Triton newcomer crowned champion
Triton Montenegro kicked off in style on Tuesday with the 155-entry, $25,000 buy-in WPT Global Slam. A collaboration between the two prestigious brands, it produced an elite field including one Triton newcomer in the form of veteran pro, high-stakes cash crusher, and two-time EPT finalist Xuan Liu.
Three days later, she was the last person standing, having battled ferociously, ninja’d the short stack, timed her bluffs to perfection, laddered to heads-up, before ultimately running over a hapless Daniel Dvoress, who just couldn’t make a hand in the final confrontation.
heads-up play was all one-way oncoming traffic
Dvoress was competing for a third Triton title and, for a while, that outcome seemed like a fait accompli as he bossed the final table, which also included poker luminaries Kristen Foxen, David Peters, and Mike Watson. However, having put himself in a commanding position, heads-up play was all one-way oncoming traffic as Liu overcame her fellow Canadian to be crowned champion.
The $860,000 first prize is the largest score of Liu’s career, eclipsing her 4th place in the 2012 PCA, but she is no stranger to WPT titles, having previously won the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic at Niagara Falls in 2017. She is also an ambassador for WPT Global, a brand she has partnered with for the last few years.
The tale of the tape
The tale of the tape will show that it was far from plain sailing for Liu, who came into the final table tied for 4th in chips with Foxen in what is affectionately known as “ICM-hell,” as they were sandwiched between three big stacks and four shorties. A big clash with Foxen with six players left made her the short stack, but she fought on gamely and by the time there were five left, she was in 3rd position, a better situation, but still cuffed by the ICM predicament posed.
Overnight, Dvoress was in the box seat, followed by Peters, Liu, Foxen, and Tom Fuchs. The blinds had escalated to the point where it was a shallower affair on Day 3. Fuchs fell first, followed by Foxen, who was felted by Liu in a blind versus blind encounter. All the while, Dvoress was pulling clear, and he would be the one to dispatch Peters when the two got it in blind versus blind, flush draw versus top pair on the flop.
immediately stopped her opponent and any riotous ambitions in their tracks
The flush coming seemed inevitable for the god-moding Dvoress, who went into heads-up play with an almost 4:1 chip advantage, 61 big blinds to Liu’s 16. Huge credit goes to the debutante, who immediately stopped her opponent and any riotous ambitions in their tracks. Quietly determined, she chipped away at his lead, one hand at a time, until they were virtually level. Then came the big flip, Liu’s pocket Fives limp-jamming into Dvoress’ Ace-Queen. A clean run out was delivered to the desk, and Liu had all the chips bar four big blinds. One hand later, it was all over.
Beyond her wildest dreams
Speaking with Henry Kilbane after the win, Liu was on cloud nine, waxing lyrical about the beauty of the game and reflecting on the significance of being the first woman to hold a Triton trophy aloft. Liu said that the result was “beyond [her] wildest dreams,” but also suggested that she was one and done.
“I only came here to play this one tournament, and you can’t top this!”
It remains to be seen if she can tear herself away from the Balkan Peninsula. After all, the WPT Global Slam was just the first of fifteen high-stakes tournaments that will be played in the Maestral Resort & Casino in the charming and historic Adriatic coastal town of Budva. It’s got to be tempting to try to go back-to-back and put more pain on the Triton regulars.
The last stop in Jeju was a bloodbath for the elite professionals, who got wrecked by the VIPs. If that were to happen again, a huge hole could be blown in poker’s biggest bankrolls. Whatever happens, we are in for ten days of high-octane drama and top-tier poker action as Kilbane, Ali Nejad, Randy Lew, and Kevin Rabichow preside over poker’s premier livestream coverage.
