Nick Schulman Wins Triton Jeju II Main Event for $3.85 Million
Schulman beat Bernhard Binder after a heads-up deal, two days after his runner-up finish in the series’ $50,000 event.
Nick Schulman has won the $100,000 no-limit hold’em Main Event at Triton Super High Roller Series Jeju II, beating Bernhard Binder heads-up for $3.85 million. The victory came from a 196-entry field at LES A Casino in Jeju, South Korea, which generated a $19.6 million prize pool.
The result was Schulman’s second Triton title and the biggest single tournament cash of his career. It arrived two days after he finished runner-up to Matthew Wantman in the series’ $50,000 seven-handed event, where Schulman earned $810,279 after a heads-up deal.
Binder had carried the chip lead into the final day when 12 players remained, as we reported Tuesday. He ultimately earned $3.08 million for second place, while Schulman began heads-up play with a 3:1 chip advantage.
The pair struck a deal before playing for the trophy. Card Player reported that it locked up $3,714,888 for Schulman and $3,080,112 for Binder, leaving $140,000 and the title in play. Poker.org described the remaining amount as $130,000, with Schulman’s secured portion rounded to $3.7 million.
Schulman closed it out by limping pocket kings before Binder raised with king-jack. Binder called Schulman’s river shove with king-high after the board ran out ace-eight-two, with two hearts, and Schulman’s concealed overpair held. Schulman called the match against Binder “basically the final level of the game” and said his opponent was “unbelievable,” according to Poker.org.
Gytis Lazauninkas finished third for $1.97 million when his pocket eights lost to Schulman’s pocket tens. Schulman had also eliminated Ryuta Nakai in fifth for $1.26 million. Xu Yang took fourth for $1.6 million, Isaac Haxton finished sixth for $958,000 and Danilo Velasevic was seventh for $700,000.
The Main Event paid 31 places. Its direct money bubble produced a rare simultaneous double elimination, splitting the scheduled $173,000 min-cash between Samuel Mullur and Hannes Jeschka, who each received $86,500.
Schulman’s latest score lifted his career tournament earnings above $31.7 million, with the two Jeju cashes worth nearly $4.7 million combined. His first Triton win came in 2018, when he won a short-deck event during his tour debut at the same stop.
The win also gave Schulman 1,680 Card Player Player of the Year points and moved him into the outright lead in that race. He now has 7,556 points, 58 ahead of Punnat Punsri, after recording 13 final tables and three titles this year. Schulman has cashed for more than $6.2 million across those final-table appearances, including five at this summer’s World Series of Poker.
PokerNews noted that the eight-time WSOP bracelet winner, two-time WPT champion and Poker Hall of Famer does not expect the result to make him a regular Triton entrant. He said most of his poker volume will remain in Las Vegas, but called the score especially meaningful in a field with “very few holes anywhere.”
