With titles already this week for Fedor Holz and Roland Rokita, the trip to the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series in Jeju for Vienna-based players was already a clear success.
But flights from Korea to the Austrian capital now have another Triton trophy crammed into the overhead locker as Mario Mosböck, a third member of the Vienna crew, took down the $25K GG Million$, picking up $1,191,196 along the way.
That payout came after Mosböck agreed a heads-up deal with Sergio Aido, where the Spanish player, chip-leading at the time, took $1,237,804. But Mosböck enjoyed the best of the late stages of this tournament, reaching the final table with only four big blinds, coming into a third day in sixth of six players remaining, then surging into the lead and to the title.
“It feels amazing,” Mosböck said. “I ran really good today…I was never really over 20 big blinds from around the bubble. I was always short. But there’s still a lot of room for manoeuvre.”
It’s Mosböck’s second Triton success, having won the $40K Mystery Bounty in Monte Carlo last year. That same tournament was taking place at the same time as the final table today and Holz, Mosböck’s friend and mentor, bubbled the event, allowing him to come to the rail for Mosböck’s win.
The new champion paid tribute to the Vienna crew, revealing that it’s only with their encouragement that he ever even decided to play the biggest buy-in events.
Mosböck said: “All the boys are really smart, really driven. They want to compete at the highest level…If it was me alone, I’m not sure I would be playing the Super High Rollers. But you can talk to people about how you feel, your concerns. They can give you feedback. It was a community decision. They said, come on, you’re good enough.”
This win certainly underlines that. It was another record-breaking tournament on the Triton Series, with attendance eclipsing 300 entries for the first time ever. That put more than $7.6 million in the prize pool and required a near-unprecedented third day of play. It also meant a tournament of incredible swings and outdraws, with players forced to endure a buffeting at the hands of fate.
But Mosböck’s victory was cheered every step of the way from his Germany and Austrian friends in the crowd, including his fiancee Amanda, who watched on too in Monte Carlo when Mosböck began his Triton career in style.
With a short break, they will no doubt he heading to the $50K event that just got started. And they will be dangerous in that too.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
The bubble in this one played out across six tables, with a typically interesting dynamic. There were numerous players with stack sizes that would ordinarily be considered perilous, but the ICM knowledge of this player set is so high that no one was committing a chip unless the situation perfectly demanded it.
Unfortunately for Zheng Yu and then his namesake Winfred, they could afford to wait no longer. They were both all in and called on the same hand (albeit on different tables) and both were knocked out in 49th and 48th respectively.
Zheng’s 
lost to Jamil Wakill’s 
(Zheng was in the big blind and had three-quarters of his stack in mandatory bets). Soon after, Winfred’s 
lost to Tim Adams’ 
, with Winfred flopping a king but Adams hitting an ace on the river, for extra drama.
That put the last 47 players in the money and guaranteed maiden Triton cashes for, among others, commentator-turned-player Henry Kilbane, Katie Lindsay, Matas Cimbolas as well as the umpteenth for Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick, Seth Davies, Steve O’Dwyer and David Yan.
None made the final, but all turned a profit on this event.
It had been touch and go right from the start of day whether the tournament would finish in two days or three. And the middle period of Day 2 was a tempestuous affair, with the chip lead changing hands on multiple occasions. It soon became apparent that that third day would be needed.
Dan Dvoress had been down to three blinds near the bubble, but rose to the top of the counts. Ehsan Amiri also led for long periods, as did Vincent Huang.
The former two made the final; the latter perished in 12th. And while Fedor Holz looked like he’d be carrying a major stack to another final, he was actually knocked out in 10th by Sergio Aido resulting in the Spaniard leading the last nine.
The final table lined up as follows:
Sergio Aido – 17,025,000 (57 BBs)
Adrian Chua – 16,525,000 (55 BBs)
Alex Theologis – 14,400,000 (48 BBs)
Jesse Lonis – 13,275,000 (44 BBs)
Tim Adams – 6,450,000 (22 BBs)
Kosei Ichinose – 3,175,000 (11 BBs)
Dan Dvoress – 2,300,000 (8 BBs)
Ehsan Amiri – 1,800,000 (6 BBs)
Mario Mosböck – 1,300,000 (4 BBs)
This was a lop-sided line up to start final-table proceedings, with four big stacks, four small and only Adams in the middle. But none of the shorties were giving up without a fight, and there were a handful of double-ups with only Amiri departing early.
Even he managed to double up once, through Aido, but he was still very short when he got his last chips in with 
and lost to the 
of Alex Theologis.
Amiri picked up his first Triton cash in his third event, banking $152,000 for eighth.
The revised target for Day 2 was to hit six players, which meant two more needed to bust before they bagged up. There were numerous more double-ups, though, which kept Mario Mosböck and Dan Dvoress alive, but put Kosei Ichinose and Jesse Lonis in trouble.
In relatively short order, those two eventually hit the rail in eighth and seventh, respectively. Ichinose three-bet over a Dvoress open but found Adrian Chua behind him with pocket queens to beat 
. Ichinose’s maiden Triton cash was $186,000.
Then Lonis, having managed to spike a three-outer to survive a couple of hands previously, couldn’t repeat the trick when he got his last chips in with 
against Aido’s 
.
Lonis was at his second final table of the week but this time had to make do with $253,000 for seventh.
All six were now also instructed to reach for bags and to put the chips away for the night. The tournament was heading into a third day, with all still to play for. Aido still held the lead, with 44 big blinds, ahead of Chua (31), Dvoress (18), Theologis (17), Adams (12) and Mosböck (5).
There was no escaping the fact that Day 3 would be brief and unpredictable. The stack sizes dictated it.
Mosböck was the first player at risk but he managed two double ups to keep battling. However, it wasn’t to be for Adams, who perished at the hands of Aido. Aido shoved his small blind and Adams called for his tournament life with pocket fives. Adams had over-cards, with 
but could not connect.
Adams has fond memories of Jeju, having won the Main Event here back in 2019 — a $3.5 million score that sent his career on to a new plane. This time, sixth place was worth $345,000 — but there are bigger buy-in events just round the corner.
Adams’ close friend and countryman Dvoress was next to hit the sidelines. Theologis opened his button with 
and Dvoress called from the big blind with 
. The pair saw a flop of , which brought encouragement for both.
After Dvoress checked, Theologis bet 800,000 (one big blind) and Dvoress moved in over the top for another seven bigs. Theologis called.
The turn and river bricked out, however, which meant Dvoress missed his flush draw and was sent packing. Fifth place paid $452,000.
It was right about now that things started to get a little silly. Stacks were obviously still short, but the poker gods now also decided to have their fun. It came at the cost of Chua and then Theologis, who were bounced in consecutive hands in unfortunate fashion.
The most significant hand came first, with Mosböck open-shoving the cutoff with pocket tens. Chua under-called all-in from the button with 
, and then Theologis looked down at pocket queens in the big blind and called, putting both opponents under threat.
The 
flop changed little, but the turn brought whoops from Mosböck’s rail. Both opponents had outs for the win on the river, but the missed both of them and earned Mosböck a huge one.
Chua, meanwhile, was out in fourth for $573,000.
Theologis was mortally wounded in the skirmish with queens, but he picked up a pocket pair on the next hand too. However, it lost again. This time his sixes were outdrawn by Aido’s 
, when an ace came on the river.
Theologis banked $707,000 for third.
Aido had a small chip lead heading into heads-up play, but the pair decided to chop it up. They had seen enough craziness for the day. Aido guaranteed himself $1,237,804, while Mosböck signed for $1,131,196. There was $60,000 left on the side to play for.
Could Spain go back-to-back? Or would the Vienna crew add a third title of the week? They settled down to find out.
First blood: Mosböck. In a hand that played through the streets, he three-bet shoved the river looking at a full board of 
. Aido folded. It put Mosböck marginally ahead. Two more small pots went in the Austrian’s favour, and then another big one: Mosböck’s 
flopped bottom pair but then turned into a flush through turn and river.
Aido was now on the ropes with only six big blinds, but managed one come-from-behind double, with 
against Mosböck’s 
. They then chopped one, before Aido doubled again with 
against 
.
This could only last so long, and when two big hands went up against one another, the shouts of “Hold!” from the sidelines got it over the line. Mosböck had pocket sixes and Aido . The flop brought a flush draw, but it never filled and the sixes held.
And with that, there was finally calm.
Event #6 – $25k – GG Million$ Live
Dates: March 9-11, 2024
Entries: 305 (inc. 118 re-entries)
Prize pool: $7,625,000
1 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $1,191,196*
2 – Sergio Aido, Spain – $1,237,804*
3 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $707,000
4 – Adrian Chua, Singapore – $573,000
5 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $452,000
6 – Tim Adams, Canada – $345,000
7 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $253,000
8 – Kosei Ichinose, Japan – $186,000
9 – Ehsan Amiri, Australia – $152,000
10 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $128,000
11 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $128,000
12 – Vincent Huang, New Zealand – $113,000
13 – Ana Marquez, Spain – $113,000
14 – Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania – $101,000
15 – David Yan, New Zealand – $101,000
16 – Changlie Zhang, Singapore – $90,000
17 – Nikita Kuznetsov, Russia – $90,000
18 – Aleksandr Shevliakov, Russia – $79,000
19 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $79,000
20 – Jamil Wakill, Canada – $79,000
21 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $71,000
22 – Jason Koon, USA – $71,000
23 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $65,666
24 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $65,666
25 – Weiran Pu, China – $65,666
26 – Calvin Lee, USA – $63,000
27 – Seth Davies, USA – $63,000
28 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $55,500
29 – Justin Saliba, USA – $55,500
30 – Mike Watson, Canada – $55,500
31 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $55,500
32 – Frederik Thiemer, Germany – $49,000
33 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $49,000
34 – Stanley Choi, Singapore – $49,000
35 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $49,000
36 – Samuel Muller, Austria – $49,000
37 – Shyngis Satubaev, Kazakhstan – $49,000
38 – Yake Wu, China – $49,000
39 – Monika Zukowicz, Poland – $49,000
40 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $43,500
41 – Daniel Smiljkovic, Germany – $43,500
42 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $43,500
43 – James Chen, Taiwan – $43,500
44 – Michael Jozoff, USA – $43,500
45 – Katie Lindsay, USA – $43,500
46 – Henry Kilbane, UK – $43,500
47 – Daniel Palson, Iceland – $43,500
Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive