Saturday was a memorable day for businessman Aaron Zang. Not only did he pull off a sick comeback to ship the most expensive buy-in tournament in history – the £1.05 million Triton Million in London. He also took down the largest poker tournament prize ever – £19 million ($23 million US dollars) – sort of (more on this in a bit). But runner-up Bryn Kenney is now the all-time winningest tournament player, surpassing Justin Bonomo.
Dan Smith (third place) and Stephen Chidwick (fourth place) also moved up the career earnings list. The poker greats became the seventh and eighth players to surpass the $30 million mark.
Dressed to the Nines
Eight players arrived at the final table on Saturday playing for a shot at £19 million. With so much money at stake, the competitors decided to show up dressed like they were attending a royal wedding. Well, except for Bryn Kenney, whose attire resembled that of someone much less wealthy than he is.
The other players dressed to impress at the final table of the most expensive buy-in in poker history. Kenney told Bill Perkins prior to the start of Day Three that he never wears a suit. We suppose that’s a good enough excuse.
Quite a Comeback
When heads-up play began, Kenney had a massive, 6.5-1 chip advantage over Zang. But you should never throw in the towel in any poker tournament.
Zang took down the blinds a few hands in a row after heads-up play began but that wasn’t enough to put a dent in Kenney’s stack. Moments later, however, he won a pre-flop all-in race with pocket sixes against his opponent’s K-Q to get within a 2-1 disadvantage.
Kenney then picked a bad time to attempt a massive river bluff with nine-high. Zang, who slow-played a flopped trips (kings), filled up on the river. He check-raised all-in and took down a massive pot to move into the chip lead.
Shortly after, Zang flopped top pair with 8-5 suited on an 8-4-3 board. Kenney flopped the nut flush draw and called an all-in bet hoping to hit an ace or a spade. He didn’t get either and was eliminated in second place.
Hendon Mob will show Kenney won £11,670,000 and Zang earned £19,000,000. But Liv Boeree announced on the post-game live-stream that a chop was made during heads-up play. Kenney actually received the biggest cut (£16.8 million). But Zang, who also added to his wealth, received the shiny gold trophy.
“Feels like a dream come true,” Zang said in his post-game interview.
Unofficial Final Table Results*
- Aaron Zang (China) £19,000,000
- Bryn Kenney (United States) £11,670,000
- Dan Smith (United States) £7,200,000
- Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) £4,410,000
- Vivek Rajkumar (India) £3,000,000
- Bill Perkins (United States) £2,200,000
- Al DeCarolis (United States) £1,720,000
- Timothy Adams (Canada) £1,400,000
*Chop agreements not included.
Movement on All-Time Winnings List
Bryn Kenney’s Hendon Mob page now says he’s earned $49,149,000 in live tournaments after taking home $14,207,000 on Saturday. Of course, we know he actually won more than that, but he’s still the all-time winningest tournament player, surpassing Justin Bonomo who has $45 million. Daniel Negreanu remains in third place with $41.86 million.
Erik Seidel, who didn’t even compete in the Triton Million, dropped to fourth place due to Dan Smith’s third place finish worth $8,765,000. Smith now has $36.74 million in career cashes and Seidel is stuck on $35.73 million.
Stephen Chidwick’s fourth place finish worth $5,368,948 moved him into eighth place on the all-time money list ahead of Dan Colman, the 2014 WSOP Big One for One Drop champion. At $30,535,000, Chidwick is now the eighth player to surpass the $30 million mark, joining Kenney, Bonomo, Negreanu, Smith, Seidel, and Fedor Holz.
But none of these players can say they’ve won the most expensive buy-in tournament in poker history. Aaron Zang, on the other hand, can. Congratulations to the champ.
