Orpen Kisacikoglu wins Triton Poker Vietnam $75,000 High Roller for $1,753,000

Orpen Kisacikoglu defeated a field of 85 participants in 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam $75,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em eight-max event to secure his first Triton trophy and top prize of $1,753,000.

This was the second-highest score ever for the Turkish businessman and poker player, only behind the $2,117,316 he earned for a second-place finish in 2022 Triton Madrid €100,000 buy-in event. Kisacikoglu now has a lifetime income of more than $13.1 million, adding to his already sizable lead on Turkey’s all-time money list. He is now nearly $9.5 million ahead of second-place finisher Selahaddin Bedir ($3,656,325).

Kisacikoglu also earned 816 card player Player of the Year Points for Victory. This was his fifth final table finish of the year for $2,687,986 POY-Receipts accrued through these scores. This puts him in 2023 in 20th place POY Race classification sponsored by Global Poker.

This event took place over the course of two days at Hoiana Resort & Golf in Quang Nam. The money bubble burst a few hours into Day 2 when Daniel Dvoress’ Q-10 lost to Michael Soyza’s K-5 in a Battle of the Blinds. The Canadian bracelet winner was the last player to bust out of the money. After Adrian Mateos (11th – $159,500) and David Yan (110th – $159,500) hit the rails, Soyza finally found himself on the official final table bubble when his pocket aces were cracked by Stephen Chidwick’s pocket jacks. Soyza earned $182,500 in ninth place.

The next key fight was a three-way all-in that put Rob Yong and Punnat Punsri in jeopardy. Yong held AK while Punsri had pocket fives. Santhosh Suvarna covered both opponents and held the best hand with pocket aces. With an unchallenged runout, Suvarna scored the double knockout and sent Yong home $239,000 for eighth place, while Punsri earned $306,000 in seventh.

Bracelet winner and four times Triton Poker Champion Jason Koon was the next to fall. He lost a big flip with pocket nines to Kisacikoglu’s A-10 and slipped down the leaderboard. He then moved all in with A-10 behind Kisacikoglu’s AQ. Koon found no help and was eliminated in sixth place ($389,000). He now has a lifetime earnings of more than $42.3 million.

When the next key hand came up, both Suvarna and Steve O’Dwyer were sitting with less than eight big blinds. Chidwick went for an open shove from the cutoff with A-8. Henrik Hecklen, who was third in chips at the time, went into the tank before calling his stack with AJsuited. Hecklen was in great form to double down, but the board brought four hearts to give Chidwick a flush. Hecklen earned $497,500 for his fifth-place finish, beating $10 million in tournament earnings on record.

Suvarna’s run in that event ended when he put the last of his short stack ahead with A-7 leading Chidwick’s QJ suit. The flop gave Chidwick an open-ended straight draw to his two live cards, making him a favorite in the hand. The turn was a king, giving Chidwick an unbeatable king high straight. The river was just a formality and Suvarna busted in fourth place, finishing fourth for a career-best $628,000.

O’Dwyer soon followed when his pocket queens were cracked by Chidwick’s 8-7 suited, who moved all-in from the small blind. O’Dwyer called from the top and went into the flop with a big lead. Chidwick immediately picked up an open-ended straight draw. After a brick on the turn, O’Dywer was more than a favorite to double at 4-1. A five at the end, however, completed Chidwick’s draw and sent O’Dwyer to the rails with $816,000. The score took his lifetime earnings to nearly $36 million.

Heads-up play began with Chidwick holding 9,850,000 versus Kisacikoglu’s 7,150,000. The early stages were all about Chidwick, and he steadily chipped to a roughly 2-1 lead before Kisacikoglu pulled off a river bluff to secure his first big pot of the game. Chidwick hit back and won a big pot without a showdown after outing Kisacikoglu’s pocket sevens with AJsuited.

Chidwick had a slight lead when the decisive heads-up hand was dealt. He raised with 9 from the big blind2 after Kisacikoglu hobbled in with A2 from the button. Kisacikoglu called and the flop came A32. Chidwick made a continuation bet and Kisacikoglu called with his aces. Chidwick turned up nines when the 9 hit the board. Chidwick bet again and Kisacikoglu moved all in. Chidwick called and got the bad news that he needed a nine on the river to win the pot. The Q completed the board and Kisacikoglu took the lead.

Chidwick was down to a few big blinds after the hand. He was soon all in with K6 opposite the k6 by Kisacikoglu. Statistically, the hand would be hacked 93 percent of the time. In this particular case, however, the AJ54Q Runout saw Kisacikoglu make a backdoor flush to secure the pot and the title.

Chidwick received $1,245,000 for finishing runner-up. This was his fourth final table finish this year. The double POY The honoree now sits 27th in this year’s rankings with 1,716 points and nearly $2.1 million in revenue POY merits. That score boosted his career earnings to $47,260,473 and kept him fourth on the all-time poker list.

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

Photo credit: Joe Giron / Triton Poker.