Author: Howard Swains

The Belarusian businessman Mikalai Vaskaboinikau is only an occasional player on the Triton Super High Roller Series, usually heading to town when there’s a big invitational to play, and when the buy-ins are biggest. He usually plays two events per trip, for six events total so far in his career. His tally of three final tables was already staggering.

Today, Vaskaboinikau has gone even better. After an early surge at the $125,000 buy-in Triton Montenegro Main Event final table, Vaskaboinikau prevailed from a nervy short-stacked, short-handed battle to down Dejan Kaladjurdjevic heads up and win $4.737 million.

It was his first title from a fourth final. It’s worth restating: he has only ever played six events on this series.

“It’s a really amazing feeling,” Vaskaboinikau said. “I had a good feeling about this a few months ago. I put this thought in my mind in a dream.” He hinted at the true value of his business dealings when he described the prize as “not life-changing money”, but added: “I’m really happy about this.”

Vaskaboinikau, who is 37, is hardly a household name in the world of poker. Neither is his defeated heads-up opponent Kaladjurdjevic, who became the first Montenegrin to play on the tour, the first to cash and the first to make a final table. He will have to try again to land a first title, but has $3.196 million to continue his quest.

But this was all about Vaskaboinikau, who managed to treat one of the world’s undisputed titans, Phil Ivey, as if he was a newbie, and also outgunned Triton heavyweights such as Bryn Kenney, Wai Kin Yong and Aleks Ponakovs — not to mention the rest of the world’s best who came and fell in this massive Main Event.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Day 1 was all about prize pool accumulation and stack building, with the entry tally quickly scooting past 100. When late registrants were included, it got all the way to 171 entries and a $21.375 million prize pool, with a promised $4.737 million to the winner.

Day 2 was characterised, as always, by an anxious trickle of eliminations all the way close to the money, at which point the $214,000 min-cash became the revised target for many.

The bubble in this one was again a lot of fun — unless you happened to be two of the three principal characters in the drama. After good-natured bubble a couple of days ago, boss man Paul Phua was once again among the short stacks as the field thinned to fewer than 30.

There were 27 places due to be paid, and Phua was alongside Matthias Eibinger and Mikita Badziakouski as the three players with sub-10 big blind stacks.

They were each on different tables, so Phua was sweating it from the Triton Poker Plus app. Suddenly Eibinger shot up to the dizzy heights of 11 big blinds. “No!” shouted Phua. “Eibinger got a walk!”

Chris Brewer, at Phua’s table, consulted the app and offered a correction. “It was a steal,” Brewer said. “He opened under the gun and they folded.”

Eibinger wandered past. You couldn’t miss him in his bright orange hoodie. “You got walk? Or you earn it?” quizzed Phua. Eibinger chuckled.

“Aaah, Mikita!” Phua said on the next deal.

“He’s celebrating that you folded your big blind,” Brewer explained, to laughs around the room.

Danny Tang soon wasn’t finding it funny. He three-bet jammed his big blind over Phil Ivey’s early position open, but quickly learned that Ivey wasn’t at it. Ivey called and his pocket jacks beat Tang’s . Tang plummeted out of the tournament in 29th place. It beckoned in hand-for-hand play and the stone bubble.

Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi took the microphone and stated the rules of hand-for-hand play, including the fact that if two players bust from separate tables on the same hand, they split the 27th place prize money.

Badziakouski hatched a plan. “Paul, we go blind all in together? Chop chop!”

Eibinger now chirped up from across the room. “That’s the way!” he said.

They continued to yuck it up like you would if the next hand could be the difference between $214,000 and nothing.

Phua got his chips in. It came as a shove over chip leader Paulius Vaitiekunas’s early position open. Vaitiekunas called and although Phua said, “I don’t have a very good hand,” his pocket sixes held against Vaitiekunas’ . “Mikita, sorry,” Phua said.

But it was not Badziakouski who really needed the apology. This was Eibinger’s bubble. The Austrian put out a raise to 300,000 from mid-position, leaving himself 140,000 behind. (The big blind was 50K.) Ivey, in the big blind, moved all in, comfortably covering Eibinger.

Eibinger waited for all the hands to finish elsewhere before committing his last chips. He was in trouble. Eibinger’s was behind Ivey’s . The flop was the all action . But the turn and river changed nothing.

That was that for Eibinger. The two-time champion hit the rail in 28th and the Main Event was in the money.

The plan was to play down to a final table of nine, but with significant payjumps all down the payout ladder, and ICM geniuses packing the field, this was never likely to be fast. Phua enjoyed his bubble reprieve and edged up the counts. Meanwhile Ivey continued his relentless surge through the field, underlining his immense pedigree.

Japan’s star Masashi Oya also spent some time at the top of the counts, but no one occupied the summit in the counts as long as Chris Brewer, whose careful aggression proved impossible to play against for many.

Without question, the most significant pot of this phase involved Brewer, chip-leading at the time, in a hand against another well-staked competitor, Wai Kin Yong. Brewer had aces, Yong had queens, and they went at it for heaps.

The vast majority of the money went in on the seven-high flop, with Brewer shoving and Yong calling off for his tournament. And then, boom, a queen on the turn. It gave Yong a massive double and sent Brewer plunging down the counts. He lasted only three more hands before busting in 13th, one spot before Phua.

As for Yong, he found himself unimpeachable at the top as the tournament played slowly into the early hours of the morning. With only 12 minutes left before officials intended to call it a night, Paulius Vaitiekunas bust in 10th to set a final table. Everyone could retire to get some sleep.

FINAL DAY ACTION

It had been a late finish to Day 2, but they finally got it done. It meant the following nine returned to play to a winner on the tournament’s last day.

Wai Kin Yong – 8,725,000 (70 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 7,850,000 (63 BBs)
Phil Ivey – 7,100,000 (57 BBs)
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic – 5,300,000 (42 BBs)
Igor Yaroshevskyy – 4,725,000 (38 BBs)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 3,100,000 (25 BBs)
Samuel Ju – 3,000,000 (24 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 1,650,000 (11 BBs)
Elizabeth Chen – 1,250,000 (10 BBs)

For obvious reasons, most poker fans had their eyes fixed on Ivey. Meanwhile, Triton observers wanted to know if the all-time money list leader Bryn Kenney could take down another monster event. Perhaps better than all that in wider poker terms, however, was the presence of Elizabeth Chen at this final table. Women remain under-represented in the poker world, and it was hugely refreshing to see Chen taking her place among this elite nine.

Chen had survived a heart-in-mouth moment on the bubble, but had subsequently picked her spots judiciously as she navigated her way to the last nine. With the shortest stack in the room, it was always going to be difficult to run it up, but she got it in good at the final with pocket eights to Ivey’s .

Anyone will tell you that the key to taking down any poker tournament is to win your flips. But Chen couldn’t win this one. The king on the flop ended her chances. Chen won $478,000 as the field slimmed to eight.

Kenney was now shortest, but doubled through Dejan Kaladjurdevic to survive. But the next significant pot Kenney paid pitted two pocket pairs against one another: Kenney with nines was faced with Igor Yaroshevskyy’s tens.

Kenny moved away from the table to watch the run-out through the reaction of his girlfriend sitting on the rail. She was watching the video screen and Kenney looked for her expression to crack as she saw the dealer put the flop, turn and river down. She didn’t break. The board was dry and Kenney was out.

He is still comfortable at the top of the Triton money list, but his payday this time was “only” $580,000 for eighth.

Having enjoyed the good fortune of the major cooler to eliminate Brewer yesterday, Yong was essentially freerolling into this final table. However, his luck quickly ran out at the most crucial stage, shipping back-to-back pots to Mikalau Vaskaboinikau. First, Vaskaboinikau doubled with beating Yong’s . But then the killer: Yong found pocket queens again and was this time ahead of Vaskaboinikau’s pocket tens.

But in a repeat of yesterday’s beat, the tens spiked a third on the river to give Vaskaboinikau a set. Yong was now sent to the rail with the same hand he had profited most with yesterday. Yong had gone from first to seventh at this final, and won $800,000.

Six players were left. And each was now guaranteed six figures. However, with $3.7 million between sixth and first, nobody was going to be taking any stupid chances.

The problem was that the dealer kept dealing out coolers. Samuel Ju had more than 4 million in chips, around 22 big blinds, when he picked up pocket queens. The resurgent Vaskaboinikau raised for the umpteenth time, Ju three-bet the queens and Vaskaboinikau jammed. Ju called all in, but Vaskaboinikau had it again.

His kings stayed best for another huge pot. Ju, following up his second-place finish in the $40K Mystery Bounty earlier this week, hit the rail in sixth. His $1,098,000 prize was still much bigger than his total prior Triton earnings combined.

With five players left, and levels now shortened in length, the shrinking stack sizes offered less for players to work with and increased the ICM pressure dramatically. Each payjump was now even more significant.

Dejan Kaladjurdjevic had the relative liberty of the tournament short stack and duly doubled it up. That put him essentially neck-and-neck with Ivey, Ponakovs and Vaskaboinikau at the top, with Yaroshevskyy a distant fifth.

Whatever happened in this event, Yaroshevskyy had already enjoyed a superstar trip to Montenegro. He had cashed three of the five previous tournaments he’d played, made two final tables and won the $50K Bounty Quattro. It was already a terrific return. A final table appearance in the Main Event was further proof of a player in form, but he didn’t quite get the run good at the final to go all the way again.

Yaroshevskyy seemed to have the second best hand in all the crucial spots, and he then suffered one last indignity when he called a shove with his last 10 blinds and ended up losing to a three-outer. Ponakovs made the aforementioned shove with and Yaroshevskyy had , technically the “average” pre-flop hold’em holding.

Yaroshevskyy made the call and had a dominant hand, but the jack on the flop hit Ponakovs and sent Yaroshevskyy packing. He won another $1,430,000 for fifth and retired to the lounge to watch the tournament play to its conclusion. He would have wanted more, but there were no complaints.

Ivey came into today’s final table knowing that a win would bring him within only a few Player of the Year points of Danny Tang as the season goes to the wire. But he had found a nemesis in this tournament in the form of Vaskaboinikau, who seemed to have Ivey’s number — or, at least, was a player who seemed to have a better hand when Ivey had a good one.

Vaskaboinikau won a massive pot with when he rivered a flush. That was convenient because Ivey’s had done the same, and they were both happy to risk it all.

That coup left Ivey in real trouble, and when he found an ace and a good opportunity to open shove, from the button, Vaskaboinikau was lurking behind him with an ace as well, and a better kicker. Vaskaboinikau’s beat Ivey’s as Ivey perished in fourth. It earned him $1,795,000, but he’ll need a good showing in the PLO to catch Tang.

The last three took a scheduled break, with Vaskaboinikau in a decent lead. He had 56 blinds, Ponakovs had 34 and Kaladjurdjevic continued to bring up the rear with 16 big blinds. Whatever happened for him, it was a pretty spectacular way to start a Triton career: locking up a minimum $2.2 million as a first cash on the series.

But he wasn’t giving up without a fight. Kaladjurdjevic found and called Vaskaboinikau’s three-bet jam with . That scored a double. And as Kaladjurdjevic continued to chip away, they bunched up with all three players having between 20 and 30 big blinds.

For some obvious reasons, the table tightened right up as every blind assumed ever more value. Vaskaboinikau managed to hold firm at the top, but Ponakovs slid down to the bottom of the pack. That was a good time for Ponakovs to find . He shoved, Vaskaboinikau called with , and Ponakovs doubled to stay alive.

Kaladjurdjevic was now short again, but shoved twice on Vaskaboinikau and chipped up, before he played an absolutely extraordinary hand against Ponakovs. The long and short version of it is that Kaladjurdjevic had pocket aces, Ponakovs had pocket kings and Kaladjurdjevic ended up with a royal flush. For real. Kaladjurdjevic limped his aces from the small blind and Ponakovs checked his kings in the big.

The fell and Kaladjurdevic bet one big blind. Ponakovs called. After the turn, Kaladjurdjevic bet a little more and got a call again. And then the river gave Kaladjurdjevic the royal and Ponakovs a set of kings.

Kaladjurdjevic laid the trap with a check. Ponakovs side-stepped it with a check back. Hands don’t get any bigger than that, and somehow it wasn’t a double up.

Vaskaboinikau was now the short stack, but not for long. He doubled through Ponakovs with everything going in pre-flop and beating . Vaskaboinikau took command again, with Kaladjurdjevic clinging on. And sometimes that’s all you have to do to win a million bucks.

Kaladjurdjevic must have greatly enjoyed seeing Ponakovs and Vaskaboinikau get it all in. They were the two biggest stacks. Ponakovs had to Vaskaboinikau’s . And though a jack on the flop gave Ponakovs hope, the ace on the turn snatched it away.

The three-handed grind was finally over, with Ponakovs leaving and picking up $2,200,000.

Vaskaboinikau had 44 big blinds to Kaladjurdjevic’s 9 as heads-up began. But there was only 1 minute on the clock, meaning very few hands, until the blinds went up again. And but two hands were all they needed.

Kaladjurdjevic shoved with and Vaskaboinikau found pocket sixes with which to make a mandatory call. They stayed good.

“Poker tournaments is always second, second, second for me,” Vaskaboinikau lamented. “Now finally it was my time.”

He takes a spectacular trophy and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece, given to Main Event champions on the Triton Series.

“For sure it will be one of the brightest moments in my life,” Vaskaboinikau said.

RESULTS

Event 9 – $125,000 – 8-Handed NLHE Main Event
Dates: May 19-21, 2024
Entries: 171 (inc. 69 re-entries)
Prize pool: $21,375,000

1 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $4,737,000
2 – Dejan Kaladjurdjevic, Montenegro – $3,196,000
3 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $2,200,000
4 – Phil Ivey, USA – $1,795,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $1,430,000
6 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $1,098,000
7 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $800,000
8 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $580,000
9 – Elizabeth Chen, China – $478,000

10 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $406,000
11 – Mauricio Salazar, Colombia – $406,000
12 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $353,000
13 – Chris Brewer, USA – $353,000
14 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $320,000
15 – Xianchao Shen, China – $320,000
16 – Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania – $287,000
17 – Wang Yang, China – $287,000
18 – Stanley Choi, Hong Kong – $256,000
19 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $256,000
20 – Yerai Iribarren, Spain – $256,000
21 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $235,000
22 – Hossein Ensan, Germany – $235,000
23 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $235,000
24 – Justin Saliba, USA – $214,000
25 – Dan Smith, USA – $214,000
26 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $214,000
27 – Joe Zou, China – $214,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The first six-figure buy-in tournament of the Triton Poker Series visit to Montenegro ended tonight in a duke out between two of this exclusive world’s sharpest young shooters.

Both Bulgaria’s Alex Kulev, 29, and France’s Thomas Santerne, 25, have only recently emerged from the hordes of young online whizzes to become new forces in the high buy-in live arena. And tonight, with all the other wizened old heads that comprised a 102-entry field having left the stage, Kulev and Santerne went head to head for the latest trophy.

Kulev was the man who remained standing as the clock ticked precisely to midnight. It was especially sweet given the circumstances: his parents completed a six-hour journey to watch him just as the heads-up match was heading in Santerne’s direction. “That was the turning point,” Kulev said, as he won a string of pots to wrestle into the lead.

He never looked back and picked up the $2.56 million first prize.

“I’m a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest,” Kulev said. “This means a lot to me. To accomplish this in front of my family is very special to me. I will cherish this for a long time.”

Kulev’s profession has taken him away from the country of his birth. He is based now in Dublin, from where he became one of the best known online tournament poker pros. But he has found an immediate home on the Triton Series, which he described as being the place that “the best play against the best”. After a number of recent final tables, he has now secured a first title and said he is here to stay. “I won’t miss another one for a long time,” Kulev said.

For Santerne, he banked $1.735 million and one suspects we will be seeing a whole lot of him as well. He is four years Kulev’s junior and has plenty of time to build on this performance too.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With a $100K buy-in, this tournament was always certain to be the biggest so far of the festival, and the 102 entries put more than $10 million in the prize pool. It was a two-day tournament certain to go the distance, and the steady journey to the business end was full of the usual thrills and spills.

There was all kinds of drama at the bubble approached, mainly featuring our four-time champion Mike Watson. He had been one of the short stacks, but won a huge pot from Stephen Chidwick when he turned pocket kings into a full house and earned the maximum, which left Chidwick with fewer than 10 blinds.

Up on the feature table, Jason Koon bust two from the money, and Watson moved up there to balance things out. It was there that Watson again played a massive pot, this time holding . Watson was fifth in chips while his opponent, Thomas Santerne was the tournament leader at the time. Santerne had pocket tens and all the money went in pre-flop.

The ace on the flop gave Watson considerable hope of not only getting into the money, but perhaps assuming the chip lead. But the river was a third ten for Santerne, ending Watson’s tournament and sending Santerne into the stratosphere.

Around the room, Chidwick, Sean Winter, Nacho Barbero and Seth Davies were among the short stacks to enjoy the scenes. They crept into the money as Watson skulked away empty handed.

Santerne’s chip lead seemed unassailable until he ran kings into Xu Liang’s aces, resulting in a massive double for the latter. Meanwhile Danny Tang was running riot on another table and the four-time champion took over the ultimate chip lead.

When they reached a final, they lined up as follows:

Danny Tang – 3,775,000 (76 BBs)
Xu Liang – 3,695,000 (74 BBs)
Dan Dvoress – 3,290,000 (66 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 2,757,000 (52 BBs)
Thomas Santerne – 2,170,000 (43 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 1,905,000 (38 BBs)
Maher Nouira – 1,300,000 (26 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 1,195,000 (24 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 500,000 (10 BBs)

There was a healthy mix here of familiar faces and Triton newcomers, interspersed with some players who have been around a while but eyeing a breakout success. As the leader of the all time Triton Series money list, Bryn Kenney clearly belonged into the first category, even if it had been a while since he was at a final table.

This stay didn’t last long for Kenney. He managed to double through Danny Tang with nines beating , but two hands later slammed queens into the same player’s kings. That was that for Kenney, who took $255,000 for ninth.

Aleks Ponakovs is still looking for a first Triton title despite 14 cashes and more than $8 million in prize money. He also has a very healthy habit of running deep in the biggest buy-in events. Here he was again at a six-figure buy-in final, but he couldn’t turn the short stack into anything more significant.

He open/called all-in when Dylan Linde jammed, but Linde’s pocket jacks beat Ponakovs’ and it was the end of the road. Ponakovs banked $342,000 for eighth.

By the standards of all other finals this week, this one was deep at this stage. The average stack was close to 40 big blinds, and there was play still for everyone. That soon included Maher Nouira too, who doubled his small stack through Linde. It left the American to try to cling on, but he could not do it.

Linde’s final hand was and he was up against Liang’s . They got to a flop for only one raise and a call and both hit their kicker. After a low turn, the rest of the money went in and Linde called it off.

Liang’s tens were best, leaving Linde with $454,00 for seventh.

It turned out to be a bad few minutes for players from North America as Dan Dvoress lasted only one hand longer than Linde. In this one, Dvoress opened with , only to see Santerne three-bet. Dvoress jammed for 20 BBs and Santerne called. The Frenchman had pocket queens.

Dvoress needed an ace. He didn’t get one. So he left in sixth for $594,000.

Santerne reassumed the chip lead with that pot, but he only held it as long as it took Kulev to find pocket aces and score a full double through Danny Tang, who had jacks. Kulev hadn’t been near the lead until that point, but he rocketed up to 70 big blinds and left everyone else in his wake. Of the five left, only Nouira had not been in the lead at some point in this final. The waves may only lap gently onto the exclusive beach of the Maestral Resort, but these were choppy waters inside.

The red light of doom was next illuminated when the last of Nouira’s chips found their way into the middle. He had pocket jacks and they needed to stay better than Kulev’s . They did. Nouira doubled. While Kulev remained in the lead, the other four bunched up. And we were looking at another of those cagey battles — which got even tighter when Santerne doubled through Kulev.

Two big hands will always break an impasse, however, and Tang picked up queens soon after, taking on Kulev’s ace-king. “Big flip!” Tang shouted to his rail.

The dealer put an ace on the flop. “Come on ladies, you’ve betrayed me so many times before,” Tang pleaded. But he prayed in vain. The turn and river offered no further help and Tang was out in fifth.

Tang leads the Player of the Year race and in addition to the $752,000 payday, his fifth place earns another chunk of points in that freeroll. However, as Tang himself noted, his PoY rival Dvoress only finished one spot lower than him. That’s still a nervy race.

None of the four remaining players had ever won a Triton title before, so we were guaranteed a new champion. But the identity was still very much anyone’s guess, even though Kulev now had the lead again.

There was, however, now a flurry of big hands. Nouira picked up the queens very soon after Tang and he felt a similar betrayal. Santerne had aces, all the money went in, and Nouira bust in fourth for $933,000. It was nine times his combined total winnings on the Triton Series to date and reflected some success he’s been having of late on other tours. He is far and away the Tunisian No 1.

The last three were guaranteed seven figures each. It was also an intriguing battle between two of European poker’s undisputed rising stars, alongside a lesser-known Asian player whose results nonetheless pointed to a sincere talent.

Santerne and Kulev were neck-and-neck, with Liang sitting with around half their chips. And it was in the spirited attempt to pull level that Liang ended up on the rail.

Yet another flip took place with Liang’s pocket sevens going up against Kulev’s . Two kings fell on the flop and the seven remained elusive. Liang’s race was run. He took $1,127,000 for third.

As tournament officials reset the table for heads-up play, the chip counts could not have been tighter. Kulev had 10,250,000, or 68 big blinds. Santerne had 10,150,000, also 68 big blinds. The stage was set for a heads-up duel for $850K.

The early going was all about Santerne. He built a big lead through a series of pots without showdown, so much so that when Kulev picked up pocket queens and played it cute to score a full double, he still only drew level. They each had a little more than 40 blinds and settled back down to play on.

But now the momentum was with Kulev. He later said it was about this point he noticed his parents on the rail, keenly watching his every move. They admitted they didn’t know much about poker, but they were clearly sweating every card with their son.

He won a big one with against . And then another somewhat inevitable flip landed on the felt: Santerne had pocket sevens to Kulev’s .

There was a ten on the flop. Another ten on the turn. And the river was not a seven.

With his family still watching anxiously from the sidelines, Kulev had delivered the knockout blow. He took that $2.5 million and confirmed that he is on this tour to stay. As he left the tournament room, he bumped into Adrian Mateos, a winner from earlier in the day.

“Well done champion!”

“Thank you champion!” they said.

RESULTS

Event 8 – $100,000 – 8-Handed
Dates: May 18-19, 2024
Entries: 102 (inc. 62 re-entries)
Prize pool: $10,200,000

1 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $2,566,000
2 – Thomas Santerne, France – $1,735,000
3 – Xu Liang, China – $1,127,000
4 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $933,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $752,000
6 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $594,000
7 – Dylan Linde, USA – $454,000
8 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $342,000
9 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $255,000

10 – Sean Winter, USA – $209,000
11 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $209,000
12 – Wiktor Malinowsli, Poland – $184,000
13 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $184,000
14 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $168,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $168,000
16 – Seth Davies, USA – $160,000
17 – Ben Heath, UK – $160,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The final moments of the $40,000 Bounty Quattro Event at Triton Montenegro became a battle of east and west. At one end of the table, Ukraine’s Igor Yaroshevskyy was flanked by Viacheslav Buldygin, Shyngis Satubayev and Ramin Hajiyev, representing Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, respectively.

At the other end, Jason Koon and Ben Tollerene were among the Americans who had come to rail their friend and countryman Isaac Haxton. Yaroshevskyy and Haxton were watching the dealer decide one final coin-flip for the title: pockets sevens versus ace-king.

The neat moment encapsulated the international flavour of the Triton Series and underlined the respect and admiration all these elite players have for one another. When the board ran dry, guaranteeing a first Triton title for Yaroshevskyy, he was the first to console with Haxton, and Koon too crossed the table to celebrate with the new champion and friends.

This was a terrific result for Yaroshevskyy, which paid $1,052,000 from the regular prize pool and another $120,000 in bounty payments. Having started the final table with the second shortest stack, Yaroshevskyy only actually knocked out one opponent, but it was that man Haxton and it was the knockout that secured the title. It also allowed Yaroshevskyy to cash in his own bounty token.

“It’s amazing,” Yaroshevskyy said, adding that poker players have a clear aim when they start playing. “It’s these big titles!”

He continued: “I’m feeling great.”

For Haxton, it was yet another near miss. He has a staggering 39 cashes on the Triton Series and earnings of $12 million. But that title continues to elude him, and he left the stage at the end of this tournament to hotfoot it into the neighbouring tournament room to play the $50K NLHE. Haxton will always be a threat in any game and it’s statistically ridiculous that he hasn’t yet won here.

But no matter. He took $716,000 — and in Yaroshevskyy he fell to another worthy opponent. The Ukrainian has been to at least one final table at each of the four stops he has visited on the Triton Series. This victory was well deserved.

“I am so excited,” the new champion said. “It’s an amazing feeling. Today is my day. Thank you guys!”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

After the thrills and spills of the Mystery Bounty yesterday, this tournament was slightly more conventional: of the $50,000 buy-in, $15,000 went into the bounty prize pool, with bounties introduced when 25 percent of the field remained. Each of 32 bounties was worth $60,000, so there was plenty of incentive to secure knockouts.

Twenty-eight players came back to play Day 2, with those bounties already in play, but in comparison with many other tournaments this week, the stacks were still deep. We had the pleasure of sitting around and watching some of the cream rise to the top.

Cash-game crusher Santhosh Suvarna found himself on the wrong end of a bubble collision here, getting his money in with and being called by Paulius Vaitiekunas and his .

Vaitiekunas himself has been the bubble boy once this week, but this time he came from behind to burst it. A queen on the flop sealed Santhosh’s fate.

Vaitiekunas had enough chips now to make his way to the final table, but others including Jason Koon, Chris Brewer, Michael Soyza and Mike Watson fell short this time. Bulgaria’s Dimitar Danchev emerged as the controlling force during this period of play — knocking out Watson along with Brian Kim in a huge three-way coup — and taking a sizeable chip lead to the eight-handed final table.

They stacked up as follows:

Dimitar Danchev – 6,840,000 (114 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 4,260,000 (71 BBs)
Shyngis Satubayev – 3,370,000 (56 BBs)
Isaac Haxton – 2,930,000 (49 BBs)
Punnat Punsri – 2,895,000 (48 BBs)
Paulius Vaitiekunas – 1,920,000 (32 BBs)
Igor Yaroshevskyy – 1,885,000 (31 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 1,100,000 (18 BBs)

It was still comparatively deep with plenty of play guaranteed, but unfortunately for Patrik Antonius, he couldn’t be part of it. The short stack coming into the final did not win a hand when it mattered most and departed at the hands of Isaac Haxton.

With in his hand, and a board of on the board, Antonius called Haxton’s river shove.

Haxton’s had now filled a straight to beat Antonius’ two pair, and that was that for the Finn. Eighth place paid $136,000.

After the bubble heroics, Vaitiekunas had found a tidy double up nine-handed to secure his place at the final, and then held firm during the late stages as the field thinned to its last seven. However, the first meaningful pot he played at the final was his last.

Vaitiekunas found a poor time to three-bet shove after an Adrian Mateos open, finding himself flipping with against Mateos’ pocket eights. The eights held, felting Vaitiekunas and sending him to the payouts desk where $183,800 awaited him. He also added $120,000 from two bounties.

Mateos was at his second final table of the week, well stacked and looking in the zone. However, also for the second time, he found himself in a great spot to knock out a dangerous opponent, sitting with a dominating hand, only for it to go wrong.

Much as Brian Kim had come from behind to oust Mateos from the GG Million$ final table, Punnat Punsri became a nemesis at this one.

Mateos had and got it all in pre-flop against Punsri’s but a queen on the river doubled Punsri and left Mateos in real trouble. He couldn’t recover and lost the remainder of his chips to Punsri soon after.

Mateos was sixth again, for $245,000.

Shyngis Satubayev is very often Kazakhstan’s sole representative at the Triton tables, but he continues to put on a show to make his country proud. Here he was again in the deep stages, recording his seventh Triton cash, and at his second final table.

But Kazakhstan will need to wait more for its first champion as Satubayev became Punsri’s next victim. Satubayev was short and shoved the button with . Punsri gave him a spin with in the big blind.

Punsri couldn’t miss at this point and sent Satubayev packing when a ten appeared on the flop. Satubayev won $313,000 for fifth.

Despite being the wrecking ball that took this tournament so quickly to its final table, things slowed considerably for Danchev once the field consolidated on the TV stage. He won a few pots with pre-flop aggression, but otherwise mostly sat on the sidelines as Punsri, in particular, seized control.

Danchev had dwindled to 10 big blinds when he found in the big blind and saw Punsri rip it in from the small blind ahead of him. It was plenty good for a call, but not plenty good for a win. Punsri’s ended up hitting a full house, and that sent Danchev out in fourth for $390,000.

Punsri was seemingly unstoppable. He began three-handed play with 18 million in chips, 60 big blinds, with his two opponents boasting only 7 million between them. If Punsri’s steamroller carried on rolling as it had, there was seemingly nothing anyone could do to stop him.

It did not, however, continued rolling as it had. Instead, it suddenly started hitting every obstacle in the road. Yaroshevskyy hit a flush to double. Haxton hit trip tens. Haxton hit a pair of tens to beat Punsri’s , and then Haxton found nines, called one more Punsri shove, and flopped a set.

Punsri was behind with at the start of the hand, but was drawing dead by the turn. He got up to shake hands of his opponents and headed out the door. This time, Punsri took $473,000 for third — plus $300,000 for five bounties.

And so we were down to two. Both Igor Yaroshevskyy and especially Isaac Haxton have been deep in the money numerous times on the Triton Series, but neither yet had a title. One of them would end that hoodoo, and they were delicately poised, 32 blinds to 31, as they entered heads up play.

Over the previous four nights of this series so far, the heads up battles have often been drawn out, with stacks shallowing to just a handful of blinds. Not this one. When both players got big hands for the first time, for Yaroshevskyy and for Haxton, all the money went in.

Yaroshevskyy had the slight chip advantage and his hand held through a blank flop. That ended it in Yaroshevskyy’s favour and Ukraine can celebrate its latest champion.

RESULTS

Event 6 – $50,000 – Bounty Quattro
Dates: May 16-17, 2024
Entries: 126 (inc. 54 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,300,000 (inc. $1,920,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $1,172,000 (inc. $120K in bounties)
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $896,000 (inc. $180K in bounties)
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $773,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
4 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $690,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
5 – Shyngis Satubayev, Kazakhstan – $463,000 (inc. $150K in bounties)
6 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $495,000 (inc. $240K in bounties)
7 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $303,800 (inc. $120K in bounties)
8 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $136,000

9 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $105,000
10 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $147,500 (inc. $60K in bounties)
11 – Michael Watson, Canada – $147,500 (inc. $60K in bounties)
12 – Brian Kim, USA – $196,600 (inc. $120K in bounties)
13 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $196,600 (inc. $120K in bounties)
14 – Yaman Nakdali, Spain – $70,000
15 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $100,000 (inc. $30,000 in bounties)
16 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $63,500
17 – Jason Koon, USA – $183,500 (inc. $120K in bounties)
18 – Jules Dickerson, UK – $57,000
19 – Chris Brewer, USA – $57,000
20 – Frederic Delval, France – $57,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

That, quite literally, is all Artsiom Lasouski had to do here in Montenegro at the first Triton stop of his career. The 25-year-old from Belarus has never been to this Super High Roller Series before, and arrived unannounced to play the first three events of the series.

He whiffed Events 1 and 2. But attempt three made him a champion. Lasouski tonight took down the $40,000 Mystery Bounty tournament banking $669,000 — and then added a further $680,000 from his 12 bounties when the draw took place the following day. He is the youngest Triton champion since Linus Loeliger burst onto the scene in 2019, and now has more than $1.3 million in his bankroll to continue his journey.

Not many players sample such success so soon. There are plenty of Triton regulars who have been coming to the tour for many years without ever hoisting a trophy. But Lasouski was the picture of calm in a roller coaster of a final table today, only breaking into grimaces and smiles during a topsy turvy heads up battle with Samuel Ju.

Ju had been down to one big blind at one point of the final, but pulled off a miraculous surge to the point that he could have won it himself. But Lasouski managed to claim that crucial last bounty, the one that came with the title.

“I am very excited about this moment,” Lasouski said, through a translator, at the awards ceremony. “I can’t believe how great it is.”

It will surprise few to learn that Lasouski learned his trade online and that he has some significant results to his name with a mouse in his hand. But this is by some measure his biggest tournament series and, it follows, his biggest win.

Remember, this tournament was only partially done on the first day. The draw for the Mystery Bounty prizes took place the next night, at which point the second half of the prize pool was awarded. Lasouski had 12 of the 47 bounties on offer, knowing that one bounty envelope contained $400,000 and two of $200,000 apiece.

As he left the stage on the opening night, Ju admitted he only had one bounty to pull tomorrow, but said hopefully: “It’s the bounty of Chris Moneymaker. It’s a good one.” It wasn’t really. It was “only” $40,000.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The Mystery Bounty element changes poker gameplay in mostly marginal ways–slightly looser calls, perhaps, in touch-and-go spots–but other times it’s more obvious. With bounty tokens not introduced until the second day, far fewer players bust on Day 1 than would normally be the case. They came back for today’s play with 47 players and the bubble still some way off.

After the usual rush of bustouts, with players collecting their first knockout tokens, Jason Koon became one of those to be threatened with elimination on the stone bubble. Luckily for Koon, he had pocket aces and they held. The Sword of Damocles hovered over Paulius Vaitiekunas instead, and his went up against Anson Ewe’s pocket fives.

The dealer showed an ace on the flop but also a five. And Vaitiekunas was drawing dead by the turn. That put everyone left on the right side of the bubble, with dual aims: collect as many bounties as possible and progress to the final table.

Koon slipped back to one big blind, then raced up to 33, but then was knocked out in 18th. Ewe too went out before the final.

The last elimination before the final table sent Sam Grafton heading away. Grafton made a straight draw with on a flop of . But Nikita Kuznetsov had hit a pair of sevens and Grafton couldn’t shift him.

Grafton took $68,000 for ninth and the final table was set. For the third day in a row, the overnight chip leader was top of the charts heading to the final too.

FINAL TABLE STACKS

Nikita Kuznetsov – 7,400,000 (74 BBs)
Artsiom Lasouski – 6,250,000 (63 BBs)
Daniel Rezaei – 5,000,000 (50 BBs)
Chris Moneymaker – 3,675,000 (37 BBs)
Samuel Ju – 3,000,000 (30 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 1,975,000 (20 BBs)
Stephen Chidwick – 1,950,000 (20 BBs)
Danny Tang – 925,000 (9 BBs)

Tournament organisers had planned a dinner break at the point the final table was set, but with registration potentially closing soon on Event 5, the last eight in this one unanimously agreed to crack straight on and eat at the table, if they wished.

The two players most anxious to forego dinner were the two shortest stacks — nothing worse than only min-cashing *and* missing reg — and lo and behold, Danny Tang and Stephen Chidwick were the first players out from the final.

As Moneymaker requested a menu, settling in for the long haul, Chidwick ran into Moneymaker’s pocket jacks to bust in eighth. Then Tang couldn’t get pocket eights to beat Daniel Rezaei’s , especially when the suited cards made a flush.

Chidwick added $82,000 to his ledger. Tang took $114,000. And, yes, they both made it in time to play the next one.

Despite the bounties in front of all the players still, or perhaps because of them, we had to wait a good couple of hours before the next elimination. Short stacks repeatedly doubled up, with Dylan Linde in particular pulling off a Lazarus-style resurrection when seemingly dead and buried. Meanwhile players like Moneymaker and Kuznetzov bounced up and down the leader board.

Daniel Rezaei mostly sat this out, but had to make a move sooner or later as the blinds began swallowing up his stack. He wasn’t in terrible shape when he opened/called all-in with agaisnt Artsiom Lasouski’s . However any equity he had vanished when the flop brought an ace, and Rezaei’s second final table of the week finished in sixth. He took $156,000 plus whatever he’ll get in bounties.

Another slowdown descended and it resulted in the average stack among the last five slipping t just 15 big blinds. We were once again in that purgatory where any slip up is potentially terminal and a boatload of equity slides away.

Germany’s Samuel Ju, at his first Triton final table, enjoyed and endured both the highs and lows of the experience in quick succession. He shoved with and got looked up by Kuznetsov, ending the hand with a straight and a double up.

But two hands later, his chips were in again with and this time he lost to Kuznetsov’s pocket jacks. Although he now only had three big blinds and was in the big blind next hand, he must have been thrilled to see Lasouski three-bet shove over Linde’s raise, with Linde not having the stack to do anything but call.

Ju folded and left them to it, and Lasouski’s made two pair to beat Linde’s . That put Linde out in fifth for $202,000 and allowed Ju to see another hand.

And what a hand it was. Ju found and was obviously happy to get his chips in after Lasouski shoved his button. Amazingly enough, Kuznetsov called all in from the big blind too, having seen .

Lasouski wasn’t bluffing, though. He had , putting the two others at risk. A jack on the flop saved Ju but Kuznetsov was knocked out. It meant another step up the ladder for Ju as the erstwhile leader bust in fourth for $253,000.

Ju had five big blinds now, with Moneymaker sitting with 10 and Lasouski riding high with 60. How long was left in this one now?

Well, Ju certainly wasn’t giving up the ghost. He was all in again on the next hand and turned pocket tens into a flush to beat Lasouski’s ace high. That gave him 12 big blinds and put him in second place, with Moneymaker now on the ropes.

Having come back from one big blind himself to win the GG Million$ earlier in the festival, Moneymaker must have appreciated Ju’s escapology skills here. But it was now Moneymaker who fell victim to it. The American shoved the button with and, with the confidence of someone who could do no wrong, Ju snapped him off with .

Moneymaker didn’t hit anything and was out in third, adding $311,000 to what is already a very, very good week here in Montenegro.

What had seemed to be a pushover was now a contest. Ju had a miraculous 20 big blinds entering the heads-up portion of play, with Lasouski sitting with 55. It was a big lead, but one double and the tables would turn. And that’s exactly what happened.

Ju had edged closer when the pair got to a flop of . A bunch of chips went in there, but the remainder got in the middle after the turn. Lasouski showed his but it now needed to hit a diamond because Ju’s was now two pair. The diamond missed and Ju was now in a significant chip lead.

Could he close it out now? No. He could not. Lasouski quickly doubled back into the chip lead with holding against . But then the pendulum swung back into Ju’s favour after a dry runout kept his better than Lasouski’s .

However, after Lasouski nudged back into the lead, they once again butted heads in a major coup. With a board of out there, Lasouski bet enough to put Ju all in.

Ju agonised, but made the call. However, Lasouski’s pocket queens were still better than Ju’s . And with that, we have a new champion. Third time lucky.

RESULTS

Event 5 – $40,000 – Mystery Bounty NLH – 7-Handed
Dates: May 15-16, 2024
Entries: 151 (inc. 52 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,040,000 (inc. $3,020,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Artsiom Lasouski, Belarus – $1,349,000 (inc. $680,000 in bounties)
2 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $492,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)
3 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $511,000 (inc. $200,000 in bounties)
4 – Nikita Kuznetsov, Russia – $553,000 (inc. $300,000 in bounties)
5 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $282,000 (inc. $80,000 in bounties)
6 – Daniel Rezaei, Austria – $716,000 (inc. $560,000 in bounties)
7 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $214,000 (inc. $100,000 in bounties)
8 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $282,000 (inc. $200,000 in bounties)

9 – Sam Grafton, UK – $188,000 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
10 – Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – $177,500 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
11 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $217,500 (inc. $160,000 in bounties)
12 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $90,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)
13 – Andrew Chen, Canada – $50,000
14 – Mario Mosbock, Austria – $85,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)
15 – Xianchao Shen, China – $45,000
16 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $40,500
17 – Phil Ivey, USA – $40,500
18 – Jason Koon, USA – $36,000
19 – Thomas Santerne, France – $36,000
20 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $36,000
21 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $293,000 (inc. $260,000 in bounties)
22 – Hossein Ensan, Germany – $33,000
23 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $33,000
24 – Alex Boika, Belarus – $30,000
25 – Stoyan Madanzhiev, Bulgaria – $30,000
26 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $30,000
27 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $30,000

Other bounty winners:

Anvar Muratov – $40,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu – $80,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Triton Super High Roller Series served up a thriller tonight in Montenegro, where China’s Andy Ni landed a first title after ending the $25K NLHE tournament with a bang.

With chips flying back and forth in an entertaining but perilously short-stacked finale, Ni managed to knock out two players in the final hand, taking the tournament from three to one in an instant.

Observers are fairly sure it’s the first time a Triton tournament has ended with a double knockout, but it was no more than Ni deserved after a dominant performance. The 41-year-old, originally from China but who has lived in Spain since childhood, had led at the end of Day 1 and maintained that lead when the final table began.

He then survived the ups and downs of a crazy final to emerge on top, ending the challenges of Nicolas Chouity and Chris Brewer in that spectacular end. Ni banked $785,000 for the win, which was his third and biggest cash on the Triton series.

Chouity settled for $531,000, his second runner-up finish on the series. Meanwhile Brewer took third for $354,000, and took his Triton total winnings to around $7.5 million.

But this one was all about Ni, who did his post-game interviews in Spanish and can perhaps take some of the weight off Adrian Mateos as the only Spanish Triton champion so far. He told reporters that he is mostly a recreational player, who only plays tournaments occasionally, but was persuaded to come to Montenegro by a friend.

Ni played for the first time in Madrid a couple of years ago, but has cashed his first two tournaments here in Montenegro, including this breakout win. He acknowledged he needed two big coups to go his way at the final, drilling a three-outer and a two-outer at crucial moments. But he earned his place at the winner’s table.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The tournament attracted 135 entries but after a speedy Day 1 only 18 were left. That meant they were all already in the money, with Matthias Eibinger having burst the bubble. Eibinger lost the majority of his stack in a clash with Alex Kulev, when the Bulgarian’s won the race against pocket jacks.

The last of Eibinger’s chips went to Patrik Antonius, who also held jacks but beat Eibinger’s .

There was just time for a few more players to go broke, including Triton stalwarts Mikita Badziakouski, Seth Davies and Kiat Lee, before bagging and tagging for the night. Eighteen came back, with Andy Ni leading the way.

Everyone was guaranteed at least $42,500 at this point, but the target was the final table of nine.

Luminaries continued to fall by the wayside, with Steve O’Dwyer, Ben Tollerene, Nick Petrangelo Henrik Hecklen, Zhou Quan, Patrik Antonius and Tobias Schwecht among those departing. Ben Heath had less than two big blinds remaining on the final table bubble, but managed to triple up and remain involved as simultaneous bust-outs took us from 10 to eight in one fell swoop.

On the outer table, chip-leading Ni bust Paulius Vaitiekunas with beating . It happened at the same time as Heath ran his pocket fours into Nacho Barbero’s and Danny Tang’s pocket aces, with Tang all but tripling up as a result.

Heath and Vaitiekunas took $72,150 each as the payouts were modified to reflect the simultaneous elimination. Meanwhile, the final table of eight settled down to play to the champion. The stacks were as follows:

Andy Ni – 5,475,000 (44 BBs)
Chris Brewer – 4,600,000 (37 BBs)
Danny Tang – 4,300,000 (34 BBs)
Nicolas Chouity – 3,925,000 (31 BBs)
Nacho Barbero – 2,650,000 (21 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 2,375,000 (19 BBs)
Viacheslav Buldygin – 2,200,000 (18 BBs)
Aram Sargsyan – 1,475,000 (12 BBs)

Ni had held the chip lead from the start of the day, and early action at the final only consolidated it. Ni knocked out Kulev to get things started, with pocket aces staying good against Kulev’s . It left Kulev on the rail, with a $98,500 payout.

Ni was not able to run away with things, however, and Chris Brewer continued to keep him in his sights. It helped that Brewer was the next to find aces in a pivotal spot, busting Nacho Barbero who was more than happy to get his chips in with . There were no miracles for Barbero here and he ended with a $133,600 payout.

As Ni and Brewer were collecting chips during the major elimination hands, Nicolas Chouity was chipping up consistently in smaller pots. To this point, Chouity’s graph showed a very steady incline: no sharp peaks taking him in either direction, and he landed at the top of the six-handed battle. Even when he was then involved in a major hand, he landed on the right side of it.

Danny Tang, who was returning to the venue where he made his Triton debut five years ago, had been holding firm through the early exchanges of the final table. But when he found a premium — pocket queens — and got his chips in, Chouity was sitting behind with .

Chouity called Tang’s three-bet shove and hit a king on the river to send Tang out in sixth, collecting $180,500.

Viacheslav Buldygin was another player making a welcome return to the Triton Series here in Montenegro, and he too had progressed to the final. But he never managed to put together a big stack today (at least not big enough to really challenge) and he ended up dwindling down to a shoving stack. He got it in with but lost to Brewer’s .

Buldygin won $233,000.

Triton first-timer Aram Sargsyan had made the final table in only his second tournament on the tour, and his progression to fourth place had shown his chops. The final stages of his performance had been mostly a case of clinging on with a short stack, but he finally got it in good against Chouity.

Sargsyan had pocket tens but Chouity couldn’t fold with a dominant stack and facing only a three blind shove. Chouity hit a queen on the flop and Sargsyan was out. He took $290,000 to get his Triton career up and running.

There had been precious few dramatic moments to this point, with the best hands usually holding up. That pattern continued in three-handed play, with Brewer and Chouity first to clash. Brewer’s beat Chouity’s when they got it in pre-flop.

It gave Brewer a big lead. But it didn’t last long.

As is so often the case in this world, the stacks were shallow and getting shallower. The three players got their chips in repeatedly but chopped pots seemed to be the order of the day. It left them at one point with only two big blinds separating them, and stacks of 19, 18 and 17 blinds. It made it anyone’s game.

Chouity was sticking to his policy of firing at almost all flops and continuing to stay afloat. He slid a bit, but then moved back into a narrow lead. Brewer assumed the shortest stack. But then Brewer found kings and doubled, following up with another double with and suddenly he was our chip leader once more.

There were now only 45 blinds at the table, and the volatility continued. Ni went from shortest stack to leader after a double through Brewer, with bettering when a 10 landed on the turn.

And that proved to be a big moment because it gave Ni the stack to take on anyone who came at him — even if both his opponents fired together.

So it happened: a three-way all in to end a Triton event. It may not have ever happened before. Brewer opened with his , Ni looked down at and moved all in from the small blind. Chouity found in the big and called all in.

That put Brewer in a really tough spot. He had less than a big blind, but knew he might be able to fold the hand and limp into second. It was the best part of a $200K decision. After a while, however, he was persuaded to call — but regretted it.

The best hand held up. Chouity was officially second, for $531,000. Brewer took third for $354,000. But it meant Ni was our champion: chip leader at the start of the day, at the start of the final, and then a double killer to wrap it up.

RESULTS

Event 2 – $25,000 NLHE – 8-Handed
Dates: May 13-14, 2024
Entries: 135 (inc. 45 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,375,000

1 – Andy Ni, China – $785,000
2 – Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon – $531,000
3 – Chris Brewer, USA – $354,000
4 – Aram Sargsyan, Armenia – $290,000
5 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $233,000
6 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $180,500
7 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $133,600
8 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $98,500

9 – Ben Heath, UK – $72,150
10 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $72,150
11 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $65,800
12 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $57,500
13 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $57,500
14 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $52,300
15 – Zhou Quan, China – $52,300
16 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $47,300
17 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $47,300
18 – Xiaohui Tan, China – $42,500
19 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $42,500
20 – Klemens Roiter, Austria – $42,500
21 – Krasimir Neychev, Bulgaria – $39,200
22 – Seth Davies, USA – $39,200
23 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $39,200

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

There’s no one on the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series who gives as much to these tournaments as Stephen Chidwick. He plays every single game, right from the moment registration opens, and by common consensus he is among the most feared and fearsome players at any table.

The fact that Chidwick wasn’t yet on the multiple champions page was one of those freaks of this volatile game: he had Triton earnings of close to $20 million from 36 cashes.

Chidwick put that right tonight. He probably sat at the Triton tables for longer than anyone during this trip, firing bullets, bubbling twice and making three final tables. And it was only fitting that he was the last player sitting at a table too, posing as champion of the $20K Short Deck Turbo, the final event of an exhausting stop.

Chidwick, however, is tireless and somehow remains deeply focused during the incredible hours he puts into both play and studying. And he was clearly gratified when it paid off tonight, landing him a $265,000 score.

“It feels amazing,” Chidwick said. “I look around all the time when I’m playing at the banners for the two-time champions and I didn’t have one…It feels great to get the win.”

He added: “Coming close a lot of times, you get your hopes up and you get them dashed. But that’s the nature of tournament poker.”

Chidwick defeated Tan Xuan heads-up, denying the Chinese player a third career title and a second in consecutive days. “He’s an incredible player,” Chidwick said. “He’s impossible to put him on a hand. I knew I had my work cut out.”

But if there’s anyone who can cope with whatever is thrown at him, it’s Chidwick. And his face will now be glaring from banners around the Triton tournament room, something he admitted will give him great pleasure.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The field of 42 entries (including 17 re-entries) was enough to put $840,000 in the prize pool and offer $265K to the winner. There are a lot of players in Jeju for whom even winning this tournament would not make much of a difference to their bottom line, but a win is a win and there’s still plenty of prestige.

As ever, the great and good were among those washed away shortly after registration closed, getting us nearer to the money. It would kick in when seven were left.

Jun Wah Yap only played the short deck events here in Jeju, so his exposure wasn’t quite so big as some of his peers. But after two whiffs, he will have hoped to leave the best until last. And he very nearly did.

However, after about an orbit of hand-for-hand play, Yap got his last 70 antes in with . He was leading Tan Xuan’s , but the board of straightened Jap out.

That was the bubble burst and Xuan into a big chip lead. It was also final table time.

FINAL TABLE STACKS

Tan Xuan – 3,665,000 (183 antes)
Isaac Haxton – 2,660,000 (133 antes)
Dan Dvoress – 1,525,000 (76 antes)
Stephen Chidwick – 1,335,000 (67 antes)
Phil Ivey – 1,225,000 (67 antes)
Zhou Quan – 1,145,000 (57 antes)
Seth Davies 1,045,000 (52 antes)

Seth Davies had already been at two Short Deck final tables this week, and here he was at a third, albeit with a short stack. But he sat and watched Tan Xuan win a decent early pot from Phil Ivey, which meant that when Davies and Ivey went to war pre-flop, it was Ivey under threat.

Davies had and Ivey . There was nothing on the board to rescue Ivey, and out he went in seventh for $44,000.

Davies might have hoped that would kickstart a run to a first title, but he hadn’t accounted for Xuan. Davies picked up and moved all in. Xuan had and made the call. He saw three spades to finish this.

Davies won $54,500 for sixth.

Xuan had an enormous stack now: 258 antes, when his closest challenger had only 99. All the others were left to scrap among themselves.

And it was quite a scrap. Zhou Quan won a flip against Dan Dvoress with pocket queens beating . That left Dvoress at the bottom of the counts, but he doubled back through Quan to get back even.

Chidwick was the shortest, but he shoved three times at different stages of three hands, picked up no callers, and chipped up. But then when others did similar, Chidwick was back down again.

The most significant pot of this period went to Quan. He took aces up against Xuan’s jacks and won, pushing him up to within only eight antes of Xuan.

They took a break and the antes went up and things grew ever more hectic. Chidwick found a double with pocket queens staying best against Quan’s . That put Chidwick neck and neck with Xuan.

Haxton was still battling, but this final table followed the pattern of being cruel to North Americans. Two of the continents finest were already on the rail, and Haxton and then Dan Dvoress were soon to join them.

Haxton’s last chips went to Chidwick. Chidwick shoved with and Haxton called with . This one also ended in a straight. The board gave Chidwick the winner.

Haxton banked $71,500 but still looks for a maiden title.

Dvoress already has two wins, both from the past 12 months. But with only 15 antes left, he fell victim in this one to Xuan, with perishing to Xuan’s . Dvoress snatched a last-gasp $92,000.

Chidwick therefore took on the two Chinese players, both of whom already had a title from this trip to Jeju. Xuan was in front, with 87 antes, Chidwick had 74 and Quan had 49. It was still anyone’s game.

Quan couldn’t win anything during this crucial phase, and he was the next man out. He shipped with and couldn’t beat Chidwick’s .

Quan looked crestfallen, but this has been a good trip for him. Although he bricked the hold’em events, he’s been excellent in the second half of the festival, landing a first title in PLO and then making two short deck finals. This one ended with a third-place finish and $122,000.

That left Chidwick and Xuan for the final shootout of the week, with only two antes between them. Xuan had 80, Chidwick 78.

Only very small pots moved in either direction until there was just one big one to end it all. Chidwick called, Xuan raised his button, and Chidwick shoved over the top. Xuan made the call and was ahead with . But Chidwick’s flopped a ten, then picked up a diamond draw for good measure.

Xuan’s fans called for a king, but it never came. Chidwick stood up, smiled broadly from beneath his vintage-movie-villain’s moustache and finally got his hands on a second Triton trophy.

Xuan took $191,000. Chidwick landed $265,000, and the champion paid tribute to his family, who accompany him to all these stops and keep him sane.

“My family gives me incredible support,” Chidwick said. “If I have a bad day, good day, they’re there to give me a hug, cheer me up or celebrate with me. It makes a big different to my mood and motivation.”

Tonight, it’s celebration. All round.

And with that, this exceptional Triton Series stop in Jeju was done. See you all in Montenegro!

Event #19 – $20K – Short Deck
Dates: March 21, 2024
Entries: 42 (inc. 17 re-entries)
Prize pool: $840,000

1 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $265,000
2 – Tan Xuan, China – $191,000
3 – Zhou Quan, China – $122,000
4 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $92,000
5 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $71,500
6 – Seth Davies, USA – $54,500
7 – Phil Ivey, USA – $44,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive