In 2019, the greatest buy-in event in history included 27 amateurs and 27 of the top professionals in the world. Triton Poker’s YouTube channel has launched a 10-episode series of the Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity poker event. The seven-figure entrance price was paid by 54 participants, with £50,000 of each buy-in going to 15 different charity. As a consequence, £2.7 million was donated to a variety of good organizations, and a massive £54 million ($73,993,800) prize pool was created.
Tom Dwan’s tournament really couldn’t have gone so much worse, so now he’s giving Vivek Rajkumar his first big pot of the day. Dwan opened to 8,000 from the button holding Q-Spades and Q-Diamonds with the blinds at 1,500/3,000/3,000. Rajkumar three-bet to 35,000 from the small blind with 8-Diamonds and 7-Diamonds, while Elton Tsang four-bet to 100,000 from the big blind with A-Diamonds K-Hearts. Dwan and Rajkumar both called. All three players checked after an all-action flop of J-Diamonds, 9-Diamonds, and 2-Hearts landed in the center of the table. Rajkumar had the flush on the turn with the 4-Diamonds, and he bet 210,000 into the 303,000 pot. Tsang got out of the way despite holding the nut flush draw, but Dwan rode along for the ride with his top pair, top kicker. Dwan had two-pair when the A-Clubs fell on the river, but he folded after Rajkumar risked 350,000.
Aaron Zhang opened up to 8,000 from first position with A-Diamonds and A-Hearts, Paul Phua three-bet to 26,000 from the hijack with K-Diamonds and K-Spades, Zhang four-bet to 95,000, and Phua called. Phua called a 100,000 Zhang c-bet when the flop came down 9-Diamonds, 8-Hearts, and 7-Hearts. Zhang slowed down with a check and called when Phua bet 180,000. When Phua bet 180,000 with 397,500 in the pot and the 10-Clubs on the turn, Zhang slowed down with a check and called. The action came to a close on the river with the 4-Spades, and both players checked it down with the hefty pot going to Zhang, who would conclude the episode as the chip leader.
Rick Salomon planned a prolonged stay in London after three final table performances in seven-figure buy-in tournaments. That didn’t turn out to be the case. Salomon got it in with Q-Spades, J-Diamonds, and 8-Spades on the flip, holding A-Spades and K-Spades for all the draws, while Andrew Pantling was the victor with Q-Clubs and Q-Hearts for the top set. The drawings were kept in the deck, and Salomon was the first player to be eliminated in the first round.
