Champion Punnat Punsri!

Punnat Punsri's incredible story at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series filled another chapter in Jeju on Saturday when the Thailand No 1 picked up yet another title.

It came in the $30,000 NLH/PLO mixed event, and gave Punsri another $504,000 and his sixth famous Triton trident.

It means he now has more than anybody else on the Triton Poker Series bar Jason Koon. More than Phil Ivey. More than Bryn Kenney. More than Mikita Badziakouski. And the rate at which Punsri wins events, even Koon feels like he's now in sight.

"I guess I've just been lucky right from the start of the Triton journey three and a half years ago to now," Punsri said, preparing to collect yet another winner's check. "This event was particularly special because it's both disciplines that I played since my university days. I used to play hold'em and Omaha, alternating every week. To be able to win an event like this, I'm super, super proud."

Punsri celebrates with Danny Tang, who introduced him to the Triton Poker Series

Punsri has been nothing short of a sensation since appearing on the Triton scene in Cyprus in 2022. He is almost always at at least two final tables at every stop, and has an incredible gift for being able to close them out. In this one, stacks got very short and decisions became fundamental. But Punsri has found a way to excel in precisely these kinds of situations.

"When the stacks get shallow and the antes are very big in hold'em, a lot of the hands play themselves," Punsri said. He referenced a series of double-ups he had through eventual third-placed finisher Daniel Rezeai that brought him back from the brink, stating: "It didn't tilt me at all, nor did it tilt him. We both know that we played the hands correctly, it was just up to fate. And once again, the gods were on my side. I don't know why. I hope it continues forever."

He added: "It obviously requires a bit of discipline, but in these things I think experience helps a lot. I was really lucky early on in my career that I was able to do well at a lot of the first final tables that I played in. So that eases the pressure."

Rezaei was seeking a second title of his trip to Jeju, but finished in third, leaving Punsri to square off against Zhou Quan, similarly on for a Jeju double. But Punsri was able to close out the heads-up after only the slightest wobbles, locking up that landmark sixth win.

"When you play with opponents of this level, it forces you to improve every stop," Punsri said. "I think this realisation of self improvement is really helpful not just in life at the tables, but life beyond the tables. I think I've become much more mature and a better person through poker and Triton."

He added that he is intent on getting poker recognised as a skill game in his native Thailand, and helping with the campaign to get the game legalised. His six titles can do nothing but assist with that.

"Initially when I started to pursue tournaments it was partly to put Thailand on the map in a mind sport that people maybe overlooked, or don't totally understand," Punsri said. "Over the past three years, the most proud thing I've done is pushing the movement towards potentially legalising poker tournaments in Thailand. As of now, we are already acknowledging that it's a mind sport back home, so that's a huge thing. I'm always very proud to represent Thailand against elite opponents on an elite stage like this."

His country can have no better ambassador.

Tang joins Punsri for the winner's photo

TOURNAMENT ACTION

As the NLH section of the Triton Jeju schedule gives way gradually to PLO, the hybrid NLH/PLO mix gives experts in each field the chance to spend some time in foreign climes. As expected, there were plenty of NLH wizards happy to mix in some four-card fun, while the PLO specialists got themselves warmed up too.

For some, this went better than they might have hoped. For others, it made for tough going.

For Triton Ambassador Mario Mosbock, it turned out to be a fairly dreadful day. One of the very best NLH players in the world, Mosbock decided to make his PLO debut in this tournament, registering late, re-entering, but then finding himself happily still involved as the money bubble approached.

With 60 entries, 10 players would be paid, and Mosbock still had one of the last 11 seats. In a hold'em round, he saw Matthew Wantman and Punnat Punsri butt heads, with Wantman at risk holding AK and in big danger against Punsri's KK. But Wantman spiked an ace on the turn to breathe another day.

At the same time on the other table, Daniel Rezaei was at risk, although his pocket 10s were better than Zhou Quan's nines and stayed that way. That gave Rezaei a double.

It left Mosbock alone at the bottom of the counts, and when he got his last chips in with J7, he needed to hit to beat Laszlo Bujtas' K6. Mosbock flopped a jack to give him hope, but the full board ended up giving Bujtas a straight and that was the end of it for Mosbock.

The end of Mario Mosbock's double bubble day

One bubble in a day is bad enough, but Mosbock had earlier stone-bubbled the $150K 10th Anniversary Event as well. A double bubble is no way for anyone to end a tournament series.

With Mosbock gone, they then played on until the final. Patrik Antonius, Ding Biao and Jesse Lonis were knocked out in 10th through eighth to take the tournament to its final table. The following players bagged chips, went to bed, and prepared to play for it all on Saturday.

Zhou Quan - 2,955,000 (59 BBs)

Daniel Rezaei - 2,175,000 (44 BBs)

Punnat Punsri - 2,135,000 (43 BBs)

Matthew Wantman - 1,640,000 (33 BBs)

Laszlo Bujtas - 1,260,000 (25 BBs)

Matthias Eibinger - 1,240,000 (25 BBs)

Dan Dvoress - 595,000 (12 BBs)

Event 13 final table players (clockwise from back left): Matthias Eibinger, Laszlo Bujtas, Matthew Wantman, Punnat Punsri, Zhou Quan, Daniel Rezaei, Dan Dvoress.

Despite excellent skills in all poker disciplines, Dan Dvoress had his work cut out to turn this latest deep run into another title. With 12 blinds returning for the second day, he needed a double fairly quickly. But what he actually got was the wrong side of a 60/40 against Punsri.

Punsri opened AKQ4 under the gun and Dvoress picked up AA97 on the button. He was able to get everything he had left in the middle at that point, but the runout of 410J3K gave Punsri a straight.

Dvoress earned himself another $87,000 and a few hours rest before the next one starts.

Dan Dvoress was the first of the day to fall to Punsri

Despite playing for lower stakes for many years, Punsri has only relatively recently taken the high stakes PLO plunge, but his study has been paying off handsomely. He won the $25K PLO last year in Montenegro, and with a very well established hold'em game already, this tournament was tailor made for him. When he followed up Dvoress' knockout by also accounting for Laszlo Bujtas, Punsri found himself flying high at the top of the counts.

Bujtas, still well known by his online screen-name "omaha4rollz", favours the four-card game more than hold'em, but won his only Triton title in a hold'em turbo in Madrid in 2022. So he too is accomplished at both disciplines. However, Bujtas fell to Punsri in a hold'em hand, where he three-bet shoved 23 blinds from the big blind holding KJ and couldn't beat Punsri's A10. (Punsri opened from the cutoff and then called from a 42-blind stack.)

Bujtas will take the $112,000 and reinvest on the PLO streets.

A decent warm-up result for Laszlo Bujtas

On the subject of recent PLO converts, Austria's Matthias Eibinger is another player who is still best known for hold'em, but who has broadened his horizons slightly of late. He won a huge PLO event in the Bahamas at his first time of asking, and now here he was at another final where four-cards constituted half the hands.

It wasn't to be Eibinger's day, however, as he was knocked out in a three-way pot against Rezaei and Zhou Quan.

Eibinger's stack had been reduced to only four blinds thanks to an earlier skirmish with Rezaei, and he committed everything he had from the big blind after an UTG raise from Rezaei and a call from Zhou.

There was still technically betting possible between the two active hands, but they ended up checking the board all the way. With 865Q5 showing on the felt, Rezaei tabled the winning KKA7. Eibinger had very little to show for his 10783 and Zhou also lost a couple of blinds when his KJ106 went into the muck.

Eibinger took $144,000.

Eibinger, another five-time winner, keeps looking for No 6

Matthew Wantman, in town specifically for PLO, had very nearly bubbled late yesterday before that ace on the river kept him hanging around. But he was now in the danger zone four handed, sitting with only eight blinds, less than half the tally of the man nearest to him.

That was Zhou, and in a hold'em hand, Zhou managed to find an outdraw to bust Wantman.

Wantman had A10 and moved in from the button. Zhou was in the big blind and called from a 21-blind stack with A4. If Wantman's hand held up, the pair would swap places on the leaderboard. But the 4 on the flop was a dagger to Wantman. He ended up on the rail in fourth, earning his second ever Triton cash and $183,000.

Matthew Wantman fell in fourth to Zhou Quan

There were three left. Punsri's 47 blinds led Rezaei's 44 and Zhou's 29. Two of these players had already won trophies on this trip to Jeju, while Punsri was aiming to add the sixth of his career. But Punsri's quest for No 6 got lost in the wilderness for a while, as a series of small pots sent him sliding down the counts. He had only 16 blinds left when he moved in from the small blind holding K5 and picked up a call from Rezaei, holding QJ.

Punsri was ahead and managed to stay that way by the time the river came out. That meant Punsri doubled back into the lead, and left Rezaei on life support.

Rezaei now managed to find consecutive doubles to get his stack back to 14 blinds, but the volatility only increased as the stacks grew shorter and shorter. There was a 20 blind average, with Punsri holding 24 and Zhou 23. The game shifted to PLO, but it was still unpredictable. Rezaei doubled for a third time in three hands, with J1055 boating up against Punsri's KQ103.

Just like that, Rezaei was back in the lead and Punsri was the short stack again.

A Zhou's-eye view of the table

Zhou is never usually a player who will sit back and watch things, but his intervention into this three-hander next resulted in a double for Punsri. We were back to hold'em and Punsri's AK beat Zhou's A10. That now left Zhou down to 11 blinds and in difficulty.

He slipped further to five blinds, but then doubled up himself. And he then sat back and watched another big hand between Rezaei and Punsri vault the Thai player back out front. Punsri's QJ rivered a flush to beat Rezaei's pocket nines, all-in pre-flop in a hold'em round. Chips were simply moving round the table with the conclusion imminent but never quite arriving.

It was, however, now too much for Rezaei to bear. The big hand against Punsri left him down to only a couple of blinds and Punsri made another flush on a PLO hand that followed soon after. Rezaei's profitable trip to Jeju earned him $240,000, but he is still just a one-time Triton winner. At least so far.

Daniel Rezaei finished on the wrong side of extreme three-handed variance

Punsri now sat down with a big heads-up lead. He had 40 blinds to Zhou's eight, and that hunt for the half dozen was back on. Half of Zhou's stack disappeared on the first hand of heads-up. He then folded the second.

But Zhou mounted something of a comeback to delay the seeming inevitable. He doubled then slipped, doubled then slipped. But just when he was looking at another double to give him near parity, Punsri found a miracle turn card to close it out.

Zhou Quan can only laugh at the wild heads-up swings

The chips were in pre-flop in a hold'em round, with Zhou's AJ ahead of Punsri's 53 both pre-flop, and then after the 2KA flop. However, with Punsri's fans calling for a four, the dealer put the 4 on the turn and Zhou was drawing dead.

That's how Punsri does it. Zhou came up short in his quest for a second win of the trip, but will settle for $356,000 from this one.

But for Punsri, it's time to celebrate as only the second ever six-time Triton champ.