Elton Tsang Leads 2017 Triton Manila Main Event After Day 1
The 2017 Triton Super High Roller Series Manila HK$ 1,000,000 Main Event saw a total of 29 unique players partake in the extraordinary Solaire Resort and Casino, and nine participants fired a second bullet, worth approximately $128,800 each, to create a 38-entry strong field. These are not the final numbers yet, as registration remains open until the cards are back in the air for Day 2 on Monday, Feb 20 at 1 p.m. local time.
After nine levels of 60 minutes each, the field was reduced to the last 23 and 2016 Big One For One Drop Extravaganza champion Elton Tsang claimed the lead. Born in Canada, Tsang now calls Hong Kong his home and turned 250,000 into 1,004,000 to be the only player above one million in chips thus far.
Second in chips is Macau high-stakes poker player Paul Phua with 796,000, closely followed by another expert for the big buy-in tournaments. Former One Drop champion Daniel Colman, who won the HK$ 250,000 6-Max Event yesterday for HK$ 3,641,600 (approximately $473,408) after defeating Erik Seidel, could add another big score to his poker resume in the current year and bagged up 769,000.
Other notables that made it through with above-average stacks include Peter Chan (685,000), former Triton Suncity Cup winner Dan Cates (609,000), Pratyush Buddiga (560,000), Sergio Aido (520,000) and Jack Salter with bullet number two (470,000). Among those to also fire twice and advance to Day 2 were Mustapha Kanit (343,000), Founder of Triton Richard Yong (340,000), John Juanda (240,000), Phil Ivey (231,000) and 6-Max third-place finisher Rainer Kempe (186,000).
Dario Sammartino busted on his second bullet as well, while David Peters, Winfred Yu and Timofey Kuznetsov were among those to play once and run out of chips. Peters flopped top pair and top kicker with ace-queen only to find himself up against the pocket kings of Tsang for an overpair in the last level of the night. Yu failed to get there with king-queen suited against the ace-queen of Bryn Kenney and Kuznetsov got it in with ace-jack for top pair only to see Aido turn over the top set with pocket jacks just before bagging and tagging.
Salter started pretty hot and flopped a set of threes to bust Phua before the latter re-entered and became the chip leader a set of jacks against Sammartino's ace-king for top pair. Salter then lost all of his chips in several hands to Buddiga and found himself back at the registration desk. The Brit was riding a roller coaster in the last two levels of the night and eventually flopped a set of fives to double through Ivey when the clock had already been stopped.
Among the hopefuls that will return for Day 2 is also defending champion Wai Kin Yong, who claimed just under starting stack with 244,000 after running hot early on and cooling off towards the end. In November 2016, Yong emerged victorious in a 62-entry strong field to score a payday of just under $2.1 million. The Main Event buy-in has since been doubled and the total prize pool of 2016 has already been eclipsed.
Main Event Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Mustapha Kanit | Italy | 343,000 |
| 1 | 2 | Rui Cao | UK | 176,000 |
| 1 | 3 | Yu Liang | China | 352,000 |
| 1 | 4 | Devan Tang | China | 441,000 |
| 1 | 5 | Benjamin Wu | USA | 159,000 |
| 1 | 7 | Wai Kin Yong | Malaysia | 244,000 |
| 2 | 2 | Daniel Colman | USA | 769,000 |
| 2 | 4 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 170,000 |
| 2 | 5 | Richard Yong | Malaysia | 340,000 |
| 2 | 6 | Zuo Wang | China | 412,000 |
| 2 | 7 | Sergio Aido | Spain | 520,000 |
| 2 | 8 | Elton Tsang | Hong Kong | 1,004,000 |
| 3 | 1 | Pratyush Buddiga | USA | 560,000 |
| 3 | 2 | John Juanda | Singapore | 240,000 |
| 3 | 4 | Erik Seidel | USA | 316,000 |
| 3 | 6 | Phil Ivey | USA | 231,000 |
| 3 | 7 | Peter Chan | China | 685,000 |
| 3 | 8 | Bryn Kenney | USA | 331,000 |
| 4 | 2 | Dan Cates | USA | 609,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Paul Phua | Macau | 796,000 |
| 4 | 5 | Jack Salter | UK | 470,000 |
| 4 | 6 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | 204,000 |
| 4 | 7 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 186,000 |
The action will resume at exactly 1 p.m. local time with level 10 and blinds of 4,000-8,000 with a running ante of 1,000. All new entries will receive 250,000 in chips and the event is scheduled to play down to the official eight-handed final table on Day 2. A winner will then determined on Tuesday, Feb 19, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be there to provide all the action.