Badziakouski Eyes Back-to-Back Main Event Victory; Leads Final Six at Triton Jeju With $5.26 Million for Champion
Widely regarded as one of the best no-limit hold'em players in the world, Mikita Badziakouski has already been competing in the highest buy-in tournaments for several years. Badziakouski has earned a strong reputation for his notoriously known expert knowledge of the technical aspects of the game. And while this year is rightfully a year of Justin Bonomo, Badziakouski has also been riding a tremendous wave of success in the recent months.
Badziakouski is now closing on adding another major feather to his cap. He's leading the last six players into the final day of the spectacular 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju HK$2,000,000 Main Event with incredibly huge prizes up for grabs. All finalists have already locked up roughly $827,000 for their efforts, having survived the bubble.
| Position | Prize (HKD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 41,250,000 | 5,255,456 |
| 2nd | 25,520,000 | 3,251,376 |
| 3rd | 16,720,000 | 2,130,212 |
| 4th | 11,550,000 | 1,471,528 |
| 5th | 8,470,000 | 1,079,120 |
| 6th | 6,490,000 | 826,858 |
Badziakouski already knows how it feels to win a Triton Main Event. He arrived in Jeju as a reigning champion after conquering the previous edition in Montenegro for a $2.5 million payday. The stakes have doubled since then and the highest buy-in Triton event in the tour's history will see the champion walk away with a whopping HK$41,500,000 first-place prize, equalling $5,255,456. One thing is guaranteed: the final six will battle it out for one of the biggest prizes ever awarded in poker.
It will be an intense climax to the exclusive 55-entry tournament which attracted the world's elite players to come and take to the felt. Some of them weren't scared of firing multiple bullets. While the owners of the two biggest stacks – Badziakouski and Sergio Aido – were both able to navigate to the final table through one attempt, the other four remaining contenders have all invested in more shells; Richard Yong, Jason Koon, Chan Wai Leong and Sam Greenwood have all used the benefit of unlimited re-entries.
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergio Aido | Spain | 3,000,000 | 100 |
| 2 | Chan Wai Leong | Malaysia | 1,055,000 | 35 |
| 3 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 1,715,000 | 57 |
| 4 | Jason Koon | United States | 2,500,000 | 83 |
| 5 | Richard Yong | Malaysia | 2,415,000 | 81 |
| 6 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 3,065,000 | 102 |
Day 2 kicked off at a solid pace and by the time the registration closed, there were only 19 players still eyeing a profit. The field was soon narrowed to the final two tables where the tournament hit a stalemate with 15 players remaining. While a long period without any elimination followed, the end of level 14 triggered an eventful hour full of bustouts. The likes of Stephen Chidwick, Patrik Antonius, Steve O'Dwyer, Bryn Kenney and David Peters were dismissed within one level of play and then the Greenwood brothers clashed in a fierce fight which saw Sam eliminate Luc in 10th place.
The nine remaining players continued on one table where Cary Katz lost his short stack with queens against Badziakouski's ace-queen and the Belarussian solidified his position as the tournament chip leader. With an $867,000 bubble looming, Peter Jetten was forced out of the door in a nasty cooler. Jetten raised and then four-bet shoved with ace-king suited only to run into Yong's aces.
The difference between seventh and sixth place was bigger than first-place prizes in most of the prestigious events in the world. But the remaining players were still willing to trade blows. Aido and Koon were the main heroes of two large pots. Koon scooped the first one after rivering a nut flush against a flopped bottom set. However, Aido was able to escape and refused to pay Koon on the river.
Then Aido flatted ace-king in the big blind and flopped full house at the same time when Koon made trips with king-ten. Koon kept the betting lead all the way to the river and Aido called all three barrels. He skipped a check-shove on the river, preventing himself from a catastrophic loss should Koon hold aces. While some might suspect that Aido missed value by not raising the river, it would be incredibly hard for Koon to call with worse hand on the stone bubble.
Shortly afterwards, Koon himself took care of the key moment of the tournament. He bet-called on the turn with top pair and top kicker against Ivan Leow who had a kicker trouble. Leow was unable to catch up on the river and left the Triton Main Event empty-handed.
That was it for the day with the remaining players bagging their chips ahead of one of the biggest days in their respective poker careers. PokerNews will monitor the action on the final table so make sure to tune back to the live coverage on Wednesday, August 1 at 2 p.m. to see the high stakes action culminate in Jeju.