime earnings swelled to $42.7 million after this latest strong showing on the high-stakes circuit.

Leon Sturm was left on fumes when his A-Q suited lost a race to the pocket nines of Boika. His final handful of blinds went in with J♣6♠ from the small blind. Rezaei called with K♣7♠ from the big blind and held through a K♦9♠3♠6♦9♦ board to narrow the field to three. Sturm cashed for $717,000. The bracelet winner from Germany now has career earnings of $12.6 million.

Boika was the shortest stack heading into three-handed action. His stack took a hit when he ran into the nine-high straight of Parssinen, but he soon bounced back when his A-8 outraced the pocket fives of the Finn in a preflop all-in confrontation. The same two players squared off in the next big all-in, with Parssinen shoving from the small blind with Q♦7♦ and Boika calling from the big blind with 6♦6♣. The board of J♣10♦8♥10♥3♦ was no help to Parssinen and he headed to the payout desk to collect $876,000. This was the fifth-largest payday of his career.

Heads-Up For The Hardware

The clash for the trophy began with 14,250,000 for Boika and 13,550,000 for Rezaei. The early action favored the Austrian, and soon he had taken the lead and stretched it to more than 3:1.

On the final hand of the tournament, Boika limped from the button for 500,000 total with K♣Q♣ and Rezaei raised to 2,000,000 with A♣Q♥. Boika made the call and the flop came down A♠10♦8♠. Rezaei led out for 1,000,000 with top pair and Boika called. The turn was the 6♥, prompting an effective shove from Rezaei. Boika contemplated what to do with his king high and gutshot straight draw, eventually opting to make the call. The river was K♦. While Boika made a pair of kings, it was still not enough to keep him in the event.

The Belarusian earned a career-high score of $1,313,000 as the runner-up. He now has nearly $8.8 million in lifetime cashes to his name, with more than half of that coming from his 20 in-the-money finishes in Triton events.

Final Tables Results

Photo credit: Triton Poker Series.