HK $1,000,000 Main Event
Day 1 Completed
2017 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro
HK $1,000,000 Main Event
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro
Buy-in
1,000,000 HKD
Entries
52
Level
24
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
25,000
Wang Qiang Leads Triton Super High Roller 2017 Montenegro Main Event After Day 1
Level 9
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
The Triton Super High Roller 2017 Montenegro Main Event saw a total of 47 players (including re-entries) cough up the hefty HK$1,000,000 (~$128,140) buy-in with nine players opting for a second (or third in some cases) shot at fortune and glory when the cards failed to fall their way.
A total of 25 players successfully locked up their Day 2 seat after nine 60-minute levels with China’s Wang Qiang leading the charge, but with registration remaining open until the start of level 10 at 1pm CET on Wednesday 19 July this figure is likely to increase before the final numbers are in.
Fedor Holz, Liang Yu, and David Peters were just some of those who chose to re-enter with Dominik Nitsche and Paul Phua choosing to re-enter not twice, but thrice.
Phua re-entered for a third time just as play concluded a little after 11:15pm CET after losing a race with pocket tens against the ace-queen of Sam Trickett in one of the last three hands of the day and Phua will be returning with the 250,000 start stack when play resumes on Day 2.
However, it was 2016 Global Poker Index Player of the Year David Peters' exit that was one of the more painful ones, at least for the US-pro, who got the last of his chips in on the turn with jack-six offsuit after defending his big blind against a Wang Qiang early position open midway through the last level.
Peter’s had flopped top and bottom pair but was trailing to Qiang’s flopped set of nines. However, one man’s poison is another man’s meat and that pot catapulted Qiang up to the giddy heights of the chip lead with the Chinese player the only man to break the seven-figure mark.
Qiang bagged up an impressive 1,040,000 in chips, snatching the lead from Belarusian Mikita Badziakouski who had been in pole position for a large portion of the day after eliminating China’sLiang Yu partway through level two to climb to double the average stack.
Badziakouski used this early lead to stick near the top of the leaderboard for the majority of the day and he finished play just behind Qiang with a stack of 843,000.
Another player who was able to capitalize on some early good fortune was Greece’s Antonios Paschalidis who won a monster pot from John Juanda midway through the day with the two getting all the chips in on an eight-high flop in a four-bet pot with pocket kings and pocket queens respectively. Paschalidis stacked up to 830,000 in chips after the hand, a stack he managed to maintain until play concluded, though Juanda was not so fortunate.
Defending champion Koray Aldemir (146,000) and former champion Wai Kin Yong (247,000) are amongst the hopefuls that will return for Day 2 with the seat draw as follows:
Main Event Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | David Peters | USA | 249,000 |
| 1 | 6 | Dominik Bosnjak | Austria | 85,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Antonios Paschalidis | Greece | 830,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Wang Qiang | China | 1,040,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Predrag Lekovic | Montenegro | 357,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Liang Yu | China | 473,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Salman Behbehani | Kuwait | 225,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Fedor Holz | Germany | 386,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Dominik Nitsche | UK | 182,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Chan Wai Leong | Malaysia | 688,000 |
| 2 | 1 | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | 289,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 813,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Steffen Sondheimer | Austria | 487,000 |
| 3 | 3 | Lucas Greenwood | Canada | 208,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Sam Trickett | UK | 710,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Manig Loeser | UK | 584,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Tony Cheng | Hong Kong | 706,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | 247,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Peter Chan | Hong Kong | 697,000 |
| 4 | 1 | Su Hao | China | 334,000 |
| 5 | 8 | Koray Aldemir | Austria | 146,000 |
| 5 | 7 | Richard Yong | Malaysia | 577,000 |
| 5 | 5 | Daniel Cates | USA | 776,000 |
| 5 | 3 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 440,000 |
| 5 | 1 | Devan Tang | Hong Kong | 214,000 |
The action will resume at exactly 1pm CET with level 10 and blinds of 4,000-8,000 with a running ante of 1,000. All new entries will receive 250,000 in chips and the event is scheduled to play down to the official eight-handed final table on Day 2. A winner will then determined on Thursday 20 July, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to provide all the action.
Last Gasp Burst of Action to Close out Triton SHR Day 1
Level 9
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Day 1 of the Triton Super High Roller 2017 Montenegro Main Event is now done and dusted with China’s Wang Qiang snatching the chip lead away from Belarus’ Mikita Badziakouski midway through the last level of the day.
While the official chip counts have still to come in it appears that Qiang bagged up an impressive 1,040,000 with Badziakouski coming in as the next largest stack, finishing play with a stack of 843,000, closely followed by Greece’s Antonios Paschalidis who bagged up 830,000.
As is usually the case there was a last gasp burst of action with Paul Phua busting his second buy-in at the hands of Sam Trickett with all the chips finding their way into the middle pre-flop.
It was a fair fight with Phua’s pocket tens racing against Trickett’s ace-queen and the British pro spiked a queen on the turn to send Phua out of his own event for a second time while Trickett stacked up to over 700,000.
Timofey ‘Trueteller’ Kuznetsov was another late casualty, moving all-in for his last 100,000 from the big blind over the top of a Predrag Lekovic 15,000 under-the-gun open. The Montenegrin player made a speedy call and the cards were turned over.
Timofey Kuznetsov: 
Predrag Lekovic: 
The 
flop brought something for everyone and Kuznetsov picked up some additional outs when the 
hit the turn. However, the 
river was not one of them and the Russian busted on the very last hand of the day while Lekovic stacked up to 357,000.
There will be a full end of day write up and official chip counts to follow so watch this space.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
843,000 | 28,000 |
|
830,000 | 80,000 |
|
357,000 | 37,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
Tang Doubles Through Behbehani Before Last Three Hands Announced
Level 9
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Salman Behbehani opened the action with a raise from the cutoff and Deven Tang moved all-in for his last 100,000 from the small blind with Behbehani calling immediately.
Devan Tang: 
Salman Behbehani: 
Tang was the at-risk player and while he paired his jack on the 
flop the Hong Kong player was still trailing to Behbehani’s overpair until the hit the turn to ‘ooohhhs!’ and ‘aaahhhs!’ from the table, Behbehani included.
"Wow! Didn't see that coming," said Behbehani.
The 
river saw Tang lock in the double and he climbed to 210,000 while Behbehani dropped to 220,000. Paul Phua drew for the last number of hands to be played shortly afterward with the magic number being three. The clock has now been paused and just three hands remain between the 28 remaining players and the end of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
220,000 | -112,000 |
|
210,000 | 125,000 |
Qiang Busts Peters to Seize Lead
Level 9
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
We caught David Peters involved in a sizable pot against the deep-stacked Wang Qiang that resulted in the US player’s unceremonious exit from the tournament and it was a bit of a brutal cooler, at least for Peters as Qiang was obviously quite happy at this particular turn of events.
We picked up the action on the turn with over 125,000 in blinds and antes in the pot with the board reading 
with Peters (big blind) deep in the think tank.
Eventually, Peters moved all-in and was beaten into the pot by Qiang, who quickly tabled 
. Peters disgustedly flipped over his 
flopped two pairs and with no jack making an appearance on the 
river he headed for the cash desk to re-enter while Qiang raked in the sizable pot to become the first player to join the seven-figure club, stacking up to over 1-million in chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,015,000 | 660,000 |
|
Busted |
Big Stacks Going into the Last Level
Level 9
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
There is just one level remaining before play concludes for the day with Mikita Badziakouski the man currently leading the charge with a stack of 815,000, closely followed by Tony Cheng (800,000) and Antonios Paschalidis (750,000) rounding out the top three. Of course this could all change in the next 60-minutes but we will be keeping a close eye on these three for the time being.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
815,000 | 100,000 |
|
800,000 | -6,000 |
|
|
750,000 | -135,000 |
Level: 9
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 1,000
Break started
Break: 10 min.
Peters Picks Off Chan Before Break
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
David Peters has been having a torrid time of it so far today though the US player’s stack is finally moving in the right direction and he is now over the 250,000 starting stack for the first time since level one.
We caught Peters in action against Peter Chan with the pair battling it out in a hand on the river with roughly 140,000 in blinds and antes in the pot with the board reading 
just as Chan (button) fired for 70,000.
Peters thought it over for quite some time before throwing out a single turquoise 25k chip to represent the call.
“Good call,” said Chan, mucking his hand when Peter’s turned over to climb to 275,000 while Chan dropped to 440,000.
Player’s are now on a short 10-minute break while the black 100-chips are raced off and there is just one level left before play concludes for the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
440,000 | -47,000 |
|
|
275,000 | 80,000 |
Hao Folds Out Yong, Badziakouski Takes From Holz
Level 8
: 2,500/5,000, 500 ante
We were lurking by current frontrunner Tony Cheng’s table hoping to get the Hong Kong player in action and were rewarded with a small hand, but it ended almost as soon as it started. Action folded around to Cheng on the button and he made it 14,000 to go before a short-stacked Lucas Greenwood moved all-in from the big blind for close to 90,000. Cheng folded instantly and Greenwood stacked up to 110,000.
Former Triton SHR Champion Wai Kin Yong opened the next hand with a raise to 12,000 from the hi-jack with neighbor and 6-Max runner up Su Hao then re-raising to 27,000 from the cutoff.
Action folded back around to Yong who looked over at Hao for a while before tossing out the call and it was heads-up to a monochrome flop of 
.
Yong checked, Hao slid out a single turquoise 25k chip and Yong folded immediately, dropping down to 257,000 while Hao climbed up to 315,000.
We were rewarded with a slightly more exciting hand over on Fedor Holz table and caught the German player involved in a hand against the big-stacked Mikita Badziakouski.
Holz, sitting in the cutoff, was the player in position and there was close to 25,000 in the pot with the flop spread 
. Badziakouski had just checked the action over to Holz, who bet 8,000, which the Belarusian called after a few seconds thinking things over.
The 
turn saw Badziakouski check for a second time and Holz fired again, this time for a slightly larger 27,000. Badziakouski thought things over for a little longer but eventually slid in the call and it was off to the 
river.
That was it for the betting and, first to act, Badziaksouki turned over for two pair – tens and fives – and Holz threw his hand away to drop down to 133,000 while Badziakouski climbed to 715,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
806,000 | -14,000 |
|
|
715,000 | -55,000 |
|
315,000 | 35,000 |
|
257,000 | -28,500 |
|
133,000 | -17,000 |
|
110,000 | 27,000 |