James Mendoza scored a dream poker tournament victory this week in South Korea, topping a massive field in a $25,000 buy-in event to secure the largest payday of his career.
The California resident, originally hailing from the Philippines, outlasted 311 entries that turned out to Landing Casino Jeju in the Triton Poker Jeju WPT Global Slam to earn $1,515,000 and his first title on the high-stakes tour.
“Coming here to Triton is already a win for me,” Mendoza told reporters after coming out on top. “I never expected to be playing the highest level of poker. I just started playing lower stakes in my little city in the Philippines. And now I’m here at the highest stage in poker.”
Mendoza now boasts more than $4 million in career tournament earnings, with nearly $2.6 million coming from his seven final-table finishes recorded so far in 2025. The 1,680 Card Player Player of the Year points that came with this victory increased his total to 4,561. That’s enough to move him into 17th in the overall POY standings presented by CoinPoker.
Before this win, Mendoza’s top score had been the $450,000 he earned for a runner-up showing in a $15,000 event at The Lord Poker Tournament earlier this year. He also finished third in the $10,000 mystery bounty event at the World Series of Poker for a healthy payday of $336,594.
Thinning The Field
The sizable turnout for this event built a final prize pool of $7,775,000 that was paid out amongst the top 47 finishers. Plenty of big names were among those to cash, including Matas Cimbolas (47th), Klemens Roiter (42nd), Samuel Muller (30th), Ren Lin (29th), Ben Heath (23rd), Michael Soyza (22nd), Joseph Cheong (21st), Clemen Deng (20th), Christoph Vogelsang (17th), Michael Wang (16th), Thomas Boivin (15th), and poker’s all-time money leader Bryn Kenney (10th).
Alex Foxen bagged the chip lead at the end of day 2. The three-time Triton champion and three-time bracelet winner held 57 big blinds heading into the final table, while Mendoza was in the middle of the pack with 27 big blinds. Mendoza scored the first knockout of the day, busting recent Triton One main event runner-up Punnat Punsri in ninth place ($155,000). Mendoza’s A♣K♣ held against A♥9♠ in a battle of the blinds to narrow the field to eight.
Foxen busted a critically short Dai Ming (8th – $190,000) to further bolster his stack. Ho Bao Qiang got all-in with A-7 leading the A-6 of Mendoza, but a six rolled off to turn the tables and end Ho’s run in seventh place ($260,000).
Jingyao Yan’s run concluded when his last handful of big blinds went in with K♦J♠. He was up against A♣4♥ for Xue Song, which held to send Yan packing with $350,000.
Viacheslav Goryachev’s Triton debut was a fruitful one, as he ultimately earned $460,000 for a fifth-place showing. His last hand saw him attempt to bluff catch with pocket threes, only to be shown top pair of aces by his opponent, Xue.
Mendoza Surges While Foxen Falls
Foxen had lost a big one during five-handed action, with his A-K losing to the pocket aces of Pitavy. Foxen then surrendered another big chunk of his stack when he fired multiple bullets with air into Xue’s flush draw. While both players missed, Xue found a river bluff shove to take down the pot without showdown, leaving Foxen with just 20 big blinds.
The next key clash saw Mendoza’s K♦Q♠ outrun the A♠K♥ of France’s Emilien Pitavy (4th – $584,000). The board came down 9♥5♣4♦10♣Q♦ and Mendoza rivered a pair of queens to secure the knockout. This was a new top score for Pitavy, besting the $419,506 he earned for a sixth-place finish in a $10,300 buy-in event during the 2023 WSOP Online.
♻️ Pivotal moment at the @wpt_global Slam Final Table! pic.twitter.com/mGaNLtz8Bp
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 11, 2025
Foxen’s last hand saw him call all-in from the small blind for his last 7.5 big blinds with A♥J♠. Mendoza had open-shoved with K♣6♦ from the button. The flop came down A♦8♣5♣ to give Foxen top pair and a big lead in the hand, but the 7♦ turn gave Mendoza an open-ended straight draw. The 4♥ completed the draw, ending Foxen’s run in third place ($721,600).
This was his 14th POY-qualified final table of the year, with three titles also won in 2025. His 7,568 POY point total is the second-highest of any player on the circuit, trailing only Jesse Lonis (8,449 points).
Closing Out The Title
With that, Mendoza took 62,700,000 into heads-up play with Xue, who had 15,000,000. Xue fell even further behind in the early going, but kicked off a big comeback after falling down to a single big blind.
He was back up to roughly nine big blinds when he called all-in with Q♥Q♦ from the big blind facing a button rip from Mendoza, who held A♣8♠. The 8♣7♦4♠5♦A♦ runout kept Xue ahead until the river ace, which brought the event to a close. Xue earned a career-best payday of $962,000 as the runner-up.
🏆 That’s game. GG. pic.twitter.com/EHGnzgK2bF
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 11, 2025
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payouts | POY Points |
| 1 | James Mendoza | $1,515,000 | 1,680 |
| 2 | Xue Song | $962,000 | 1,400 |
| 3 | Alex Foxen | $721,600 | 1,120 |
| 4 | Emilien Pitavy | $584,000 | 840 |
| 5 | Viacheslav Goryachev | $460,000 | 700 |
| 6 | Jingyao Yan | $350,000 | 560 |
| 7 | Bao Qiang Ho | $260,000 | 420 |
| 8 | Ming Dai | $190,000 | 280 |
| 9 | Punnat Punsri | $155,000 | 140 |
Photos provided by Triton Poker.
