button in SafariPoker Vlogger's Aces Hold in Huge Three-Way Cooler Deep in $5K Tournament
A sick three-way cooler deep in the $5,000 NLH 8-Handed Mystery Bounty at 2026 Triton ONE North Cyprus helped accelerate the tournament towards its nine-handed final table, with the player who came out on top now leading the race for the $293,000 first-place prize.
Poker vlogger and ambassador Eric Tsai was the beneficiary of a dream situation, picking up pocket aces against ace-king and pocket queens to scoop a massive 70-big-blind pot while sending two opponents to the rail.
The hand has put Tsai in a strong position to claim his second tournament victory of the year, just weeks after he secured the biggest payday of his poker career. Tsai, who has more than 168,000 YouTube subscribers, earned his first seven-figure score last month when he took down a $60,000 Super High Roller at KPC Jeju for $1,046,600.
The Taiwanese poker personality is also no stranger to major final tables, having finished runner-up in the 2023 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event for $951,252.
Pocket Aces Hold in Massive Three-Way Cooler
With just 13 players remaining and the blinds at 150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 big blind ante, Hao Tian kicked off the action with an under-the-gun raise to 650,000.
Tsai, sitting in the cutoff, three-bet to 1,650,000 before Boris Smuskevicius woke up in the big blind and four-bet shoved for 5,600,000.
Tian wasn't going anywhere and moved all-in for slightly more. Tsai quickly called, having both players covered, and the cards were turned over.
Boris Smuskevicius: Q♦Q♠
Hao Tian: A♣K♠
Eric Tsai: A♦A♥
It was about as good a situation as Tsai could have hoped for, with his pocket aces a commanding favorite to eliminate both opponents and collect two mystery bounty tokens.
The K♦3♠9♠ flop gave Tian a pair of kings, but he still needed help to overcome Tsai's overpair. The 10♣ turn changed little, and the A♠ river gave Tsai a set of aces to seal the double knockout.
Smuskevicius was eliminated in 13th place, while Tian followed in 12th, with both players collecting $16,000 for their efforts. Tsai, meanwhile, dragged in the enormous pot and picked up two bounty tokens to take his total to nine.
$293,000 Awaits the Mystery Bounty Champion
All nine finalists are guaranteed at least $23,100, with the final three players set to collect six-figure payouts. The eventual champion will walk away with $293,000 in regular prize money, with mystery bounty winnings providing an even bigger overall payday.
Tsai sits atop the chip counts with 28,000,000 chips (70 big blinds) while Thailand's Punnat Punsri is his nearest challenger with 22,750,000 (57 BBs). Daniel Braude rounds out the top three with 15,800,000 (40 BBs). Quan Zhou is close behind on 15,700,000 (39 BBs).
There are some familiar faces further down the counts, including high roller Mikita Badziakouski, who returns with 7,975,000 (20 BBs), and Ihar Soika, who has 11,275,000 (28 BBs).
At the other end of the leaderboard, Asaf Groofi faces an uphill battle with just 575,000 chips, leaving him with little room to manoeuvre ahead of Tuesday's final table.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Tsai | Taiwan | 28,000,000 | 70 |
| 2 | Punnat Punsri | Thailand | 22,750,000 | 57 |
| 3 | Daniel Braude | Israel | 15,800,000 | 40 |
| 4 | Quan Zhou | China | 15,700,000 | 39 |
| 5 | Raul Yunusov | Russia | 13,150,000 | 33 |
| 6 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 11,275,000 | 28 |
| 7 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 7,975,000 | 20 |
| 8 | Hu Chengxu | China | 6,125,000 | 15 |
| 9 | Asaf Groofi | Israel | 575,000 | 1 |
$5,000 NLH 8-Handed Mystery Bounty Payouts
| Place | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $293,000 |
| 2 | $179,000 |
| 3 | $128,000 |
| 4 | $97,000 |
| 5 | $77,000 |
| 6 | $59,122 |
| 7 | $43,000 |
| 8 | $29,100 |
| 9 | $23,100 |
Triton ONE North Cyprus Crowns Its First Champions
The Mystery Bounty is just one of several tournaments taking place at Triton ONE North Cyprus, which got underway earlier this month.
The festival opened with the $3,000 QQPK Genesis, which attracted a huge field of 912 entries and generated a $2,443,248 prize pool. Alin Ivan emerged victorious to collect $450,000, the largest first-place prize awarded at the festival so far.
Other early winners include Ran Azor, who took down the $2,000 NLH One Night, and Elena Yasyuchenya, who triumphed in the $3,000 One-W Championship.
Jingyao Yan also joined the winners' circle after capturing the $4,000 NLH Big Bounty for $41,000.
Triton ONE North Cyprus Results So Far
| Event | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 $3K QQPK Genesis | 912 | $2,443,248 | Alin Ivan | $450,000 |
| #2 $2K NLH One Night | 54 | $100,008 | Ran Azor | $21,000 |
| #6 $3K One-W Championship | 42 | $112,518 | Elena Yasyuchenya | $35,500 |
| #7 $4K NLH Big Bounty | 96 | $349,152 | Jingyao Yan | $41,000 |
Triton ONE Main Event Still to Come
There's plenty more poker to come in North Cyprus, with the $8,000 Triton ONE Main Event getting underway on November 10 and running through November 15.
The $15,000 Triton ONE High Roller is another major attraction on the remaining schedule, taking place from November 13-15, while players will also have opportunities to compete in a mixture of No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha and bounty tournaments.
Remaining Schedule of Triton One
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Nov 9-10 | #9 $10K NLH 7-Handed |
| Nov 9 | #11 $2K One-W Bounty Quattro |
| Nov 10-15 | #12 $8K Triton One Main Event* |
| Nov 10-11 | #13 $6K PLO 6-Handed |
| Nov 10 | #16 $2K NLH One Night |
| Nov 11 | #17 $3K PLO 6-Handed |
| Nov 11-12 | #18 $3K NLH Quest |
| Nov 12 | #20 $5K NLH 7-Handed |
| Nov 12 | #21 $2K PLO Turbo Bounty Quattro |
| Nov 13-15 | #22 $15K Triton One High Roller |
| Nov 14 | #25 $5K NLH Bounty Quattro |
Fans can follow all the action from the $5,000 NLH 8-Handed Mystery Bounty through the PokerNews live updates.
PokerNews will also be on the ground providing live reporting from the $8,000 Triton ONE Main Event when it gets underway on November 10, while our Daily Highlights Blog is keeping readers up to date with all the biggest hands, stories and results from across the festival in North Cyprus.
