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The Story of the 2022 Triton Poker

Between the final Triton Poker Series tournament of 2019 and the first event of 2022, 33 months passed without the world’s favorite high-stakes tournament series thrilling poker fans around the world. Before the COVID-19 pandemic robbed the world of live poker moments to live forever in our memories, Bryn Kenney had won the biggest single prize ever awarded in a poker tournament, taking home $20.5 million from the Triton Million for Charity in London, England. In 2022, however, the Triton Poker Series was visiting two new countries as high-stakes poker returned and was arguably at its absolute best.

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Cyprus Welcomes Triton

As the Triton Poker Series made its return, the Merit Royal Hotel & Casino in Kyrenia was the place to be. With five tournaments spread over a week in Cyprus, there were events in No Limit Hold’em (NLHE) as well as Short Deck, with some of the best players in the world gathering to do battle.

The opening event of the five cost $50,000 to play and was in NLHE. The Triton Poker Series Cyprus ‘Special Edition’ began on April 2nd and concluded a day later, as 82 entries played down to 11 money places and a top prize of $1,082,000. Some Triton legends took part and made a profit, as Michael Addamo (11th for $99,000) was joined in the ranks by Stephen Chidwick (7th for $188,000), Jason Koon (5th for $307,000), and Phil Ivey (4th for $387,100). The winner of the first-ever Triton event in Cyprus was Hungarian player Andras Nemeth, who claimed the $1.08 million top prize after beating his fellow Hungarian Laszlo Bujtas heads-up. 

With events in Short Deck costing $75,000, there were two such tournaments, won by Winfred Yu for $1.01 million and Phil Ivey, who claimed $1.17m up top after his event saw 51 entries compared to 41 in Yu’s event. A $50,000 Turbo NLHE event went the way of Austrian professional Matthias Eibinger for $676,000 after he beat British player Ben Heath, but the biggest event was a $100,000 Main Event in NLHE, and with 69 entries, it was a packed room.

With a total prize pool of $6.6 million, only nine players got paid, including Elton Tsang (9th for $192,000), co-founder Paul Phua (7th for $324,500), and Canada’s Daniel Dvoress (5th for $529,000). Another Canadian, Mike Watson, finished just outside the podium places for $683,300.

The top three places were fought for between two Dutchman and one American, and the latter was the unfortunate player to miss out on heads-up, as Jake Schindler lucked out for $903,000. It was double Dutch drama to close out the Main Event, and Teun Mulder got the better of his countryman Tom Vogelsang, relegating Vogelsang to runner-up for $1.39 million, while Mulder mopped up the top prize of $1.94 million and the infamous Triton trophy.

A Dane Rules in Spain

It was a case of “Viva España” in May, as the Triton Poker Series rolled into Spain for the first time, visiting the capital city of Madrid for 13 pulsating poker events. There were several highlights other than the Main Event, which cost €100,000 to play. Paul Phua was one of them, taking down his first high roller event in the €30,000-entry No Limit hold’em (NLHE) tournament. Beating WSOP and Poker Hall of Fame legend Erik Seidel heads-up, Phua had a massive 16.25 million to 1.85 million chips lead and holding ace-five, got Seidel to commit four big blinds with ten-seven. A flop of 9-6-5 gave Seidel hope, but those hopes were extinguished after a nine on the turn and a queen on the river. Phua told reporters the win felt ‘indescribable’, saying “It’s a dream come true!” as he bagged €740,400 for the victory and got his hands on a Triton trophy at long last. 

Australia’s finest, Michael Addamo, was having the time of his life in the series, too. He won Event #1 for €478,000 and Event #7 for €1.15 million, and Addamo, who would begin his domination of the infamous GGMillion$ events on GGPoker in years to come, was not the only two-time winner. Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan took home €290,000 in the €25,000 Pot Limit Omaha Event #11 and €336,000 in the €30,000 Short Deck Turbo Event #14, which closed out the series. 

Koon Captures Another Trophy

Jason Koon won the €150,000-entry Short Deck Event for €1.75 million, while others such as Laszlo Bujtas, Chin Wei Lim, and Stephen Chidwick all banked top scores. Belarusian player Mikita Badziakouski took down the €50,000 NLHE 7-max event for his fourth Triton title and €1.34million, but the big one was the €100,000 buy-in Main Event, which welcomed 59 entries and created a prize pool of €9.3 million. 

Of the players who took on the big one, only 13 of them cashed, with Chris Brewer (11th for €200,000), Sam Greenwood (9th for €260,500), and Bruno Volkmann (7th for €440,500) all making the money. The Triton Poker Series Madrid 2022 Main Event final table saw plenty of drama at Casino Gran Vía in Madrid, and once the field was down to six, Finnish star Patrik Antonius saw his tournament end for a score of €558,000 after his pocket sevens lost to Aleks Ponakovs’ ace-ten. Henrick Hecklen doubled up through Sam Grafton to begin his ascent to the crown, kings holding against the British player’s pocket threes, and that spelled doom for Grafton soon after, as he lost his last with pocket fives, all-in for 22 big blinds against the pocket aces of Orpen Kisacikoglu. The Turkish player, who, like Grafton, was a London-based player at the time, took out his friend for a score of €716,000.

After Grafton’s exit, Ponakovs lost most of his stack to Kisacikoglu, and eventually busted for €888,000 in fourth place. Next out was the Dutchman Kevin Paque who ran into Hecklen’s dominating hand to depart in third for €1,134,000. Heads-up, Hecklen only had a marginal lead over his Turkish opponent, but the Dane made it count after the pair reached a deal to smooth out the inevitably painful pay jump. In the end, the final duel was over before it started, Kisacikoglu committing his last chips with pocket fours. Hecklen had the easiest of calls with pocket kings. No cards came to deny the Dane, and he took home the €2.17m top prize, with Kisacikoglu claiming €2.01m as runner-up.

Cyprus Showdown Concludes Action in 2022

Five months after April’s first visit to Cyprus, the Triton Poker Series returned to the Merit Royal Hotel & Casino in Kyrenia for 11 more high roller events to see out the season. Players like Kahle Burns, Ben Tollerene, Matthias Eibinger, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Sam Greenwood all won titles. 

In the $200,000-entry Coin Rivet Invitational, two landmarks were reached. British player Sam Grafton won the biggest prize of his poker career to date by taking home the $5.5 million top prize in the 90-entry event. Secondly, Ebony Kenney won the biggest Triton Poker prize by a female player when she came fifth for a groundbreaking score of $1.7 million. The final table was a star-studded affair, with arguably the biggest live and online players of the past decade reaching the top four as Fedor Holz (4th for $2.1m) and Linus Loeliger (2nd for $3.9m) came close to glory but left with huge seven-figure scores. 

The $100,000-entry Triton Main Event was a massive tournament, with 99 entries and a top prize of $2.6 million. Players like Seth Davies (10th for $225,000), Jason Koon (5th for $762,000), and the Madrid 2022 Main Event champion Henrick Hecklen (4th for $946,000) all made a profit on their six-figure buy-ins, but heads-up saw a clash between Punnat Punsri and Wayne Heung. The Thailand-based player became the first person from his country to win a Triton event when his ace-eight hit an eight against Heung’s ace-nine with all the chips in the middle pre-flop.

After the drama of three festivals in 2022, the next 12 months would see even more Triton action as what had become by far the world’s biggest high roller tour returned in 2023. 

About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.