The American now has more than $7 million in winnings from the Triton Super High Roller Series and is now in the top 100 most successful live tournament players of all time.
This victory comes almost two years since he won in Monte Carlo and it cements his place among the bunch of elite players who have won multiple Triton titles.
The event brought in 130 unique entries and 53 re-entries on top to build a prize pool of $5,490,000.
Ever the professional, Jaffe spoke about how he admits it’s a grind but he accepts that when playing against top talent barren spells are inevitable.
He added that his role as a poker coach helps him to stay grounded.
“It’s good, it’s really helpful. I didn’t grow up a fundamentals player. I was street poker, improv player.
“And by coaching others you have to learn the fundamentals in such a way that you can explain it to them. That’s kind of a different level. It forced me to do some of the work that I don’t enjoy doing otherwise. “
The final table played out in a straightforward manner but once Jaffe made a deal with his heads-up opponent, Mao Renji, the gloves were off and the pair gave the rail a treat in a proper ding-dong affair.
“It was fun. We made a deal so we were only playing for forty, but that forty was hard-fought. Lots of all ins. Lots of three x hands made their way in. It went my way at the end.”
Action Recap
The final table action kicked off as straightforward as you can imagine. No real surprises, just standard shoves can calls, for the most part.
Michael Soyza and Brian Kim didn’t last long after calling off their stacks in A♣ K♣ versus 9♣ 9♦ and J♣ 10♠ versus Q♠ J♠ exchanges.
Young American Edward Pak was another player making his Triton debut in Jeju. First making a cash for 38th place in the WPT Global Slam, and now a final table appearance against some very good players.
And it proved to be a tough job as his starting stack for the final table soon dwindled into nothing when Mao Renji outdrew him with an inferior eight. $196,000 for seventh place was still a great result.
Ramin Hajiyev, another multiple Triton title winner, was next to run out of steam when his pocket eights fell behind Masashi Oya’s Q♣ 10♠ sending the Azeri home with $268,000 for sixth.
By now, everyone had shallow stacks and Jaffe held the chip lead, extending the gap when Oya jammed 15 blinds from the button with A♣ 9♠ and he snapped him off with A♥ Q♦ which held.
That was $447,000 for the young Japanese player who looks to be increasing in confidence in fields stacked with top players.
Chi-Jen Chu was another unknown player making the sharp end of this event. He made the short trip from Taiwan and pulled off a nice result in the Triton ONE Series $20K High Roller with third place for $146,700.
And third place was the best he could do here, although this time it would be a $551,000 payday!
Heads-up began with Jaffe holding 61 big blinds to Mao’s 30 and the players quickly set about agreeing a deal. Jaffe was to take $1,021,672 while Mao settled for $882,328, leaving only $40,000 to play for with the title and trophy.
But at the Triton events it’s all about the bragging rights and Mao quickly set about playing for the win.
A fortunate double-up with pocket threes holding against Jaffe’s K♠ 3♣ helped him along to a 50 blinds to 11 lead over his American rival, but Jaffe was far from done.
As the blinds increased, so did the variance and soon Jaffe was back in front looking to close out the win and end his Triton drought.
⚡️ ELECTRIFYING finish to the $30K NLH 8-Handed!
Jonathan Jaffe and Mao Renji flip for it all. pic.twitter.com/zJoHbdym4e
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 11, 2025
The end came when the chips went in with Jaffe holding A♣ 5♣ and Mao Q♣ J♦, and what an end it was.
Mao saw the end was near but a flop of 9♠ J♠ 5♠ set him ahead and then the turn was the Q♥. So far so good, but then the A♥ rolled off on the river to give Jaffe a better two pair and the title he so craved.
Triton Jeju Event #2 $30K NLH 8-Handed Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Jonathan Jaffe | United States | $1,061,672 |
| 2nd | Mao Renji | China | $882,328 |
| 3rd | Chi-Jen Chu | Taiwan | $551,000 |
| 4th | Masashi Oya | Japan | $447,000 |
| 5th | Clemen Deng | United States | $353,000 |
| 6th | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | $268,000 |
| 7th | Edward Pak | United States | $196,000 |
| 8th | Brian Kim | United States | $144,000 |
| 9th | Michael Soyza | Malaysia | $119,000 |
