Triton Poker: Holz Cracks Aces for Fourth Title; Rokita Comes Out on Top in Rollercoaster Heads-Up
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Triton Poker is once again capturing the attention of the poker fandom with its 2024 Jeju Super High Roller Series, which has seen its first two events wrap up on the iconic black and gold felt.
Fedor Holz had the honour of being in the first winner's picture of the festival. Then one of Holz' close friends, Roland Rokita, survived a topsy-turvey heads-up encounter against Sirzat Hissou to bag his maiden Triton title.
There have already been plenty of memorable hands, with aces and kings being cracked in crucial heads-up spots. And it also goes without saying that a plethora of poker's biggest names like Phil Ivey and Jason Koon have also made the trip to South Korea.
Fourth Triton Triumph for Holz
The Jeju series kicked off with a record-breaking field of 269 entries in Event #1: $15,000 NLH 8-Handed, which saw the top 47 players earn a slice of the $4,035,000 prize pool. Quan Zhou was the bubble boy after his pocket sixes were bested by the king-jack held by Jesse Lonis.
Runner-up Seth Gottlieb reduced the tournament to nine players, when his big slick remained best against Ike Haxton's ace-jack and entered the final table as the chip leader.
After Gottlieb despatched Dimitar Danchev in third place, the American entered heads-up with a stack of 55 big blinds, ahead of Holz' 35 BBs.
Gottlieb was one river card away from securing the $786,000 up top but saw his slow-played aces cracked after Holz rivered trip fives when the chips went in on the turn. On the J♥5♣4♦7♦ board, Holz check-called off his stack with 8♦5♠ and was rewarded with the 5♥ on the river to stay in contention.
That's when momentum swang in the German's favor, who picked up another double up to take the lead and reduced Gottlieb to ten big blinds. The final hand saw Holz set a trap of his own with pocket jacks, in which he limp-called from the small blind after Gottlieb requested the all-in triangle. This time, there was no drama on the runout, and Holz picked up his fourth Triton title.
Event #1: $15,000 NLH 8-Handed Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fedor Holz | Germany | $786,000 |
| 2 | Seth Gottlieb | United States | $500,000 |
| 3 | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | $375,000 |
| 4 | Nick Petrangelo | United States | $303,000 |
| 5 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | $240,000 |
| 6 | Lun Loon | Malaysia | $182,000 |
| 7 | Joshua McCully | Australia | $134,000 |
| 8 | Ken Tong | Hong Kong | $98,000 |
| 9 | Pieter Aerts | Bulgaria | $81,000 |
Click here for a full list of payouts.
Jason Koon Wraps Monte Carlo Series with 10th Triton Poker Title
Rokita Announces Himself to the High Rollers
The next event on the schedule, Event #2: $20,000 NLH 8-Handed, was again well-attended, with 225 entries recorded. This time around, 39 players made the money and were looking for the lion's share of the $4,500,000 collected.
Tony Truong was the last player to leave empty-handed and was eliminated by eventual winner Rokita. The latter made bottom two pair on the K♠Q♠6♣ flop while Truong had A♣Q♥. Rokita moved in on the 9♣ turn and saw Truong commit the rest of his stack. The case queen appeared on the river to fill Rokita up which marked the day's end.
When play resumed the following day, 24 players were in contention for the race to the final table. After four hours of action, the final table was determined. Nine became six in the blink of an eye. Rokita KO'd Yu Xiangyu and Tobias Schwecht in the same hand and then on the following deal, Damir Zhugralin jammed for 12 big blinds with ace-ten. Mikita Badziakouski woke up with pocket tens in the big blind and held out against the Kazakh.
Leon Sturm, Aleksandr Zubov, Badziakouski and Kiat Lee were the next to bow out leaving Triton Poker final table debutants Rokita and Hissou to duke it out.
Rokita held a 2:1 chip lead but saw his kings outflopped by ace-seven in the first all-in preflop confrontation of heads-up play. Hissou catapulted up to 57 BBs, while Rokita was left with 18.
The victory was snatched away from Hissou shortly after as Rokita's ace-three went on to make a wheel to beat the former's pocket sevens. The final hand came down to a battle between two pocket pairs. The now short-stacked Hissou made a move with deuces and was called by Rokita and his pair of nines. For the first time in heads-up, the best hand stayed out in front and Rokita, a former student of Holz, was adorned with the trophy and $904,000 winner's prize.
Event #2: $20,000 NLH 8-Handed Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roland Rokita | Austria | $904,000 |
| 2 | Sirzat Hissou | Germany | $599,000 |
| 3 | Kiat Lee | Malaysia | $439,000 |
| 4 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | $355,000 |
| 5 | Aleksandr Zubov | Russia | $278,000 |
| 6 | Leon Sturm | Germany | $210,000 |
| 7 | Damir Zhugralin | Kazakhstan | $154,000 |
| 8 | Tobias Schwecht | Germany | $113,000 |
| 9 | Yu Xiangyu | China | $94,500 |
Click here for a full list of payouts.
Photo credit: Triton Poker/Joe Giron
Triton Poker 2024 Jeju Full Schedule
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum's proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.
