Matthew Wantman Claims First Triton Poker Title in Jeju

Matthew Wantman has made a significant mark in his tournament poker career, including winning a World Poker Tour title in Las Vegas back in 2019, and adding his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2025. The 38-year-old has also secured four PokerGO Tour titles. Coming into the 2026 Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju II, the American poker pro boasted well over $12 million in total career earnings.

Wantman’s career resume grew in a major way at the nosebleed-stakes South Korean stop, as the Massachusetts native became a Triton champion. He took down the $50,000 seven-handed no-limit hold’em event, defeating Poker Hall of Famer and friend Nick Schulman for the title after the pair struck a heads-up deal. Wantman earned $836,721 and the trophy, while Schulman settled for $810,279. This win earned Wantman 714 Card Player Player of the Year points, increasing his total to 3,287 POY points. That puts Wantman in 50th place in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker.

Wantman outlasted a field of 70 entrants to claim the largest share of the $3.5 million prize pool. It was a clean sweep of the podium positions for American players, with Texas native Ben Tollerene finishing in third place. Six of the 11 players who finished in the money hailed from North America, with Daniel Dvoress (4th – $344,000), and Michael Watson (10th – $88,000) of Canada and New York’s Bryn Kenney (11th – $88,000) making deep runs. Schulman knocked out Dvoress in fourth place, as his pocket jacks held strong against A♥9♦. Dvoress, a seven-time Triton champion, earned his fifth trident trophy of 2026 alone earlier at this festival. He currently holds a substantial lead in the race to become the Ivan Leo Player of the Year for this season. Following that elimination, Schulman held a substantial lead over Tollerene and Wantman, with almost five times as many chips as either player. But Wantman clawed away at the top stack, and then eliminated a short-stacked Tollerene in third place ($448,000). With that, Tollerene’s lifetime tournament earnings grew to nearly $38.3 million. The chip counts to start heads-up play were virtually even. Schulman and Wantman agreed on an almost even split, and left $30,000 on the table for the winner. Wantman doubled up on the first hand of heads-up play to all but assure the victory. Schulman doubled back once, but on the final hand, Wantman’s A♥J♥ beat Schulman’s Q♠7♠ to lock down the title.