Barbero, Arends Win Triton Vietnam Titles As $100,000 Main Event Gets Underway

Many of the best high-stakes poker players in the world are in southeast Asia right now for the 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam, a series consisting of more than a dozen events with buy-ins ranging from $15,000 to $100,000.

The series got underway on March 1 and has awarded a few seven-figure prizes. Vietnam native Dao Phu took down Event #6: $50,000 NLH 8-Handed for $1.7 million while Turkey’s Orpen Kisacikoglu went on to win Event #7: $75,000 NLH 8-Handed for $1.8 million.

The two are the largest winners of the series so far, but other notable high rollers to home trophies include Argentina’s Nacho Barbero (Event #2: $15,000 NLH 7-Handed – $600,000), Jans Arends of The Netherlands (Event #5: $30,000 NLH 7-Handed – $921,178) and Triton newcomer Andrew Leathem (Event #8: $25,000 Turbo NLH – $670,000)

Currently underway is the $100,000 buy-in Main Event, which kicked off on March 8 and will play for three days as players start off with 250 big blinds. Check out the live stream on the Triton Poker YouTube channel to follow along.

Early Series Highlights

Barbero’s victory came early on in the series when he defeated Arends heads-up after getting through a field of 172 runners that included third-place finisher Brian Kim ($271,000) and fourth-place finisher Lee Wai Kiat ($222,000).

In January, Barbero finished fourth in the 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship for a career-best $1.5 million. But it wasn’t the result he was hoping for as he entered the final day of play as the chip leader before a colossal misclick that gave up the chip lead to Aliaksandr Shylko, who went on to win the tournament for $3.1 million.

There were no misclicks this time as Barbero locked up the $600,000 victory.

Event #2: $15,000 NLH 7-Handed Final Table Results

After finishing runner-up to Barbero for a career-best $406,000, Arends, an accomplished high-stakes online player and poker coach, quickly secured a new best when he took down the $30,000 7-handed event for $921,178 after a three-handed ICM chop with Lee and Jonathan Jaffe, who respectively earned $851,932 and ($766,890).

The event had a prize pool of $5.1 million and a field of 171 runners that included Americans Kim (4th – $441,000) and Seth Davies (5th – $353,700). Kayhan Mokri, a recent guest on the PokerNews Podcast, finished in ninth place for $119,000 and also finished in 21st in the $20,000 Mystery Bounty event for $19,700 as he finds success at his first Triton stop.

Listen to Kayhan Mokri on the PokerNews Podcast!

Event #5: $30,000 NLH 7-Handed Final Table Results

The biggest winner of Triton Vietnam so far is Kisacikoglu, who got through a field of 85 runners to win $1.8 million, nearly matching his biggest career cash that was earned from a runner-up finish in the 2022 €100,000 Triton Madrid Main Event for $2.1 million.

Recently named 2023 Players Choice for Toughest Opponent Stephen Chidwick finished second for $1.2 million just a few weeks after winning two European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris €25,000 events.

Steve O’Dwyer finished in third for $816,000 while familiar Triton faces Jason Koon (6th – $389,000) and Punnat Punsri (7th – $306,000) also made the final table.

Event #7: $75,000 NLH 8-Handed Final Table Results

There’s still plenty of action to come at Triton Vietnam, including the currently underway $100,000 Main Event. Short Deck events make up the majority of the remaining schedule and the series will wrap up with Event #15: $20,000 Short Deck Ante-Only on March 13.

2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam Remaining Schedule

A full list of winners so far at the 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam is available in the table below.

2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam Winners So Far

_{Photos courtesy of Triton}