João Simão Takes Down $200K Triton Invitational for $7.250 Million in Jeju

Brazilian poker pro João Simão triumphed in the $200,000 Triton Invitational No Limit Hold’em tournament at the LES A Casino in Jeju, South Korea, adding to his already impressive tournament resume.

Simão was one of the 173 players who got to enter the high-profile event. The field featured other well-known figures in poker such as Isaac Haxton, Adrián Mateos, Artur Martirosian, Nick Schulman, and Hendon all-time live tournament winnings leader Bryn Kenney.

The eventual winner Simão was not among the big stacks at the end of Day 1. By the end of Day 2, however, he chipped up to be one of the top 10 stacks — despite being down to just his last 2 Big Blinds (!) during the day. He arrived at the 9-man final table as the chip leader, with 78 Big Blinds in front of him. There, he had to face the likes of WSOP gold bracelet winners Seth Davies from the United States and Yang Wang from China.

Early into the final table play, the Brazilian card player got himself a sizable, 2.4 million-chip pot by picking off Eric Tsai’s bluff with a pair of 9’s on a  ♥4♣9♥3 ♦5 ♦10 board. Tsai only had ♠8♦7 in his pocket for a turned gutshot straight draw, evidently not good enough to beat Simão’s ♥K♥9. This only added to Simão’s chiplead.

He also had the most chips when the tournament reached the heads-up stage. However, Ding Biao from China eventually took over the lead, and Simão had to fight to climb back on top.

João Simão Defeats Ding Biao Heads-Up for Triton Title

The decisive hand came at the end of a gruelling, multi-hour 1v1 between the two poker pros.

Biao got dealt ♥10♠9 on the button, while Simão got “blessed” with ♠K♦K in the big blind. Biao just limped from his 10BB stack, to which his opponent responded with a 2.3X raise.

It got called, and the flop came ♠5♥9♦5—an unlucky two pair for Biao. Simão c-bet out of position for 1.4 BB, and Biao clicked back with a near min-raise for 3 BB. Simão slyly just called, then checked the ♠2 turn. Biao then moved all-in. With a natural call and a ♦7 on the river, Simão claimed the $200K Triton Invitational NLHE trophy in Jeju for $7.250 million!

🔱 VAMOS! The final hand of a marathon heads-up duel. And the Triton Invitational belongs to João Simão. Take it all in, champion. https://t.co/AG8pyuAwLN

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 14, 2026

That is a nice addition to his 4 WSOP gold bracelets in his collection. Interestingly, however, you cannot look up Simão’s other results on Hendon Mob, as he is one of the very few well-known players not to have a profile in the database.