Schulman Gets the Main Event, Simão Gets the Week at Triton Jeju II

Nick Schulman left Jeju with the trophy reserved for Triton’s Main Event champion. João Simão left with rather more money.

That was the split at the end of Triton Jeju II, where Schulman’s $3.85 million Main Event victory supplied the headline result and Simão’s extraordinary run through the $200,000 Invitational and $150,000 Anniversary Special added up to almost $9.9 million. The festival finished September 17 after nearly two weeks of high-stakes play at LES A Casino.

The $100,000 Main Event did not settle behind one dominant stack.

Wesley Fei rose from last place to briefly lead on the final day. Xu Yang then took over six-handed, while Binder steadily accumulated chips and eliminated several of the players around him.

Schulman stayed in touch throughout that movement. His key opening came when Binder jammed king-nine into ace-king four-handed, giving Schulman the lead at the point when the tournament was running out of players.

Xu Yang went next in fourth, and Schulman then woke up with tens when Lazauninkas shoved eights. That sent the Lithuanian home in third and left Schulman and Binder playing for the title.

After agreeing a deal, Binder managed to close much of the gap through aggressive play. Schulman eventually moved clear again and trapped with kings in the last hand, allowing Binder to call off with king-high after an ace had appeared on the flop.

*Heads-up deal.

Schulman beat a 196-entry field and took the largest payday of his career. He now has two Triton victories, with the second carrying the Main Event title that had been missing from an already crowded honours list.

Simão’s Invitational victory was built around the sort of recovery that usually becomes a footnote because the player still busts shortly afterwards.

He was down to two blinds on Day 2. Instead of disappearing, he reached the final day with 25, moved through the field and arrived at the final table as the chip leader.

The final duel with Biao Ding was anything but straightforward. Simão had a four-to-one lead at one stage, bluffed enough of it away to fall behind, then changed course and recovered after making a queen-high call.

The last big pot went his way with an overpair against Ding’s top pair. There was no deal, leaving Simão with the full $7.25 million first prize.

The $34.6 million prize pool came from 173 entries. Both Simão and Ding recorded career-best cashes, while Seth Davies became the first player to reach three Triton Invitational final tables.

Simão’s next final table placed him opposite one of his longtime friends.

Nick Petrangelo had already made several deep runs during Jeju II without winning, but that changed in the $150,000 10th Anniversary Special. The 67-entry tournament produced $10.05 million, and Petrangelo finally reached heads-up with Simão after Adrian Mateos fell in third.

The money was settled through an ICM deal before the title was decided. Simão locked up $2.517 million, Petrangelo $2.213 million, and Petrangelo completed the comeback for the trophy after doubling twice.

*Heads-up deal.

The unusual payout order told much of the story. Petrangelo got the title, but Simão’s deal meant second place paid him more and took his haul from the two tournaments to just under $9.9 million.