Romain Arnaud Poker
Romain Arnaud won the ₩60M Super High Roll at the 2018 PokerStars LIVE Asia Jeju Red Dragon, while India's Abhinav Iyer (61,500) made Day 2 of ₩2.2M NLH. Arnaud Romain – $2,130,372; Daniel Tang – $1,976,217; Sam Greenwood – $1,943,613; Peter Jetten – $1,865,303; Ben Lamb – $1,192,009; Just outside of the top 10 were Kenneth Kiang and Seng ‘Ivan’ Leow, who cashed for $1.08 million and $1.06 million from the series, respectively. Triton Poker Series Montenegro Results. Arnaud Romain poker results, stats, photos, videos, news, magazine columns, blogs, Twitter, and more.
Through the past decade, Ben Lamb has become one of the United States’ most successful tournament poker players, making the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event twice within six years. More recently, Lamb has decamped to Asia, where he has become a regular in the biggest cash games on the planet. But this week, as the Triton Super High Roller series visited Montenegro, Lamb has been mixing it up in both — and tonight he made a winning return to the tournament tables taking first place in the HKD 500,000 short deck event.
Thirty-four-year-old Lamb beat Romain Arnaud heads-up to top a 42-entry field, banking HKD 7.65 million ($994,500), his largest tournament cash outside of his two WSOP finals. He came second in the pot limit Omaha tournament only a few days ago here at the Maestral Resort & Casino, Budva, but now has his hands on a first trophy.
The tournament played out in only one day and wrapped at 3.30am on Friday morning, with Lamb’s staying good against Arnaud’s . “Staying good” is far from a foregone conclusion in short deck hold’em, and the tournament saw countless outdraws and huge chip swings.
But Lamb retained his composure to leave Arnaud still seeking his first Triton title — and then said he’s heading back to Las Vegas tomorrow for a golf trip, before preparing again for the WSOP.
“It feels good,” Lamb said.
After the announcement that the start would be delayed and the levels shortened, a rush of players arrived to the poker room and quickly built a prize pool of HKD 20.8 million ($2.56 million). That came from 42 entries, including 13 re-entries.
Most of the usual suspects were in attendance, but many of them quickly departed too. When seven gathered around the final table, Romain Arnaud led, from Ben Lamb, with Tan Xuan, Timofey Kuznetsov and Robert Flink comfortable, and Isaac Haxton and Ivan Leow in the danger zone.
Leow found the quickest way out of that wretched zone, by winning a tournament-ending pot from Haxton. Haxton’s was undone by Leow’s and, though stacks were close, Leow had the most. He all but doubled just ahead of the bubble, whereas Haxton was free to make other plans.
That put them on the stone bubble, the difference between zilch and nearly a quarter of a million dollars. We sometimes grow immune to the sizes of the prizes, especially on the Triton Series, but a bubble that size is never something to be taken lightly. Certainly Flink, who fell on the wrong side of it, didn’t look especially pleased.
His last hand involved a couple of limps and then shove from him with . Unfortunately one of the player behind him was Arnaud, with both big stack and a big hand, . There was a king on the flop and Flink was drawing dead on the turn.
The bubble was not long burst before Kuznetsov — aka “Trueteller” — was next to depart in a hand that took a long time to play out, but which would have ended exactly the same way whatever had happened. Lamb opened with a raise to 320,000 and Kuznetsov, with a stack of around 2 million, used a time bank chip and then called. Tan Xuan used two time banks before he opted to fold, and that meant just two of the world’s best cash game players went to a flop. Lamb moved all in pretty much instantly, and Kuznetsov’s chips beat Lamb’s into the pot.
However Kuznetsov’s was behind Lamb’s and stayed there through turn and river. Kuznetsov won HKD 2.35 million ($305,500).
The next big moment also featured a kings vs. aces showdown, but it had a third hand involved as well for good measure. Leow found , Tan had , but Arnaud’s was menacing, especially when he had the covering stack.
The flop made the threat of a double knockout very real, then the turn increased the likelihood. But the river was a blank, giving Leow more than a double up and sending Tan, with the smallest stack, out in fourth. He won HKD 2.35 million ($305,500) from his second final table of the day. (He previously finished sixth in Event #10 for HKD 2.7 million.)
The last three players — Lamb, Arnaud and Leow — were all pretty even and the blinds hadn’t yet really caught up with their stacks. They had the time and the chips to pass a few between them, and the game slowed for a while. Arnaud ended up short when he had to fold to a big river shove from Lamb, but doubled up a couple of hands later with pocket nines, which flopped a set and Leow’s flush draw missed. He then moved into the lead.
After an hour or so, everything did shallow out, and Leow found himself on the slide. He got his last 2 million in with but he got properly short-decked by Arnaud’s . The board ran . Leow has had a tough time of it in Montenegro, but at least he got on the board at the end. He won HKD 3.25 million ($422,500).
Both Lamb and Arnaud were in the money for the fourth time on the Triton Series, but neither yet had a title. This was obviously their big chance, and it could have gone either way. Arnaud had a lead of 98 antes to 60 when they went heads up, but Lamb chipped away until he had more than a two-to-one lead.
That soon evened itself out again, however, when Arnaud got it all in with and turned a flush to beat Lamb’s .
But back Lamb came and Arnaud could not get the chips to stick. Eventually, Arnaud made a weary push and Lamb made the call with his dominating hand. And then belatedly that was the end of that.
Triton Montenegro Event #9 – Short Deck
Dates: May 16, 2019
Buy-in: HKD 500,000 ($64,000)
Entries: 42 (inc. 13 re-entries)
Prize pool: HKD 20,080,000 ($2,560,000)
1st: Ben Lamb, USA — HKD 7,650,000 ($994,500)
2nd: Romain Arnaud, France — HKD 4,920,000 ($639,600)
3rd: Ivan Leow, Malysia — HKD 3,250,000 ($422,500)
4th: Tan Xuan, China — HKD 2,350,000 ($305,500)
5th: Timofey Kuznetsov, Russia — HKD 1,910,000 ($248,300)
Photography by Joe Giron/www.pokerphotoarchive.com
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Arnaud Romain Poker
Kim Jong-un’s Finance Minister may have told the Chinese Foreign Ministry that North Korea is still on course for full-scale denuclearisation this week, but that hasn’t stopped the French from dropping a few bombs along the Korean Peninsular.
PokerStars has been as quiet as a jaguar juggling jackfruits in a jungle about their appearance in Korea this week (you won’t even find the results in Hendon Mob). Jeju’s Landing Casino hosted the PokerStars Red Dragon, and outside of the PokerStars blog, you would have missed it altogether, and that would have been a shame because it was the scene of the richest live tournament prize on offer this week.
The Red Dragon Series included a $53,000 buy-in Super High Roller, and 44-entrants created a $2,231,879 prize pool, and you can buy a lot of buttons with that kind of wonga.
And what a final table.
Nobody is rocking the Asian high stakes poker scene as wildly as Ivan Leow these days. The Malaysian star has earned more than $5.4m this year, including five tournament wins, and three seven-figure scores.
Leow won the HKD 500,000 Short Deck event at the Triton Poker Series in Jeju for a million bucks. He then went to partypoker MILLIONS Russia and won the High Roller for $1.1m, and won Leon’s €100,000 High Roller at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) for $1.4m.
Leow wasn’t the only dragon from Malaysia sticking his claws into the oak surrounding the Landing Casino’s magnificent poker tables. Michael Soyza has earned a career-high $2,142,608 in 2018, picking up a #16 ranking in the Global Poker Index (GPI), and the August GPI Player of the Month award. Soyza won the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Main Event in Korea, besting a field of 449-entrants to win the $148,629 first prize in April. During the Vegas grind, Soyza conquered 2,877 entrants to win the $588,429 first prize in a $1,655 buy-in event during the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) at the Venetian. He finished off a beautiful summer by winning a 124-entrant €10,300 High Roller during the PokerStars’ European Poker Tour (EPT), banking €302,500. In October, Soyza was bracelet hunting in Rozvadov and brought home $592,594 after finishing third in Leon’s €100,000 High Roller.
However, it wouldn’t be Malaysia that would hog the headlines in this one. That honour went to the French, and two of the finest proponents of high stakes poker in the business.
Rui Cao v Romain Arnaud.
High Stakes dragon v high stakes dragon.
Compatriot v compatriot.
Friend v friend.
When it comes to multi-table tournaments (MTTs), both players are vastly inexperienced, but the smart money would have gone the way of Cao, after some sterling performances in Triton Poker Series events of late.
Cao has earned $3.1m playing tournaments in 2018, with the entirety of that haul coming in Triton Poker Series High Rollers. The French star finished runner-up to Mikita Badziakouski in the HKD 1,000,000 Main Event at the Triton Poker Series in Montenegro earning $1,683,711, and also finished fifth in the HKD 1,000,000 Short-Deck event at the same venue for $802,412. Cao carried his form into the Triton Poker Series Jeju finishing runner-up to Ivan Leow in the HKD 500,000 Short-Deck event for $672,852.
With the Poker Gods seemingly on the side of Cao, Arnaud made the smart move, and brokered an ICM deal that saw a pocket calculator split the money as the two friends played ‘blind’ poker to determine which of them would have to say ‘cheese.’ Born winners, I think this may have been a rare time when these two private men would have preferred to have been on the losing side.
Arnaud won the flips, and now has the inconvenience of finding a home for his trophy amongst his suitcase full of cash.
Here are the final table results:
ITM Results
1. Romain Arnaud – $668,424*
2. Rui Cao – $620,258*
3. Michael Soyza – $336,453
4. Ivan Leow – $257,948
5. Wai Kin Yong – $201,806
6. Shunu Zang – $156,961
*Signifies an ICM deal
In other Red Dragon news, John Juanda finished 12th in the 95-entrant $10,770 buy-in Red Dragon High Roller. Yin Gui Li won the event for $255,741. James Won Lee won the $66,327 first prize in the Baby Dragon event. The Main Event continues as I type.
In Other High Rolling Tournament News
Romain Arnaud Poker Club
So who else has been dropping bombs this week?
One of the best non-professional high rollers in the business found himself in an unusual position this week. The UK’s Talal Shakerchi made the final table of the PokerStars Sunday Million finishing 6/5720. That’s a $215 buy-in event, folks, showing you how much ‘raidalot’ loves the game.
Sticking with PokerStars and the GPI World #1, Alex “bigfox86” Foxen earned his third High Roller Club title in under a fortnight. Between Nov 25 – Dec 1, Foxen has cashed 10-times in the PokerStars High Roller Club events, securing 7 top 3 finishes, 3 runner-up spots, and 3 wins including the $530 Daily 500 for $12,376, the $1,050 Sunday Supersonic for $43,058, and the $1,050 Daily Warm-Up for $25,578.
Foxen wasn’t the only high roller making a splash in the High Roller Club this past weekend. Joao “Naza114” Vieira beat 155-players to win the $2,100 Sunday High Roller for $65,069, Ivan “Negriin” Luca won the $1,050 Sunday Supersonic for $51,384, and Romania’s Alex “Steakaddict.” Papazian conquered the field in the $215 Sunday Warm-Up for $36,151.
Outside of the tournament scene and Trickett’s Room on partypoker was bustling this week with Sam Trickett, Rob Yong and Matt Kirk competing in $100/$200 and $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) cash games. According to reports, Trickett and Yong were the big winners each pulling $300k+ profit off the tables.