Triton Poker Series Celebrates 10 Years of Dominance

The Triton poker series is set to celebrate its 10th anniversary in a few weeks. The first Triton tournament was held in January 2016 as part of the WPT National series on the Philippines, with a $200,000 buy-in and 52 entries. The series expanded in 2018 by adding two short deck tournaments to the Montenegro stage. The September stage in Cheju featured 16 tournaments.

Paul Fu and Rob Yong are the ideological inspirers of the Triton series. They were first mentioned in a 2+2 thread from autumn 2010, discussing high-stakes poker in Macau. Paul Fu and Rob Yong were arrested in 2014 during the World Series of Poker for organizing illegal bookmaking activities. Paul Fu finished 7th in the first Triton tournament, while Rob Yong placed 2nd in a HK$1 million tournament in Montenegro in 2017. Rob Yong won a short deck tournament with a $50k buy-in at the September series in Cheju, while Paul Fu placed 3rd in a turbo tournament with a $50,000 buy-in in the Bahamas.

The Triton series features invitation-only tournaments where wealthy amateurs invite professionals. The first invitation-only tournament was held in London in 2019 with a record buy-in of £1,050,000. In 2022, a similar tournament was held in Northern Cyprus with a $200,000 buy-in and 115 entries. In 2023, three invitation-only tournaments were held, with buy-ins ranging from $200k to $500k. In November 2024, Patrick Antonius won $5 million in a tournament in Monte-Carlo, defeating Vladimir Korzinin in the heads-up. The most recent invitation-only tournament was held a few days ago in the Bahamas with a $250k buy-in, attracting 133 entries.