In the game of poker, the World Series of Poker is globally recognized as the most prestigious event in the sport’s calendar. But after breaking multiple records to become the richest tournament in the history of poker, the Triton Million – A Helping Hand for Charity now stands above the richest poker tournaments outside of the World Series of Poker.
On August 4, the Triton Million tournament in London concluded after three days of poker between seasoned professionals and those listed as ‘recreational’ players. From the 54 people who bought into the richest tournament in the history of poker, it was Aaron Zang who emerged victorious, with Bryn Kenney taking a large portion of the pot.
Zang comes out on top, as does Kenney
💥 Aaron Zang 🇨🇳 wins!!!! We present to you the #TritonMillion for Charity 🔱 champion, collecting an incredible £19,000,000 with an amazing comeback against now All-Time Money List #1 Bryn Kenney!
⬇ Here’s the winning hand folks#poker #TritonLondon2019 #Champion pic.twitter.com/8hj8vWr5uG— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) August 3, 2019
Part of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, 54 players paid £1,050,000 to play in the Triton Million, with £50,000 from each buy-in going to charity. The £54 million prize pool, which converts to roughly $65.6 million, would see 11 players take a prize, with the other 43 losing their buy-in along the way.
While only one champion of the Triton Million could be crowned, the final heads-up play saw two winners leave the table. Aaron Zang of China left the tournament as the winner, hoisting the Triton Million trophy to rousing applause, finishing with £13,779,491 ($16.7 million) in chips at the table but £19 million ($23.1 million) in prize money.
Zang may have left with the title, but his heads-up opponent, Bryn Kenney, will also go away feeling like a winner. At the start of heads-up play, the two came together to strike a deal, leading to Zang becoming champion but Kenney leaving with the lion’s share of the pot at £16,890,509 ($20.5 million). With the take, Kenney shot up to go to the top of the all-time live tournament money list in poker, leapfrogging the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, and Justin Bonomo.
The richest tournament in poker
Prior to the Triton Million in London, as you would expect, a World Series of Poker collaboration event, the $1 million Big One for One Drop, held the title as the richest tournament in poker. In 2012, the 48 entrants to the inaugural Big One for One Drop created a $42.67 million prize pool, with the winner netting $18.3 million.
Had this Triton Million taken place in 2012, with the average exchange rate from GBP to USD over the year being 1.58 according to OFX, the £54 million pool would have been worth $85.32 million. In today’s money’s, the $65.6 million pool ranks it below five World Series of Poker Main Events, with the leader being 2006’s $82.5 million prize pool. In 2006 money, however, £54 million would equate to roughly $99.4 million.
Even with £2.7 million ($3.3 million) being set aside for charity, the event attracted the most entrants to a seven-figure buy-in poker tournament and clocked in as the largest prize pool outside of the World Series of Poker Main Event. Kenney’s second-place take of $20.5 million also put him ahead of 2012 Big One for One Drop winner Antonio Esfandiari, who netted $18.35 million, to stand with the highest single poker tournament payout ever.
Zang walks away from the largest buy-in tournament in poker history as the champion, but Kenney leaves as the all-time money list leader and with the record for a single payout.
