After making a deal three-handed, New Zealand’s David Yan took down his first Triton event and over $3 million in the largest event of the London series so far. Yan battled against some of poker’s greats at the final table, including Natural8’s Danny Tang, as well as Chris Brewer and Timothy Adams.
When the tournament got down to three-handed, Yan ended up making a deal with Nacho Barbero and 2022 Main Event winner Espen Jorstad. Barbero took the largest prize, taking home over $3.4 million, Yan took home just over $3 million, and Jorstad bagged over $2.7 million.
Final Table Action
As you might expect from a $200K buy-in event, the final table was chock-full of some of the brightest poker minds in the game, but sitting third in chips going into FT, Yan had reason to believe that he could make a run at the top prize.
Juan Pardo was the shortest stack coming into the final table with just 13BBs and just couldn’t get anything going early on. He eventually found a hand to go with, but unfortunately for Pardo, his K6 ran into the KT of David Yan and was unable to improve, seeing him eliminated in 8th place.
Chris Brewer came into the final table fourth in chips, but after losing a flip with TT against the AQs of Tim Adams, he found himself with just a handful of chips left. With his remaining couple of blinds, Brewer went with Q2 and found himself up against the K9o of Natural8’s Danny Tang in the Big Blind. Danny flopped Brewer all but dead as K77 with no spades hit the board, and the 3 on the turn sealed Brewer’s fate and he was out in 7th.
After a couple of double-ups on the table, the average stack got quite short, and it was only a matter of time before we saw an elimination or two. Aleks Ponakovs was the next player to hit the rail, as his A2s was unable to hold against the K8o of David Yan. Danny Tang quickly followed him out the door after shoving A8 into the AKs of Nacho Barbero.
When play got down to four-handed, the remaining players took a break to negotiate a deal. With a nearly $3 million difference between the 4th and the 1st, you can understand why they would want to reduce the variance, but no deal could be agreed, and the players played on.
Timothy Adams was the next player to bust, getting desperately unlucky with his 99 against the 64 of Nacho Barbero. The flop came T53, giving Nacho a straight draw and a flush draw, making him a favourite over Adams’ 99. The Q turn gave Nacho the flush and eliminated Adams in 4th for $1.55 million.
With Adams eliminated, the deal discussions started up again, and the three remaining players were able to come to an agreement. As the overwhelming chip leader, Nacho took home the biggest prize of $3,445,807 - a career-best score for him. David Yan was given $2,952,002, and Jorstad was guaranteed $2,799,191, leaving $100,000 and the trophy left to play for.
With the pressure lifted, the players could focus on playing their best game without the weight of the money hanging over them. It was at this stage of the tournament that David Yan came alive, winning a number of pots before knocking out Espen Jorstad, making a four-flush with his 99 to crack the QQ of the Main Event champ.
This gave Yan a healthy chip lead going into heads-up play, but the lead would be short-lived as Nacho took a 4:1 chip lead in the match. Yan found a double with K8 against Nacho’s Q2 and doubled again the very next hand with A8 against A6. That left Nacho with around 10BBs, and after another double-up, he found himself all-in again with K6 against Yan’s A4.
This time, the chip leader managed to hold, and Yan picked up his biggest tournament score as well as his first-ever Triton win.
Triton London $200K 8-Handed No Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Yan | New Zealand | $3,052,002* |
| 2 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | $3,445,807* |
| 3 | Espen Jorstad | Norway | $2,766,191* |
| 4 | Tim Adams | Canada | $1,550,000 |
| 5 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | $1,247,000 |
| 6 | Aleks Ponakovs | Latvia | $970,000 |
| 7 | Chris Brewer | USA | $770,000 |
| 8 | Juan Pardo | Spain | $600,000 |
Will Danny Tang close out a victory after a couple of near misses in this Triton Series? Who do you want to see take down an event at Triton London? Let us know on social media and stay tuned for all the latest poker news and events.
Image Source: Triton Series
