There’s been an ever-growing logjam for the second-most Triton Super High Roller Series titles of all-time. Michael Watson’s victory earlier this week in Jeju made it a six-way tie at five wins, behind Jason Koon and his staggering 12 Triton titles.
Phil Ivey had a chance to leave Watson, Bryn Kenney, Mikita Badziakouski, Punnat Punsri, and Danny Tang behind. His bid for a sixth career Triton title came in a $30,000 no-limit hold’em/pot-limit Omaha event at Triton Jeju, but it fell one spot short. Instead, Nacho Barbero crept closer to further growing the logjam.
Barbero won his fourth career Triton title and $646,000, outlasting a field of 81 entrants. He claimed the biggest portion of the $2,430,000 prize pool, along with 672 points in the Card Player Player of the Year race, presented by CoinPoker.
Up until this tournament, Barbero was in the midst of a tough trip to Korea. He’d played a busy schedule, and managed three cashes without coming close to a final table.
“It’s insane, it’s like a dream come true,” Barbero told Triton commentator Henry Kilbane shortly after his win. “Here was super tough. I wasn’t in the best mood. I was getting really bad sleep. Even today I slept three hours. It’s been a rough series mentally, and very physically draining. But finally I got it done and I’m super happy about it.”
This result pushed Barbero up to 14th place overall on the POY leaderboard. Four other players at the final table, Dylan Linde (26th), Ivey (30th), Igor Yaroshevskyy (35th), and Daniel Dvoress (38th), also improved their respective standings near the top.
An Action Game
Triton Super High Roller Series festivals are typically broken down into game-specific segments. In Jeju, the post-Triton One action kicked off with short deck, moved into the no-limit hold’em period and wraps up with pot-limit Omaha.
This particular event served as boundary and a transition point. With the big hold’em events already set, the final stage of this lengthy stretch of tournaments in South Korea is nearing its end.
When this mixed final table kicked off, Ivey and Barbero sat first and second, but the stacks were pretty closely bunched up. Eelis Parssinen, who is a PLO specialist, was one of the two shortest stacks, and became the first player at risk. Dvoress hit runner-runner quad aces in PLO, and Parssinen went out in seventh.
Yaroshevskyy has been one of the most active Triton players in recent weeks. This was his seventh cash and third final table of the stop, notably finishing eighth in the first ever Triton One main event. But a third career Triton title simply wasn’t in the cards. His last couple of big blinds went in with J♣J♠8♠3♥ against David Wang’s A♥K♥10♦6♠, and lost. Yaroshevskyy settled for sixth.
Linde’s tournament crashed out in a hold’em round. He opened off a 10 big blind stack with A♦K♣ and Ivey called on the button with A♠J♥. The J♦6♦6♣ led Linde to check-call all-in for his last few chips, and then he saw Ivey’s bad news. No king came on the turn or river to redeem Linde, and his tournament ended in fifth.
Barbero Turns Up The Heat
After a Dvoress three-bet pre-flop, Barbero, Dvoress and Wang went three ways to a J♣9♣9♦ flop. Dvoress, holding K♣Q♣Q♠6♦, shoved with an overpair, straight draw, flush draw, and straight flush draw. Barbero called with A♣9♥8♣6♥, having flopped trips.
Neither the K♠ turn nor the J♦ river helped Dvoress, and Barbero picked him off in fourth. Barbero got lucky with A♠3♦ against Wang’s A♥J♦, flopping a three, and knocked Wang out in third.
Ivey hadn’t had to do any of the dirty work at the final table to reach heads-up play. But the result was a significant gap in chip counts against Barbero. It took only three more hands from there to finish off the tournament.
Ivey raised his button, Barbero called, and the flop fell 5♥4♦3♥. Both players checked, and the turn was the J♦. Barbero bet, Ivey shoved, and Barbero called.
It had been a dream flop for Barbero, whose 10♥7♦6♦6♣ flopped a straight. Ivey had outs to a diamond flush with A♠K♠K♦10♦, but Barbero blocked two of them.
The 5♠ river sealed Barbero’s victory. Ivey earned $448,000 as the runner-up. The Poker Hall of Famer and 11-time bracelet winner now boasts more than $54 million in career earnings.
Barbero’s three previous Triton victories came in a $30,000 no-limit hold’em event, a $30,000 PLO event, and a $15,000 no-limit hold’em event.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Nacho Barbero | $646,000 | 672 |
| 2 | Phil Ivey | $448,000 | 560 |
| 3 | David Wang | $297,000 | 448 |
| 4 | Daniel Dvoress | $232,000 | 336 |
| 5 | Dylan Linde | $187,000 | 280 |
| 6 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | $146,000 | 224 |
| 7 | Eelis Parssinen | $116,000 | 168 |
Photo credit: Triton Poker.
