Champion Punnat Punsri

Punnat Punsri's sensational run on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series shows no sign of stopping as the typhoon from Thailand tonight earned a fifth career title, his third of the calendar year.

Punsri once again ruled the roost in the $50,000 NLH event at the Landing Casino & Resort, Jeju, heading into heads-up against American Brandon Wilson with a massive chip lead. This time he did not let it go.

Punsri had been similarly awe-inspiring at the Triton ONE main event, at least until the final stages, when he somehow lost heads-up from a similarly dominant position. But he made no mistake this time, adding another $1,697,000 to his coffers and slaying a 146-entry field.

"That Triton ONE I kind of wanted to do for the family," Punsri said, referencing the Triton community that he said has made him feel welcome since he first arrived. "But obviously you can't have everything have it your way. So I thought for the Super High Roller Series I still wanted to keep up the consistency. I thought if I'm lucky enough to make a big FT again, and go heads up, I want to go one better."

He admitted his run at the Triton Poker Series has defied expectations.

"I've run so good in the key spots, but every time I've had my luck I've tried to make the most out of it and I try to come back to every stop as a better version of myself," Punsri said.

'A crazy, blessed guy': Punnat Punsri

Punsri certainly has. Since appearing on the Triton Poker Series for the first time in 2022, he has made at least one final table at every stop. His momentum just seems to build and build.

"I'm so grateful for the entire journey since day one that I came to the tour," Punsri said. "You guys treat me so well."

As for the runner-up Wilson, he has been gradually emerging as a Triton Poker Series force as well and was leading the field heading into a seven-handed final. But he found himself mired in an ICM nightmare for long periods in the final and, with Punsri to his left, couldn't escape the handcuffs.

He took $1,150,000 for second and will surely be back.

Brandon Wilson: Runner up

But once again, Jeju belongs to Punsri. He won this very same event here in 2024, before adding the $125K NLH title in this room in March. And now, he's a five-time winner. When will it ever stop?

"I'm one crazy, blessed guy," he said.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The NLH phase of the Jeju stop was in full flow as this $50K 7-handed event got under way. The usual suspects pulled up a chair and built a prize pool of $7.3 million thanks to 146 entries.

After a long Day 1, Triton Money List leader Bryn Kenney topped the field and they were a handful of eliminations from the money. The decisive pre-bubble pot was a big queens vs. AK confrontation between Dylan Linde and Vinny Lingham, which left the latter with only three blinds. Lingham clung on as long as he could, but surrendered his last couple with 98 against Ferdinand Putra's A10.

That left Lingham on the rail and the remaining 23 in the money.

Vinny Lingham misses out on first Triton cash by narrowest margin

The next stage was especially unforgiving, however. In a brutal talent cull, all of Linde, Kenney, David Yan, Isaac Haxton, Kiat Lee, Dan Dvoress, Christoph Vogelsang and Matthias Eibinger, among others, perished before the final table. It was only set when Jason Koon, the 12-time champion, went out in eighth.

Those who survived now lined up as follows:

Bradon Wilson - 10,600,000 (85 BBs)

Punnat Punsri - 8,675,000 (69 BBs)

Samuel Mullur - 4,100,000 (33 BBs)

Jean-Noel Thorel - 1,975,000 (16 BBs)

Igor Yaroshevskyy - 1,525,000 (12 BBs)

Klemens Roiter - 1,275,000 (10 BBs)

Manuel Fritz - 1,050,000 (8 BBs)

Event 6 final table players (clockwise from back left): Brandon Wilson, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Samuel Mullur, Punnat Punsri, Klemens Roiter, Jean-Noel Thorel, Manuel Fritz

There were some distinct echoes of Event 5's roller-coaster marathon at the start of final table play with three or four short-stack double-ups (or chopped pots) to get this final started.

But eventually, Jean-Noel Thorel was the first to be knocked out, taking $289,000 for seventh. Thorel was responsible for one of the aforementioned double-ups, giving Igor Yaroshevskyy hope when the Ukrainian's AK beat Thorel's AJ all-in pre-flop.

That left Thorel with only six blinds, which went to Klemens Roiter on the very next hand. Roiter opened with kings, Thorel jammed from the big blind with Q9 and there was no help. Another final table for Thorel, but still no trophy.

Another FT for JNT

There were three Austrians at this final table, but at this stage they occupied the bottom three spots. And in back-to-back hands, two of them departed, with the third managing to double very soon after to hold on.

First for the chopping block: Samuel Mullur, who lost a massive pot with AK against Punnat Punsri's J3. Punsri defended his big blind to a min-raise, then flopped top pair, turned trips, and called Mullur's river bluff.

Punsri then took Mullur's handful of remaining blinds soon after with KQ hitting and beating pocket fives. Mullur, who is having a good trip to Jeju, took $391,000 for this one.

Samuel Mullur was the first Austrian to depart

The very next hand, Manuel Fritz got his last six blinds in with pocket nines, but he too couldn't win a flip against KQ. This time Brandon Wilson held the king-queen and turned a queen, before rivering a king. Fritz banked $504,000 for fifth.

Manuel Fritz quickly followed Mullur out

It might easily have been a complete Austrian wipeout in a single orbit had things got slightly differently in the next major skirmish. In this one, Klemens Roiter's last eight blinds went in with 109 and he was called by Igor Yaroshevskyy's JQ.

Roiter flopped a pair of 10s and rivered a flush. That kept him breathing, and kept those Austrian hopes alive. But it was only a stay of execution. An orbit or so later and Roiter joined his countrymen on the sidelines, with KQ this time proving insufficient to beat Wilson's A6.

Roiter has played six tournaments so far here in Jeju and cashed in three of them. His $628,000 for fourth here was his biggest cash so far.

Klemens Roiter ran into better

As it was at the start of the final, Wilson led Punsri at the top of the counts, with Yaroshevskyy third.

The short stack was still 20 blinds and the three-handed phase of play became an intriguing test of ICM-management skills. Punsri had position on Wilson and was consistently putting the American in the wringer, with the pair very much aware that Yaroshevskyy wasn't dead yet. Punsri edged into the lead overall, but then a big pot between him and Yaroshevskyy evened everything out.

Yaroshevskyy had 18 blinds and three-bet jammed from the small blind with AQ. Punsri, the original raiser, called from the button with A2 and flopped huge when the dealer put the A28 out there.

But Yaroshevskyy found a lifeline thanks to the 7 turn followed by the 7 river. He now had a better two pair and his queen kicker played. He and Punsri all of a sudden had the same stack, with Wilson now in third.

But ultimately more chips in Yaroshevskyy's stack just means more chips to go back to Punsri's. And the next time the All-In button was tossed forward, it was Punsri vs. Yaroshevskyy for heaps once more.

Punsri opened his button with 109 and Yaroshevskyy jammed for 27 blinds from the small blind with AQ. Punsri called.

Wilson watched on as the two big stacks clashed, and it was Punsri's rail that roared the loudest after the 103J flop. The 10 turn was even better for Punsri, and although Yaroshevskyy still had outs, the 2 river ended it.

That was another huge pot for Punsri, with Yaroshevskyy now out in third for $766,000.

Igor Yaroshevskky: Two time champion out in third

Wilson had carefully navigated his way to heads-up play and a guaranteed $1m+ score. But he was now looking at a near six-to-one heads-up deficit against Punsri and would need to channel the energy of Joshua Gebissa to overturn it. (Gebissa faced Punsri heads-up in the Triton ONE Main Event and overcame a massive deficit to win.)

But it was not to be. Instead, Punsri had one more big outdraw to dish out, this time taking his favourite 109 up against the pocket kings of Wilson.

Wilson limped with the monster hand, and Punsri checked, taking them to a flop of 2J9. They both checked it. And the killed 10 came on the turn. Punsri bet, Wilson called, with both hands significantly under-represented.

The A fell on the river and Punsri checked again. Wilson now went for it and moved all in. Punsri snapped the trap shut and the win, once again, was his.

Five-time Punnat Punsri and friend