What happened
The $200,000 Invitational at Triton Jeju II drew 173 entries and built a prize pool of $34,600,000, of which 31 players would see a cent. Semi Sun came into hand-for-hand play with the chip lead at his table and left before the bubble burst. At Level 20, blinds 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante, Yang Wang raised to 140,000 and Sun called on the button. Wang bet 225,000 on a seven of clubs, seven of spades, eight of spades flop, then 450,000 on the ace of hearts turn. Sun raised to 1,100,000 and Wang called. The queen of spades completed the board and Wang checked. Sun moved all in for 2,100,000 with the eight of clubs and the five of clubs, a pair of eights he had decided to stop believing in. Wang called with the ace of diamonds and the seven of hearts for a full house. Sun finished 32nd for nothing. Thirty-first place paid $305,000. Wang finished fourth for $2,820,000.
Why it matters
The bubble of a $200,000 buy-in is the one place in poker where the richest player at the table can be the only one who leaves with nothing. Adrian Mateos, who won the last Invitational in Montenegro for $6,370,000 and would have been the first person to hold two, went out 14th for $512,000. Seth Davies took third for $3,470,000. Play reached heads-up with Biao Ding holding 35,000,000 against Joao Simao's 17,000,000, and the last two all-ins between them both chopped, so the $7,250,000 has now survived two separate attempts to award it.
