For the first time ever, the Triton Super High Roller Series is being held at the Galaxy Macau Hotel. But not uncommon, the stop kicked off as so many do these days, with a German win. Stefan Schillhabel came out on top in the two-day HK250,000 ($32,000) 6-Max event to win HK5,874,400 ($752,446).
King of the Schillhabel
The win marked the third-largest score for Stefan Schillhabel, who now resides in Vienna, Austria, and brought his lifetime earnings up past $6.5 million. In May, he placed third in the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl at the Aria in Las Vegas for $2.4 million, and in March 2016 he really made a name for himself by winning the World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star main event for $1.3 million.
Among those to play this event in China were recently-married Ben Lamb, Winamax’s Adrian Mateos and Mustapha Kanit, and Poker Masters champ Steffen Sontheimer. Unfortunately for all of them, none managed to make the money by finishing in the top 12.
Some of those who did, but fell short of the final table, were Yat Cheng (7th for $94,402), David Peters (10th for $75,957), and 2017 Super High Roller Bowl champ Christoph Vogelsang (11th for $73,395).
Manig Loeser, who in July won the Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro, made it to three-handed play and collided with Schillhabel in Level 25 (25k/50k/5k), when Schillhabel raised to 100,000 and then called Loeser’s three-bet shoved for roughly 750,000.
Loeser held the K♥J♦ but was way behind the K♦Q♣ of Schillhabel. The board ran out A♥9♣5♥3♣8♠ and Loeser was denied his second Triton title, an honor held only by Fedor Holz.
Heads-Up Lasts One Hand
Schillhabel began heads-up play with 5-to-1 chip lead over Watson, and it took just one hand for things to come to a head. In Level 26 (30k/60k/10k), Watson moved all-in holding 6♦6♣ and Schillhabel called with J♣10♣.
It was a flip, but not after a 7♣A♥J♥ flop paired Schillhabel. Neither a 3♥ on the turn nor a 8♣ on the river helped Watson, and he had to settle for second place and a $550,399 consolation prize. It marked the fifth-largest score of his career and brought his lifetime earnings up to $10,658,564.
With the win, Schillhabel joins the family of Triton Super High Roller champions that includes Koray Aldemir, Wai Kin Yong and Dan Colman. The Triton Super High Roller Series Galaxy Macau is currently holding its HK1,000,000 ($128,000) buy-in Main Event.
Final Table Results
1 Stefan Schillhabel (Germany) $752,446
2 Mike Watson (Canada) $550,399
3 Manig Loeser (Germany) $340,717
4 Dan Smith (USA) $233,250
5 Steve O’Dwyer (USA) $154,603
6 Isaac Haxton (USA) $115,280
