Triton High Roller Series Madrid begins May 13th 2022

[DS3]

Yes!

Stephen Chidwick takes down Event 11, the $100K Short Deck Main Event. He not only netted a cool $1.93 million, he increases his Triton Player of the Year lead, and beat Tony G heads up in the process.

Though fortunes for all had risen and fallen, Tony G after winning a big pot when 6 handed and running like Usain Bolt turned into typical Tony G - arrogant and patronizing. In this one spell he made a set or trips five times in about 8 hands to take the chip lead.

I had to stop watching for a few hours (a blessing as I personally cannot take Tony G's routines) and came back when it was three handed. Mikita Badziakouski promptly went out in 3rd for $901K and then it was heads up.

Tony G then attempted to needle Chidwick several times whilst knocking back cognac...not a good look (though 'chat' was enjoying it). I believe the floor even stepped in at one point and told him to tone it down. I realize Tong G can't help himself but it really runs against the grain of the Triton series.

However, after the chip lead changed hands briefly, it all came down to an all in, Chidwick's AQ vz Tony Gs AJ - Chidwick's hand improved and it was all over.

Bravo!

 

[WrongUsername]

i love short deck is a great action game.

 

[DS3]

One correction, the Short Deck Main Event was Event 12...not Event 11 as detailed.

 

[DS3]

Event 14, the Short Deck $150K (total field of 34) was won by Jason Koon for $ 1.86 million.

Another short deck tourney this time dominated by Americans and Canadians rather than Asian players. Daniel Dvoress 2nd, Isaac Haxton 3rd, Sam Greenwood 4th and Seth Davies 5th.

There was a noticeable change in the play for the last two major short deck tournaments. I had noted Event 5 was somewhat farcical with Rui Cao running over the field with a big stack. The issue being equities in a hand run so much tighter with a compressed deck people will fold a very strong hand if someone goes all in pre-flop with bubble/ICM considerations at play.

In Macau, where the game flourished, the idea was to level the playing field between rich Asians and poker pros. It succeeded but this does not necessarily make it good viewing in a tourneys such as these - it can become a weird gamble fest and can come off like a somewhat dim-witted game at times.

It would now appear I am certainly not the only one to have called out the limitations. First, as noted the Europeans and North Americans made a concerted effort to not succumb to the gambling style of play and ended up dominating the $100K and $150K events. However, they also announced a change of rules for the 30K event which was the closer to the series (this was played alongside the $150k but not streamed),

To restrict the all-in pre-flop 'gambling' action, it was made into a 'pot limit' preflop tourney. Reportedly many were happy with the change and it was noted that for the game to prosper, this might be implemented across board. Which I think would radically change the game for the better.

 

[DS3]

The very last tournament of the Triton Series, Event 14 the $30K Short Deck (amended to pot limit pre-flop) was won by Tom Dwan, his second title of the series - thanks once again to Hendon Mod for publishing the details ahead of everyone.

Elton Tsang came second and Seng Leow 3rd.

So two titles for Michael Addamo and two for Tom Dwan in the short span of 14 tournaments overall. I'll let the dust settle and return with a few thoughts to end the thread tomorrow.

 

[DS3]

First, hats off for the coverage of another excellent Triton Series. Though they cannot rival the breadth and depth of the manner that the European Poker Tour provides background, interviews and B rolls throughout their content, the Triton Series table coverage itself is excellent.

Stand against alleged cheaters

Though no public statement was made and the commentary teams did not discuss the matter, it was immediately obvious some big hitters were absent - Bryn Kenney, Ali Imsirovic and Jake Schindler (following Imsirovic and Schindler being rejected from the EPT Monaco the week before).

This was significant because all three were Triton winners with Kenney taking down the biggest single prize in poker history back in London at the Triton Series $1 million buy in- he was their number one ranked prize winner to date.

Kudos for standing with the EPT (and we'll soon see if the wsop allows or bans them also).

Tournament Improvements

In spite of the fact that this is a small exclusive series they attempted some innovations regarding the buy-ins and even structure of the tournaments.

The buy ins for the main event short deck were switched to one bullet with three starting stacks which I believe you could opt for one consolidated stack or three separate entries with smaller stacks (okay that was a little confusing)

Though most events were multiple buy-ins the last two were a single bullet. Personally I think play would improve if half the events were a single bullet.

The true innovation with short deck was it becoming pot limit pre-flop for the ending tournament. This no doubt will scale back the sometimes ludicrous gambling nature of play, however, it will remain to be seen if they repeat the condition or expand it to all tournaments.

Finally it was mentioned near the end of the series that they might consider a knock out tournament. I think that could be a blast. Depending on the buy-in, if players were receiving a $10K or $20K everytime they knocked another out it would be a very entertaining format.

Commentary team

Credit should be given for not only the roster of commentators they now feature but for the fact they switch the teams up around meal breaks keeping the commentary fresh and engaged.

This series they featured Ali Nejad, Jeff Gross, Brian Rast, Henry Kilbane and Randy 'Nanonoko' Lew - all provided great commentary, Randy Lew somewhat surprisingly my favorite.

All flown to Madrid for the gig - nice work if you can get it!

The lack of coverage within poker 'news' outlets

I remain mystified as to why this series received so little coverage because it is significant on a few levels.

First, many cite high roller events as being the most exciting to watch (not necessarily for me but I get the premise). This is born out by the views. The You Tube streams alone gathered 1, 649, 500 views to date with likely the Twitch streams gathering just as many. Well over 3 million views but the series barely mentioned anywhere.

Personally I feel a little miffed that a small group of individuals have put a lot of time and money to bring this series to the public and it gets blanked by the poker press. Who is actually investing time and money to promote the game?

Secondly, whether of personal interest or not the Triton Series plays the most significant role in the top players ranking by any metric. Several players have either made significant prize income from the series or it is in fact their most lucrative - which directly links to their world/Hendon Mob ranking.

The now disgraced Bryn Kenney is rated as pokers top earner - $30 million of that was via Triton series, $20 million alone from the London Series 2019.

Players such as Jason Koon $15.5 million, Mikita Badziakouski $14.6 million and Stephen Chidwick $13 million have all earned serious money and world ranking directly from this tour. Needless to say the likes of Phil Ivey, Timothy Adams, Sam Greenwood and Tom Dwan etc. etc. all have multi- millions in earnings.

So whether from the public's interest or the Triton Series major influence on global poker rankings the series deserves way more attention than it garners from the poker press.

I hope this situation improves into the future.

 

[EmptyHouse]

Tom Dwan a double winner on Triton Series.

Tom Dwan won Short Deck and PLO at Triton Series.

https://triton-series.com/dwan-on-cruise-control-takes-maiden-triton-title-in-madrid/
Triton Madrid – Event 11
€25,000 Pot Limit Omaha

Dates: May 22-23, 2022
Entries: 34 (inc. 9 re-entries)
Prize pool: €850,000

1 – Tom Dwan, USA – €290,000
2 – Jeremy Ausmus, USA – €199,000
3 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, norway – €127,000
4 – Patrik Antonius, finland – €97,500
5 – Filip Lovric, sweden – €76,500
6 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – €60,000

https://triton-series.com/dwan-hits-the-two-time-after-last-gasp-turbo-success-in-madrid/
Triton Madrid – Event 14
€30,000 Short Deck Ante Only Turbo

Date: May 25, 2022
Entries: 33 (inc. 9 re-entries)
Prize pool: €990,000

1 – Tom Dwan, USA – €336,000
2 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – €233,000
3 – Ivan Leow, Malaysia – €148,500
4 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – €114,000
5 – Richard Yong, Malaysia – €89,000
6 – Chris Brewer, USA – €69,500