What Happened in Triton Poker Series Vietnam Events #1 – #5?

Poker has thrived in Vietnam this week as the Triton Poker Series festival takes place at the beautiful Hoiana Resort & Golf in the historic country. With players such as opening event star Michael Soyza selling their action on PokerStake, who has won the first five events? Let’s look back at the action.

Event #1 Won by Chin Wei Lim for $965,000

The opening event of the 2023 Triton Poker Series in Vietnam was the GGPoker sposored Super MILLION Event #1, which was won by the Malaysian player Chin Wei Lim. Lim took the title after getting the better of Czech Republic player Roman Hrbaec, whose rise to prominence in the high roller fraternity is well known.

Plenty of other big names survived into the money places, with Erik Seidel (21^st for $48,000), Patrik Antonius (13^th for $70,500) and PokerStake seller Michael Soyza (7^th for $164,000, pleasing his many investors) all making a profit on their entry fee of $25,000. In the top five, Nick Petrangelo busted first for $286,300) before Seth Davies (4^th for $357,000) and Chris Brewer (3^rd for $435,500) all got close but lost their seats before heads-up began.

Nacho Barbero Wins Event #2 for $600,000

The second event of the series went in favor of the Argentinian player Nacho Barbero, who has already enjoyed the kind of year tournament players dream of, having won millions in the PSPC in The Bahamas. Barbero booked an outright win here, taking home the top prize of $600,000 after outlasting Dutchman Jans Arends heads-up.

With 23 players cashing in the $15,000-entry event, players such as Steve O’Dwyer (20^th for $32,500), Adrian Mateos (14^th for $39,900) and Mike Watson (11^th for $50,300) all finished just short of the final table, where there were repeat results for players such as Seth Davies (7^th for $102,100) and Alex Kulev (6^th for $138,0000, while Brian Kim (3^rd for $271,000) just missed out on the final duel.

Mark Rubbathan Wins Event #3 for $396,000

The third event of the Triton Poker Series in Vietnam ended with the first British winner as Mark Rubbathan took home $396,000 for getting the better of a poker legend heads-up. Wiktor Malinowski, who frequently plays tournaments such as the GGPoker Super MILLION$ weekly $10,3000-entry tournament series, from locations such as Macau, came second for a score of $268,000.

With the third event of the series, an 8-handed Mystery Bounty event, costing $20,000 to play, there were 27 money places, with another British player, Ben Heath, sneaking into profit in 24^th place for $17,900. Phil Nagy – who famously helped Ebony Kenney fulfil her dream in the story of 2022, her stunning triumph in Northern Cyprus – came 20th for $21,500, while others such as Patrik Antonius (19^th for the same amount) and Chin Wei Lim (12^th for $29,500) achieved a second cash of the series in the first three events.

Artur Martirosian (11^th for $34,000) missed out on the final table, which saw Pedro Garagnani (9^th for $40,100) and Timothy Adams (8^th for $48,500) bust early before Victor Chong (3^rd for $184,000) miss out on the battle for the trophy.

Jans Arends Wins Event #5 for $921,000

The fifth event of the Triton Poker Series took Jans Arends from nearly man in Event #2 to the top, as the Dutch professional won the fourth event of the Vietnam festival for a top-scoring first prize of $921,178. This time, he managed to get the better of his heads-up opponent, as Malaysia’s Lee Wai Kiat scored his second top-four finish of the series (also starring in Event #2) but was unable to see out victory as Arends bagged the win.

Elsewhere in the event, with 23 players again cashing, Nick Petrangelo bagged his latest result by min-cashing for $59,500 in 22^nd place in this $30,000 buy-in event. Others to bag a profit included Adrian Mateos again (18^th for $64,600), Michael Addamo (15^th for $79,500),  and Stephen Chidwick, who bubbled the final table in 10^th place for $100,000.

In the final table shootout, an early elimination skittled the chances of Daniel Dvoress in 7^th place for $149,000, while the U.S. trio of Seth Davies (5^th for $353,700), Brian Kim (4^th for $441,000) and Jonathan Jaffe (3^rd for $766,890) all got close only to miss out on the thrilling denouement of Event #5.

You can watch what happens in Event #7 of the Triton Poker Series Vietnam right here: