Alternative Triple Crown titles
Following the success of a PokerStrategy.com coach we highlight some impressive Triple Crown victories that don't get reported much.
This week one of our coaches won a WPTN Main Event and in writing it up I noticed that he had actually completed an unlikely ‘Triple Crown’. As a writer I have always been obsessed with Triple Crowns mostly because in the early days of poker we never thought it would be possible for anyone to win an EPT, WPT and WSOP title.
However, Gavin Griffin did it in 2008 and since then Roland De Wolfe, ElkY, Jake Cody and Davidi Kitai* have all done it. We also have the online Triple Crown which is a totally different beast (Winning three $10k+ guaranteed tournaments on three separate sites in a week) which many players have managed, most notably Chris Moorman with 25.
They may be old news today, but I am still fascinated by putting achievements into 'Triple Crowns'. Here are five lesser known but equally impressive Triple Crowns (some achieved, some yet to be claimed).
The 2nd tier Triple Crown
We all know the Triple Crown is a World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour (Now PokerStars Championship) and World Series of Poker title. All three of those tours have smaller regional series running through the year – the WPT National Series, the WSOP Circuit and a plethora of PokerStars regional tours like UKIPT, Eureka and the IPT.
Our coach Sergio ' Castelluccio last week won a WPTN Main Event in Brussels, he has also won a PokerStars Italian Poker Tour and a WSOP Circuit event in Italy. A feat I dub the ‘2nd Tier Triple Crown’.
It’s a shame to put it in those terms because these are really tough events with huge fields, so ‘2nd Tier’ sounds wrong. However, it is a fantastic accolade nonetheless.
The Super High Roller Triple Crown
Just as the WPT, EPT and WSOP have smaller buy-in tours, they also have massive buy-in Super High Roller events. The WSOP has One Drop, the EPT has Super High Roller side events and the WPT has the Alpha 8 tour.
So if there is a Super High Roller Triple Crown, who is the most likely to win it? No need to guess, he already has. Fedor Holz did it in nine months. In December 2015 he won a WPT Alpha8 event, in July 2016 he won One Drop at the WSOP and in August 2016 he won the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller.
This is a particularly tough ask because while the WPT and EPT events happened several times a year and had small fields, there is usually only one WSOP Super High Roller No Limit event per year and the six-figure version attracts a big field.
The Triple COOP
The most direct comparison between the major live tours and online poker festivals is the COOP series from PokerStars. The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), the Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) and the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).
Surprisingly quite a few online grinders are in the Triple COOP club - 'SixthSenSe19', ‘buck21’, ‘Andy McLEOD’ and ‘RuiNF’.
This actually leaves a much more coveted yet unclaimed accolade, the PokerStars Grand Slam, which is the Triple COOP as well as the Sunday Million.
The WSOP No Limit Championship Triple Crown
This is one I made up and I am sure you could make other variations of it, but I mention it because there are two players one title away from it.
There are three open No Limit Championship events at the WSOP every year. The Main Event, the Six Max Championship and the Heads-Up Championship. This covers the three common formats in which No Limit is played – full ring, short handed and heads-up.
Both Greg Merson and Joe Cada have bracelets in both the Main Event and Six Max Championship, an impressive feat that never really got much attention (Merson won them both back-to-back too). It strikes me that they are both one bracelet away from making the claim they have won the toughest event of all three No Limit disciplines.
The Championship Triple Crown
This one I don’t think we’ll ever see but it would be really cool if it happened. Just as the major tours have Super High Rollers and 2nd tier tours, they all have a Championship event. A once a year, end of season, grand finale.
The WSOP has the Main Event, the EPT had the Grand Finale in Monte Carlo and the World Poker Tour has the Championship (Which is now referred to as the Finale).
Amazingly Carlos Mortensen has won two of the three. He won the WSOP Main Event in 2001 and he won the World Poker Tour Championship in 2007. So he is just the Monte Carlo event away from arguably the toughest Triple Crown ever.
The problem for Carlos is that it is unclear whether the Monte Carlo event is still officially still the Grand Finale since the EPT became the PokerStars Championship, or if there will be a Championship event on the tour anymore. But keep an eye on him in this event if it does, because it would surely be the greatest triple of all.
Can you think of an alternative Triple Crown? Let us know in the comments:
*The WPT event Davidi Kitai won was an invite only tournament and as such some players do not consider it a legitimate Triple Crown.
