Jans Arends wins Triton Poker Vietnam $30,000 buy-in for $921,178

Jans Arends is a hugely successful multi-million dollar online tournament poker player and a World Series of Poker Online bracelet to his name. The 32-year-old from the Netherlands, known to many by his nickname “Graftekkel”, has also had some success live, including fourth with $181,174, a career-best cash finisher in 2019 European Poker Tour Prague High Roller Event.

This spring, Arends decided to make the final trip to Hoiana Resort & Golf in Quang Nam, Vietnam Triton Poker High Stakes Festival. The decision has turned out to be profitable as Arends managed to record his two biggest live tournament results of all time in the early days of the series. He placed second in the $15,000 buy-in Seven-Max event on March 3 for $406,000 and emerged victorious two days later in the $30,000 Seven-Max event for $921,178. Thanks to those two massive paydays, Arends has now posted nearly $2.3 million in earnings.

“I play a little bit live throughout the year, but the last time I watched the Triton stream I thought it looked so good I was like, ‘okay, let’s do it,'” Arends said triton Reporters after they prevail. “The next was Vietnam. It was an easy decision.”

Arends’ two deep runs in Vietnam not only took home more than $1.3 million in prize money, but also 1,872 card player Player of the Year Points. As a result, he now sits in the top 20 in 2023 POY Race classifications sponsored by Global Poker.

Arends beat a field of 171 entries to take the title and a lion’s share of the $5,130,000 prize pool. He entered the official final table in second chip position, behind only Brian Kim, the other bracelet winner.

Britain’s Oscar Brodkin lost most of his stack when his multi-street bluff was revealed by the aces World Poker Tour World Champion Jonathan Jaffe. Brodkin ran into Arends’ A-2suited in the following hand with KJsuited and lost to a flush on the river, leaving the Dutchman to the rails in seventh place ($203,000).

Biao Ding busted in sixth place ($275,000) when his K-8 suite couldn’t hold up against Arends’ K-3, who flopped two pair. With that, Arends took a healthy lead in the five-handed action.

Seth Davies’ run in this event ended when his pocket jacks were beaten by Jaffe’s KQ suite. Davies received $353,700 and $455 POY points for his fifth place. This was already his eighth POY-Qualified final table of the year, with nearly $2.4 million in earnings from those cashes. The WPT Champion now sits in fourth place in the POY Appreciation thanks to his impressive start to 2023.

Kim lost a flip to Kiat Lee and was left with less than two big blinds. He doubled up but was ultimately eliminated in fourth when his K-2 ran into Jaffe’s pocket tens. Kim secured a career-best payday of $441,000 for his second final table finish of the series.

Jaffe took the lead in three-handed play, but after losing a couple of big pots to slip to the bottom of the counts, the bottom three decided to discuss a deal. They eventually decided to set aside $90,000 and the title to gamble while determining the following payouts:

Kiat Lee – $851,932
Jans Arends – $831,178
Jonathan Jaffe – $766,890

After the deal was agreed, Arends won a big flip against Jaffe, with his AQ beating pocket Deuces to see him take the lead and go heads-up play. Jaffe’s negotiated payday of more than three-quarters of a million dollars was the highest recorded score of his career. This increased his lifetime earnings to nearly $7.4 million.

Lee landed the first big hit of the heads-up match, winning a healthy pot with trips to even things out. Lee had a slight lead when the deciding hand was dealt. He limped off the button with a 77 and Arends moved all in from the big blind with A4. Lee called and was in good shape to take the title, but the board came AJ8th24 to give Arends aces and a massive chip lead.

The very next hand, Lee picked up 99 and went all-in against the AK by arends. The A8th7K10 runout secured the pot and the title for Arends while Lee was eliminated in second. As with Jaffe, the payout he agreed on in the deal ($851,932) was the largest of his career. He now has nearly $4 million in recorded earnings.

Here’s a look at the payouts and POY Points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Triton Poker / Joe Giron.