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Phil Ivey & Jason Koon DOMINATE $12.3M Triton Series! Badziakouski’s Back-to-Back Main Event Glory

August 21, 2025 8 min Read

The Story of the 2018 Triton Poker

After the success of the first full year, establishing the Triton Poker brand and another season of popular events, the Triton Poker Series (TPS) moved into 2018 looking to conquer the high-stakes world. In 2017, the TPS visited three countries, but in 2018, it saw just two locations make the schedule, with Budva, Montenegro, and Jeju, South Korea being the two stops. The number of tournaments significantly increased with nine stops on the tour, four in Montenegro in mid-May and five in South Korea in late July and early August.

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Ivey Conquers Montenegro in Short Deck

With the rise in popularity of Short Deck worldwide, particularly in the high-stakes world of elite poker players, a Short Deck Triton event would always be well attended. A total of 61 entries, each costing $30,000, built a prize pool of over $1.8 million, as Phil Ivey won the opening event. 

Across a thrilling two days in May, Montenegro saw the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner (only 10 at the time of this victory) outlast Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates heads-up after deep runs for John Patgorski, who came third for a score of $246,751, Jason Koon (4th for $169,936), and former Triton Series winner Wai Yong (8th for $62,165). Heads-up, Ivey’s win earned him $604,992, with Cates forced to settle for $407,515 as the runner-up. 

Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates at the 2024 WSOP

Wai Yong’s father, Richard Yong, won Event #2, a $30,000 No Limit Hold’em event with 35 entries. Taking home $388,024 as the winner, Yong got the better of American-Irish Super High Roller hero Steve O’Dwyer (2nd for $251,719), with O’Dwyer’s fellow American Isaac Haxton taking third place for $157,324.

The third event to take place in Montenegro was once again in NLHE, and this one with a $120,000 buy-in as the Main Event. It was the most popular of the series so far, with 63 entries and a massive $2,499,184 top prize to be fought for as part of a $7.55 million prize pool.

While players including Manig Loeser (8th for $256,690) and the aforementioned O’Dwyer (7th for $294,525) both scored returns on their investments, Wai Chan came closer to glory by finishing fourth for $702,172. Canadian Peter Jetten (3rd for $1.01m) missed out on the final battle, where Rui Cao ended as runner-up, winning $1,68 million, some way behind the almost $2.5m that was banked by the brilliant Belarusian Mikita Badziakouski, who ended with the famous trophy. 

The fourth event of the series was the second to be played in Short Deck. With 103 entries, it was the best-attended and had the biggest prize pool at $12.3m. This event also had a $120,000 buy-in and paid a dozen players. Among the players in the money were Triton founder Paul Phua (8th for $419,741) and Event #3 runner-up Rui Cao, who won $802,412 in fifth place. 

After his heroics in the opening event, Phil Ivey came close but bowed out in third for $1.17m before Xuan Tan of China and Jason Koon battled for the top prize of $3.57m. It was the American Koon who prevailed, winning the single biggest prize of his incredible poker career, and setting in motion a period of dominance that has continued to this day in the Triton Poker Series. Tan, so near the top prize, had to settle for $2.3m as runner-up.

Welcome to Jeju

The four events that had taken place in Budva had made anyone who was still considering joining the Triton Poker Series to book flights, check hotel rooms, and practice their high-stakes poker face in preparation for Jeju. Put simply, the Triton Jeju festival in 2018 paved the way for the excitement, prestige, and glory that still exists at every stop on the Triton Poker Series tour. South Korea welcomed some of the best players in the world in the late summer months of 2018, and the poker world sat up and took notice.

A trio of Short Deck events were featured in Jeju, as South Korean poker fans enjoyed watching the best talent in the Far East take on their American counterparts. In the first $12,750-entry event, Nick Schulman prevailed. The American beat others, including Ben Lamb (4th for $78,888) and Seng Leow (7th for $39,925), to the title, earning $271,974 in the process. 

Leow got his revenge in the second of the three Short Deck events, winning the top prize of $1.07 million, as 44 players put up $60,000 to participate. Leow’s victory came at the expense of Rui Cao, whose luckless run of just missing out on lifting the now-infamous Triton trophy continued. Jason Koon (3rd for $62,586) and Tom Dwan (5th for $252,320) were both counted among the five places that were paid in the event. 

The final Short Deck tournament of the three cost $125,000 to play and garnered 60 entries in total, meaning a prize pool of $7.6 million and a top prize of $2.84m were on the line. Six players would profit from their investments, as Leow (6th for $451,076) cashed again, along with the previous Main Event winner in Montenegro, Mikita Badziakouski (5th for $588,692), and Canadian Peter Jetten (4th for $802,762). 

Richard Yong came third for $1.16m, and his result was bettered by PokerGO owner Cary Katz, who came second for $1.77m. The Singaporean player Kenneth Kiang took the first-place prize of $2,867,009. He became a first-time Triton Poker Series winner at exactly the right time, earning his biggest-ever result in live poker to date.

Nick Schulman at the 2023 WSOP

Main Event Produces Fireworks

While there was a preliminary event in NLHE, a $60,000-entry event with 39 entries, the Main Event was on everyone’s mind. Just four players would cash in the smaller NLHE event, which was won by David Peters, who triumphed heads-up against Steve O’Dwyer ($745,656) to win the $1.1 million top prize. English player Stephen Chidwick scored his first third-place on the Triton tour, winning $372,828 for reaching the podium.

The Main Event cost a massive $250,000 to enter, creating a prize pool of $14 million to be shared between just six in-the-money finishers of the 55 who paid to enter. Coming into the final, Mikita Badziakouski led with 102 big blinds as he bid to win back-to-back Main Event titles. Spanish player Sergio Aido closely pursued him with 100 big blinds, but across a disastrous few levels, Aido lost the lot, cashing in sixth place for $827,106. All-in with ace-queen, he was crushed by Jason Koon’s ace-king, and with Koon having previously overtaken his opponent, Aido hit the rail. 

At this stage, Badziakouski was the short stack, but his fortunes changed, as his pocket kings doubled through Koon’s ace-jack before he made a stunning hero call when the Belarusian sniffed out Wai Chan’s audacious bluff. Soon, Badziakouski busted Koon in fifth place for $1,079,443, the American’s ace-six falling short against Badziakouski’s ace-seven as a low board meant Badziakouski’s kicker played.

Stephen Chidwick at the 2023 WSOP

Yong and Chan Fall Just Shy of Glory

With four players left, Sam Greenwood took his leave, cashing for $1,471,968. The Canadian shoved pre-flop for just six big blinds with king-nine but was beaten by Badziakouski’s ace-eight, a board of Q-Q-5-T-8 offering Greenwood plenty of outs to the river but finding none of them.

Three-handed play didn’t last long as Badziakouski began to press his edge. Things were made easier for him when his ace-king beat Richard Yong’s ace-queen, the Malaysian businessman and fast-developing Triton legend being unable to usurp his opponent’s superior hand. Yong left with $2,130,848 and sent play heads-up, where Badziakouski held a massive 5:1 chip lead.

Wai Chan held on for some time in a dogged display of defiance at the felt, but in the end, he lost a flip to hand the title to the Belarusian. Badziakouski raised with ace-queen, then called off Chan’s shove with pocket sixes. A flop of A-T-7 immediately vaulted Badziakouski into the lead, and after a five on the turn and deuce on the river, the title and top prize of $5,257,027 belonged to the back-to-back winner of Main Events on the Triton Poker Series tour. Chan, while disconsolate, could at least comfort himself with the runner-up prize of $3,252,348, one of the biggest of the year and of his career.

Mikita Badziakouski at the 2024 WSOP

“In The End, It’s Mostly About the Luck.”

After the victory, a euphoric Badziakouski was modest in his appraisal of the biggest win of his career.

“I’m feeling great,” he smiled. “Usually, you’re really tired after a hard tournament so the most joy is coming in the next days. This is [my] biggest score but, at the same time, there is nothing special about it. It’s just about making good decisions, being a good player – that has been the biggest motivation for me for a long time, just trying to do my best.”

Making sure he approached each decision independently against some of the best players in the world had clearly been a huge mental exertion, but Badziakouski credited his own ability to stay focused and his fortunate final table experience. 

“You should try to get away from all emotions so it doesn’t really matter,” he said. “Big stack, short stack, you [should] always work with what you’ve got. In the end, it’s mostly about the luck. Last month, I’ve been really lucky and that’s the reason why I’m winning!”

Anyone who saw Mikita Badziakouski perform in Jeju couldn’t accept that it was all luck. His display of daring calls and powerful plays catapulted the Belarusian into the upper limits of poker’s top table. 

He remains there to this day.

About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.

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