Triton News: Paul Phua Wins the $150K NLH 10th Anniversary Special ($3,226,000)

Paul Phua Wins the $150K NLH 10th Anniversary Special

At the final 9-max table, Phua starts with 35 BB.

In 8th place, Phua eliminates Klemens Roiter: AA > AKo, pot of 31 BB. A king comes on the flop, but it is not enough for the Austrian to win.

In 7th place, Phua eliminates Aleks Ponakovs: A3o > QJo, pot of 9.5 BB.

In 3-max, Brandon Wilson starts as chip leader with 71 BB, Elton Tsang has 48 BB, and Paul Phua has 40 BB.

Three-handed play lasts an hour. Eventually, Phua eliminates Tsang. Effective stack: 16 BB. Phua opens from the button, Tsang defends the BB. Flop 3 J K , both players check. Turn J . Tsang bets 2 BB, Phua calls. River 9 . Tsang bets 5.3 BB, Phua shoves, Tsang calls. Showdown: Q 10 for Tsang, A 6 for Phua.

Heads-up, Wilson starts with 69 BB, Phua with 39 BB. They play for almost two more hours. Phua quickly wins several small pots and evens the stacks. The lead swings back and forth between Wilson and Phua. Watch the final hand on X (Twitter). Effective stack = 22 BB.

$150K NLH 10th Anniversary Special Final Table Payouts (81 entries total):

Position	Name	Country	Payout
1st	Paul Phua		$3,226,000
2nd	Brandon Wilson		$2,241,000
3rd	Elton Tsang		$1,482,000
4th	Johannes Straver		$1,161,000
5th	Danny Tang		$936,000
6th	Mikita Badziakouski		$729,000
7th	Aleks Ponakovs		$577,000
8th	Klemens Roiter		$450,000
9th	Artur Martirosian		$340,000

Phua says he almost misses this tournament:

Symbolically, the Triton Tempo time bank display next to Paul Phua’s name shows 2:22 — the number two is Ivan Leow’s number.

The Number 4 Turns Out Lucky for Jesse Lonis in Jeju

In many Asian countries, the number 4 is considered unlucky. That is why there are no tournaments with number 4 in the Triton schedule.

Now there is an alternative theory: the number 4 brings luck to Jesse Lonis. To save on trophies for the American, the “4” tournaments are removed from the schedule.

Jesse Lonis wins his 4th Triton title in the $50K Turbo Bounty Quattro (the trophy is labeled Turbo Bounty4). His prize totals $474K + $540K in bounties.

Lonis is also about to become a father for the 4th time — his 4th daughter is expected.

A bit more numerology: the tournament draws 46 entries, generating a prize pool of $2,300,000. Jesse Lonis earns a total of $1,014,000 ($474K for the win + $540K in bounties). In other words, he takes 44% of the prize pool.

$50K Turbo Bounty Quattro Payouts (46 entries total):

Position	Name	Country	Payout
1st	Jesse Lonis		$1,014,000
2nd	Kiat Lee		$343,000
3rd	Kelvin Brunetto Kerber		$341,000
4th	Alex Foxen		$227,000
5th	Zhou Quan		$129,500
6th	Yuya Arito		$101,000
7th	Danilo Velasevic		$80,500
8th	Anatoly Zlotnikov		$64,000

Ben Tollerene Ends His Downstreak with a Victory in the $100K NLH Main Event ($3,766,000)

Ben Tollerene is one of Triton’s most successful players. At the Montenegro series in May 2025, he earns over $5.8M across two tournaments, including a win in the $100K PLO Main Event.

Then comes the Jeju series in September, where Tollerene earns $992K.

After that, a downstreak begins. In December in the Bahamas, Tollerene plays 6 tournaments without an ITM. At the current series, he plays 9 tournaments — all without cashing.

In the $100K NLH Main Event, he is also close to elimination when on Day 1 he gets coolered: his set loses to Philip Sternheimer’s full house.

Eventually, he manages to spin it up and even starts the final table as chip leader.

Guess who Tollerene faces heads-up?

Philip Sternheimer.

Watch the final hand on X (Twitter). Effective stack = 30 BB. Preflop, Tollerene tosses chips for a raise, but it is ruled a call (likely a color mistake). It becomes a limp pot. On the flop, Tollerene bets 1 BB into a pot of 3 BB.

For both players, these payouts become their career-best cashes.

Final Table Payouts (178 entries total):

Position	Name	Country	Payout
1st	Ben Tollerene		$3,766,000
2nd	Philip Sternheimer		$2,535,000
3rd	Elton Tsang		$1,787,000
4th	Kristen Foxen		$1,449,000
5th	Punnat Punsri		$1,146,000
6th	Sean Winter		$870,000
7th	Xu Yang		$635,000
8th	Tom Fuchs		$464,000
9th	Felipe Ketzer		$385,000