Quan Zhou Wins Triton ONE North Cyprus Mystery Bounty for $293,000
Zhou came from fourth in chips on an unplanned third day to beat Ihar Soika, while reports differed on the event’s bounty count and prize-pool figure.
- Quan Zhou beat Ihar Soika heads-up to win the $5,000 Triton ONE North Cyprus Mystery Bounty.
- The 607-entry tournament required an unscheduled third day, with Eric Tsai starting the final table as chip leader.
- Zhou earned $293,000 before mystery bounty money, while Soika received $179,000 for second place.
- Reports differed over whether Zhou had five or six mystery bounty envelopes and over the reported prize-pool figure.
- The result was Zhou’s first Triton ONE trophy after two prior Triton Super High Roller titles.
Quan Zhou won the $5,000 Triton ONE North Cyprus Mystery Bounty, beating Ihar Soika heads-up from a field of 607 entries to earn the scheduled first-place payout of $293,000 before bounty money.
The event needed an unscheduled third day after the final table was set close to midnight on Day 2. Nine players returned Nov. 10, led by Eric Tsai with 28 million chips, or 70 big blinds. Zhou started fourth in chips with 15.7 million.
Zhou eliminated Tsai in third place for $128,000 when his king-eight beat Tsai’s jack-six, then knocked out Punnat Punsri in fourth for $97,000. Soika took $179,000 for second place.
The heads-up match ended with Zhou holding A♥A♣ against Soika’s K♠2♣. Soika paired his king on the K♦ J♠ J♦ 5♣ 3♥ board, but Zhou’s aces remained ahead to seal the trophy.
The tournament paid 103 players and generated a total prize pool of about $2.76 million, according to Card Player and Triton Poker, with half assigned to the main payouts and half to mystery bounties. PokerNews’ event recap listed a $1.55 million prize pool, a differently reported figure.
The bounty count also varied across the reports. Card Player said Zhou collected six mystery bounties, while Triton Poker and PokerNews said he had five envelopes to draw. Tsai, despite finishing third, had 12 bounty envelopes. The largest envelope was worth $155,000, with two others worth $55,000 each.
Mikita Badziakouski finished sixth for $59,122, while Raul Yunusov placed fifth for $77,000. The final nine also included Daniel Braude, Hu Chengxu and Asaf Groofi.
The victory gave Zhou his first Triton ONE trophy. He had previously won two Triton Super High Roller Series titles, including the $25,000 Jupiter event in Jeju earlier this year for $1.3 million, and had finished seventh in the Triton ONE Jeju Main Event for $213,000. The North Cyprus result put Zhou alongside Artur Martirosian and Ngo Khoa Anh as winners on both Triton tours.
