button in SafariDanilo Velasevic Leads Triton $100,000 Main Event as Nick Schulman Joins Late to Secure Second
An action-packed opening day of the $100,000 NLH Main Event has come to an end inside LES A Casino, with 73 players successfully making it through to the end of the day.
As expected, the marquee event of the Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju II attracted a star-studded field, with 160 entries already recorded and a $16,000,000 prize pool created. With registration remaining open until the start of Day 2, both figures are set to grow before the cards are back in the air.
Danilo Velasevic was never far from the top of the counts throughout the day and ultimately finished as chip leader, bagging 1,864,000 to take the overnight lead into Day 2.
Just behind the chip leader is 2025 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Nick Schulman, who joined the field late after spending much of the day running deep in the $50,000 event. After locking up a runner-up finish in that event for $810,279, he jumped straight into the Main Event. Getting to work quickly, his ascent to the top of the leaderboard was aided by eliminating another poker legend, Patrik Antonius, before going on to bag 1,381,000 to claim second place on the leaderboard.
Completing the overnight podium, Malaysia's Lun Loon ended the day with 1,350,000.
Triton Main Event Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danilo Velasevic | Serbia | 1,864,000 | 186 |
| 2 | Nick Schulman | United States | 1,381,000 | 138 |
| 3 | Lun Loon | Malaysia | 1,350,000 | 135 |
| 4 | Jean-Noel Thorel | France | 1,236,000 | 124 |
| 5 | Chahnhoon Jung | United States | 1,185,000 | 119 |
| 6 | Alex Foxen | United States | 1,173,000 | 117 |
| 7 | Jingyao Yan | China | 1,096,000 | 110 |
| 8 | Quan Zhou | China | 1,018,000 | 102 |
| 9 | Hannes Jeschka | Germany | 868,000 | 87 |
| 10 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | 810,000 | 81 |
Just missing out on the top three, Jean-Noel Thorel seized the tournament chip lead early and never strayed far from the top spots. Thorel has two runner-up finishes in Triton Main Events and got off to the best start possible, as he looks to go one spot better. In one of the day's highlight hands, he clashed with Nick Petrangelo and made quads to crack Petrangelo's aces, sending him to the rail. Thorel ultimately ended the day with 1,236,000, while Petrangelo failed to bag any chips after re-entering.
Four-time Triton champion Alex Foxen sits just outside the top five, having bagged 1,025,000 to put himself in a strong position heading into Day 2. Just a couple of spots behind him is Danny Tang, the most recent Triton $100,000 Main Event champion, who will look to follow up his Montenegro victory with another deep run in Jeju.
Loitering outside the top ten, Isaac Haxton (801,000) and Patrik Antonius (798,000) are both well placed, with the latter running up a stack after re-entering following his collision with Schulman. Ben Tollerene (775,000), Stephen Chidwick (742,000), Matthias Eibinger (721,000) and Daniel Dvoress (672,000) also showed. Eibinger and Dvoress both bring seven Triton titles to the table, underlining the quality still left in the field.
Further down the counts, Jesse Lonis (550,000), Seth Davies (515,000), Phil Ivey (438,000) and Biao Ding (428,000) remain firmly in contention, while Ben Heath (184,000) and Sam Greenwood (176,000) also punched their tickets to Day 2, albeit a little further down the counts.
Day 2 kicks off on Tuesday, September 15, at 1:00 p.m. local time, with play resuming on Level 11, with blinds of 5,000/10,000 and a 10,000 big blind ante. The plan for the day is to play through 13 more levels, with a 15-minute break scheduled after every two levels and a 45-minute dinner break coming at the end of Level 16.
Fans can follow the action with live coverage streamed on YouTube from the start of Day 2, with a one-hour delay. To avoid spoilers, PokerNews coverage will follow the same delay.
Keep it locked in to PokerNews, as we bring all the action live from the felt until a Triton Main Event champion is crowned.