— How's your day going in general? What do you do in your free time away from poker?
— My day is going good! Away from poker, I try to keep things pretty simple. I enjoy going to nice restaurants, spending time with friends and family, working out and just relaxing. I do watch movies sometimes, but honestly not that much, especially when I’m traveling for poker.
— Are you living in Malaysia right now? What are the three main advantages of the country?
— I would say the people, the convenience, and the location. Malaysia is a very comfortable and convenient place to live, and people are generally very friendly.
Also, poker in Asia has been booming in the last few years, so there are a lot more live MTT opportunities around the region now. Being based in Malaysia makes it quite easy for me to travel to most of these series.
— And three disadvantages maybe?
— Haha, of course nowhere is perfect, but honestly, Malaysia has always been home to me and I really enjoy living here. Every country has its own pros and cons, but I prefer to focus on the positive side of things rather than complain about the negatives. 😂
— Sounds like a life motto!
— I actually have one: Mistakes are fine, just don’t make the same mistake twice. Always learn and keep improving.
— How did your poker journey begin? Do you remember your first live game experience? You’re primarily an offline player, after all. How did it all start?
— My first live tournaments were when I was studying in the UK. There were a lot of local daily MTTs and different tournament series around the UK, so that’s where I started playing live poker regularly.
I still remember how exciting it was for me at the beginning. I really enjoyed the competitive side of the game, and that was when I started taking poker more seriously.
– Which tournament stands out the most to you?
— Probably the £300 tournament I won in the UK back in 2015 for around £50,000. It wasn’t my biggest score, but at that time it gave me the bankroll and confidence to take poker much more seriously.
— The buy-ins are much more serious now…And what does a day in the life of a player at the highest stakes actually look like? How do you balance work and rest?
— During a tournament series, I try to keep things pretty simple. I make sure I get enough sleep, wake up, have a proper meal and do some light exercise or stretching before playing. Once the tournament starts, most of the day is obviously focused on poker.
At the highest stakes, I think being mentally fresh is really important. So when I’m not playing, I try not to think about poker all the time. I’ll rest, go for a good meal, spend time with friends, or just relax. Having that balance helps me stay focused when I’m back at the table.
— And you use solvers outside tables like GTO Wizard?
— Yes, sure. I mostly use GTOW and HRC for study.
— When players get caught using solvers during play, should there be a cancel culture here, or is there room for redemption?
— I think there should definitely be consequences if someone knowingly cheats or uses something that isn’t allowed. Without consequences, it’s difficult to protect the game.
But at the same time, I don’t really believe someone should automatically be cancelled forever because of one mistake. It depends on how serious it was, whether it was intentional, and how the person responds afterwards. If someone admits what they did, accepts the punishment and genuinely changes, I think there should be room for a second chance.
— You probably heard about scandal with Mesh Agent and the WPN Network. What direction should the poker community, and especially room security teams, move in to reduce this?
— I think as technology keeps improving, poker security also has to keep improving with it. Online poker rooms need to invest more into detecting suspicious activity, RTA and any new tools that can give players an unfair advantage.
For me, the most important thing is protecting the integrity of the game. Players need to feel confident that when they sit down, everyone is playing under the same rules. I think poker sites and players also need to work together and share information when something suspicious happens.
— Let’s talk about Triton! I looked at your stats and counted only one series without a cash, Madrid, 2022. Impressive! Which series stands out the most to you?
— I would probably say Jeju in March. I won one of the Short Deck events there, and I also had a three-way chop in the $125k. It was definitely one of my most memorable Triton series.
— You traditionally play Triton ONE. And this time will we see you in Cyprus?
— Actually, I’ve never intentionally skipped Triton ONE or Triton since I started playing the series. I always try to play and show my full support whenever I can because I really love Triton. So yes, you should see me in Cyprus!
— What are your tournament plans for the series? How do you feel about turbo structures?
— I’ll usually play almost everything, from the smaller buy-ins all the way up to the biggest ones, except Omaha.
— What do you think about turbo structures?
Fun fact, the first two Triton titles I won were actually both turbo events, so I guess turbos have been pretty good to me!
— Which Triton tournaments have historically been your favorites?
— I would probably say Mystery Bounty, Short Deck and the Turbos. I’ve had some of my best results in those events, so naturally I have good memories of them!
For the opposite, I don’t really have a tournament that I dislike. I normally play almost everything on the schedule. Omaha is probably the only one I usually skip, simply because it’s not really my game.
— Tell me about the hand that stood out the most from the last series, please.
— Probably the pocket Aces hand from the Mystery Bounty that I won. There were around 12–14 players left and three players went all-in in front of me. I woke up with AA and covered all of them. That’s definitely one of the hands I’ll remember for a long time.
👑 ALL HAIL THE BOUNTY KING!
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 10, 2026
Kiat Lee takes down the $40K Mystery Bounty for $619,000, collecting eight bounties and a fourth Triton title along the way. A comeback turned into a masterclass, and a prize pool turned into his personal collection.
Congratulations, Kiat! pic.twitter.com/ndzogNqY7y
If we’re talking about a hand I’d rather forget, it would be the $200K Invitational in Cyprus in 2023. There were six players left and I was around third in chips, with a few very short stacks — I remember Patrick had only around 5 big blinds.
I got AA all-in preflop against Ramin, who was the chip leader, with K2 suited and lost. That one hurt quite a bit — that bad beat probably cost me a lot of money!
The river gets really cruel for pocket Aces as Ramin binks the flush. pic.twitter.com/IF1um5LYie
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 20, 2023
— A lot of poker players are used to spending hundreds of thousands on buy-ins, but at the same time they don’t really live large. How do you feel about that?
— Poker money and everyday money feel quite different to me. I can play a very big buy-in because I see it as part of my job and bankroll, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend crazy amounts on everything outside poker. I don’t like spending just for the sake of spending. For me, it still has to feel worth it.
— Speaking of money down the drain…what about gambling-adjacent stuff like bets? Betting with other players on Last Longer and things like that?
— Yeah, sometimes. I think small side bets or Last Longer bets between friends can make the tournament a bit more fun and competitive. But I’m not really someone who needs to bet on everything. Poker itself already gives me enough action haha.
— Let's do a blitz round. Please name your top 3 MTT players in the world right now.
— Yeah sure. My top 3 all time best will probably be Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick and Adrian Mateos.
— And who from Russia has stood out to you the most?
— I will probably say is gonna be Artur Martriosian.
And if you were a businessman in the Invitational, who would you invite (you can't pick yourself haha)?
— If i will have to pick a pros as a businessman i will pick Joao Simao. I like him as a personality and also his style of playing.
—Favorite country to play poker in?
— Korea, especially Jeju. I’ve had some great memories playing there, and of course winning my first Triton trophy there makes it even more special!
— Would you rather play a $10K on your own, or $100K with sold action?
— $100K with sold action. I’d rather play against the best and challenge myself in the bigger tournaments, as long as the amount I have of myself makes sense.
— Did you ever get a chance to play the new Ocean format?
— No, I haven't got a chance yet. I'm still playing KPC in Jeju. But it's always good to have one or 2 new format of poker adding the game in my opinion to make this game more fun.
