In-depth analysis of the two newly crowned champions in this high-stakes tournament held in Jeju Island, South Korea.
The 2026 Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju Island event is now in its second half, with several major tournaments still undecided. The two latest champions, crowned at the LES A Casino in Jeju, South Korea, both emerged victorious in single-day turbo events.
The first fast-paced event to conclude was the $30,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold'em tournament. A total of 99 entries were made, resulting in a total prize pool of $2,969,999. While 17 players made it into the money, only one could take home the title and the Triton trophy: Mehdi Chaoui. This 25-year-old from Morocco fought his way through the tournament to claim his first Triton title and $747,000 in prize money.
This is Chaoui's second-highest career prize money. His highest $873,000 prize came from a runner-up finish in the Triton Jeju Island $40,000 mystery bounty tournament last fall. His career total prize money is now close to $4.6 million, with over $2 million coming from nine wins on the Triton Tour.
This victory earned Chaoui 756 Card Player of the Year (POY) points. This is his first title of 2026 and his fifth final table appearance. He currently sits outside the top 30 on the CoinPoker-sponsored POY leaderboard with a total of 1,594 points.
Chaoui faced strong challenges from many top opponents in the final stage, including Triton co-founder Richard Yong (9th place), Alex Foxen (7th place), Daniel Rezaei (4th place), who recently won the $60,000 event, and Seth Davies (3rd place). Bracelet winner Nguyen Le finished as runner-up, taking home the $505,000 prize and bringing his career winnings to over $5.6 million.
$30,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em Turbo – Final Table Results
| Ranking | player | bonus | POY points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mehdi Chaoui | $747,000 | 756 |
| 2 | Nguyen Le | $505,000 | 630 |
| 3 | Seth Davies | $328,000 | 504 |
| 4 | Daniel Rezaei | $272,000 | 378 |
| 5 | Kelvin Kerber | $219,000 | 315 |
| 6 | Pedro Padilha | $172,000 | 252 |
| 7 | Alex Foxen | $132,000 | 189 |
| 8 | Ho Qiang | $100,000 | 126 |
| 9 | Richard Yong | $75,000 | 63 |
The buy-in for the next fast-paced tournament has been increased to $50,000, and an additional bounty mechanism has been added. By the registration deadline, a total of 46 entries had been made, creating a total prize pool of $2,300,000.
After the battle subsided, only defending POY champion Jesse Lonis remained standing. This was the 30-year-old New York poker pro's fourth Triton title. He won $474,000 from the main prize pool, but this sum paled in comparison to his nine previous bounties (totaling $540,000). Lonis ultimately took home $1,014,000 as champion.
The 510 POY points accompanying the trophy propel Lonis to 22nd place in the 2026 rankings. This is his first win and fourth final table appearance of the year, bringing his total to 1,790 points and over $2.2 million in POY-related winnings. Lonis is aiming to become the first player in history to win the award two years in a row.
With this latest victory, Lonis' career winnings have now exceeded $30.5 million.
Kiat Lee, a three-time Triton champion, finished second, earning 343,000 in prize money with a $ runner-up finish. Kelvin Kerber took home 221,000 in prize money with a $ runner-up finish and 120,000 in prize money with a $ runner-up finish. Three-time Triton champion Alex Foxen (4th place) and Quan Zhou (5th place), who recently won the 25,000 Jupiter event with a $ runner-up finish, also performed well. Foxen climbed to 19th place on the POY leaderboard with two championships and four final table appearances this year, while Zhou jumped to second place with six final table appearances and one championship so far this year.
Danilo Velasevic, who finished as runner-up in the $125,000 buy-in event a few days ago and won more than $1.8 million, finished seventh in this event.
$50,000 No-Limit Texas Hold'em Rapid Bounty Tournament – Final Table Results
| Ranking | player | bonus | POY points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse Lonis | $1,014,000 | 510 |
| 2 | Kiat Lee | $343,000 | 425 |
| 3 | Kelvin Kerber | $341,000 | 340 |
| 4 | Alex Foxen | $227,000 | 255 |
| 5 | Quan Zhou | $129,500 | 213 |
| 6 | Yuya Arito | $101,000 | 170 |
| 7 | Danilo Velasevic | $80,500 | 128 |
| 8 | Anatoly Zlotnikov | $64,000 | 85 |
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