Chengxu Hu: Champion!
Triton ONE celebrated its first winner on Friday in Jeju, when China's Chengxu Hu emerged from a monstrous field to land the $3,000 QQPK Genesis event and $564,000.
Chengxu had been towards the bottom of the counts as the incredibly successful tournament went into an unscheduled third day, but he was in the right place at the right time to bust the two most active players at the final and claim the win.
"It's truly amazing," Chengxu said in his winner's interview, revealing that he had struggled through the tournament's early stages and had been down to only five big blinds at one point. "Everything feels like a dream...I just kept surviving, kept running, running… and somehow made it all the way to the championship. It wasn’t easy."
Chengxu Hu seals the win
But with a lucky charm in the shape of a dinosaur protecting his cards (a gift from his daughter), Chengxu managed to emerge unscathed from a fast-action final and earn a career-best payday. Chengxu also got his hands on a coveted Triton ONE trident as well as the new QQPK trophy, in the shape of the logo of the Triton ONE series sponsor.
"At the final table I was always in the middle-to-lower stack," Chengxu said. "I just waited for opportunities and played according to my plan."
It got the ball rolling in thrilling fashion on this new phase of Triton Poker history. A $3K buy-in translated to a first prize worth more than half a million? It's where high stakes dreams are dealt, for sure.
The Triton ONE Genesis trophies
TOURNAMENT ACTION
The first event on the inaugural Triton ONE series duly lived up to expectations as players arrived in their droves across four opening flights. The final total of 1,185 entries broke down into 465 uniques plus 720 re-entries, including a jam-packed 462 entries into Day 1C.
It was by far the biggest field to date under the branding of Triton Poker, with a prize pool of more than $3.1 million close to some of the prize pools collected for tournaments with vastly higher buy-ins.
Those opening flights ended when only 16 percent of the field remained, all of whom would find a seat on Day 2 and be in the money already.
The original schedule was to play to a winner on Day 2, but it quickly became evident a third day would be needed. The revised plan had the final table of nine as the target, which eventually became eight as both Khoa Anh Ngo and Liu Chun Keat were knocked out on the same hand to bring Day 2 to its end.
The last eight therefore lined up as follows:
Niklas Deitmer - 91,800,000 (77 BBs)
Wang Sum Li - 66,400,000 (55 BBs)
Martin Nielsen - 41,500,000 (35 BBs)
Po Sen Wang - 27,200,000 (23 BBs)
Cheng Huang - 23,300,000 (19 BBs)
Chengxu Hu - 19,300,000 (16 BBs)
Aren Bezhanyan - 19,100,000 (16 BBs)
Samuel Mullur - 8,000,000 (7 BBs)
QQPK Genesis final table players (clockwise from back left): Chengxu Hu, Po Sen Wang, Samuel Mullur, Niklas Deitmer, Wang Sum Li, Martin Nielsen, Aren Bezhanyan, Cheng Huang.
The field at this point was a perfect mix of Triton Poker first-timers and more familiar faces, with seven nationalities represented.
Propping up the overnight counts, Samuel Mullur had it all to do when they resumed for the finale, but a winning flip against Niklas Deitmer, blind-on-blind, gave him some breathing space. It also put the pressure on to Aren Bezhanyan, who hoped to win a flip of his own when he got his last nine blinds in with AK and faced Wang Sum Li's pocket sixes.
However, the sixes held and Bezhanyan became the first out from the final. He won $54,100, a first Triton cash for the Armenian.
Aren Bezhanyan was knocked out in eighth
Cheng Huang now found himself with only 10 blinds, and he found the exact same spot as Mullur to get them in: folded to him in the small blind. Huang jammed with K9 but was unlucky to find Martin Nielsen wake up in the big blind with AJ. Nielsen called and held. Huang was out in seventh for $76,000.
Cheng Huang also lost in the small blind
Having successfully laddered up two spots, the Reaper now called for Mullur. With eight blinds and KQ he saw Nielsen raise the cutoff and Li call on the button. Mullur shoved from the small blind and would have been delighted to see Li with K9 as his only caller.
The runout was brutal, however. The board of 75J108 gave Li a straight to his nine and Mullur was out. He took $99,500, the last five-figure payout of the tournament.
Samuel Mullur earned the last five-figure payout of the event
Nielsen was next. Following the now-established pattern, he found a shoveable hand in the small blind -- KJ -- and pushed for 17 blinds. Li once again found a better hand in the big blind, however, and called with pocket queens. The queens held and Nielsen tumbled out, taking $133,000 for fifth.
The short-deck expert from the Faroe Islands is expanding his repertoire into hold em, and this may give him further encouragement.
Martin Nielsen: short deck expert has a successful showing in hold'em
Li was now flying high, while the overnight leader Niklas Deitmer had dwindled to the shortest stack. Some of Deitmer's decline was the result of doubling up the Taiwanese player Po Sen Wang, but it was Wang who ended up being the next on the rail.
He looked down at pocket fives and shoved nine blinds from the button. Li, again, picked up a calling hand in the big blind. This time KQ rivered another straight and Wang was out. Fourth place earned him $171,000.
Po Sen Wang is unable to hide his emotions as he busts
When they began three-handed play, Li had all the chips and seemed to be cruising. But things very quickly turned on its head again. Deitmer went on a surge, doubling up twice through Li, taking over the lead and leaving Li in trouble. And that allowed Chengxu the opportunity to swoop in and mop up the last of Li's chips.
On what turned out to be Li's final hand, he and Chengxu played from button and big blind, respectively, with K8 taking on 86. The flop of 5K7 brought with it a chill of inevitability that all the money was going to go in, and the 4 turn just confirmed that.
Chengxu set the trap with a check and Li jammed straight into the nuts. Li went from first to third and earned $231,000 for his troubles.
Wang Sum Li had led the final table three-handed
Having sat out many of the early exchanges, Chengxu's steady accumulation now earned him the chip lead heading into the heads-up battle. His 38 blinds edged Deitmer's 22 as the pair sat down to play for the difference between a $564,000 top prize and $327,000 for second.
It didn't take long. Chengxu found pocket threes and shoved from the small blind, with Deitner looking at A8 and happily making the call for his tournament life. It was a 60 big-blind flip, but more importantly could end the tournament if the pocket pair held.
Niklas Deitmer narrowly missed out on a first Triton ONE win
It did. The board ran 7QKK6 and with that, the Chengxu Hu became the QQPK Genesis champion!
"The setup here is so beautiful — truly beautiful," Chengxu said, acknowledging that he had had a Triton Poker debut to remember. "It’s just amazing. That’s exactly the experience I wanted to have."
