Ben Tollerene’s last few days at the Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju prove just how quickly a series can turn around. Through the first nine events of the series, the 39-year-old American poker pro cashed twice, including a final table appearance that ended in an eighth-place finish.
After going out of the $200,000 buy-in Triton Jeju Invitational, Tollerene entered a $50,000 no-limit hold’em event and finished third for $448,000. The $100,000 Triton Jeju main event also didn’t go Tollerene’s way, but in short order, Tollerene dusted himself off to make the most of the $50,000 turbo bounty quattro event.
Tollerene captured his fifth career Triton title and a total of $652,000 with this latest victory, pushing his earnings over a two-day stretch to $1.1 million. Add in the two smaller cashes mentioned earlier, and his total haul for the series approaches $1.3 million.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Tollerene told Triton media following his victory, reflecting on his fifth title. “I feel very motivated and I’m really not even that happy with how I’m playing, so I’m feeling motivated to get better and keep working.”
The Lubbock, Texas native now has more than $38.9 million in lifetime cashes, with nearly $18.6 million of that coming from his 39 cashes in Triton events.
A Long Day, Well Worth It
Tollerene’s rush to trident trophy no. 5 in the single-day turbo event came against a lineup of Triton veterans that included seven-time Triton champion Michael Watson and three-time winner Ding Biao.
By the close of registration, 28 unique entrants and seven re-entries produced a final field of 35 and a total prize pool of $1,750,000. There were nine bounty prizes, worth $60,000 each, and the final six players officially made the money.
Daniel Rezaei collected the first bounty of the night, courtesy of a tough beat on Stephen Chidwick. Most of the money got in on a 6♦4♥4♠ flop, with Chidwick’s K♣4♣ dwarfing Rezaei’s pocket tens. But the 10♦ river sent Chidwick to the rail, and put $60,000 in Rezaei’s pocket.
Tom Fuchs picked up the second bounty of the night. Then, in a three-way all in, Watson tripled up with a king-high flush, and Rezaei picked up Emilien Pitavy’s bounty in the process with a rivered pair of sixes.
The final six players were officially in the money, with Rezaei leading and Tollerene in second chip position.
Tollerene Dips, Then Triumphs
Another three-way all in kicked off the final table with a bang. Tollerene’s A♠8♠ faced off against Fuchs’ K♦5♦ and Watson’s pocket fours. An ace on the flop was everything Tollerene needed. He picked up a pair of bounties, sending Watson (6th – $84,000) and Fuchs (5th – $169,000) to the rail to narrow the field to four.
Ding picked off Eelis Parssinen in fourth place ($139,000), when his top pair of queens and a nine kicker trumped Parssinen’s queens with a six kicker. That set up a three-handed showdown with fairly deep stacks, given the turbo format.
Tollerene lost 75% of his chips without showdown against Rezaei, but soon doubled back from the brink. Rezaei then made a straight to eliminate Ding in third place ($241,000). Ding played deep into the night for the second consecutive evening, fresh off a career-best $4,940,000 cash for a second-place finish in the Triton Invitational.
Rezaei led by more than 3:1 to start off his heads-up match with Tollerene. But in the blink of an eye, Tollerene quickly chipped his way back into the match. He flopped a pair of fives with 6♣5♣ to double through Rezaei to claim the lead. The match lasted exactly one more hand. Tollerene’s A♥K♥ dwarfed Rezaei’s A♠5♠ when the chips went in, and remained ahead through a J♥9♦6♦3♦8♥ runout. Rezaei fell one spot shy of his second Triton title, taking home $465,000 as the runner-up.
Player Of The Year Implications
Five of the six players who reached the money in this tournament sit within the top 50 in the 2026 Card Player Player of the Year race, and two find themselves in the top five following this result.
Tollerene’s win earned him 408 POY points, pushing him up to 41st place. Rezaei’s second place finish, his sixth cash of this Triton Jeju series, was worth 340 POY points, good enough to push him up into fifth place in the standings. Ding is 19th in the POY race, Watson is 46th, and Parssinen, thanks in large part to two $25,000 World Series of Poker bracelet wins earlier this year, sits in fourth place in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | Bounties | POY Points |
| 1 | Ben Tollerene | $412,000 | $240,000 | 408 |
| 2 | Daniel Rezaei | $285,000 | $180,000 | 340 |
| 3 | Ding Biao | $181,000 | $60,000 | 272 |
| 4 | Eelis Parssinen | $139,000 | $0 | 204 |
| 5 | Tom Fuchs | $109,000 | $60,000 | 170 |
| 6 | Michael Watson | $84,000 | $0 | 136 |
Photo credit: Triton Poker.
