Klemens Roiter Wins First Triton Title for $771K at Jeju II

Klemens Roiter had reached 11 final tables on the Triton Super High Roller Series without managing to close the show. That was before today.

The Austrian, who is currently on a heater of searing proportions, burned brighter than ever to break through at Triton Jeju II, taking down Event #2: $20K NLH 8-Handed for $771,000.

In doing so, Roiter halted a brutal display from the seemingly unstoppable Alejandro Lococo, who had annihilated the final table on his way to heads-up, knocking out five opponents, including a double elimination, to set up the showdown with Roiter.

Lococo, who famously has a WSOP Main Event final-table appearance and a $12 million Triton score to his name, looked set to add another trophy to his already remarkable poker career. But Roiter was not about to let another Triton final table slip through his fingers.

After entering heads-up with a sizeable deficit, the man with 17 Triton cashes mounted a superb comeback to finally get his hands on the famous Trident trophy, ending a painful wait for a first final-table success at the 12th time of asking.

Triton SHRS Jeju II $20k NLH 8-Handed Final Table Results

Taking It Hand By Hand

Speaking to PokerNews after his breakthrough victory, Roiter reflected on finally getting over the line, saying, “I can never anticipate this. I’m on a heater since I won my bracelet in Vegas last year. It’s been going like this, but I was expecting it to stop at some point.”

“I came in today as a midstack. I went down to seven big blinds and I didn’t have any expectation whatsoever. From that point, I just had nothing to lose. I didn’t expect it to be going my way, but it did.”

On facing the challenge of Lococo, he added, “These are things that I don’t really think about. I just think from hand to hand. It sounds weird, but it is what it is. The stack sizes change, the situation changes, the position changes. I don’t really think, ‘This guy is so far ahead.’ I just think, how do I play my stack best? How do I play my position best? Play this opponent best?”

“How do I play my stack best? How do I play my position best? Play this opponent best?”

There was audible delight around the room as Roiter finally got over the line, and he was quick to acknowledge the support of his fellow Triton regulars.

“It’s crazy. Everybody loves everybody. It’s kind of [not] comparable to anything else. Everybody can play. It’s always the same people showing up, and then there’s some new faces. Everybody’s welcome. Every stop you get closer with each other, with friends. I call them friends.”

Rapid Early Eliminations Set the Tone

Twenty-five players returned with at least $35,000 locked up, and it didn’t take long for the field to thin out. Triton champion David Coleman was the first to depart once cards were in the air, and from there it became a rapid procession of big names heading for the rail.

Poker legend Jean-Noel Thorel had started the day among the biggest stacks, but endured a bruising run on the felt after sparring with Jesse Lonis on several occasions. The American flopped trip aces to win a huge pot from Thorel, before eliminating JNT shortly afterwards in 19th place.

Daniel Dvoress followed Thorel out of the tournament, securing yet another cash for the Triton Player of the Year elect, before fellow Triton extraordinaires Matthias Eibinger and Christoph Vogelsang also hit the showers just short of the final table.

The man to agonizingly miss out on the final-nine fanfare was Vladas Tamasauskas, although the Lithuanian crusher gave Triton Fantasy players plenty of bang for their buck. Starting the day in 24th, he battled his way up the leaderboard before bowing out in 10th place for $66,000.

And so the final nine were set under poker’s brightest lights, with Yu Zhang holding a narrow lead over Chin Wei Lim, but chased by Lococo, Lonis, Justin Saliba et al with just shy of $800,000 and a Triton Trident trophy at the finish line.

Immovable Object Beats Unstoppable Force

If the tournament looked wide open heading to the final table, it soon looked as though it was going to be dominated by one man: Lococo.

The Argentine would fell five of his final nine opponents en route to heads-up, starting by getting it all-in preflop against Biao Ding with pocket deuces and flopping a set to send the Chinese wunderkind on his way.

Lonis, who had headlined the early-day action, would soon follow after finding himself all-in on the turn with pocket jacks, only to discover that, once again, Lococo had made trips. Zhang then ran into Saliba’s rockets to exit stage left in 7th, surrendering his final-nine chip lead in quick fashion, before Lim fell to Mehdi Chaoui in 6th, adding another impressive score to one of the most impressive Triton resumes around.

Normal service then resumed, however, as Lococo picked up two pair to dump out Justin Chu in 5th, before he went into overdrive, scoring a double knockout of Chaoui and Saliba in a three-way all-in worthy of the Triton stage.

All three players got it in preflop, but Lococo found the club he needed on the river to make the nut flush, beating Chaoui’s three of a kind and Saliba’s two pair. The double knockout gave Lococo a huge lead over Roiter going into heads-up, with “Papo MC” now just one man away from the title.

However, despite the chaos wreaked by Lococo, Roiter remained calm and composed. He waited in the long grass for his chance to strike, and did so doubling with jack-seven to bring himself back into the contest, before effectively finishing the job with sevens-full to reduce Lococo to a single big blind.

After flopping a pair the very next hand it was all over and Roiter could finally call himself a Triton champion.

Eliot Thomas is an Editor at PokerNews, specializing in casino and poker coverage. He is on the ground in South Korea covering the Triton Super High Roller Series and has previously worked at the World Series of Poker and European Poker Tour.