Joao Simao recovered from a 71-to-15 big-blind deficit against Ding Biao heads-up to win the $200,000 Triton Invitational in Jeju and collect $7.25 million.
Event #10 finished with 173 entries and a $34.6 million prize pool, making it the largest Triton Invitational field to date. Ding earned $4.94 million as runner-up, while Simao secured the second Triton title of his career and moved past $13 million in lifetime earnings on the series.
Record Field Reaches 173 Entries in Jeju
Registration reached 60 pairings, or 120 unique players, before re-entries were added. That was already above the previous record of 48 pairings set in Montenegro in May.
Re-entries eventually took the tournament to 173 entries, with 31 places paid from the $34.6 million prize pool.
The Invitational pairs Invitees with elite professional players, and Simao's official Invitee, Winfred Yu, also reached the final table. Yu finished sixth for $1.693 million after his A7 failed to improve against Simao's pocket tens.
Simao had entered the nine-handed final table as chip leader with 11.725 million chips, worth 78 big blinds.
Ding Builds a 71-to-15 Heads-Up Lead
Heads-up began with Simao holding 66 big blinds to Ding's 38. The two discussed a possible deal but did not reach an agreement, leaving $7.25 million for first place and $4.94 million for second.
Ding moved ahead after picking off a river bluff from Simao. On an A-5-8-Q-K board, Simao bet the river with 63, but Ding called with AJ and took a 66-to-38 big-blind lead.
Another large pot pushed Ding even further ahead. Simao held 76 on a 5-2-4-J-T board and tried to bluff after missing his straight draw, while Ding had paired the river with AT. Ding won the pot and extended his advantage to 71 big blinds against Simao's 15.
Simao survived two subsequent all-in situations that ended in split pots, then began rebuilding. A key pot with QT helped him regain the lead as the match moved into Level 32, when both players were sitting at roughly 26 big blinds.
Simao Completes the Comeback
Following a tournament break, Simao won a key pot with Q8 after flopping trip eights. He added several more pots soon after and opened a 41-to-11 big-blind lead.
On the final hand, Simao picked up pocket kings against Ding's T9. Ding paired his nine on a 5-9-5 flop, but Simao's kings stayed ahead to close out the tournament.
The victory was Simao's second Triton title, following his $3 million win in the Bahamas the previous December.
