Triton Poker Vietnam 2023: 100,000 No Limit Hold'Em Main Event results, champion, leaderboard, prizemoney

Stephen Noh

Triton Poker Vietnam 2023: 100,000 No Limit Hold'Em Main Event results, champion, leaderboard, prizemoney image

Triton's 100,000 No Limit Hold'Em Main Event in Hoi An, Vietnam drew the largest Main Event field in the tour's history. In the end, Talal Shakerchi triumphed over a record 135 entrants to take home the 3,250,000 first prize. For Shakerchi, it was his first win on the tour and brought his career Triton earnings up to over four million. 

Here's how play looked entering the final table: 

Place Name/Country Chips BBs
1. Talal Shakerchi (Great Britain) 7,400,000 74 BB
2. Adrian Mateos (Spain) 7,050,000 71 BB
3. Daniel Smiljkovic (Germany) 5,325,000 53 BB
4. Fedor Holz (Germany) 3,975,000 40 BB
5. Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) 3,100,000 31 BB
6. Timothy Adams (Canada) 2,450,000 25 BB
7. Michael Soyza (Malaysia) 2,275,000 23 BB
8. Nick Petrangelo (USA) 1,800,000 18 BB
9. Roman Hrabec (Czech Republic) 525,000 5 BB

The bust outs came quickly initially, with three players out in the first level of the day.

Roman Hrabec was the first of that group. After being blinded down to 3 BB, he called all-in preflop with pocket 3's against Adrian Mateos, who held king-ten offsuit. Mateos backdoored a straight on the river to win the hand. The ninth-place cash boosted Hrabec's winnings over one million while in Vietnam. 

Winfred Yu was next out, in eighth place. Yu was the new short stack at the table, with 12 BB. He jammed his ace-ten offsuit but ran into Fedor Holz' pocket kings and Michael Soyza's ace-king suited. An ace came on the flop, and Soyza won a massive 4,900,000 pot to vault from seventh in chips up to third. Meanwhile, Holz went from a pot that would have given him the chip lead down to seventh in chips. 

Nick Petrangelo busted in seventh place when he got his 29 BB all-in preflop against Soyza's pocket aces. That pot brought Soyza into the temporary chip lead. 

WATCH: Triton Poker Vietnam 2023 LIVE stream

Timothy Adams was named by two players entering the final table as the most dangerous combatant left in the field. But his day was over when he squeezed ace-queen offsuit preflop and was called by Shakerchi's pocket jacks. An ace was in the window of the flop, but a jack came out next and Shakerchi's flopped set took the hand down. 

MORE: Triton Poker Vietnam 2023: Updated schedule, results for Super High Roller Series

After Adams' bustout, Soyza's chip lead came crashing down. He was coolered in back-to-back pots. First, he doubled up Fedor Holz when his ace-king flopped top pair. Holz flopped a pair and a backdoor flush draw. When that flush draw came in on the river, Holz wisely checked and called Soyza's value shove. Next, Soyza jammed jack-ten suited in the small blind but ran into Daniel Smiljkovic's pocket aces. Those two hands redistributed the chips and put Soyza near the bottom of the field. 

Holz couldn't hold onto those chips for long either. He had his kings cracked for the second time at the final table, four-betting all-in preflop and getting called by Smiljkovic's ace-queen offsuit. A turned ace sent Holz out on a brutal run of luck. 

With just four players left, Adrian Mateos jammed 12 BB's effective from the small blind with king-seven offsuit and was called by Soyza's ace-five offsuit. Soyza flopped a five to take down that pot, and Mateos put his last two BBs in a few hands later with king-eight offsuit versus the eight-three offsuit of Shakerchi. The turn came an eight, and Mateos, who was card dead all day, was out. 

Smiljkovic was the next player out. He called Shakerchi's button raise with six-seven suited and flopped top two pair against Shakerchi's gutshot straight and flush draw. All of the money went in, and Shakerchi made his flush on the turn to send Smiljkovic packing.

That left the heads-up battle between Soyza and Shakerchi, which didn't last long. Shakerchi started the battle with a two-to-one chip lead but Soyza battled back to even it up. 

The pivotal hand came with Soyza holding jack-three suited to Shakerchi's ten-seven offsuit. Soyza made a hero call on the river with second pair, but it was no good against Shakerchi's straight. That gave Shakerchi 88 percent of the chips in play. After some more back-and-forth, Soyza called off the rest of his stack preflop with queen-jack offsuit against the ace-seven suited of Shakerchi. A seven on the turn gave Shakerchi the win. 

“I’m feeling pretty good," Soyza told The Sporting News afterwards. "I didn’t play too good heads-up, so that’s a shame. But it’s okay. Maybe in my life I’ll get one more chance.”

Shakerchi insisted that he's "definitely not a pro" after the win, but he sure played like it. He made multiple tough correct decisions throughout the day to earn the impressive victory and 3,250,000 first prize. 

Payouts for 100,000 No Limit Hold'Em Main Event 

Total prizepool: 13,500,000

Finish Name/Country Prizemoney
Champion

Talal Shakerchi

3,250,000
2nd Michael Soyza (Malaysia) 2,207,000
3rd Daniel Smiljkovic (Germany) 1,450,000
4th Adrian Mateos (Spain) 1,201,000
5th Fedor Holz (Germany) 965,000
6th Timothy Adams (Canada) 756,000
7th Nick Petrangelo (USA) 566,800
8th Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) 418,400
9th Roman Hrabec (Czech Republic) 324,000
10th Lun Loon (Malaysia) 270,000
11th Seth Gottlieb (USA) 270,000
12th David Yan (United Kingdom) 237,000
13th Wiktor Malinowski (Poland) 237,000
14th Brian Kim (USA) 216,000
15th Johannes Straver (Netherlands) 216,000
16th Sam Grafton (United Kingdom) 195,400
17th Bryn Kenney (USA) 195,400
18th Erik Seidel (USA) 175,000
19th Sam Greenwood (Canada) 175,000
20th Mike Watson (Canada) 175,000

Stephen Noh

Stephen Noh Photo

Stephen Noh started writing about the NBA as one of the first members of The Athletic in 2016. He covered the Chicago Bulls, both through big outlets and independent newsletters, for six years before joining The Sporting News in 2022. Stephen is also an avid poker player and wrote for PokerNews while covering the World Series of Poker from 2006-2008.