Player ONE winner ceremony (l-r): Belle Han (QQPK representative), Jun Hao Wu, Joshua Gebissa, Josh McCully, Chengxu Hu, Chenxiang Miao, Luca Vivaldi (Triton Poker Series Tournament Director)
The end of the Triton ONE festival in Jeju brought the conclusion too of the Player One Leaderboard race — an exclusive contest to reward the most consistent performers throughout the whole series of tournaments, sponsored by QQPK.
It was a nail-biter.
Australia's Josh McCully played the entire Triton ONE series, making up for disappointment in the QQPK Genesis and Mystery Bounty events with a 40th-place finish in the Main Event, worth $23,800. But his week was only just starting. McCully went on to finish runner-up in back-to-back One Day events, banking $46,800 in the $2K event for second behind Yoko Sasaki, then matching the performance 24 hours later.
Significantly, the buy-in in the second event was $20,000 and McCully's second place there, behind Chenxiang Miao, earned him $226,000.
But it was the raft of Player ONE points that really set McCully's back-to-back performances apart. It catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard, and was enough to keep him there even after Joshua Gebissa cruised his way to top spot in the Triton ONE Main Event.
The new Triton ONE Player ONE: Josh McCull
Gebissa had also cashed the $3K QQPK Genesis, and finished the leaderboard race with 655 points. But McCully's tally of 660 points kept him top by the narrowest of margins.
McCully was therefore crowned as the first official Player ONE and earned the top prize of $15,000 in Triton Poker Series tournament credit, which he can use in any Triton event of his choice.
He also got first pick of five envelopes containing prizes from $4,000 to $10,000 in tournament credit.
The other players in the top five leaderboard spots also got the chance to pick an envelope. They were, in order, Gebissa, Chengxu Hu, Jun Hao Wu and Chenxiang Miao, the winners of the Triton ONE Main Event, the QQPK Genesis, the $15K High Roller and the $20K One Day events, respectively.
It was notable therefore that the only player in the top five NOT to outright win an event topped the leaderboard. It underlined the status of the leaderboard race as a marathon not a sprint.
In all, Triton ONE title sponsor QQPK offered $50,000 in prizes to the Player ONE leaderboard winners.
The envelopes were drawn at a ceremony during the first break in play in the $25,000 WPT Global Slam, part of the Super High Roller Series. Suffice to say, everyone was pretty happy with how things panned out.
Though McCully drew the smallest prize of $4,000, he quickly learned that his total $19,000 credit could be cashed in immediately in the $25,000 WPT Global Slam. "That was my plan anyway," he said, mock-proffering his bounty ticket to the registration desk.
Meanwhile Gebissa landed a buy-in to the next Triton ONE Main Event, worth $8,000, which means he'll get free passage as he attempts to defend his title when Triton ONE returns.
Wu also won an $8,000 Main Event ticket, while Hu earned $5,000 in cash. Miao earned the biggest prize in one of the envelopes: a $10,000 cash injection to his bankroll.
No dates are yet confirmed for the next Triton ONE event, but these prizes in the Player ONE race certainly suggest it's not going away...
Player ONE leaderboard top five
1 - Josh McCully, Australia - 660 points - $15,000 + $4,000 bonus draw
2 - Joshua Gebissa, Germany - 655 points - $8,000 Triton ONE Main Event buy-in
=3 - Chengxu Hu, China - 580 points - $5,000 cash
=3 - Jun Hao Wu, Singapore - 580 points - $8,000 Triton ONE Main Event buy-in
5 - Chenxiang Miao, China - $10,000 cash
Click for full Player ONE leaderboard standings
