Champion Christoph Vogelsang

Christoph Vogelsang is the new Triton Poker Series Main Event champion after the highly-respected German pro took down the $100K buy-in showpiece in Jeju, South Korea, earning the best part of $4.1 million.

Vogelsang, who turned 40 this summer, has been at the top of the tournament game for more than a decade, emerging from the online tables to crush the Super High Roller streets almost overnight. His many accolades already included one Triton title, earned in Monte Carlo a couple of years ago.

But this one is even bigger. And it means more.

"This win feels special because it's a Main Event, it's the biggest Triton event, and the Triton tour is easily my favourite place to play poker," Vogelsang said in the moments after winning. "You really know people so well, both the players and the staff. Triton events are very special for me, so I'm happy to have won this one."

Vogelsang defeated Austrian pro Samuel Mullur heads-up after the pair agreed an ICM deal. Those two were the last players left from a 228-entry field, and who had survived an onerous final table.

Heads up between Christoph Vogelsang and Sam Mullu

But Vogelsang is the picture of calm, regardless of the emotions that are surely swirling beneath his trademark sunglasses and tightly-worn hood.

Let the record state that he was chip leader overnight, chip leader at the start of the final table, and was ultimately the man with all the chips at the end. He won all the most significant pots, including one enormous cooler and at least one sensational hero call. It helped him eliminate dangerous opponents around the table and earned him the spectacular Triton Poker Series Main Event trophy, plus the exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece given only to Main Event winners.

He was joined on the stage for his winner's photo by another Main Event winner, Matthias Eibinger, as well as his vanquished heads-up opponent, Mullur. Mullur's stellar trip to Jeju ended with this career-best performance, which earned him $3,509,025 from the chop.

"I'm so happy to have Mattias here, to have him here on the rail to talk about poker, to ask him before the tournament what are his thoughts. Also some other friends who are sending me hands and sending me thoughts. I think it's also important for your confidence and how you feel if there are people around you."

Celebrations begin for Christoph Vogelsang

He referenced a massive pot against Aleks Ponakovs, in particular, in which Ponakovs bluffed a frightening board, forcing a terrific call from Vogelsang.

"The hand against Aleks, in terms of the chip distribution, was one of the most important ones," Vogelsang said. "After that I had a really big chip lead so I could play fairly aggressively."

When the tournament got heads-up, Vogelsang had a two-to-one lead over Mullur, who has been one of the stand-out performers from this long festival in Jeju. But Vogelsang won one more cooler to defeat his Austrian opponent and seal the deal.

He now finds himself among the Triton Poker Series multiple champions, and forever on the wall of the tournament room.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The Main Event may not have the biggest buy-in on the schedule, but its prestige is unmatched. Its superlative structure makes it the most appealing tournament for players from across the Super High Roller community — all of which factors combine with the $100K buy-in to build the biggest prize pool. This time, it made it to $22.8 million, with $4.57 reserved for the winner.

The opening two days were characteristically attritional, with stacks gradually building before vanishing as the bubble came close. At that crucial stage, players knew that 39 places would be paid, but there were suddenly three players all=in and at risk at separate tables. It meant a high chance of the min-cash being shared.

That possibility grew greater after the first confrontation duly ended in an elimination. Chi-Jen Chu was in relatively good shape with pocket tens against Dylan Linde's K10, but a king on the flop left him drawing thin. Two further blanks on turn and river confirmed his exit, but he still had the chance of getting some money back if either (or both) of the other at-risk players went out.

Bubble boy Chi-Jen Chu

Next up: Matthias Eibinger versus Fabian Gumz. This was looking pretty bleak for Gumz, who had the shorter stack, as his AK needed to hit to beat Eibinger's KK. But the second crucial flop in succession brought an ace, and Gumz doubled to stay alive.

Over to a third table, where Brazil's Alisson Piekazewicz had pocket queens against Aram Oganyan's AK. But in this instance, the classic race went in favour of the pocket pair, keeping Piekazewicz in the tournament.

All of which meant that Chu, despite taking the best of it, was the only player to bust. He became the one and only bubble boy, leaving with nothing.

The remaining field played on into the early hours of Thursday, by which point the field was down to only 16 around two tables.

Christoph Vogelsang had the overall lead, and following two more hours of play on the final day, Vogelsang was still there. The big shake-out had accounted for all of Linde, Eibinger, Gumz, Oganyan and, eventually, Piekazewicz. When Henrik Hecklen's bid to win a second Main Event ended in 10th, they were at a final table.

Final table line-up

Christoph Vogelsang - 13,125,000 (88 BBs)

Aleks Ponakovs - 11,225,000 (75 BBs)

Wu Kuisong - 9,325,000 (62 BBs)

Ben Heath - 5,225,000 (35 BBs)

Xu Liang - 4,925,000 (33 BBs)

Samuel Mullur - 4,175,000 (28 BBs)

Yu Lei - 3,650,000 (24 BBs)

Musk Thomas - 3,075,000 (21 BBs)

Ho Bao Qiang - 2,300,000 (15 BBs)

Main Event final table players (clockwise from back left): Aleks Ponakovs, Musk Thomas, Ben Heath, Xu Liang, Samuel Mullur, Ho Bao Qiang, Wu Kuisong, Christoph Vogelsang, Yu Lei.

Appropriately for a Main Event, there was still a lot of play left in this one. But the attempts of the three shortest stacks to spin into contention did not prove a success.

Ho Bao Qiang tried it first. He small stack reduced to only eight blinds through the first couple of orbits. Then he had A3 in the hijack. He open-raised, then called for all of it after Ben Heath jammed his button holding KQ.

Ho was ahead, but Heath flopped him dead when the 27J became the first cards off the deck. Ho won $477,000 for ninth.

Ho Bao Qiang first out from the final

Yu Lei stayed pretty steady through the opening stages of the final, but fell into a trap of Xu Liang's setting. Yu opened KQ from under the gun, and watched Xu three-bet with a covering stack from the button. Yu called, then possibly rejoiced at the sight of the K74 on the flop. That was top pair.

Yu checked and Xu bet. Yu then shoved it all in. Xu snapped it off and revealed why: he had pocket aces and the better pair stayed best through turn and river. Yu was out in eighth and took $575,000.

Yu Lei perished at the hands of X

Xu hit a new high point, but was still trailing Vogelsang, Ponakovs and especially Wu Kuisong, who had nosed into the lead. But then Musk Thomas won a flip against Wu for his tournament life -- AJ beating pocket threes -- which gave Thomas hopes of having a real say in how it played out.

These ambitions were short-lived, however, because Thomas soon ran into the ultimate hold'em cooler. He was unfortunate enough to find pocket kings at the precise moment Vogelsang looked down at aces. Everything went in pre-flop, and just like that Thomas was out.

There's no official ranking yet for Cambodian poker players. But despite this disappointment, he sets himself up well with a $782,000 payout.

Musk Thomas is a new name to watch on the series

Vogelsang was now back on top, but the stacks were still pretty deep. All six players stuck around a while as the blinds caught them up, but then the next big showdown sent former leader Wu out the door.

Wu had 20 blinds, which was fourth out of six on the leader board. But he wasn't able to find his way out of a tight spot that Heath pinned him into. Wu opened from the cutoff with AJ and Heath, with AQ, then effectively jammed, covering both Xu in the big blind and the opening raiser Wu.

Xu folded, but Wu couldn't bring himself to let his hand go. Heath was in the dominant position and the dealer kept it that way. Wu had enjoyed the chip lead at one point today, but was out in sixth for $1,065,000.

Wu Kuisong: Temporary chip leader out in sixth

Heath now led, but lost 10 of his 65 blinds in doubling up Xu soon after. The was blind-on-blind with Heath opening K3 and seeing Xu jam from the big blind with A2. Heath called and flopped a three, but there were also two hearts and a wheel draw, and Xu hit one of his numerous outs when an ace fell on the river. He stayed in it.

That took them to dinner with five remaining.

Xu was the shortest stack, followed by Mullur. But it ended up being the man most familiar to final tables on the Triton Series who tumbled out the door next. Aleks Ponakovs had rarely seemed threatened at any point during this three-day tournament, building a healthy stack on Day 1 and staying among the leaders throughout.

But he paid a hefty price for getting embroiled in a huge blind-vs.-blind clash with Vogelsang. In it, Ponakovs limped his small blind holding 106 and Vogelsang, sitting with K2, raised another three blinds. Ponakovs called.

The KQJ gave an everything draw to Ponakovs, as well as top pair for Vogelsang. Odds calculators put Ponakovs ahead in the hand at this point, even though he did not have a pair. Both players checked, and they saw the 3 on the turn. Ponakovs now bet five blinds. Vogelsang called.

Aleks Ponakovs bluffed; Vogelsang sniffed it

The river was the 8 and Ponakovs now moved almost all-in, leaving himself just one 25k chip behind. (Blinds were 200K/400K at the time.) Vogelsang dug deep. "He knows it's not a one pair hand on the other side of the table," Randy Lew said in the commentary booth, intimating that this was either a bluff or the goods.

Vogelsang may cover his face behind glasses and a hoodie, but his senses are sharp. He sniffed it out and made the call, learning his top pair was good.

Ponakovs picked up AK on the next hand, but it wasn't good enough to beat Heath's Q10 and the Latvian departed. He earned $1,409,000 for fifth, but left his 18th final table still without a trophy.

Mullur was now back at the bottom of the counts, alongside Xu. But both quickly doubled through Vogelsang. There was no rearrangement of the chip count order, but Vogelsang was not allowed to fly clear.

Mullur then doubled again, this time through Heath (pocket nines beating AQ) but we learned these chips were all just on a short-term loan from Vogelsang. The German pro then took them back from Mullur. Vogelsang, with 34 in the big blind, called Mullur's open. Mullur's AK was in decent shape pre-flop and hit top pair on the A92 flop.

Vogelsang, however, filled his flush on the J turn, and all but 15 blinds headed over to him.

Vogelsang was back in the groove and next knocked out Xu. The last remaining Chinese player had managed his stack especially well, waiting for the right spot to get it in. Finding pocket eights in the small blind, this was clearly the chance. And he was still in good shape, even after Vogelsang called from the big blind with AK.

After the formalities and the pause to heighten the drama, the dealer showed the K on the flop. The turn and river were immaterial and Vogelsang won the flip, condemning Xu to fourth for $1.795 million.

Another fine showing from the last Chinese player Xu Liang

They took a quick break before three-handed play. This was now Christoph Vogelsang's tournament to lose. He had 73 blinds to Heath's 14 and Mullur's nine. These three are all savagely good players, but it was a big ask for either Mullur or Heath to overcome the leader.

Mullur started well, doubling with AQ through Vogelsang's AQ. The made-for-TV run-out gave Vogelsang a four on the flop, but then Mullur hit runner-runner to make the wheel. The next hand, he doubled once more. This time KJ beat Vogelsang's J9. Mullur now had 15 blinds and could sit back a moment.

Heath was all-in next hand. And he doubled too, with J8 beating Vogelsang's AK. And when Mullur then did it again, this time with A10 beating Vogelsang's Q9, there was life in this tournament yet.

Finally, however, Vogelsang then came out best in another pre-flop confrontation. Heath open-jammed A5 from the small blind and Vogelsang called for 12 blinds with A9. The dominant ace now stayed that way and Heath's tournament concluded.

The last Brit earned $2.223 million for his third place.

Ben Heath endured the worst of it three-handed

With that, the tournament came down to its last two. Vogelsang, with 63 blinds, sat opposite Mullur, with 32. The big Main Event trophy made its way to the table, alongside the exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece. And so, inevitably, did Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi with his ICM calculator.

The pair quickly agreed the terms of a deal, with Vogelsang collecting $3,949,975 to Mullur's $3,509,025. There was $150,000 and the bling on the side.

Players make a deal

This could have taken a long time to play out. But it actually took three hands.

On the third of heads-up play, Vogelsang completed from the small blind holding K10 and Mullur, with 74, checked his option. They both flopped a pair on the KA7 flop.

Mullur check-called, then the 4 came on the turn, giving Mullur two pair. It went check, bet, call again.

Samuel Mullur had an amazing trip to Jeju

The 10 was the devastating river. Devastatingly good for Vogelsang. Devastatingly bad for Mullur. Mullur checked again. Vogelsang fired again, and this time it was for more than Mullur had back.

He couldn't fold, however. He made the call and learned the bad news.

With that, Vogelsang became the Triton Poker Series Jeju Main Event champion.