Event #5: $250,000 Triton Invitational Day 1 | 2025 WSOP Paradise

12-07-2025 14:24 UTC-4

Elamawy Shows a Winner

Josh Noy

Level 1 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Three-way action saw Brandon Steven, Gabriel Andrade, and Sameh Elamawy all commit 8,000 before the 7♦K♦8♠ flop.

Andrade checked in the small blind, and Elamawy fired another 8,000 into the middle. Only Steven called to see the K♣ turn, and Elamawy slid out a bet of 15,000.

The call was made, and the dealer turned over the 3♠ river. Elamawy fired one last time for 25,000. After taking a moment, Steven called.

"Nines," Elamawy claimed as he showed 9♠9♣. That was enough to claim the pot, as Steven slid his cards into the muck.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sameh Elamawy	340,000 40,000	40,000
Gabriel Andrade	288,000 12,000	12,000
Brandon Steven	215,000 85,000	85,000

Tags: Brandon Steven Gabriel Andrade Sameh Elamawy

12-07-2025 14:20 UTC-4

Three Barrels From Davies Gets It Done

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Will Shillibier

Level 1 : Blinds 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

On the very first hand of the tournament, Patrik Antonius opened to 2,500 from early position and Seth Davies three-bet to 8,500 from the cutoff.

Antonius called and then check-called 6,000 on the Q♣9♣5♥ flop. He check-called 16,000 on the 7♣ turn and the river was the J♣.

Antonius checked, and Davies fired a third bullet of 35,000. Antonius peeked down at his cards and mucked.

Player	Chips	Progress
Seth Davies	330,000 30,000	30,000

Patrik Antonius	270,000 30,000	30,000

Tags: Patrik Antonius Seth Davies

Level: 1

Blinds: 500/1,000

Ante: 1,000

12-07-2025 13:15 UTC-4

Flashback: Yinan Zhou Bluffs Poker's Toughest Opponent to Win 2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Kaelaine Minton

Last year at Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas, 24-year-old Yinan Zhou bluffed poker's toughest opponent, busted his poker idol and became the first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise Super Main Event champion as he won the $25,000 buy-in event in The Bahamas for $6,000,000 and his first bracelet.

The Super Main Event, a $50 million guaranteed event, drew 1,978 runners across four live starting flights and three online flights.

China's Zhou pulled off an impressive bluff against chip leader and sixth-place finisher Michael Addamo, who a few years ago was nominated for "Players Choice for Toughest Opponent" at the GPI awards.

"I'm feeling calm, to be honest," Zhou said. "When I started the final table nine-handed ... I (felt) very nervous, especially the big river bluff against Addamo. But when we got down to six, I (felt) very calm ... I just enjoy(ed) this final table."

2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize (USD)
1	Yinan Zhou	China	$6,000,000
2	Marcelo Aziz	Brazil	$4,600,000
3	Mustapha Kanit	Italy	$3,600,000
4	Liv Boeree	United Kingdom	$2,800,000
5	Christopher Nguyen	Austria	$2,100,000
6	Michael Addamo	Australia	$1,650,000
7	Justin Bonomo	United States	$1,300,000
8	Vadzim Lipauka	Belarus	$1,000,000
9	Georg Lehmann	Germany	$750,000

Read the Full Recap Here

12-07-2025 13:05 UTC-4

Play to Begin Shortly, Live Reporting on Delay

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Josh Noy

Invitees and poker pros have taken their seats, and action will get underway shortly.

PokerNews reporting will begin on a 60-minute delay to match the Triton stream.

12-07-2025 11:45 UTC-4

Koon Ready to Go!

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Josh Noy

https://twitter.com/JasonKoon/status/1997692453210697932

12-07-2025 11:11 UTC-4

Triton Invitational Returns at WSOP Paradise

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Josh Noy

The highest buy-in event of the 2025 World Series of Poker Paradise is set to begin at Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas, with invitees and poker professionals ready to face off once again.

Day 1 of the Event #5: $250,000 Triton Invitational begins at 12 p.m. local time, as the invitation-only event returns for another exciting edition of this unique tournament. A total of 49 teams have been entered, resulting in a starting field of 98 players.

Last year in Paradise, Argentina's Alejandro Lococo earned his first WSOP gold bracelet to go with the first-place prize of $12,070,000. The collaboration between WSOP and Triton drew 96 entrants for a $48 million prize pool, with Lococo defeating Benjamin Heath ($8,160,000) to claim victory.

The first Triton Invitational was contested in London back in 2019, with Aaron Zang emerging as the inaugural champion. Since then, the likes of Bryn Kenney, Dan Smith, Patrik Antonius and Lococo are among the players who have added their names to the prestigious list of winners.

2024 WSOP Paradise Triton Million Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize (USD)
1	Alejandro Lococo	Argentina	$12,070,000
2	Benjamin Heath	United Kingdom	$8,160,000
3	Sinan Unlu	Turkey	$5,304,000
4	Daniel Dvoress	Canada	$4,390,000
5	Elias Talvitie	Finland	$3,542,000
6	Alex Foxen	United States	$2,795,000
7	Aleksejs Ponakovs	Latvia	$2,140,000
8	Sosia Jiang	New Zealand	$1,605,000
9	Michael Moncek	United States	$1,200,000

The unique invitation-only event divides the field into two sides on the opening day of action. The first features official tournament invitees, who are selected by the Triton Poker Series. Each invitee is then paired with a poker professional of their choice, with the pros playing only against other professionals on the other side of the tournament.

The two sides of the field play 10 levels in separate areas of the tournament room, before combining to play down to a winner on the final day. Two entries are permitted per player, with late registration closing at the start of Day 2.

Each entrant will have a starting stack of 300,000 chips, with blinds opening at 500/1,000 along with a 1,000 big blind ante. Players will contest 50-minute levels, with scheduled breaks after every two levels of play.

Triton Invitational Pairings

Invitee	Poker Pro
Paul Phua	Phil Ivey
Jean-Noel Thorel	Christoph Vogelsang
David Einhorn	Taylor von Kriegenbergh
Cary Katz	Bryn Kenney
Talal Shakerchi	Kristen Foxen
Ramin Hajiyev	Mikita Badziakouski
David D'Alessandro	Nacho Barbero
Javid Ismayilov	Jonathan Jaffe
Sirzat Hissou	Alexandros Theologis
Jessica Teusl	Matthias Eibinger
Yu Zhang	Punnat Punsri
Vinny Lingham	Jason Koon
James Hopkins	Alex Foxen
Keith Lehr	David Coleman
Michael Moncek	Jesse Lonis
Santhosh Suvarna	Nick Petrangelo
Philip Sternheimer	Benjamin Heath
Charles Hook	Seth Davies
Steve Enriquez	Juan Pardo
Alejandro Lococo	Adrian Mateos
Gabriel Andrade	Ben Tollerene
Tom Heung	Teun Mulder
Tyler Stafman	Thomas Boivin
Rehman Kassam	Manuel Fritz
Ryan Rapaski	Aleksejs Ponakovs
Anatoly Zlotnikov	Aleksandr Zubov
Albert Daher	Kayhan Mokri
Monika Hrabec	Roman Hrabec
Sergio Fernandez	Sergio Aido
Biao Ding	Artur Martirosian
Joseph Oren	Stephen Chidwick
Jared Bleznick	Alex Kulev
Brian Luo	Clemen Deng
Richard Yong	Wai Kiat Lee
Masashi Oya	[Removed:607]
Eric Wasserson	Nick Schulman
Armin Ghojehvand	Jamil Wakil
Neehar Banerji	Sean Winter
Orpen Kisacikoglu	Michael Watson
Rafael Mota	Joao Simao
Tyler Moncek	Brandon Wilson
Xiaoyao Ma	Daniel Negreanu
Johan Guilbert	Danilo Velasevic
Mark Hammond	Dejan Kaladjurdjevic
Sameh Elamawy	Daniel Dvoress
Wang Ye	Danny Tang
Greg Kary	Isaac Haxton
Brandon Steven	Patrik Antonius
Cong Pham	Leon Sturm

The Triton Invitational field is set, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be inside the ropes to provide full coverage of this exciting event so don't miss a moment of the action.

Be sure to also check out our Daily WSOP Paradise Highlights, along with full results of all 15 bracelet events here at Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas.

Tags: Aaron Zang Alejandro Lococo Aleksejs Ponakovs Alex Foxen Benjamin Heath Bryn Kenney Dan Smith Daniel Dvoress Elias Talvitie Michael Moncek Patrik Antonius Sinan Unlu Sosia Jiang

12-06-2025 23:09 UTC-4

Day 1 Seat Draw

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Josh Noy

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	1	Joseph Oren	United States	300,000
1	3	Keith Lehr	United States	300,000
1	5	Yu Zhang	China	300,000
1	6	Wang Ye	China	300,000
1	7	Mark Hammond	United Kingdom	300,000
1	8	Michael Moncek	United States	300,000
1	9	Masashi Oya	Japan	300,000

2	1	Cary Katz	United States	300,000
2	2	Brian Luo	United States	300,000
2	5	Tom Heung	Hong Kong	300,000
2	6	Monika Hrabec	Poland	300,000
2	7	Jean-Noel Thorel	France	300,000
2	8	Steve Enriquez	Spain	300,000
2	9	Philip Sternheimer	United Kingdom	300,000

3	1	Anatoly Zlotnikov	Russian Federation	300,000
3	2	Jared Bleznick	United States	300,000
3	3	Sirzat Hissou	Germany	300,000
3	5	David Einhorn	Unisted States	300,000
3	6	Ramin Hajiyev	Azerbaijan	300,000
3	7	Vinny Lingham	United States	300,000
3	8	Orpen Kisacikoglu	Turkey	300,000

5	1	Neehar Banerji	United States	300,000
5	2	Johan Guilbert	France	300,000
5	3	Alejandro Lococo	Argentina	300,000
5	5	Sergio Fernandez	Spain	300,000
5	6	Ryan Rapaski	United States	300,000
5	8	Jessica Teusl	Austria	300,000
5	9	Charles Hook	United States	300,000

6	1	Biao Ding	China	300,000
6	2	Tyler Stafman	United States	300,000
6	5	James Hopkins	Australia	300,000
6	6	Talal Shakerchi	United Kingdom	300,000
6	7	Greg Kary	Canada	300,000
6	8	Javid Ismayilov	Azerbaijan	300,000
6	9	Santhosh Suvarna	India	300,000

7	1	Paul Phua	Malaysia	300,000
7	2	Albert Daher	Lebanon	300,000
7	3	Rehman Kassam	United Kingdom	300,000
7	5	Rafael Mota	Brazil	300,000
7	6	Cong Pham	United States	300,000
7	8	Armin Ghojehvand	United Kingdom	300,000
7	9	David D'Alessandro	United States	300,000

8	2	Brandon Steven	United States	300,000
8	3	Ma Xiaoyao	United States	300,000
8	5	Eric Wasserson	United States	300,000
8	6	Gabriel Andrade	Ecuador	300,000
8	7	Sameh Elamawy	Egypt	300,000
8	8	Tyler Moncek	United States	300,000
8	9	Richard Yong	Malaysia	300,000

11	1	[Removed:607]	Austria	300,000
11	2	Danilo Velasevic	Serbia	300,000
11	3	Patrick Antonius	Finland	300,000
11	6	Clemen Deng	United States	300,000
11	7	Seth Davies	United States	300,000
11	8	Sean Winter	United States	300,000
11	9	Bryn Kenney	United States	300,000

12	1	Leon Sturm	Germany	300,000
12	3	Benjamin Heath	United Kingdom	300,000
12	5	Juan Pardo	Spain	300,000
12	6	Daniel Dvoress	Canada	300,000
12	7	Thomas Boivin	Belgium	300,000
12	8	David Coleman	United States	300,000
12	9	Roman Hrabec	Czechia	300,000

13	1	Nick Schulman	United States	300,000
13	2	Artur Martirosian	Russian Federation	300,000
13	3	Jesse Lonis	United States	300,000
13	5	Adrian Mateos	Spain	300,000
13	6	Kristen Foxen	Canada	300,000
13	8	Dejan Kaladjurdjevic	Montenegro	300,000
13	9	Daniel Negreanu	Canada	300,000

15	1	Alexandros Theologis	Greece	300,000
15	3	Alex Kulev	Bulgaria	300,000
15	5	Jason Koon	United States	300,000
15	6	Matthias Eibinger	Austria	300,000
15	7	Nick Petrangelo	United States	300,000
15	8	Isaac Haxton	United States	300,000
15	9	Kayhan Mokri	Norway	300,000

16	1	Sergio Aido	Spain	300,000
16	2	Punnat Punsri	Thailand	300,000
16	3	Danny Tang	Hong Kong	300,000
16	5	Nacho Barbero	Argentina	300,000
16	6	Aleksejs Ponakovs	Latvia	300,000
16	7	Stephen Chidwick	United Kingdom	300,000
16	8	Jamil Wakil	Canada	300,000

17	1	Ben Tollerene	United States	300,000
17	3	Wai Kiat Lee	Malaysia	300,000
17	5	Mikita Badziakouski	Belarus	300,000
17	6	Manuel Fritz	Austria	300,000
17	7	Alex Foxen	United States	300,000
17	8	Mike Watson	Canada	300,000
17	9	Christoph Vogelsang	Germany	300,000

18	1	Jonathan Jaffe	United States	300,000
18	2	Aleksandr Zubov	Russian Federation	300,000
18	3	Taylor von Kriegenbergh	United States	300,000
18	5	Brandon Wilson	United States	300,000
18	6	Teun Mulder	Netherlands	300,000
18	7	Joao Simao	Brazil	300,000
18	9	Phil Ivey	United States	300,000

Player	Chips	Progress
Paul Phua	300,000 300,000	300,000

Jean-Noel Thorel	300,000 300,000	300,000
David Einhorn	300,000 300,000	300,000
Cary Katz	300,000 300,000	300,000

Talal Shakerchi	300,000 300,000	300,000
Ramin Hajiyev	300,000 300,000	300,000
David D'Alessandro	300,000 300,000	300,000
Javid Ismayilov	300,000 300,000	300,000
Sirzat Hissou	300,000 300,000	300,000
Jessica Teusl	300,000 300,000	300,000

Yu Zhang	300,000 300,000	300,000
Vinny Lingham	300,000 300,000	300,000
James Hopkins	300,000 300,000	300,000
Keith Lehr	300,000 300,000	300,000

Michael Moncek	300,000 300,000	300,000

Santhosh Suvarna	300,000 300,000	300,000

Philip Sternheimer	300,000 300,000	300,000

Charles Hook	300,000 300,000	300,000

Steve Enriquez	300,000 300,000	300,000

Alejandro Lococo	300,000 300,000	300,000

Gabriel Andrade	300,000 300,000	300,000
Tom Heung	300,000 300,000	300,000
Tyler Stafman	300,000 300,000	300,000
Rehman Kassam	300,000 300,000	300,000
Ryan Rapaski	300,000 300,000	300,000

Read full

Event #5: $250,000 Triton Invitational

Day 1 Started