Category: 2024

Ben Tollerene had had, in his own words, something of a difficult trip to the Triton Series Monte Carlo this time, cashing only once and narrowly missing the money on multiple occasions. One of those happened late on Tuesday night, when he soft bubbled the $150K no limit hold’em event and looked pained as he walked from the tournament stage.

But the Triton Series always offers redemption, and Tollerene quickly found it in the $50K PLO event, which he entered moments after busting from the other one.

Tollerene, 37, successfully navigated his way through a field full of Nordic PLO specialists — plus a titanic bubble — ending heads up tonight with fellow American Michael Duek. Tollerene, who is hardly a stranger to PLO himself having crushed the online games for years as “ben86”, polished Duek off too in double-quick time to land a $1,070,000 first prize and a second Triton title.

“It’s great,” Tollerene said. “I was having a terrible trip. A couple of bubbles. I was just excited to play a different game, play some PLO, and there’s not much more to it.”

He added that he had some history with a lot of the PLO-only cohort who came to Monte Carlo, and enjoys keeping up with new trends in the game.

“I have played with a lot of them but it’s been a little while,” he said. “Some things stay the same and some things change and evolve in the game. But I have a decent feel for what they’re up to.”

He added that there’s plenty of enthusiasm remaining for a return to the Triton Series for upcoming stops.

“My plan is to definitely play Triton. I really enjoy the staff and the people and the way they run everything. I’ll definitely be playing Triton in the future.”

With another $1m in the account, this terrible trip suddenly got a lot brighter.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The tournament numbers here in Monte Carlo have been buoyant, and this positive trend extended into the PLO portion of the schedule, which attracted 82 entries. That meant 14 places would be paid.

Even so, there was no way to predict what happened as the bubble approached. In short, nobody got knocked out. Despite multiple short-stacked players spread across the three remaining tables, whenever someone was all-in, they doubled up.

It eventually broke a Triton record. There were 39 — THIRTY-NINE! — hands of hand-for-hand play on the stone bubble, which extended to 3:30am. If someone was in the big blind with only one blind to their name, they doubled. It was simply unburstable.

It’s always incredible unlucky to eventually end up on the wrong side of this equation, but in this instance it was doubly true. However, American pro Sean Winter eventually ran out of good fortune and chips. His lost to Ben Tollerene’s . Tollerene paired his seven, and that was enough.

They bagged for the night with 14 players left, six of whom had stacks of less than five big blinds. Jonas Kronwitter had precisely 25,000 in chips, with the big blind at 50,000. It was the bare minimum he could have had to scrape into the money.

When they returned for the second day, there were few immediate surprises. The players who were all critically short departed, meaning Kronwitter, Luc Greenwood, Jason Koon et al headed out the door, leaving the following to assemble around a final table of seven.

They lined up as follows:

Joni Jouhkimainen – 4.25m (85 BBs)
Ben Tollerene – 3.7m (74 BBs)
Maxi Lehmanski – 3.55, (71 BBs)
Zhou Quan – 1.845m (37 BBs)
Michael Duek – 1.83m (37 BBs)
Espen Myrmo – 670,000 (13 BBs)
Mads Amot – 555,000 (11 BBs)

Keen followers of action on the Triton Series will notice that only two of those final seven — Tollerene and Quan — had also played the hold’em phase of tournaments. It underlines the specialism of the PLO players; this is a markedly different discipline, especially at these stakes.

Norway’s Espen Myrmo was one such PLO specialist who had made it to the Triton Series for the first time. He had made it into the money and then to the final table in his first tournament, but his run ended in seventh.

Myrmo got involved against Zhou Quan, with half his stack going in pre-flop holding and the rest going in after a flop of .

Zhou had and so this actually seemed a lot like a hold’em hand, with pocket queens up against ace-king suited, which flopped a flush draw. The turn of and river were blanks, and Myrmo’s tournament ended with a $193,000 payout.

This turned out to be a bad passage of play for Norwegians as Mads Amot followed Myrmo out the door. Amot is a relative veteran by the standards of the PLO specialists (he’s playing his third Triton) but he ran his into Tollerene’s , with most of the chips going in after Tollerene had hit his 10 and Amot his seven.

Amot took $244,500 for sixth and headed over to the PLO Main Event.

Joni Joukemainen had come to this final table with a considerable chip lead, but the inherent turbulence had not been kind to him and he’d seen that lead totally swallowed up. Joukemainen was the short stack when he looked down at and put in a pot-sized pre-flop raise, for essentially half his stack.

After Tollerene three-bet with , Joukemainen called for the rest of it. His flush draw was covered, and Tollerene had that pair of jacks too. But after a board of , Tollerene had Joukemainen crushed.

The Finlander won $314,500 for this one, his first Triton cash.

The Nordic challenge ended with Joukemainen and left two Americans to take on one Chinese and a German. One of those Americans, Tollerene, was making the running, while the other was propping up the final four.

Tollerene, however, continued his dominance and sent Quan to the rail next. They played it slowly as a flop of was followed by the turn. All the money went in here, and no surprise. Quan had top set with while Tollerene had for a massive combo draw.

The river gave Tollerene a flush and Quan was out in fourth for $393,000.

The all-American final was only one step away, but Maxi Lehmanski had shown few chinks in his armour. Duek had picked up some chips in a significant pot with Quan, and he now also had Lehmanski covered. After a single raise from Duek in the small blind, Lehmanski called in the big and they went to a flop of .

Lehmanski, with bet, but Duek had a big draw with and jammed with the covering stack. Lehmanski called, and the made Duek the straight he was looking for.

Lehmanski perished in third for $485,000.

Tollerene led Duek by 43 BBs to 23 heads up, but this was not one of the epic heads-up encounters. That’s because Tollerene was able to quickly polish it off in a total of three hands, winning every one of them.

The most significant turned out to be the final hand too, with Duek opening and Tollerene calling with . Tollerene check-raised all in after a flop of and Duek called with his flush draw.

It missed, however, and Tollerene was champion, adding a PLO title to the hold’em event he won on his debut in Cyprus in 2022.

As for Duek, his second Triton career cash earned him $736,000. One suspects both will be heading quickly for the PLO Main Event too.

EVENT 13: $50K – PLO 6-Handed
Dates: November 12-13, 2024
Entries: 82 (inc. 39 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,100,000

1 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $1,070,000
2 – Michael Duek, USA – $736,000
3 – Maxi Lehmanski, Germany – $485,000
4 – Zhou Quan, China – $393,000
5 – Joni Joukemainen, Norway – $314,500
6 – Mads Amot, Norway – $244,500
7 – Espen Myrmo, Norway – $193,000

8 – Imad Derwiche, France – $147,000
9 – Manuel Stojanovic, Austria – $109,000
10 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $87,000
11 – Jason Koon, USA – $87,000
12 – Girk Gerritse, Netherlands – $78,000
13 – Jonas Kronwitter, Germany – $78,000
14 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $78,000

We’ve been here before.

Already No 1 on poker’s all-time money list, Bryn Kenney extended his lead at the top of the world by another $4.41 million tonight, taking down the latest no limit hold’em Main Event on the Triton Series, for yet another famous title.

Kenney was already a Triton champion when he won the biggest prize ever handed out on the tour, back in 2019 in London, and had three titles to his name when he sat down in the Salle des Etoiles in Monaco today. This was the final table of the $125,000 buy-in Main Event, and Kenney was one of nine left after the rest of this 159-entry field had departed.

He was, as is always his way, the unstoppable force. He’ll be the first to admit he needed a huge slice of good fortune to defeat Malaysia’s Wai Leong Chan heads-up. But Kenney puts himself in the right position so many times that these things happen. It was another spectacular performance from the scintillating New Yorker, who is now a two-time Main Event champion too.

“Crazy,” an exasperated Kenney said when asked to describe this latest triumph. “It’s a bit surreal for sure. It’s amazing to be up here. Just super blessed and grateful for what the cards life gives me.”

As he takes career poker earnings past $70 million, Kenney was asked what the secret is.

“Never give up, that’s the secret, for sure,” he said. “Everyone has their roller coaster, their wave that they’re on…You just got to hang on for the ride. Give it your best, don’t let things get you down and never stop fighting.”

He committed himself to more of the same in the future. “Just stay on the wave and see where it takes me,” he said.

Chan will take plenty of sympathy for how this turned out. The Malaysian, at his 12th final table, had Kenney all-in and behind during heads up play, but watched his American opponent spike a five-outer on the river to survive, double up, and build an insurmountable lead.

Chan’s consolation prize was $2,970,000 for his runner-up finish, while Punnat Punsri, also chasing a second Main Event victory of his own, banked $2,045,000 for third.

Kenney’s prize included an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece, reserved only for winners of Triton Series Main Events. It was his first, having picked up his first Main Event win before the partnership with the master watchmaker.

As ever, Kenny was humbled and a little stunned by his success. “I’ve put my life into poker,” he said. “It’s been quite the mountain climbing. Incredibly lucky, grateful, blessed.”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The tournament began three days ago, and while its buy-in is only the third biggest at this Triton Series stop, the word “main” in the event title, plus the Jacob & Co timepiece on offer to its champion, ensures anticipation is dialled up a notch, and attendance is high.

In all, 99 players sat down and added 60 re-entries, to bring the prize pool close to $20 million. Day 1 was about slowly building a stack and avoiding elimination. The same things mattered on Day 2 as well, but there was also the bubble and then the pursuit of a seat at the final.

As is always the case, plenty of Triton titans couldn’t last the course. Jeju Main Event champion Roman Hrabec perished in 87th. Last year’s Monte Carlo champion Matthias Eibinger could only reach 31st this time.

By the time the tournament got to its stone bubble, three players were critically short. Samuel Mullur had only four big blinds, Curtis Knight had five and Konstantin Maslak had seven. They were the three most likely candidates for this specific misery; a two-day battle ending in nothing.

Knight gave himself some breathing space. He tripled up thanks to finding a pair of kings under the gun. Adrian Mateos, on the button, had pocket eights and committed his stack too. Then Jesse Lonis, in the small blind, covered them both and forced them to put all their chips in the middle with a raise. (It also persuaded Sam Greenwood, in the big blind, out of the pot. He had looked like joining the party for a while.)

Lonis had so needed to spike an ace to kill of both of them. But the board was entirely blank, meaning Knight won the hand and tripled, while Mateos won the side pot with his eights. “I’m the only one who loses,” Lonis said.

Over on the other table, Mullur folded his big blind, leaving himself with two blinds behind. And he then also folded his small blind, taking himself down to just one. However, those two folds essentially made him the best part of $200,000 because of what happened back at the Lonis/Knight/Mateos table.

Here, Ole Schemion and chip-leading Wai Leong Chan got involved in a blind-on-blind battle that ended in tears. The pair had recently played a big pot, where Schemion bluffed the river with a pair of fives, looking at a board containing four spades. He did not have a spade, but Chan did, the and deemed it good enough for a call.

Perhaps this dynamic played into what happened next, but it resulted in a huge free-fall out of the tournament from Schemion. He had in the small blind and completed Chan’s big blind. Chan raised to four big blinds and Schemion responded with a jam for his whole 30 big blind stack.

Chan had and called, setting up a pot of more than 60 big blinds on the stone bubble of a $100K Main Event in which one other player had one blind.

The board brought little encouragement for Schemion, but the turn added a flush draw. However, the river bricked and the German crusher took the long walk out of the tournament room, surrendering a mid-sized stack to the new, overwhelming tournament chip leader Chan. Mullur and other short stacks around the room rejoiced.

Focus now shifted on reaching the final and, better, doing so with a stack to challenge the top six, where seven-figure prizes awaited. This passage of play is another that frequently claims the scalps of some of the very best: Chris Brewer, Ike Haxon, Alex Foxen and Fedor Holz fell in 17th through 14th, by way of example.

Mikita Badziakouski, who made the final table of the Triton Invitational only a couple of days prior, stuck around with a short stack as the field whittled to 12, 11 and then 10. And ironically it was only after he had doubled up twice to build a playable stack that he lost it: Badziakouski flopped a pair of aces with his but Jonathan Jaffe completed a flush with and sent Badziakouski to the rail.

That gave Jaffe the most chips to try cramming into a bag as they went to bed to prepare for the final. The stacks they would return to looked like this:

Jonathan Jaffe – 12.65m (101 BBs)
Wai Leong Chan – 6.2m (50 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 4.075m (33 BBs)
Mario Mosbock – 3.575m (29 BBs)
Danny Tang – 3.375m (27 BBs)
Punnat Punsri – 3.35m (27 BBs)
Bob Voulgaris – 3.35m (27 BBs)
Jesse Lonis – 1.9m (15 BBs)
Thomas Muhlocker – 1.275m (10 BBs)

There was drama straight away as the tournament got restarted. Mario Mosbock picked up red pocket aces on the very first deal, but Jonathan Jaffe flopped a straight with his , which became an unnecessary flush by the river. Jaffe went for all of it, but a disciplined Mosbock wriggled away losing the minimum.

Thomas Muhlocker was still the short stack, but he didn’t find any appropriate spot to risk it — at least not before Jesse Lonis had stuck his chips in the middle, looking for a crucial double. Unfortunately for Lonis, Punnat Punsri was sitting behind him waiting with a better hand to knock him out.

Lonis and Punsri had recent history together. As the Main Event got started on Saturday night, those two were heads up for the $50K 7-Handed tournament, in which Lonis got the better of Punsri for a debut Triton trophy. Both players hopped into the Main Event at its conclusion, and now here they were again at a final table together.

But Lonis’ stay was brief. He jammed with and Punsri picked him off with . Punsri finished with a straight, while Lonis took $445,000 for ninth.

At times last night, Muhlocker will have known that it was touch and go whether he would make the final. He had been nursing a short stack for several hours, but skilfully navigated his way into the last day regardless. All good things must come to an end eventually, however, and his tournament ended in back-to-back beats against, first, Mario Mosbock and then Bryn Kenney.

The first pot was the biggest. Muhlocker open shoved and found Mosbock willing to call for all his chips with pocket sixes. A six on the flop left Muhlocker drawing thin on the flop, dead on the turn. It was a major double for Mosbock and left Muhlocker with crumbs.

He got them all in on the very next hand and had the good fortune to find pocket kings. But Kenney’s spiked an ace to end Muhlocker’s tournament. Had Mosbock not taken most of Muhlocker’s chips, they surely would have gone all in on this hand anyway.

Muhlocker won $538,000 for eighth.

Danny Tang hadn’t had many opportunities to do very much at this final table, but eventually looked down at and saw Mosbock open the pot ahead of him. With 15 big blinds, he decided this was his moment. The chips went in. Tang had no way of knowing that Jaffe, still the chip leader, was lurking behind with . Jaffe called the shove, Mosbock folded and Tang’s tournament was on the line.

Tang will always remember this trip to Monte Carlo as it’s the place he picked up the Ivan Leow Player of the Year trophy for his scintillating displays during last season. A Main Event final table shows that Tang has lost none of his hunger, but unfortunately this one ended in seventh. Jaffe’s dominant ace stayed better and Tang departed with $743,000.

They played on to the first tournament break of the day, at which point the blinds went up and the average stack reduced to 27 big blinds. Jaffe still led the way with 45 bigs, but there were three players — Wai Leong Chan, Punsri and Kenney — deadlocked in second, with 30 apiece. Bob Voulgaris and Mosbock were hovering below the average line.

The minimum payout was now more than $1 million, so whatever happened there was reason to celebrate. And certainly there was nothing approaching regret when Mosbock’s rollercoaster ride hit its final buffers at around 4pm local time.

Kenney took Mosbock’s final few blinds, but the damage was done in a major clash with Bob Voulgaris. There was not much a couple of short-stacked player are going to do when one gets pocket kings (Mosbock) and the other aces (Voulgaris) and, sure enough, stacks went in pre-flop. Mosbock had Voulgaris covered, so the Canadian landed a big double after a blank board.

Mosbock was all in the next hand and couldn’t beat Kenney. Mosbock departed $1.02m richer.

That pot against Mosbock was the first significant uptick at this final table for Voulgaris, and another player who had largely stayed out of the major confrontations to this point, Wai Leon Chan, also soon broke cover. And this was an enormous pot, with the two overnight chip leaders squaring off.

Jaffe, still out front, had and called an opening raise from Chan. He then went to what must have seemed like a dream flop of . Chan, however, had , also top pair and with a better kicked. Jaffe check-called bets on every street, including a jam on the river from Chan, by which point Jaffe’s back-up flush draw had whiffed.

The dominant ace pre-flop, which was now two pair, landed Chan a massive double and sent Jaffe spiralling down to fifth out of five left. Although he battled on for a while, it proved to be too significant a hurdle to overcome for Jaffe. After picking up he opened pre-flop and Chan laid a trap by defending his big blind with only a call, despite holding .

The flop was and Jaffe shoved over Chan’s donk-lead. Second pair was not good enough against Chan’s top pair, and Jaffe’s tournament was over. He won $1,330,000 for fifth.

Chan now has the bit between his teeth, and he ended another North American interest not long later when Bob Voulgaris tries to win a flip. The pair got everything in pre-flop in this one, with Voulgaris’ going up against Chan’s black pocket tens.

Once again, Chan was already leading, but rivered a set for good measure. Voulgaris’ entire 13-big blind stack was slid to Chan, while the Canadian collected $1,665,000 for his fourth place.

Just like that, the tournament was three handed, with Kenney and Chan neck and neck at the top — they had about 40 blinds each — and Punsri holding on with 15.

But he could only hold on for so long. As Chan attempted to turn the screw, he open-jammed his small blind to question whether Punsri fancied committing his last chips to the pot. With , Punsri decided it was worth it. He had decent equity against Chan’s .

Punsri’s hand was pretty but he still needed it to improve. Despite flopping a flush draw, he missed his numerous outs on turn and river, with the king staying best. That sent Punsri out of the tournament with another $2,045,000 for his efforts. He’s finished in third and second in consecutive events here in Monte Carlo, which must feel very good.

“You played well again,” Kenney said as he bade Punsri farewell.

They took a quick break and prepared to return for heads-up. Chan sat with 57 blinds to Kenney’s 43, plenty of ammunition for a significant heads-up battle.

These two were not here to play small-ball, however. And the cards didn’t favour that approach either. Only a few hands into heads up play, the dealer pitched pocket kings to Chan and to Kenney, and the pair started raising and re-raising pre-flop.

Kenney put in the last bet, a four-bet for his whole stack, and Chan made a happy call. The flop came to add a couple more outs to Kenney, but the turn changed nothing. However the river brought gasps from all sides of the stage, and left Chan’s tournament in tatters.

He had only three big blinds left after the grimmest of hands, and though he doubled on the very next hand, he was all-in and under threat again very quickly after. This time, Kenney had pocket sixes to Chan’s and there was nothing on flop, turn or river to bail out Chan.

Kenney rose and took a deep breath. He’d done it. Again.

RESULTS

EVENT 9: $100K – NLH MAIN EVENT
Dates: November 9-11, 2024
Entries: 159 (inc. 60 re-entries)
Prize pool: $19,875,000

1 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $4,410,000
2 – Wai Leong Chan, Malaysia – $2,970,000
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $2,045,000
4 – Bob Voulgaris, Canada – $1,665,000
5 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $1,330,000
6 – Mario Mosbock, Austria – $1,020,000
7 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $743,000
8 – Thomas Muhlocker, Austria – $538,000
9 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $445,000

10 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $377,000
11 – Curtis Knight, Canada – $377,000
12 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $328,000
13 – Alexandre Reard, France – $328,000
14 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $298,000
15 – Alex Foxen, USA – $298,000
16 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $268,000
17 – Chris Brewer, USA – $268,000
18 – Daniel Rezaei, Austria – $239,000
19 – Dan Smith, USA – $239,000
20 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $239,000
21 – Ossi Ketola, Finland – $218,000
22 – Alexander Zubov, Russia – $218,000
23 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $218,000
24 – Samuel Mullur, Austria – $199,000
25 – Emilien Pitavy, France – $199,000
26 – Konstantin Maslak, Russia – $199,000
27 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $199,000

One of the early viral clips from this Triton Series stop in Monte Carlo showed the American pro Isaac Haxton putting in a gutsy bluff and getting it through in a hand against Igor Yaroshevskyy in the Triton Invitational.

But Igor Yaroshevskyy has made sure that’s far from the lasting memory for him from this trip to Monaco.

Tonight in the Salle des Etoiles, Yaroshevskyy took down the $60K NLH Turbo for $862,357, beating a field of 61 entries and securing the second Triton title of his career.

“Second time!” bellowed his rail after Yaroshevskyy closed it out, overcoming a slight disadvantage heads-up to down Alex Theologis after the pair agreed a heads-up deal.

By the time they decided to look at the numbers, this tournament had become an all-in slug-fest, with only 40 big blinds between them and a supposed $300K differential between first and second place. They agreed the chop after Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis was knocked out in third and Yaroshevskyy had secured a double-up to draw stacks all but level.

Theologis has enjoyed a sensational festival here in Monaco, finishing third, ninth, ninth, 10th and now second in five of the six tournaments he has played. He still hunts for a first title, but already had earnings of $3.3 million and took another $860,143 from the deal here.

But this one was all about Yaroshevskyy, who had a terrific festival in Montenegro in May and has done just as well here too.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The mid-festival turbo is always something of a consolation prize, attracting a field comprised almost entirely of players who have played and busted the Main Event. But it would be a mistake to ignore it; by the time registration closed on this one today, there had been 61 entries and $3.66 million in the prize pool. That meant someone would pick up more than $1m for first prize.

There was, of course, no hanging around as the race began towards the bubble, which was due to burst when 11 players remained, and then the final table of nine.

The bubble was tense, played out across two tables. On one of them, Ren Lin had a tiny stack but clung on to see his neighbour, Michael Soyza, get involved in a pot against chip leading Aleks Ponakovs. Soyza check-called all the way as the dealer put a board of on the table. The final bet by Ponakovs was sly: it was perfectly calculated to leave Soyza with one big blind, should he call.

That was what he did, learning that Ponakovs had an eight. Ponakovs took the big pot, but crucially Soyza was still in the tournament.

On the neighbouring table, Artur Martirosian and Leon Sturm was also playing a big one. Sturm made a 2x raise; Martirosian three-bet to nine bigs and Sturm shoved with the covering stack. Martirosian called it off and they were flipping: pocket tens for Sturm against Martirosian’s .

The tens held and Martirosian bubbled. He won the first turbo here in Monte Carlo, but fell in the cruellest spot in this one. Everyone left guaranteed themselves at least $91,500.

Soyza was out next, followed by Brian Kim. That left a final table of nine, as follows:

Thomas Boivin 2.215m (37 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs 2.205m (37 BBs)
Alex Theologis 1.86m (31 BBs)
Leon Sturm 1.46m (24 BBs)
Dominykas Mikolaitis 1.24m (21 BBs)
Igor Yaroshevskyy 1.07m (18 BBs)
Luc Greenwood 1.045m (17 BBs)
David Yan 575,000 (10 BBs)
Ren Lin 550,000 (9 BBs)

The hand that almost eliminated Kim was a double-up for Lin, and he again survived an all-in after the start of the final, rivering a straight to beat Ponakovs’ dominant hand. That put David Yan under the most pressure, and he wasn’t so fortunate when he got his stack in the middle with pocket tens facing Luc Greenwood’s .

There were two spades on the flop to make it look pretty grim, but it was the on the turn that was decisive. Yan headed out with $104,000 for ninth.

Belgium’s Thomas Boivin was still riding high at this point, but he landed on the wrong side of a grim cooler against Luc Greenwood to plummet to the bottom of the counts. Boivin’s filled a flush on the turn. But when thanks to an eight on the river, coupled with two sevens on board, Greenwood’s pocket eights became a boat.

All the remaining money went in at this point, and Greenwood landed the full double. Boivin was left with only four big blinds, which were surrendered too to Greenwood soon after. Boivin won $137,200 for eighth after a brutal end to his tournament.

Lin, on the other hand, was positively delighted how things had turned out. Having survived the nervy time on the bubble, then watched four others depart before him, he was freerolling among the final seven. He wasn’t able to go any further than that, however, as he saw Igor Yaroshevskyy three-bet over his opening raise, and decided to rip it in with .

Yaroshevskyy was sitting with pocket jacks this time, called and held. Lin made his way to the payouts desk looking for $175,700.

With six players left, the average stack was 16 big blinds and the chip leader, Yaroshevskyy, had 30. It was still absolutely anyone’s game as any double up had the potential to change the leader board dramatically. Alex Theologis managed one with his short stack, and that put Aleks Ponakovs, who lost the hand, under pressure.

Ponakovs survived a while longer during a shove-fold phase of the game. The next man out was Leon Sturm, who opened from the cutoff with , only to see Greenwood push with a covering stack from the small blind.

Sturm made the call, discovering that Greenwood had found . The best hand held when all five community cards were lower than a ten. Sturm collected $223,200 for sixth.

The hand sent Greenwood top of the charts again, even though another raising of the levels measured his stack at only 23 big blinds.

That took a massive hit in the next most significant skirmish, which was a three-way all-in between Greenwood, Ponakovs and Alex Theologis. This was great for Theologis, whose pocket tens were up against Greenwood’s and Ponakovs’ . Even after a jack flopped, Theologis rivered the case ten to double through Greenwood and take the last of Ponakovs stack, vaulting him into the chip lead.

Ponakovs long hunt for a title continues, but he left this one with $285,500 for fifth.

Average stack at this point? Fifteen big blinds. Chip leader? Theologis, with 25. But still they played on in one of those gravity defying tournaments we see these days, extending longer than might otherwise seem possible.

Dominykas Mikolaitis now took his turn as the chip leader. He doubled with through Theologis’ after two queens came on the flop. But the very next hand, Theologis doubled back, this time knocking out Greenwood.

This one was was a straight flip, with Greenwood’s losing out to Theologis’ pocket eights. Their stacks were incredibly even, but Theologis had a whisker more than Greenwood, which sent the Canadian out the door in fourth. It came with a $360,000 cushion.

Theologis had the lead three-handed: he had 23 bigs to Mikolaitis’ 19 and Yaroshevskyy’s 7. But that lead soon got a whole lot bigger after he felted Mikolaitis in third.

Yaroshevskyy still had by far the smallest stack, but he would have been rubbing his hands when Mikolaitis shoved the small blind with pocket eights and Theologis called quickly in the big. Theologis had but flopped a jack. There was no miracle set this time for Mikolaitis, and he was out in third. He took $468,900 for that.

Theologis had 38 big blinds to Yaroshevskyy’s 11 when heads-up play started, but the short stack doubled quickly. His stayed good against when the money went in pre-flop, and they were at near parity.

It wasn’t clear which of them suggested it, but the pair decided that enough is enough and signed for an ICM chop. They were required to leave 10 percent on the side to play for, but agreed that Theologis would take $860,143 and Yaroshevskyy $833,357. The $29,000 they left would go to the winner and guarantee the biggest payout too.

This didn’t last long. A couple of small pots went to Theologis. But then a couple of bigger ones went to Yaroshevskyy. They then got it all in pre-flop when Theologis jammed with and Yaroshevskyy called with . There was an ace and a three on the flop, and another three on the turn.

That was a full house. “Second time!” said that rail-bird, pointing to the LED screens that line the tournament room. There’ll be one with Yaroshevskyy’s face on it this time tomorrow.

EVENT 10: $60K – NLH 8-HANDED TURBO
Dates: November 10, 2024
Entries: 61 (inc. 13 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,660,000

1 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $862,357*
2 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $860,143*
3 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $468,900
4 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $360,000
5 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $285,500
6 – Leon Sturm, USA – $223,200
7 – Ren Lin, USA – $175,700
8 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $137,200
9 – David Yan, New Zealand – $104,000

10 – Brian Kim, USA – $91,500
11 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $91,500

In a hectic tournament room at the Triton Poker Series in Monte Carlo this afternoon, it was at time difficult to know where to look. Up on the main stage, the Triton Invitational played to a winner, while the rest of the room was filled with the start of the Main Event.

But for American pro Jesse Lonis, the quiet corner of the secondary feature table will be the place he remembers the most. That was where this 29-year-old New Yorker (now a Las Vegas resident) took down the first Triton title of his career, beating Punnat Punsri heads up at the end of a $50,000 buy-in 7-Handed event.

Despite playing way down the bill, this tournament came with a first prize of $1,502,000, an amount second only to the sum he received for winning a huge PLO title at the World Series a year ago. It came over a characteristically tough Triton field, from which Dan Smith finished third and Leonard Maue was fourth.

Punsri, already a three-time Triton champion, had proved to be the most difficult foe, sitting for long periods with a dominant chip lead. But Lonis simply focused on his game.

“I think I never gave up, which was good,” Lonis said, reflecting on his win. “I didn’t quit, or just get it all in, just kept doing my normal thing, stabbing and it worked out…Obviously you never know when you’re going to win, so I just came in and played my best.”

He allowed himself a moment of congratulation. “It was awesome to get my first Triton,” he said.

Punsri had to make do with $1,021,000, another fine result for him. They got in done in plenty of time to head over to join the Main Event, and that’s where both quickly headed.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

By the standards of some events in Monte Carlo this week, this final tournament before the Main Event got started clipped along at breakneck pace. From 125 entries on Day 1, only 28 players came back for Day 2, and the bubble was only eight spots away.

Punnat Punsri had a vast chip lead, but players including Luc Greenwood, Ren Lin and Artur Martirosian had fewer than 10 big blinds. Sure enough, they were all swept away before Nikita Kuznetcov burst the stone bubble.

There were still a good handful of players with fewer than 10 blinds when 21 players remained, but one of them, Orpen Kiscacikoglu, got a three-bet shove through, while another, Jonathan Jaffe, scored a double through David Yan.

Kuznetcov open-jammed his five blinds from under the gun, holding and he nearly got it through. But Anson Ewe woke up in the big blind with , made the call, and watched his better hand hold. Kuznetcov perished in 21st and took nothing. Everyone else was in the money.

With 30 minute levels and a couple of significant chip leaders (Dan Smith and Jesse Lonis had moved alongside Punsri at the top), the tournament went through a period of stagnation as players attempted to inch to the final table.

All of Jaffe, Kiscacikoglu and Yan perished, among others, leaving the rest to play a high-variance shootout to try to book their place at the final. Eventually, and after doubling up Leonard Maue one hand before, Punsri knocked out Pieter Aerts in ninth place to set an eight-handed final.

They lined up as follows:

Punnat Punsri – 6.325m (63 BBs)
Jesse Lonis – 6.18m (62 BBs)
Dan Smith – 4.145m (41 BBs)
Daniel Rezaei – 3.455m (35 BBs)
Leonard Maue – 1.88m (19 BBs)
Mario Mosböck – 1.16m (12 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 1.12m (11 BBs)
Anson Ewe – 725,000 (7 BBs)

All eyes were on short-stacked Anson Ewe, but it was actually Alex Kulev who was the centre of the action on the very first deal. He had 11 big blinds and peered down at a pair of aces. Now he just had to figure out how to get value from them.

Maue helped him out, raising from the button. Kulev three-bet his small blind and Maue called. They went to a flop of and both players cagily checked. Then the came on the turn.

Kulev now bet 225,000 (the big blind was 100K) and Maue called. That took them to the river. Kulev now shoved his last five blinds in, and Maue snapped him off. Maue had flopped the world with his and the day was done for Kulev. He took $194,000 for eighth.

Ewe managed to cling on for a bit longer, and ended up getting his last three blinds in with a chance of tripling them up. He jammed with and, after Lonis called, Mosböck jammed behind, holding .

Lonis called that shove too, holding , and a ten on the flop should have resulted in a double elimination. However, the case eight was also on that flop, keeping Mosböck alive. Ewe, though, was toast. He took $262,000 for seventh.

It proved to be something of a false dawn for Mosböck too. He bobbed along for another five hands or so, before gave him every reason to three-bet shove over Punsri’s opening raise. Punsri called and had . He hit both of them on the flop to win this one.

Mosböck banked another $350,000 from his good week.

Although there were fewer than 100 blinds between five players, there was a ton of ICM pressure on everyone and there were few major swings. Daniel Rezaei slipped to the bottom of the counts purely by folding blinds, and when he did make a stand, it spelled the end.

Rezaei picked up in the small blind and moved all in for his last seven blinds. Punsri was lurking with pocket eights in the big blind and didn’t need any help to stay best. Rezaei’s fourth Triton cash, this one worth $446,000, pushed his earnings past the $1 million mark.

Punsri was playing well and running well, and was able to knock out Leonard Maue only a couple of hands later. This time Punsri picked up on the button and opened. Maue found in the big blind and pushed in his 24 big blinds.

Punsri called immediately and the best hand held up again, boosting Punsri’s stack to 73 big blinds, while his two remaining opponents — Dan Smith and Jesse Lonis — had only 25 between them. Maue meanwhile had $556,000 to take to the main event.

Lonis got his stack in first, and found a double against Punsri. His counterfeited Punsri’s pocket fours after a double-paired board. It meant that when they returned from another tournament break, Smith had 10 big blinds, Lonis had 23 and Punsri 51.

The first hand back and Smith’s stack went in. He had and opened for half of it from the button. Punsri moved in from the small blind with and Smith called.

It looked good for Smith after a jack came in the window. But Punsri continued to find the cards when he needed them and the river was the last Smith saw in this tournament. He took $675,000 for his efforts here.

Punsri had Lonis outchipped by exactly three-to-one, but they asked to look at the ICM numbers to figure out if they wanted to chop it up. After a short discussion they opted just to play it out — and Lonis was immediately the happier. He doubled very quickly after the restart, making two pair with and getting Punsri to pay off his river shove with a pair of eights.

It put Lonis marginally ahead in an otherwise even battle, but it proved decisive a moment later when they got it all in again. This time, Lonis had to Punsri’s , and his chip advantage was crucial. The board ran dry, which gave Lonis the outright win and a first Triton title.

“I knew the first time I came, in Jeju, I would always try to come back,” Lonis said. “This obviously helps.”

EVENT 9: $50K – NLH 7-HANDED
Dates: November 8-9, 2024
Entries: 125 (inc. 44 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,250,000

1 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $1,502,000
2 – Punnat Punsri – $1,021,000
3 – Dan Smith, USA – $675,000
4 – Leonard Maue, Germany – $556,000
5 – Daniel Rezaei, Austria – $446,000
6 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $350,000
7 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $262,000
8 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $194,000
9 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $150,000

10 – Choon Tong Siow, Malaysia – $125,000
11 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – $125,000
12 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $110,000
13 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $110,000
14 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $100,000
15 – Andy Ni, China – $100,000
16 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $90,500
17 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $90,500
18 – David Yan, New Zealand – $81,000
19 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $81,000
20 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $81,000

A late-night epic in the first six-figure buy-in event of the Triton Series trip to Monte Carlo ended with Belgium’s Pieter Aerts winning a second Triton title of his career, denying Malaysia’s Michael Soyza a third.

The pair had been half of a four-way ICM deal with Fedor Holz and Mario Mosböck that took place many hours before, with Soyza at that point a dominant chip leader and taking lion’s share of $13.1 million prize pool.

But with $310,000 left on the side for the winner, Aerts ended the night with $2,234,587, only slightly less than Soyza’s $2,305,000. It was due reward for a tenacious performance from Aerts, who was in dire straits on several occasions, but dug in and bounced back.

“It was definitely really long,” an exhausted but delighted Aerts said. “We made a deal four-handed, then the play changed a lot because we’re playing just for that first prize…I was down to five big blinds four handed and four big blinds heads up, but I came back. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

Even a spirited rail featuring Danny Tang, Punnat Punsri, Webster Lim and Lun Loon couldn’t quite get Soyza over the line. Across the other side of the TV set, Pieter’s partner Charlotte cheered him to success, thinking too of a young daughter the couple have who was sleeping not far away.

The baby was the reason Aerts skipped a year of the Triton Series, but he returned in fine style in this one, despite whiffing the first four events of the series in Monte Carlo.

“Of course not doing well in the first events is not what you’re looking for. but it’s important to keep your cool, stay calm,” Aerts said. “I didn’t let it affect me too much.”

He added: “Coming here now in this huge event and being able to take it home after this marathon session feels good.”

The couple left the tournament room with the trophy under their arm, like a new addition to the family.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

From a starting field of 131 entries, 52 players still had an interest coming into Day 2. The min-cash in this one was $152,000, so more than ever this was a dividing line players were keen to fall the right side of.

It wasn’t to be for the likes of Dan Dvoress, Chris Brewer Ben Tollerene or Elton Tsang, nor for Triton Monte Carlo champions Brian Kim and Roman Hrabec or Alex Foxen, who perished today before the money.

As the field slimmed to its last 24 players, there were two action points: Fedor Holz had made a huge river bet to ask Kiat Lee if he fancied risking his whole stack looking at a board of . Lee eventually decided he didn’t and folded.

However, at the TV table, Thomas Mühlöcker had open-shoved his and found a caller in Alex Kulev, who had . Neither player hit anything on an entirely dry board, which meant Kulev’s ace played and Mühlöcker was toast. The last 23 were now all in the money.

Lee’s fold in the hand against Holz grew ever more impressive during the next passage of play, during which the Malaysian pro edged steadily upward on the leader board as opponents hit the rail. Closing in on the final table, Stephen Chidwick, Alex Kulev and even Phil Ivey were vanquished, with Lee sitting just ahead of his friend and countryman Michael Soyza at the very top.

Lee’s pocket queens won a hand against Alex Theologis’ , which sent Theologis out in 10th and set the final table. Theologis had made the top 10 in each of the four tournaments he has played so far in Monte Carlo, even though this one didn’t quite get him to the final.

Those who did stacked up as follows:

Kiat Lee – 4.88m (61 BBs)
Michael Soyza – 3.935m (49 BBs)
Pieter Aerts – 3.525m (44 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 3.375m (42 BBs)
Andy Ni – 3.305m (41 BBs)
Steve O’Dwyer – 2.86m (36 BBs)
Mario Mosböck – 2.675m (33 BBs)
Roland Rokita – 1.175m (15 BBs)
Christoph Vogelsang – 475,000 (6 BBs)

All observers would have expected Christoph Vogelsang to be the next player eliminated. It’s tough to cling on with six big blinds, even if you are one of the best in the world. However Vogelsang (and Roland Rokita, for that matter) must have looked on with glee when Andy Ni played and lost two of the first three hands at the final. The second of those cost Ni his tournament.

Ni was in the small blind with 30 big blinds and looked down at . He put in a standard raise, but then saw Michael Soyza, in the big blind, three bet. Ni jammed and Soyza, with 40 blinds, called to put Ni at risk.

Soyza had pocket 10s and they held on a board devoid of aces. Ni hit the rail in ninth for $304,000, with everyone else laddering $77K.

That was a welcome boost for Vogelsang, but he couldn’t quite make any more. He too found a small ace, and raised two of his eight blinds. Mario Mosböck called, laying a trap with pocket tens, the same hand that had accounted for Ni a moment ago.

The flop gave each player a straight draw, but Mosböck also had the over-pair. All the remaining money went in here, and although Vogelsang paired his five on the turn, it was not enough. The German pro collected $381,000.

It again now became Soyza time. He picked up and called Roland Rokita’s shove with . Soyza was ahead already, but the dealer put an ace on the river to end it. Rokita, who won his first Triton title in Jeju earlier this year, left his second career final table in seventh. He earned $519,000.

But spectators then collectively held their breath as a car crash hand played out between the two Malaysians, with the former chip leader finding himself in tatters.

Lee had pocket queens and raised from mid-position. Soyza had in the big blind, which was plenty good enough to defend with a call. And he saw the dream flop of . Soyza made a devious check, and Lee was disciplined enough to check behind.

The turn looked like it might kill the action, and both players checked. But then the river ignited the action once more. Soyza now bet, putting 500K out there. Lee, sitting with a set, raised to 1.4 million. Soyza three-bet to 4.5 million and Lee took a long while but called off for almost all his chips.

Soyza’s straight won him an enormous pot, and Lee only lasted a couple of hands more before Steve O’Dwyer mopped up the last of his chips. O’Dwyer’s beat Lee’s . Lee took home $701,000 but yet another final table ends for him without a title.

Unfortunately for O’Dwyer, that pot represented his high point. On the very next hand, he found and opened his button. Pieter Aerts jammed 26 blinds with and O’Dwyer snapped, but the first three cards off the deck were and Aerts’ straight took almost everything O’Dwyer had.

He bust soon after to Aerts, with this time not good enough against . O’Dwyer’s first cash of the trip was for $904,000.

Everyone was now guaranteed at least $1.127 million, and Soyza had a huge chip lead. His 109 BBs led Aerts’ 54 BBs, Mosböck’s 24 and Fedor Holz’s 23. They decided to chop it up.

Leaving $310,000 on the side, Soyza signed for a minimum of $2.305m, Aerts took $1.924m, Mosböck would get $1.544 and Holz $1.528. And they then played to determine who took the trophy.

Holz quickly doubled through Aerts, which switched the fortunes of that pair. Aerts and Mosböck therefore became the two men under most pressure, and it seemed to be a race to the door for them. This unfortunate contest was won by Mosböck, who ended up busting to his friend and training partner Holz.

In the final hand, Holz completed from the small blind with and Mosböck raised from the big blind with . Holz called and saw a flop of .

Holz checked his flush draw, Mosböck bet his bottom pair and Holz check-raised. Mosböck called. They both checked the turn, but then the river was the action card. Holz bet is flush, Mosböck jammed with trips and Holz called.

That was that for the Austrian ex-soccer pro. He landed himself the $1,544,316 negotiated at deal time. That was $400K more than the advertised fourth place payout.

Aerts was still the short stack and the tournament seemed to be heading towards a heads-up showdown between Holz and Soyza. But the Belgian had clung on during crucial periods, and when he managed one more double up, winning a race with against Soyza’s pocket fours, he found himself suddenly in the lead.

The structure was catching up with them too, with there now being only about 100 blinds between them three handed. After about two more levels with no eliminations, that total was only just over 50 blinds, and Holz was the shortest.

He managed one double up, but that was all. He then hit the rail in third after Soyza raced back to the top of the counts. Aerts opened and Holz shoved for about 18 blinds with . Soyza looked down at the dream: .

Soyza shoved, no doubt hoping Aerts had enough to want to play for it all. But Aerts folded, leaving Soyza alone against Holz. Holz hit a four on the flop, but he couldn’t go better than that. Holz departed in third with his negotiated $1,528,097.

Soyza now faced Aerts with a 50 to 38 chip lead.

“Let’s go, Soyza!” chimed the Malaysian rail, led by Hong Kong/Brit Danny Tang.

The first major pot left Tang instructing Sozya to “regroup”. It was a double for Aerts, with against Soyza’s . They got all the chips in after a flop of . Both players likely thought they were ahead, but the straight stayed good against the two pair.

Aerts now led by 39 blinds to 27, as they settled in for more.

The heads-up battle was one for the purists — an efficient euphemism for a duel that dragged on much longer than seemed possible. Both players were ahead, then pegged back, then all-in, then doubling, then ahead again, then pegged back again. The tournament structure began swallowing up the blinds, but even when there was only 33 big blinds in play, it continued.

Aerts was down to his last four blinds but doubled up twice in consecutive hands. That put him back ahead. And then they got it in once more, with Aerts holding to Soyza’s . This time it held up.

EVENT 6: $100K – NLH 8-Handed
Dates: November 5-6, 2024
Entries: 131 (inc. 46 re-entries)
Prize pool: $13,100,000

1 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $2,234,587*
2 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $2,305,000*
3 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $1,528,097*
4 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $1,544,316*
5 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $904,000
6 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $701,000
7 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $519,000
8 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $381,000
9 – Andy Ni, China – $304,000

10 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $255,000
11 – Phil Ivey, USA – $255,000
12 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $223,000
13 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $223,000
14 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $203,000
15 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $203,000
16 – Ossi Ketola, Finland – $183,000
17 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $183,000
18 – Oaulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $165,000
19 – Tan Xuan, China – $165,000
20 – Morten Klein, Norway – $165,000
21 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $152,000
22 – Ding Biao, China – $152,000
23 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $152,000

*denotes four-way deal

The ever-popular Bounty Quattro Turbo at Triton Monte Carlo blasted through its 105-entry field at high speed tonight, ending in a crazy, swingy battle of the all-in shovers before Artur Martirosian emerged dazed but alive from the carnage.

Martirosian, one of the best players on the Triton Series without a title before this moment, earned $531,000 plus $360,000 for his nine bounties, defeating his countryman Nikita Kuznetcov heads-up.

The two came to the final table as the two smallest stacks. But after a nine-handed logjam, which lasted two levels, Martirosian suddenly went on a spree and knocked out six players in a matter of five or so hands. But it all slowed down again against Kuznetcov as the pair played a few, cagey levels of heads up.

But as the clock ticked towards 2am local time, the pair got it all in one last time and Martirosian’s flopped a pair and turned trips. It was finally done.

Kuznetcov won $358,000 for second, but Martirosian again showed his wizardry in these bounty events only a couple of days after he dazzled in the Mystery Bounty tournament.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Having raced through the early stages, the bubble was just bobbing on the horizon when Adrian Mateos went to work. In back to back hands, Mateos knocked out three players. He had pocket deuces and was all in at the same time that Ole Schemion was all in with pocket nines and Benjamin Chalot, with the covering stack, called with .

Mateos hit a boat on the flop, felting Schemion and leaving Chalot with less than one big blind. That was in on the next hand, but so was Dominykas Mikolaitis with . Mateos found pocket sixes and after four spades came on the board, one of those sixes was the only other spade out there. Mateos flished out both Chalot and Mikolaitis, taking the tournament into the money.

The average stack was 25 big blinds, the leader (Jamil Wakil) had 52 bigs and four players had fewer than 10.

The next major stop was the final table, and with those $40K bounties up for grabs, it didn’t take long to get us there. Dan Smith, Danny Tang and then Zhewen Hu fell in 12th through 10th, leaving us with the following nine still in with a shot:

Jamil Wakil – 4.85m (49 BBs)
Ren Lin – 3.55m (36 BBs)
Ben Tollerene – 3.15m (32 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 2.5m (25 BBs)
David Benefield – 2.5m (25 BBs)
Paulius Vaitiekunas – 1.575m (16 BBs)
Espen Jorstad – 1.25m (13 BBs)
Nikita Kuznetcov – 950,000 (10 BBs)
Artur Martirosian – 700,000 (7 BBs)

Remarkably, two full level passed at the final without a bustout, which meant stacks were getting hilariously short. The average was 12 blinds and the chip leader now only had 21. That was the formidable figure of Ben Tollerene, who hasn’t yet found a format of the game he hasn’t mastered.

Four players had sub-10 big blind stacks and then, boom, two were knocked out on the same hand as Artur Martirosian all but tripled up. Paulius Vaitiekunas was first in with his . Jorstad followed him in with . Tollerene moved in too, covering both, with pocket threes. And Martirosian got his chips in too, with pocket eights.

An ace on the flop looked like it was going to save the former pair, but the river was an eight giving Martirosian the win. Jorstad had marginally more chips than Vaitiekunas, so took $71,000 to Vaitiekunas’ $53,000.

Martirosian took over at the top of the leader board, and he put further distance between him and the field when he completed the job on Tollerene. Only a couple of hands after the four-way all-in, Tollerene found and jammed under the gun. Martirosian had on the button, made the call and held.

Tollerene took $94,000 from the main pool, plus some bounties.

The dam had well and truly broken and it was Martirosian smashing down the wall. He next accounted for David Benefield with for Martirosian besting Benefield pocket twos. The American pro is in town for the Triton Invitational, which starts tomorrow. He warmed up with this final table appearance and took a $123,000 score.

And it didn’t stop there. One more hand later, and two more players hit the rail. This time both Mateos and Ren Lin bust to Martirosian, whose made a straight and outdid Mateos’ and Lin’s .

Martirosian now had 63 blinds, with Kuznetcoz sitting with 10 and Jamil Wakil with 13. But it was Wakil who went next, the collateral in a three-way all-in. Martirosian this time only won the side pot. His was better than Wakil’s when a jack flopped, but Kuznetcov’s pocket threes turned a set.

Kuznetcov built his stack to 30 blinds. Martirosian had 54. Wakil’s third-place prize was worth $233,000.

The Russian flag came out as these two countrymen squared off. And they took it very seriously, sitting in stony silence for the most part, with Kuznetcov beneath a green hoodie and Martirosian wearing a T-shirt showing a teddy bear on a fishing trip.

Kuznetcov was down, but doubled. Then Martirosian ground him down again. Then Kuznetcov doubled again and there were 35 blinds between them, with Kuznetcov in the lead. Then Martirosian’s eights held against Kuznetcov’s sixes and the pendulum swung once more.

The tournament clock ticked into level 28, where Martirosian, the chip leader, had only 26 blinds to Kuznetcov’s nine. They got it all in one more time and this time Martirosian’s hit two nines to beat Kuznetcov’s .

“Good game,” Martirosian said as he rapped the table, job well done.

EVENT 7: $30K – NLH Bounty Quattro
Dates: November 6, 2024
Entries: 105 (inc. 28 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,150,000 (inc. $1,040,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $531,000 + $360,000 in bounties
2 – Nikita Kuznetcov, Russia – $358,000 + $80,000 in bounties
3 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $233,000 + $120,000 in bounties
4 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $193,000 + $120,000 in bounties
5 – Ren Lin, China – $156,000 + $80,000 in bounties
6 – David Benefield, USA – $123,000 + $40,000 in bounties
7 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $94,000 + $40,000 in bounties
8 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $71,000 + $40,000 in bounties
9 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $53,000 + $40,000 in bounties
10 – Zhewen Hu, China – $43,000 + $40,000 in bounties
11 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $43,000 + $40,000 in bounties
12 – Dan Smith, USA – $38,000
13 – Emilien Pitavy, France – $38,000
14 – Seth Davies, USA – $35,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $35,000
16 – Roberto Perez, Spain – $33,000
17 – Samuel Mullur, Austria – $33,000

When Alex Foxen takes control of a poker tournament, there’s not much anyone else can do to stop him.

The American pro has not been seen on the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series for five years — he had other priorities and didn’t want to travel so much — but showed today what everyone already knew: he could do very good things on this tour.

Foxen was the dominant force throughout pretty much every moment of the final day in the $50,000 NLH 8-Handed, never relinquishing his chip lead throughout a final table from which he emerged with $1,470,000 and his first Triton title.

It came after the last four cut a four-way deal, with three opponents all closely packed a long way behind Foxen’s dominant lead. They took a bit of the variance out of it thanks to the ICM chop, but Foxen was immediately guaranteed $1.3 million and quickly secured up the remaining $170,000 as well, with Latvia’s Aleks Ponakovs and the Lithuanian duo of Marius Kudzmanas and Dominykas Mikolaitis unable to do anything about it.

“It defintiely feels great,” Foxen said. “There’s no high stakes series like this one.” He added: “Missing it was definitely a little painful.”

He made it look easy and admitted things had gone pretty much perfectly, stating “The tournament went really smooth for me. I was really fortunate for a lot of the time.

“Everything just felt right…I was feeling confident and excited.”

Everything was wrapped up before 10.30pm local time, with Foxen stating that he and his wife Kristen will be returning pretty quickly to the Triton Series. “I definitely think the Foxens will be on the Triton tour a lot more,” he said. “There’s no comparison in terms of high stakes poker from what I can see. You’ll definitely be seeing more of us.”

Each of the three others involved in the deal banked more than $900K, with Ponakovs officially finishing in second place. The Latvian has 17 cashes and more than $10 million in earnings on this tour, but he’ll need to find a more amenable heads-up opponent than Foxen, at least in this mood, to get his first win.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

For the second consecutive day, the bubble burst in unorthodox fashion: two players knocked out on the same hand to send the remaining 23 players into the money. Yesterday’s min-cash was split between two players, but the difference this time was that Matthias Eibinger and Paulius Vaitiekunas were sitting at the same table, and departed in 25th and 24th, respectively.

Eibinger had only three blinds and Vaitiekunas had about nine, and the hand played out with a button shove from Eibinger with , a reshove from Juan Pardo in the small blind with and an under-call all-in by Vaitiekunas with .

Vaitiekunas had the best hand, but if Pardo hit one of his cards, the other two were holding one of each other’s outs. That’s exactly what transpired as the dealer put the flop on the table, and Pardo took a lead that he did not surrender.

Both Eibinger and Vaitiekunas left with nothing.

Pardo was guaranteed a return on investment, but he could not make it to the final. The field of 23 shrank rapidly and they reconvened around a final table at around 5.30pm local time. Alex Foxen had been in characteristically ruthless mood, blasting into a chip lead that he held as the last nine settled down.

The stacks were as follows:

Alex Foxen – 8.56m (86 BBs)
Marius Kudzmanas – 5.09m (51 BBs)
Xu Liang – 4.425m (44 BBs)
Zhou Quan – 3.4m (34 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 2.22m (22 BBs)
Dominykas Mikolaitis – 2.165m (22 BBs)
Kiat Lee – 1.93m (19 BBs)
Lun Loon – 1.095m (11 BBs)
Alex Theologis – 520,000 (5 BBs)

Each of Kudzmanas, Quan, Ponakovs and Mikolaitis were already taking a seat at a second final table of the week, while Liang had made it three cashes from the three events he had played so far. Alex Theologis had also already cashed everything: third in the first event here, followed by ninth in the Mystery Bounty. The momentum was clearly strong with all of them, but they still had to do battle with Foxen, who was in the mood on a rare trip to the Triton Series.

Theologis was the most likely to be knocked out first from the final, and so it proved. He didn’t win a single hand at the final and his last chips dribbled over to Foxen’s stack after Theologis shoved the cutoff with red pocket eights, but lost when Foxen’s hit a ten.

This performance gave Theologis another $170,000 to go with the $70K he picked up in Event #3 (plus bounties) and the $436K from Event 1. He approached the cashier with a friendly smile; he is a regular visitor.

Malaysia’s Lun Loon was one of the breakout stars on the Triton Series last season, and here he was again back at a final table. Similar to Theologis, he also couldn’t find a spot to do anything at the final, and was knocked out the minute he tried.

Loon found in the hijack and put in a big raise for what was essentially half his 11 BB stack. Aleks Ponakovs had pocket tens and asked Loon for the rest of it with a three-bet. Loon called but only connected with his nine on the board. That wasn’t enough. Loon was out in eighth for $214,000.

After these two hasty eliminations, the tournament went through a lull. This was the result of one of those ICM logjams, where Foxen’s stack was unimpeachable, but none of the others wanted to sacrifice their position at the table, at least not before any of the others had.

They went on an extended dinner break so that the mystery bounty pulling ceremony could take place. And when they came back, the dam finally broke, with Zhou Quan and Kiat Lee making way. In fairness, Quan’s elimination could and would have happened at any other stage of the tournament too. He found pocket queens and was up against Dominykas Mikolaitis’ pocket kings. Quan opened, Mikolaitis shoved with the covering stack, and Quan called it off.

Nothing spectacular on the flop and Quan was out for $291,000.

It was the other Lithuanian who did for Lee. The Malaysian pro opened then called the rest when Marius Kudzmanas shoved with his . There was both a jack and a queen on the flop, so the best hand prevailed.

Lee took $393,000 and reinvested a chunk into the $100K that was starting a few yards away. (The cruel run-out, with the jack in the window, at least gave Lee’s rail something to chuckle about.)

Foxen now had an even more commanding lead than before, even though he sat out the third elimination in a row. Xu Liang had fewer than four bigs blinds, which he got in with , only to find Aleks Ponakovs sitting with . The better ace held and Liang took $507,000 for fifth. He has made a profit from every tournament he’s played so far in Monte Carlo.

With Liang on the rail, the remaining four decided to look at the numbers. Foxen had 62 big blinds, the average stack was 29, and nobody else had anything more than 21. With more than $1m between fourth place and first, they decided to take the edge off.

Foxen’s lead translated into a $1.3 million guaranteed payday. Kudzmanas locked up $922,000, Mikolaitis secured $964,000 and Ponakovs was guaranteed $915,000. With $170,000 left on the side, no one was catching Foxen’s payout whatever happened, but it kept it interesting.

Mikolaitis fell first. He found and raised from the button. Foxen three-bet the big blind, holding and it looked bleak for Mikilaitis already. He called, taking them to the flop that ensured it all went in: . Foxen bet, Mikilaitis called and the turn was the .

Foxen now jammed and Mikilaitis called it off with his pair of nines. Foxen’s queens were better, and Mikilaitis went home with that $964,000.

That was one Lithuanian accounted for, and Foxen quickly turned his attention to the other. Foxen picked up and made a standard open. Kudzmanas found and moved all in. Foxen called.

The flop brought an ace, but by the time all five community cards were out there, Foxen had backed into a Broadway straight. That was that for Kudzmanas, whose prize stuck at $922,000. He had been down to only eight big blinds when there were still 19 players left, so this was a great turnaround.

Ponakovs had around 4 million chips as heads up started, while Foxen had 25 million. The Latvian was looking at a steep mountain, but doubled almost immediately with , making trip queens. It didn’t get much better than that for him, however, with Foxen enjoying the run of it again from that moment on.

The final hand came quickly. Foxen limped with , Ponakovs shoved with and the king came on the turn to end it all. Easy as that.

EVENT 5: $50K – NLH 8-Handed
Dates: November 4-5, 2024
Entries: 147 (inc. 51 re-entries)
Prize pool: $7,350,000

1 – Alex Foxen, USA – $1,470,000*
2 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $915,000*
3 – Marius Kudzmanas, Lithuania – $922,000*
4 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $964,000*
5 – Xu Liang, China – $507,000
6 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $393,000
7 – Zhou Quan, China – $291,000
8 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $214,000
9 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $170,000

10 – Yaman Nakdali, Spain – $143,000
11 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $143,000
12 – Karl Chappe-Gatien, France – $125,000
13 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $125,000
14 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $114,000
15 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $114,000
16 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $103,000
17 – Curtis Knight, Canada – $103,000
18 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $93,000
19 – Leonard Maue, Germany – $93,000
20 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $93,000
21 – Alexandre Reard, France – $85,000
22 – David Yan, New Zealand – $85,000
23 – Ben Heath, UK – $85,000