Nick Schulman Caps Legendary Career With Triton Main Event Crown

Last Updated on September 17, 2026 by Bala Kumar

Few players in the game can match the trophy case Nick Schulman has built over more than two decades at the tables. At 41, the American is already an eight-time WSOP bracelet winner, a two-time WPT champion, and a Poker Hall of Famer. Now he can add something new to that list: a Triton Main Event title, earned by outlasting a stacked 196-entry field at Les A Casino and outplaying Austria’s Bernhard Binder in a grueling heads-up battle.

The win nets Schulman $3,854,888, the largest single tournament score of his career.

Final Table Results, $100K NLH Main Event, Triton Jeju II

*Reflects a heads-up chip/prize deal

A Win That Means More Than the Money

Schulman has been grinding tournaments since he was a teenager, and he made clear afterward that this victory carried weight far beyond the seven-figure payday. He reflected on how brutal the Triton circuit can be — noting that even elite pros can go through long cold stretches, while less heralded players sometimes catch fire and cash big. Given how unforgiving the scene can be, he said he tries not to take these moments for granted, adding that the sport has been part of his life since childhood and that he’s simply grateful things lined up for him this time.

Interestingly, Schulman downplayed the idea that titles themselves are what drive him. He explained that his real motivation isn’t chasing more hardware — it’s being able to walk away from a session, win or lose, still feeling proud of how he played. He admitted that confidence hasn’t always come easily for him, but said he’s in a good place with his game right now and hopes to sustain that feeling for as long as he keeps enjoying the grind.

He also spoke to the caliber of the field he’d just beaten, singling out the sharp, fearless play of the high-stakes regulars from China — players who, despite reputations for gambling big, are also capable of putting real pressure on opponents in tough spots. Beating a table full of players like that, he suggested, made the win feel especially satisfying.

As for whether this result might pull him toward playing more Triton events going forward, Schulman was noncommittal — he indicated he’ll likely keep showing up occasionally, but that the bulk of his volume will remain rooted in Las Vegas.

Inside the Final Table: How It Played Out

Twelve players returned to Les A Casino for the final stretch, and the day started with chaos rather than a slow burn. Wesley Fei, who came in as the short stack, clawed his way back through a couple of timely double-ups to briefly grab the chip lead — only for the tide to turn again soon after.

Early casualties Miroslav Atanasov and Chahnhoon Jung both went out the same way: all-in preflop with the worst of it, and no run-out to save them.

One of the stranger moments of the day came when Danny Tang was staring down a shove from Roberto Perez, who was holding aces in the open. Tang, out of time-bank extensions and forced to think fast, folded top pair and was left crippled. He wouldn’t survive much longer, eventually exiting on the bubble after his kings ran into Gytis Lazauninkas’ better hand.

Binder wasted no time making his presence felt, eliminating Perez in a coin-flip situation before doubling through Danilo Velasevic. Meanwhile, Fei’s rally came to a brutal end: he turned a king-high flush only to find Xu Yang had made an ace-high flush on the same board, and the resulting all-in sent both Fei (8th) and Velasevic (7th) to the rail in short order.

Yang’s momentum carried him into a commanding six-handed chip lead, and pressure quickly mounted on the shorter stacks. Isaac Haxton made his move with an ace-high hand but ran into Binder’s rivered pair to bust in sixth. Not long after, Ryuta Nakai found himself in a near-identical spot — all-in preflop with king-three against a live ace from Schulman — and again the low-ace hand improved, ending Nakai’s tournament in fifth.

Four-handed, Binder tried to keep the pressure on with aggressive shoves, but overplayed a king-nine into Schulman’s ace-king, handing Schulman the chip lead in the process. Yang’s stack cratered soon after against Lazauninkas’ pocket nines, and it wasn’t long before Schulman closed the door on the Lithuanian too — waking up with pocket tens just in time to snap off Lazauninkas’ shoving pocket eights and send him out in third.

Heads-Up: A Back-and-Forth Battle

Despite starting heads-up play with a sizable chip advantage, Schulman found himself in a real fight. Both players leaned on aggression and were unafraid to fire big bluffs at each other early on. Binder actually clawed back some ground after landing two well-timed bluffs that connected against Schulman.

But Schulman regained control soon after, picking up a big pot when a queen fell on the turn and he was able to extract value from Binder. A few hands later, he sprang a trap with pocket kings, slow-playing through a scary ace-high flop. Binder committed two streets worth of chips before eventually getting the rest in with nothing more than king-high — and Schulman’s kings held to seal the title.

It’s a career-defining moment for a player who, by his own account, isn’t chasing hardware for its own sake — just the satisfaction of knowing he can still compete, and win, against the best in the world.

Bala Kumar

Founder of PokerClubGames.com and a Poker Researcher with 10+ years of experience in SEO, WordPress development, and gaming content strategy. Specializes in researching online poker sites, poker apps, tournaments, bonuses, and poker strategies. Experienced in poker platform reviews, affiliate marketing, and creating SEO-focused poker content for global audiences.

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