Category: 2024

Patrik Antonius has been at the highest peak of poker for more than 20 years. He has seen everything, won everything, and beaten everyone on an unstoppable march to the Poker Hall of Fame and poker greatness.

But perhaps the toughest opponent of his entire career sat opposite him today in the Salle des Etoile, Monte Carlo, behind a long white beard and a rookie’s devil-may-care attitude. Antonius had to dig deeply into his vast reserves of grit to outlast Estonian newcomer Vladimir Korzinin and take down the $200,000 Triton Invitational for $5.13 million.

That is the single biggest prize of Antonius’ incredible career, and he was made to work for it by a man who only took up poker a few months ago. At 69, Korzinin is on a personal mission of dream fulfilment and learning, turning to poker to sate his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and experience.

He found the Triton Series, he entered this massive tournament, and then there he was in the final two of a 102-entry field, staring across at one of the all time greats.

Antonius was impeccable, of course, and had no room for sentimentality. He was all in and under threat a couple of times, but he rode it out and allowed himself a good deal of satisfaction.

“Obviously it feels really special at home,” Antonius, a Monaco resident, said. “A bit surreal.”

As to whether he found himself ever carried away with the situation, Antonius said: “I just came to play. As long as I’m rested, I play hand by hand. I’m aware that it’s never easy. You never win straight away all the hands. I’m kind of happy the way I focused.”

He paid tribute to all his opponents. “It was not easy today,” he said, but added that he remains passionate about poker even as he enters his third decade in the game. “I love it. I’m still getting started. I’m planning on a long time playing…Without the passion, I wouldn’t be playing so much.”

It was a wholly fitting end to the Invitational tournament, which pits specially invited players against elite pros. Antonius accepted his invitation from Finnish gambling tycoon Ossi Ketola, and immediately paid back the faith. Korzinin was from the other side of the draw, the very definition of a recreational poker enthusiast, and there was a great dynamic at the end as the pro gradually turned the screw, despite the amateur’s spirited competition.

By that point, pros Espen Jorstad, Roman Hrabec and Mikita Badziakouski had already departed, with invitees Morten Klein, Konstantin Maslak, Tan Xuan and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau also on the rail.

But this was all about Antonius in the end. He had a chip lead for longer than anybody, and eventually closed it out after three days of dominance.

“Triton is just the best poker experience you can have as a player,” he said. “We know how well things are taken care of. You can see how good the vibe is with the players. Everyone is in such a good mood here. We all know what Triton has done for poker.”

Antonius has done his fair share as well, and this was a marvellous way for him to hit a new high.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The unique invitational format is well known now to players and Triton fans, and it provides the perfect representation of the tour’s ethos. This is the event in which the enthusiastic recreationals, all successes in various lines of business, get to do battle with the best poker pros on the most level playing field.

Through the first two days, with a field split into two camps on the first, and then a more conventional race to the bubble on Day 2, spirits had been high and competition fierce. A $320,000 bubble gradually bobbed into view, which would burst when 17 players were left.

Players went on a tournament break late on Friday night and returned to 19 seats. That was two eliminations from the money and the smallest stack was still 10 big blinds. It could have been a tortuous passage of play as the bubble neared.

But it wasn’t. It was the absolute opposite. Four pros got involved in two hands, both all-in pre-flop. Isaac Haxton smashed into Roman Hrabec’s pocket kings. They were in the two blinds and got involved in a game of pre-flop chicken, where neither backed down.

That put Haxton on the rail while, at a neighbouring table, Patrik Antonius and Aleks Ponakovs were butting heads. Antonius had pocket nines and Ponakovs had and though Antonius flopped a set, two clubs on the board gave Ponakovs hope. But turn and river bricked and Ponakovs perished.

Just like that, the remaining 17 were all in the money. Those short stacks rejoiced.

The remainder of Day 2 was all about securing a spot at the final table, and Antonius was on a tear. He stood tall at the top of the counts as all around him fell short, eventually taking them down to nine at around 1am local time. That was when Sinan Unlu became Antonius’ last victim of the night, losing with against .

The following nine bagged up and prepared to return for the final:

Patrick Antonius – 9.66m (121 BBs)
Roman Hrabec – 5.36m (67 BBs)
Vladimir Korzinin – 4.155m (51 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski – 2.975m (37 BBs)
Tan Xuan – 2.5m (31 BBs)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 2.155m (27 BBs)
Konstantin Maslak – 1.725m (22 BBs)
Espen Jorstad – 1.38m (17 BBs)
Morten Klein – 735,000 (9 BBs)

There was a buoyant sense of anticipation ahead of the last passage of play. With four players from the pro side of the draw and five invitees, the balance was just about perfect for a fascinating final day. Antonius, obviously, was in awesome form and had the chip stack to do the most damage. But with wildcards throughout the field, anything was possible.

It did not take long to lose our first player, and with Morten Klein’s departure, any short-stack-rising-from-the-dead story halted before it began. Antonius did the damage, raising from the button with and then calling after Klein jammed from the small blind with .

A deuce on the river was all Antonius needed to condemn Klein to a ninth-place finish. It was, however, another brilliant performance by the investor from Oslo. He has cashed three times here this week and added another $510,000 to his bankroll.

No one ever expected Tan Xuan to sit around, obey ICM and wait to ladder up. That’s just not the way this dynamic player approaches poker. With eight players left, Xuan found pocket jacks and made an opening raise from under the gun. Action folded to Antonius, who looked down at on the button and put in a three-bet.

Xuan pushed for his last 20 blinds and Antonius had both the stack and the cards to make a call, which meant they were flipping for Xuan’s tournament life. As can so often be the case, the poker gods waited all the way until the river before ruining Xuan’s day. That’s when the won it in Antonius’ favour.

Xuan banked $684,000 but his hunt for a third Triton title must go on.

So two invitees had hit the rail in the opening exchanges, and Antonius wasn’t done yet. He is a player who doesn’t even need good cards to profit from even the toughest fields, but when he’s getting hit by the deck as well, it essentially impossible to beat. Antonius soon found pocket jacks and stuck in a raise. Konstantin Maslak looked down at and got his final 16 blinds in the middle.

After Antonius called again, they were again flipping. And again Antonius came out on top. There was neither an ace nor a king on flop, turn or river, and that meant Antonius’ poker pair remained best. Maslak, a property investor and sports bettor, found a great spot to get his chips in, but it wasn’t to be this time.

Maslak won $908,000 for seventh, his biggest career cash to date.

The pro:invitee ratio was now 4:2, with Antonius single-handedly responsible for that. It was time for Vladimir Korzinin to fight back, and he won the kind of pot that underlines why everyone loves playing these invitationals so much.

Korzinin found and opened from mid-position. Mikita Badziakouski called in the big blind with , and the flop was great for Badziakouski. It came .

Badziakouski checked his two pair and Korzinin obliged with a bet, sitting with an inside straight draw. Badziakouski raised. Korzinin jammed and Badziakouski called, prompting a quick discussion about the equity each player now had in the hand. Badziakouski of course had the mathematics nailed perfectly, but Korzinin put his faith in what he could sense was about to happen.

Sure enough, the fell on the turn, which was gin for Korzinin. Badziakouski missed his full house outs on the river and was banished to the rail in sixth. He won $1,188,000, the first seven-figure payout from this tournament.

Things finally slowed down a touch with five players left. Espen Jorstad made a few moves to get himself up the counts and above Roman Hrabec and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau. But Korzinin and Antonius remained at the very top. However, when the next elimination did roll around, it was Hrabec who knocked out Vaskaboinikau, which put the Czech player back in contention again.

This was a pretty standard coup, with Hrabec open-jamming from the button holding pocket fours and Vaskaboinikau picking up in the big blind and calling for his tournament life.

The cards were on their backs and the dealer made things interesting with a flop of . But the turn and river weren’t what Vaskaboinikau was looking for. He fell in fifth for $1,506,000, continuing a sensational 2024 for him.

Four-handed play began with an average stack of 38 big blinds but only Antonius sitting with more than that. Hrabec had built up to 30 blinds thanks to the hand against Vaskaboinikau, Korzinin had 27 and Jorstad 22. Despite a couple of multi-way deals in earlier Monte Carlo tournaments in similar situations, there was no such talk this time. On they went with that $5 million carrot still dangling for all of them.

Korzinin was looking at elimination, all-in pre-flop against Antonius with an inferior kicker, but survived with a chop after a double-paired board. Then Jorstad was flipping for his tournament life, but doubled with against Hrabec’s pocket sevens.

That left Hrabec in desperate shape and when the blinds went up he was left with only four of them.

Hrabec did very well to rebuild his stack back to around 13 bigs, but ended up on the wrong end of a cooler against Antonius.

Antonius raised his button with and Hrabec called in the big blind with . Viewers watching the stream knew that a jack now would be disastrous, and that’s exactly what arrived on the flop, nestled between the and the . Hrabec checked, Antonius bet, Hrabec raised, Antonius three-bet jammed and all the chips were then in the middle.

Both turn and river were blanks, and Hrabec’s tournament came to an end. He took $1,867,000 for fourth.

Jorstad had taken a back seat since doubling up through Hrabec, but he was now the man most in danger. And he was then the next man knocked out. This time it was Korzinin who did the damage. The Estonian opened from the small blind with and Jorstad called in the big with . The flop brought immediate action. It came . Korzinin led with his top pair, Jorstad jammed his flush draw and Korzinin called.

Two blanks on turn and river kept Korzinin ahead and Jorstad perished in third. It came with a $2,255,000 consolation prize.

So here they were, the 69-year-old rookie against the 43-year-old veteran. An amateur on an incredible journey versus the cold, hard reality of one of poker’s best ever players. Could Korzinin really pull this one off? He had the chip advantage — 61 big blinds to Antonius’ 41 — and he’d proved he had the moves.

But a heads-up battle against Patrik Antonius has melted the resolve of many hundreds of prior players. Would the newbie have a chance?

It certainly seemed possible. Although the first run of small pots went to Antonius, Korzinin was more than happy to play big pots, which paid dividends when he made big hands. In one, Korzinin’s turned a straight while Antonius’ rivered trips. There was betting on every street, a shove and a call on the end, and a massive double for Korzinin.

The next time the stacks were in the middle, Antonius was under threat, but his remained strong against Korzinin’s . Antonius nosed ahead once more.

But back came Korzinin. He won a succession of pots to pull ahead again, leaving Antonius in danger the next time all the chips went in. But this time, again, Antonius doubled with a set of fives and opened up a significant lead of his own.

That proved crucial. There was time only for one more all-in: this time on a raggedy board of , Korzinin bet with a pair of fours and Antonius moved all in. He also had a four, but a better kicker, and after Kozinin called, Antonius successfully faded three outs to win.

Korzinin’s resistance was broken, and Antonius was the champion.

“I’m living my dream life,” Antonius said. “And I want to keep living like this.”

EVENT 8: $200K – TRITON INVITATIONAL
Dates: November 7-9, 2024
Entries: 102 (inc. 22 re-entries)
Prize pool: $20,400,000

1 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $5,130,000
2 – Vladimir Korzinin, Estonia – $3,470,000
3 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $2,255,000
4 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $1,867,000
5 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $1,506,000
6 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $1,188,000
7 – Konstantin Maslak, Russia – $908,000
8 – Tan Xuan, China – $684,000
9 – Morten Klein, Norway – $510,000

10 – Sinan Unlu, Turkey – $418,000
11 – Saya Ono, USA – $418,000
12 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $367,000
13 – Chris Brewer, USA – $367,000
14 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $336,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $336,000
16 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $320,000
17 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $320,000

ALL REPORTS AND RESULTS FROM MONTE CARLO

SEE LIST OF TRITON SERIES MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS

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

ALL REPORTS AND RESULTS FROM MONTE CARLO

SEE LIST OF TRITON SERIES MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS

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

ALL REPORTS AND RESULTS FROM MONTE CARLO

SEE LIST OF TRITON SERIES MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS

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

ALL REPORTS AND RESULTS FROM MONTE CARLO

SEE LIST OF TRITON SERIES MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS

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

ALL REPORTS AND RESULTS FROM MONTE CARLO

SEE LIST OF TRITON SERIES MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS

It’s supposed to be difficult to win a tournament on the Triton Super High Roller Series, but nobody told Kayhan Mokri that.

The Norwegian high roller enjoyed one of the smoothest passages to a title ever seen on this elite series, blazing through the second day of this event in Monte Carlo, to wrap up a victory worth more than $1 million. It was only 7.15pm by the time Mokri had his hands on his first Triton trophy, two years after his debut.

“Today was my day,” Mokri said with evident delight, adding, “It’s a momentum thing. I had the best cards today and that’s how it is.”

This takes nothing away from the 30-year-old from Oslo, whose results in high buy-in poker tournaments over the past couple of years reveal a player with bags of talent. He has won tournaments of various buy-in levels across the globe, and managed to translate some excellent form into a Triton win too, a series on which he had previously come up short.

“Now I finally won one,” he said. “Now I can relax a bit more.”

Mokri came into the second day of play in Monte Carlo with one of the shortest stacks in the room. But he quickly doubled up twice to move into contention, then continued a fine run as the tournament got short-handed and shallow.

He came to the final placed ninth of nine, but ended up knocking out seven of those adversaries. The last opponent was Lithuania’s Paulius Vaitiekunas, a player who won a first Triton title in Jeju earlier this year. But in the tournament’s final hand, Vaitiekunas took a stand with a flopped pair of fives and a straight draw, running into Mokri’s flopped two pair that became a flush.

Vaitiekunas won $680,000, while Mokri’s final total hit $1,000,5000.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

While the slow conclusion to Event #1 was playing out late on Saturday night/Sunday morning, Event #2 was motoring through its phases. Registration closed with 144 entries through the gates, and they raced through the bubble which burst when Roman Hrabec was knocked out in 24th. Hrabec had 12 big blinds and raised/called it off with pocket sevens, losing to Zhewen Hu’s .

A jack on the flop sealed Hrabec’s fate and put the remaining 23 in the money.

Kristen Foxen led the late charge to the payouts desk, busting in the same hand as Lun Loon. When the bags came out for the night, 20 players were left, the average stack was only 24 big blinds, and there was every indication that there would be a sprint to the finish line on Sunday.

Hu and Alex Kulev were all but neck-and-neck at the top of the counts, with former Triton champions Andy Ni, Orpen Kisacikoglu, Zhou Quan, Luc Greenwood and Paulius Vaitiekunas also in the top 10. Attention now turned to the final table, but it was far from guaranteed that a seat was reserved for anyone there.

Hu, for instance, tumbled out in 12th. He lost a huge pot with to Patrik Antonius’ , which turned a flush. Vaitiekunas took the last of his chips. The last woman in the field, Saya Ono, made it to 13th before perishing to Kayhan Mokri.

Mokri edged his way into the final, which lined up as follows:

Orpen Kisacikoglu – 5.175m (35 BBs)
Marius Kudzmanas – 5.1m (34 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 4.575m (31 BBs)
Paulius Vaitiekunas – 3.525m (24 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 2.85m (19 BBs)
Krasimir Neychev – 2.325m (16 BBs)
Dimitar Danchev – 2.025m (14 BBs)
Zhou Quan – 1.9m (13 BBs)
Kayhan Mokri – 1.325m (9 BBs)

The average stack was only around 25 big blinds, which meant this one was going to be turbulent. China’s Zhou Quan, who considers himself more of a PLO expert than hold’em, resultantly knows all about the ups and downs of tournament poker, but it was a speedy downward ride for him at the final.

His stacked slipped to the smallest at the table, and he then got it all in with against Mokri’s . A queen on the flop was the decisive card for Mokri and ended Zhou’s tournament in ninth. That was worth and even $100K.

Things were looking up for Mokri and he also found himself in a lovely spot to double once more. After action folded to Dimitar Danchev in the small blind, the Bulgarian player (one of three at the final) moved all in. It was a standard move, even though he had only .

Mokri woke up with , and called. There was nothing unusual on the board and the coup left Danchev with fumes. He lost his last chips with pocket tens. Orpen Kisacikoglu’s turned a king.

Danchev’s eighth place earned him $125,000.

One Bulgarian on the rail quickly became two. Krasimir Neychev first appeared on the Triton Series at our last event in Montenegro, where he reached the money once from five attempts. This time, he had progressed further than ever before, but became the latest person to run into a resurgent Mokri.

Neychev’s graph had slipped steadily downward since landing at the final, and with only seven blinds, it was a standard shove with pocket sixes in the big blind after Mokri opened from mid-position. Mokri was lurking with aces, and that was the end of the day for Neychev. He won $171,000, the most so far on the Triton Series.

Mokri and Kisacikoglu were now rubbing shoulders at the top of the counts, with the average now not quite 20 blinds. Meanwhile, pocket sixes continued to be something of a bogey hand: Marius Kudzmanas found it next and was knocked out by his Lithuanian countryman Paulius Vaitiekunas.

Kudzmanas is another player who is making his first appearance on the Triton Series here in Monte Carlo and after a whiff in the opening event, got himself comfortably into the black numbers in the second. Sixth place earned him $231,000, locked up after he three-bet shoved those sixes over Vaitiekunas’ raise. But Vaitiekunas’ kings held.

Pressure was now building on everyone, including even Kisacikoglu who lost a massive chunk of his chips with the dreaded pocket sixes. It was a huge skirmish with fellow big stack Mokri, and Mokri’s won the race.

Kisacikoglu clung on with a handful of blinds as Mokri turned his attentions to Patrik Antonius. The Monaco resident was playing his customary flawless game, but he got into a race against Mokri and became the latest to lose the flip. Antonius’ pocket fives lost to Mokri’s . It gave Antonius a payout of $298,000 and left Mokri with a sizeable chip lead over his three remaining opponents.

Three rapidly became two as Kisacikoglu’s final chips left his possession. They went, of course, to Mokri, whose beat Kisacikoglu’s . The two-time champion from Turkey, via London, hit the rail in fourth for $371,000.

Mokri had more than half the chips in play and could continually torment his two opponents, for whom ICM pressure was now painful. There was a $230K payjump between third and second, with another $320K up to first. Vaitiekunas found a double, though, turning a straight with to beat Mokri’s .

It left Kulev feeling the heat the most and, worse, he ran into Mokri with a pocket pair of aces. After yet another Mokri button raise, Kulev jammed for 11 big blinds with only to find out that Mokri had .

The bullets faded backdoor draws and Kulev was dusted in third, taking that $454,000 prize.

They reset the table for heads up play with Mokri sitting with 47 blinds to Vaitiekunas’ 25. Mokri was a clear favourite, but it was far from a foregone conclusion.

After early jostling, it all came down to two hands. In the first, Vaitiekunas limped with and Mokri checked his . That took them to a flop of . Mokri check-raised to 1.8 million after Vaitiekunas bet 500K. Vaitiekunas called.

The came on the turn and Mokri now bet 1.7 million. Vaitiekunas called. Mokri then jammed after the river and Vaitiekunas found a fold.

That left Mokri with a lead of 40 big blinds to 17 and it wasn’t long before the skirmish that ended it.

Vaitiekunas again started with a limp, holding . Mokri checked with his . The flop had plenty of opportunities for both players and it was no suprise that all the money went in.

Mokri checked, Vaitiekunas bet 500K, Mokri raised to 2.2 million and Vaitiekunas jammed for 10 million. Mokri called and the turn followed by the river ended it all.

The TV crew gave Mokri a few minutes’ break while they polished his new trophy. “I like gold,” he said, which is lucky. Much of it has come his way this year.

EVENT 2: $30k NLH 8-HANDED
Dates: November 2-3, 2024
Entries: 144 (inc. 47 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,320,000

1 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $1,005,000
2 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $680,000
3 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $454,000
4 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $371,000
5 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $298,000
6 – Marius Kudzmanas, Lithuania – $231,000
7 – Krasimir Neychev, Bulgaria – $171,000
8 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $125,000
9 – Zhou Quan, China – $100,000

10 – Samuel Mullur, Austria – $84,000
11 – Andy Ni, China – $84,000
12 – Zhewen Hu, China – $73,500
13 – Saya Ono, USA – $73,500
14 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $67,000
15 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $67,000
16 – Luc Greenwood, Canda – $60,500
17 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $60,500
18 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $54,500
19 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $54,500
20 – Dan Smith, USA – $54,500
21 – Fedor Holz, Germany, $50,500
22 – Lun Loon, Malaysia, $50,500
23 – Kristen Foxen, Canada, $50,500

ALL REPORTS AND RESULTS FROM MONTE CARLO

SEE LIST OF TRITON SERIES MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS

Five days of intense action concluded in Jeju tonight with a cast of seven of the undoubted stars of this Triton Series Cash Game Invitational slugging it out one last time. Perhaps “squidding it out” might be a more appropriate phrasing, because this final session brought seven-figure swings across the board, fuelled by the unique Super Squid game format.

As players went in search of the tiny white tokens that can multiply their winnings significantly, the usual torment of the Triton cash game tables became even more extreme. Two players — the barnstorming Frenchman Rui Cao, and the fearless Chinese star ST Wang — walked away from the final session with profit of right around $1 million.

But another tyrant of the Triton tables, Elton Tsang, saw his bankroll take a seven-figure hit, while it was a return to the misery of losing ways for two of yesterday’s big winners, Wiktor Malinowski and Tan Xuan.

It was, however, just one more amazing feast for poker fans, tuning in in their thousands to the Triton live stream.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest and most intriguing pots.

Blinds were $1,000/$1,000, with a $300,000 maximum buy-in. The most anybody could lose in a single pot was capped at $600,000. Each squid token was worth $3,000, with multipliers if any player won more than three in a single session 10-squid session.

TWO PAIRS; BIGGEST WINS

ST Wang began proceedings with a raise to $5,000 with . Elton Tsang found pocket nines and three-bet to $20,000, but Tom Heung then saw red queens and bumped it again to $75K. Wang folded, but Tsang called in the cutoff, with position on Heung in the small blind.

The flop was dangerously small for Tsang. It came and Heung led out for $60,000. Tsang came along to the turn, and Heung slowed to a check. If that was a tactic to get Tsang to get aggressive, it worked as Tsang fired out $80,000. Heung called for the river.

The pot now stood at more than $430K and Heung checked again. Tsang now found the check behind, with the third diamond perhaps saving him. Still, a decent chunk headed in Heung’s direction courtesy of this over-pair vs. over-pair encounter.

THE SQUIDLESS BATTLE FOR $350K

Elton Tsang put on the UTG straddle and, after Wiktor Malinowki limped from UTG+1 holding , Tom Heung was once again busy, raising to $10,000 from the hijack with .

Tan Xuan looked down at the pretty in the big blind and bumped it up to $48,000. But that only prompted more wildness as Tsang defended his straddle with a “grip and rip”, i.e., a shove for $167,000, holding .

Neither Tsang nor Xuan held a squid at this stage and both were making a last-gasp play to pick one up. It helped explain Xuan’s call, seeking that token that would save him from paying out. However, he had a horribly dominated hand and the dealer did not help him out. The board only helped Tsang, giving him two more aces and a pot of nearly $350,000.

WANG OUT-DRAWS XUAN FOR HEAPS

Wiktor Malinowski limped from UTG sitting with and Andy Ni, in the cutoff, did the same. ST Wang, who had two squids and was searching for the third to trigger the multiplier, raised to $10,000 on the button, with help coming from his perfectly reasonable .

Tan Xuan, in the small blind, found pocket queens — a real hand this time, though his opponents will know he’s capable of making moves without. Xuan made a relatively modest three-bet to $50,000.

The two limpers left the decision down to Wang, who opted to jam it all in for $360,000. The pot suddenly hit $723,000 as Xuan called and they instructed the dealer to run it just once.

That was gross for Xuan. Following the flop, the peeled on the turn, giving Wang trip tens. The river gave Wang a boat and this monster pot headed in his direction. Xuan took another big hit.

ACE-TEN DOES IT AGAIN, THIS TIME FOR TSANG

The dust had barely settled on the previous hand, where an unsuited ace-ten beat a big pocket pair to win a ton. But Elton Tsang found the same hand on the button and was similarly aggressive — and landed similar results.

Rui Cao began the action, raising to $5,000 from UTG holding . Andy Ni found one seat along and three-bet to $30,000. Tsang then found that on the button and bumped it to $75,000. Ni only had $208,000 total and was happy to get it in. Tsang made a casual call.

It was a pot of $423,000 and the first four cards from the dealer only helped Ni. They came . With the now no good for Tsang, removing a third of his outs, it made the arrival of the on the river all the more cruel.

Ni winced as this two-outer gave the lot to Tsang.

XUAN LAYS THE TRAP WITH ACES

Tan Xuan always likes to sit with the biggest stack at the table, and will top up if someone else manages to amass more chips. And in this hand he was also sitting with the biggest hand possible, , which he disguised the strength of by just limping from the hijack.

Elton Tsang, in the cutoff, fell into Xuan’s trap and raised to $12,000 with . And it got even sweeter for the trapper when Wiktor Malinowski found on the button and three-bet to $30,000. Action made its way through the blinds and straddle to Xuan again, and he went through the motions before raising again to $105,000.

Tsang was done with it, but Malinowski decided to call. He then flopped top pair on the board. Xuan led out with his over-pair, putting $75,000 out there, and Malinowski decided to play it fast, moving all in for $444,000 and setting up a pot of $1.114 million, when Xuan called.

They agreed to run it twice, but this time the magic of the ace-ten did not materialise. The bullets survived both boards and Xuan picked up the near maximum in this capped game. Xuan was down significantly before the hand came about, but bounced back to “only” $350,000 in the hole after this. It was, of course, a huge hit to Malinowski who went into the first break around $700K down.

TSANG’S KINGS HOLD

Here’s another hand in which the player with the biggest hand sees two other players go to battle ahead of him, much to his evident glee. Whether or not he’s still happy at the end is usually another matter.

The man with the goods was Elton Tsang, sitting in the big blind with pocket kings. Wiktor Malinowski, under the gun, got things going, however, with a raise to $3,000 holding and Rui Cao then three-bet from the hijack with . It was now $10K coming round to Tsang. Tsang four-bet to $40,000 and they lost Malinowski. But Cao called to the flop of .

Tang bet $30,000 and Cao got sticky. He called to see the on the turn. Tsang rifled another $60,000 at it and Cao still refused to budge.

The river brought a third barrel from Tsang. His bet of $150,000 finally got it done. Cao folded, with the pot of $414,000 boosting Tsang’s dwindling stack.

WANG AND XUAN CAP IT AGAIN

Pick the bones out of this one if you can.

Rui Cao had and raised to $5,000 from UTG. One seat along, Tan Xuan found and three-bet to $20,000. Action then got to ST Wang in the small blind, who four-bet to $76,000 with , all of which meant that Andy Ni binned pocket jacks in the big blind as though they were seven-deuce.

Cao also backed down, but Xuan of course did not. He now five bet to $160,000 and Wang went for the call. It meant the two of them saw a flop of and hit top pair (Wang) and middle pair (Xuan), and got the rest of their chips in.

Wang checked, Xuan bet $107,000 and Wang check-raised all in to $440,000. Xuan called and the pot was capped at $1.206 million. They ran it just once and the on the turn meant it was over immediately. Wang took another monster, with Xuan nursing wounds once more.

CAO PROFITS WITH THE MYSTERY

Tom Heung put on the $2K straddle and an intriguing hand started simmering ahead of him. Andy Ni was the first to volunteer more chips to the pot, calling from the hijack with . Rui Cao found a Mystery Hand. It meant he had something menacing and playable, worth concealing from the viewing public and the commentators in the streaming booth.

Cao also called in the cutoff. Tan Xuan then raised it up to $13,000 from the button holding and though Heung now folded, Ni and Cao both called meaning they were three-way to the flop of .

Ni had top pair and a wheel draw, but checked. Cao checked too, but Xuan bet $14,000 in a bid to pinch it. Ni called, however, but Cao now raised it up to $65,000. Xuan was convinced that the check-raise meant his jacks were beaten. He folded. But Ni called to see the on the turn.

With three clubs now on board, both players checked. The landed on the river. Ni checked again. His hand was now just a pair of aces with a small kicker. Cao applied the pressure with a bet of $125,000. Ni decided he was done with it. He folded. But was he right?

Cao’s hand was now shown to the viewers. He had — a speculative holding pre-flop that flopped a wheel. Ni danced away as Cao took down a $312K pot.

HEUNG’S QUEENS PAY OFF CAO’S ACES

Rui Cao is notoriously impossible to read, which is why he can make so much money with hands of all strengths. Give him aces, as the dealer did in this pot, and he’s almost certain to win heaps.

The unfortunate benefactor in this pot was Tom Heung, who had pocket queens and saw a board full of cards lower, tempting him into a river shove. It didn’t work.

Wiktor Malinowski actually began the hand, limped from UTG with black pocket fives. Heung saw those queens in the hijack and raised to $10,000, and Cao just called from the small blind, taking both others to the flop of . None of the pocket pairs flopped a set.

Cao and Malinowski checked. Heung bet $15,000. Cao check-raised to $50,000 and Malinowski folded. Heung called with the over-pair.

The turn was the and Cao was now in pot-building mode. He bet $65,000. Heung called for the river. The board now had a flush and a straight draw on it, but Cao continued with a bet of $125,000. Heung couldn’t get away, and made the call. Cao raked in a pot of $511,000.

UNREADABLE MALINOWSKI WINS BOAT-OVER-BOAT

Wiktor Malinowski had the Mystery Hand and raised to $20,000 from the small blind pre-flop. To give him credit, this was only after three limps: Rui Cao, from UTG+1 holding , Tan Xuan in the cutoff with and ST Wang, on the button, with .

Cao called the big raise, but the other two let their garbage go.

The pair saw a flop of and Malinowski bet $15,000. Cao still stuck around. And then the turn gave Cao a full house. Malinowski bet another $52,000 and Cao called again, with the completing the board. Malinowki bet $135,000 — around three quarters of the pot — and Cao took only about a minute before calling for this huge chunk.

Malinowki had and had extracted the maximum, thinnest value out of the smaller boat.

“That was a nice hand,” said a stunned Hall of Famer Brian Rast in the commentary booth.

WANG CATCHES XUAN, PICKS UP $7000K MORE

Tan Xuan with the Mystery Hand is always something of a tautology. Pretty much any time he enters a pot, it’s a mystery. There’s certainly no guarantee that if he’s playing it fast, he’s holding the goods. ST Wang knows that as well as anybody, and was able to pick up a $675,000 pot thanks to this knowledge.

The pot in question began with a raise to $5,000 from Rui Cao in the cutoff with . Xuan, with the official Mystery Hand, three bet from the small blind to $32,000, but Wang, in the big blind, had and four-bet to $85,000.

Cao left them to it, but Xuan called and they saw a flop of . Xuan check-called Wang’s bet of $50,000. The turn was the and both players slowed to a check, bringing the on the river.

Xuan blasted $200,000 at it, nearly full pot, and Wang went into the tank. Pondering the polarising bet, he decided it represented the bottom end of Xuan’s range, namely a bluff. Wang made the call with his top pair.

Xuan was forced to show his , or ace high, and $675,000 more went to Wang.

CAO AND NI FOR $972K

This one was fairly grim, especially for supporters of Andy Ni. He got Rui Cao-ed in the most brutal fashion — but knows it could have been much worse.

Ni had and raised to $5,000 from UTG+1. Cao then three-bet to $17,000 from the hijack, holding only . Ni didn’t want to play it cautiously at this stage. He four-bet to $75,000, but Cao thought he’d pay the extra a see a flop, hunting a third squid of this particular round.

The dealer put the on the board, giving Ni top pair but Cao an open-ended straight draw. Ni did now show some caution and checked, but called after Cao bet $50,000.

The turn added a flush draw to Cao’s hand. Ni was still a three-to-one favourite for it, but checked. That drew a huge shove of $360,000 from Cao. Way to apply the pressure.

Ni pondered his options and emerged with the call, meaning the pair were going to see a river for a $972,000 pot. But they tried to reduce the variance and decided to run it twice. That was lucky for Ni.

The on the first run-out gave Cao a straight, guaranteeing him the squid and half the pot. Perhaps fearing the very worst, the river on the second run-out was OK for Ni’s top pair. They chopped it up as Ni breathed a sigh of relief.

CAO VS. NI TAKE 2

Perhaps inspired by Rui Cao playing any two and profiting, Andy Ni tried the same in another late pot against Cao. But it didn’t go so well for him.

Ni had and limped from the cutoff. Cao had and raised to $10,000 from the button. Ni sensed revenge and three-bet to $60,000 with his tiny holding. But Cao was going nowhere.

Cao hit middle pair on the flop of and Ni bet $75,000 despite not connecting. Cao called. The turn was another over-card for both of them, but gave Cao a better draw.

Ni didn’t give up, however. He bet $172,000. “This is the craziest play of the day in many ways,” said Brian Rast. Cao wasn’t convinced by the bet. He jammed all in for $365,000 and Ni had no option but to fold quickly. The pot of $800K (including Cao’s jamming amount) went back to the Frenchman’s stack.

CAO SNIFFS OUT TSANG’S BLUFF

Elton Tsang had the Mystery Hand and played it fast. But Rui Cao, with the nut no pair, sniffed it out and made a big hero call for a $663K pot.

Cao had a great hand pre-flop, sitting with , and after an early-position limp from Andy Ni with , Cao raised to $10,000 from UTG+1. Tsang, in the hijack, three-bet to $35,000 and though Ni folded, Cao called. His hand was significantly under-repped.

The flop of was dry in the circumstances. Cao check-called Tsang’s $30,000 c-bet. The couldn’t have changed much either. Cao again check-called, this time a bet of $65,000.

The completed the board and Cao checked again. Tsang threw another $200,000 at it, but Cao wasn’t convinced. He hadn’t hit a pair, but made the call, correctly determining that Tsang hadn’t connected either.

Tsang turned over and this one belonged to Cao.

HERO CALL EARNS CAO BIG SQUID MULTIPLIER

Context is important here. For the first time since the Squid Game started yesterday, a player had won five squids in a round. That player was Rui Cao and it meant he would get three times his squid winnings, minimum, with the last squidless player(s) having to pay it. There was one last chance for the two players without a squid, ST Wang and Andy Ni, to earn one.

Cao was sitting pretty, of course, and he picked up pocket fives UTG+1. He just called $2,000 into a pot where Ni had straddled. One seat over, Elton Tsang had and raised to $15,000, trying to get unstuck for the session. Wang was on the button, squidless, and with the Mystery Hand. He called.

Ni didn’t try to defend. He let it go, meaning he was going to have to pay the squid penalty reagardless of what happened now. The dealer put the on board and Cao and Tsang both checked. Wang checked too.

The turn brought a bet of $20,000 from Cao, which was enough to get Tsang out of there. However, Wang made the call. The river was the . Cao checked, with the board now showing a flush draw plus four to a straight. Wang, however, bet $105,000.

Cao determined that this might be a simple ploy to lock up the squid and made a call with just fourth pair. And it was right! Wang had only pocket fours.

The near $300K pot went to Cao, along with an unprecedented sixth squid. Wang and Ni had to pay off Cao TRIPLE per squid. In total, he got $108,000 extras from the squids.

ONE LAST MYSTERY HAND

As the curtain was coming down on the session and the week, action was getting ludicrous. There were multiple three and four-bets pre-flop, plus a few jams of stacks north of a million bucks. There was also time for one more Mystery Hand, in the possession of the squidless Tom Heung, who three-bet from the button after Wiktor Malinowski had raised to $12,000 from the cutoff, holding .

Malinowski’s open raise was so big because it was a double straddled pot, but both those players, plus the blinds, folded. Malinowski called, taking them to a flop of . Malinowski checked and Heung c-bet $25,000. Malinowki’s call brought them to the turn.

Malinowski check-called the $25,000 bet here, with put the on the river.

Here’s where Malinowski put out what looked like a value bet of $90,000. His blocked some of the flushes. But when Heung raised it up to $295,000, Malinowski now had some second thoughts.

He pondered for a good while before making the call that brought the pot total to $724,000. Heung tabled . He had the flush after all. This was a big one late in the day.

CAO’S POWER PLAY LANDS LAST HALF MILLION

The very last hand of the day, like so many, went to Rui Cao and left Elton Tsang ruefully shaking his head. He had been pushed off a chop by Cao’s aggression.

The pot began with a limp from Andy Ni on the button with pocket fours. (Tan Xuan had put on the $2K straddle.) Cao found and raised to $25,000 from the small blind and Tsang, with the same hand , called in the big blind. Both Xuan and Ni called.

The flop was and all four players checked. The turn was the . Cao checked, but Tsang bet $68,000. Xuan called with his straight draw, but the Cao opted to squeeze. He raised it up to $175,000, a check-raise, that put the pressure right back on Tsang.

Tsang reluctantly folded, but Xuan’s call meant they’d see a river. It was . Now a couple of white flags came out and both player checked, meaning both hands were turned over.

Cao’s nines took it down, and Tsang looked over with barely disguised fury. It was one last “Cobra strike” on a day where Rui Cao dominated.

*****

And with that, this incredible week of poker was in the books. We could have predicted it — huge pots, huge swings, innovative new game-play — but it was once again wonderful to see. The Triton Series returns later in the month for a tournament series in Monte Carlo. Many of these heroes will be back. Make sure to tune in!

DAY 5: PROFIT/LOSS

Rui Cao: +$1,142,000
ST Wang: +$999,999
Andy Ni: +$116,000

Tom Heung: -$107,000
Tan Xuan: -$484,000
Wiktor Malinowski: -$695,000
Elton Tsang: -$1,000,000