Yang Wang's Bubble Magic Earns Day 2 Chip Lead in Triton Invitational

Before play resumed earlier today for Day 2 of the $200,000 Triton Invitational at the Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju II, the final details of the record-breaking event were still being settled, with late registration remaining open and the prize pool yet to be finalised at LES A Casino.

A total of 94 players returned after surviving Day 1, with 18 late registrants joining them as play got underway, bringing the Day 2 starting field to 112 players.

Overall, the 173 entries created a prize pool of $34,600,000, to be shared among the top 31 finishers. A minimum payout of $305,000 was guaranteed for each player who survived the bubble, while $7,250,000 was set aside for the winner, along with the coveted Triton trophy.

Ending the day as chip leader, Yang Wang enjoyed a prosperous bubble, which saw him go from an at-risk short stack to bursting the bubble himself in a hand that catapulted him to the summit of the chip counts, a position that he never relinquished. All said, the Chinese player amassed a 7,310,000 stack, good for 58 big blinds when Day 3 gets underway.

Hannes Jeschka bagged 5,840,000 to finish the day in second, while Emilien Pitavy sits just behind him in third with 4,180,000.

Triton Invitational Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Yang Wang	China	7,310,000	58
2	Hannes Jeschka	Austria	5,840,000	47
3	Emilien Pitavy	France	4,180,000	33
4	Teun Mulder	Netherlands	3,760,000	30
5	Thomas Boivin	Belgium	3,580,000	29
6	Adrian Mateos	Spain	3,575,000	29
7	Joao Simao	Brazil	3,075,000	25
8	Biao Ding	China	2,950,000	24
9	Winfred Yu	Hong Kong	2,790,000	22
10	Jesse Lonis	United States	2,775,000	22

Just outside the top five stacks sits the most recent Triton Invitational champion, Adrian Mateos, who will be looking to go back-to-back after taking down this event in Montenegro earlier this year. The Spaniard earned a career-best $6,370,000 for that victory and finished the day with 3,575,000, putting him well within striking distance of the chip leaders when the final day gets underway.

One spot below him on the leaderboard, Joao Simao will be more than happy with where he finished the day. Earlier in the day, Simao came out second best in a pot that left him with less than two big blinds. But after multiple all-ins, he managed to spin his stack back up, turning 145,000 into the 3,075,000 he put in his bag.

Further down the counts, Jesse Lonis (2,775,000), Matthias Eibinger (2,390,000), Seth Davies (1,965,000), Mehdi Chaoui (1,690,000) and Eric Wasserson (1,340,000) are just a few of the big names still in contention.

Day 2 Action

Shortly after play began, the prize pool and payouts were announced, and from then on, it was all about building a stack that could compete for the huge seven-figure payday awaiting the winner.

The action claimed heavy hitters such as Poker Hall of Famers Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius early on, with seven-time Triton champion Daniel Dvoress not faring any better. Triple Crown winner Mike Watson was among the next batch of exits, with another Hall of Famer, Nick Schulman, joining him to the rail shortly after.

Isaac Haxton's quest for a 78th Triton cash came crashing down, paving the way for a host of more big-name exits. Bryn Kenney, Mikita Badziakouski, Alex Kulev, Alexandros Theologis, Alex Foxen and Artur Martirosian leaving the room were welcome sights to the remaining players, and when Wiktor Malinowski departed, the tournament was on the stone bubble.

The Bubble

While the bubble lasted only around ten hands of hand-for-hand play, it was packed with action.

First, Thomas Boivin survived when at risk, before Winfred Yu held in a three-way pot to triple up. Two more players then survived all-in situations before it was end-of-day chip leader Yang Wang's turn to try and avoid the dreaded title of bubble boy.

Not only did Yang manage that, doubling up with aces against Jesse Lonis, but just a few hands later, after another player had already registered the sixth all-in survival, Yang found himself in a position to burst the bubble himself, when he played a monumental pot against Semi Sun, a fellow top-three stack.

When the hand reached the river, Sun turned his hand into a bluff and moved all-in. His bluff didn't come close to working, though, as Yang snap-called with a full house. That left Sun to contemplate his play, as he headed to the exit while the remaining players received confirmation of their spot in the payouts.

The bubble bursting sparked a flurry of eliminations, with play continuing until just 16 players remained.

Ben Heath was the first to fall in the money, with two of the previous bubble survivors, Ramin Hajiyev and Wai Kin Yong, following Heath out the door shortly after. Jessica Teusl then fell in 22nd place, before Stephen Chidwick's hunt for another Triton trophy came to a premature end in 19th place. Two further quick-fire eliminations brought the field down to its required number, and the remaining players bagged their chips.

The surviving 16 players will return for Day 3 at 1 p.m. local time and continue playing until a champion is crowned. The action will resume with 35 minutes of Level 23 left on the clock, with blinds of 50,000/125,000 and a 125,000 big blind ante.   

Each player is guaranteed $460,000 upon their return, but when play resumes, just 15 players sit between them and a $7,250,000 payday.   