Howard Swains, Author at Triton Poker

TRITON CYPRUS — ALL THE REPORTS, PHOTOS AND NEWS

Welcome to the coverage hub for the Triton Super High Roller Series in Cyprus. The event, which runs from September 2-19, 2022, featured 13 tournaments in no limit hold’em, short-deck and pot-limit Omaha, with buy-ins from €25,000 through €200,000, including the Coin Rivet Invitational. You’ll find all you need to know about the event below, including links to completed tournaments and results.

EVENT 1 – $25,000 NLH 8-HANDED

CYPRUS OFF TO A FLYER WITH FIRST WIN FOR ANTONIUS

One of poker’s undisputed poster boys was one of the only members of the elite without his picture hanging in the gallery of champions. But Finland’s Patrik Antonius remedied the situation in the first event of the Triton Cyprus festival.

Top five finishers:
1 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $825,000
2 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $557,000
3 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $362,000
4 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $300,000
5 – Ebony Kenny, USA – $240,500

131 entries | $3,275,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 2 – $30,000 NLH 6-HANDED

TOLLERENE MARKS RETURN TO POKER WITH DEBUT TRITON VICTORY
Triton Ambassador Jason Koon had repeatedly invited his friend Ben Tollerene to play on the Triton Series, but the trip never worked out. However, Tollerene was finally able to travel for the festival in Cyprus, and hit the ground running with an $808K score, after a deal with Yuri Dzivelevski.

Top five finishers:
1 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $807,927*
2 – Yuri Dzivelevski, Brazil – $749,073*
3 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $408,000
4 – Alex Keating, USA – $337,500
5 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $272,300

123 entries | $3,690,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 3 – $50,000 NLH 6-HANDED

Pieter Aerts bounced back to claim the win

SWEET REDEMPTION FOR AERTS, BUBBLE BOY TURNED CHAMP
The Belgian debutant Pieter Aerts was knocked out on the bubble in his first Triton tournament, but bounced back from disappointment in the very best way, regrouping to beat Sam Grafton heads-up, claim his first title and a $1.47 million payday.

Top five finishers:
1 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $1,472,000
2 – Sam Grafton, UK – $994,500
3 – Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – $646,500
4 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $535,000
5 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $431,800

117 entries | $5,850,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 5 – $75,000 NLH 8-HANDED

BURNS IS BACK! AUSTRALIAN ENDS EXILE WITH $1.7M WIN
As Michael Addamo went on his heater, the world maybe forgot about the other high-stakes crusher from Australia. But after ending a self-enforced exile, Kahle Burns returned to the scene with a dominant display in the $75K, worth $1.7 million.

Top five finishers:
1 – Kahle Burns, Australia – $1,730,000
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $1,210,000
3 – Seth Davies, UK – $815,000
4 – Yuri Dzivielevski, Brazil – $630,000
5 – Talal Shakerchi, UK – $510,000

88 entries | $6,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 6 – $200,000 NLH COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL

GRAFTON BEATS THE BUSINESSMEN FOR ENORMOUS $5.5M PRIZE

After the charge of the aggressive Frenchman Karl Chappe-Gatien was halted in third, Sam Grafton was able to defeat the heads-up titan Linus Loeliger to win the enormous $5.5 million first prize — the climax of the unique invitational tournament that pitted the pros against the recreational players on a level playing field.

Top five finishers:
1 – Sam Grafton, UK – $5,500,000
2 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $3,900,000
3 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $2,600,000
4 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $2,100,000
5 – Ebony Kenney, USA – $1,700,000

115 entries | $23,000,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 7 – $25,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA

Mark one up for Cyprus thanks to Christopher Philippou

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE PAYS AS PHILIPPOU WINS PLO FOR CYPRUS

It was a small and quiet affair, but the schedule’s only PLO tournament drew the stars nonetheless. But local player Christopher Philippou was able to put Seidel, Chidwick and Shakerchi in their place and win his first Triton title in his first Triton tournament.

1 – Christopher Philippou, Cyprus – $270,000
2 – Talal Shakerchi, UK – $190,000
3 – Iurii Anisimov, Russia – $120,000
4 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $92,000
5 – Gregoire Auzoux, France – $72,000
6 – Erik Seidel, USA – $56,000

32 entries | $800,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 8 – $100,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

Could Punnat Punsri ignite a poker boom in Thailand?

FIRST FOR THAILAND PUNSRI BLAZES TO MAIN EVENT GLORY

The growing poker boom in Thailand received an enormous boost when Punnat Punsri, a breakout star at the World Series last year, announced his presence on the Triton Series and clinched victory in the Main Event. The first Thai winner claimed $2.6 million.

Top five finishers:
1 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $2,600,000
2 – Wayne Heung, Hong Kong – $1,825,000
3 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – $1,210,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $946,000
5 – Jason Koon, USA – $762,000

99 entries | $9,900,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 9 – $50,000 NLH 8-HANDED TURBO

EIBINGER CLAIMS TURBO DOUBLE WITH LATEST $50K WIN

Austria’s Matthias Eibinger made his name as a player of hyper-turbos online, where stacks get short quickly and you have to know when to push or fold. His skills earned him a first Triton title in a Turbo in Cyprus in March, and he won his second in the same format five months later.

Results:
1 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $545,000
2 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $375,000
3 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $245,000
4 – Phil Nagy, USA – $185,000
5 – Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – $140,000
6 – Danny Tang, UK – $110,000

32 entries | $1,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

EVENT 10 – $30,000 SHORT DECK ANTE ONLY

Three short deck titles now for Phil Ivey

IVEY COMPLETES SHORT DECK HAT-TRICK
Phil Ivey didn’t cash even once during the long deck portion of the trip to Cyprus, but he immediately underlined his dominance of the short-deck game, winning the first short deck event in the festival. It was his third Triton title, all in this form of the game.

Results:
1 – Phil Ivey, USA – $387,000
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $268,000
3 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia$171,000
4 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $131,000
5 – Tom Dwan, USA – $103,000
6 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $80,000

38 entries | $1,140,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

IVEY COMPLETES SHORT-DECK HAT-TRICK WITH LATEST TRIUMPH IN CYPRUS

Phil Ivey is now a three-time champion on the Triton Super High Roller Series after the American great proved once again that no poker variant is beyond him. Ivey’s Triton titles have all come in short-deck tournaments — from Montenegro, in 2018, and one here in Cyprus back in April. The man who has become the dominant force in just about every other poker variant over the past two decades is now the standout star in its newest game.

By Triton’s standards, this was a fairly subdued start to the short-deck portion of proceedings — a mere $30,000 to buy in, and 38 entries creating a $1.14 million prize pool. But with Ivey’s name now on the trophy, and the $387,000 first prize padding his bankroll, it’ll be a tournament that will be long be remembered — and he put on a clinic to take it down.

He managed to outlast his old online sparring partner Tom Dwan, who went from chip leader to bust in dramatic fashion, and he then managed to grind out a heads-up victory over Sam Greenwood, denying the Canadian high roller regular a first title.

“I love playing short deck,” Ivey, 45, said. “It’s a great game so I’m very happy.”

Ivey now joins a very small club of players with three Triton titles, and will hold realistic hopes of claiming more. There are still four more short deck events on the Triton Cyprus schedule, and few players in such an obvious groove as Ivey while playing this game.

He finished it off with an appropriate flourish, flopping trips and rivering quads to end Greenwood’s resistance. “He’s a tough player, plays back at you a lot,” Ivey said of Greenwood. But by that point, the vanquished Canadian was out in the hall, claiming his $268,000 runner-up prize.

FINAL DAY ACTION

There were nine players left at the beginning of the final day, but that quickly became seven as Webster Lim and Wei Yeu departed within the first level. That brought them around only one table, although everyone knew that they weren’t yet in the money. One of the players posing for a photograph would soon also be snapped heading for the door with nothing. Tom Dwan, with the big stack, did what you have to do in the situation and pummelled everyone else, forcing folds from players who really didn’t want to bubble.

There was one exception. Nobody enjoys being that bubble boy, but you wouldn’t actually know it when it’s Paul Phua, as turned out to be the case this time. Phua, who got his last chips in with against Kiat Lee’s was sent to the rail in seventh. “Bubble!” he bellowed — apparently entirely untroubled by this fact. Everyone should aspire to play with the devil-may-care attitude of Paul Phua.

That left six then, all guaranteed at least $80,000. Dwan was a comfortable leader, while Phil Ivey, Daniel Dvoress and Mikita Badziakouski brought up the rear.

The first short-deck final table players (l-r): Paul Phua, Daniel Dvoress, Tom Dwan, Sam Greenwood, Kiat Lee, Mikita Badziakouski, Phil Ivey.

Not long later, Dvoress, with a 38-ante stack, open shoved from the cutoff with the short-deck nuts, i.e., . Dwan made an easy call with , and although Dvoress ended the hand with a straight, the board of was also a full house for Dwan. Dvoress won $80,000.

Daniel Dvoress sends his stack over to Tom Dwan

Dwan was cruising. He was crushing. He had absolutely heaps while all the others had barely a fraction. And yet, somehow, Dwan was also the next man out.

We have seen some hero-to-zero nosedives before on the Triton Series. Just yesterday, Wiktor Malinowski somehow finished third in the hold’em Main Event when he had about half the chips in play three-handed. But Dwan’s dip was precipitous: he doubled up Ivey, then Lee in consecutive hands, and then Ivey again in what proved to be terminal. (Ivey won a race with to Dwan’s pocket jacks.) He was left with crumbs, which Ivey took as well.

Dwan, playing his first event of this trip to Cyprus, banked $103,000, but had surely been thinking a third Triton title was his.

Tom Dwan: From chip leader to fifth-placed finisher

Ivey, now in the chip lead, was not in a forgiving mood, and the deck helped him more than it has assisted Dwan. Badziakouski got his last chips in with against Ivey’s . But a queen on the flop put Ivey into the lead and Badziakouski on the rail. It could have been five (titles) for Badziakouski, but instead it was fourth (place) for $131,000.

Mikita Badziakouski, made to wait for title No 5

Although Lee managed to crack Greenwood’s aces with and double up, he lost it all back on the next hand of significance, with to Greenwood’s and departed in third for $171,000.

That left a heads-up battle between two North Americans. Ivey, aiming for that third victory, and Greenwood, looking for a first. Ivey had the chip advantage, with 140 antes to 80 antes, but neither of them was going to roll over without a fight.

Greenwood battled back to near parity, particularly after one pot where he flopped a straight and extracted maximum value with a big bet on the end, which Ivey called. But Ivey then asserted his dominance once more and chipped away at Greenwood’s stack. They then got it all in, with Ivey covering Greenwood, when Greenwood had to Ivey’s .

Heads up between Sam Greenwood and Phil Ivey

The dealer put the flop down, to leave Greenwood drawing thin. And the turn and river was overkill.

All in a day’s work for Ivey, who had whiffed every tournament through the NLHE side of the schedule, but is now up and running with short-deck back.

Event #10 – $30K Short Deck – Ante Only
Dates: September 14-15, 2022
Entries: 38 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,140,000

1 – Phil Ivey, USA – $387,000
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $268,000
3 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia$171,000
4 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $131,000
5 – Tom Dwan, USA – $103,000
6 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $80,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

PUNSRI LAYS DOWN THE PUNISHMENT TO BLAZE TO TRITON CYPRUS MAIN EVENT GLORY

Cyprus Main Event champion Punnat Punsri

An explosive end to the Triton Series Cyprus No Limit Hold’em Main Event resulted in a first Triton title for a Thai player, as the Asian game’s breakout star Punnat Punsri destroyed a final table of established wizards to bank a career best $2.6 million score.

Punsri, who says he has a cash game background, was all but unknown when he made the final table of a $50,000 High Roller event at the World Series of Poker this summer, finishing third for a near $600K prize. Punsri re-invested some of that money on a first trip to the Triton Series here in Cyprus, including a buy-in to this $100K Main Event, and emphatically proved he is here to stay.

As is commonplace on this prestigious series, the tournament featured the very greatest in world poker, and the final table featured not only the defending champion, but also Triton’s most decorated ambassador. However, even Henrik Hecklen and Jason Koon were powerless to stop Punsri’s incredible surge, which ended when he defeated Hong Kong’s Wayne Heung heads up.

Heung, for his part, earned $1.825 million, but his role was largely one of a support actor only as Punsri dominated proceedings. Punsri somehow also managed to lay waste to Wiktor Malinowski, best known as the online superstar “Iimitless”, who had come to the final with an enormous lead.

Punsri was happy to play big pots, often, and surged up the leader board from the middle of the pack overnight. And once he had a chip lead, nobody could lay a glove on him. He’s a puncher and a punisher. He’s Punnat Punsri, Triton Main Event champion.

Danny Tang celebrates with the new champion

TOURNAMENT ACTION

At the end of the second day of play, which had been interrupted and delayed owing to an issue with the air conditioner, players faced the daunting prospect of bursting the bubble in the early hours. There were a handful of short stacks, but both Laszlo Bujtas and Horace Wei doubled up, leaving the bubble hovering most menacingly over Stephen Chidwick.

The 33-year-old from the UK is leading the Triton Player of the Year race after his stellar performance in Madrid, but tournament bubbles pay no heed to reputations, and it was Chidwick’s turn to take the unluckiest walk. He got his last five big blinds in with a suited jack-ten but Artur Martirosian had pocket jacks, and there was nothing on the board for Chidwick.

Madrid winner turned bubble boy, Stephen Chidwick

He scurried away, tailed by a TV camera, with nothing to show for his performance in this one.

Thirteen players bagged and tagged, all now in the money, and all hoping for a good night’s sleep ahead of the final day. The remaining field was an appealing combination of Triton veterans and newcomers, both pros and recreational players, as well as the defending Main Event champion, Hecklen. There were some very short stacks, so there was every chance of a speedy race to the final table on Day 3.

So it proved, as none of the short stacks were able to rally. Isaac Haxton and Bujtas fell in short order, and then Paul Phua, the all-time leader in number of cashes on the series he founded, perished in 11th. It was an incredible 25th in-the-money finish for Phua, but he will have to wait for his second title.

Seth Davies, the player next out, is surely now getting impatient waiting for even his first. Davies has been the standout performer here in Cyprus, with three final table appearances already. But he had also been on the wrong side of a number of bad beats or coolers, leaving him on the rail before the trophy was close to being handed out. The same story continued, with Davies losing a chunk of his chips in a race against Punnat Punsri, and the rest going to Malinowski. Davies’ departure, which earned him $225,000, set our final table.

1 – Punnat Punsri, 2.235 million
2 – Wiktor Malinowski, 7.415 million
3 – Wayne Heung, 4.245 million
5 – Jason Koon, 1.15 million
6 – Artem Vezhenkov, 960,000
7 – Gregorie Auzoux, 1.075 million
8 – Henrik Hecklen, 5.27 million
9 – Artur Martirosian, 1.66 million
10 – Horace Wei, 740,000

Final table players (clockwise from top left): Punnat Punsri, Wiktor Malinowski, Horace Wei, Artur Martirosian, Henrik Hecklen, Gregoire Auzoux, Artem Vezhenkov, Jason Koon, Wayne Heung.

Horace Wei was one of the relative unknowns who signed up to play the Coin Rivet invitational during this festival, partnering with Dan Cates. He not only outlasted Cates in that tournament, but he also secured a first Triton cash, earning $400K for 14th place.

Wei was keen to show that was not a flash in the pan, and immediately secured a second cash. His Main Event ended in ninth, when his lost a race to Punsri’s , but there was $280,000 waiting for him at the cash desk.

This year’s Triton Series events have seen an influx of Russian players, including two of the online game’s most distinguished talents, Artem Vezhenkov and Artur Martirosian. Both had made it to the final table here, and both seemed to be making an easy transition to the high stakes live tournament game, after making their names online.

Vezhenkov in particular seems to have been enjoying his trip to Cyprus, and his partner had been going around on previous days collecting autographs from the Triton superstars on a branded T-shirt. Vezhenkov was now proudly wearing it at the final, bringing names to the final of many players who had already been knocked out.

Vezhenkov battled to eighth, before he received the baddest beat yet on the final table. He had pocket nines to Hecklen’s pocket eights, and for seven blinds it was always going in. Hecklen spiked an eight on the river, and that was the end of that. Vezhenkov took $366,000.

Martirosian wasn’t far behind, and Hecklen again applied the finishing touches. Martirosian hadn’t managed to get much going during the final, where he was card dead and strangled by the bigger stacks. He took a stand from the small blind after Hecklen’s button open, and then called off when Hecklen fought back with a four-bet shove.

Hecklen’s was unthreatened by Martirosian’s and the final Russian was out in fourth for $470,000.

There was an enormous division between stacks now, with Hecklen and Malinowski comfortable at the top and all of Gregoire Auzoux, Punnat Punsri, Jason Koon, and Wayne Heung in trouble. Auzoux lost a big pot to Punsri, which put the former in danger and gave the latter some wiggle room, and then Auzoux became Malinowski’s first victim of the final.

Auzoux was only at this event to see his friend and colleague Kent Staahle, who had played the Coin Rivet Invitational. But the pair had struck up a bet over who could first win a Triton title, and that had inspired Auzoux to enter the PLO event a few days ago. He finished fifth in that, for a debut cash.

He hopped in the Main Event and ended up extending his 100 percent Triton cashing record — although the bet against Staahle is not won yet. Auzoux’s couldn’t come from behind to beat Malinowski’s and so the Frenchman’s run ended in sixth and a $595,000 payout.

It was around this point that the first really enormous pot occurred, clipping the wings of the flying Hecklen. Until now, the big stacks had mainly kept out of one another’s way as the shorties were knocked out. But Punsri had kings when Hecklen had queens and it went raise, three-bet, four-bet, five-bet shove, call.

Punri’s hand held for an 11 million chip pot, and now Hecklen joined Koon and Heung in the doldrums.

Each of those three knew that they were in double-or-bust mode, and even Koon’s sensational skills couldn’t get him out of his hole. He lost a race with pocket fours to Punsri’s and was eliminated in fifth, failing in his bid for a record-setting fifth title. There was $762,000 heading to his bank account though.

Next out: Hecklen. No one has ever successfully defended a Main Event title on the Triton Series, and that may well be true for many years yet. But Hecklen certainly came close, riding the big stack all the way to a second consecutive final, only a couple of months after that famous win in Madrid.

However that pot against Punsri had left him with a near-impossible task to get back into it, and Punsri wasn’t even done with the punishment. Hecklen got his last chips in with and Punsri called with . There was a ten on the flop and the back-to-back dream died.

Hecklen took $946,000, but won’t be strapping another Jacob & Co timepiece to his wrist.

With Hecklen out of the way, this was now expected to be a cakewalk for Malinowski. He had all the experience of short-handed play and, more importantly, still had all the chips. But occasionally we need a reminder of how devastatingly quick fortunes can change in no limit poker, and this was one of those days.

Punsri got involved in another enormous pre-flop confrontation, this time with Malinowski. Punsri opened his button with a standard raise, Malinowski three bet from the small blind, and then Punsri jammed for 60 big blinds. Malinowski, with called and was up against pocket tens. Punsri won the race again, leaving Malinowski with fumes.

His last chips went in with , which didn’t beat Punsri’s . Malinowski won $1,210,000 for third.

“I didn’t want to four-bet small and then have to call it off,” Punsri explained later about the enormous shove.

Heung then squared off against Punsri and, with around 28 big blinds, was not necessarily out of it. But all the momentum was with the Thai player, and they were all in very quickly after heads-up play began.

Heung had a dominant ace — it was versus — but there was an eight in the window. And Heung never caught up.

It was a sensationally swift end to this tournament, done by 6.30pm local time. But Punsri was just unstoppable, and now has the $2.6 million prize to prove it. After an incredible summer, he is clearly one to watch. And one suspects the Triton Series will be seeing a lot of him in the coming stops.

Triton Cyprus $100,000 NLH – Main Event
Dates: September 12-14, 2022
Entries: 99 (inc. 34 re-entries)
Prize pool: $9,900,000

1 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $2,600,000
2 – Wayne Heung, Hong Kong – $1,825,000
3 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – $1,210,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $946,000
5 – Jason Koon, USA – $762,000
6 – Gregoire Auzoux, France – $595,000
7 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $470,000
8 – Artem Vezhenkov, Russia – $366,000
9 – Horace Wei, Hong Kong – $280,000
10 – Seth Davies, USA – $225,000
11 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $225,000
12 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $198,000
13 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $198,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

EIBINGER CLAIMS TURBO DOUBLE WITH LATEST $50K WIN IN CYPRUS

The NLHE portion of the Triton Super High Roller Series in Northern Cyprus is drawing to a close, with only the final day of the Main Event to play. After that, all of the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s in the decks of cards of the world can take a holiday. It’s short deck only from hereon in.

But just before the emphasis shifts to hold’em’s more gambly cousin, there was the small matter of a quick $50K Turbo to play. It started late, at 8pm, because of an unscheduled interruption, but it blazed through the levels before reaching a conclusion at 3.40am.

The last man standing was Austria’s Matthias Eibinger, who has seen all of this before. Eibinger won his first Triton title in a turbo event here in Cyprus last time out, again on an outer table while bigger action was going on elsewhere. That one also ended at stupid o’clock, and featured some ridiculous short-stack bingo.

But Eibinger made his name playing high stakes hyper turbos online, so this is precisely his wheelhouse. Back-to-back pocket kings also helped at the death, but Eibinger just knows this game, regardless of the cards.

His victory, over Jonathan Jaffe, earned him $545,000 and rounded off his trip nicely. Eibinger doesn’t play short deck so is heading home now. It’s a nice way to finish a trip.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

In addition to the delay caused by a problem with the venue air conditioning, the action in this one slowed right up as the bubble approached. Although there weren’t many blinds in play, and the rapidly escalating levels were eating them up rapidly, it still took more than an hour to go from eight to six.

But Ebony Kenney took the walk in eighth, losing with ace-king to pocket tens. The slight complication was that it was Phil Nagy with the tens — i.e., the man who had invited Kenney to play the Coin Rivet Invitational this week. That invitation had earned Kenney $1.7 million, so Nagy was well in credit. But nobody likes knocking out a friend.

“I guess it says something about the integrity of the game,” Nagy said. “It wasn’t a TV table, no one would have known if I’d thrown something away.”

There was no hard feelings, and Kenney hopped on a call home while Nagy moved into the money. They took that step when Scott Ball’s pocket threes lost out to Mikita Badziakouski’s . Badziakouski had earlier been all-in for this tournament life but survived, and now knocked out Ball. It guaranteed everyone at least $110,000, but nothing for Ball.

Last six in the $50K Turbo (clockwise from top left): Mikita Badziakouski, Matthias Eibinger, Phil Nagy, Jonathan Jaffe, Alejks Ponakovs, Danny Tang

The average stack of the last six was only about 18 big blinds, and only two players had more. Jonathan Jaffe and Matthias Eibinger had been dominating from about two tables out.

One of the shorties was Danny Tang, who had observed just before the bubble that he was basically playing a starting stack, “It’s like I just regged,” he said. His next visit to the registration desk, however, was to pick up $110,000 for a sixth-place finish. Aleksejs Ponakovs’ jacks stayed strong against Tang’s .

That was as good as it got for Ponakovs, however, as the tournament became a total crapshoot. Only the chip-leading Jaffe and Eibinger had a double digit big-blind stack, so it was purely a case of either double up or go home. Ponakovs found , which was clearly good enough to get it in. Eibinger had and Ponakovs was soon out, taking $140,000.

Nagy busted next, and his elimination was pretty gross. Jaffe open-jammed with and Nagy called all in for his last handful of blinds with a dominating . A ten on the flop changed that, and finally released Nagy to go home. He said he was tired, and now had a cash of $185,000 to help him sleep.

The dam had definitely now burst and Badziakouski was next to be washed away. He had when he got it in and might have hoped for a chop against Jaffe’s . But Jaffe ended up with trip fives and that was that for Badziakouski. He banked $245,000.

Heads up between Jonathan Jaffe and Matthias Eibinger

Jaffe had a 46 to 18 big blind chip lead when they went heads-up, but Eibinger quickly doubled up to even them out. Eibinger found kings against Jaffe’s and there was no outdraw. It happened again soon after, with kings again finding their way into Eibinger’s hands. Jaffe this time had , but again the kings stayed good.

Jaffe finished second for $375,000 while Eibinger picked up another $545,000 and became a repeat Triton champion!

Event 9 – $50,000 NLHE Turbo
Date: September 13, 2022
Entries: 32 (inc. 11 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,600,000

1 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $545,000
2 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $375,000
3 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $245,000
4 – Phil Nagy, USA – $185,000
5 – Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – $140,000
6 – Danny Tang, UK – $110,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

GRAFTON BEATS THE BUSINESSMEN, THEN DOWNS LOELIGER FOR $5.5M COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL TRIUMPH

The inaugural Coin Rivet Invitational tournament reached a thrilling finale in Northern Cyprus tonight, with the final stages of this unique $200,000 buy-in event providing a perfect crystallisation of what’s so appealing about the Triton Super High Roller Series.

This prestigious tour brings together the world’s elite tournament pros and pits them against high-rolling recreational players, who may not have the same level of skill, but who have fearlessness born from bottomless pockets. For the first half of a high-octane final table, with a $5.5 million first prize in everyone’s sights, the pros were powerless to stop the charge of the hyper-aggressive French financial trader Karl Chappe-Gatien. He said he likes to play poker like he does his trading: high on risk and full of gamble.

But after Chappe-Gatien’s incredible steamroller eventually veered off the road, two top poker pros were lying in wait to pick up the pieces. Switzerland’s poker royalty Linus Loeliger and the British scrapper Sam Grafton ended up heads up for the title, with the momentum finally favouring Grafton. He completed his sensational rise through the poker ranks in emphatic fashion.

Grafton KO-ed Loeliger at around 10.30pm local time, earning the biggest win of his tournament poker career. Grafton first appeared on the poker scene playing tournaments with buy-ins of around $5. But tonight he walked away with a winner’s cheque of $5.5 million. It was a brilliant triumph for the 42-year-old, whose star continues to rise.

Heads up between Sam Grafton and Linus Loeliger

“It was so much fun,” Grafton said. “Playing against some of the most remarkable entrepreneurs and businesspeople in the world…It was played with a special spirit. On the day the two lanes merged, players were smiling like it was Christmas or their birthday. Everyone had a skip in their steps.

“Tournament poker is just amazing. Playing this format is very special.”

Grafton also gave special mention to the two players he defeated after a remarkable three-way battle. On Chappe-Gatien, Grafton said: “He played with so much heart and swagger. It was so much fun.” Grafton added about Loeliger, “Obviously Linus is remarkable. To beat him heads-up, he’s probably the best in the world in the heads up format.”

Loeliger, long established as one of the world’s greatest players, particularly in high stakes online cash games, took $3.9 million for second. Both the final two earned more from their single win in this tournament than they had in documented tournament cashes in their careers to date.

It took some doing to finally get past Loeliger, who twice hit river cards to survive heads-up, forcing Grafton to regroup and play harder. But after three days, he wasn’t going to let this chance slip through his fingers.

The 90 players who played the Coin Rivet Invitational were divided into two camps at the beginning of play. One one side were the recreational players, typically businesspeople with various finance, crypto or real estate connections. They were each permitted to extend one invitation to a pro to compete in the other half of the field. The two sides merged on Day 2 and stayed as one until the end.

Grafton’s partner, his friend and Coin Rivet co-founder Dave Nicholson, also made the money in the event, busting in 16th. Grafton approached Nicholson at the conclusion of the tournament and said, “Thanks for the invite, bruv. I wouldn’t have come if it hadn’t been for you. I didn’t have my name on the list.”

He then looked to another friend and said, “How have I done this?”

“It was destined,” the onlooker replied.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Ninety players began the event all the way back on Saturday, each parting with that $200,000. Over the course of the registration period, there were 25 re-entries, putting $23 million in the prize pool. The first elimination went in Loeliger’s favour, when he eliminated Phil Ivey in Level 1, and never looked back.

The tournament only really got serious on Sunday, day two, and for long periods yesterday, as the tournament moved slowly towards the money, Fedor Holz was making hay. He had a big stack and had all the skills to make the most of it, continually applying pressure to everyone at his table and asking them whether they wanted to risk busting, or simply give him their chips without a fight. He became a hugely dominant chip leader as a result.

However, after play resumed on Day 3 with 16 players left, Holz found resistance, chiefly in the form of the Dubai-based French trader Karl Chappe-Gatien. In one pivotal pot, Chappe-Gatien found kings when Holz had ace-king, and it all went in pre-flop. There was no ace and Chappe-Gatien scored an enormous double, slicing Holz’s stack to ribbons.

By that point, they were already in the money, of course. Chris Brewer became the bubble boy late on Sunday, losing most of his stack when he doubled up Ebony Kenney (kings staying good against ace-jack). It was an emotional moment. Brewer had made a slight blunder in failing to notice an opening raise before Kenney’s shove, and made a call that perhaps he otherwise wouldn’t, going on to compound his error by accidentally exposing his hand. He lost the pot and wept, crestfallen, into his baseball cap. “I’m out, I’m out,” he said, as if trying to come to terms with it.

Brewer actually survived that hand as he had the covering stack by one big blind, and he then managed a couple of doubles. He was still the short stack though and ended up being sent to the rail by Chappe-Gatien, finishing on the stone bubble.

The American author, trainer and entrepreneur Eric Worre also bust late on Sunday, but at least he was in the money. It left 16 coming back for the third and final day.

The recreational side of the draw was well represented on the last two tables. Eight of the final 16 were not professional players, exactly half the field, despite the supposed disparity in talent. However, the push to the final was particularly cruel on those so-called amateurs, with Dave Nicholson, Leon Tsoukernik, Horace Wei, Theis Vad Hennebjerre, Vadzim Godzdanker and Tony G all departing before the final.

The only pro to be knocked out was the American great and part-time Poseidon Daniel Cates, whose time in the jungle was ended by Seth Davies. It was a cutoff shove from Cates with , picked off by Davies’ .

Tony G’s bustout took us to the final, with Chappe-Gatien an comfortable leader. The stacks heading to the final were as follows:

Karl Chappe-Gatien – 9.5 million
Linus Loeliger – 7.175 million
Seth Davies – 4.825 million
Ebony Kenny – 3.425 million
Sam Grafton – 2.575 million
Tom Vogelsang – 2.250 million
Fedor Holz – 1.925 million
Elias Talvitie – 1.775 million
Aleksejs Ponakovs – 1.050 million

Coin Rivet Invitational final table players (clockwise from top left): Seth Davies, Ebony Kenney, Aleksejs Ponakov, Linus Loeliger, Elias Talvitie, Tom Vogelsang, Karl Chappe-Gatien, Sam Grafton, Fedor Holz.

Chappe-Gatien already had an advantage, and it quickly widened. The next player to get sucked into his vortex was Tom Vogelsang, who got it in good with against Chappe-Gatien’s , but then looked on impotently as Chappe-Gatien rivered a queen.

Vogelsang earned $620,000 for ninth, but obviously would have been hoping for more.

Tom Vogelsang was first out from the final table

The same most certainly applied to Seth Davies, who came to his third final table of the week in scintillating form, but whose run good had run out at the crucial times. That miserable pattern continued at this final table, as he became Chappe-Gatien’s second victim in short order.

First, Chappe-Gatien’s made a flush in a huge pot to beat Davies. And on the very next hand, they got it all in pre-flop with Chappe-Gatien’s making a straight to oust Davies’ . Davies, silent and stoic as ever, made his way to the payouts desk where $770,000 awaited him. But he must have been burning up inside.

Gritted teeth only for Seth Davies, who suffered another unfortunate elimination

Next up to the chopping block, Elias Talvitie. The Finnish real estate mogul was a proud recreational player, joking that his previous proudest moment in poker was hitting a bad beat jackpot in a Helsinki casino, winning €5,500. He got another bad beat here to end his participation in the Coin Rivet Invitational, but when his pocket sixes lost to Chappe-Gatien’s , all-in pre-flop, there was a $1,050,000 consolation prize waiting for him.

Talvitie did not seem unduly hurt by the turn of events, wishing his table-mates good luck as he departed in seventh.

Aleksejs Ponakovs also seemed perfectly at ease with his departure in sixth. The World Series bracelet winner from Latvia had been a tournament short stack from before the bubble period, but had eked into the money and then got to celebrate his 31st birthday at an enormous final table. He had been under threat on numerous occasions, and survived them all. Until he didn’t.

This time, in a break from tradition, it was Holz who applied the killer touch. First up, Holz doubled through Ponakovs with beating . Ponakovs was exposed with a short stack then and Holz then found to beat Ponakovs’ . That ended the tournament for Ponakovs and started the birthday party instead, with $1.375 million behind the bar.

No hard feelings from birthday boy Aleksejs Ponakovs

One of the best subplots to this entire Triton festival, and certainly the one that was attracting the most media attention, was the run of the American pro Ebony Kenney. Kenney was the first woman ever to play as a professional in a major invitational tournament such as this, the guest of Phil Nagy, and had clearly repaid the faith.

She had a film crew for an upcoming documentary following her every move, and excitement was beginning to reach fever pitch that she was going to do the unthinkable and actually win it. Having also been under threat during the bubble period, but survived, the Kenney dream was real. But then Chappe-Gatien intervened.

Both players found pocket pairs — jacks for Kenney and nines for Chappe-Gatien — and the chips all went in. Chappe-Gatien spiked a nine on the turn and faded straight outs, snuffing out Kenney’s hopes. She won $1.7 million, a huge increase on her previous highest career score, which she had secured only a couple of days ago when she was also fifth in the $25K curtain-raising tournament here. It’s an incredible start to a high roller career, and a fairly excellent opening chapter to a movie too.

Ebony Kenney’s thrilling ride comes to its conclusion

Kenney gave every opponent a hug on her departure, and the embrace seemed especially warm for Holz, the player next to whom she had spent a long period yesterday as he had put on his pre-bubble clinic. Holz, however, blessed as he is, turned out to be the next player out of this one, swept away in the Chappe-Gatien tsunami.

As before, Chappe-Gatien came from behind to score the knockout, with his hitting a flush to oust Holz’s . The jack on the flop gave the outdraw a particularly dramatic feel, but the hands played themselves with the stack depth, and certainly Holz didn’t seem to bear any grudges.

Although he missed out on his hat-trick of Triton titles, he added another $2.1 million to his ledger.

Fedor Holz shakes hands with his assassin

It turned out that Chappe-Gatien had hit his peak. Although it had looked for all the world as though his name was on the trophy, the whisky-quaffing Frenchman could get nothing further going his way. The big stack is obviously required to be the one to either double up the short stacks or knock them out, but he now began the process of doing the former, repeatedly, as both Grafton and Loeliger took chunks from his stack.

Loeliger doubled with against Chappe-Gatien’s . Then Grafton won a race with to Chappe-Gatien’s . Chappe-Gatien battled on with a short stack but it hardly suited him after the fireworks of the first couple of hours.

He was eventually forced in with and this time there was no outdrawing Grafton’s . Chappe-Gatien had proudly announced earlier that he didn’t really feel anything when gambling in poker, proudly announcing an absence of emotion. But something truly seemed to crackle as he gave Grafton a goodbye hug. They had become firm friends, and Chappe-Gatien was sorry to say goodbye.

The elimination, however, left us with just those two — and a hefty lead with Grafton. It was approximately 70 big blinds to 16, but Loeliger won the first all-in pot, with beating Grafton’s thanks to a king on the river.

The second all-in, call, also went to Loeliger, and this time the river saved him again. Grafton had to Loeliger’s . There was a king on the flop, but Loeliger had a flush draw on the turn and spiked a five on the river to survive.

When they got it in for a third time, Grafton had the advantage once more, but nobody was counting any chickens. Grafton had to Loeliger’s , and there was a flop of . It should have been over, but then the came on the turn and everyone held their breath.

The river finally allowed everyone to exhale. We were done, and Grafton was the inaugural Coin Rivet champion. He has come a long way.

Event 6: $200,000 NLHE Coin Rivet Invitational
Dates: September 10-12, 2022
Entries: 115 (inc. 25 re-entries)
Prize pool: $23,000,000

1 – Sam Grafton, UK – $5,500,000
2 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $3,900,000
3 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $2,600,000
4 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $2,100,000
5 – Ebony Kenney, USA – $1,700,000
6 – Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – $1,350,000
7 – Elias Talvitie, Finland – $1,050,000
8 – Seth Davies, USA – $770,000
9 – Tom Vogelsang, Netherlands – $620,000
10 – Tony G, Lithuania – $485,000
11 – Vadzim Godzdanker, Belarus – $485,000
12 – Daniel Cates, USA – $440,000
13 – Theis Vad Hennebjerre, Denmark – $440,000
14 – Horace Wei, Hong Kong – $400,000
15 – Leon Tsoukernik, Czech Republic – $400,000
16 – Dave Nicholson, UK – $380,000
17 – Eric Worre, USA – $380,000

Sam Grafton with his partner David Nicholson

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

ONE FOR THE HOME FANS: CYPRUS’ PHILIPPOU DEFEATS STARS TO WIN $25K PLO

A first champion from Cyprus: Christopher Philippou

All the hullaballoo in the tournament room at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Cyprus last night was focused on Day 2 of the Coin Rivet Invitational. It was playing into the money and beyond. But on three, then two and then one table across the room, Triton was naming its newest champion.

The $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha event played out in its entirety in relative silence on Sunday, September 11, and Cyprus-based Christopher Philippou claimed the very first major tournament score of his career — and it was a first-place on the world’s most prestigious tour.

Philippou beat a field of 32 entries, including nine re-entries, to claim at $270,000 prize. The final table gives an indication of the quality of the players defeated: Eric Seidel was knocked out in sixth, Stephen Chidwick made it to fourth and Philippou beat Talal Shakerchi heads-up to claim the prize.

Shakerchi had a healthy chip lead when it was just him and Philippou at the table, but Philippou was able to turn it around and wrap up the win just after 3am local time. His only other documented tournament cash came in an online WSOP event, where he finished 63rd in a $1,500 PLO event in 2020.

Heads up between Talal Shakerchi and Christopher Philippou

This is therefore a breakout success for him, against a small but exceptionally tough field. We hope it won’t be Philippou’s last appearance on the Triton Super High Roller series.

Event 7: $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha
Dates: September 11, 2022
Entries: 32 (inc. 9 re-entries)
Prize pool: $800,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

REGISTRATION CLOSES ON $23M COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL, WITH $5.5M FOR WINNER

The Coin Rivet Invitational is now 10 levels old, and that means registration is closed. It also means we now know specifically how big this thing is — and the answer is, pretty darn big.

There were 115 entries to the tournament, including 25 re-entries. That means there is $23 million in the prize-pool, with the winner now set to receive $5.5 million. The first 17 players will be paid, as we re-define the “min” in min-cash. The lowest payout is $380,000.

This is officially the second biggest tournament ever held on the Triton Series, behind only the 2019 Helping Hand for Charity event, with its £1 million buy-in.

Whatever way we look at it, this is a huge, huge success. When organisers first considered this tournament, the belief was that it might attract around 20-25 partnerships. But that number continued to go up and up, right up until the final moment that registration was permitted.

We ended up with 45 partnerships, i.e., 90 players, of whom 25 were knocked out and re-entered. There were also some players who opted not to exercise their option to re-enter. One and done.

However from now on, this is a freezeout. Lose your chips now, and the game is up. The other thing that has changed now is the tournament format. For Levels 11 and 12, tables are balanced with four pros and four recreational players. But there will be a full redraw after Level 12, mixing the field entirely.

It’s real poker now, folks. And soon it’s going to be time to name a few more millionaires.

$200,000 NLHE – Coin Rivet Invitational
Dates: September 10-12, 2022
Entries: 115 (inc. 25 re-entries)
Prize pool: $23,000,000

1 $5,500,000
2 $3,900,000
3 $2,600,000
4 $2,100,000
5 $1,700,000
6 $1,350,000
7 $1,050,000
8 $770,000
9 $620,000
10 $485,000
11 $485,000
12 $440,000
13 $440,000
14 $400,000
15 $400,000
16 $380,000
17 $380,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL GETS STARTED AT TRITON CYPRUS

Playing with fire at the Triton players party

The Coin Rivet Invitational got started at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Northern Cyprus today, pitting the world’s elite poker pros against high-rolling VIP businesspeople in a unique format poker tournament.

All entrants were required to stump up $200,000 to play, but just having the money wasn’t enough to gain entry. One half of the field comprises those recreational players, all keen poker enthusiasts but people with other, more significant income streams. Each of the VIPs was permitted to invite one poker pro to play the tournament too, with the two halves of the field remaining separate for the first day of play.

That restriction essentially means two separate tournaments running concurrently for the first day, before the fields merge on Day 2. It introduces ICM considerations for the pros from the very outset, with them keen not to bust before getting the chance to play against opposition from outside the game’s elite.

It also meant that the table draw, conducted in a grand ceremony at the Triton player’s party on the eve of the event, was taken very seriously. The partnerships were called onto the stage by MC Andy Rowe and then drew their seat cards from separate pots, determining where they would sit. There wasn’t much value to be had, with pros certain to be matched only with other pros, but it was important still to know the scale of the task, and to then dash away to study the competition. The full table draw for the start of the tournament is below.

Sosia Jiang and Jason Koon choose their seat cards

The tournament was then due to kick off at 4pm on Saturday, after formal introductions in the main congress centre of the Merit Royal Resort. There was a rare sense of anticipation as the players, their friends and family gathered. Organisers insisted the entire field was seated at the very start of play, to ensure pros didn’t opt instead to merely arrive when the fields were about to combine. The happy knock-on effect was a busy tournament room right from the start, and a crackling atmosphere.

Eventually, Rowe completed the “Shuffle up and deal!” and the tournament began. And as if to mark the grandness of the occasion, the first man out was Phil Ivey. That doesn’t happen to often either.

Here are some photos from the player party and table draw from Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive.

COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL
STARTING SEAT DRAW

BUSINESSPEOPLE

TABLE 1
1 Ivan Leow
2 Elias Talvtie
3 Leon Tsoukernik
5 Theis Hennebjerre
6 James Bord
7 Ali Reza Fatehi
8 Santhosh Suvarna
9 Aleksei Platonov

TABLE 2
1 Elton Tsang
2 Kent Staahle
3 Ewlong Zhou
5 David Einhorn
6 Jean Noel Thorel
7 Richard Yong
8 Kerem Tibuk
9 Kannapong Thanarattrakul

TABLE 3
1 Sosia Jiang
2 Horace Wei
3 Punnat Punsri
6 Phachara Wongwichit
7 Tony Guoga
8 Sam Miller
9 Unlu Sinan

TABLE 5
1 Ramin Hajiyev
2 Ashkan Fattahi
3 Eric Worre
5 Paul Newey
6 Feng Yu
8 Paul Phua
9 Johan Guilbert

TABLE 6
1 Philip Sternheimer
2 Amit Kanodia
3 Talal Shakerchi
5 Scott Ball
6 Morten Klein
8 Andrew Pantling
9 Karl Gatien

TABLE 7
1 Rob Yong
2 Wai Kin Yong
3 David Nicholson
5 Phillip Nagy
6 Sean Perry
7 Melika Razavi
8 Chin Wei Lim
9 Vadim Godzdanker

PROS

TABLE 8
2 Viktor Kudinov
3 Rui Cao
5 Benjamin Tollerene
6 Felipe Ramos
7 Barak Wisbrod
8 Ebony Kenney
9 Christoph Vogelsang

TABLE 9
1 Sam Greenwood
2 Albert Daher
3 Nick Petrangelo
5 Artur Martirosyan
6 Chris Brewer
7 Jason Koon
8 Danny Tang
9 Kahle Burns

TABLE 10
1 Phil Ivey
2 Stephen Chidwick
3 Tom Vogelsang
5 Linus Loeliger
6 Michael Zhang
7 Daniel Cates
8 Benjamin Heath
9 Viacheslav Buldygin

TABLE 11
1 Adrian Mateos
3 Michael Addamo
5 Fedor Holz
6 Luuk Gieles
7 Yuri Dzivelevski
8 Isaac Haxton
9 Mustapha Kanit

TABLE 12
1 Sam Grafton
2 Matthias Eibinger
3 Espen Uhlen Jørstad
5 Wiktor Malinowski
6 Henrik Hecklen
7 Patrik Antonius
8 Erik Seidel
9 Steve O’Dwyer

TABLE 13
1 Laszlo Bujtas
2 Aleksejs Ponakovs
5 Seth Davies
6 Mikita Badziakouski
7 David Peters
8 Michael Soyza
9 ElkY

BURNS IS BACK! AUSTRALIAN ENDS EXILE WITH $1.7M WIN IN CYPRUS

Kahle Burns marked his return to the Triton Series with the biggest cash of his career

In recent years, the high stakes poker scene has been a happy hunting ground for Australian players — or, more specifically, one Australian player, named Michael Addamo. But tonight at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Northern Cyprus, the biggest prize of the series so far was secured by another player from Down Under, a man who was swimming in the Triton waters before Addamo.

Kahle Burns picked up his biggest previous tournament score at one of Triton’s first events, finishing third in Macau, for $1.3 million, in October 2017. But nearly five years later, Burns is back, and this time he has gone even better.

Burns won the $75,000 buy-in Event #5 in the early hours of Saturday morning, banking a new career best of $1.73 million. He defeated Canada’s Sam Greenwood heads up, with the runner-up also taking a seven-figure score.

“I guess I’m just lucky,” Burns said, when asked how it felt to have come back to the Triton series and immediately secured a win. “I took some time off, spent some time with my girlfriend, my family. When you travel a lot, you start to miss some things. I was missing my friends, missing my family. But then I started to miss the poker, so I came back.”

This was a titanic battle, playing long into the night, and with the Triton Player’s Party starting and then finishing before this tournament was done. The final card came down at 2.23am, ending Greenwood’s pursuit of a maiden title, but adding Burns’s name to that particularly prestigious roll call.

He also won the Shamballa Jewels bracelet, and the biggest cash of his career.

FINAL DAY ACTION

Although plenty of the chatter in the tournament room was focused on the Coin Rivet Invitational, whose table draw was due to take place today ahead of the event tomorrow, registration was still open at the start of play in this $75K tournament, where big money was certain. In all, there were 88 entries, which guaranteed a very long day as they looked for the two millionaires.

The early stages went as expected, with players gradually drifting away without a cash. And then the bubble was navigated fairly smoothly too, with Burns knocking out Sean Perry in 14th. Perry ran into Burns’s pocket aces, having flopped what he thought was top pair with his own .

Laszlo Bujtas, Michael Soyza and Pedro Garagnani were then knocked out, securing a cash but missing out on the final.

With 10 left, they went to dinner, but hadn’t been back long before a double knockout took us down to a final table. Both Bruno Volkmann and Jonathan Jaffe were short stacked on the same table and action folded to Volkmann on the button. The Brazilian moved in for his last six big blinds, prompting Sam Greenwood, in the small blind, to re-shove with about 20 bigs. Jaffe then looked down at in the big blind and decided to commit his last 15 bigs with that.

Volkmann also had an ace — — but the problem was that Greenwood not only had the biggest stack, he had a better ace than all of them, with .

The dealer provided no help for either Volkmann or Jaffe and they went out in 10th ($145,000, Volkmann) and ninth ($185,000, Jaffe) respectively.

Event #5 final table players (clockwise from top left): Linus Loeliger, Artem Vezhenkov, Kahle Burns, Seth Davies, Sam Greenwood, Santhost Suvarna, Talal Shakerchi, Yuri Dzivielevski.

The eight-handed final table stacked up like this:

Seth Davies – 3,580,000
Sam Greenwood – 3,325,000
Linus Loeliger – 2,665,000
Kahle Burns – 2,415,000
Yuri Dzivielevski – 2,095,000
Artem Vezhenkov – 1,490,000
Talal Shakerchi – 1,230,000
Santhost Suvarna – 785,000

Although he was propping up the counts, there was no question as to who was the happiest player to be sitting at the final table. Santhost Suvarna was at his first Triton Series stop, here to play in the Coin Rivet Invitational, but having previously recorded documented tournament cashes only in his native India. They added up to only around $18,000, so this was a major step up in both stakes and competition.

Making it all the way to eighth had attracted a busy rail of at least five friends or family members. Event when Suvarna lost his final pot, with beaten by , Suvarna’s supporters cheered. They accompanied him to the payouts desk where $245,000 was waiting for him. That will be an enormous confidence boost ahead of the big one tomorrow.

The next player out was Artem Vezhenkov, who had made the money for the second time on this, his debut trip to the Triton Series. After a 10th-place finish in the $25K first event of the week, he earned himself $315K for his run to seventh — and it might have been more had Kahle Burns not rivered a straight with a dominated hand.

Vezhenkov raised from early position pre-flop with and Burns defended his big blind with . They saw a flop of and Burns’s bet was called by Vezhenkov. That took them to the turn.

Burns, with a straight draw and a live nine too, moved all-in, covering Vezhenkov comfortably. Vezhenkov called and was ahead, but the hit Burns and sent Vezhankov out.

The pot put Burns into the chip lead, but Seth Davies retook supremacy in a pot that terminally damaged Linus Loeliger’s chances in the event. Loeliger got aggressive with a three-bet shove from the big blind after Davies’ button open. Loeliger, with 2.6 million in his stack, covered Davies’ 2.1 million.

It wasn’t really about Loeliger’s . He was presumably hoping for a fold, against a light button open. But Davies had it this time, specifically , and Loeliger paid dearly for the bad timing.

His stack was cut to shreds and he perished at the hands of Burns not long later. Loeliger won $400,000 for sixth.

Dzivielevski assumed the five-handed chip lead after turning a straight against Burns and extracting all the value, but as the levels grew shorter, owing to the reduced number of players, the stacks grew shorter, applying pressure to everyone else.

Talal Shakerchi’s stack was the next to vanish. He lost a huge pot when Dzivielevski forced him to fold with a big river shove, looking at a board of , and Greenwood hoovered up the last, winning a race with against Shakerchi’s pocket twos.

Shakerchi’s last appearance on the Triton Series was in London in 2019, where he played the £1 million Helping Hand for Charity event. And he’s in town this week for the Coin Rivet, of course. He’ll obviously be happy with a $510,000 score by way of warm up.

Four players now remained, and they were four of the very best. It seemed highly unlikely that there would be any false steps, so the gods would have a large part to play in how the remaining $4.5 million would be divvied up. Both Burns and Dzivielevski entered a period where they couldn’t win a pot. Dzivielevski in particular doubled up both Davies and then Greenwood, slipping out of the chip lead to become the man most under threat.

He survived another few orbits but the first time Dzivielevski was all-in and under threat, he was out. His lost to Burns’ when the smaller ace rivered a wheel.

Dzivielevski has had a decent week, with a second place in the $30K, where he won $750K, and now a fourth for another $630K. It can’t be long until a trophy is heading to Brazil, likely in his luggage.

Yuri Dzivielevski endured a rough ride short-handed

The three remaining players — two north Americans and an Australian — had only 70 big blinds between them, but they were evenly spread. It meant some cagey play and chips gradually moving in one direction and then back again. As the blinds went up again, it got even more swingy, with each player holding the chip lead and then each surrendering it. There were no fewer than six double-ups as the chips began to fly, with Burns coming out on the right side of most of them.

After Burns won a huge one from Davies — Burns had against Davies’ and hit an ace — Davies was back on the ropes. The next hand he was out, as Burns found aces and Davies had . Davies flopped a queen, but it wasn’t enough.

Davies continues to go deep but was still unable to get over the line. He took $815K for third.

The remaining two were both now millionaires, but both obviously still very keen to win their first Triton trophy. Burns had a better than three-to-one chip lead, with 34 BBs versus Greenwood’s 10.

In these circumstances, it couldn’t really be a long heads-up battle, and the first all-in confrontation ended it. Burns had to Greenwood’s pocket fours, but hit a seven to lock it up.

“Good game, my friend,” Burns said as he shook Greenwood’s hand. Both will be very content with their result.

“If you enter a tournament, you know you’re not really supposed to win it,” Burns said. “So you always have to get lucky…I do what I think is good. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

This was one of the time it did.

Event 5: $75,000 NLH – 8–Handed
Dates: September 8-9, 2022
Entries: 88 (inc. 34 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,600,000

1 – Kahle Burns, Australia – $1,730,000
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $1,210,000
3 – Seth Davies, USA – $815,000
4 – Yuri Dzivielevski, Brazil – $630,000
5 – Talal Shakerchi, UK – $510,000
6 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $400,000
7 – Artem Vezhenkov, Russia – $315,000
8 – Santhost Suvarna, India – $245,000
9 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $185,000
10 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – $145,000
11 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – $145,000
12 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $135,000
13 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $135,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

SWEET REDEMPTION FOR PIETER AERTS, BUBBLE BOY TURNED TRITON CHAMPION

Champion Pieter Aerts claimed the spoils only two days after a sickening bubble

The best thing about these long stops on the Triton Series is that no matter how badly it goes one day, there’s always a chance for redemption soon after.

Just ask Pieter Aerts.

Back on Tuesday night, Aerts was the bubble boy in Event #2, busting just one agonising spot short of the money in the €30K 6-Handed tournament. But two days later, Aerts is now a Triton champion, picking up $1,472,000 alongside his first Triton trophy as the winner of the €50K 6-Max in Cyprus tonight.

“Obviously, I feel very, very good,” Aerts said, clutching that trophy alongside his exclusive Shamballa Jewels bracelet, handed to winners at Triton Cyprus. “I got luck to be in this position, but I guess that’s always the case.”

Aerts revealed that he originally had a flight back to his native Belgium booked for today, but changed it so he could play the final table. The same thing had happened a few weeks ago, when he had a flight booked on the day he also made it to the final of a World Series event on GG Poker. Aerts changed his flight that day too and went on to win the bracelet.

If anyone needs the phone number of Aerts’ lucky travel agent, he could probably auction it to the highest bidder.

Aerts defeated the British pro Sam Grafton heads up, after those two were the final players left of a 117-entry field. The luck Aerts referred to in his interview came on the final hand, when he managed to spike a deuce to eliminate Grafton when Grafton had a dominating ace in an all-in pot. But having suffered that bubble experience, it’s difficult to begrudge him the victory this time. Grafton will surely be content with $994,500 for second.

Aerts paid tribute to all of his beaten opponents, as well as the staff of the Triton Series, and his supporters watching the stream.

“These events are top notch,” he said. “It’s been such a good experience…It’s something I hope all poker players can have. I want to thank everyone who was railing me at home.”

A champion’s fist-clench for Pieter Aerts

Aerts finished his winner’s interview by issuing an open invitation to any watching businesspeople who might be considering a late entry to the $200,000 Coin Rivet Invitational, starting on Saturday.

If someone wants a player in form, Aerts will surely happily change his flight again…

FINAL DAY ACTION

With 36 players surviving the 12 levels of the opening day, everyone in the tournament room at the Merit Diamond resort knew they were in for a long day today. We had to find a winner, and stacks were deep at the start.

The first significant order of business was the bubble, which would burst when only 17 remained. As is typical, the tournament flowed quickly as the bubble remained in the distance, but then slowed significantly as it loomed clearly into view. It took 11 hands of hand-for-hand play on three tables before Vladi Chaoulov, who had been chip leader earlier in the day, became the player to leave with nothing.

Chaoulov lost two major pots, both to Fedor Holz and both with less than premium holdings — and — although it was probably only because Holz had trips and then a straight, respectively, that he was able to pick him off. Chaoulov had merely mistimed his aggression and paid the price.

With Chaoulov gone, the rest of the field could relax and pick up a minimum of $92,000 apiece — although all, of course, were still focused on the first seven-figure payday of the festival.

Post-bubble, all of Espen Jorstad, Paul Phua and Jason Koon, among others, were swept away, and when Thailand’s Punnat Punsi hit the rail in eighth, the last seven assembled around just one table. It was a six-handed tournament, but they don’t play with a four/three divide.

Event #3 unofficial final table (l-r): Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Fedor Holz, Ben Tollerene, Matthias Eibinger, Sam Grafton, Isaac Haxton, Pieter Aerts.

Holz was still in a clear lead, and his closest challenger was the bubble boy of Event 2, Pieter Aerts, who had this time made the most of surviving through the earlier dangers. Kannapong Thanarattrakul was at his second final table of the week as was Ben Tollerene, of course, who was yesterday’s champion.

They stacked up like this:

Fedor Holz, Germany – 6,030,000
Pieter Aerts, Belgium – 4,590,000
Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – 3,545,000
Matthias Eibinger, Austria – 3,145,000
Sam Grafton, UK – 2,110,000
Benjamin Tollerene, USA – 2,040,000
Isaac Haxton, USA – 1,790,000

The seven-handed stage went on far longer than anyone could have expected and, for some people, far longer than they could possibly have wanted. Chief among them was Holz, whose previously unimpeachable stack suddenly took a nosedive. He lost a major pot to Aerts when the two leaders got involved in something that got badly out of hand. Holz had three-bet pre-flop with and continued to tell the same story of strength after the flop (it went bet, raise, call here) and then after the turn. That’s the point at which Aerts shoved for his last 2.3 million and Holz called.

There have been a lot of amazing hero calls already in this Triton festival, but this wasn’t one of the successful occasions. Aerts had pocket jacks and was good, scoring the full double. It left Holz with only 2.3 million, but when he found a pair of jacks of his own a few hands later, both Kannapong Thanarattrakul and Ben Tollerene had ace-king and ended up chopping it up on the river when a king fell. Holz was walking away as they divvied up his chips, picking up $260,300 for seventh and a second cash in consecutive days.

Isaac Haxton became the next man to hit the rail, having not really been able to do much more than tread water at the final. His elimination was one of those unfortunate ones that plays itself: Matthias Eibinger open-shoved the button with a stack that covered both Sam Grafton, in the small blind, and Haxton, in the big.

Grafton got out of the way, but Haxton’s pocket eights were way ahead of Eibinger’s shoving range in this spot and he called. Eibinger had but hit his ace to send Haxton packing. His sixth place paid $340,300.

It was about this point that Sam Grafton began an exceptional resurrection. Grafton had been the short stack for quite a while, essentially clinging on for dear life. But he managed to double up through Haxton, Eibinger and Tollerene, making him far more comfortable as each of those three went broke.

Sam Grafton’s resurrection picks up pace

Eibinger lost a heap in the pot against Grafton — vs. — and the rest of it went to Tollerene with against Eibinger’s . Eibinger won $431,800 for fifth.

The end of the road for Matthias Eibinger

But Tollerene followed him quickly out of the door, getting outdrawn by Aerts’ . This was only Tollerene’s third Triton tournament and he followed up yesterday’s outright victory with a fourth-place finish, worth $535,000. Easy when you know how.

Ben Tollerene learns that you can’t win them all

While the back-to-back final-table exploits of Tollerene and Holz did not go unnoticed, only one player in today’s final had cashed all three of the opening events in this festival. That man was Thailand’s Kannapong Thanarattrakul, who finished seventh in Event #1 for $145K and 10th in Event #2 for $75,000. He was also now in the final three of Event #3, and although he went out next, he banked another $646,500.

Grafton and Aerts combined to account for Thanarattrakul, with Grafton’s pocket fours taking a chunk, followed by Aerts’s pocket sixes. The final sliver went to Aerts when Thanarattrakul pushed with and Aerts called and won with .

Two cashes in as many days for Kannapong Thanarattrakul

Aerts had a significant chip lead when heads-up play began — around 16 million to Grafton’s 6.5 million. But the big blind was 250,000, so there might still have been some play in it yet. However after about half an hour of play with no significant chip fluctuations, the first major pot of heads-up ended up being the last.

Aerts, in the small blind, looked down at and just called. Grafton, with a stack of 6.7 million, found and raised it up.

Aerts pushed all-in, with a covering stack of about 17 million, and Grafton snap-called. This was looking like a great spot for another Grafton double up, and the flop was clean. But the popped out on the turn, vaulting Aerts into the lead, and he never let it go.

“My birthday in coming up in two weeks, so me and my friends are going to have a pretty big celebration,” Aerts said, revelling in this second triumph. Start looking for flights to Belgium.

Event 3: $50,000 NLH – 6 – Handed
Dates: September 7-8, 2022
Entries: 117 (inc. 45 re-entries)
Prize pool: $5,850,000

1 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $1,472,000
2 – Sam Grafton, UK – $994,500
3 – Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – $646,500
4 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $535,000
5 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $431,800
6 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $340,300

7 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $260,300
8 – Punnat Punsi, Thailand – $196,000
9 – Jason Koon, USA – $146,000
10 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $120,000
11 – Philip Nagy, USA – $105,300
12 – Alexey Borovkov, Russia – $105,300
13 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $105,300
14 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $96,500
15 – Sean Perry, USA – $96,500
16 – Ben Heath, UK – $92,000
17 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $92,000

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive

EVENT 1 – $25,000 NLH 8-HANDED

EVENT 2 – $30,000 NLH 6-HANDED

EVENT 3 – $50,000 NLH 6-HANDED

EVENT 5 – $75,000 NLH 8-HANDED

EVENT 6 – $200,000 NLH COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL

EVENT 7 – $25,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA

EVENT 8 – $100,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

EVENT 9 – $50,000 NLH 8-HANDED TURBO

EVENT 10 – $30,000 SHORT DECK ANTE ONLY

FINAL DAY ACTION

TOURNAMENT ACTION

TOURNAMENT ACTION

TOURNAMENT ACTION

COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL STARTING SEAT DRAW

BUSINESSPEOPLE

PROS

FINAL DAY ACTION

FINAL DAY ACTION

COIN RIVET INVITATIONAL
STARTING SEAT DRAW