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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TOURNAMENT ACTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

They lined up as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TOURNAMENT ACTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those who did stacked up as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*denotes four-way deal

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

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

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

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

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

TOURNAMENT ACTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TOURNAMENT ACTION

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

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

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

Both Eibinger and Vaitiekunas left with nothing.

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

The stacks were as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An enormously entertaining final table at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Monaco tonight ended with a second Triton trophy in the hands of the Czech star Roman Hrabec, with his defeated heads-up opponent Samuel Mullur underlining his enormous potential as one of the new, young greats of the high stakes circuit.

The two players, aged 28 and 26, respectively, agreed a heads-up ICM chop when they were the last two left from a field of 155 entries in this $40,000 buy-in tournament. It indicated the respect they hold for one another’s games, honed on the online tables, not to mention the experience they likely have playing one another there.

Hrabec won the record breaking Main Event in Jeju in May, landing his career-best $4.3 million first prize. This, his second title, earned him $622,019 and he added a further $560,000 when he cashed in his eight bounties in the Mystery Bounty ceremony the following night.

Hrabec hadn’t felt especially confident going into the draw, but snagged one of the coveted gold $200K bounties, among others.

“I usually run very, very poor in the mystery bounty, so I can sell some of them,” he said in his post-game interview.

Pessimism might be his secret, however. He admitted that he’d been running a little cold of late, and had been moaning about it to his girlfriend, the Polish player Monika Zukowicz.

“I was a little bit complaining to my girlfriend about a bad run, but that’s how it works sometimes,” Hrabec said. “You complain and then you win one.”

Prepare for a million amateur players to ramp up their complaints from now on.

Hrabec, of course, is far, far from an amateur. He played exceptionally well to prevail from a final that also featured fellow Triton champions Luc Greenwood and Punnat Punsri, as well as Finnish wildcard Ossi Ketola, Norwegian veteran Morten Klein and the lively American/Chinese pro Ren Lin.

The formidable Artur Martirosian was also at the table, making eye-catching bluffs and one spectacular fold, correctly, of a full house.

But it was the Austrian Mullur who ended up as Hrabec’s final, and toughest, opponent. Railed by a strong cohort of Vienna-based friends, led by Fedor Holz, Mullur showed for the first time at the Triton Series what he had been demonstrating across the world for a couple of years. He was chip leader for long periods, only really taking a dip during heads up against Hrabec. Mullur will come again.

Mullur took $463,000 from the deal and a further $520,000 in bounties of his own in the draw.

But for the time being, it’s time once again to celebrate the Czech master’s performance. He now has two Triton titles, and counting…

TOURNAMENT ACTION

As is often the case, the main focus of the early stages of play today was the impending bubble, with only 27 players due to be paid. But as it turned out, the min-cash was split between two players — Mikita Badziakouski and Lewis Spencer — who were knocked out on the same hand on separate tables.

There were shorter stacks around the room, but both pros saw a decent chance to double: Badziakouski had pocket jacks and a chance to three-bet jam; Spencer was in the small blind with and watched Alex Theologis open-shove from the button and figured he was well ahead of that kind of range.

Badziakouski learned his fate first, discovering that Luc Greenwood, who opened and then called the shove, had kings. This was a dramatic run-out, which came , giving Greenwood a set on the turn but offering Badziakouski a straight draw, eventually giving him a useless set on the river.

That meant Badziakouski was definitely out of the tournament, but he needed to see Spencer’s fate to learn if they would be getting a small amount of money. Theologis had the inferior hand in that coup, with . But a run-out of gave Theologis the bounty. This double drama brought the field down to 26.

The next couple of hours were all about two things: bounty accumulation and making the final table. Success in the first element obviously increased chances of success in the second. However, there was no room at the inn this time for players of the repute of Seth Davies, Sam Greenwood, Hossein Ensan and Christoph Vogelsang, while even Theologis fell before they convened around a final.

Theologis bust in ninth, just before the eight-handed final. He took $70,000, plus his bounties — and miraculously earned $440,000 from his two bounty draws including the big $400,000 pull. However, the remaining octet looked like this:

Samuel Mullur – 8.355m (104 BBs)
Luc Greenwood – 4.9m (61 BBs)
Roman Hrabec – 4.16m (52 BBs)
Artur Martirosian – 3.825m (48 BBs)
Ossi Ketola – 3.725m (47 BBs)
Morten Klein – 2.82m (35 BBs)
Punnat Punsri – 2.11m (26 BBs)
Ren Lin – 1.1m (14 BBs)

It was a brief stay at the final for Ren Lin, who suffered the disappointment of finding the best hand–pocket aces–in the perfect set-up–an opponent flopping top pair–but watching it beaten. Morten Klein was the villain of this particular piece, defending his big blind with and seeing the dealer put the on the felt.

Klein check-raised with his top pair and Lin made what was surely a gleeful call for his last nine big blinds. He was punished by the on the turn, followed by the meaningless on the river. Lin departed in eighth for $84,000.

Mullur’s chip lead was significant enough at this stage that it slowed the action around the table. ICM pressure meant nobody else wanted to risk busting next when other stacks were so even. But chips were still changing hands, and we saw some spectacular poker, nothing better than a pot between Artur Martirosian and Ossi Ketola.

This one ended with Ketola sitting with a royal flush, check-jamming the river, and putting his shades on under his furry Nordic hat. Martirosian had rivered a full house, but sniffed it out and let his hand go. It was a sensational fold, no doubt coming to a clip-show near you soon.

Martirosian was rewarded for this moment of brilliance by picking up kings on the next hand, and seeing Punnat Punsri open jam with . Mullur came along too with and Martirosian all but tripled up, eliminating Punsri after a dry board.

Punsri played his part in a fun final table, but he perished in seventh for $116,000. Martirosian collected the bounty.

In addition to the spectacular fold, Martirosian had become a fan favourite thanks to some tremendous bluffs en route to the final. The Triton commentators put aside their usual impartiality and were openly rooting for him to take it down. But Martirosian ran into three queens in Roman Hrabec’s hand, then lost the last of his chips to Mullur, whose held against Martirosian’s .

Martirosian earned $159,000 for his sixth place, plus another $480,000 in bou ties, but his superb fold will be replayed over and over. He is also three-from-three for cashes here in Monte Carlo so far, the mark of a man in great form.

Ketola is in Monte Carlo for the Triton Invitational, where he will be appearing on the Invitee side of the draw. He’s owns a tech company in his native Finland and is only just developing an interest in poker, learning from one of the best, Patrik Antonius. (He has invited Antonius to play the invitational too.)

This was a warm-up event for Ketola, and he had clearly been learning well from Antonius. But his run ended in fifth after he became Mullur’s latest victim.

Mullur opened with pocket queens and Ketola, with , shoved for his final 17 blinds. Mullur snapped off and won, turning a third queen for good measure. Ketola’s first ever Triton cash was worth $207,000, plus $40K in bounties.

No one was especially short-stacked, at least by Triton standards, but the blinds were of course creeping ever upward. Luc Greenwood, a Triton champion in London a couple of years ago, was now sitting with 12 big blinds and he saw action fold to him in the small blind.

With , he jammed. But Hrabec found in the big blind and made the call. The dominating hand stayed best, which sent Greenwood out in fourth for $260,000. He added another $220,000 in bounty payments.

Both Greenwood brothers cashed in this one, but their mantles will not need rearranging just yet.

Hrabec still had the chip lead, with 52 blinds to Mullur’s 45 and Morten Klein’s 26. No one had a lock just yet, but Klein needed to get something moving. Unfortunately for him, the one time he did try to get some progression, he slammed into a better hand in front of Hrabec.

Klein’s final hand was pocket jacks. He opened from the button and Hrabec defended his big blind with . The flop of had enough on it to interest Hrabec, but he checked, and it was dicey enough that Klein just checked it too.

The turn suddenly put Hrabec in the lead and he bet out. Klein called. Then after the completed the board, Hrabec went for all of it, shoving into Klein. Klein felt that his hand was too good to fold and he stuck in the last of his chips. But Hrabec’s hand was now better, and that earned the Czech star another bounty and ended the day for Klein. He took $318,000 and added $240K more from bounties.

Mullur and Hrabec are both online sensations now making waves in the live poker environment, and the pair clearly had enough respect for one another’s game to immediately ask if they could chop. Luca Vivaldi brought over his trusty laptop and his inimitable brokerage skills, telling players that with the mandatory $35,000 on the side, Hrabec’s chip lead would guarantee him $587,019 from an ICM deal, with Mullur locking up $526,981. They shook on it.

They settled down to play it out, with the Triton trophy as well as the $35K to play for. Hrabec had 82 blinds to Mullur’s 42.

After Hrabec extended his lead quickly, Mullur was hastily all-in and under threat holding to Hrabec’s . The ten on the flop seemed set to end it in Hrabec’s favour, but the on the turn allowed Mullur to fight another day.

It was, however, just a temporary stay of execution. Hrabec pushed Muller out of another major pot to open up another 3-1 chip lead, before the dealer ensured a final hand. Hrabec had and flopped top two on a board of .

Mullur had for a huge combo draw, and all the money went in. Turn and river bricked out, handing the pot and the title to Hrabec.

EVENT 3: $40k MYSTERY BOUNTY 7-HANDED
Dates: November 3-4, 2024
Entries: 155 (inc. 60 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,100,000

1 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $622,019* + $560,000 in bounties
2 – Samuel Mullur, Austria – $463,000* + $520,000 in bounties
3 – Morten Klein, Norway – $318,000 + $240,000 in bounties
4 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $260,000 + $220,000 in bounties
5 – Ossi Ketola, Finland – $207,000 + $40,000 in bounties
6 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $159,000 + $480,000 in bounties
7 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $116,000 + $80,000
8 – Ren Lin, China – $84,000

9 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $70,000 + $440,000 in bounties
10 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $59,000
11 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $59,000
12 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $52,000
13 – Xu Liang, China – $52,000
14 – Alexandre Reard, France – $47,000
15 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $47,000
16 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $42,000 + $40,000 in bounties
17 – Konstantin Maslak, Russia – $42,000
18 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $37,000 + $80,000 in bounties
19 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $37,000
20 – Hossein Ensan, Germany – $37,000
21 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $34,000 + $80,000 in bounties
22 – Andy Ni, China – $34,000 + $200,000 in bounties
23 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $34,000
24 – Alex Foxen, USA – $31,000
25 – Seth Davies, USA – $31,000
26 – Vladimir Korzinin, Estonia – $31,000
=27 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $15,500†
=27 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $15,500† + $80,000 in bounties

*denotes heads up deal
†knocked out simultaneously; 27th place money split

The closing stages of the first event of the Triton Super High Roller Series’ second trip to Monte Carlo ended with a heads-up duel that underlined the breadth of this tour’s immense appeal. At one end of the table, after more than 100 others had departed, was Brian Kim, fresh from the final table of the World Series Main Event and featuring at his ninth Triton final. At the other, Enrico Camosci, a young Italian of enormous promise, playing his first ever event in this revered environment.

They were short stacked. They had both been on the brink of elimination before. And this might easily have gone either way. But when the final card was dealt at around 2.40am local time, it was Kim finally reaching for the trophy and the $941,000 first prize, while Camosci had to settle for the runner-up spot and a $634,000 consolation prize.

Kim has come so, so close before, and he puffed out his cheeks in evident relief at finally managing to get over the line. He really had to dig deep, eventually taming the aggressive and unpredictable talents of Camosci, whose time will surely come again.

“It’s elusive,” Kim told Marianela Pereyra in the post-game interview, referencing his numerous near misses on the Triton Series. “With all these great players, it’s possible I could have been coming to Triton for another seven years and not winning one.”

This curtain raiser in Monte Carlo was named the WPT Global Ultimate Slam, recognising the Triton Series new title sponsor. Its $25,000 buy-in was the smallest of the week, but the 170 entries put $4.25 million in the prize pool and the players wrung every inch out of it.

It concluded in one of those finals where it sometimes felt it would never end, each player sitting with far fewer blinds than used to be considered possible. But they play a careful, measured, ICM-savvy game in these parts, and they fought over every last blind.

The final hand only came about after the pendulum had swung both ways heads-up, with each player doubling up when under threat. But eventually, Camosci had to shove his last six blinds in with and Kim called with . The dealer had no more tricks.

Kim said: “I’m just so happy to be here and talking to you. I never knew if I would have one of these conversations. I’m going to take the trophy home and put it somewhere special.”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

From a starting field of 170, only 34 players came back for Day 2, with China’s Xu Liang a massive leader. Liang had 93 blinds, with his closest challengers sitting with only 50-ish. No lead is ever fully secure, but this was bigger than most and it allowed Liang to play the tournament bully. That helped everyone else get through the money bubble, the presence of which dominated players’ thoughts for the opening exchanges.

Only 27 places paid in the tournament, meaning seven still had to leave before anyone was guaranteed some money. After Pieter Aerts lost with queens to Elton Tsang’s aces, the stone bubble featured a single double up — Aleks Ponakovs’ jacks holding against Roberto Perez’ deuces — plus a chopped pot, before Liang laid a tough beat on Jeremy Zouari to end the Frenchman’s short-stack struggle.

The last of the chips went in with Zouari in good shape. He had against Liang’s , with the flop showing . The turn enhanced Liang’s chances of coming from behind, and the river sealed the deal.

That was a straight for Liang and a very nasty 28th place finish for Zouari.

As attention now focused on the final table, the inevitable torrent of eliminations swept away players including Ike Haxton, Nacho Barbero, and Artur Martirosian, the latter of whom had survived through the bubble with a tiny stack but who found doubles at the right time.

Liang and Tsang briefly jostled for supremacy at the top, but Liang’s amazing run began stuttering as the tournament structure caught up with the stacks. The average stack hovered around the 30 big blind mark, which meant a couple of missteps could bring about the end. Liang ended up on the rail in 13th.

By the time they got down to the last nine, there was a new leader, Alex Theologis, and some stacks that looked like this:

Alex Theologis – 9.325m (47 BBs)
Brian Kim – 8.075m (40 BBs)
Roberto Perez – 7.575m (38 BBs)
Tom Fuchs – 5.75m (29 BBs)
Dominykas Mikolaitis – 3.725m (19 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 2.325m (12 BBs)
Enrico Camosci – 2.3m (12 BBs)
Elton Tsang – 2.05m (10 BBs)
Ranno Sootla – 1.375m (7 BBs)

Elton Tsang needs little introduction to the hordes who watch the Triton Series cash games, but he is also an excellent tournament player with more than $24 million in documented live earnings. He had been flying high through much of this event, but was forced into a big fold during the run-up to the final table, when he four-bet Roberto Perez, but then faced a five-bet jam.

It left him with 10 big blinds and when he found pocket nines during early exchanges at the final, it was clearly good enough to get the last of his chips in. However, Theologis had aces, made a mandatory call of Tsang’s shove, and sent the Hong Kong great to the rail in ninth. Tsang starts this festival with a $95,000 score.

There were, as ever, a few drastically short stacks at this stage, but Ronno Sootia and Enrico Camosci both doubled to survive, and left Aleks Ponakovs and Tom Fuchs in danger. However, they clung on as well, which swung the finger of doom back towards Sootia and he became the second consecutive player to get knocked out by a pair of aces.

Sootia, playing his first ever event on the Triton Series, three-bet jammed with and slammed into Ponakovs’ aces. He flopped some chop outs but missed and had to make do with $115,000 for eighth. Still, plenty of players visit the Triton Series for years and don’t trouble the cashiers. Sootia did it immediately.

With seven players left, we were now looking at a 20 big blind average and the tournament organisers ready to trim the levels down by five minutes when one more player was knocked out. These kinds of threats are intended to speed things up, but it can often have the reverse effect as play becomes especially cagey.

A few blinds moved here, then they moved back again. And then Ponakovs, who was responsible for the most recent elimination, became the next man onto the rail. He picked up pocket eights and saw Roberto Perez make a raise ahead of him. Ponakovs pushed all in, but Perez had a real hand. The pocket queens revealed by the Spaniard stayed best. Ponakovs could make it to bed by midnight if he wanted, with $159,000 more in his Triton account.

Tom Fuchs was another player at this final who had never cashed on the Triton Series, but unlike the two debutants alongside him, Fuchs had played before. Ten times, in fact. This cash therefore shook one monkey off his back, and he would obviously have liked to have registered a win from his first in-the-money finish.

He was the short stack six handed, but found a double up with pocket sevens. Such was the nature of the tournament now that it pushed him into third place in the counts, and it also revealed a chink in Alex Theologis’s armour. His loss in the coup, with resulted in a tumble down the leader board.

Dominykas Mikolaitis dipped below 10 big blinds now and he got a little unlucky to find Enrico Camosci holding a real hand when action folded to Mikolaitis in the small blind. Looking at , Mikolaitis shoved. However, Camosci had pocket nines and snapped him off. Mikolaitis couldn’t find a queen and busted.

This was a third career cash following two in Jeju. This one was for $218,000.

Enrico Camosci has been playing poker for more than a decade, but in recent years has taken his live tournament game to a new level. His arrival on the Triton Series comes on the back of a career-best result in a tournament in Barcelona in September, and he immediately seemed to feel at home in this rarefied company.

Camosci made the final table in his first ever Triton event, and he was sitting with the chip lead in what had now become incredibly shallow. However, he doubled up former chip leader Theologis with losing to . And that then gave Theologis the chips to dispense with Fuchs from this final.

Theologis jammed his button with and Fuchs undercalled with . There was nothing dramatic on the board and Fuchs took the walk, picking up $284,000 and his maiden cash.

None of the last eight players had ever previously won on the Triton Series, but with only four now left, the prospect of a famous victory was real for all of them. Theologis was back in front, the only player with a bigger than average stack, but one double up, or equivalent, could change everything.

Brian Kim found that other way. He four-bet over Perez and Camosci to pick up a big chunk. Then he opened and four-bet jammed again over Camosci to push himself into the lead, all without seeing a flop.

That gave Kim the chips to start making a few moves of his own, and he got lucky to eliminate Perez in fourth. Perez, a cash-game specialist, was running deep again in a Triton event but had been the quietest of everyone in the late stages tonight. However after Kim shipped from the small blind, Perez was content to risk the last of his chips with , which was well ahead of Kim’s .

However, a five on the flip swung things in Kim’s favour and sent Perez out the door. We were left with three players, while Perez earned $356,000.

The crowd had thinned slightly by this point, but spectators had been urging players to “show the bluff” whenever they got a bet through on the river. In one hand, Theologis was able to turn to the onlookers and accurately state that he had shown a bluff, but it was only because Kim had called it, was right to do so, and left Theologis in real peril as a result.

Theologis had only and played through all the streets as the dealer slowly put the board on the table. The bad news for this spirited bluffer was that Kim had and called all the way with his boat. Theologis was left with only about two big blinds.

He found one quick double, but got his stack in again soon after. This time Kim made a priced-in call and turned a straight with his to best Theologis’ . Theologis won $436,000 for third.

Heads up play began with Kim ahead by a handful of blinds, but there was near parity for the first time today. Another five minutes were trimmed from the levels and they settled down to play with about 40 blinds between them. Kim moved into a lead, but Camosci’s pocket tens beat Kim’s to put the Italian ahead. But then Kim got maximum value from his , which flopped top pair nines. He was back in the driving seat, and Camosci’s resistance was broken.

“It’s insane,” Kim said at the end, revealing that his wife had been the driving force behind his quest for a Triton trophy. He has one now to bring home, and it may end up being the first of many.

EVENT 1: $25K WPT GLOBAL ULTIMATE SLAM
Dates: November 1-2, 2024
Entries: 170 (inc. 63 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,250,000

1 – Brian Kim, USA – $941,000
2 – Enrico Camosci, Italy – $634,000
3 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $436,000
4 – Roberto Perez, Spain – $356,000
5 – Tom Fuchs, Germany – $284,000
6 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $218,000
7 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $159,000
8 – Ranno Sootia, Estonia – $115,000
9 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $95,000

10 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $81,000
11 – Zhewen Hu, China – $81,000
12 – Xu Liang, China – $71,000
13 – Thomas Boivin, Belgium – $71,000
14 – Hossein Ensan, Germany – $64,000
15 – Emilien Pitovy, France – $64,000
16 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $57,000
17 – Frederic Delval, France – $57,000
18 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $51,000
19 – Konstantin Maslak, Rusia – $51,000
20 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $51,000
21 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $47,000
22 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $47,000
23 – Tobias Schwecht, Germany – $47,000
24 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $43,000
25 – David Yan, New Zealand – $43,000
26 – Ian Bradley, UK – $43,000
27 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $43,000