Sam Trickett
Sam Trickett won $10 million when he finished runner-up to Antonio Esfandiari in the 2012 One Drop. For the talented young poker player that came from a. Sam Trickett is a British professional poker player who had his first live-event cash in 2007. In the first 4 years of his career, Sam cashed 41 times (including 10 at the WSOP), made 29 final tables, won 11 events, and earned over $6.3 million. Sam was born on July 2, 1986 in East Retford in the United Kingdom.
The Triton Million did not only produce the largest buy-in in poker history along with the biggest first prize, but it also created some amazing banter on Twitter! As Day 1 has wrapped up, here’s a look at some of the best gems that Twitter produced.
Watch the Triton Million Day 2 for free on PokerGO starting at 8:00 a.m. ET with a winner set to be crowned on Saturday night in London. Commentary and break desk analysis are provided by Ali Nejad, Nick Schulman, Lex Veldhuis, Marle Cordeiro, Jeff Gross, and Liv Boeree.
The Germans Love Trickett!
Sam Trickett pulled off a sick bluff against both Bryn Kenney and Stephen Chidwick and the Germans were very impressed! Watch the full hand here.
I've just turned on the @tritonpoker stream and guys… This @Samtrickett1 for sure has a new fanboy. Rooting for him so hard now!!#beastmode
— Steffen Sontheimer (@RunGo0seRun) August 1, 2019
One of the sickest hands ever. Great analytical thinking by @BrynKenney , Stephen Chidwick and @Samtrickett1 !!
So good!
Fun feature table on @PokerGO
Good commentating, too.
A request: right after a hand like that, turn up the table talk!! There’s gold there. #TritonMillion
— Jan Heitmann (@JanHeitmann) August 1, 2019
Vogel-swag!
Christoph Vogelsang is usually criticized for his turtleneck cover-up job but for the Triton Million he broke up the full suit look. Vogelsang sported some Nike sunglasses along with his look to create a unique combo that surely impressed Timex!
You versus the guy she told you not to worry about pic.twitter.com/YTqLU7KLJ0
— Mike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89) August 1, 2019
Bonologic?
Decide for yourself, did Justin Bonomo make the right play here?
Discipline or Stupidity:
We're on dinner break in the million and I get invited to sit at a table full of playboy models. They're blown away by how big the buyin is. After 2 minutes of chatting, I leave to go study alone in my hotel room.
Relevant – I'm newly single
— Bonologic (@JustinBonomo) August 1, 2019
Yong’s Draw From Hell
To nobody’s surprise, some of the Triton Million table draws were absolutely stacked after the pros and recs were mixed together. Rob Yong definitely drew the short straw as you can see in this video. Yong ultimately survived the day with 1.6 million chips.
WTF @tritonpoker you give me Table Draw from HELL! #TritonLondon2019pic.twitter.com/5Mu7WHkuaP
Sam Trickett
— Rob Yong (@rob_yong_) August 1, 2019
A Day in the Life of Boris Becker
Tennis legend Boris Becker is playing some of the Triton side events and along the way, he’s providing some mental game coaching for Tony G who bagged up 1.4 million chips after Day 1. Oh, and Becker photo bombed the Chinese language live stream break desk action as well as posing for a selfie with WSOP Main Event winner Hossein Ensan.
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) August 1, 2019
Hands down the best photo/video bomb in poker coverage. Tennis legend Boris Becker pot committed to crashing our Chinese coverage. #TritonLondon2019@tritonpokerpic.twitter.com/hxdAZKMdK4
— Marianela (@MarianelaTV) August 1, 2019
Two German World Champions! Hossein Ensan + @TheBorisBecker – one of them is @TonyGuoga elite sports and mind coach – which one? @partypokerlive@tritonpokerpic.twitter.com/FFC1NcXUjU
— Warren Lush (@warrenlush) August 1, 2019
Negreanu Won’t Miss This One Again!
Daniel Negreanu took some time off from the game after an extremely hectic World Series of Poker but he’s already regretting that decision!
Biggest mistake of the year for me was not going to London to play @tritonpoker
It won’t happen again.
I didn’t think the FOMO would be this bad, but it’s bad.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) August 1, 2019
Tune in for more Triton Million action at 8:00 a.m. ET on Friday for Day 2 coverage for free on PokerGO.
With more than $20,000,000 in tournament winnings, Sam Trickett is arguably the least referenced name among the top 10 players on the All-Time Money List. Poker fans love to discuss players like Daniel Negreanu, Eric Seidel, Phil Ivey, Scott Seiver or even the relative newcomer Fedor Holz, but Sam Trickett doesn't get nearly enough love from the enthusiast and he certainly deserves plenty.
Even though he doesn't have an EPT, WPT or WSOP title to his name he's an absolute beast at high roller tournaments, he made a bunch of money in the famous (or infamous depending on who you ask) Macau games and he's almost too good looking to play cards for a living. His playstyle is truly captivating to watch and in this article, we're going to take a closer look at Sam's game.
Amazing Discipline and Game Sense
Sam Trickett Net Worth
The hand started with a standard AJ preflop open by Sam followed by two calls. What happened next was a true masterclass in both discipline and adjusting to the table dynamics. While most players would've gone for a standard cbet with AJ on an 8cAs2s board, Trickett found a lot of reasons to slow down.
First of all, he was up against two accomplished players. It wasn't your average online NL50 game or even like 5$/10$ game where you can sometimes expect to get paid with a simple bet, bet, bet or bet, check, bet line. Sam knew that he's somewhat unlikely to get more than two streets of value and if he decided to build the pot starting on the flop it might lead to a lot of troublesome scenarios.
On top of that Trickett had to consider the money bubble and he didn't really need to protect his hand given the somewhat disconnected board texture and the fact that As on the board blocked a bunch of potential flush draw combos. All of that combined led to Sam's unorthodox check that kept the pot small, his opponent's guessing and his hand underrepresented, primed for some future value bets.
Get On My Level
Another hand where Sam displayed his amazing game sense. After open raising with 22 and getting squeezed by Esfandiari Trickett was in a prime spot to play back on 'The Magician'. Both players had an aggressive dynamic and that made Antonio's perceived range extremely polarized. Deuces actually play fairly great equity wise against a polarized range containing a lot of Ax type hands and that's why Sam decided to go for a 4bet.
Trickett's flop sizing might seem ridiculous but it was a genius adaptation in that specific spot. 369 rainbow board is as far from what polarized preflop 3bettor wants to see as possible and that's why Sam couldn't really get punished for his tiny raptor bet. He even had some fold equity believe it or not. Besides, given both player's stack sizes pot management was a consideration and it's a mark of a great player to be able to make this sort of an extreme adjustment.
Confusing the Legend
From the previous hands we might get the impression that Trickett is one of them 'strong silent types', but it turns out that he can also utilize a high-level speech play when necessary. In this memorable hand against one of the absolute legends of the game Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott who's sadly no longer with us, Trickett acted in a very unusual manner to boost his EV.
While, he's usually cool, calm and collected he decided to follow up his preflop KK call with what seemed like the uncontrolled babbling of an intimidated amateur. To be fair, when playing against someone with as much gravitas as 'Devilfish' it's hard not to feel intimidated, but it's safe to assume that a player as experienced as Trickett wouldn't have been.
Not every word that came from Sam's mouth that night was important, but one sentence he directed at Alec Torelli seating beside him, shortly after Dave made the loose call, was especially important. 'It's not likely that he's going to call with a hand like 99 if I don't do something', explained brilliantly what separates Sam from the rest of the pack. Truly great player don't just treat the adage about the 'game of small edges' as just something all poker players say. They live and breathe it.