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Back in 2018, Mikita Badziakouski was crowned champion in the Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event in both Montenegro and Jeju, and to this date, he is the only player ever to win back-to-back Main Event titles. Eight years later, as a new day has dawned upon the Merit Royal Hotel & Spa, Badziakouski has a shot at becoming the only player to win both a SHRS Main Event and a Triton ONE Main Event, as the Belarusian superstar is one of only 24 players remaining in the Triton ONE North Cyprus $8,000 Main Event, from the impressive field of 1,006 entries.
However, Badziakouski will need to pull off a serious comeback if he wants to make it to the final table and battle for the biggest prizes of the $7,316,600 prize pool, including the $1,320,000 top payout. After all, he starts Day 3, which kicks off at noon local time today, with just 1,450,000, worth just under five big blinds and by far the shortest stack.
At the other side of the spectrum is Yiwen Yuan. She begins Day 3 as chipleader with 25,450,000, eyeing her second final table of the series after the Women's Championship. Mohamed El-Wely, the final representative from Africa, sits in second as the Mauritanian bagged 22,800,000 on Day 3. Mahmoud Bedoui rounds out the top three with 22,275,000, while Nikita Kuznetsov and Alex Anton also obtained a top-ten stack.
End of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yiwen Yuan | China | 24,450,000 | 82 |
| 2 | Mohamed El-Wely | Mauritania | 22,800,000 | 76 |
| 3 | Mahmoud Bedoui | Germany | 22,275,000 | 74 |
| 4 | Nikita Kuznetsov | Russian Federation | 17,150,000 | 57 |
| 5 | Ken Tong | Hong Kong | 15,100,000 | 50 |
| 6 | Mehmet Samsa | Turkey | 13,800,000 | 46 |
| 7 | Alex Anton | United States | 13,250,000 | 44 |
| 8 | Zhuoqun Zhang | China | 11,700,000 | 39 |
| 8 | Jingyao Yan | China | 11,700,000 | 39 |
| 10 | Anatolii Savin | Russian Federation | 11,000,000 | 37 |
Badziakouski and Anton will be joined by fellow Triton SHRS regulars Paulius Vaitiekunas (10,025,000) and Biao Ding (8,600,000). Jon Vallinas Santos finished runner-up at the previous Triton ONE Main Event, back in March in Jeju, and is looking to turn his 5,750,000 into back-to-back final tables for a shot at redemption. Having won his first Triton ONE trophy in a $2k Turbo just a few days ago, Vallinas has all but locked up the Player of the Year race, but he will still want to finish his astounding year at Triton ONE events with a bang.
Day 3 of the Triton ONE North Cyprus Main Event is the penultimate day of the tournament, playing down to the final six players. The blinds will restart with roughly 3 minutes to go in Level 25: 150,000/300,000 (300,000), after which each subsequent level will last for 60 minutes, and a 20-minute break is scheduled after every two levels.
All the action will be streamed live on Triton Poker's YouTube and Twitch channels today, with the three remaining tables all being featured. The stream will start with a 60-minute delay, and the PokerNews updates will follow, preventing spoilers.
The 24 remaining contenders have secured a payout of at least $37,000, but are only one elimination away from a pay jump to $44,000. Six-figure prizes await the top eight, while the six players bagging today will walk away with at least $235,000 each. Meanwhile, only the champion will be awarded a seven-figure sum.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,320,000 | 9 | $98,000 | |
| 2 | $793,000 | 10-11 | $83,000 | |
| 3 | $561,000 | 12-13 | $73,500 | |
| 4 | $420,000 | 14-15 | $66,000 | |
| 5 | $321,000 | 16-17 | $58,500 | |
| 6 | $235,000 | 18-20 | $51,000 | |
| 7 | $177,000 | 21-23 | $44,000 | |
| 8 | $127,000 | 24-27 | $37,000 |
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The Triton ONE Main Event has reached its business end, and PokerNews will continue its in-depth live report. Stay tuned as Day 3 will get underway shortly.