Triton Co-Founder Phua Leads the Final Nine into an Extra Day
The Triton £100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event has been forced into the third day of action after a record-breaking 130 entrants took to the tables and created a £12,200,000 prize pool.
After over 12 hours of poker today, just nine players remain in contention of the £3,080,000 first-place prize.
Triton co-founder Paul Phua will return as the chipleader with 5,875,000. However, after a crazy penultimate hand of the night occurred, Phua might be wondering how he wasn't able to accumulate more. Daniel Cates raised with ace-jack and Phua defended his big blind with pocket threes before the flop fell ace-ace-three. Phua twice called a bet from Cates, and when Phua check-raised all in on the river, Cates managed to make a strong laydown after over two minutes in the tank.
Ben Heath (5,810,000) and Wai Kin Yong (5,030,000), son of Phua's fellow Triton co-founder Richard Yong complete the top three counts.
Michael Soyza (3,870,000) and Michael Chi Zhang (3,740,000) are followed by Triton Million fourth-place finisher Stephen Chidwick (2,955,000), Sam Greenwood (2,385,000), the fourth Malaysian player Wai Leong Chan (1,650,000) and Cates (1,200,000), who will return as the shortest stack after his big laydown against Phua.
Official Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Phua | Malaysia | 5,875,000 |
| 2 | Wai Leong Chan | Malaysia | 1,650,000 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 2,955,000 |
| 5 | Michael Soyza | Malaysia | 3,870,000 |
| 6 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 2,385,000 |
| 7 | Michael Chi Zhang | United Kingdom | 3,740,000 |
| 8 | Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | 5,030,000 |
| 9 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | 5,810,000 |
| 10 | Daniel Cates | United States | 1,200,000 |
Action of the day
Early departures on Day 2 included Ivan Leow, David Peters, Igor Kurganov, Chin Wei Lim, Christoph Vogelsang, Cary Katz, Linus Loeliger and former big stack Nick Schulman.
Frenchman Jean-Noel Thorel had run his stack up to over a million but exited less than 30 minutes later after he ran into pocket aces.
New all-time money list leader and Triton Million runner-up Bryn Kenney was unable to continue his momentum and exited early, with partypoker pros Jason Koon, Fedor Holz, and Timofey Kuznetsov also failing to make the money spots.
Justin Bonomo brought the action to hand-for-hand play after he scored a double knockout at the expense of Randy Lew and partypoker's Mikita Badziakouski.
It was a tense time for many short stacks, including Bonomo who himself doubled up Michael Chi Zhang moments after his big win, but ultimately it was to be Choon Tong Siow who exited without a cash for his efforts.
Siow put his final ten big blinds into the middle from the small blind with ace-king after Michael Soyza had shoved from the button with ace-seven. A seven appeared on the flop to switch the advantage in Soyza's favor, and Siow was unable to find a miraculous comeback to survive.
Wiktor Malinowski (17th-£192,000) hit the rail after Daniel Cates cracked pocket eights holding pocket fives and Malinowski was left with just five big blinds. The Pole then departed when his jack-ten ran into king-nine and found no help from the board.
Cates then continued his momentum and secured a double knockout in the form of Timothy Adams (16th-£192,000) and Justin Bonomo (15th-£201,600). Cates held pocket kings and secured the pot against Adams' jack-seven and Bonomo's ace-nine.
Sosia Jiang (14th-£201,600) lost a vital flip holding ace-nine against Sam Greenwood's pocket sixes and departed in the very next hand after being unable to spin up the remaining three big blinds.
Tan Xuan (13th-£220,000) had held the chip lead for the majority of Day 1 and was a near ever-present at the top of counts in Day 2. But his luck ran out in brutal fashion when he collided pocket kings into Chidwick's pocket aces.
partypoker pro Isaac Haxton (12th-£220,000) three-bet all in with ace-nine only to lose a flip against Ben Heath's pocket sevens in the penultimate level of the day.
Liang Xu (11th-£250,400) saw his final two blind blinds turn to dust when he ran queen-jack into pocket kings before Matthias Eibinger (10th-£250,500) missed out on a place at the final table after ace-five was no good against pocket sixes.
Join us back here at PokerNews for continued coverage from London with it all on the line for a seven-figure top prize once again!
and Matthias Eibinger, holding 
, moved all in for 1,670,000 and the players turned over their hands with Eibinger at risk.
, hitting Eibinger with a pair but he was still behind. A 
on the turn didn't help Eibinger and he still needed to hit to stay alive. The 
river was not one of the cards he needed and he was eliminated by the sixes of Chan, taking an exit in tenth place.
, and Wai Kin Yong called on the button with 
.
, and Xu moved all in for 310,000 which Yong snap-called. 
turn and 
river cards fell, Xu was eliminated.
. Heath called and Haxton was at risk of elimination.
peeled off on the turn, leaving Haxton with one more chance to catch a card and stay alive. 
and moved all in for 700,000. Chidwick snap-called and the two tabled their hands with Xuan at risk.
on the flop, giving Chidwick a boat and Xuan was now drawing to runner-runner kings to save his day. 
turn card sealed the deal for Chidwick as Xuan was drawing dead to the 
river card, being eliminated in 13th place.
, Michael Soyza called in the small blind with 
out on the flop, Soyza checked to Eibinger who bet 255,000 and Soyza called. A 
landed on the turn, Soyza checked and Eibinger moved all in for 1,525,000. Soyza snap-called and the players turned over their hands. 
landed on the river for Eibinger, doubling through Soyza with his rivered flush, eliminating Jiang in the process.
completed the board and Cates' kings held on for the pot, eliminating both of his opponents.
, and Michael Chi Zhang called from the big blind with 
flop.