Rui Cao, Bryn Kenney, and Paul Phua
Rui Cao, Bryn Kenney, and Paul Phua were the three biggest winners from the recent Triton Poker Series in Montenegro, with Kenney topping them all (photos: Triton Poker)

The 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro is in the books, and several huge winners emerged from the high-stakes poker series held at the Maestral Resort & Casino along the Adriatic Sea. Chief among them was Bryn Kenney, who won more than $4.1 million total and jumped to No. 4 on poker’s all-time money list, per Hendon Mob.

Kenney only cashed twice in the series, but both times he won the tournament. In the first, Kenney topped a field of 79 entries to win the HK$500,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event for HK$11.23 million ($1.43 million). In the second, he topped a field of 75 entries in the HK$1 million Main Event to win HK$21.3 million ($2.71 million). With those two wins, Kenney improved to just shy of $34.8 million in career live tournaments earnings, of which he’s won more than $9.1 million in 2019 alone. Kenney’s previous best year on the live tournament felt was in 2017 when he won more than $8.5 million.

Other big winners to come out of the 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro include Rui Cao ($3.61 million), Paul Phua ($3.59 million), Nikita Badziakouski ($2.91 million), and Daniel Dvoress ($2.71 million). Both Phua and Dvoress cashed five times in the series and a total of 12 players earned combined prizes of more than $1 million.

Top 10 Triton Poker Series Montenegro Money List

  1. Bryn Kenney – $4,145,235
  2. Rui Cao – $3,611,013
  3. Paul Phua – $3,594,983
  4. Nikita Badziakouski – $2,912,467
  5. Daniel Dvoress – $2,717,155
  6. Arnaud Romain – $2,130,372
  7. Daniel Tang – $1,976,217
  8. Sam Greenwood – $1,943,613
  9. Peter Jetten – $1,865,303
  10. 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

HK$250,000 Eight-Handed NL Turbo

Entries: 45
Prize Pool: HK$10,575,000

  1. Steve O’Dwyer – HK$3,708,784 ($472,788)
  2. Isaac Haxton – HK$2,901,216 ($369,841
)
  3. Linus Loeliger – HK$1,720,000 ($219,262)
  4. Kok Beh – HK$1,240,000 ($158,073)
  5. Sam Greenwood – HK$1,005,000 ($128,115)
Bryn Kenney
Bryn Kenney won two tournaments at the recent Triton Poker Series in Montenegro (photo: Triton Poker)

HK$500,000 Six-Handed NL

Entries: 79
Prize Pool: HK$37,130,000

  1. Bryn Kenney – HK$11,230,000 ($1,431,376)
  2. Daniel Dvoress – HK$7,430,000 ($947,028)
  3. Seng ‘Ivan’ Leow – HK$5,070,000 ($646,222)
  4. Sergio Aido – HK$3,820,000 ($486,897)
  5. Jason Koon – HK$2,970,000 ($378,556)
  6. Christoph Vogelsang – HK$2,300,000 ($293,158)
  7. Richard Yong – HK$1,820,000 ($231,977)
  8. Daniel Tang – HK$1,410,000 ($179,719)
  9. Cheong Ieng – HK$1,080,000 ($137,657)

HK$100,000 Short Deck NL Ante Only

Entries: 70
Prize Pool: HK$6,580,000

  1. Winfred Yu – HK$2,040,000 ($259,952)
  2. Isaac Haxton – HK$1,370,000 ($174,576)
  3. Peter Jetten – HK$920,000 ($117,233)
  4.  Leon Tsoukernik – HK$700,000 ($89,199)
  5. Steffen Sontheimer – HK$540,000 ($68,811)
  6. Ihor Shkliaruk – HK$420,000 ($53,520)
  7. Tam Lon – HK$330,000 ($42,051)
  8. Jordi Urlings – HK$260,000 ($33,131)

HK$1,000,000 NL Main Event

Entries: 75
Prize Pool: HK$70,500,000

  1. Bryn Kenney – HK$21,300,000 ($2,713,859)
  2. Daniel Tang – HK$14,100,000 ($1,796,498)
  3. Peter Jetten – HK$9,600,000 ($1,223,148)
  4. Nikita Badziakouski – HK$7,260,000 ($925,005)
  5. Sam Greenwood – HK$5,650,000 ($719,873)
  6. Paul Phua – HK$4,440,000 ($560,609)
  7. Erik Seidel – HK$3,460,000 ($440,842)
  8. Matthias Eibinger – HK$2,680,000 ($341,462)
  9. Jason Koon – HK$2,050,000 ($261,193)

HK$250,000 NL Turbo

Entries: 37
Prize Pool: HK$8,972,500

  1. Henrik Hecklen – HK$3,410,000 ($434,500)
  2. Alex Foxen – HK$2,200,000 ($280,323)
  3. Timothy Adams – HK$1,460,000 ($186,032)
  4. Daniel Dvoress – HK$1,052,500 ($134,109)
  5. Michael Watson – HK$850,000 ($108,306)

HK$1,000,000 Short Deck NL Main Event

Entries: 98
Prize Pool: HK$92,120,000

  1. Rui Cao – HK$26,300,000 ($3,351,130)
  2. Paul Phua – HK$17,100,000 ($2,178,871)
  3. Arnaud Romain – HK$11,800,000 ($1,503,549)
  4. Daniel Dvoress – HK$9,070,000 ($1,155,694)
  5. Kenneth Kiang – HK$7,200,000 ($917,420)
  6. Ming Liu – HK$5,620,000 ($716,097)
  7. Choon Siow – HK$4,400,000 ($560,645)
  8. Isaac Haxton – HK$3,400,000 ($433,226)
  9. Timofey Kuznetsov – HK$2,630,000 ($335,113)
  10. Nikita Badziakouski – HK$2,300,000 ($293,065)
  11. Guang Lu – HK$2,300,000 ($293,065)

HK$200,000 Pot-Limit Omaha

Entries: 37
Prize Pool: HK$6,956,000

  1. Hing Chow – HK$2,640,000 ($336,383)
  2. Ben Lamb – HK$1,706,000 ($217,375)
  3. Viacheslav Osipov – HK$1,130,000 ($143,982)
  4. Henrik Hecklen – HK$820,000 ($104,483)
  5. Wai Chan – HK$660,000 ($84,096)

HK$200,000 Short Deck NL Ante Only Turbo

Entries: 64
Prize Pool: HK$12,032,000

  1. Quek Sheng – HK$3,700,000 ($471,416)
  2. Peter Jetten – HK$2,500,000 ($318,524)
  3. Paul Phua – HK$1,700,000 ($216,596)
  4. Kenneth Kiang – HK$1,292,000 ($164,613)
  5. Wai Chan – HK$980,000 ($124,861)
  6. John Gabe Patgorski – HK$770,000 $98,105)
  7. Daniel Dvoress – HK$610,000 ($77,720)
  8. Rui Cao – HK$480,000 ($61,157)
John Juanda
John Juanda was among the winners at the recent Triton Poker Series in Montenegro (photo: Triton Poker)

HK$250,000 Short Deck NL Ante Only

Entries: 65
Prize Pool: HK$15,275,000

  1. John Juanda – HK$4,720,000 ($601,358)
  2. Daniel Dvoress – HK$3,160,000 ($402,604)
  3. Wai Yong – HK$2,150,000 ($273,924)
  4. Peter Jetten – HK$1,620,000 ($206,398)
  5. Sergey Lebedev – HK$1,250,000 ($159,258)
  6. Daniel Cates – HK$980,000 ($124,858)
  7. Christopher Soyza – HK$780,000 ($99,377)
  8. Paul Phua – HK$615,000 ($78,355)

HK$750,000 Short Deck NL Ante Only

Entries: 52
Prize Pool: HK$38,122,500

  1. Nikita Badziakouski – HK$13,300,000 ($1,694,397)
  2. Sam Greenwood – HK$8,600,000 ($1,095,625)
  3. Qiang Wang – HK$5,700,000 ($726,170)
  4. Paul Phua – HK$4,400,000 ($560,552)
  5. Andrew Robl – HK$3,422,500 ($436,021)
  6. Xuan Tan – HK$2,700,000 ($343,975)
Ben Lamb
Ben Lamb was another big name to score a victory at the recent Triton Poker Series in Montenegro (photo: Triton Poker)

HK$500,000 Short Deck NL Ante Only

Entries: 42
Prize Pool: HK$20,080,000

  1. Ben Lamb – HK$7,650,000 ($974,634)
  2. Arnaud Romain – HK$4,920,000 ($626,823)
  3. Seng ‘Ivan’ Leow – HK$3,250,000 ($414,060)
  4. Xuan Tan – HK$2,350,000 ($299,397)
  5. Timofey Kuznetsov – HK$1,910,000 ($243,340)

HK$300,000 NL/Short Deck Mix

Entries: 27
Prize Pool: HK$7,857,000

  1. Daniel Cates – HK$3,930,000 ($500,682)
  2. Jason Koon – HK$2,367,000 ($301,556)
  3. Rui Cao – HK$1,560,000 ($198,744)

Effect On Poker’s All-Time Money List

The big results coming out of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro caused plenty of shifting towards the top of poker’s all-time money list. As already mentioned, Kenney jumped to No. 4 overall. Jason Koon, who cashed three times in Montenegro for just under $1 million, slid up one spot ahead of Antonio Esfandiari to be No. 8. Isaac Haxton, who, like Koon, won just under $1 million from this series, is now No. 13 and Badziakouski jumped to No. 15.

John Juanda, who won an event in Montenegro for just more than $600,000, actually dropped back to No. 14. Then, looking a bit further down the leaderboard, Phua can now be found at No. 62 on the list after winning $3.59 million in Montenegro.

High roller and super high roller events are as plentiful as they have ever been on the poker circuit. Numerous stops have $25,000 or $50,000 buy-in events, and some even push the envelope even further with $100,000 price tags on the schedule. Then, there are several festivals a year that are solely dedicated to ultra high-stakes players, such as the Triton Poker Series festivals. If there was ever a ‘steroid era’ in poker, similar to what baseball went through for an extended period of time, most commonly referred to as the latter half of the 1990s and into the 2000s. It’s not that poker players are using performance-enhancing drugs to boost their earnings, but rather that there’s such an injection of these super high buy-in small-field events that are causing grand shifts in money lists. It doesn’t appear that these events and festivals are going anywhere, so poker will need to go through a bit of a market correction and rankings adjustments to correctly account for the juiced results.