The Triton Super High Roller Series in Vietnam has reached its apex, as nine players remain in contention in the $100,000 main event.
With 135 entries, the prize pool swelled to $13.5 million, with $3,250,000 for the winner and the top four spots each paying out more than $1.2 million.
Most of these players are no stranger to the highest tournament stakes in the world. Five players have eight figures in lifetime earnings, and four members of that group rank in the top 20 of the all-time tournament money list, according to The Hendon Mob – Fedor Holz (11th), Adrian Mateos (16th), Timothy Adams (18th) and Nick Petrangelo (20th). Only two of the nine players at this final table don’t have at least one $1 million cash on their tournament ledger.
Play resumes at 1 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET/10 p.m. PT) at Hoiana Hotel & Golf in Hoi An, Vietnam. Here’s what you need to know before the final table gets underway.
Seat 1: Nick Petrangelo
Chips: 1,800,000 (18 big blinds, 8/9)
United States
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $28,547,210
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $2,910,227, 1st, 2018 WSOP $100,000 High Roller
Other Prominent Wins: 2015 WSOP $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout for $201,812; 2020 WPT Online $3,200 World Championship for $494,550; 2021 PokerGo Tour $200,000 High Roller for $1,468,800
While he has a staggering amount of lifetime results and success on almost every stage he’s played on, Nick Petrangelo did not have a cash in a Triton High Roller until his arrival in Vietnam just over a week ago. He’s racked up three cashes and a final table during this series, and while the 36-year-old from Massachusetts will start the final table as one of the shorter stacks, his five career tournament cashes of at least $1 million indicate that nerves will not be an issue.
Seat 2: Michael Soyza
Chips: 2,275,000 (23 big blinds, 7/9)
Malaysia
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $10,627,515
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $1,420,581, 1st, 2019 HK$500,000 Triton Super High Roller Jeju Six Max No Limit Hold’em for $1,420,581
Other Prominent Wins: 2018 MSPT $1,655 Main Event for $588,249; 2018 EPT Barcelona €10,300 for $344,086
Michael Soyza played his first Triton Super High Roller four years ago this week in Jeju, South Korea, and promptly posted a victory in what still stands as his best career tournament cash. He’s made six more Triton final tables, including a win in a Short Deck event, and bubbled two more. But with a finish of third place or better in this event, Soyza will set a new career best.
Seat 3: Timothy Adams
Chips: 2,450,000 (25 big blinds, 6/9)
Canada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $30,017,320
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $3,600,000, 1st, 2020 partypoker Millions Sochi $250,000 Super High Roller Bowl; 2020
Other Prominent Wins: 2019 HK$2,000,000 Triton Super High Roller Jeju Main Event for $3,536,550; 2020 A$250,000 Super High Roller Bowl Australia for $1,446,112; 2012 WSOP $2,500 Four Max No Limit Hold’em for $392,476
Timothy Adams has been posting significant live tournament results for the last 17 years, but his biggest wins have come via his high roller efforts over the last four years. Adams has racked up five separate cashes of at least $1.1 million, including titles in Australia, South Korea and Russia. The 36-year-old from Burlington, Ontario, Canada is second on the all-time money list in his home country, behind only Daniel Negreanu.
Seat 4: Daniel Smiljkovic
Chips: 5,325,000 (53 big blinds, 3/9)
Germany
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,540,018
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $423,426, 1st, 2021 WSOP Online International $5,000 No Limit Hold’em
Other Prominent Results: 2nd, 2021 $10,000 Aria High Roller for $98,400
Daniel Smiljkovic carries a lot of chips into this final table, but he’s a less-known entity than everyone save for perhaps one other player among these nine. The German-born pro won a WSOP Online bracelet in August 2021, but outside of a runner-up finish in a November 2021 $10,000 at Aria, most of Smiljkovic’s other tournament results have either come online or in smaller buy-in live tournaments. After cashing in the opening event of this series, Smiljkovic is in search of his first signature live tournament win.
Seat 5: Winfred Yu
Chips: 3,100,000 (31 big blinds, 5/9)
Hong Kong
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $6,955,223
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $1,339,193, 11th, 2019 £1,050,000 Triton London Million for Charity
Other Prominent Results: 4th, 2018 HK$1,000,000 Triton Poker Montenegro Short Deck for $1,172,727; 1st, 2022 $75,000 Triton Poker Cyprus Short Deck for $1,010,000
Winfred Yu has been a fixture in high rollers and super high rollers for well over a decade. His success in Triton events has largely come in Short Deck events, where he has both a victory and a fourth-place finish for north of $1 million in each instance. Yu’s also got major final table experience in No Limit Hold’em events, with a third place finish in the 2013 WSOP Asia-Pacific $10,000 Main Event won by Negreanu.
Seat 6: Talal Shakerchi
Chips: 7,400,000 (74 big blinds, 1/9)
England
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $9,260,453
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $1,188,000, 4th, 2018 $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl
Other Prominent Results: 1st, 2013 £10,300 EPT London High Roller for $656,699
Talal Shakerchi has played high roller and super high roller events all over the world, and has made a number of final tables on almost every major tour that poker has to offer. The one thing that’s escaped Shakerchi to this point, however, is a major title in an event with a buy-in over $25,000. This appears to be his best chance to date, as while he faces some of the toughest competition imaginable, he holds the chip lead with only one player in immediate striking distance – Adrian Mateos.
Seat 7: Adrian Mateos
Chips: 7,050,000 (71 big blinds, 2/9)
Spain
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $31,619,041
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $3,265,362, 1st, 2021 WSOP $250,000 Super High Roller
Other Prominent Wins: 2022 EPT Monte Carlo €100,000 Super High Roller for $1,461,609; 2013 WSOP Europe €10,450 Main Event for $1,351,661; 2015 EPT Monte Carlo €10,600 Main Event for $1,214,161; 2016 WSOP $1,500 Summer Solstice No Limit Hold’em for $409,171; 2017 WSOP $10,000 Heads-Up Championship for $336,656
Adrian Mateos’ poker career has been nothing short of spectacular since the very beginning. At 19 years old, Mateos won the 2013 WSOP Europe main event. He’s since won three more WSOP bracelets. Two years after his WSOPE Main Event title, Mateos won the 2015 EPT Monte Carlo Main Event. He nearly secured poker’s triple crown in 2016, finishing fourth in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Outside of that triple crown, there aren’t many gaps in the now-28-year-old Mateos’ trophy case, save for one – he has no Triton title. This will be Mateos’ fourth cash of this series in Vietnam, and he sits second at the start of this final table.
Seat 8: Roman Hrabec
Chips: 525,000 (5 big blinds, 9/9)
Czech Republic
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,521,036
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $653,600, 2nd, 2023 $25,000 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam
Other Prominent Results: 4th, 2022 £5,300 EPT London Main Event for $257,518; 2nd, 2022 £2,200 UKIPT London High Roller for $174,661
Roman Hrabec has seen most of his live career success in the last six months. In October, Hrabec recorded back-to-back final tables during the EPT London festival, including a fourth-place result in the main event. In this, his first Triton Series, Hrabec announced himself immediately in the opening event, finishing second to Chin Wei Lim. Petrangelo and Soyza were also at that final table, giving Hrabec firsthand experience with both players. It will, however, take quite a comeback for Hrabec to pull back into contention, as he starts the final table with just over 5 big blinds.
Seat 9: Fedor Holz
Chips: 3,975,000 (40 big blinds, 4/9)
Germany
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $37,597,097
Biggest Lifetime Live Cash: $6,000,000, 2nd, 2018 WSOP $1 million Big One for One Drop
Other Prominent Results: 1st, 2016 WSOP $111,111 High Roller for One Drop for $4,981,776; 2nd, 2016 $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl for $3,500,000; 1st, 2016 Triton Super High Roller Series Philippines for $3,072,748
Even though he’s only 29 years old, Fedor Holz is a longtime veteran on the high roller scene. He announced his presence at this level back in 2015, when he won the WPT Alpha8 High Roller at Bellagio. Holz went on to win his first WSOP bracelet the following year, along with nearly $5 million, in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop; he’d subsequently finish as the runner-up to Justin Bonomo in the 2018 $1 million Big One for One Drop. With 10 cashes of over $1 million, and two Triton titles to his name already, Holz is rightfully one of the favorites heading into this final table.