The apple does not fall far from the tree in the Yong family, it appears; father Richard Yong is a respected high stakes poker player with millions in cashes, and his son Wai Kin Yong has just triumphed in the $65,000 buy-in Triton Super High Roller main event in Manila, Philippines, claiming a first prize worth almost $2.1 million.
44 hopefuls entered the event, but re-ups pushed the prize pool up to an impressive $6.3 million, a tasty target for international professional players like Bryn Kenney, Arnaud Romain, Fedor Holz, David Peters, Erik Seidel, Tom Dwan, Mustapha Kanit, John Juanda, Pratyush Buddiga and Dan Cates.
Three-handed, the survivors were Spanish pro Sergio Aido, Yong and Bryn Kenney with Yong leading briefly before Aido regained the advantage, only to lose it again to Kenney and then bust out in a subsequent tussle with Yong.
Aido’s third placing still gave him a handsome $848,557 reward.
Going into the heads up action Yong enjoyed a 2 to 1 chip advantage against Kenney, who was down to just over 30 blinds; the finish came quickly as Kenney was eliminated and took away the runner-up’s reward of $1,401,694, leaving the kudos and the big money to a delighted Yong.
Other final table cashes included:
John Juanda $584,560
Winfred Yu $402,275
Peter Chan $301,712
Wai Chan $245,145
David Peters $213,709
Arnaud Romain $207,430