At one point he was down almost 5-to-1 heads-up. Brazil’s Joao Simao fought all the way back, made no deal, and won the $200,000 Triton Invitational at Jeju II for $7,250,000, the biggest prize in the event’s history.
- Joao Simao beat China’s Biao Ding heads-up to win the $200,000 Triton Invitational for $7,250,000, from 173 entries and a $34,600,000 prize pool.
- That beats Adrian Mateos’ $6,370,000 from WSOP Paradise in December 2025 as the largest Triton Invitational prize ever.
- Seth Davies finished third for $3,470,000 and is the first player to make three Triton Invitational final tables.
- Six more titles went to Dan Dvoress, Wai Kiat Lee, Pedro Padilha, Alex Anton, Matthew Wantman and Ben Tollerene.
- The $100,000 NLH Main Event (196 entries, $19,600,000) is down to 12 players, with Bernhard Binder in the lead.
A Record Invitational in Asia
This was the first time the Triton Invitational had been played in Asia, and it landed at Les A Casino on Jeju Island with 173 entries at $200,000 each. That made a $34,600,000 prize pool and a $7,250,000 first prize.
Simao got all of it. Heads-up against China’s Biao Ding, the Brazilian was close to a 5-to-1 chip deficit at one stage. He recovered without agreeing to a deal and went on to win the title. It is the biggest cash of his career and the largest prize ever paid in a Triton Invitational, beating the $6,370,000 Adrian Mateos won at WSOP Paradise in December 2025.
Ding took $4,940,000 for second. Seth Davies added $3,470,000 in third and set a record of his own as the first player to reach three Triton Invitational final tables.
Nearly 5-to-1 down heads-up, no deal, and $7,250,000 at the end of it — the biggest payday in Triton Invitational history.
$200,000 Triton Invitational Final Table Results
Dvoress Gets His Revenge on Xuan Liu
Dan Dvoress arrived at Jeju II as the clear leader of the Triton Season 5 Player of the Year race. In May he won three events at Montenegro, something nobody had done at a single Triton festival before. In Event #6, the $30,000 NLH 8-Handed (135 entries, $4,050,000), he won a seventh career title and $942,000.
The heads-up was a rematch. Fellow Canadian Xuan Liu had beaten Dvoress one-on-one at Montenegro last year to become the first woman to win a Triton title. This time Dvoress led from Day 1 and finished the job on the very first hand of heads-up. Liu took $638,000 in second, and Dvoress stretched his lead in the Ivan Leow Player of the Year standings.
Lee Survives, Padilha Makes History for Brazil
Malaysia’s Wai Kiat Lee won his fourth Triton title in the $40,000 NLH 7-Handed Mystery Bounty (133 entries). He nearly busted close to the bubble, then took over with a triple knockout of Phil Ivey, Seth Davies and Sam Mullur. He came from well behind in chips to beat Jamil Wakil heads-up and finished with $619,000 plus eight bounty envelopes worth $700,000.
Pedro Padilha then won his first Triton title in the $50,000 NLH 8-Handed (129 entries, $6,450,000). After an ICM deal with Nick Petrangelo, Padilha locked up $1,400,860 and Petrangelo $1,201,140, and they played for the last $50,000 and the trophy. Aliaksei Boika, who had already won Event #5, finished third for $697,000. Phil Ivey, Wai Kiat Lee and Eelis Parssinen were also at the final table. Padilha took a 35-to-17 big blind lead into heads-up and became the fourth Brazilian to win a Triton title.
Anton, Wantman and Tollerene Complete the Set
Alex Anton won the $30,000 NLH Turbo (70 entries, $2,100,000) for $577,000, beating reigning Triton Player of the Year Artur Martirosian heads-up. He had already cashed in the Mystery Bounty earlier in the week, and he did not pretend it was a showcase of skill:
“It was really silly. It was fun, but we were just flipping for a lot of money.”
In Event #11, the $50,000 NLH 7-Handed (70 entries, $3,500,000), Matthew Wantman and 2025 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Nick Schulman made a heads-up deal. Schulman locked up $810,279 and Wantman $806,721, with $30,000 and the trophy still in play. Wantman controlled the short heads-up that followed and won for $836,721, completing an all-American podium. Schulman went straight into the Main Event.
Ben Tollerene finished third in that event for $448,000, then won the $50,000 Turbo Bounty Quattro (35 entries) the next night. He came back from 21 big blinds to beat Daniel Rezaei heads-up, winning $412,000 plus $240,000 in bounties for a total of $652,000 and his fifth Triton title.
Jeju II Winners at a Glance
*ICM deal; the trophy and the remaining money were played out heads-up.
$100,000 Main Event: Binder Leads the Final 12
The $100,000 NLH Main Event drew 160 entries on Day 1. With late registration open through Day 2, it finished at 196 entries and a $19,600,000 prize pool. The top 31 places are paid, with a $173,000 minimum cash and $4,145,000 for the winner. Twelve players are back for the final day on September 16, and all of them are guaranteed $320,000.
Austria’s Bernhard Binder leads with 8,325,000 chips. He is going for a second Jeju Triton title after winning the $125,000 NLH 7-Handed here in March. Danny Tang, the most recent Triton $100,000 Main Event champion, is second. If he wins, he will join Mikita Badziakouski as only the second player to win back-to-back Triton Main Event titles.
Remaining Main Event payouts
1st $4,145,000 · 2nd $2,790,000 · 3rd $1,968,000 · 4th $1,596,000 · 5th $1,263,000 · 6th $958,000 · 7th $700,000 · 8th $512,000 · 9th $424,000 · 10th–11th $359,000 · 12th $320,000
What Remains in Jeju
The $150,000 10th Anniversary Special starts on September 16, and its final day is September 17. A $30,000 NLH Turbo on the same day closes the festival and the 2026 Triton season. Dan Dvoress leads the Ivan Leow Player of the Year race going into those last events, with a $200,000 bonus for the winner. Every final table streams on the Triton Poker Plus app with hole cards and a 60-minute delay, and replays go up on Triton Poker’s YouTube and Twitch channels.
