Champion Nacho Barbero!
An astonishing display of carnage at the Triton Jeju $30K Pot Limit Omaha final table ended with Argentinian pro Nacho Barbero earning his second Triton title. He knocked out every one of his six final table opponents, claiming bounties of €40,000 from each, and ending with $763,000 for this effortless cruise to the win.
Rarely has any poker tournament final table been so very one-sided, with Barbero starting the final day high in the chip counts, progressing to the final table in second place, and then going on an incredible blitz.
There was simply no stopping him and Barbero completed the job with a double knockout, taking us from three players to one champion in the blink of an eye.
That was the perfect resolution for Barbero, who had lost four previous heads-up battles on the Triton Series, since his debut win in Vietnam last year. "I was kind of salty about it," Barbero said, referencing those defeats. "This time I decided to finish it three-handed so I didn't get embarrassed heads up."
Barbero added that it was especially sweet to take down a title in PLO, a format in which he has excelled in both tournaments and cash games.
"This one is amazing, because it's my game," Barbero said. It truly was his game today, with no one able to lay a glove on him.
It took barely three-and-a-half hours on the final day before Barbero finally landed that elusive second Triton win. He also gave thanks to his "favourite dealer", who had certainly played her part!
Nacho Barbero thanks his ‘favourite dealer’ after a whirlwind final
TOURNAMENT ACTION
Played out against the backdrop of the raucous Main Event final table, the second PLO event of this trip dialled down the volume a touch. The buy-in was $30K, small by Triton standards, but 84 entries still put $1,680,000 in the prize pool. The PLO experts seemed content to do their thing out of the spotlight, contracting the field down to the money bubble late on Day 1.
Sean Winter was one of the short stacks as that unwelcome landmark approached, and despite his known survival skills, Winter couldn't last this one out. Winter slipped and slipped to just one blind, which went in with 9936. Biao Ding's AK5K wasn't threatened and Winter was out with nothing.
Sean Winter, pictured in a previous event, bubbled this one
After the bubble burst, there was still time for the elimination of Sam Greenwood in 14th before bags came out for the night, with 13 remaining into Day 2.
But for six of them, they might have wondered whether staying in bed was the better option. In only about 30 minutes, all of Quan Zhou, Ole Schemion, Dylan Linde, Keith Lehr, Laszlo Bujtas and Isaac Haxton were knocked out.
Two of those, Zhou and Schemion, were out on the same hand. Linde lasted only one hand more. Lehr was out on the hand after that. The surging Dan Smith accounted for three of those scalps and so landed at the final table with a significant chip lead.
The last seven looked like this:
Dan Smith – 5,230,000 (105 BBs)
Nacho Barbero – 4,015,000 (80 BBs)
Kirk Steele – 3,260,000 (65 BBs)
Biao Ding – 2,745,000 (55 BBs)
Daniel Dvoress – 840,000 (17 BBs)
Matthew Wood – 395,000 (8 BBs)
Jan-Peter Jachtmann – 315,000 (6 BBs)
Triton Jeju $30K PLO final table players (clockwise from back left): Matthew Wood, Kirk Steele, Biao Ding, Nacho Barbero, Dan Dvoress, Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Dan Smith
After that lightning quick start, matters slowed a little when they reached the final table. With several PLO specialists around, everyone was picking their spots effectively. Jan-Peter Jachtmann, the very definition of a PLO specialist, managed not only to cling on with his short stack, but double and then triple it up.
Matthew Wood has also demonstrated his consummate skills in the four-card game, with a near blemish-free record on the Triton Series in this format. However, having taken a big hit while slamming into Nacho Barbero’s aces, he then pushed A996 into Barbero’s AQ22. Barbero made a flush and Wood was out.
This was the third PLO cash of Wood’s Triton career, from only three PLO events he has played. He took $80,000, plus bounties.
Matthew Wood: Another PLO cash for the Canadian
Wood’s elimination trimmed the Canadian contingent at the final table by one, and the next significant pot took out another. Once again it was Barbero who did the damage, cracking Kirk Steele’s aces to boost his stack even more.
Steele had been sitting pretty near the top of the counts for long periods in this tournament, especially during the opening day. But Barbero gave with one hand, then took away with the other: Steele doubled up through the Argentinian before giving it all back on the next hand. Steele three-bet over Barbero’s open with AA47. Barbero called, seeing a flop of 8K4.
Steele shoved and Barbero called with K983, which was only a pair of kings. But when clubs peeled on turn and river, the flush earned another bounty.
Steele won $99,000.
Kirk Steele was another PLO specialist making a deep run
Barbero wasn’t done with the eliminations, and he wasn’t done with the cracking aces. Next up was Biao Ding, who three-bet pushed with AA98 but didn’t have enough chips to make Barbero consider folding 10109Q.
Three diamonds on the board shipped this one to Barbero again, with Ding taking $127,000 for fifth.
Biao Ding: Another final table
After another brief slowdown, the Barbero wrecking ball swung again and this time skittled the previous chip leader Smith. Appropriately enough, Smith had late registered this tournament yesterday after spending an evening bowling with other players at the on-site bowling alley.
He was the unstoppable force on Day 1, but ran into immovable object on Day 2. Smith’s 210AK went up against Barbero’s Q7J4 and they got it all in on a flop of Q45.
The Q turn and 9 river was good only for Barbero, and that was that for Smith. His $280,000 payout included two bounties.
Dan Smith’s superlative first day put him in the money again
So we settled in for Barbero versus Dan Dvoress and Jan-Peter Jachtmann, with the latter two surely hoping and expecting Barbero’s momentum would eventually slow. But they saw nothing of the sort.
Instead, all three of them got their chips in in an enormous pot, and of course there was only one winner.
Jan-Peter Jachtmann and Daniel Dvoress see the tournament-ending bad news
Barbero had 8873.
Dvoress had QQ94.
Jachtmann had 8873.
And the board of 63J7A was all about Barbero once again.
Two more bounties went into Barbero’s stack, as the trophy went on to his packed shelf.
Nacho Barbero celebrates his second Triton win
