What Happened in Triton Poker Series Vietnam Events #6 – #10?

The Triton Poker Series gathered pace in the middle stages, with the $100,000-entry Main Event at the Hoiana Resort & Golf venue awarding the biggest prize of the winner’s poker career – $3.25 million. Elsewhere, there were victories for Jason Koon and Orpen Kisacikoglu among others.

Cowboy Goes Close in Event #6 as Dao Does It

If you’re yet to read all about the opening events in the 2023 Triton Poker Series Vietnam, head to our round up of the action in Events #1 – #5 to find out who took away trophies. The sixth event saw its final table start very soon after the conclusion of the previous event and there was excitement in the air for the $50,000 buy-in 8-max NLHE Event #6.

With a total of 139 entries, that meant a prizepool just shy of $7 million and seven-figure scores for whoever came first and second. With 20 players getting paid, superstars of the felt such as Steve O’Dwyer and Stephen Chidwick min-cashed for $90,400, while others such as Chris Brewer (15^th for $111,200) and Sam Greenwood (9^th for $166,800) made profit but fell short of the final table.

In the last eight, Ben Heath bagged another good finish, coming seventh for $291,800, while Finnish poker legend Patrik Antonius came fifth for $497,000. In the top three places, Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith was shot down in third place, banking $750,500 but leaving Biao Ding to take on Minh Phus Dao. It was the Vietnamese player Dao who claimed the crown and top prize of over $1.6 million, pleasing the home country crowd.

Orpen Kisacikoglu Wins Event #7 for $1. 7 Million

The wins kept coming for the big names in the next event as the buy-in was ramped up to $75,000. The price hike took a few entries out of the equation, with 85 players taking part in this event, creating a prizepool of over $6.3 million that saw a top prize of $1.75 million won by Turkish player Orpen Kisacikoglu. The British-based player won heads-up against Britain’s finest, with Stephen Chidwick falling just short. Chidwick, who is the most successful British player of all-time in ranking tournaments, took home $1,245,000 for his runner-up result.

Elsewhere in the event, with 11 players of the 85 cashing, there were small returns on their entry fee for Adrian Mateos (11^th for $159,000) and Michael Soyza (182,500), who again paid off his PokerStake investors handsomely, finishing ninth for a score worth almost double his and PokerStake players investments.

Once the action got to the final table, Jason Koon (6^th for $389,000) and Steve O’Dwyer (3^rd for $816,000) were unable to win for American fans everywhere, falling just short of glory after two deep runs against the toughest of opposition.

Mark Rubbathan Wins Mystery Bounty Event #8

In Event #8, the buy-in was reset to $10,000 but the Mystery Bounty element as in play and that led to the usual fun and games at the felt. It was a British winner in this event as Mark Rubbathan went one place farther than Stephen Chidwick, capturing the title and top prize of $396,000. Rubbathan’s win came at the expense of Wiktor Malinowski, the Polish player whose online reputation precedes him. Malinowski picked up the consolation prize of $268,000.

With 27 of the 179 entries cashing, plenty of big names bagged their piece of the $1.79m prizepool. Lee Wai Kiat continued his fine series, cashing in 26^th place for $17,900, the Malaysian having been one of the series most consistent performers. Elsewhere, Ben Heath grabbed yet another cash, winning the same amount at Kiat in 24^th place. Phil Nagy bagged $21,500 in 20^th, Patrick Antonius cashed again in 19^th place fot the same amount, and Dan Smith made $24,100 in 16^th place.

By the time the final table arrived, players such as Pedro Garagnani (9^th for $40,100) and Timothy Adams (8^th for $48,500) were early casualties. Adams wasn’t the only Canadian to finish in the top eight, but Daniel Dvoress fell short too, ending up in 4^th place for $150,400.

Shakerchi Wins Triton Poker Series Vietnam Main Event for Record $3.25m

The Triton Poker Series Main Event saw Talal Shakerchi mop up the top prize of $3.25m, getting the win ahead of Michael Soyza (2^nd for $2.2m) and Daniel Smiljkovic (3^rd for $1,450,000). We told the story of how Shakerchi managed to grab the trophy in more detail here, but it was a peak day in the Brit’s career, the title representing his biggest-ever win in ranking tournaments.

Jason Koon Wins Turbo in Double-Quick Time for $574,000

The 10^th event of the 2023 Triton Poker Series in Vietnam cost $50,000 to play and was No Limit Hold’em with a turbo twist. Wrapped up in one day, it was won by the American player Jason Koon, who top score of $574,000 saw him consolidate fifth place on the all-time money list, Koon now a million dollars clear of Erik Seidel in sixth place.

With just five players making the money from 31 entries, the prizepool of $1.55m saw Isaac Haxton min-cash for $147,000 in fifth place before Punnat Punsri continued his excellent form in fourth for $182,000. Chris Brewer got another result for Team America in third place, banking over a quarter of a million dollars, and that left Koon to clean up, winning heads-up against the popular Russian professional Artur Martirosian, who cashed for $395,000 in second place.