Champion Nacho Barbero!

There was a time in the recent history of high-stakes poker where a player by the name of Dan Colman would win pretty much every tournament he entered. But Colman took early retirement about eight years ago, and let everyone else have some fun.

But the news coming out of Jeju, South Korea, tonight, at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, is that Colman's influence remains potent. So potent, in fact, that even his <i>dog</i> can help win poker tournaments.

"I was running bad, so I told Dan send me a picture of your dog," said Argentinian pro Nacho Barbero, talking to Triton commentator Henry Kilbane shortly before holding aloft his fourth Triton Poker Series trophy. "So he sent me a picture and I started running good. I love this dog."

Barbero's run-good took him all the way to first place in the $30,000 buy-in NLH/PLO tournament here in Jeju, which came with a $646,000 prize. It was the first time Triton has offered a half-and-half tournament of this kind, and it attracted 81 entries for a $2.43 million prize pool.

This was far from a foregone conclusion, even with the added canine juju. Barbero had to beat five-time champion Phil Ivey heads up to seal the deal, from a final table also featuring the decorated likes of Dan Dvoress, Igor Yaroshevskyy and Eelis Parssinen.

But Barbero enjoyed all the good fortune of someone whose name appeared to be on the trophy, right from the moment he got that picture from Colman.

"It's insane, it's like a dream come true," Barbero said. "Here was super tough. I wasn't in the best mood. I was getting really bad sleep. Even today I slept three hours. It's been a rough series mentally, and very physically draining. But finally I got it done and I'm super happy about it."

Nacho Barbero: 'I'm super happy about it'

Barbero is well-schooled in both hold'em and PLO ("I love them both but I think I like more PLO but I might be better at hold'em," he said) and so was a perfect fit for this event. He already had two hold'em titles and one in PLO, and now brings his Triton haul to four.

"It's so much better to play here than anywhere else," he said of the Triton Series. "You're happy to be here. Sometimes you have to show up to other poker tours because there's so much value, but you're not that happy to be there. You're not loving it. Here, you're love it. You love everything about it. It makes me try my best, compete against the best. I think I try way harder here."

Tonight, the hard work paid off.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The one thing this all-encompassing trip to Jeju had been missing so far was a deep run by Phil Ivey. The no limit hold'em had been a washout for the American megastar, but he found his form in this mixed event and built a stack early.

He was at the top of the counts throughout all the most significant moments: when registration closed, completing the field at 81 entries; through the bubble; then at the end of Day 1. He led still when they got to a seven-handed final. (It was of course Ivey who knocked out Danny Tang in 14th, taking them into the money.)

The final table assembled as follows:

Phil Ivey - 3,480,000 (58 BBs)

Nacho Barbero - 3,065,000 (51 BBs)

Dan Dvoress - 2,695,000 (45 BBs)

Dylan Linde - 2,455,000 (41 BBs)

Igor Yaroshevskyy - 1,685,000 (28 BBs)

Eelis Parssinen - 1,685,000 (25 BBs)

David Wang - 1,345,000 (22 BBs)

Event 11 final table players (clockwise from back left): Nacho Barbero, Dan Dvoress, Eelis Parssinen, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Phil Ivey, David Yang, Dylan Linde

The hand that took this tournament to its final played out between Dan Dvoress and Ben Tollerene, won of course by Dvoress. And the Canadian hit the ground running at the final too, accounting for the first elimination.

In a PLO round, Dvoress and Eelis Parssinen went to a flop for a single raise, with Parssinen holding Q5107. Dvoress' AAKJ was the marginal pre-flop favourite, but the 879 flop gave Parssinen a world of possibilities. Parssinen bet and Dvoress called.

The A turn spun things firmly back into Dvoress' favour, but with a flush draw now, Parssinen bet again. Dvoress called and saw the amazing A on the river. Parssinen was in too deep and shoved his last six blinds in. Dvoress snapped off with quads and Parssinen was toast.

The Finnish PLO expert got his Triton Jeju journey off to a decent start with a $116,000 pick-up.

PLO wizard Eelis Parssinen at another final

Igor Yaroshevskyy had had a decent NLH run here in Jeju, narrowly missing out on his third Triton title. And here he was at the mixed final too, with another shot at the silverware. But he was the short stack six handed, and lost two big pots to David Wang. The latter of those was for his last two blinds: JJ83 going down to Wang's AK106.

Yaroshvskyy had never previously played PLO on the Triton Poker Series, but picked up $146,000 for this debut.

Igor Yaroshevskyy's successful dabble in PLO

Dylan Linde is far more comfortable in the four-card game, but his last hand came in hold'em. He had 10 blinds and opened with AK. Ivey called on the button, holding AJ. This was the kind of hold'em set-up that usually ends with a double-up for the dominant hand, but then the flop came 6J6, vaulting Ivey into the lead.

Linde checked, Ivey bet enough to put Linde all in, and Linde committed all he had. The 6 turn and 9 river did not do anything to bail out Linde, and his tournament ended in fifth for $187,000.

Not this time for Dylan Linde

Although tournament organisers had rolled back the blinds one level ahead of the final table, it was now turning into a short-stacked affair. Dvoress had been leading for a while, but a big collision with Nacho Barbero left him back in the pack, and he was down to 12 blinds when another skirmish with the Argentinian left him on the rail.

Barbero opened A986 from the button and Dvoress three-bet KQQ6 from the small blind. Wang called in the big blind and Barbero came along as well. They saw the 99J flop.

Dvoress jammed his last nine blinds with his over-pair, straight and flush draws, but Barbero was going nowhere with his flopped trip nines. Dvoress needed to hit something better than the K turn, and the J river didn't help either. He was out in fourth for $232,000.

Dan Dvoress led, but went out in fourth

Australia's David Wang had come to the Triton Series for the first time here in Jeju and played a full schedule of Triton ONE events. He'd sat out most of the Super High Roller Series, but now settled down for this $30K event and showed what he could do.

He more than held his own against this constellation of megastars, before falling foul of a bad beat at the hands of Barbero. In what turned out to be Wang's final hand, in a NLH rotation, Barbero picked up A3 on the button and jammed, with his two short-stacked opponents in the blinds.

Wang found AJ and called, but a three on the flop spelled disaster for him. It sent him out the door in third, for $297,000. It was a new career high, and perhaps the start of a new career with Triton.

A sparkling debut for David Wang

Barbero and Ivey now took a break before beginning heads-up play. Barbero was in a massive lead, with 65 blinds to Ivey's 16, and they didn't take long before everything was on the line.

It was the third hand of heads-up play, in a PLO round, and Ivey looked down at AKK10 and raised from the small blind. Barbero, with 10766, called in the big.

Even Phil ivey couldn't battle back into this one

The 354 flop smashed Barbero, but he checked his straight over to Ivey. Ivey checked it back. Barbero put out a bet after the J turn, but that card had now given Ivey enough encouragement to jam for his last nine blinds. Barbero called and the 5 river was a brick.

Barbero's difficult stop had nonetheless yielded another title. Ivey will have to wait for No 6.