Poker Hall of Famer John Juanda Denies Fedor Holz Triton Super High Roller Macau Title

John Juanda
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  • PG News October 21, 2017
  • 2 Minutes Read

The HK$1,000,000 buy-in Main Event of the Triton Super High Roller Macau played out over the course of three days and set a new attendance record for the series. The event attracted 83 entries (57 unique entries with an additional 26 re-entries) that generated a whopping HK$78,086,400 (approx. $10,008,703) prize pool making it the largest event in Triton Poker history.

It came down to a fitting finale between Poker Hall of Fame member John Juanda (cover image) and German prodigy Fedor Holz with the former eventually prevailing after a grueling four-and-a-half-hour of heads-up action at the Galaxy Macau Hotel in Taipa, Macau. Juanda banked a career-best HK$22,410,400 (US $2,872,299) in prize money.

Incidentally Juanda was sitting at the bottom of the heap when the final table action began but he juggernauted his way to victory and with this score he now sits in seventh place on the all-time money list, just behind Phil Ivey with his career live earnings totaling over US $23.5 million.

Post his win an elated Juanda said, “Playing against Fedor was really tough. He’s a really awesome player and obviously, he’s the guy winning all the super high rollers. I’m really fortunate to play heads up and come out on top. I think we have a different style of playing. It was a good long match and I’m pretty sure he enjoyed it too.”

“Well, obviously it feels great anytime you win a tournament of this magnitude. First, you have to play pretty well and you also have to get lucky. Especially nowadays with the tough fields we have. For example, the final table, I mean, looks like everybody is an amazing player.” he added.

The star-studded field included notables like Triton co-founder Richard Yong and Kings Consulting President Winfred Yu along with crème de la crème of poker world namely the HK$250,000 6-Max Champion Stefan Schillhabel, Steve O’Dwyer, Ben Lamb, Steffen Sontheimer, Erik Seidel and Mike Watson. Former Triton champions Koray Aldemir, Manig Loeser, and Wai Kin Yong were also in thick of action.

On Day 2, Furkat Rakhimov busted on the money bubble in 13th place and then followed a slew of eliminations in Mike Watson (10th place), JC Alvarado (11th place) and Manig Loeser (12th place). James Chen was the last elimination on Day 2 that set up the eight-handed final table.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Adrian Mateos – 4,785,000
2. Fedor Holz – 4,325,000
3. Dietrich Fast – 3,370,000
4. Kahle Burns – 2,625,000
5. Timothy Adams – 2,185,000
6. Stephen Chidwick – 1,395,000
7. Isaac Haxton – 1,075,000
8. John Juanda – 990,000

 

Final Table Recap

The eight finalists returned on the final day to play down to a winner and Isaac Haxton was the first one out. Haxton started with the second shortest stack and shoved with ; Dietrich Fast made the call with . The board kept Fast in the lead eliminating Haxton in the process.

Next to fall was Canada`s Timothy Adams who went out on a sick cooler. He ran his into Kahle Burns’ and failed to get any help on the board.

Stephen Chidwick then fell at the hands of eventual runner-up Fedor Holz after he bluff shoved on the river. The hand saw Holz leading out and Chidwick called to see the flop . Chidwick led out post flop and Holz flatted. The turn was the and this time Holz bet while Chidwick check-raised. The completed the board and Chidwick shoved with for a missed straight draw sending Holz into a deep tank for about four and a half minutes, so much so that even the clock was called on him. Holz was given a 30-second warning and he eventually decided to call with , which was good enough to get him the pot.

Soon thereafter, short-stacked Dietrich Fast exited after he three-bet jammed on Kahle Burns with . Burns called and tabled . The board blanked out eliminating Fast in fifth place.

The next elimination took a couple of levels with start-of-day chip leader Adrian Mateos going out in fourth place after getting short. Juanda by this time had already maneuvered his way well and was looking to shift gears. He shoved on short-stacked Mateos with and Mateos called off with . Juanda further made two pair on the board to send Mateos packing.

After Mateos busted, the shortest stack was now Burns who also fell to eventual champion Juanda. On his final hand of the event, Burns three-bet shoved with and got the call from Juanda who was ahead with . The board bricked out setting up the heads-up battle between Holz and Juanda.

The final hand of the event saw Holz shoving with and Juanda tank called with . It looked like both players would likely chop the pot but Juanda shouted “Five” and got there with the :@:5h opening up on river that crowned Juanda the champion!

John Juanda
John Juanda

Final Table Results (HKD)

1. John Juanda – HK$22,410,400

2. Fedor Holz – HK$16,398,000

3. Kahle Burns – HK$10,151,000

4. Adrian Mateos – HK$6,950,000

5. Dietrich Fast – HK$4,607,000

6. Stephen Chidwick – HK$3,436,000

7. Timothy Adams – HK$2,811,000

8. Isaac Haxton – HK$2,421,000

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