$100 Million Later: Triton Jeju Wraps Up, and Cyprus Is Next

Last Updated on September 23, 2026 by Bala Kumar

Some poker series are remembered for one big moment. Triton Jeju will be remembered for several. Over the past few weeks on South Korea’s Jeju Island, the richest tournament circuit in poker handed out life-changing money, crowned a Hall of Famer, and gave us one of the great comeback stories of the year.

Now the whole circus packs up and heads west. Triton’s next stop is North Cyprus, where its mid-stakes Triton ONE brand makes its European debut in November.

Here’s everything you need to know about what happened in Jeju and what’s coming next.

Triton Jeju by the Numbers

When the final hand was dealt, the series had paid out more than $100 million over 14 events. We added up the official results, and the combined prize pools come to roughly $103.2 million from 1,752 total entries.

That works out to an average prize pool of about $7.4 million per event. For context, that’s more than most tours pay out in their flagship Main Events.

But one tournament did a lot of the heavy lifting. The $200,000 Invitational alone generated a $34.6 million prize pool, roughly a third of all the money awarded in Jeju.

The Story of the Series: Joao Simao’s $7.25 Million Comeback

If you only remember one name from Jeju, make it Joao Simao. The Brazilian star won the $200,000 No-Limit Hold’em Invitational for $7.25 million, the biggest score of the series.

What makes it remarkable is how he did it. At one point Simao was down to just two big blinds, the kind of stack most players would simply shove and pray with. He climbed all the way back to take the title, and the record-setting payday that came with it.

It’s also another big moment for Brazilian poker. Earlier in the series, Pedro Padilha became the fourth Brazilian Triton champion when he took down the $50K NLH event for about $1.4 million.

Nick Schulman Adds Another Chapter to His Legacy

Poker Hall of Famer Nick Schulman had the kind of series most pros dream about. He won the $100K Triton Main Event for more than $3.8 million, then also finished second in the $50,000 7-Handed event for $810,279.

That second-place finish came with a heartwarming twist. Schulman and his best friend Matthew Wantman ended up chopping that title, with Wantman earning his first Triton trophy and $836,721.

Biggest Payouts at Triton Jeju

Other winners included Alex Theologis, Klemens Roiter, Alex Boika, Alex Anton, Ben Tollerene, and Ye Wang.

A few of those deserve a closer look. Nick Petrangelo’s win in the $150K 10th Anniversary Special came with some drama, as three blind all-ins helped hand him the title. Ben Tollerene also battled back from a short stack to win the $50K Turbo Bounty Quattro, his fifth Triton title.

Who’s Leading the Player of the Year Race?

Keep an eye on Daniel Dvoress. The Canadian picked up a win in Jeju, and after the Montenegro and Jeju stops he heads into the season finale as the current leader of the Season 5 Ivan Leow Player of the Year race. That title will be decided in North Cyprus, so expect him to be firing plenty of bullets there.

Up Next: Triton ONE North Cyprus

Triton is heading to Europe, and this time there’s something for players who don’t have six-figure bankrolls.

Triton ONE runs 22 tournaments at the Merit Royal Diamond starting November 5, with buy-ins between $2,000 and $15,000. Main Event qualifiers are also available for $1,500, which gives ambitious players a cheaper path into the action.

The headline event is the $8,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event, which begins November 10. It features three Day 1 flights and wraps up on November 15, the final day of the series.

Key dates to circle:

The schedule also includes women-only events: the $3,000 ONE-W Championship and a $2,000 ONE-W Bounty Quattro.

Then the Super High Rollers Take Over

Triton ONE is only the opening act. The Super High Roller Series follows immediately from November 15 to 30, headlined by a $200K NLH Invitational and two $100K Main Events, one in NLH and one in PLO. SHRS buy-ins start at $25,000.

It’s a homecoming of sorts too. Triton hasn’t been to North Cyprus since 2023, and this is the first time the brand has combined Triton ONE and the SHRS into a single four-week festival to close out its tenth anniversary year.

For the high-stakes crowd, the calendar barely lets up. With WSOP Paradise starting right after, the top high rollers are looking at almost two months of nonstop action.

Final Thoughts

Triton Jeju delivered everything fans love about high-stakes poker: huge numbers, famous faces, and a comeback worth talking about for years. But the most interesting part of this story might be what’s next. By bringing Triton ONE to Europe, Triton is opening its doors to a much wider pool of players. Somewhere in that $8,000 Main Event field, there might be the next Joao Simao.

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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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