Wai Kin Yong Wins 2019 Triton London £100,000 Main Event for £2,591,695
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Wai Kin Yong battled through a record-breaking 130 entrants to win the 2019 Triton Super High Roller Series London £100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event for £2,591,695 ($3,148,391) following a heads-up deal.
In what turned out to be the largest field in Triton history, it suited the occasion that Triton co-founder Paul Phua would come up against Yong, the son of his business partner, Richard Yong.
Their heads-up match was never going to be about money, and the final two agreed to a deal with an extra £150,000 and the trophy on the line.
Yong looked to secure his second Triton Main Event title, whereas Phua hoped it would be third time lucky after two previous Triton runner-up finishes.
"The brand is growing stop after stop, and we are very lucky to have many friends and professional players who support us."
It looked for a long time that Phua was going to get the monkey off of his back as he won pot after to pot to increase his chip advantage, but with the board down king-ten-five-seven-seven and Phua all in, Yong made the correct call for his tournament life with two pair and changed the dynamics of the match completely.
Ultimately, Phua's exit was confirmed when his queen-six lost out king-jack after Yong found a dramatic pair on the river, having seen Phua lead on the turn.
"It feels great to play against Paul; it's not happened before. I'm just going to play my best and go for the win" said Yong ahead of the heads-up match.
Phua spoke of his pride surrounding the success of the event in London and was pleased to see so many new faces.
"The brand is growing stop after stop, and we are very lucky to have many friends and professional players who support us," he said. "We try to make the event as fun and comfortable as it can be. Players want to come back because of that, and I've seen a lot of new faces, maybe 30 percent are new players in London. I'm very, very happy".
Triton £100,000 Main Event Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (£) | Prize ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | £2,591,695* | $3,148,391 |
| 2 | Paul Phua | Malaysia | £2,558,305* | $3,107,828 |
| 3 | Ben Heath | United Kingdom | £1,350,000 | $1,644,718 |
| 4 | Michael Soyza | Malaysia | £1,120,000 | $1,364,507 |
| 5 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | £902,000 | $1,098,915 |
| 6 | Michael Chi Zhang | United Kingdom | £711,000 | $866,218 |
| 7 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | £544,000 | $662,760 |
| 8 | Daniel Cates | Unites States | £410,000 | $499,507 |
| 9 | Wai Leong Chan | Malaysia | £305,000 | $371,584 |
Final Table Action
The extra day of action got off to a fast start as Yong sent compatriot Wai Leong Chan (9th - £305,000) to the rail on the third hand of the day, before Daniel Cates (8th - £410,000) and Stephen Chidwick (7th - £544,000) fell in the same hand.
Cates' ace-three and Chidwick's ace-seven were no match for Michael Soyza's ace-queen, and the field was reduced to six in the blink of an eye.
The UK's Michael Chi Zhang (6th - £711,000) ran pocket nines into Phua's pocket queens to take a walk to the payout desk, and after holding on for a very long time, Sam Greenwood (5th - £902,000) finally saw his run ended by Yong.
When Soyza (4th - £1,120,000) exited, it meant the possibility of a Malaysian final three disappeared after Yong flopped the flush with queen-deuce after Soyza had shoved preflop with pocket eights.
Ben Heath (3rd - £1,350,000) was looking to emulate the achievement of his friend Charlie Carrel, who earlier this week won a Triton title, but it wasn't meant to be after Heath saw pocket kings cracked by ace-king.
Yong then sealed the win against Phua to claim the trophy.
PokerNews coverage of the Triton Super High Roller Series London continues in the recently started £100k Short Deck Main Event with another champion set to be crowned on Thursday, August 8. You can follow updates from that tournament here.
