Matthias Eibinger Wins First Bracelet, Triton Poker Title of 2025 WSOP Paradise Series
Matthias Eibinger won a Triton Poker trophy and a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the same day — and same event — on Friday evening.
The Austrian high roller conquered WSOP Paradise Event #2: $75,000 Triton PLO 6-Handed for $1,570,640 and his first WSOP bracelet. He defeated 93 entries for the largest chunk of the $6,975,000 prize pool at the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas, the first completed event of the series.
Not only did Eibinger win a bracelet, but he also earned his fifth Triton Poker title, and first since 2022. He put on a strong performance at the final table, and also benefited from the river card during three-handed play in a hand he had nothing to do with.
Dylan Weisman, who suffered a bad beat in the aforementioned hand against Mike Watson, went out in third place in what was an entertaining final table. But had the river bricked, he would have instead found himself heads-up with a massive chip lead.
First WSOP Paradise Bracelet on the Line
Day 2 kicked off with 12 players returning to action, all of whom were in the money. Stephen Chidwick, a slam dunk future Poker Hall of Famer, entered the session with the chip lead, and he was playing for a little something more than everyone else. That's because the British poker legend is closing in on Bryn Kenney for the top live poker tournament money leader in history.
According to The Hendon Mob, Kenney entered the series with just over $78.7 million in lifetime cashes, while Chidwick, at $74.4 million, had an opportunity to cut that deficit nearly in half. All he had to do was hold onto that chip lead one more day and walk away with his third gold bracelet.
Chidwick would fall back to the pack a bit early in the session before scooping a sizable pot against Ben Lamb, who later fell in seventh place for $324,000. That left six players to battle it out at the official final table, as this was a six-handed event.
Triton Poker $75k PLO Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthias Eibinger | Austria | $1,570,640 |
| 2 | Michael Watson | Canada | $1,459,360 |
| 3 | Dylan Weisman | United States | $809,000 |
| 4 | Richard Gryko | United Kingdom | $655,500 |
| 5 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $526,500 |
| 6 | Biao Ding | Hong Kong | $412,000 |
Biao Ding, who earned a double against Lamb, went all in with kings among his four hole cards, but lost to Eibinger's straight and was out in sixth place, good for $412,000. The start-of-day chip leader was the next to go when Chidwick, who had become the short stack, went all in with J♣9♣9♠2♥ and lost to Eibinger's A♣K♠8♦7♣ when the big stack hit two pair.
Chidwick was eliminated in fifth place, a $526,500 payday, which leaves him about $3.7 million short of Kenney. He'll have plenty more opportunities at the 2025 WSOP Paradise series to take over the lead for the first time in his career.
Eibinger then added another victim to his dominant final table performance when his aces held up against Richard Gryko's drawing hand. Gryko, who cracked the $6 million lifetime mark, was sent to the rails in fourth place for $809,000.
Three-handed play was intense, thanks in large part to one epic hand. Weisman, the chip leader with A♥Q♦Q♣5♦, went all in against Watson and his A♣K♣J♥3♠. The flop and turn came 2♥9♣8♠5♣, and all Weisman needed was for his opponent to brick the river and then he'd reach heads-up play with a big chip lead. But the K♦ on the river gave Watson the crucial massive pot.
Weisman would then bow out in third place for $809,000, leaving Watson and Eibinger to negotiate a chop arrangment. Both players were close in chips, so the payouts were nearly identical.
Eibinger, who had a slight lead when heads-up play began, would hold on to finish off the quick heads-up match when he hit a straight on the river. Watson, a Canadian bracelet winner, took home $1,459,360 and his sixth runner-up finish in a WSOP bracelet event.
Eibinger Hails "Special Victory"
Eibinger told interviewers following his victory that he had packed a suit just in case he made it to a final table. But even the most optimistic of poker players wouldn't have expected to be breaking it out so soon, and Eibinger said he hadn't expected it, not just because it's one of the first events on the WSOP Paradise schedule, but also because it happened to be his first Triton Pot-Limit Omaha event.
"I think it would be a bit greedy to expect to final table it right away," he told PokerNews. "But the way it went yesterday, it started really badly. Three bullets within one hour. But from there, suddenly everything worked out. I ended the day as chip leader, and now it ended like this. I can't believe it."
"That keeps me motivated to hunt those titles."
"It's definitely a very special victory," he said. "It just makes me hungry for more [bracelets]. But I also know it's going to be a bit tough because I'm not hunting them and playing a full schedule in Las Vegas during the summer, so I only get some shots in the few high rollers that I play each year. I'm super happy that it worked out."
"It's fantastic because I win one tournament and now I have the WSOP title and another Triton title, which is really important to me. That keeps me motivated to hunt those titles."
Eibinger extends his lead as his country's all-time money list leader with over $26 million in live earnings and says he's now looking forward to the rest of the WSOP Paradise festival.
"I'm just going to play everything that I wanted to play. But now I see it more relaxed. I already have the big score, the big lock-up to start with. So it doesn't matter whether the flips are going my way or not, I'll just be relaxed and enjoy it."
*Pictures courtesy of Triton Poker Series.