Chinese Amateur Stuns Jungleman with $5.5million Triton Takedown

The buy-in was bigger than his combined live earnings but that didn’t stop Huang Wenjie from scooping the Triton Poker Main Event for $5,555,000 in Jeju, South Korea today.

The 35-year-old Chinese amateur (Huang works in the tech industry) was part of a record-breaking field for a 6-figure buy-in tournament, 285 entries (170 of those unique) at $100,000 apiece.

With 47 spots paid (a min. cash worth $163,000) and six $million+ payouts up top, the scene was set at Landing Casino in Jeju for a remarkable event.

First port of call was the money bubble and Phil Ivey’s hopes were dashed one short of the stone bubble. The unluckiest player, though, was Lithuania’s Gytis Lazauninkas…

Lazauninkas: K♦ K♥

Alex Foxen: A♣ K♠

Foxen had called Lazauninkas’ half-stack raise pre and then all the chips went  in on the flop…

Flop: J♥ 7♦ 2♣

…but the turn was a brutal one for the Latvian…

Turn: A♥

River: xx

There was plenty of play left before the final table and some big names who fell by the wayside en route…

• Mario Mosbock (44^th for $163,000)
• Kristen Foxen (36^th for $182,000)
• Stephen Chidwick (30^th for $208,000)
• Isaac Haxton (26^th for $236,000)
• Alex Foxen (19^th for $294,000)

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It was well into day three before the final table was reached, headed by Suvarna and Greenwood with Barbero on fumes at the opposite end of the chip counts. Dan “Jungleman” Cates was the biggest name at the table, with Sam Greenwood and Artur Martirosian also in the mix.

Hopkins fell first after Barbero had doubled, and the Argentinian laddered up yet again after Clemen Deng couldn’t give up on his aces…

🗺️ @junglemandan's quest for the $5.5 MILLION 💰 in the 🔱 Triton Poker Series Main Event will take immense skill and a sprinkle of good fortune! 🍀🤑 pic.twitter.com/YEJU46HUgu

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) March 9, 2025

Barbero finally fell in 7^th, the last of the sub-$million payouts, when he ran A♥ K♥ into cates’ pocket aces, and then Boika’s last 11 bigs went Martirosian’s way.

Down to five and Huang Wenjie was the only unknown at the table, a WSOP Online heads-up bracelet to his name notwithstanding. Greenwood will certainly not forget him after 4-bet shoving…

Greenwood: J♣ J♦

Huang: K♣ K♦

The Canadian’s 4-bet jam had backfired and there was to be no help with the runout…

Flop: 6♣ 4♦ 8♥

Turn: 6♠

River: 9♣

Greenwood pocketed $1.687 million but Suvarna on 8BBs had laddered up almost $500k. Despite cracking aces to double, India’s number 1 player hit the rail in 4^th shortly afterwards.

The podium spots were yet to be decided, but Huang showed no signs of fear at facing Cates and Martirosian, helped by some very kind cards. He ousted the Russian by flopping a set and that left him against Cates for the title.

Huang’s 88BB to 31BB lead improved after a rivered pair cracked Cates’ big slick and then the finale appeared, Cates calling off Huang’s 3-bet shove…

Cates: J♦ 9♠

Huang: K♦ Q♣

Flop: Q♥ J♥ Q♣

Turn: J♣

River: 5♥

…and with that, the 35-year-old amateur had taken a magical scalp and scooped $5,555,000 and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece (courtesy of the official Triton Poker tour’s official timekeeper).

Event #11  $100,000 NLH Main Event
Final results

“It’s unbelievable,” Huang said through an interpreter after his historic victory. “I’m super lucky. I was hitting every draw.”

Cates, meanwhile, will have to wait to land his third Triton title while Martirosian’s 3^rd place finish enabled him to leapfrog Igor Kurganov at the top of the Russian all-time list.

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Andrew Burnett

Professional Poker Journalist

An avid poker player, he dreams of one day playing the WSOP Main Event and has promised himself he will fold aces and kings if he gets them on the first hand to avoid front-page headlines. [more]