Author: Howard Swains

In a week in which players from Vienna and Spain have stolen all the headlines, tonight in Jeju belonged to Bulgaria. From a field of 190 entries in the $40K Mystery Bounty event on the Triton Series, three seats at the eight-handed final table were occupied by Bulgarians. And at just after midnight, one of them — Dimitar Danchev — wrapped the Bulgarian flag around his shoulders and celebrated the victory.

With it, Danchev returned to the summit of the all time Bulgarian money list, leapfrogging one of his countrymen who was also at the final today. And while Danchev immediately locked up $804,000, his six bounty tokens, cashed in the following day, earned him a further $540K. That’s a total of $1,344,000 for Danchev’s day.

But, for Dimov, the silverware is equally important.

“Actually, it’s a little bit about this,” Danchev said, pointing to the trophy in his hand. “This is very special for me. The bounties, of course, are very important, but I’m kind of more excited to win the trophy.”

As a former runner up on the Triton Series, he could have been forgiven for feeling the extra pressure at the final. But Dimov said that the short-stacked nature of much of the play made many decisions quite routine, and then he made the most of his run of cards. “I was just waiting for good spots for me,” he said. “I think I also ran pretty well…so it wasn’t that hard when you run that well.”

Danchev can now head to the player party as a Triton champion, joining his fellow Bulgarian Ognjan Dimov, a winner in Monte Carlo, as a trophy holder on this prestigious series.

Dimov was in the crowd as Danchev beat off the challenge of Jonathan Jaffe, himself a former Triton winner, to claim the spoils. Danchev led at the start of the final, but Jaffe soared into pole position as the tournament neared its conclusion.

But Danchev managed to overhaul Jaffe’s heads up lead and leave the American pro with $541,000 for second. His five bounty tokens bagged him another $340,000 at the Mystery Bounty ceremony.

Danchev was reaping the profits from a decision to head to the Triton Series.

“I was thinking about it for a while,” Danchev said, adding that he would have been playing Triton sooner if Covid hadn’t intervened. “But then everyone told me that Triton is good for you, and I decided finally to come.”

Good decision.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Of all the events that especially reward making it to Day 2, the Mystery Bounty is top of the list. At the start of play, every player is given their own bounty token. If they’re knocked out, it goes to their assassin, who will cash it in for a minimum of $40,000.

It raises the chances of picking up a call if you decide to shove and should, in most instances, result in even more fireworks than usual on the Triton Series.

In some ways, it made this tournament’s prolonged bubble period all the more unlikely. On the very first hand of hand-for-hand play, with 32 players remaining, Artur Martirosian and Justin Saliba were both all-in and called. Martirosian was actually called in three spots.

But both the at-threat players managed to win the hands and there followed at least an hour of stone bubble play, with some huge chip movements at the top of the counts, but the short-stacks sticking around.

One of those short stacks belonged to Fedor Holz, and he may have considered himself fortunate to being drawn randomly to change tables just at the point he was due to post the big blind. However, his first hand on his new table actually proved to be his undoing.

Pocket queens was a clear shove, but he picked up two callers. One of them was Alex Kulev with . And the ace on the flop ended it for Holz. Having already won one event here this week, Holz was probably less concerned than others would have been in his position — especially because it now freed him up to head to the rail of the final table and watch his friend Mario Mosböck win the GG Million$. (Holz later collected $180K from his two bounty tokens.)

The following period of play was when bounty hunting really kicked in — but also where reaching the final table became the priority. Sean Winter, who won an enormous pre-bubble pot to take the tournament chip lead from Stephen Chidwick, raced deep and made it to the last nine, but there were two standout stories.

The first was the presence of three Bulgarians in the last nine, topped by Dimitar Danchev. Then there was Adrian Mateos sitting in third place in the standings, heading to a final table for the second consecutive day. The last eight lined up as follows:

Dimitar Danchev – 7,300,000 (37 BBs)
Jonathan Jaffe – 6,500,000 (33 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 6,075,000 (30 BBs)
Orpen Kisacikoglu – 5,875,000 (29 BBs)
Sean Winter – 4,700,000 (24 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 3,500,000 (18 BBs)
Chris Brewer – 2,650,000 (13 BBs)
Yulian Bogdanov – 1,400,000 (7 BBs)

The first significant hand of final table play was an belter. Kulev picked up pocket kings and Winter found aces. Predictably, all their stacks went in pre-flop, with Winter five-bet jamming.

Kulev was staring elimination in the face, but the dealer put four diamonds on the board, matching one in Kulev’s hand, and he flushed to the win and the chip lead. Winter was down to four big blinds.

He waited it out for an orbit or so, but then found himself all-in in the big blind. Unfortunately for him, his was never going to be in great shape — although when Yulian Bogdanov open-pushed from early position, he might have hoped to get some protection.

However, Kulev called Bogdanov and had the covering stack. Kulev tabled , with Bogdanov showing . But Kulev was running very well and hit an eight on the turn to send both of them out simultaneously.

Winter was eighth for $99,400 (he added another $320K from bounties). Bogdanov banked $135,800 (plus $160K from bounties).

That was one Bulgarian down, but the other two were still firing. It was now Danchev’s turn to boost his chances with the knockout of Chris Brewer. Brewer, a two-time Triton champion, open shoved from the small blind, but Danchev had behind him to make the call.

Danchev ended up with a wheel and Brewer’s bounty token. Brewer took $186,000 for sixth, to which he added $80K in bounties.

Danchev was now on a roll. He four-bet jammed over Kulev to assert his national dominance, and then he knocked out a second two-time champion in the form of Orpen Kisacikoglu. The Turkish player didn’t get involved in too much at the final table, but seized his moment to shove when action folded to him in the small blind.

Again, Danchev had a hand in the big blind that was way ahead of a shoving range. His spiked two pair on the flop. It was already beating Kisacikoglu’s anyway.

Kisacikoglu banked $244,800, plus $260K in bounties, but was out in fifth.

To this point, nobody had managed to show any resistance to the Bulgarian domination. But cometh the moment, cometh the Jonathan Jaffe.

Jaffe doubled up with against Danchev’s when he rivered a bigger two pair on a run out.

Jaffe then gave Kulev a taste of his own medicine, rivering a straight to beat Kulev’s top pair. This one played through the streets with Kulev’s flopping best against Jaffe’s on a flop.

The turn brought the and another pile of chips went into the middle. And the sealed it in Jaffe’s favour. Kulev’s fiery display ended in fourth for $310,000 and a pile of bounties. He cashed them in for another $300K.

Jaffe now had a large chip lead, but was facing off against two of Europe’s best. It was only 48 hours since Adrian Mateos won a debut Triton title and here he was again in the last three and looking to go back-to-back.

But Jaffe now had the bit between his teeth and even Mateos was powerless to stop him. After chipping away, Mateos was down to only seven big blinds and got them in after Jaffe shoved from the small blind.

Mateos had to Jaffe’s . The board missed everyone, which meant Jaffe’s high card stayed good. Mateos was out in third for $381,000. Bounties added another $160K.

It was Danchev vs. Jaffe for the title, with Jaffe holding a 70 BBs to 25 BBs chip lead. That meant there was still potentially a good deal of play in the tournament, especially with the final bounty on the line.

Danchev doubled. Twice. And with the second one, which was against Jaffe’s , he took over the chip lead.

One more of those and it was done. This time, Jaffe had to Danchev’s . An ace on the rainbow flop was good for Danchev. The second ace on the turn was the end of it.

Full tallies, including bounties, are below.

Event #7 – $40K Mystery Bounty NLH
Dates: March 10-11, 2024
Entries: 190 (inc. 66 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,800,000

1 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $1,344,000 (inc. $540K from six bounties)
2 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $881,000 (inc. $540K from five bounties)
3 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $541,000 (inc. $160K from two bounties)
4 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $610,000 (inc. $300K from six bounties)
5 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $504,800 (inc. $260K from four bounties)
6 – Chris Brewer, USA – $266,000 (inc. $80K from one bounty)
7 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $295,800 (inc. $160K from three bounties)
8 – Sean Winter, USA – $419,400 (inc. $320K from six bounties)

9 – Daniel Palsson, Iceland – $122,000 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
10 – Wang Le, China – $69,500
11 – Biao Ding, China – $149,500 (inc. $80K from two bounties)
12 – Dong Chen, China – $62,000
13 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $62,000
14 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $96,000 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
15 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $56,000
16 – Vincent Huang, New Zealand – $650,500 (inc. $600K from two bounties)

17 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $90,500 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
18 – Joseph Cheong, USA – $45,000
19 – Victor Chong, Malaysia – $45,000
20 – Yu Lei, China – $45,000
21 – David Yan, New Zealand – $81,000 (inc. $40K from one bounty)
22 – Dylan Linde, USA – $41,000
23 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $41,000
24 – David Peters, USA – $37,000
25 – Justin Saliba, USA – $37,000
26 – Changjie Zhang, Singapore – $37,000
27 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $357,000 (inc. $320K from three bounties)
28 – Alexandre Vuilleumier, Switzerland – $33,500
29 – Shyngis Satubayev, Kazakhstan – $233,500 (inc. $200K from one bounty)

30 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $33,500
31 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $33,500

Additional bounty winners: Fedor Holz $180K from two bounties, Yulian Bogdanov $160K from three bounties, CJ Zhang $100K from one bounty.

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

With titles already this week for Fedor Holz and Roland Rokita, the trip to the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series in Jeju for Vienna-based players was already a clear success.

But flights from Korea to the Austrian capital now have another Triton trophy crammed into the overhead locker as Mario Mosböck, a third member of the Vienna crew, took down the $25K GG Million$, picking up $1,191,196 along the way.

That payout came after Mosböck agreed a heads-up deal with Sergio Aido, where the Spanish player, chip-leading at the time, took $1,237,804. But Mosböck enjoyed the best of the late stages of this tournament, reaching the final table with only four big blinds, coming into a third day in sixth of six players remaining, then surging into the lead and to the title.

“It feels amazing,” Mosböck said. “I ran really good today…I was never really over 20 big blinds from around the bubble. I was always short. But there’s still a lot of room for manoeuvre.”

It’s Mosböck’s second Triton success, having won the $40K Mystery Bounty in Monte Carlo last year. That same tournament was taking place at the same time as the final table today and Holz, Mosböck’s friend and mentor, bubbled the event, allowing him to come to the rail for Mosböck’s win.

The new champion paid tribute to the Vienna crew, revealing that it’s only with their encouragement that he ever even decided to play the biggest buy-in events.

Mosböck said: “All the boys are really smart, really driven. They want to compete at the highest level…If it was me alone, I’m not sure I would be playing the Super High Rollers. But you can talk to people about how you feel, your concerns. They can give you feedback. It was a community decision. They said, come on, you’re good enough.”

This win certainly underlines that. It was another record-breaking tournament on the Triton Series, with attendance eclipsing 300 entries for the first time ever. That put more than $7.6 million in the prize pool and required a near-unprecedented third day of play. It also meant a tournament of incredible swings and outdraws, with players forced to endure a buffeting at the hands of fate.

But Mosböck’s victory was cheered every step of the way from his Germany and Austrian friends in the crowd, including his fiancee Amanda, who watched on too in Monte Carlo when Mosböck began his Triton career in style.

With a short break, they will no doubt he heading to the $50K event that just got started. And they will be dangerous in that too.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The bubble in this one played out across six tables, with a typically interesting dynamic. There were numerous players with stack sizes that would ordinarily be considered perilous, but the ICM knowledge of this player set is so high that no one was committing a chip unless the situation perfectly demanded it.

Unfortunately for Zheng Yu and then his namesake Winfred, they could afford to wait no longer. They were both all in and called on the same hand (albeit on different tables) and both were knocked out in 49th and 48th respectively.

Zheng’s lost to Jamil Wakill’s (Zheng was in the big blind and had three-quarters of his stack in mandatory bets). Soon after, Winfred’s lost to Tim Adams’ , with Winfred flopping a king but Adams hitting an ace on the river, for extra drama.

That put the last 47 players in the money and guaranteed maiden Triton cashes for, among others, commentator-turned-player Henry Kilbane, Katie Lindsay, Matas Cimbolas as well as the umpteenth for Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick, Seth Davies, Steve O’Dwyer and David Yan.

None made the final, but all turned a profit on this event.

It had been touch and go right from the start of day whether the tournament would finish in two days or three. And the middle period of Day 2 was a tempestuous affair, with the chip lead changing hands on multiple occasions. It soon became apparent that that third day would be needed.

Dan Dvoress had been down to three blinds near the bubble, but rose to the top of the counts. Ehsan Amiri also led for long periods, as did Vincent Huang.

The former two made the final; the latter perished in 12th. And while Fedor Holz looked like he’d be carrying a major stack to another final, he was actually knocked out in 10th by Sergio Aido resulting in the Spaniard leading the last nine.

The final table lined up as follows:

Sergio Aido – 17,025,000 (57 BBs)
Adrian Chua – 16,525,000 (55 BBs)
Alex Theologis – 14,400,000 (48 BBs)
Jesse Lonis – 13,275,000 (44 BBs)
Tim Adams – 6,450,000 (22 BBs)
Kosei Ichinose – 3,175,000 (11 BBs)
Dan Dvoress – 2,300,000 (8 BBs)
Ehsan Amiri – 1,800,000 (6 BBs)
Mario Mosböck – 1,300,000 (4 BBs)

This was a lop-sided line up to start final-table proceedings, with four big stacks, four small and only Adams in the middle. But none of the shorties were giving up without a fight, and there were a handful of double-ups with only Amiri departing early.

Even he managed to double up once, through Aido, but he was still very short when he got his last chips in with and lost to the of Alex Theologis.

Amiri picked up his first Triton cash in his third event, banking $152,000 for eighth.

The revised target for Day 2 was to hit six players, which meant two more needed to bust before they bagged up. There were numerous more double-ups, though, which kept Mario Mosböck and Dan Dvoress alive, but put Kosei Ichinose and Jesse Lonis in trouble.

In relatively short order, those two eventually hit the rail in eighth and seventh, respectively. Ichinose three-bet over a Dvoress open but found Adrian Chua behind him with pocket queens to beat . Ichinose’s maiden Triton cash was $186,000.

Then Lonis, having managed to spike a three-outer to survive a couple of hands previously, couldn’t repeat the trick when he got his last chips in with against Aido’s .

Lonis was at his second final table of the week but this time had to make do with $253,000 for seventh.

All six were now also instructed to reach for bags and to put the chips away for the night. The tournament was heading into a third day, with all still to play for. Aido still held the lead, with 44 big blinds, ahead of Chua (31), Dvoress (18), Theologis (17), Adams (12) and Mosböck (5).

There was no escaping the fact that Day 3 would be brief and unpredictable. The stack sizes dictated it.

Mosböck was the first player at risk but he managed two double ups to keep battling. However, it wasn’t to be for Adams, who perished at the hands of Aido. Aido shoved his small blind and Adams called for his tournament life with pocket fives. Adams had over-cards, with but could not connect.

Adams has fond memories of Jeju, having won the Main Event here back in 2019 — a $3.5 million score that sent his career on to a new plane. This time, sixth place was worth $345,000 — but there are bigger buy-in events just round the corner.

Adams’ close friend and countryman Dvoress was next to hit the sidelines. Theologis opened his button with and Dvoress called from the big blind with . The pair saw a flop of , which brought encouragement for both.

After Dvoress checked, Theologis bet 800,000 (one big blind) and Dvoress moved in over the top for another seven bigs. Theologis called.

The turn and river bricked out, however, which meant Dvoress missed his flush draw and was sent packing. Fifth place paid $452,000.

It was right about now that things started to get a little silly. Stacks were obviously still short, but the poker gods now also decided to have their fun. It came at the cost of Chua and then Theologis, who were bounced in consecutive hands in unfortunate fashion.

The most significant hand came first, with Mosböck open-shoving the cutoff with pocket tens. Chua under-called all-in from the button with , and then Theologis looked down at pocket queens in the big blind and called, putting both opponents under threat.

The flop changed little, but the turn brought whoops from Mosböck’s rail. Both opponents had outs for the win on the river, but the missed both of them and earned Mosböck a huge one.

Chua, meanwhile, was out in fourth for $573,000.

Theologis was mortally wounded in the skirmish with queens, but he picked up a pocket pair on the next hand too. However, it lost again. This time his sixes were outdrawn by Aido’s , when an ace came on the river.

Theologis banked $707,000 for third.

Aido had a small chip lead heading into heads-up play, but the pair decided to chop it up. They had seen enough craziness for the day. Aido guaranteed himself $1,237,804, while Mosböck signed for $1,131,196. There was $60,000 left on the side to play for.

Could Spain go back-to-back? Or would the Vienna crew add a third title of the week? They settled down to find out.

First blood: Mosböck. In a hand that played through the streets, he three-bet shoved the river looking at a full board of . Aido folded. It put Mosböck marginally ahead. Two more small pots went in the Austrian’s favour, and then another big one: Mosböck’s flopped bottom pair but then turned into a flush through turn and river.

Aido was now on the ropes with only six big blinds, but managed one come-from-behind double, with against Mosböck’s . They then chopped one, before Aido doubled again with against .

This could only last so long, and when two big hands went up against one another, the shouts of “Hold!” from the sidelines got it over the line. Mosböck had pocket sixes and Aido . The flop brought a flush draw, but it never filled and the sixes held.

And with that, there was finally calm.

Event #6 – $25k – GG Million$ Live
Dates: March 9-11, 2024
Entries: 305 (inc. 118 re-entries)
Prize pool: $7,625,000

1 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $1,191,196*
2 – Sergio Aido, Spain – $1,237,804*
3 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $707,000
4 – Adrian Chua, Singapore – $573,000
5 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $452,000
6 – Tim Adams, Canada – $345,000
7 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $253,000
8 – Kosei Ichinose, Japan – $186,000
9 – Ehsan Amiri, Australia – $152,000

10 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $128,000
11 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $128,000
12 – Vincent Huang, New Zealand – $113,000
13 – Ana Marquez, Spain – $113,000
14 – Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania – $101,000
15 – David Yan, New Zealand – $101,000
16 – Changlie Zhang, Singapore – $90,000
17 – Nikita Kuznetsov, Russia – $90,000
18 – Aleksandr Shevliakov, Russia – $79,000
19 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $79,000
20 – Jamil Wakill, Canada – $79,000
21 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $71,000
22 – Jason Koon, USA – $71,000
23 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $65,666
24 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $65,666
25 – Weiran Pu, China – $65,666
26 – Calvin Lee, USA – $63,000
27 – Seth Davies, USA – $63,000
28 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $55,500
29 – Justin Saliba, USA – $55,500
30 – Mike Watson, Canada – $55,500
31 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $55,500
32 – Frederik Thiemer, Germany – $49,000
33 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $49,000
34 – Stanley Choi, Singapore – $49,000
35 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $49,000
36 – Samuel Muller, Austria – $49,000
37 – Shyngis Satubaev, Kazakhstan – $49,000
38 – Yake Wu, China – $49,000
39 – Monika Zukowicz, Poland – $49,000
40 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $43,500
41 – Daniel Smiljkovic, Germany – $43,500
42 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $43,500
43 – James Chen, Taiwan – $43,500
44 – Michael Jozoff, USA – $43,500
45 – Katie Lindsay, USA – $43,500
46 – Henry Kilbane, UK – $43,500
47 – Daniel Palson, Iceland – $43,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

With nearly $40 million in live tournament earnings, four World Series bracelets and victories across all events on the European Poker Tour, you might have assumed Adrian Mateos had at least one victory on the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series to his name.

But it’s only after tonight’s performance in Jeju that that assumption is true.

Mateos blitzed through the final day of the $30,000 buy-in Event 5 here in South Korea, surviving the inherent turbulence of a short-stacked final table to down David Peters heads up and win $1,175,000.

Mateos had 10 previous cashes on the Triton Series, including a $3.1 million score when he chopped the Main Event in Monte Carlo last year. But he ended up yielding that title to Matthias Eibinger.

The Spanish No 1 was not to be denied in this return to the top table, however, and finally got his hands on a Triton trophy at around 8.30pm local time. By that point, the rest of the 185-entry field had departed, and even Peters had now been vanquished.

Having been his country’s pioneer in so many poker pursuits, Mateos became the first Spaniard to lift a Triton Series trophy too.

“Thank you to everyone supporting me,” Mateos said in victory. “Especially the Spanish poker community.”

Many of them ran on stage to celebrate with him at the end.

“I feel amazing,” Mateos said. “I’ve had a really good day.” He referenced the Monte Carlo Main Event where he came so close but fell at the final hurdle, and added too that he had bubbled five or six times on the Triton Series. “But that’s part of the game.”

His father came to watch his final table in Monte Carlo, but was viewing from afar this time around. “They’re supporting me,” Mateos said. “My dad, my mum, all my family…We will have some celebration.”

For Peters, who took $790,000 for second, it represented a welcome return to the Trion Series after a near year-long absence. Peters had had a relatively barren time of it on his most recent visits to this tour, and he opted to skip the previous three stops.

But he came back here in Jeju with renewed purpose, and showed incredible guile to survive for long periods with a micro-stack. He doubled it up at critical moments and managed to get heads-up with Mateos. But the Spaniard’s momentum was just too much.

They survived a final that also featured Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Mateos’ friend Joao Vieira. And Mateos said the presence of those other greats helped him bring his A-game.

“I wasn’t nervous, but super focused,” Mateos said. “It was a tough final table. I respect them a lot but I just try to beat them.”

And beat them he did.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With another huge field, it meant another long Day 1 — and a late night race to the bubble. Soft hand-for-hand took a while, but hard hand-for-hand was relatively quick. That’s because a cooler ended up ousting an unfortunate Aleks Boika in 32nd place.

Boika had 14 big blinds when he looked down at and raised. Yulian Bogdanov three-bet with pocket jacks and Boika called. The dealer put the flop of on the table and, with top pair and backdoor possibilities, Boika committed the last of his chips.

Bogdanov called and was rewarded instantly with the on the turn. Boika still had outs but the river turned Bogdanov’s set into full house and turned Boika’s hopes to ruin.

The remaining field was now guaranteed a minimum $49,000 apiece — and a good sleep for the 24 players who made it to the end of the day.

INTO DAY 2

The returning field was a who’s who of Triton — and, by extension, global poker — greats, topped by one of the game’s form talents Jesse Lonis. But Lonis followed previous overnight chip leaders here in Jeju by hitting the rail before the final table was set.

Lonis perished in 13th, shortly before Event 1 champion Fedor Holz. Even so, the final table still found room for Phil Ivey, David Peters, Adrian Mateos, Joao Vieira and Patrik Antonius, giving poker fans an absolute treat on the live stream.

The full final nine lined up as follows:

Patrik Antonius – 7,700,000 (39 BBs)
Seth Gottlieb – 6,000,000 (30 BBs)
Joao Vieira – 5,200,000 (26 BBs)
Ramin Hajiyev – 5,100,000 (24 BBs)
Yulian Bogdanov – 3,775,000 (19 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 3,375,000 (17 BBs)
Lun Loon – 3,150,000 (16 BBs)
David Peters – 1,450,000 (7 BBs)
Phil Ivey – 1,275,000 (6 BBs)

For Ivey and Peters, the mission was simple: find a spot to get the chips in and hope to double up. Ivey managed it quickly, taking up against Antonius’ and winning. Peters shoved a few times and picked up blinds and antes, which kept him afloat with rapidly shallowing stacks all round.

How shallow? Well, after a few orbits of final table play and no players knocked out, the average stack was 16 big blinds and the chip leader had 28. Those ICM handcuffs were locked around all nine pairs of wrists, as even Antonius, Mateos and Hajiyev, who were exchanging the chip lead, couldn’t really afford to put a foot wrong.

Eventually, the dam broke. And it was Ivey who took the long walk from the final table first. Ivey’s pocket tens lost a flip to Mateos’ and sent the US great out in ninth. He banked $119,000 for this one, but still seeks a sixth Triton title.

Malaysian businessman Lun Loon soon followed in Ivey’s footsteps. Already at his second final table of the trip to Jeju, Loon continues to improve event by event and it’s easy to forget he’s only been playing this game for around three years.

This time, his run was halted by Yulian Bogdanov. With action folded to Loon in the small blind, he pushed his last six blinds in with . Bogdanov found in the big blind, snap-called and won.

Loon was out, earning $145,000 for eighth.

Pretty much any pot now could mean the difference between elimination and a top half stack, and Gottlieb’s double through Hajiyev put the former back near the top and put the latter into the danger zone. Meanwhile David Peters dwindled to two big blinds but managed back-to-back double ups to stick around.

As if to underline the enormous volatility, the next player to hit the rail was the previously imperious Antonius. He too was undone was Mateos, who opened with and called when Antonius shoved with .

Antonius endured a rough trip to Triton Monte Carlo last year, but has bounced back with a final table appearance early in this festival. However, his $198,000 for seventh was probably less than he was hoping for when they got down to the final.

Mateos now had close to 60 big blinds, which was the biggest stack anybody had seen for a good few hours. Bogdanov was his closest challenger; everyone else had fewer than 15.

The next set-up sent Hajiyev out. Bogdanov this time found the ace-king, specifically , and Hajiyev picked up pocket fives in the small blind. He pushed for eight big blinds and Bogdanov called. The king on the flop won him the race.

Hajiyev, the champion of the Invitational event in Cyprus last year, had to make do with sixth place in this tournament. It came with a $271,500 consolation prize.

Peters had watched all this carnage from behind a tiny stack, but he managed to double it up again through Gottlieb and rise to the dizzy heights of third overall. Naturally, Mateos kept up the pressure on everyone else with continued pre-flop raises, knowing that if anyone wanted to tangle, they were risking the end of the line.

So it proved for Vieira, who had largely kept away from most of the danger until he could hold on no more. The Portuguese No 1 has started his trip to Jeju strongly, with cashes in three out of four tournaments played so far. But his first serious skirmish with Mateos proved to be his last, with Mateos pairing his jack with and beating Vieira’s .

Vieira’s $358,000 for fifth was his biggest Triton cash to date.

Peters doubled up again. But then he lost an enormous pot to double up Gottlieb. This was gross in any circumstances — Gottlieb’s pocket kings outdrawing Peters’ pocket aces — but Peters must have felt that he was freerolling anyway, having nursed so few chips for so long.

He was soon back down to three big blinds and looking to rebuild again. And rebuild he did. He doubled through Bogdanov, Mateos and Mateos again, which left Bogdanov in trouble. But then Bogdanov doubled through Mateos twice and then Gottlieb and he was able to tread water some more.

Not so Gottlieb. It’s important to note here that none of the four remaining players ever really put a foot wrong, each of them finding the correct spots to get their chips in but learning that winning flips is very important. Gottlieb’s money went in with when he ran into Bogdanov’s aces, then with when he saw Mateos’ river a straight.

Had he have won the pot, Gottlieb would have been chip leader. As it was, he was out in fourth for $452,000. Having already finished runner up in another event, Gottlieb continues to amass plenty of Player of the Year points.

Mateos might have run away with it again, but Peters doubled with against the Spanish player’s to put them neck-and-neck.

Mateos pulled away again, however, with the elimination of Bogdanov. For such a short-handed passage of play, there were numerous premium hands, and Mateos found another one — pocket queens — to finally end Bogdanov’s resistance.

Bogdanov had and three-bet shoved. He couldn’t hit.

There seems to be a Bulgarian at every Triton final table these days, and it was Bogdanov’s turn to return in this event. A third place for $557,000 is a very good result.

The heads-up battle began with only 62 big blinds between the two of them. Mateos had 40; Peters had 22. After last night’s battle between comparative unknowns, tonight’s duel saw two of the world’s best known — 10th and 15th on global poker’s all time money list — squaring off.

Mateos won most of the small pots, with Peters forced to three-bet shove to keep himself alive. However, when Peters pushed for 13 big blinds holding , Mateos did the math and made the call with .

It stayed good and Mateos finally got his name, and his country, on the Triton board.

Event #5 – $30k – NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 8-9, 2024
Entries: 185 (inc. 59 re-entries)
Prize pool: $5,550,000

1 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $1,175,000
2 – David Peters, USA – $790,000
3 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $557,000
4 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $452,000
5 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $358,000
6 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $271,500
7 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $198,000
8 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $145,000
9 – Phil Ivey, USA – $119,000
10 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $101,000
11 – Vincent Huang, New Zealand – $101,000
12 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $90,500
13 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $90,500
14 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $82,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $82,000
16 – Weiran Pu, China – $73,500
17 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $73,500
18 – Phil Nagy, USA – $65,500
19 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $65,500
20 – David Yan, New Zealand – $65,500
21 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $60,000
22 – Tony Truong, China – $60,000
23 – Wang Yang, China – $60,000
24 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $54,500
25 – Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – $54,500
26 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $54,500
27 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $54,500
28 – Dylan Linde, USA – $49,000
29 – Changjie Zhang, Singapore – $49,000
30 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $49,000
31 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $49,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Austrian poker pro Roland Rokita came to the Triton Poker Series tournament room in Jeju today wearing a hoody with the word “FAKER” emblazoned across his shoulders. It was a reference to the esports legend, but it’s a bold word for a poker player to wear on his shirt in this exalted company.

However if anyone might have felt inclined to label Rokita a faker in this world of exclusive poker talent, his performance today would set the doubters right. He is the real deal. Rokita became the most recent Triton Poker Series champion, beating a field of 225 entries to lock up a first prize of $904,000.

The buy-in was $20,000. The competition was characteristically fierce. But Rokita’s performance was authentically excellent and landed him the biggest win of his career to date. It perhaps should be no surprise for someone who rolls with the likes of Fedor Holz, yesterday’s champion. But Rokita was clearly thrilled to have done it himself.

“It means a lot,” Rokita said. “I came here, I prepared a lot. To lift the trophy, it’s unbelievable.”

Having migrated to the poker tables after a former career as a ski-jumper in the Austrian national team, Rokita no doubt knows a fair bit about dangerous climbs and perilous descents. But while the first period of play today proved to be perfectly smooth for Rokita, he had to ride a few uncertain moguls during heads-up play against Sirzat Hissou.

“It was a roller coaster in the final table,” Rokita said. “I was really nervous…I won a big pot, he won a big pot, but I finished it in the end.”

Rokita eventually got the job done on the stroke of 9pm, leaving Hissou with $599,000 for second — and a tale of how he actually thought he had won the tournament before realising his opponent had turned a better hand.

That will end as a footnote after a stellar performance from Rokita, in which he came of age on the Triton Series. He is 28 years old, a chemistry graduate, and a resident of the poker hotbed Vienna. It sounds like a perfect mixture for a new poker great.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The first three days of this trip to South Korea have been characterised by packed tournament rooms filled with enormous fields. The turnout has demanded additional levels added to Day 1s, which in the case of Event 2 meant bursting the bubble on the tournament’s opening day.

It was late in the night when Tony Truong became the unfortunate 40th placed finisher in this one, suffering a fairly nasty beat.

There were other players with smaller stacks still in the field when Truong picked up in the cutoff and called a min-raise from Roland Rokita. The pair went to a flop of . Rokita put out a continuation bet and Truong called with his top pair.

The turn brought a second flush draw and Rokita moved in, covering Truong. Nonetheless, he made the call for his last 10 blinds or so and was shown the in Rokita’s hand. When the river brought the case queen, Rokita made a boat and Truong’s trips were no good.

With everyone else now guaranteed a payday, they played down to the last 24, of which Tobias Schwecht was a runaway chip leader, with only Rokita and Alex Theologis anywhere close. They bagged and tagged and came back Thursday for Day 2.

RACING TO THE FINAL

As ever, the main focus from the players returning today was on reaching the final table, but the field needed to be trimmed by about two thirds before that would be decided. But no worries. In about four hours of play, 24 became nine with Triton stalwarts Biao Ding, John Juanda, Mike Watson and Danny Tang all falling marginally short.

Of the three overnight big stacks, both Rokita and Schwecht made it, with Theologis falling by the wayside. (Theologis’s Triton career has nonetheless started with two cashes from two tournaments entered.)

The last nine looked like this:

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – 14.6 million (73 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – 8.8 million (44 BBs)
Roland Rokita, Austria – 6.575 million (33 BBs)
Kiat Lee, Malaysia – 4.35 million (22 BBs)
Tobias Schwecht, Germany – 3.1 million (16 BBs)
Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – 2.45 million (12 BBs)
Leon Sturm, Germany – 2.3 million (12 BBs)
Sirzat Hissou, Germany – 2.25 million (11 BBs)
Yu Xiangyu, China – 725,000 (4 BBs)

Final table play got off to lightning-quick start with three players eliminated in a flash. Two went broke on the same hand, in the kind of set-up that was unavoidable for all concerned.

Action passed to the tiny stack of Yu Xiangyu on the button and, looking down at , he ripped it in. Rokita was in the small blind with a hand — — plenty good enough to go up against a small-stack’s button jam.

Rokita jammed to isolate.

However, Schecht, in the big blind, found pocket tens and correctly deduced that this was also plenty good enough to get his last 14 blinds in. So he was all-in too, and ahead of both opponents.

The dealer favoured only Rokita, however. The board ran and the pair of kings scooped the lot. Xiangyu was the official ninth-placed finisher, for $94,500, while Schwecht took $113,000 for eighth.

Damir Zhugralin got his first taste of Triton Poker Series action in Cyprus in 2022 and returned to the same venue the following year. That’s where he also secured his first cash on the series. It encouraged him to extend his wings and visit Jeju too, where he was rewarded with the first final table appearance of his career.

The Kazakh’s run ended in seventh as he became Mikita Badziakouski’s victim.

Zhugralin had 12 big blinds and opted to shove when he found in the cutoff. Button and small blind folded, but Badziakouski picked up pocket tens in the big blind and made the call.

Zhugralin needed to see an ace or some clubs, but neither appeared. Instead he trudged to the payouts desk where $154,000 awaited him for seventh place.

By common assent, Germany’s Leon Sturm is one of the game’s brightest new stars with a first Triton title only a matter of time. He showed his pedigree already again here in Jeju, navigating to this final table even though he never seemed to have a mighty stack.

Sturm couldn’t manage to take that small stack further than sixth in this tournament, however, as he perished mostly at the hands of Rokita (though Kiat Lee finished him off).

The hand that did the damage started with an early position raise from Rokita with . Rokita had more than 40 big blinds; Sturm, who was in the big blind, had only eight more after he posted the mandatory fee. Sturm had and called.

This was a pretty scary flop for both these hands: . Sturm checked with bottom pair, Rokita bet his straight flush draw, with his pair of eights still best. Sturm called.

Both players checked the turn, which brought the river. Sturm then made a near all-in bet, leaving himself only 25,000 behind. Rokita opted just to call with his low flush, and it was good.

Rokita took over the chip lead, while Sturm’s final chip went to Lee on the next hand. Sturm ended with another $210,000 in his bankroll as the field reduced to five.

Aleksandr Zubov came into this tournament having cashed Event 1 and then enjoying a hugely profitable Day 2 of Event 2. He ended up in the chip lead ahead of the final thanks to an aces vs. kings coup against Mike Watson, in which a micro stacked Daniel Palsson became collateral damage.

Zubov’s aces held up and he won a 3.8 million pot, principally from Watson, and that set Zubov flying high into his debut final table.

The Russian player mainly stayed out of the way of the early confrontations, losing a few small pots without ever really putting many chips at risk. However, his first major pot became his last when he slammed into the surging Rokita.

Rokita found pocket eights on the button and made a standard opening raise. With in the big blind, Zubov jammed for 25 big blinds. Rokita called and won another flop, flopping a set for good measure.

That was that for Zubov, who hit the rail in fifth for $278,000. Rokita, meanwhile, could do no wrong and had half the chips in play.

There was a marked division in Triton experience between the two halves of the remaining field. Both Rokita and Hissou were at their first ever Triton final, but Lee and Badziakouski have made this stage their second home over the past few years. Badziakouski has four titles from 20 final table appearance. Lee has never gone all the way, but has been involved at the end 11 times.

But the natural order was upended here, with the joint strength of Hissou and Rokita quickly taking care of Badzikouski, before they repeated the trick to do terminal damage to Lee.

Firstly, Hissou doubled his 15 blind stack through Badziakouski with pocket nines holding against . And then when Badziakouski was the short stack, Rokita’s stayed good against .

The latter was in Badziakouski’s hand and defeat sent him out in fourth, with $355,000 to his name.

They were heading to a dinner break three-handed as Lee and Hissou got involved in a huge pot. Lee jammed his 15 big blind stack with pocket sevens and Hissou looked down at . That was a call for his last 13 bigs, and Hissou hit an ace to double.

It left Lee with two big blinds.

Although he doubled that amount twice after they came back from dinner, he couldn’t get the crucial third — although he can claim to have got a tiny bit unlucky to bust.

Lee had in the big blind and called Hissou’s raise. The flop came and Lee committed his final chips with middle pair. Hissou’s was actually now behind, but the ace on the turn swung it back in his direction.

That was that for Lee, who took $439,000 for third.

Two of them remained for the title, both at their first Triton final table and both already guaranteed their biggest career live cash. The only thing to decide now was who would be champion.

Rokita had a two-to-one chip lead and seemingly all the momentum after a pure run on the last day. But he soon suffered his first really rough beat, with Hissou doubling into a commanding lead.

Hissou opened with and Rokita found . He didn’t slow play and instead put in a three-bet. Hissou responded with a four-bet shove and Rokita made an obvious call.

With the tournament seemingly all but over, the dealer decided to prolong it. An ace on the flop vaulted Hissou into the lead and left Rokita looking for help. Although he also had a Broadway draw on the flop, he whiffed outs on turn and river, meaning Hissou scored the full double. It was now 57-18 big blinds in his favour.

But, but, but. The tables soon turned yet again. When all the chips next found their way into the middle, Hissou had the pocket pair — sevens — while Rokita had only .

With Rokita’s supporters calling for an ace, he actually ended up doing it another way. The board brought all low cards, filling a wheel for the all-in player. Hissou hadn’t noticed originally, but he soon did when the dealer started moving his chips in his opponent’s direction.

The level went up again and the stacks shallowed once more. And the next time all the money went in, the best hand held up. Rokita had pocket nines when he saw Hissou shove with pocket twos. It was a clear call and Hissou couldn’t catch a two-outer this time.

Rokita’s hands were shaking, but his smile told the full story. Add another one to the tally for Vienna and welcome Roland Rokita to the winners’ enclosure.

Event #2 – $20k NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 6-7, 2024
Entries: 225 (inc. 72 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,500,000

1 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $904,000
2 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $599,000
3 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $439,000
4 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $355,000
5 – Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – $278,000
6 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $210,000
7 – Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – $154,000
8 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $113,000
9 – Yu Xiangyu, China – $94,500

10 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $78,700
11 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $78,700
12 – Mike Watson, Canada – $68,800
13 – Daniel Palsson, Iceland – $68,800
14 – Yita Choong, Australia – $62,000
15 – John Juanda, Indonesia – $62,000
16 – Eric Tsai, Taiwan – $55,500
17 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $55,500
18 – Biao Ding, China – $48,500
19 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $48,500
20 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $48,500
21 – Wang Ye, China – $44,000
22 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $44,000
23 – Keat Liu Chun, Malaysia – $44,000
24 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $39,500
25 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $39,500
26 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $39,500
27 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $39,500
28 – Cheok Leng Cheong, Macao – $35,000
29 – Dan Smith, USA – $35,000
30 – Vladislav Ivanov, Russia – $35,000
31 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $35,000
32 – Tom Heung, Hong Kong – $31,000
33 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $31,000
34 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $31,000
35 – Darren Elias, USA – $31,000
36 – Wei Hsiang Yeu, Malaysia – $31,000
37 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $31,000
38 – Hans Liu, China – $31,000
39 – Aram Oganyan, USA – $31,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Poker’s young prince is back in the Triton Poker Series throne tonight after Fedor Holz defeated a record-breaking field to win the first event of this second visit to Jeju, South Korea.

Holz, who is still only 30 despite a reign of dominance that has lasted close to a decade, won the fourth Triton Series title of his career, taking Triton winnings past $12 million thanks to this $786,000 first prize.

That was the lion’s share of a $4.035 million prize pool, comprising 269 entries of $15,000 apiece. It kicked off the visit to Jeju in spectacular fashion, vastly increasing the numbers on this ever-growing series.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and in Holz we saw a very familiar champion. He won the first two Triton events he played, in the Philippines and Montenegro in 2016 and 2017, and added a third win last year in London.

“It’s just nice winning tournaments, no matter what,” Holz said, adding that the presence of his girlfriend Annelina here, along with many of his friends, made this one special.

Holz late-registered for this event but was his customary relaxed presence at the table, managing to find big hands and big outdraws at precisely the right time to down Seth Gottlieb heads up. Holz has seen it all before and told reporters, “I always try to focus on just the hand I’m playing. That’s always been my mantra.”

Although Holz has occasionally intimated that he may move away from poker, the Triton Series has continued to enthral this brilliant German. “It’s a really big deal,” he said. “The best players in the world play these tournaments…It’s the nicest feeling.”

Gottlieb, the 41-year-old Digital Marketing executive, was gunning for a second Triton title of his own, but found Holz in unforgiving form. Gottlieb had his aces cracked in the heads-up battle and could never recover. He took $500,000 for second.

Other superstars including Dimitar Danchev and Nick Petrangelo made the final table but fell short of the title. But when Holz is sitting close by, there only ever seems to be one man clutching the trophy at the end.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After a blockbuster opening day, which began with a traditional Lion Dance in the lobby and then moved to the lion’s den of the poker room, only 48 players remained. That was notable for two reasons: firstly, it was the remainder from a starting field of 269 entries, which represented a new Triton record.

Secondly, only 47 players were due to be paid, so they returned on the stone bubble. The first player knocked out today would leave with nothing, while the others could celebrate at least a min-cash from this opening event.

Quan Zhou not only had the smallest stack in the room, he was also drawn into the big blind for the first hand. That was an especially unfortunate turn of events, but he looked down on pocket sixes after the opening deal, which was likely far better than he might have hoped.

Jesse Lonis opened the pot from middle position, Zhou shipped in his last six blinds and Lonis then called. They were flipping. Lonis had .

“I could have burst the bubble last night,” Lonis said, detailing a pot in which his kings were beaten by the ace-king of Andrey Andreev. Had Lonis won that one, he would have stacked 3 million going into Day 2.

It was perhaps small consolation, but a king on the flop this morning accounted for Zhou and gave Lonis a small amount of chips. More importantly, it put everyone in the money.

Zhou still had some hope. Two other players were all-in and called on the same hand and, had either or both of them been knocked out, they would have split the $23,000 prize for 47th. However, both Alex Theologis and Xie Haoqi doubled their short stacks to survive, leaving Zhou the only person out. He applauded loudly as Luca Vivaldi announced that everyone else was in the money and that hand-for-hand was over.

Discounting the small matter of a few pay jumps, the principal focus now turned to making the final table. There were still 47 players left and only nine seats for the finale, and the field quickly went about filling those chairs.

Everyone involved in bubble shenanigans was knocked out. So was the overnight leader Stephen Chidwick, who perished in 12th. The American titan Ike Haxton had a decent-ish stack when they got 10 handed, but it ended up being slid in the direction of his countryman Seth Gottlieb to leave Haxton on the rail.

Haxton had to Gottlieb’s when it all went in pre-flop. The king paired and that was that. We reached the final nine.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS

Seth Gottlieb – 15,525,000 (78 BBs)
Dimitar Danchev – 7,975,000 (40 BBs)
Dominykas Mikolaitis – 6,940,000 (35 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 6,025,000 (30 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 5,600,000 (28 BBs)
Lun Loon – 3,850,000 (19 BBs)
Josh Mccully – 3,675,000 (18 BBs)
Ken Tong – 3,250,000 (16 BBs)
Pieter Aerts – 950,000 (5 BBs)

Haxton’s elimination was especially welcomed by Pieter Aerts, who had been sitting with a short stack for a long while. The Belgian player, who won his first Triton title in Cyprus last year, locked up $81,000 by virtue of making it to the final here. But he could go no further.

On the very first hand of final table play, Aerts was in the big blind and found . Gottlieb opened from early position and Aerts called.

The flop of showed enough to encourage Aerts to part with his last two blinds. But Gottlieb had flopped best with and stayed good.

That left only eight.

Ken Tong now assumed the duties of short stack and he similarly couldn’t spin it up. Tong made his debut on the Triton Series in Monte Carlo last November, and landed on the Main Event final table, where he finished sixth.

His tournament here ended at the hands of Fedor Holz, who opened with pocket tens. Tong, in the big blind, shoved with but whiffed the flop. Holz took over the chip lead, while Tong banked $98,000.

Australia’s Josh Mccully is riding a hot streak at the moment, having earned a career-best score of more than $275,000 at a WPT event in Cambodia in January. He returned to Asia for his Triton Series debut and made his way to the final table in the first event he played.

Mccully’s run ended in seventh, when he became the third player in succession to get into trouble defending his big blind.

Nick Petrangelo opened and Mccully paid to see the flop with . The flop seemed friendly. It came ten high. Mccully checked, Petrangelo shoved with the covering stack and Mccully called for his tournament life and about 12 big blinds.

Mccully was ahead. Petrangelo showed only , meaning he was drawing to three outs (or some backdoor flush possibilities). Unfortunately for Mccully, the was a killer. He hit the road in seventh for $134,000.

By this point, Gottlieb had reassumed the chip lead, but it didn’t last long. Now came the rise of Lun Loon.

Loon initially profited from the perfect set-up: action folded to the big stacked Gottlieb in the small blind. He made an “any-two” shove, with three times the stack of Loon in the big blind. But Loon looked down at pocket aces and was more than happy to risk it all.

Gottlieb’s wasn’t quite the worst starting hand in poker, but it wasn’t far off. It didn’t catch the aces, so Loon doubled.

After the Malaysian businessman then pushed Petrangelo off a pot, Loon was top of the charts. However it was a very brief stay; after the rise came the fall.

Loon somehow conspired to become the next man out. Petrangelo got his revenge with pocket aces to Loon’s eights, and on the very next hand, Loon had but couldn’t beat Dimitar Danchev’s .

Loon added another $182,000 to his bankroll for a sixth-place finish.

Dominykas Mikolaitis was another Triton first timer enjoying a terrific run during the first event he had ever played. An online crusher from Lithuania, Mikolaitis flexed his muscles on the Triton Series too and took a seemingly effortless cruise to this final.

The run ended in fifth, however, with Holz doing most of the damage. Mikolaitis and Holz got it in pre-flop, with Holz at risk. Mikolaitis flopped top pair with his , but Holz’s pocket queens flopped a set.

Holz ended up with a full house and a full double, leaving Mikolaitis short. He was out not long later, with Gottlieb taking the last couple of blinds. Gottlieb had to Mikolaitis’ . Fifth place was worth $240,000, his best ever live result.

The tournament edged into Level 29, right around the time it starts to get incredibly short, even with a record-breaking number of entries. It followed that the chip lead swung wildly, with any pot of significance usually sending its winner surging and its loser down to the bottom.

Petrangelo’s rocky ride was the next to come to its conclusion. In a final table characterised by big hands, Petrangelo smacked into the latest: pocket kings belonging to Gottlieb.

Gottlieb raised it up, Petrangelo looked at and three-bet/called it off after Gottlieb shoved for 21 big blinds. Petrangelo couldn’t overturn Gottlieb’s advantage and was knocked out in fourth, earning $303,000.

Petrangelo is still without a Triton title, but is now knocking on the door frequently. It’s only a matter of time.

Gottlieb now had a significant advantage over the remaining three, but Holz pulled closer thanks to the hand that knocked out Danchev.

This was a tough coup between two comparative short stacks: Holz shipped from the small blind with and Danchev saw and only 16 big blinds in his stack.

In the commentary booth, Nick Schulman acknowledged that it was a difficult decision for Danchev, and he maybe regretted getting it in. The board only favoured Holz, eventually giving him a diamond flush.

Bulgarians have quickly become a force on the Triton Poker Series and with Monte Carlo champion Ognyan Dimov watching from the rail, Danchev went looking for the $375,000 that came with his third place.

The final two settled in for the heads-up duel, with Gottlieb’s 55 big blinds ahead of Holz’s 35. Both men had been here before: Holz already had three titles, while Gottlieb won his first in London last year (having only just learned the rules of PLO).

Most of the early small pots headed in Gottlieb’s direction, and it soon looked as though he would be finishing the job in no time. Gottlieb picked up aces and slow-played them to perfection, limping the small blind and then only calling after Holz bet.

That meant they then saw a flop of and Holz, with continued to bet. Gottlieb called again.

The on the turn, followed by a check from Holz, was the moment Gottlieb sprang the trap. He shoved with the covering stack. Holz called for his tournament and learned he was behind. But then the on the river was one of his miracle outs. Stacks were all but even once again.

“The five-eight hand I got lucky and I’m really happy about that,” Holz said when everything was said and done.

Gottlieb tried to climb back on the horse and wear Holz down again. But although he continued to snag the smaller pots, Holz always seemed to come out on top when there was the most on the line.

Holz four-bet shoved with and 27 bigs, earning a call from Gottlieb’s . The board changed nothing and Holz doubled into the lead.

Gottlieb now had only 10 big blinds and Holz did not let this one slip from his grasp. He found pocket jacks while Gottlieb had and it all went in pre-flop.

The jacks held and Holz was champion once again. “It’s nice to win the first tournament,” he said. “It gives you confidence.” Like this man needs any more of that.

Event #1 – $15k NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 5-6, 2024
Entries: 269 (inc. 93 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,035,000

1 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $786,000
2 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $500,000
3 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $375,000
4 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $303,000
5 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $240,000
6 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $182,000
7 – Josh Mccully, Australia – $134,000
8 – Ken Tong, Hong Kong – $98,000
9 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $81,000

10 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $67,800
11 – Weiran Pu, China – $67,800
12 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $60,000
13 – Phil Nagy, USA – $60,000
14 – Wei Hsiang Yeu, Malaysia – $53,500
15 – Axel Hallay, France – $53,500
16 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $47,000
17 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $47,000
18 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $41,500
19 – Xie Haoqi, China – $41,500
20 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $41,500
21 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $37,500
22 – Dong Chen, China – $37,500
23 – Aram Zobian, USA – $37,500
24 – Li Yuan, China – $33,500
25 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $33,500
26 – Kevin, Indonesia – $33,500
27 – Andy Wang, Australia – $33,500
28 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $29,500
29 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $29,500
30 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $29,500
31 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $29,500
32 – Alex Boika, Belarus – $25,800
33 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $25,800
34 – Seth Davies, USA – $25,800
35 – Aleksander Zubov, Russia – $25,800
36 – Ognyan Dimov, Bulgaria – $25,800
37 – Michael Soyza, Malysia – $25,800
38 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – $25,800
39 – Andrey Andreev, Russia – $25,800
40 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $23,000
41 – Shi Chun, China – $23,000
42 – Frederic Delval, France – $23,000
43 – Alexandre Vuilleumier, Switzerland – $23,000
44 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $23,000
45 – Yu Xiangyu, China – $23,000
46 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $23,000
47 – Biao Ding, China – $23,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive