Category: 2024

Five years separated Alex Foxen’s first and second cashes on the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series. But having claimed a maiden title in Monte Carlo in November, it’s taken only a month for Foxen to land another.

The 33-year-old American pro vowed to play all the Triton stops as he collected his first trophy last month, and he kept his promise by returning to the series here at the Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, in the Bahamas. And tonight Foxen overpowered a characteristically difficult $100K Main Event field to pick up the incredible $3.85 million first prize, which also comes with a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet.

It’s a second Triton win, and a third bracelet, and comes only days after he picked up a $2.8 million score in the Triton Invitational. This was truly a masterclass from one of tournament poker’s finest exponents. Foxen stayed in the hunt in the middle of the pack for all of three days of competition, saving his most devastating play for today’s final.

He rose from seventh in chips as the final got under way, and did not put a foot wrong. After winning a massive, tournament-defining flip against Sam Mullur, Foxen goaded Fedor Holz into paying him off when only three players remained, and he then pulled off one of the all-time most heroic hero-calls against his heads-up opponent Joao Vieira to seal the deal.

Foxen had bottom pair and was facing three barrels of betting from Vieira. But Foxen sniffed it out and took the whole thing down moments later. Foxen was irresistible when it mattered the most, and he richly deserves this most famous of victories.

“It’s pretty surreal to get a second Triton win, third bracelet, all these things,” Foxen said in his post-game interview. “I ran really good. I feel like I played almost as well as I could. Just super happy with the moment.”

He added: “It’s nice to get a couple of these, especially after spending so long away from Triton. It feels like Triton has become the pinnacle of the high stakes poker scene and having been away from that I definitely feel like I came back a maybe a little bit forgotten and potentially underestimated. So it’s exciting to get a couple right away.”

He won’t be underestimated any longer, that’s for certain.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

This three-day event began on Tuesday, just as the dust was still settling on Alejandro Lococo’s victory in the Triton Invitational. The $12 million man was among the Triton newcomers who took advantage of a location closer to home to sample Main Event action for the first time, and to build a field of 182 entries.

That put more than $18 million in the prize pool and ensured 31 places would pay.

Day 2 was about consolidation for those fortunate enough to have comfortable stacks, although getting past the bubble was the most important factor for most. Even the Day 1 chip leader David Yan couldn’t guarantee a profit (he bust in 36th) and Bryn Kenney and boss-man Paul Phua also headed out without a cash.

Wayne Heung was among those existing purely on fumes as the bubble approached, and his stack got shorter and shorter and shorter until he was forced all-in in the big blind. As if the situation wasn’t bleak enough already, he only had . It wasn’t enough at the start of the hand, and it definitely wasn’t enough by the end of it. Dimitar Danchev had two pair, and Heung was out.

The rest were guaranteed $160,000, and the remainder of a long Day 2 took the field down to 14. The chip-leader was one of Triton Monte Carlo’s breakout stars, Ossi Ketola, who had one again coasted through the megastars with the ease of someone supping a cocktail on sands of the Caribbean. Ketola had masses, though a chasing pack including the likes of Fedor Holz, Alex Foxen and Seth Davies wasn’t going to allow him to have it all his own way.

FINAL DAY PLAY

All eyes were on Ketola as the tournament resumed on Day 3. He was certainly untroubled at the comfortable end of the leader board as Mario Mosböck, Tom Fuchs, Stephen Chidwick and Mikita Badziakouski fell in 14th through 11th, respectively. (In case you were in any doubt as to the quality of the field, just look at that quartet who narrowly missed the final.)

Austria’s Thomas Muhlocker had 19 big blinds when the tournament was 10 handed, and he was sitting in the small blind when action folded to him. With only Holz behind him, he jammed with . Unfortunately for Muhlocker, Holz’s random hand was one of the best: was a snap call. Five blanks later and Muhlocker was out.

That set a final table at which Ketola still led, but where Holz had closed the gap.

Final table chip counts

Ossi Ketola – 10,375,000 (83 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 9,075,000 (73 BBs)
David Coleman – 5,800,000 (46 BBs)
Joao Vieira – 5,100,000 (41 BBs)
Samuel Mullur – 4,400,000 (35 BBs)
Aleksandr Zubov – 3,575,000 (29 BBs)
Alex Foxen – 3,450,000 (28 BBs)
Dimitar Danchev – 2,900,000 (23 BBs)
Seth Davies – 825,000 (7 BBs)

True to form at Triton final tables, there was plenty of big blinds to go around at the start of play, but things rapidly shallowed out as these GTO wizards played it by the book. Ketola was the wild card, but he lost a big pot to Holz when a massive flopped combo draw missed (Holz had two pair), and then ran pocket jacks into Alex Foxen’s queens. It drew the Finn back into the pack.

Seth Davies has had the best few months of his poker career towards the end of 2024, and here he was again at another final table. But seven big blinds wasn’t quite enough for the American crusher to run his good form into a maiden Triton title — although he got unlucky to lose his final hand. Holz opened the button with and Davies picked up in the small blind.

Davies’ last chips went in as an under-call, but Holz hit both his six and jack to do the job against Davies. Davies’ 32nd career Triton cash was for $393,000.

They played eight handed for a good long while, during which Ketola dipped and then blazed back into action, winning a decent pot with queens against Joao Vieira, then going on a relentless raising run that took him back to the top of the counts.

Amid this flurry of action, Dimitar Danchev played his final pot, losing a flip with against Samuel Muller’s pocket sevens. It was in the same location in 2013 that Danchev broke through as a poker player, taking down the annual PCA. But his left the stage this time unable to add to his Triton title haul, instead earning $475,000 for eighth.

Mullur did not have much time for celebration, however, as he quickly found himself following Danchev out of the door. He found a great squeeze spot with after Holz had opened and Foxen had called in the hijack. But though Holz folded to Mullur’s 30 big blind jam, Foxen had pocket jacks and called.

This was a pot that would decide the tournament chip lead, and Foxen won it. He flopped a jack to leave Mullur drawing dead by the turn. Mullur won another $650,500 as this young player continues to build his reputation and bankroll.

After the long, tetchy period, the handbrake was now off. The average stack was now 30 big blinds and only two players, Foxen and Ketola, had more than that. When Foxen beat Ketola out of another one, he put some distance between him and the rest.

However Foxen too now found it tough at the top. He lost a flip to double up Aleksandr Zubov’s short stack (fours against ), and everything bunched up once more.

Time for another bad beat. This time, Joao Vieira and David Coleman got their stacks in pre-flop, with Coleman raise/four-bet jamming over Vieira’s three-bet. Coleman had the dominant hand with against Vieira’s . With nothing to help him on flop or turn, Vieira seemed destined for the sidelines.

However, the appeared on the river to score a mighty double for Triton’s leading Portuguese talent. Coleman found himself with fewer than five big blinds and in grave danger. He played every pot after that, losing a small amount, chopping one with a straight, but then losing back-to-back against Foxen and then Holz to bust.

Coleman won $890,000 for sixth, cursing that ten on the river for denying him the seven-figure score the remaining five now locked up.

After some more small-ball jousting, the tournament went on a break and the blinds went up. Average stack was now down to 23 blinds and Vieira was Foxen’s closest challenger. Ketola was in fifth place with 10 big blinds, but only six blinds separated the next three. ICM pressure was getting extreme.

Foxen alleviated some of it by busting Ketola. Ever since he arrived on the scene in Monte Carlo, the Patrik Antonius protege has shown all the skills required of a high-stakes tournament player, most notably an utterly fearless approach and a keen instinct for applying maximum pressure. That strategy won’t always pay dividends, but it only started to go wrong in this tournament once he was already deep in the money.

With 10 big blinds, he jammed over a Foxen open holding . Foxen had the dominating and there was no dramas. Ketola, wearing a fur hat and coat in the Caribbean, was now duly frozen out. He won $1,172,000 for fifth.

Not long before that, Aleksander Zubov had been odds-on to occupy that place. But the Russian won that flip against Foxen and kept himself ticking along nicely enough for him to outlast Ketola. But then another flip ended things. This time, Zubov opened , saw Vieira three-bet, and decided he had plenty good to rip it in.

Vieira had pocket fives and the pair held through flop, turn and river. That was the end of the final Russian challenge. Zubov took $1,482,000 for fourth. Vieira, meanwhile, now became the fourth person at this final table to hold the chip lead, sitting with 52 blinds to Foxen’s 36 and Holz’s 26.

This was far from done, though. Holz now took centre stage. He lost one to Foxen, but then took six on the spin as Level 27 yielded to 28. It pushed him back to the top, with Vieira suddenly back in third and Foxen into second place. Holz did not take his foot off the gas. Looking down at , he called Foxen’s button raise from the big blind and happily flopped an ace. The three cards to appear were .

Holz check-called Foxen’s continuation bet, taking them to the on the turn. Holz check-called once more. When the came on the river, the pattern went through one more iteration. Holz checked for a third time and Foxen bet once again. This time it was all in, with the two players’ stacks all-but even.

Holz was up against it. He still had top pair, but Foxen’s bet, according to Randy Lew in the commentary booth, was polarizing. Holz had only a bluff catcher. However Holz decided to go with it and flicked in the call. But he had now run into it: Foxen’s was a flopped pair and a turned two pair. It was best, and Holz was now on the rail. His incredible late cameo had taken him from the bottom of the counts to the top, but now he was out of there. Third place paid him $1,830,000.

The remaining duo took a breather as the stage was reset for heads up. Foxen had 33.05m (66 big blinds) to Vieira’s 12.45m (25 BBs). There was enough play to last another hour or so, but equally it might get done within minutes. It was far closer to the latter.

A handful of heads-up pots sent chips this way and that. But then a monster developed. Foxen completed the small blind with and Vieira opted to raise with . Foxen called to see a flop of . Foxen had moved ahead, but Vieira continued with the betting lead. Foxen called the quarter-pot continuation bet.

The turn was the and Vieira sized up significantly. He now bet two-thirds pot, but Foxen was undeterred. He called again.

The river was the and Vieira went for it again. He had nothing, but stabbed for all but half a blind. Foxen only had bottom pair, but somehow figured it out. He stuck in the call and took down a huge one, leaving Vieira hanging by the most perilous thread.

“Soul-owned,” was how Randy Lew, in the commentary booth, described it. He added later, “I’ve got to say that might be the best call I’ve ever seen.”

Foxen snipped him loose from that thread just two hands later to end this clinic.

Vieira won $2.59 million for second, but Foxen’s breathtaking display put him top of the charts once more. He now has two Triton titles, and one suspects number three won’t be too long coming either.

“It was never easy to skip many of those stops, but I’m really happy to be playing them now,” Foxen said. Good to have you back, Alex.

Triton Paradise $100K Main Event
Dates: December 10-12, 2024
Entries: 182 (inc. 60 re-entries)
Prize pool: $18,200,000

1 – Alex Foxen, USA – $3,850,000
2 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $2,590,000
3 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $1,830,000
4 – Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – $1,482,000
5 – Ossi Ketola, Finland – $1,172,000
6 – David Coleman, USA – $890,000
7 – Samuel Mullur, Austria – $650,500
8 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $475,000
9 – Seth Davies, USA – $393,000

10 – Thomas Muhlocker, Austria – $333,000
11 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $333,000
12 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $296,500
13 – Tom Fuchs, Germany – $296,500
14 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $269,000
15 – Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Thailand – $269,000
16 – Jason Koon, USA – $242,000
17 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $242,000
18 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $215,000
19 – Vladimir Minko, UK – $215,000
20 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $215,000
21 – Chris Brewer, USA – $196,500
22 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $196,500
23 – Orpen Kiscacikoglu, Turkey – $196,500
24 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $178,000
25 – Philip Sternheimer, UK – $178,000
26 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $178,000
27 – Sorel Mizzi, Canada – $178,000
28 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $160,000
29 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $160,000
30 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $160,000
31 – Stephen Song, USA – $160,000

It’s long been true of tournament poker that absolutely anybody on their day can win. But if you’d predicted at the beginning of the year that an Argentinian rapper whose name translates as “Crazy” would win the biggest event on the industry-leading Triton Super High Roller Series, you’d probably have been laughed out the room.

But that is precisely what happened tonight at the Atlantis Resort, on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, where Alejandro “Papo MC” Lococo took down the Triton Million Paradise title. Lococo, or just Papo to his friends, earned $12.07 million, his first Triton title, a WSOP bracelet, and added thousands of poker fans to the millions who adore him already for his music.

Coming hot on the heels of Vladimir Korzinin’s show-stopping performance in Monte Carlo last month, Lococo’s spectacular victory adds a second remarkable chapter to Triton’s ongoing story of brilliance.

“It feels amazing for sure,” a clearly overwhelmed Lococo said. “Really happy, really glad to be here.”

Lococo’s performance today lived up to all the hype. Though he is far from a poker rookie, and has indeed been at the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event, Lococo is still best known as a rapper. He accepted an invitation from Triton to join this unique event, in which an official invitee pairs up with a poker pro and the duo pay $500,000 apiece for a seat.

Lococo represented the less experienced side of his partnership with Portugal’s Joao Vieira, but with the pro long departed, Papo did his thing. He was the most unpredictable entity on a final day when nothing quite went as expected. He ended the tournament heads-up with British pro Ben Heath, who had been down to half a big blind at one point, but built back to land an $8.1 million consolation prize.

Lococo enjoyed the run of the deck when he needed it, but was also completely unfazed by the situation and seemed to relish applying the maximum pressure on all his opponents, with everything dialled up so high thanks to the enormous buy-in.

Even the final hand upended expectations. Heath was in a dominant position with against Lococo’s . But Lococo flopped the deuce and snaffled Heath’s final 10 blinds at the same time.

With that, the title was his.

“It’s amazing. I’m very lucky to be here with my family and my friends,” Lococo said, singling out the Spanish player Adrian Mateos who had persuaded him to come to the Bahamas. “I’m very lucky to have Adrian as my friend. He’s a really humble person; he helps everybody including myself. He is a big, big part responsible for my wining.”

Lococo added how much he enjoyed his first experience of the Triton Series. “It’s amazing. Everything is perfect. The organisation is incredible. It’s perfect.”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Among the numerous ways this tournament was unusual was the fact that we essentially knew the number of players before it started. There were only so many invites and only so many RSVPs. We were expecting, and got, a field of 74 players.

The number of re-entries was only confirmed by the time Day 2 resumed, however, and with 22 players opting to fire again, the field swelled to 96 entries.

Even by Triton Series standards, the $48 million prize pool was enormous. The $12.07 million on offer to the winner would be the second-biggest winner’s prize ever offered on the tour.

The style of play had been established right from the very opening hand on Day 1. Short version, nobody was playing scared. In that hand, which quickly went viral, Jared Bleznick and David Einhorn got their whole stacks in — more than 300 big blinds — pre-flop, with Bleznick’s aces holding against Einhorn’s big slick. Bleznick took a very early chip lead, while Einhorn took the day off and only returned to fire his second bullet at the start of Day 2.

As always needs to be the case, players were ousted unceremoniously from the tournament from that point on. Daniel Negreanu’s Triton debut ended the wrong side of the money line. Five-time winner Phil Ivey and 10-time champ Jason Koon also hit the rail.

BUBBLE TROUBLE

Only 17 players were due to be paid and conventional wisdom would suggest a tightening of play with around 25 left, followed by virtual gridlock from 20 onwards. It couldn’t be further from what actually played out.

After Alex Kulev was knocked out in 21st, one of the most dramatic hands of the tournament played out between Nick Petrangelo, Artur Martirosian and Dan Dvoress. Petrangelo had five blinds and shoved with from under the gun.

Dvoress had 28 BBs and looked at pocket jacks on the button. He called. And that persuaded Martirosian to call the extra from the big blind, holding . Petrangelo could do no more, but the other two were still betting.

Dvoress took a virtual lock on the hand after the flop. Martirosian checked and Dvoress checked behind. The turn now gave both Petrangelo and Martirosian a pair as well, even though it was hopeless. Martirosian bet 900,000 and Dvoress still just called.

The river must have looked good to Martirosian, who had now made two pair. He check-called Dvoress’ shove. It was, however, disaster for the Russian, who had run into Dvoress’ monster. He and Petrangelo both made their way from the table, just a whisker short of the money.

The drama was not done, however. Those two eliminations brought the tournament to its stone bubble, but a hand was still playing out on another table that had the potential to take the tournament all the way into the money. Ryan Feldman had locked horns with Alejandro Lococo in which players had reached a flop of for a single raise.

Feldman had a combo draw with , while Lococo, with by far the bigger stack, had middle pair and a draw of his own, holding . Crucially, Feldman did not know of the double knockout on the other table. He wasn’t aware that they were now on the stone bubble. He took a shot, shoving his last six blinds in the middle.

Lococo called, putting Feldman in real peril. The turn gave Feldman more outs, but still kept Lococo ahead. And the river was a miss, sending Feldman spiralling out of the tournament. He later lamented that he was “sick to my stomach” and admitted he didn’t know the tournament situation. The bubble always hurts but this, in Feldman’s words, was “Max pain”.

It also meant that although Mikita Badziakouski, Punnat Punsri and Phil Nagy were also quickly knocked out, they took $755,000 (Badziakouski/Punsri) and $792,000 (Nagy) instead of nothing.

That also ended Day 2, with Dvoress having rocketed up the leader board into second place overall, with Lococo now in third. They were both still behind the dominant Mike Moncek, who led the field at the end of Day 1 and was still there as Day 2 came to its conclusion.

Leading pros Adrian Mateos and Stephen Chidwick rounded out the top five, with a beautifully balanced final 14 heading to the last day.

FINAL DAY FIREWORKS

Many commentators would probably have expected those seasoned pros to come roaring to the top of the counts when the final day got under way. But this was not a predictable tournament at all. The day was barely out of its infancy before Chidwick bust, followed quickly by David Einhorn (he lasted longer on his second bullet than he had on his first), Esti Wang and then Mateos.

Dvoress held firm, but it was the otherwise relatively unheralded Turkish player Sinan Ünlü who was causing most of the damage. The 34-year-old from Istanbul had accepted an invitation to play the $200K event in Monte Carlo last month, where he finished 10th. He was back for more and rocketed up the counts as they closed in on a final here. He made it to the final all but neck-and-neck with Dvoress.

Moncek, however, has shown that he was mortal and had hit a tournament low point of 19 big blinds.

The last nine sat down to the following stacks:

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Dan Dvoress – 19,450,000 (65 BBs)
Sinan Ünlü – 19,100,000 (64 BBs)
Sosia Jiang – 13,100,000 (44 BBs)
Alejandro Lococo – 11,650,000 (39 BBs)
Ben Heath – 8,200,000 (27 BBs)
Aleksejs Ponakovs – 8,050,000 (27 BBs)
Elias Talvitie – 6,125,000 (20 BBs)
Michael Moncek – 5,725,000 (19 BBs)
Alex Foxen – 4,625,000 (15 BBs)

At the start of the event, Moncek would likely have accepted an offer of a ninth-placed finish. But after leading the event for so long, busting first from the final may have felt like an underachievement.

That, however, was his fate. The first major pot he played at the final was his last: he ran into Ben Heath’s pocket jacks. Dvoress opened with , Moncek jammed and Heath found the big pocket pair in the big blind. Dvoress folded and Heath’s hand held.

Moncek cashed for $1.2 million, the first seven-figure score of the tournament and the biggest of a career in which he has already won two WSOP bracelets.

Dvoress, as chip leader, was raising a lot of pots and though he raise-folded in the pot that eliminated Moncek, he raise-called in a skirmish that soon accounted for Sosia Jiang. This time Dvoress found under the gun and made a standard raise. Sinan Ünlü called on the button with a suited ace, but Jiang considered worth a shove.

Jiang had 32 blinds and put them all in. Dvoress only didn’t snap-call because he was trying to coax in Ünlü as well. Eventually, Dvoress called, Ünlü folded and the board was full of blanks. Jiang picked up her seventh cash on the Triton Series and finished in eighth on her second Invitational final table. Previously, seventh place in Cyprus was worth $820,000. This time, she landed a $1.605 million payday.

Almost precisely one orbit later, Dvoress was at it again. And this time, Aleksejs Ponakovs was on the wrong end of the typhoon.

Ponakovs has 19 cashes on the Triton Series, and has picked up more than $12 million in earnings. He was at three final tables in Monte Carlo earlier this year, and has been to Invitational finals before as well. But what Ponakovs does not have is a title, and the hunt goes on.

Action folded to Ponakovs in the small blind and he considered definitely worth shipping it in. But Dvoress had found and called once more. After another blank board, Dvoress was looking at an even more monstrous chip lead, while Ponakovs took $2,140,000 for seventh.

The extraordinary pace of eliminations, with big stacks clashing against one another, had been very good news for the likes of Elias Talvitie and Alex Foxen, who had come to the final near the bottom of the counts. Both had already laddered up significantly, but knew they would soon have to put their own heads on the chopping block and hope the axe-swinger missed if they wanted to get back into the contest.

Talvitie went first. And he was the fortunate recipient of a shadow falling temporarily across Dvoress’ sun-run. Talvitie shoved for his last 4 million chips, 10 big blinds, with . Dvoress called with but three hearts on the board (the last on the river) gave Talvitie a double.

That left Foxen with the shortest stack, and while he got it in in much better shape against Dvoress again — Foxen’s pocket sevens up against Dvoress’ — this was not to be Foxen’s day.

Foxen, who returned from a five-year Triton exile to win his first title in Monaco, watched Dvoress flop an ace. The remainder of the chips went in at this point, and Foxen couldn’t find a seven to survive. Foxen banked $2,795,000 for sixth place.

There were now three pros and two invitees among the final five, but Dvoress remained firmly in the driving seat. Meanwhile having prospered during the early stages of the final, Heath’s tournament took a decided turn for the worse.

Heath lost a succession of small pots, before shipping about 85 percent of his stack to Lococo when the latter’s rivered trips. Two more small cuts took Heath down to less than one big blind, but crucially he was still not out. He tripled with pocket sixes. Then he doubled with making a boat. Then he doubled again with and all of a sudden had a workable stack once more.

At the other end of the leader board, Lococo’s victory in the big pot against Heath put his stack to more than 50 blinds and, amazingly, he had more than Dvoress too. At least he did until he slammed into Talvitie’s aces and the Finn vaulted to the top of the counts.

Lococo, however, put that loss behind him immediately and won another succession of pots to reclaim the lead. “This has been the most insane final table to commentate on in recent memory,” Henry Kilbane said in the commentary booth. It was largely thanks to Lococo, but when Heath then doubled up once more, this time through Dvoress, it was Dvoress who now had the short stack having had one hand on the trophy only about an hour before.

The average stack was now 24 big blinds and the tournament was still somehow five handed. What’s more, four of the five remaining players had been chip leader at some point during the day.

Dvoress and Heath were the short stacks now, but true to the unpredictable nature of the event, it was Talvitie who perished next. The Finn was in the big blind and called Lococo’s small-blind raise holding . The flop of added a flush draw to his over-cards and Talvitie called another bet from Lococo.

The now gave Talvitie top pair and he called once again as Lococo piled more chips into the pot. The river seemed innocuous. Lococo kept telling his story and jammed, and Talvitie, with only half the pot in his stack, made the call. He was soon to learn some very bad news.

Lococo had which was nothing but an inside straight draw on both flop and turn. He drilled it on the river, though, and extracted the absolute maximum from his wild image. Talvitie was felted and took $3,542,000 for fifth.

Dvoress was now up against in and shoved on three consecutive hands. He got the first through, forcing a fold from Ünlü, and picked up blinds and antes uncontested on the second occasion. However when he found pocket deuces on the third deal and three-bet jammed over Lococo’s open, he found out that Lococo had pocket jacks.

The Argentinian flopped another jack and it was curtains for Dvoress. His roller coaster ride earned him $4.39 million and a fourth-placed finish.

This was now all about Lococo. He had 93 big blinds to Heath’s 17 and Ünlü’s 11. And Ünlü couldn’t last much longer. He three-bet jammed over Lococo’s latest open, but Ünlü’s was no good against Lococo’s . Ünlü’s tournament ended with a $5,304,000 payout for third.

The tournament paused to prepare for heads-up play, with Lococo sitting with 84 blinds to Heath’s 12.

Lococo won the first pot. But Heath then doubled back. Then they shared a few pots to keep stacks the same. Then Heath found what should have been the perfect spot to double once more, waking up with that big slick and seeing Lococo jamming. But the deuce was the killer; this was Lococo’s day.

He leapt to his feat in utter jubilation. This was a stunning, stunning success.

$500K Triton Million Paradise
Dates: December 7-9, 2024
Entries: 96 (inc. 22 re-entries)
Prize pool: $48,000,000

1 – Alejandro Lococo, Argentina – $12,070,000
2 – Ben Heath, UK – $8,160,000
3 – Sinan Ünlü, Turkey – $5,304,000
4 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $4,390,000
5 – Elias Talvitie, Finland – $3,542,000
6 – Alex Foxen, USA – $2,795,000
7 – Aleksejs Ponakovs, Lativa – $2,140,000
8 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – $1,605,000
9 – Michael Moncek, USA – $1,200,000

10 – Chance Kornuth, USA – $985,000
11 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $985,000
12 – Esti Wang, China – $865,000
13 – David Einhorn, USA – $865,000
14 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $792,000
15 – Phil Nagy, USA – $792,000
16 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $755,000
17 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $755,000

Last week, immediately after Artur Martirosian won the $30K NLH Bounty Quattro tournament here at Triton Monte Carlo, the Russian pro was asking about Player of the Year. At that point, he’d already cashed in four other tournaments too and fancied his chances.

Back then, it was far too early to know. But Martirosian has fired every event he could here in Monaco, and tonight he got another one to stick. Martirosian became the only player here to claim two titles, banking another $525,000 including $180,000 in bounties, in the PLO Bounty Quattro. It’s clearly a format he likes very much.

Administrators still haven’t yet figured out the Player of the Festival prize, and there are another three festivals before Player of the Year is settled. But Martirosian has always been a formidable force in any tournament series, and he’s clearly in the form of his life.

Tonight, he became the latest player to deny Isaac Haxton a Triton title. Haxton made his 44th in-the-money finish, but it ended in second place and $270,000, including bounties. It’s mystifying that he hasn’t yet converted any of these cashes into a title, but a player of Haxton’s quality will continue to return and continue to crush. It’s only a matter of time.

But tonight, and this week, it’s Martirosian’s time. The 27-year-old Russian has been excellent, and it’s another richly deserved success.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

As the last event on the schedule, players were doubly keen to get involved, either as a trip saver or a way to put a cherry on top of a winning series. With 75 entries through the gates, there was $1.875 million in the prize pool, of which $570,000 would go to bounty payments.

With quick levels and the additional dangling carrot of the bounties, this one flew by.

The bubble, always dramatic, was also rapid this time. There were two called all-ins on neighbouring tables, with three players at risk. Elias Harala had his last chips in the middle against Stephen Chidwick, and this was the first one to be decided.

Harala got what he wanted. With the board of gave him a straight. Chidwick’s single-suited pocket kings went into the muck.

Over on the next table, Dan Smith had both Santhosh Suvarna and Joni Joukimainen covered, and his had lots of potential. Suvarna had and Joukimainen was technically ahead with .

With big-stacked Ren Lin providing commentary, and much of the field crowded around the table, Smith proceeded to realise his equity. The board of made Smith a winning straight.

Suvarna and Joukimainen were gone and the tournament was in the money. Smith added a couple of bounties to his chip-leading mountain of chips.

The flood of eliminations continued as they moved steadily towards a final table. Harala’s bubble-up was only for peanuts and he was soon gone, followed by Danny Tang, Zhou Quan, Sam Greenwood and Stephen Chidwick. When Sergio Martinez hit the rail in eighth, they were at the final table. It lined up as follows:

Ren Lin – 3.675m (74 BBs)
Dan Smith – 3.46m (69 BBs)
Ronny Kaiser – 2m (40 BBs)
Isaac Haxton – 1.89m (38 BBs)
Michael Duek – 1.58m (32 BBs)
Artur Martirosian – 1.565m (31 BBs)
Richard Gryko – 935,000 (19 BBs)

This tournament represented a first Triton cash for British Omaha expert Richard Gryko, after an unsuccessful trip to Montenegro and a difficult first couple of PLO events here. With the monkey off his back, he would have liked to have played more than one hand at the final, but Ren Lin had other ideas.

Lin opened and Gryko three-bet . Lin four-bet, Gryko jammed.

Gryko was the double suited player, but the flop had two clubs on it, which was Lin’s suit. The turn was a third club and that sealed it for Lin. Gryko collected $62,000 for seventh.

Two hands later, Michael Duek cracked Ronny Kaiser’s aces to leave the Swiss player on fumes. He couldn’t recover, and Artur Martirosian was waiting to sweep up the bounty with hitting a nine to beat Kaiser’s . Kaiser won $78,000, plus one bounty, which was also his first Triton cash from his second tournament.

By the standards of some turbos we’ve seen, a 50 big blind average at this stage represents an enormous stack, and there was no immediate certainty that eliminations would continue at their breakneck pace. But with levels only 15 minutes long, there was not a whole lot anyone could do to stop the noose tightening.

Michael Duek was the next to be squeezed out. He went to a flop with and flopped a flush draw on the board. Dan Smith, his opponent, had and was ahead already with his pair of tens.

It stayed that way as the turn and river missed. Duek departed in sixth for $78,000.

Ren Lin had had a big stack for much of this event, and that meant the volume was kept high throughout. But he finally succumbed in what was the biggest hand of the tournament to that point, with Martirosian and Smith also involved, and Martirosian scooping piles.

Lin opened his button with and Smith three-bet the small blind. Martirosian called in the big blind with , and then Lin under-called all-in for his last four blinds.

It meant they were three way to an intriguing flop of . Smith checked, and Martirosian dumped a pile of chips over the line, covering Smith. Smith had only five blinds left, but folded. Lin said, “Flush?”

“Nut flush,” Martirosian said, and showed his . Lin prepared to leave. The chatty Chinese player took $124,500 plus six bounty tokens of $30,000 apiece.

Smith got away from this one, but his reprieve didn’t last long. The very next hand, his chips went to Martirosian anyway. Smith’s lost to Martirosian’s . The latter made a straight.

Smith had four bounties, and took $159,000 as well, but Martirosian added another scalp to his ledger.

Martirosian had a two-to-one lead heads up, with around 35 blinds to 15.

But this one didn’t last long. The first time they were all-in turned out to be the last. They were at the turn, with the board showing and all the money went in. Martirosian’s was a flush draw, which needed to hit against Haxton’s .

Bink. The river completed that flush for Martirosian. A handshake, and it was done. Haxton had to settle for $240,000 plus one $30K bounty. Martirosian won $345,000 plus six bounties. It’s his second title of the trip and he’s in pole position for Player of the Year.

RESULTS

EVENT 16: $50K – PLO 6-Handed
Dates: November 14, 2024
Entries: 75 (inc. 35 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,875,000 (inc. $570,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $345,000 + $180,000 in bounties
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $240,000 + $30,000 in bounties
3 – Dan Smith, USA – $159,000 + $120,000 in bounties
4 – Ren Lin, USA – $124,500 + $180,000 in bounties
5 – Michael Duek, USA – $100,000
6 – Ronny Kaiser, Switzerland – $78,000 + $30,000 in bounties
7 – Richard Gryko, UK – $62,000

8 – Sergio Martinez, Spain – $48,000
9 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $36,500
10 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $29,000
11 – Zhou Quan, China – $29,000
12 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $27,000
13 – Elias Harala, Finland – $27,000

No game in the world matches poker for its receptiveness to newcomers. If you’ve got the money, you can sit down in even the biggest games and play against the elite. They’ll have an edge, but it’s not insurmountable.

There has never been clearer proof than what happened in Monte Carlo this evening, at the latest stop on the Triton Super High Roller Series.

The last no limit hold’em event on this 14-tournament schedule reached its conclusion with Finland’s Ossi Ketola facing off against Estonia’s Vladimir Korzinin. About a month ago, neither of them had ever really played any poker, let alone to the standards of players on the Triton Series.

But in a week full of surprises, the 26-year-old gambling tycoon Ketola and the 69-year-old enigma Korzinin battled for a $4.35 million first prize. By that point, a final table featuring four of poker’s all-time top 15 money winners had been laid to waste by the rookies.

Ketola sat beneath a white fur hat. Korzinin sat behind a long, white Santa’s beard. Both were inscrutable. Both seemed unbeatable. But when the final card was dealt, this one belonged to the remarkable Korzinin. Ketola had to settle for a $2.97 million runner-up prize.

Kozinin’s story is simply incredible. He is on a journey of discovery in later life, turning to poker in the past couple of months and quickly finding his way to the Triton Series. When he came second to Patrik Antonius in the Triton Invitational, one might have thought his moment in the sun was over.

But that was just a warm-up.

He returned for the $150K buy-in event, played with similar skill and abandon, and now he is a Triton champion. He has three documented Triton cashes (and only four in *any* poker tournament). They are for $31,000, $3,470,000 and now $4,350,000. None other even gets close.

Kozinin has rejected interview requests all week and maintained his vow of silence after the success, telling Mariana Pereyra he “had no words”. On receiving the Triton trophy he handed it immediately to Ketola and said, “I have no room for that.”

This is truly one of the most remarkable victories there has ever been in poker. Who knows what the future now holds for the incredible enigma.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

As players continued to enter and then re-enter, tournament organisers quickly realised this would roll into a third day of play. There were 121 entries by the end of the registration period, including 55 re-entries, as all the hold’em experts made doubly sure they would be involved as long as possible in the last two-card tournament of the series.

That put more than $18 million into the prize pool and confirmed a first prize of $4.35 million. This was neither the Main Event nor the Invitational, but these numbers demonstrate just how significant every tournament is on the Triton Series.

This was a mighty tough tournament as well, as witnessed by a really gritty and stubborn bubble, which just refused to burst. There were 20 places due to be paid, and they were playing across three tables from 24 onwards. With 22 left, a massive three-way all-in took place on the feature table in which Fedor Holz had the chance to eliminate both Jesse Lonis, who had pocket queens, and Ben Tollerene, who had eights.

Holz had and the covering stack, so there was a chance for a double bust out. But there was no king to be seen, which meant Lonis knocked out Tollerene and doubled through Holz. It brought stacks quite even on that table, and left 21 in the field.

There was plenty going on on the outer tables. Stephen Chidwick was raising just about every hand on one of them, though he was winning only about half of them. That kept his stack moving up slightly and down slightly, with short-stacked Leonard Maue managing to win a couple to stick around.

Over on the other table, Sam Greenwood was forcing his way to the top of the overall counts, playing huge pots against Ren Lin (Greenwood five-bet shoved to win) and Patrik Antonius (Greenwood put out a massive river bet and got Antonius to fold after using seven time-banks).

Ossi Ketola doubled through Lonis on the feature table. Dan Smith and Holz chopped another, with Holz at risk of elimination.

Eventually the bubble burst at the table with the two shortest stacks, Paul Phua and Maue, even though neither of them took the walk. In fact, it was Chris Brewer who flamed out of this one. He got unlucky. Brewer opened from late position, then saw Tom Fuchs jam from the small blind with a slightly bigger stack.

Brewer had and called for the rest of it, learning he was in great shape against Fuchs’ . However, the dealer put the on the flop, and it proved decisive as nothing came to assist Brewer. “Good game,” a plainly disconsolate Brewer said as he marched from the tournament room.

A small smattering of applause broke out as the remaining 20 celebrated a $236,000 min-cash.

The field now needed to essentially reduce by 50 percent to get us to a final. And sure enough, the short stacks, as well as Triton Monte Carlo champions Patrik Antonius (17th) and Jesse Lonis (14th), hit the rail. The last player out before the final table was Triton co-founder Paul Phua, who shoved with and lost to Tom Fuchs’ . Fuchs was ahead anyway, but ended the hand with a flush.

That set the final, with stacks as follows:

Sam Greenwood – 5.105m (85 BBs)
Tom Fuchs – 4.42m (74 BBs)
Stephen Chidwick – 2.875m (48 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 2.87m (48 BBs)
Vladimir Korzinin – 2.785m (46 BBs)
Thomas Boivin – 2.25m (38 BBs)
Ossi Ketola – 1.665m (28 BBs)
Dan Smith – 1.23m (21 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 1m (17 BBs)

After the regular introductions, the very early stages of final table play had nothing spectacular. But then all of a sudden, Vladimir Korzinin lit the blue touch paper.

He opened from mid-position with and picked up a call from Thomas Boivin in the big blind, holding . Both players checked the flop, which took them to the intriguing turn.

Boivin now had trips; Korzinin had a flush draw. Boivin made a two-thirds pot bet, and Korzinin shoved for 35 blinds. Boivin made the call and eyed a potential chip lead. But Korzinin spiked the on the river, completing the flush and sending him to the very top. A rueful Boivin hit the rail in ninth and won $435,000.

Korzinin has played the wildcard to perfection during this trip to Monte Carlo, baffling almost everyone he has come up against with his far-from-solver-approved plays. The next victim of his momentum turned out to be one of the most high profile: the overnight chip leader Sam Greenwood tumbled out the door, giving Korzinin an enormous lead.

Greenwood started the final table largely avoiding major confrontation. He was easing his way in, and only playing one hand of note. In it, he four-bet Ossi Ketola and folded to Ketola’s five-bet jam. But then came the big one.

Korzinin opened from mid-position and Greenwood, with called in the big blind. He surely enjoyed the sight of the flop, giving him the nut flush draw. Greenwood checked and Korzinin bet 7 BBs. Greenwood went for it, and got everything in.

Kozinin had pocket queens and called with his over-pair. When turn and river brought two hearts, Greenwood’s hopes were dashed. Greenwood had really seized control of this tournament with some devastating bubble play, surging into the chip lead. But even he couldn’t shake Korzinin, and had to settle for $562,000 for eighth instead.

Ossi Ketola doubled through Tom Fuchs with pocket queens to keep his hopes alive. And that put Fuchs in the firing line when he got involved in a three-way pot featuring Fedor Holz and, of course, Korzinin.

Korzinin started it, opening with , and Fuchs jammed his final 10 big blinds with . Holz was in the small blind and he looked at pocket nines. He shoved. Korzinin didn’t back down and called as well, with the chance to knock out two.

This time, he missed. The board ran clean, which meant Holz eliminated Fuchs and doubled through Korzinin. Fuchs, meanwhile, earned $762,000 for seventh. The remaining six players were guaranteed seven figure payouts.

Stephen Chidwick had dodged most of the fireworks to this point, but lost a big pot to Ketola to land himself short. He and Dan Smith were both sitting with about 10 big blinds and were quickly eliminated back-to-back.

Smith defended his big blind to a Korzinin open, sitting with . He hit a jack and a ten on the flop, and Korzinin bet/called Smith’s check-raise shove. Korzinin had and had hit top pair. The turn continued his sun-run as he hit a better two pair to oust Smith in sixth for $1,016,000.

Chidwick’s fate was sealed by Ketola, who opened his button with and, after Chidwick defended with , saw a flop of . Both players hit a pair, but Ketola’s was bigger. Chidwick shoved, Ketola called, and the turn and river changed nothing.

Chidwick banked $1,300,000 and the field was down to four.

Ketola and Korzinin have struck up what seems to be a great friendship here in Monte Carlo, and here they were first and second in the chip counts in this final hold’em event. But their positions on the leader board quickly flipped thanks to a classic hold’em cooler: queens for Ketola against , and they got it all in pre-flop.

Ketola won this one and built his stack to 87 big blinds. Kozinin had about half that, with Holz just ahead of Kenney in the final two spots. It was the Triton newcomers against the Triton veterans, with the newcomers ahead.

Holz battled back. He three-bet jammed pocket jacks over Ketola’s button open and doubled after Ketola called with and missed. But he then slipped back again, losing to Kenney’s straight when all-in pre-flop with . Kenney had but got some help from the board. Holz slipped some more but doubled again after flopping trips with , then doubled again with against Ketola’s .

When he doubled for a third time in succession, this time making a boat with , Holz leapfrogged Korizin into second place in a rapidly shallowing tournament. The average stack was 20 big blinds, with Ketola’s lead sitting at 27 bigs, Holz behind a stack of 24, Korzinin at 20 and Kenney the short stack with 10 BBs.

Kenney got it in. He had red pocket sixes and jammed over Korzinin’s open with . Korzinin flopped a flush draw and filled it on the river. That was the end of Kenney.

After his spectacular win in the $125K Main Event, and then a late registration into the $150K that turned into a final table appearance, Kenney had seemed essentially unbeatable. But if someone was going to kill Kenney, Korzinin seemed the most likely. And that fifth club on the river sent Kenney away with “only” $1,616,000 for fourth.

After Korzinin busted Kenney, Ketola turned his focus on Holz. A back-to-back sucker punch from the Finn to the German left Holz on the canvas, with the final hand seeing Kelola flop top pair with and Holz’s hitting middle pair.

Money went in pre-flop, on the flop and the rest of it after the turn. Ketola showed no fear in calling and Holz couldn’t catch up. His tournament finished with a $1,962,000 payday for third.

This unlikely duo now settled down to play heads-up. Ketola had the slight advantage, with 49 blinds to Korzinin’s 32. They had both shown real willingness to gamble, so no one expected this to take long.

Case in point: Kozinin was soon all in with against Ketola’s . Yes, that was the worst hand in poker getting it in there. Korzinin flopped a flush and straight draw and rivered the straight. That prolonged the game a little while.

“I respect that,” Ketola said.

Ketola sought some assistance from his Triton Invitational partner Patrik Antonius. Remember, Antonius had repaid Ketola for his faith in inviting him to that event with an outright victory, and now here was the “businessman” side of the partnership playing for similar riches.

But when Antonius had prevailed, Ketola succumbed. They got all their chips in with a turn card showing on a board of . Ketola had top pair with while Korzinin had second pair and a flush draw with .

As if destined, the fell on the river. That was for the win — although Korzinin didn’t immediately know it. He walked to the front of the stage and accepted the applause of the players still in the PLO Main Event. He thought they were being polite and offering him congratulation as the runner up.

Marianela Pereyra had to tell him the truth, news that he greeted with characteristic disbelief. In truth, we’re all stunned. The Triton Series might never see the likes again.

EVENT 12: $150K – NLH 8-Handed
Dates: November 11-13, 2024
Entries: 121 (inc. 55 re-entries)
Prize pool: $18,150,000

1 – Vladimir Korzinin, Estonia – $4,350,000
2 – Ossi Ketola, Finland – $2,970,000
3 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $1,962,000
4 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $1,616,000
5 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $1,300,000
6 – Dan Smith, USA – $1,016,000
7 – Tom Fuchs, Austria – $762,000
8 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $562,000
9 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $435,000

10 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $363,000
11 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $363,000
12 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $318,000
13 – Ren Lin, China – $318,000
14 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $290,500
15 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $290,500
16 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $263,000
17 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $263,000
18 – Leonard Maue, Germany – $236,000
19 – Ding Biao, China – $236,000
20 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $236,000

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, Finland – $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

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