Foo Fighter: Malaysian newcomer snags first Triton victory in Jeju

It was late on Friday night in Jeju, South Korea when Tuck Wai Foo hoisted the Event #2 trophy at the Triton Super High Roller Series. While the western world emerged from their slumber, Foo was busy celebrating his $1.35M victory over a field stacked with the best of the best in tournament poker. Foo – a first-timer on the Triton circuit – seemingly emerged out of nowhere to add another chapter to the Malaysian poker story. 

The $20,000 buy-in drew a field of 348 entrants (121 re-entries) to generate a prize pool of $6,960,000 with 55 places paid and $1,350,000 for the eventual winner. After the bubble burst late on Day 1, the 50 remaining players returned for Day 2 action to play down to a victor. While they failed to make the money in the opening event, both Alexander 'Wolfgang' Seibt and Ethan 'Rampage' Yau notched their first-ever Triton cashes, finishing 22nd and 14th respectively. 

Gathy leads the way to final table

It didn't take long for the field to whittle down to the final table as the blind levels dictated a snappy pace of play. Michael Gathy emerged as the overwhelming chip leader headed into the final table with more than double the stacks of his nearest competitors Ren Lin and Andrei Kotelnikov. In the middle of the pack, two-time Triton Champion Mario Mosbock held a slight lead on Calvin Lee and Shimizu Nozomu while Igor Yaroshevskyy, Foo, and Jon Ander Vallinas rounded out the bottom of the chip counts. 

The final table competitors in Event #2 at Triton Jeju (clockwise from top left: Jon Ander Vallinas, Tuck Wai Foo, Shimizu Nozomu, Igor Yarashevskyy, Calvin Lee, Mario Mosbock, Michael Gathy, Ren Lin, Andrei Kotelnikov).

Despite starting the final table with just one big blind, Vallinas managed to score an early triple-up to avoid being the first player to hit the rail at the final table. Instead, it was Nozomu who fell first when he three-bet his for the majority of his chips and ran headlong into Gathy's pocket kings. After flopping top pair with the best possible kicker, Nozomu sent the rest of his chips into the middle, but Gathy's pocket pair had him in bad shape and, with no further improvement on turn or river, his day ended with a ninth-place finish. 

Yaroshevskyy rivers quads for double KO

The remaining eight players returned from dinner break and, with the blinds on the rise, it didn't take long for two of the short stacks to take a stand. From the button, Yaroshevskky moved all-in with to exert maximum pressure on the blinds. Lee, in the small blind and with less than a big blind behind, called off the rest of his stack with before Vallinas committed his chips from the big blind with . 

Both Lee and Vallinas were drawing slim on the flop as Yaroshevskyy connected with middle set. Still, both players had gutshot draws to a straight, but neither the turn nor river improved their holdings. 

Yaroshevskyy continued on the warpath as, not long after, he eliminated both Kotelnikov and Lin. 

Mosbock spins his stack to make it heads up

After an unlucky runout in a hand against Gathy, Mosbock found himself with just a single big blind remaining. Impressively, he managed to spin up his single big blind into a workable stack before taking his revenge with against Gathy's . Mosbock's ace-high held up across the runout to send Gathy to the payout desk in fourth place. 

From a single big blind to the chip lead, Mosbock's spin-up wasn't over just yet. When facing a raise from Yaroshevskyy on the button, Mosbock moved all-in with pocket kings from the big blind and the Ukrainian called it off with . Mosbock's pocket pair held up across the runout and Yaroshevskyy's run ended with a third-place finish. 

Mosbock congratulates Foo on his hard-fought victory.

The heads-up battle between Mosbock and Foo started with the former holding a more than two-to-one chip advantage, but the Triton newcomer wasn't going down without a fight. After snatching the chip lead from Mosbock when his ran down his opponent's , Foo had one hand on the trophy. The final showdown saw Mosbock get the rest of his short stack in the middle with – in great shape against Foo's . While the flop and turn kept Mosbock well out in front, the river improved Foo to the winner and delivered the Malaysian his first-ever Triton title. 

2025 Triton Jeju Event #2 results

^{Images Courtesy of Triton Poker Series}