button in SafariJingyao Yan Claims Day 1b Chip Lead Days After Winning Triton ONE Trophy
Just three days ago, Jingyao Yan became a Triton ONE champion. Yan, a regular at Triton's Super High Roller Series Jeju stops, won his first-ever Triton trophy in the $4,000 NLH Big Bounty. Evidently, Yan carried that momentum into the $8,000 Triton ONE North Cyprus Main Event, dominating the later stages of Day 1b, the second of three starting flights, and closing it out as the overwhelming chipleader of the 73 players who survived the day.
At the end of the night, Yan bagged 4,130,000, becoming the only player on Day 1b to cross the four-million mark, which means his stack will be worth just over 100 big blinds when play resumes on Day 2. Turkish player Kursad Bayrakci concluded a strong performance throughout the day with a stack of 3,300,000, while five-time Triton SHRS champion Mikita Badziakouski placed third with 2,965,000, hunting a Triton ONE title to add to his resume.
With 363 entries recorded on Day 1b, the total after two of the three starting flights stands at 629 entries, already creating a massive $4,5747,17 prize pool, and what will most likely be the largest starting day has yet to get underway.
End of Day 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jingyao Yan | China | 4,130,000 | 103 |
| 2 | Kursad Bayrakci | Turkey | 3,300,000 | 83 |
| 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 2,965,000 | 74 |
| 4 | Rafael Navas | Spain | 2,900,000 | 73 |
| 5 | Dimitar Danchev | Bulgaria | 2,815,000 | 70 |
| 6 | Marcelo Aziz | Brazil | 2,585,000 | 65 |
| 7 | Eero Abbey | Finland | 2,565,000 | 64 |
| 8 | Andreas Christoforou | Cyprus | 2,155,000 | 54 |
| 9 | Terrance Reid | United States | 2,035,000 | 51 |
| 10 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 2,025,000 | 51 |
Badziakouski's fellow Triton champion Dimitar Danchev also finished in the top ten, and they were not the only ones with Triton hardware to qualify on Day 1b. Joao Vieira (1,860,000), Ognyan Dimov (1,255,000), Andras Nemeth (1,220,000), and Winfred Yu (580,000) have all hoisted a Triton SHRS trophy in the past, and will be looking to add a Triton ONE trophy to their prize cabinet.
Meanwhile, Yan will be joined on Day 2 by fellow Triton ONE champions Chengxu Hu (1,305,000), Yoko Sasaki (1,190,000), Alin Ivan (950,000), Johan Schultz-Pedersen (730,000), Yang Siang Ang (575,000) and Benedek Farkas (465,000).
Defending champion Wenjie Zhao fired a bullet on Day 1b, but did not make it to the end of the day. He was joined at the rail by the likes of Klemens Roiter, Hannes Jeschka, Joris Ruijs, Leo Margets, Aleksejs Ponakovs, Hossein Ensan, Daniel Rezaei, Mike Watson, Danny Tang, Eric Tsai, Punnat Punsri, and Leon Sturm, the last of which became the final elimination of the day.
All those poker luminaries will have a final shot at making Day 2 tomorrow, November 12, when Day 1c kicks off at noon local time. Day 1c will follow the same structure as the previous starting flights, meaning 15 40-minute levels will be played. More importantly, only a single reentry will be allowed, so each player will only have two more bullets to fire in the Triton ONE Main Event. The eventual survivors from Day 1c will join the 119 players who have made it through so far for Day 2 on November 13, at noon local time.
PokerNews will continue its in-depth live coverage of the Triton ONE Main Event when Day 1c gets underway, so make sure to tune back in as a full house is expected.