Champion Yan Jingyao!

The way it's supposed to work is that relatively inexperienced players take their first shot on the Triton Series in the lower buy-in Triton ONE events, before graduating to the big leagues of the Super High Roller Series. But tonight in North Cyprus, two players with plenty of experience in the huge events squared off for a Triton ONE title, with China's Yan Jingyao claiming the spoils, and $51,000.

Yan has been a regular at the Triton tables in Jeju for the past two years, cashing eight times on the Super High Roller Series, including two final tables. And tonight he proved uncatchable at the final of the $4,000 Big Bounty event at Triton ONE, at least after he had snatched the chip lead from his countryman Zheng Xiaosheng and raced to the title.

Of Yan's $51K payday, $10,000 came in bounties.

The winning moment for Yan Jingyao

Yan's final opponent was poker reporter turned pro TJ Reid, who has enjoyed a scintillating year at the felt, including a $3 million payday at the WSOP Super Main Event in the Bahamas last December. Reid may be new to Triton, but he is no stranger to the big, tough events.

Reid rode a short stack through most of the final, but navigated his way to heads-up against Yan, only perishing when Yan flopped a flush to end it, shortly before 1 a.m. local time. Reid took $36,000, including bounties, and has now cashed both Triton ONE events he has played.

Second place for TJ Reid

TOURNAMENT ACTION

From a starting field of 96 entries, the final table would feature only seven players. And the nature of the event — the clue being in the name — meant that bounty hunting was the order of the day, and the tournament raced along. When Yu Lei lost a flip to perish to Siegfried Friedl, the final table was set with the following players.

Zheng Xiaosheng - 5,295,000 (66 BBs)

Siegfried Friedl - 5,145,000 (64 BBs)

Roman Stoika - 2,420,000 (30 BBs)

Yan Jingyao - 1,650,000 (21 BBs)

TJ Reid - 1,635,000 (20 BBs)

Kalle Parkkinen - 1,545,000 (19 BBs)

Mao Renji - 1,520,000 (19 BBs)

Big Bounty final table (clockwise from back left): Mao Renji, Siegfried Friedl, TJ Reid, Kalle Parkkinen, Zheng Xiaosheng, Yan Jingyao, Roman Stoika.

The pace did not let up, with each bounty worth $2,000, or half an original buy-in. TJ Reid claimed the first scalp, winning a flip with pocket sevens to bust Mao Renji in seventh. Mao won $7,500 from the main prize pool, but another $6,000 in bounties.

Former EPT champion Roman Stoika has already cashed twice here at Triton ONE, but his third in-the-money finish, and second final table, came to an abrupt halt in sixth. He lost a big pot to Siegfried Freudl's full house, and then ran A7 into the same player's pocket queens. Stoika earned $21,400, of which $12,000 came in bounties.

Roman Stoika has enjoyed an excellent start to Triton ONE

Finland's Kalle Parkkinen was next to depart, getting his last 13 blinds in the middle with A9 but losing to Yan Jingyao's 5. Yan shoved the small blind with his suited connectors and probably didn't like Parkkinen's call. But a four on the flop was all Yan needed to turn the tables on Parkkinen and pick up his bounty. Parkkinen took $25,900 for fifth, including $14,000 in bounties.

Yan then turned his attention to the other Chinese player at the final, sending Zheng Xiaosheng packing in fourth. Zheng's A8 flopped an ace to put him ahead of Yan's pocket 10s. But a 10 on the river gave Yan a set and Zheng had to depart. He took $26,800, with $12,000 of that from bounties.

Zheng Xiaosheng prepares to depart

Yan was a massive chip leader three handed, with Reid and Friedl all but even. However, when those two stragglers clashed, with Reid holding A3 and Friedl with Q, Reid all but doubled when his hand held. Friedl had only one blind fewer than Reid, but was now on the rail. He took $30,400 including his $12,000 in bounties.

Yan had a two-to-one chip lead heading into heads-up play, with 44 blinds to Reid's 21. Yan has done plenty of good work in Triton events, including on the Super High Roller Series, but Reid has been in sensational form for the past couple of years elsewhere, and this could still go either way.

After some early small pots, the tournament exploded to its conclusion. Reid had 16 blinds when he raised the small blind holding JK and Yan defended the big with 7. There was no way the money was going to stay out of the pot when the dealer put the on the table.

Yan checked his flopped flush and Reid, with the nut flush draw, made a tiny bet. Yan bumped it up, Reid jammed, and this was potentially the decider whatever happened. The K turn changed relatively little, and the 3 river snuffed out Reid's remaining hopes. The last bounty went to Yan, whose total payout hit $51,000 as a result, $10,000 of which came from bounties.

Reid eliminated four players for $8,000 bounties, plus the $28,000 he got from the main pot. Both can feel very satisfied with their Triton ONE performances already, but only Yan can now call himself a champion.