Michael Watson has joined an elite group of just seven players globally with four or more Triton Poker Super High Roller Series titles. The World Poker Tour champion and two-time European Poker Tour main event winner from Canada clinched his fourth Triton title by besting a field of 154 entries in the $30,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em eight-max event at the ongoing festival in Montenegro. Watson earned $1,023,000 for his victory, bringing the 40-year-old Toronto resident’s career earnings to over $27 million.
Watson is now tied with Fedor Holz and Wai Kin Yong for third place on the Triton titles leaderboard. Only ten-time champion Jason Koon and five-time champions Mikita Badziakouski, Phil Ivey, and Danny Tang have more Triton titles.
“Every time you come to a Triton stop, you want to come away with a trophy,” Watson told Triton reporters. “You want to get a win. It feels really good to get one in hold’em now, which I hadn’t done either. Just want to keep adding.”
This was Watson’s first victory in a standard no-limit hold’em tournament on the tour. His previous wins came in a $50,000 short deck event at the 2023 stop in Vietnam, a $30,000 pot-limit Omaha event in North Cyprus later that spring, and a $25,000 short deck event at the Triton Jeju stop this March. With these achievements, Watson now has more than $10.4 million in Triton earnings across 30 in-the-money finishes.
The 154-entry turnout for this tournament generated a prize pool of $4,620,000, shared among Watson and 26 others who made the money. Notable players who cashed included Mikita Badziakouski (24th), recent kickoff event winner Chris Moneymaker (23rd), Dylan Linde (22nd), Punnat Punsri (21st), Adrian Mateos (15th), Fedor Holz (14th), Patrik Antonius (11th), Hossein Ensan (10th), and Stephen Chidwick (9th).
The official final table began with Watson in the lead after eliminating Chidwick. Daniel Rezaei (8th – $125,000) was knocked out by Morten Klein early at the final table. Leon Sturm followed soon after, with his K-7 suited running into Kiat Lee’s pocket queens, earning $173,000 for his seventh-place finish.
Sirzat Hissou (6th – $238,000) was the next to go, with his flopped trips losing to a turned straight for David Yan. Yan then knocked out Klein in fifth place ($309,000) with pocket nines against A-K.
Despite his success, Yan was the next to exit. His A-K lost to Lee’s K-Q suited, which hit a queen on the flop, leaving Yan in fourth place with $387,400.
Lee continued his streak, eliminating Biao Ding in third place ($475,000) with A-7 against Ding’s pocket jacks after hitting an ace-high runout. Ding, having reached his seventh POY-qualified final table of the year, now ranks seventh in the 2024 standings with 3,542 points.
Entering heads-up play with a 3:1 chip lead, Lee faced Watson. However, Watson scored a massive double-up with a nine-high straight against Lee’s top pair, shifting the lead. On the next hand, Lee’s Q-6 couldn’t overcome Watson’s pocket fives, despite multiple draws. Watson secured the win, leaving Lee with $691,000 as the runner-up.
Here are the final table results:
- Michael Watson – $1,023,000
- Kiat Lee – $691,000
- Biao Ding – $475,000
- David Yan – $387,400
- Morten Klein – $309,000
- Sirzat Hissou – $238,000
- Leon Sturm – $173,000
- Daniel Rezaei – $125,000
