Category: 2024

Full details of everything that happened at the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series at the Maestral Resort, Montenegro, which ran from May 12-26, 2024.

EVENT #16 – $30,000 PLO BOUNTY QUATTRO TURBO

DAM BLASTS THROUGH BOUNTY TO GO THREE-FROM-THREE ON DEBUT
The Vienna-based Dane Martin Dam cashed all three PLO events he played in Montenegro and brought the curtain down on the festival with a dominant win in the Bounty Quattro turbo, for a total $530K score.

Top five finishers:
1 – Martin Dam, Denmark – $250,000 (plus $280,000 in bounties)
2 – Stephen Chidwick – $179,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)
3 – Dylan Linde, USA – $114,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)
4 – Ding Biao, China – $87,000
5 – Brian Rast, USA – $67,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)

41 entries | Prize pool: $1,230,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #15 – $50,000 PLO

SIPILA COMPLETES SENSATIONAL PLO DOUBLE
Samuli Sipila has only ever played three Triton tournaments, all in Montenegro. He has now won two of them. The 31-year-old survived a final table featuring four players from Finland, and downed Nacho Barbero heads up.

Top five finishers:
1 – Samuli Sipila, Finland – $839,000
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $596,300
3 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $390,000
4 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $300,100
5 – Ding Biao, China – $238,000

61 entries | Prize pool: $3,050,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #13 – $100,000 PLO MAIN EVENT

FRANK HITS OMAHA JACKPOT TO LAND PLO MAIN EVENT
Vienna-based German Chris Frank said he began focusing on PLO because he figured it gave him his best chance of success. With a barnstorming victory in the biggest PLO event ever held at the Triton Series, he made good on the claim.

Top five finishers:
1 – Chris Frank, Germany – $2,008,910*
2 – Dylan Weisman, USA – $1,666,090*
3 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $982,000
4 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $795,000
5 – Tomas Ribeiro, Portugal – $635,000

*denotes heads-up deal

83 entries | Prize pool: $8,300,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #12 – $25,000 PLO 6-HANDED

SIPILA GETS NORDIC PLO CHARGE OFF TO WINNING START
A whole new cohort of players arrived to Montenegro for the PLO portion of the schedule, and one of their leading lights, Finland’s Samuli Sipila, led the way with a heads-up clinic to deny Mikalai Vaskaboinikau a back-to-back triumph.

Top five finishers:
1 – Samuli Sipila, Finland – $535,000
2 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $371,000
3 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $242,000
4 – Klemens Roiter, Austria – $195,000
5 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $156,000

82 entries | Prize pool: $2,050,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #11 – $200,000 NLHE 8-HANDED

MALINOWSKI FULFILS ‘IMITLESS’ POTENTIAL WITH $200K WIN
It was the biggest buy-in event on the Triton schedule in Montenegro, and one of the online game’s most fearless stars, Wiktor Malinowski, landed his biggest ever tournament score, denying Adrian Mateos a second of the trip.

Top five finishers:
1 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – $4,789,000
2 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $3,292,000
3 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $2,157,000
4 – Mike Watson, Canada – $1,748,000
5 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $1,405,000

93 entries | Prize pool: $18,600,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #10 – $50,000 NLH TURBO

PETRANGELO’S TRITON TROPHY HUNT GETS STARTED IN TURBO
American pro Nick Petrangelo finally managed to get over the line in the first single-day turbo event of the trip to Montenegro. Petrangelo beat Lewis Spencer heads up but immediately targeted even bigger wins on the tour.

Top five finishers:
1 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $775,000
2 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $556,000
3 – Dylan Linde, USA – $362,000
4 – David Yan, New Zealand – $273,000
5 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $212,000

53 entries | Prize pool: $2,650,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #9 – $125,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

VASKABOINIKAU VANQUISHES ALL EN ROUTE TO MAIN EVENT WIN
The elite of world poker was no match for occasional Triton visitor Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, who dreamt of one day winning the Triton Main Event title, and then turning that dream into reality–and a $4.7 million payday.

Top five finishers:
1 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $4,737,000
2 – Dejan Kaladjurdjevic, Montenegro – $3,196,000
3 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $2,200,000
4 – Phil Ivey, USA – $1,795,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $1,430,000

171 entries | Prize pool: $21,375,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #8 – $100,000 NLH 8-HANDED

PARENTS SPUR KULEV TO $100K TRITON TRIUMPH
In a tense heads-up battle with Thomas Santerne, Alex Kulev’s parents completed a long journey to watch their son play poker–and their presence gave the young Bulgarian the impetus to go on to claim the title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $2,566,000
2 – Thomas Santerne, France – $1,735,000
3 – Xu Liang, China – $1,127,000
4 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $933,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $752,000

102 entries | $10,200,000
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #7 – $50,000 NLH 8-HANDED

MATEOS WINS MARATHON TO LAND SECOND TITLE
A monster turnout pushed the $50K event into an unscheduled third day, but Spain’s Adrian Mateos had all the skill to last the distance and wrap up a $1.8m payday and another trophy for his parents’ mantle.

Top five finishers:
1 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $1,761,000
2 – Justin Saliba, USA – $1,188,000
3 – Joe Zou, China – $818,000
4 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $667,000
5 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $532,000

159 entries | $6,040,000 (inc. $7,950,000 in bounties)
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #6 – $50,000 NLH 7-HANDED BOUNTY QUATTRO

YAROSHEVSKYY’S SHORT-STACK COMEBACK EXTENDS HAXTON’S WAIT
Ukraine’s Igor Yaroshevskyy has made at least one final table at each of his previous trips to the Triton Series and emerged from the Montenegro Bounty Quattro with a maiden title, denying Isaac Haxton once again.

Top five finishers:
1 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $1,172,000 (inc. $120K in bounties)
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $896,000 (inc. $180K in bounties)
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $773,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
4 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $690,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
5 – Shyngis Satubayev, Kazakhstan – $463,000 (inc. $150K in bounties)

126 entries | $6,300,000 (inc. $1,920,000 in bounties)
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #5 – $40,000 NLH 7-HANDED MYSTERY BOUNTY

FIRST CASH, FIRST TITLE FOR DEBUTANT LASOUSKI
Many Triton regulars have played this tour for many years and are yet to land a title. But Artsiom Lasouski is already a champion, winning only the third tournament he’s ever played and from his first in-the-money finish.

Top five finishers:
1 – Artsiom Lasouski, Belarus – $669,000
2 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $452,000
3 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $311,000
4 – Nikita Kuznetsov, Russia – $253,000
5 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $202,000

151 entries | $6,040,000 (inc. $3,020,000 in bounties)
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #3 – $30,000 NLH 8-HANDED

WATSON LANDS HOLD’EM WIN TO COMPLETE TRITON SET
With titles already in short deck (two) and PLO, Canada’s Mike Watson only needed a hold’em title to complete his Triton set. And he managed it in the third Montenegro tournament, earning the first seven-figure payday of the trip.

Top five finishers:
1 – Mike Watson, Canada – $1,023,000
2 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $691,000
3 – Ding Biao, China – $475,000
4 – David Yan, New Zealand – $387,400
5 – Morten Klein, Norway – $309,000

154 entries | $4,620,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #2 – $25,000 NLH 8-HANDED

DOUBLE KNOCKOUT SECURES WIRE-TO-WIRE TRIUMPH FOR NI
The $25K NLHE event ended in a spectacular collision when Andy Ni knocked out both of his last two opponents on the same hand and earned his first ever victory on the Triton Series.

Top five finishers:
1 – Andy Ni, China – $785,000
2 – Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon – $531,000
3 – Chris Brewer, USA – $354,000
4 – Aram Sargsyan, Armenia – $290,000
5 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $233,000

135 entries | $3,375,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #1 – $25,000 GG MILLION$ LIVE – NLH 8-HANDED

BOOM TIME AGAIN AS MONEYMAKER SECURES TRITON TRIUMPH
One of modern poker’s most recognisable figures came of age as a high roller when Chris Moneymaker, the man responsible for the poker boom of the early 2000s, scored a maiden Triton Series title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $903,000
2 – Brian Kim, USA – $609,000
3 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $419,000
4 – Ding Biao, China – $341,000
5 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $272,000

163 entries | $4,075,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

As he filled in a questionnaire sent to players before they arrive on the Triton Series, Christopher Frank described his poker dream. “To win a big tournament, obviously,” he wrote.

Tonight, Frank can consider that achievement unlocked.

The 29-year-old German, based in Vienna, came to Triton Montenegro to play just the pot-limit Omaha phase of this festival, and today took down the $100K buy-in PLO Main Event for a career-best score of a little more than $2 million. It was the first time Triton had hosted a PLO Main Event and the first time Frank had made it to a final.

He achieved his victory in the style of a man who could grow accustomed to this.

Frank agreed an ICM chop with American PLO specialist Dylan Weisman when Frank was a big chip leader entering heads-up play. Weisman banked $1,666,090, with the rest of the 83-entry field having departed. They still had enormous stacks going into heads-up and opted to take the variance out of it a bit by agreeing the deal, leaving $70,000 to play for.

But Frank completed the job for which he had laid the foundation during a long first day, a tense pre-bubble period, and then a high octane final table. He was obviously and visibly delighted, racing to friends on the outer tables when they agreed the chop and he guaranteed himself that enormous score. And then as he talked to reporters at the end, he expressed that joy some more.

“I’m feeling very good, it’s a very nice feeling,” he said, adding that he was slightly numbed and was expecting things to sink in tomorrow. He said he came to Triton for the PLO because he thought: “People are worse at it, so I thought I’d have a shot.”

This field was stacked with some of the very best PLO players in the world, and Frank can count himself among them. As he wandered away from the table, he received congratulatory fist-bumps from Danny Tang and Phil Ivey, and a hug from Sami Sipila, yesterday’s PLO winner.

This is the company you keep when you’re a Triton champion.

“I really like these events. I really want to be back,” he said.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Day 2 began with 25 left and Michael Duek leading the charge. The American was another drawn to the Triton Series for the very first time this week, specifically for the PLO portion of the schedule. After whiffing the $25K, he was perfectly placed to make the trip worthwhile in the Main Event.

The opening stages of the second day were as one might expect: plenty of players headed to the rail, with others building for the final. The Triton regs Jason Koon, Isaac Haxton and Phil Ivey couldn’t survive, and we pushed on to a very tense bubble period.

Dylan Weisman got to a queen-high flop with Zhou Quan. Then all the money went in, with Weisman the effective stack. Weisman’s aces had been outdrawn by Quan’s queens, which filled up on the turn. Staring at elimination, an ace fell on the river to give Weisman a bigger boat. Quan joined the short stacks.

Mads Amot lost a massive pot to Laszlo Bujtas to bust. Then Manuel Stojanovic followed him to the door. They were playing soft hand-for-hand, which allowed for plenty of downtime and plenty of chatter. Weisman, Jonas Kronwitter and Eelis Parssinen pondered aloud what the difference was betwen a regular Triton event and a Main Event.

“You get a bigger trophy,” they observed, before learning that they were also playing for the beautiful Jacob & Co watch. They headed over to the display plinth to check it out. “Chris, do you only get a ‘Champion’ hat from the Main Event?” they asked Mr Brewer. He told them hats came with every tournament win, just about the time that Samuli Sapila came into the room wearing the one he won in the $25K PLO yesterday.

“I figure this is one of the only places I can get away with wearing it,” Sipila said.

Seth Davies and Masahi Oya played a huge pot on the feature table, with almost precisely equal stacks. Both players had a straight, but Davies had the bottom end and Oya had the higher. It left Davies with only 10,000 in chips, or one third of a big blind.

With Davies now all but certain to be the bubble boy, everyone but the big stacks folded immediately. Martin Dam folded his hand without even picking it up, and Brewer said, “I’m only looking for the fun of it.”

But Davies then won the next pot he entered and emerged with 70,000 chips, having won the ante plus three other blinds. When he more than doubled his stack again on the next hand, he had seven big blinds and could adjust his expectations again.

He had a ringside seat for what actually transpired to be the bubble hand. And he didn’t have any chips over the line. Instead, Davies watched Tomas Ribeiro raise his small blind and Oya peel in the big.

The flop fell . Oya checked. Ribeiro bet. Oya check-raised. Ribeirio jammed. Oya put his last chips over the line, knowing he had a three and two hearts in his hand. The problem was, Ribeiro also had a three, with a bigger kicker. And when the hearts missed, Oya was out.

Having been so close to bursting the bubble from the winner’s side, Oya was now taking the walk himself as the last player without a cash. The rest of them had a minimum $152,000 coming their way.

The final table had seven seats, although Davies wasn’t able to stick around long enough to claim one. Neither was Brewer, Quan, Dam or even Duek, with the overnight leader busting in 10th. When Kronwitter and Sean Winter hit the rail in ninth and eighth, respectively, the last seven were sent to dinner.

They came back to the following stacks:

Laszlo Bujtas – 4,555,000 (91 BBs)
Chris Frank – 4,310,000 (86 BBs)
Dylan Weisman – 3,815,000 (76 BBs)
Danny Tang – 2,980,000 (60 BBs)
Eelis Parssinen – 2,930,000 (59 BBs)
Tomas Ribeiro – 1,665,000 (33 BBs)
Benjamin Tollerene – 495,000 (10 BBs)

Not many of Triton’s no limit hold’em specialists stayed in Montenegro to play PLO, but those that did made their presence felt in both four-card tournaments held so far. In this event, Ben Tollerene and Danny Tang had made it all the way to the final table, despite clearly preferring hold’em.

The PLO wizards didn’t let them get much further, however, with Tollerene busting to Tang early on, and then Tang losing a huge pot to Bujtas soon after. Ribeiro then finished Tang off.

With only 10 blinds after dinner, Tollerene knew he would be up against it. His last seven blinds went in with against Tang’s . Tang raise pre-flop, Tollerene called and then Tang jammed the flop.

Tang hit another spade to end with a flush, while Tollerene ended with $391,000 for seventh.

Even making the money in this event had given Tang’s hopes of landing the coveted Ivan Leow Player of the Year award a huge boost, but he obviously had designs on a sixth Triton title too. The hand against Tollerene gave him hope, but a massive collision with Bujtas all but snuffed it out.

Tang flopped top two pair with his , but he was always behind Bujtas, whose flopped top set and ended with a flush.

They bet all the way, before Bujtas jammed the river. It left Tang on fumes. He perished with queens against aces, all-in pre-flop. He turned a straight draw, but missed. Tang took $495,000 for sixth and now just needs Phil Ivey and Jason Koon *not* to win either of the last two PLO tournaments to lock up the PoY. (There are various combinations, but that’s the gist of it.)

Bujtas held the chip lead for long periods heading to the bubble, and though Chris Frank managed to nudge in front of him, the hand against Tang put him in command once more. But only until Frank got going again.

The German won two sizeable pots, back to back, knocking out Ribeiro first of all and then taking a big one from Bujtas. In Ribeiro’s last hand, Frank had to Ribeiro’s . Ribeiro limp/three-bet pre-flop and got the rest in on the flop. But Frank managed to find the on the river to fill a straight and crack the aces.

He then won nearly as much from Bujtas when he got involved in a pot with double suited pocket queens, and ended up with three fours after two came on flop and river. It was enough.

Frank quickly extended his lead: he had 159 blinds ahead of Bujtas’ 50, Weisman’s 37 and Parssinen’s 14. And very soon those chips of Parssinen landed in Frank’s stack too.

Parssinen flopped a set with on a flop of . Frank had but the turn gave Frank the straight.

That gave Parssinen his third Triton PLO cash, worth $795,000 this time.

This was now very lopsided. Frank was sitting with 16.25 million chips, or 130 big blinds. Bujtas had 2.95 million (24 BBs) and Weisman had 1.55 million (12 BBs). Frank therefore had nearly 80 percent of the chips in play. Even the exceptional PLO talents that are Weisman and Bujtas were staring at a precipitously uphill battle.

The only way Frank could likely come under pressure seemed to be if Weisman and Bujtas went at one another, doubling one of them up at the other’s expense. And that’s essentially what happened, with Weisman seizing the chance to first take some chips from Frank and then cannibalise the fellow short stack Bujtas.

Weisman got a double with against Frank’s . Frank flopped a king for top pair, but Weisman’s aces were better.

That put Weisman ahead of Bujtas and meant that when Weisman’s flopped a straight and faded Bujtas’ flush draw, Bujtas was out. Bujtas, known as OMAHA4ROLLZ, won $982,000 for third place. He is hunting a second title, of course, but will need to come again another day for that.

With Bujtas out the way, Frank and Weisman quickly agreed to look at the numbers, and barely took any time to agree a deal, the first in any tournament during this trip to Montenegro.

Frank had a lead of 119 BBs to Weisman’s 47, but the ICM calculation locked up $1,938,910 for the former and $1,666,090 for the latter. There was $70,000 to play for, plus the trophy and the watch. It was already both players’ biggest live tournament score.

This was now a winner-takes-all heads-up battle for $70K and a very, very nice timepiece. And both parties gave it the respect it deserved.

Unfortunately for Weisman, Frank’s momentum continued. He steadily grew his lead even further, with Weisman then losing all but one big blind of his stack in a particularly gross cooler. Frank had . Weisman had and both players checked flop and turn as the dealer put the out there.

The river gave Frank a full house and filled Weisman’s straight. It almost all went in, and almost all went to Frank.

That solitary blind vanished on the next hand, with Frank filling a tournament-winning flush. It was over, with Chris Frank beginning life as a new Triton champion.

RESULTS

Event 13 – $100,000 PLO MAIN EVENT
Dates: May 24-25, 2024
Entries: 83 (inc. 36 re-entries)
Prize pool: $8,300,000

1 – Chris Frank, Germany – $2,008,910*
2 – Dylan Weisman, USA – $1,666,090*
3 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $982,000
4 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $795,000
5 – Tomas Ribeiro, Portugal – $635,000
6 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $495,000
7 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $391,000

8 – Sean Winter, USA – $298,000
9 – Jonas Kronwitter, Germany – $221,000
10 – Michael Duek, USA – $176,000
11 – Martin Dam, Denmark – $176,000
12 – Zhou Quan, China – $152,000
13 – Chris Brewer, USA – $152,000
14 – Seth Davies, USA – $152,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Samuli Sipila is one of the best pot limit Omaha players in the world, and it follows that the 31-year-old Finn would take the trip to Triton Montenegro where four high-stakes PLO events round out this spectacular festival.

Sipila took his seat in the first of those events. And when the tournament got done after five hours of play on its second day, Sipila was the only man still sitting.

His Triton record now reads: Played 1, Won 1 after he put on a PLO clinic to win $535,000.

“I’m feeling amazing, obviously,” Sipila said, admitting that he was on a real heater. He has won three of the last five tournaments he has entered, and sets a new career mark with this enormous cash.

“It’s a pretty run good year, Sipila said, explaining his decision to take a shot on the Triton Series for the first time. “It’s pretty unreal. When you’re running this hot, why not come?”

This was a really brilliant display. Sipila came to Montenegro among a huge cohort of Nordic PLO specialists drawn to Montenegro by the four-card focus at this stop. They helped swell the field of this $25K buy-in event to 82 entries, and were then instrumental as the first day of play slimmed it all the way down to the last four.

Sipila had the most PLO pedigree in the final quartet, but he was faced heads up with a man in great form, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, who opted to hang around in Montenegro and play some more poker after winning the hold’em Main Event just yesterday. Vaskaboinikau prefers hold’em but he had an enormous lead in the heads-up match against Sipila, which required the Tallinn-based Finn to dig especially deep.

In the end, Sipila managed to land the punches at precisely the right moments, chipping away at Vaskaboinikau’s lead, before knocking him out after about three hours of one-on-one play. Vaskaboinikau wore his “Champion” cap throughout the whole tournament, but now Sipila will get one of his own.

“I really enjoy the challenge,” Sipila said. “These are the toughest fields in the world.” He gave a shout out to all his Finnish friends, battling away in the $100K, before adding, “I think you’re going to see more of me!”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The original tournament plan had been for Day 1 to play to a final table only, but the PLO lovers persuaded tournament officials to let them play to a final quartet. They did it quickly, leaving some big stack and some big names still involved at the close of play.

When they came back for the conclusion, they stacked up as follows:

Samuli Sipila – 7,150,000 (143 BBs)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 6,370,000 (127 BBs)
Anson Ewe – 2,015,000 (40 BBs)
Klemens Roiter – 830,000 (17 BBs)

Although only four players remained, the average stack was an enormous 81 big blinds. However, only two players had more than that, considerably more, and the other two were already up against it. The absolute shortest was Austria’s Klemens Roiter, and he couldn’t get anything going on the last day.

Roiter’s graph was a steady decline until a final hand in which Samuli Sipila’s made two pair against Roiter’s .

Roiter banked $195,000 for his fourth place.

Without question, most neutrals were supporting Anson Ewe at this final, mainly because of the way he had ended up even playing the event. Ewe had run deep in the $200K hold’em tournament, sitting among the last 21 players.

He originally had a flight booked home for today, but decided to make the commitment to stay longer and redouble his efforts in that event, aiming for the final table. He cancelled his existing flight and extended his hotel stay, as he was still sitting at the table.

And then, one hand after pressing “Confirm” on his new bookings, he bust. Bryn Kenney knocked him out, and Ewe was now at a loose end.

What does a poker player do when he has an unexpected extra day? He plays more poker, that’s what, even if PLO is far from his favoured game. Undeterred, Ewe bought in and suddenly found the four-card game to his liking. He built a huge stack and landed in the last four.

With Roiter now departed, Ewe was the shortest and he also really struggled to get a foothold on the last day. His stack dwindled slowly but surely, and he ended up forced all-in with . Both Vaskaboinikau and Sipila went to the flop with him, but Sipila’s managed to turn a straight.

Ewe couldn’t catch up and was out in third. He took $242,000 — hopefully enough to cover the flight change fee and hotel.

It was, therefore, the final two we would have predicted at the beginning of the day, but certainly not at the start of the tournament itself. PLO specialist Sipila versus newly-crowned Triton hold’em champ Vaskaboinikau. The stacks were all but even:

Vaskaboinikau: 8,475,000 – 106 BBs
Sipila: 7,900,000 – 99 BBs

Sipila would have definitely backed himself in this spot, but he hadn’t reckoned on Vaskaboinikau’s new-found swagger at any poker table. The first significant pot put the Belarusian ahead by a wide margin. In it, Sipila opened to 300K and Vaskaboinikau called for a flop of .

Vaskaboinikau check-raised and Sipila called, taking in the turn. Vaskaboinikau now continued with a bet of 1 million, which was 10 big blind. Sipila called and the came on the river.

Vaskaboinikau bombed it. All in. And Sipila folded to stay in the tournament. With no live stream, we’ll never know what they had.

There then followed a Vaskaboinikau steamroll. While Sipila had the PLO experience, his opponent was managing to find the hands to keep him pegged back — and Vaskaboinikau is never shy to inflate the pot and win the maximum.

“Straight.” “Flush,” he said. Sipila sigh-folded down to about 20 big blinds.

Sipila might still have fancied his chances of mounting a comeback, such are his PLO abilities. But whenever he landed a big blow, Vaskaboinikau hit back. On the last hand of Level 22, Vaskaboinikau bombed 1 million at a board of and Sipila called. They both checked the river and Vaskaboinikau’s were the pertinent cards to give him another win.

The small stack was now only 13 blinds, but Sipila more than doubled it without even getting to a river card. Three times in a row he raised Vaskaboinikau off hands post-flop, with Vaskaboinikau seemingly still keen to bet anything, but Sipila asking him to play for more. When Sipila check-raise-jammed a flop of , with Vaskaboinikau folding to surrender his 1.4 million flop bet, Sipila actually moved into the lead for the first time in the tournament.

This was the start of a very impressive comeback.

It was difficult to imagine Sipila putting a foot wrong during this phase of play. Whenever there was a showdown in a sizeable pot, he had Vaskaboinikau beat. And one can only assume when he was folding, he was losing the minimum.

A case in point came when Vaskaboinikau raised preflop, then fired at the flop of , getting a check-call. They both checked the turn, and then Sipila checked the river. Vaskaboinikau fired, Sipila called and Sipila showed . His two pair now gave him a lead.

As the momentum continued, they entered Level 25 with Sipila holding a chip lead of 28 blinds to 13. And then Sipila turned the screw some more. Vaskaboinikau said he flopped a straight when the hit the table, but by the time the turn and river was down, it was no longer close to the nuts.

Sipila bet big on both those cards, with Vaskaboinikau needing to call all in on the river to see what his opponent had. He didn’t. He folded. “Bluff? Or I bust on this hand?” Vaskaboinikau asked. He got no reply.

With 12 big blinds he was still in the event, but there wasn’t much left in this one. Vaskaboinikau opened a pot with a raise to 1.2 million. Sipila called and they saw a flop of . All the money was quickly in the middle.

Vaskaboinikau tabled . Sipila had .

The turn was the , which was very good for Sipila. The river ended the job.

With that, the Nordic invasion claims its first Triton scalp. It will not be its last.

RESULTS

Event 12 – $25,000 PLO 6-HANDED
Dates: May 23-24, 2024
Entries: 82 (inc. 36 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,050,000

1 – Samuli Sipila, Finland – $535,000
2 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $371,000
3 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $242,000
4 – Klemens Roiter, Austria – $195,000
5 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $156,000
6 – Ronald Keijzer, Netherlands – $122,000
7 – Chris Parker, UK – $97,000
8 – Martin Dam, Denmark – $75,000
9 – Zhou Quan, China – $55,000
10 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $44,000
11 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $44,000
12 – Gergo Nagy, Hungary – $38,000
13 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $38,000
14 – Aku Joentausta, Finland – $38,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive and Spenser Sembrat

There are a handful of players on the Triton Series who for some reason can’t quite get over the line. They’re spectacular talents, who might easily have five or more titles, but for the villainous variance.

Nick Petrangelo has been near to the top of that list for quite a while, with 14 cashes and five final table appearances. And finally tonight, the 37-year-old American can call himself a Triton champion after taking down the $50K NLHE Turbo at Triton Montenegro.

“This one doesn’t count,” the laconic Petrangelo joked as the winner’s cheque moved into view and the trophy edge nearer his hands. He admitted soon after that that was a joke, but said, “Obviously I want to in one of the Mains or the Invitational or the $200Ks.”

He continued: “Obviously this is great and I’m happy. I’d like to win one of the big ones before I’m done.”

Nonetheless, this was a thrilling tournament with tons of top players taking their place in the first one-day event of the stop. Petrangelo held the chip lead for long periods as the turbo nature meant players came and went quickly, and the blinds became the most dominant factor.

“It’s a different skill set,” Petrangelo said, noting that the nature of the game means more all-in pre-flop confrontations. But Petrangelo’s timing was excellent, and he was there to get his hands of some silverware at last, beating the UK’s Lewis Spencer heads-up.

Has the dam now broken for Petrangelo? It would surprise nobody if this was the first of many. They all count, Nick.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Played against the slow structure of the Main Event taking place in the neighbouring room, the turbos are always especially frantic affairs. None of the players would deny that they would prefer to be still engaged in the bigger buy-in event next door, but they tend to relax into these ones despite the $50K buy-in.

The eight levels of registration brought 53 entries, including 15 re-entries, and put more than $2.6 million in the prize pool. That meant a $775,000 first prize, proof that there’s no such thing as a small event on the Triton Series.

After a few hands of hand-for-hand play across two tables, Nick Petrangelo and Lewis Spencer got involved in a major pot. Spencer opened under the gun, Petrangelo called on the button and it went check-bet-call on both the flop of and the turn of .

They both checked the river and Spencer’s beat Petrangelo’s . It was a pot that could have been much bigger.

It possibly had an impact on what happened next, however. Petrangelo — steaming? — raised again, this time from the cutoff, and Artur Martirosian jammed for 16 big blinds. That was far from the shortest stack in the room. The blinds got out the way but Petrangelo called and tabled his pocket eights.

Martirosian was looking at a flip for his tournament. His needed to hit.

It did not. Martirosian was bounced in 10th setting the final and locking up a minimum $77,000 payday for everyone else. Petrangelo now assumed the lead as they settled down with the following stacks:

Nick Petrangelo – 2,705,000 (54 BBs)
Isaac Haxton – 2,135,000 (43 BBs)
Lewis Spencer – 1,890,000 (38 BBs)
Maher Nouira – 1,070,000 (21 BBs)
Steve O’Dwyer – 920,000 (18 BBs)
David Yan – 630,000 (13 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 475,000 (10 BBs)
Leon Sturm – 405,000 (8 BBs)
Dan Dvoress – 385,000 (8 BBs)

The turbo format means action right from the off regardless of the cards, but when short-stacked Leon Sturm picked up aces immediately at the final, he found a willing customer in Isaac Haxton, who found pocket kings. The biggest pre-flop collision poker offers gave Sturm an immediate double.

That hand was bad new for Dan Dvoress for two reasons. Firstly it made him the shortest stack at the table. Secondly, it gave Sturm the chips to call his shove a few hands later, knocking Dvoress out.

To be honest, the money was going in here regardless. Dvoress open jammed with . Sturm reshoved with pocket tens. The dealer offered nothing for the all-in player and Dvoress was out in ninth. He took that $77,000 min cash.

Dylan Linde doubled through Haxton. Then David Yan doubled through Sturm. Both had tiny stacks, but no one really had enough chips to survive too much buffeting.

Steve O’Dwyer was now the short stack and he found pocket queens. Spencer gave him a spin with and it looked good for O’Dwyer until the ace on the river ended his participation. O’Dwyer moved silently to the exit looking for $101,000.

O’Dwyer’s elimination was pretty cruel, but Sturm’s, on the next hand, was even more against the odds. Sturm got his chips in with pocket jacks against Maher Nouira’s pocket sixes. The flop, all clubs, missed both of them, and with the in his hand, Sturm was in a very strong position.

However the river was an offsuit six, spiking a set for Nouira and sending Sturm out in seventh for $130,000.

With the blinds getting remorselessly higher, chips were moving around the table with abandon. Linde doubled through Yan when queens stayed best against nines. But then Yan doubled back through Spencer with a dominant ace. Both these were all-in pre-flop.

More than ever, you need the rub of the green to win a turbo, and Haxton seems cursed to run worse than most at Triton finals. Despite landing his 40th cash on this series, his long hunt for a win continues as his fell to Petrangelo’s .

The money here went in pre-flop too, and Haxton’s last handful of blinds gave Petrangelo hope that his own trophy drought might end. Haxton’s sixth place was worth $164,000.

At this stage, Yan seemed to be getting his chips in most frequently, which was securing him vital blinds when opponents folded. However, the now short-stacked Spencer called all in with pocket kings and beat Yan’s . That bunched all five players up between 10 and 16 big blinds apiece.

Remarkably, they managed to play another two levels without an elimination, which sliced everyone’s stack down even further in comparison with the blinds. The average stack was now 11 big blinds.

Spencer now doubled through Nouira, with beating . There was a king on flop and river. And he hadn’t finished delivering the punishment on his Tunisian opponent. Spencer found aces in the small blind a moment later, jammed his bigger stack in, and got a call from Nouira’s .

Nouira shook his head in disbelief, but was sent packing in fifth. He picked up $212,000 for that.

Spencer now had around 50 percent of the chips in play, but it was still only 25 blinds. When Petrangelo doubled through him, with beating (Spencer had shoved blind-on-blind), Petrangelo was into the lead.

Yan doubled his two blinds through Linde. Petrangelo now did the shoving as chip leader. And then Petrangelo shoved into Yan’s big blind again and this time Petrangelo’s hit a five to beat Yan’s . Yan was out in fourth for $273,000.

Everything was happening at quite a pace now, with Linde next to hit the rail. Petrangelo shoved with this time and Linde was all in with pocket deuces. There was a nine and a jack on the flop and Petrangelo claimed another scalp.

Linde won $362,000 for third.

Petrangelo had 38 blinds to Spencer’s 15 as heads-up began. But the pace this was moving, it wouldn’t take long. One hand, to be precise.

Spencer limped with . Petrangelo checked for the flop of . Some more money went in here, but then Spencer shoved the turn. Unfortunately for him, Petrangelo’s was now huge. The tournament was his.

Spencer’s deepest finish gave him a $556,000 second place prize, his biggest so far on the series. Petrangelo, though, was a worthy champion. He is overdue no more.

“You try to be objective about your play,” Petrangelo said, in answer to a question about how he deals with barren spells. “I’m doing nothing different. The preparation is the same every trip.” He added: “It doesn’t mean you’re playing better when you’re winning.”

But it certainly feels better, that much is sure.

RESULTS

Event 10 – $50,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: May 21, 2024
Entries: 53 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,650,000

1 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $775,000
2 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $556,000
3 – Dylan Linde, USA – $362,000
4 – David Yan, New Zealand – $273,000
5 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $212,000
6 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $164,000
7 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $130,000
8 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $101,000
9 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $77,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The first six-figure buy-in tournament of the Triton Poker Series visit to Montenegro ended tonight in a duke out between two of this exclusive world’s sharpest young shooters.

Both Bulgaria’s Alex Kulev, 29, and France’s Thomas Santerne, 25, have only recently emerged from the hordes of young online whizzes to become new forces in the high buy-in live arena. And tonight, with all the other wizened old heads that comprised a 102-entry field having left the stage, Kulev and Santerne went head to head for the latest trophy.

Kulev was the man who remained standing as the clock ticked precisely to midnight. It was especially sweet given the circumstances: his parents completed a six-hour journey to watch him just as the heads-up match was heading in Santerne’s direction. “That was the turning point,” Kulev said, as he won a string of pots to wrestle into the lead.

He never looked back and picked up the $2.56 million first prize.

“I’m a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest,” Kulev said. “This means a lot to me. To accomplish this in front of my family is very special to me. I will cherish this for a long time.”

Kulev’s profession has taken him away from the country of his birth. He is based now in Dublin, from where he became one of the best known online tournament poker pros. But he has found an immediate home on the Triton Series, which he described as being the place that “the best play against the best”. After a number of recent final tables, he has now secured a first title and said he is here to stay. “I won’t miss another one for a long time,” Kulev said.

For Santerne, he banked $1.735 million and one suspects we will be seeing a whole lot of him as well. He is four years Kulev’s junior and has plenty of time to build on this performance too.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With a $100K buy-in, this tournament was always certain to be the biggest so far of the festival, and the 102 entries put more than $10 million in the prize pool. It was a two-day tournament certain to go the distance, and the steady journey to the business end was full of the usual thrills and spills.

There was all kinds of drama at the bubble approached, mainly featuring our four-time champion Mike Watson. He had been one of the short stacks, but won a huge pot from Stephen Chidwick when he turned pocket kings into a full house and earned the maximum, which left Chidwick with fewer than 10 blinds.

Up on the feature table, Jason Koon bust two from the money, and Watson moved up there to balance things out. It was there that Watson again played a massive pot, this time holding . Watson was fifth in chips while his opponent, Thomas Santerne was the tournament leader at the time. Santerne had pocket tens and all the money went in pre-flop.

The ace on the flop gave Watson considerable hope of not only getting into the money, but perhaps assuming the chip lead. But the river was a third ten for Santerne, ending Watson’s tournament and sending Santerne into the stratosphere.

Around the room, Chidwick, Sean Winter, Nacho Barbero and Seth Davies were among the short stacks to enjoy the scenes. They crept into the money as Watson skulked away empty handed.

Santerne’s chip lead seemed unassailable until he ran kings into Xu Liang’s aces, resulting in a massive double for the latter. Meanwhile Danny Tang was running riot on another table and the four-time champion took over the ultimate chip lead.

When they reached a final, they lined up as follows:

Danny Tang – 3,775,000 (76 BBs)
Xu Liang – 3,695,000 (74 BBs)
Dan Dvoress – 3,290,000 (66 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 2,757,000 (52 BBs)
Thomas Santerne – 2,170,000 (43 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 1,905,000 (38 BBs)
Maher Nouira – 1,300,000 (26 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 1,195,000 (24 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 500,000 (10 BBs)

There was a healthy mix here of familiar faces and Triton newcomers, interspersed with some players who have been around a while but eyeing a breakout success. As the leader of the all time Triton Series money list, Bryn Kenney clearly belonged into the first category, even if it had been a while since he was at a final table.

This stay didn’t last long for Kenney. He managed to double through Danny Tang with nines beating , but two hands later slammed queens into the same player’s kings. That was that for Kenney, who took $255,000 for ninth.

Aleks Ponakovs is still looking for a first Triton title despite 14 cashes and more than $8 million in prize money. He also has a very healthy habit of running deep in the biggest buy-in events. Here he was again at a six-figure buy-in final, but he couldn’t turn the short stack into anything more significant.

He open/called all-in when Dylan Linde jammed, but Linde’s pocket jacks beat Ponakovs’ and it was the end of the road. Ponakovs banked $342,000 for eighth.

By the standards of all other finals this week, this one was deep at this stage. The average stack was close to 40 big blinds, and there was play still for everyone. That soon included Maher Nouira too, who doubled his small stack through Linde. It left the American to try to cling on, but he could not do it.

Linde’s final hand was and he was up against Liang’s . They got to a flop for only one raise and a call and both hit their kicker. After a low turn, the rest of the money went in and Linde called it off.

Liang’s tens were best, leaving Linde with $454,00 for seventh.

It turned out to be a bad few minutes for players from North America as Dan Dvoress lasted only one hand longer than Linde. In this one, Dvoress opened with , only to see Santerne three-bet. Dvoress jammed for 20 BBs and Santerne called. The Frenchman had pocket queens.

Dvoress needed an ace. He didn’t get one. So he left in sixth for $594,000.

Santerne reassumed the chip lead with that pot, but he only held it as long as it took Kulev to find pocket aces and score a full double through Danny Tang, who had jacks. Kulev hadn’t been near the lead until that point, but he rocketed up to 70 big blinds and left everyone else in his wake. Of the five left, only Nouira had not been in the lead at some point in this final. The waves may only lap gently onto the exclusive beach of the Maestral Resort, but these were choppy waters inside.

The red light of doom was next illuminated when the last of Nouira’s chips found their way into the middle. He had pocket jacks and they needed to stay better than Kulev’s . They did. Nouira doubled. While Kulev remained in the lead, the other four bunched up. And we were looking at another of those cagey battles — which got even tighter when Santerne doubled through Kulev.

Two big hands will always break an impasse, however, and Tang picked up queens soon after, taking on Kulev’s ace-king. “Big flip!” Tang shouted to his rail.

The dealer put an ace on the flop. “Come on ladies, you’ve betrayed me so many times before,” Tang pleaded. But he prayed in vain. The turn and river offered no further help and Tang was out in fifth.

Tang leads the Player of the Year race and in addition to the $752,000 payday, his fifth place earns another chunk of points in that freeroll. However, as Tang himself noted, his PoY rival Dvoress only finished one spot lower than him. That’s still a nervy race.

None of the four remaining players had ever won a Triton title before, so we were guaranteed a new champion. But the identity was still very much anyone’s guess, even though Kulev now had the lead again.

There was, however, now a flurry of big hands. Nouira picked up the queens very soon after Tang and he felt a similar betrayal. Santerne had aces, all the money went in, and Nouira bust in fourth for $933,000. It was nine times his combined total winnings on the Triton Series to date and reflected some success he’s been having of late on other tours. He is far and away the Tunisian No 1.

The last three were guaranteed seven figures each. It was also an intriguing battle between two of European poker’s undisputed rising stars, alongside a lesser-known Asian player whose results nonetheless pointed to a sincere talent.

Santerne and Kulev were neck-and-neck, with Liang sitting with around half their chips. And it was in the spirited attempt to pull level that Liang ended up on the rail.

Yet another flip took place with Liang’s pocket sevens going up against Kulev’s . Two kings fell on the flop and the seven remained elusive. Liang’s race was run. He took $1,127,000 for third.

As tournament officials reset the table for heads-up play, the chip counts could not have been tighter. Kulev had 10,250,000, or 68 big blinds. Santerne had 10,150,000, also 68 big blinds. The stage was set for a heads-up duel for $850K.

The early going was all about Santerne. He built a big lead through a series of pots without showdown, so much so that when Kulev picked up pocket queens and played it cute to score a full double, he still only drew level. They each had a little more than 40 blinds and settled back down to play on.

But now the momentum was with Kulev. He later said it was about this point he noticed his parents on the rail, keenly watching his every move. They admitted they didn’t know much about poker, but they were clearly sweating every card with their son.

He won a big one with against . And then another somewhat inevitable flip landed on the felt: Santerne had pocket sevens to Kulev’s .

There was a ten on the flop. Another ten on the turn. And the river was not a seven.

With his family still watching anxiously from the sidelines, Kulev had delivered the knockout blow. He took that $2.5 million and confirmed that he is on this tour to stay. As he left the tournament room, he bumped into Adrian Mateos, a winner from earlier in the day.

“Well done champion!”

“Thank you champion!” they said.

RESULTS

Event 8 – $100,000 – 8-Handed
Dates: May 18-19, 2024
Entries: 102 (inc. 62 re-entries)
Prize pool: $10,200,000

1 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $2,566,000
2 – Thomas Santerne, France – $1,735,000
3 – Xu Liang, China – $1,127,000
4 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $933,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $752,000
6 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $594,000
7 – Dylan Linde, USA – $454,000
8 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $342,000
9 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $255,000

10 – Sean Winter, USA – $209,000
11 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $209,000
12 – Wiktor Malinowsli, Poland – $184,000
13 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $184,000
14 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $168,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $168,000
16 – Seth Davies, USA – $160,000
17 – Ben Heath, UK – $160,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The final moments of the $40,000 Bounty Quattro Event at Triton Montenegro became a battle of east and west. At one end of the table, Ukraine’s Igor Yaroshevskyy was flanked by Viacheslav Buldygin, Shyngis Satubayev and Ramin Hajiyev, representing Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, respectively.

At the other end, Jason Koon and Ben Tollerene were among the Americans who had come to rail their friend and countryman Isaac Haxton. Yaroshevskyy and Haxton were watching the dealer decide one final coin-flip for the title: pockets sevens versus ace-king.

The neat moment encapsulated the international flavour of the Triton Series and underlined the respect and admiration all these elite players have for one another. When the board ran dry, guaranteeing a first Triton title for Yaroshevskyy, he was the first to console with Haxton, and Koon too crossed the table to celebrate with the new champion and friends.

This was a terrific result for Yaroshevskyy, which paid $1,052,000 from the regular prize pool and another $120,000 in bounty payments. Having started the final table with the second shortest stack, Yaroshevskyy only actually knocked out one opponent, but it was that man Haxton and it was the knockout that secured the title. It also allowed Yaroshevskyy to cash in his own bounty token.

“It’s amazing,” Yaroshevskyy said, adding that poker players have a clear aim when they start playing. “It’s these big titles!”

He continued: “I’m feeling great.”

For Haxton, it was yet another near miss. He has a staggering 39 cashes on the Triton Series and earnings of $12 million. But that title continues to elude him, and he left the stage at the end of this tournament to hotfoot it into the neighbouring tournament room to play the $50K NLHE. Haxton will always be a threat in any game and it’s statistically ridiculous that he hasn’t yet won here.

But no matter. He took $716,000 — and in Yaroshevskyy he fell to another worthy opponent. The Ukrainian has been to at least one final table at each of the four stops he has visited on the Triton Series. This victory was well deserved.

“I am so excited,” the new champion said. “It’s an amazing feeling. Today is my day. Thank you guys!”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

After the thrills and spills of the Mystery Bounty yesterday, this tournament was slightly more conventional: of the $50,000 buy-in, $15,000 went into the bounty prize pool, with bounties introduced when 25 percent of the field remained. Each of 32 bounties was worth $60,000, so there was plenty of incentive to secure knockouts.

Twenty-eight players came back to play Day 2, with those bounties already in play, but in comparison with many other tournaments this week, the stacks were still deep. We had the pleasure of sitting around and watching some of the cream rise to the top.

Cash-game crusher Santhosh Suvarna found himself on the wrong end of a bubble collision here, getting his money in with and being called by Paulius Vaitiekunas and his .

Vaitiekunas himself has been the bubble boy once this week, but this time he came from behind to burst it. A queen on the flop sealed Santhosh’s fate.

Vaitiekunas had enough chips now to make his way to the final table, but others including Jason Koon, Chris Brewer, Michael Soyza and Mike Watson fell short this time. Bulgaria’s Dimitar Danchev emerged as the controlling force during this period of play — knocking out Watson along with Brian Kim in a huge three-way coup — and taking a sizeable chip lead to the eight-handed final table.

They stacked up as follows:

Dimitar Danchev – 6,840,000 (114 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 4,260,000 (71 BBs)
Shyngis Satubayev – 3,370,000 (56 BBs)
Isaac Haxton – 2,930,000 (49 BBs)
Punnat Punsri – 2,895,000 (48 BBs)
Paulius Vaitiekunas – 1,920,000 (32 BBs)
Igor Yaroshevskyy – 1,885,000 (31 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 1,100,000 (18 BBs)

It was still comparatively deep with plenty of play guaranteed, but unfortunately for Patrik Antonius, he couldn’t be part of it. The short stack coming into the final did not win a hand when it mattered most and departed at the hands of Isaac Haxton.

With in his hand, and a board of on the board, Antonius called Haxton’s river shove.

Haxton’s had now filled a straight to beat Antonius’ two pair, and that was that for the Finn. Eighth place paid $136,000.

After the bubble heroics, Vaitiekunas had found a tidy double up nine-handed to secure his place at the final, and then held firm during the late stages as the field thinned to its last seven. However, the first meaningful pot he played at the final was his last.

Vaitiekunas found a poor time to three-bet shove after an Adrian Mateos open, finding himself flipping with against Mateos’ pocket eights. The eights held, felting Vaitiekunas and sending him to the payouts desk where $183,800 awaited him. He also added $120,000 from two bounties.

Mateos was at his second final table of the week, well stacked and looking in the zone. However, also for the second time, he found himself in a great spot to knock out a dangerous opponent, sitting with a dominating hand, only for it to go wrong.

Much as Brian Kim had come from behind to oust Mateos from the GG Million$ final table, Punnat Punsri became a nemesis at this one.

Mateos had and got it all in pre-flop against Punsri’s but a queen on the river doubled Punsri and left Mateos in real trouble. He couldn’t recover and lost the remainder of his chips to Punsri soon after.

Mateos was sixth again, for $245,000.

Shyngis Satubayev is very often Kazakhstan’s sole representative at the Triton tables, but he continues to put on a show to make his country proud. Here he was again in the deep stages, recording his seventh Triton cash, and at his second final table.

But Kazakhstan will need to wait more for its first champion as Satubayev became Punsri’s next victim. Satubayev was short and shoved the button with . Punsri gave him a spin with in the big blind.

Punsri couldn’t miss at this point and sent Satubayev packing when a ten appeared on the flop. Satubayev won $313,000 for fifth.

Despite being the wrecking ball that took this tournament so quickly to its final table, things slowed considerably for Danchev once the field consolidated on the TV stage. He won a few pots with pre-flop aggression, but otherwise mostly sat on the sidelines as Punsri, in particular, seized control.

Danchev had dwindled to 10 big blinds when he found in the big blind and saw Punsri rip it in from the small blind ahead of him. It was plenty good for a call, but not plenty good for a win. Punsri’s ended up hitting a full house, and that sent Danchev out in fourth for $390,000.

Punsri was seemingly unstoppable. He began three-handed play with 18 million in chips, 60 big blinds, with his two opponents boasting only 7 million between them. If Punsri’s steamroller carried on rolling as it had, there was seemingly nothing anyone could do to stop him.

It did not, however, continued rolling as it had. Instead, it suddenly started hitting every obstacle in the road. Yaroshevskyy hit a flush to double. Haxton hit trip tens. Haxton hit a pair of tens to beat Punsri’s , and then Haxton found nines, called one more Punsri shove, and flopped a set.

Punsri was behind with at the start of the hand, but was drawing dead by the turn. He got up to shake hands of his opponents and headed out the door. This time, Punsri took $473,000 for third — plus $300,000 for five bounties.

And so we were down to two. Both Igor Yaroshevskyy and especially Isaac Haxton have been deep in the money numerous times on the Triton Series, but neither yet had a title. One of them would end that hoodoo, and they were delicately poised, 32 blinds to 31, as they entered heads up play.

Over the previous four nights of this series so far, the heads up battles have often been drawn out, with stacks shallowing to just a handful of blinds. Not this one. When both players got big hands for the first time, for Yaroshevskyy and for Haxton, all the money went in.

Yaroshevskyy had the slight chip advantage and his hand held through a blank flop. That ended it in Yaroshevskyy’s favour and Ukraine can celebrate its latest champion.

RESULTS

Event 6 – $50,000 – Bounty Quattro
Dates: May 16-17, 2024
Entries: 126 (inc. 54 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,300,000 (inc. $1,920,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $1,172,000 (inc. $120K in bounties)
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $896,000 (inc. $180K in bounties)
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $773,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
4 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $690,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
5 – Shyngis Satubayev, Kazakhstan – $463,000 (inc. $150K in bounties)
6 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $495,000 (inc. $240K in bounties)
7 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $303,800 (inc. $120K in bounties)
8 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $136,000

9 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $105,000
10 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $147,500 (inc. $60K in bounties)
11 – Michael Watson, Canada – $147,500 (inc. $60K in bounties)
12 – Brian Kim, USA – $196,600 (inc. $120K in bounties)
13 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $196,600 (inc. $120K in bounties)
14 – Yaman Nakdali, Spain – $70,000
15 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $100,000 (inc. $30,000 in bounties)
16 – Brandon Wittmeyer, USA – $63,500
17 – Jason Koon, USA – $183,500 (inc. $120K in bounties)
18 – Jules Dickerson, UK – $57,000
19 – Chris Brewer, USA – $57,000
20 – Frederic Delval, France – $57,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

That, quite literally, is all Artsiom Lasouski had to do here in Montenegro at the first Triton stop of his career. The 25-year-old from Belarus has never been to this Super High Roller Series before, and arrived unannounced to play the first three events of the series.

He whiffed Events 1 and 2. But attempt three made him a champion. Lasouski tonight took down the $40,000 Mystery Bounty tournament banking $669,000 — and then added a further $680,000 from his 12 bounties when the draw took place the following day. He is the youngest Triton champion since Linus Loeliger burst onto the scene in 2019, and now has more than $1.3 million in his bankroll to continue his journey.

Not many players sample such success so soon. There are plenty of Triton regulars who have been coming to the tour for many years without ever hoisting a trophy. But Lasouski was the picture of calm in a roller coaster of a final table today, only breaking into grimaces and smiles during a topsy turvy heads up battle with Samuel Ju.

Ju had been down to one big blind at one point of the final, but pulled off a miraculous surge to the point that he could have won it himself. But Lasouski managed to claim that crucial last bounty, the one that came with the title.

“I am very excited about this moment,” Lasouski said, through a translator, at the awards ceremony. “I can’t believe how great it is.”

It will surprise few to learn that Lasouski learned his trade online and that he has some significant results to his name with a mouse in his hand. But this is by some measure his biggest tournament series and, it follows, his biggest win.

Remember, this tournament was only partially done on the first day. The draw for the Mystery Bounty prizes took place the next night, at which point the second half of the prize pool was awarded. Lasouski had 12 of the 47 bounties on offer, knowing that one bounty envelope contained $400,000 and two of $200,000 apiece.

As he left the stage on the opening night, Ju admitted he only had one bounty to pull tomorrow, but said hopefully: “It’s the bounty of Chris Moneymaker. It’s a good one.” It wasn’t really. It was “only” $40,000.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The Mystery Bounty element changes poker gameplay in mostly marginal ways–slightly looser calls, perhaps, in touch-and-go spots–but other times it’s more obvious. With bounty tokens not introduced until the second day, far fewer players bust on Day 1 than would normally be the case. They came back for today’s play with 47 players and the bubble still some way off.

After the usual rush of bustouts, with players collecting their first knockout tokens, Jason Koon became one of those to be threatened with elimination on the stone bubble. Luckily for Koon, he had pocket aces and they held. The Sword of Damocles hovered over Paulius Vaitiekunas instead, and his went up against Anson Ewe’s pocket fives.

The dealer showed an ace on the flop but also a five. And Vaitiekunas was drawing dead by the turn. That put everyone left on the right side of the bubble, with dual aims: collect as many bounties as possible and progress to the final table.

Koon slipped back to one big blind, then raced up to 33, but then was knocked out in 18th. Ewe too went out before the final.

The last elimination before the final table sent Sam Grafton heading away. Grafton made a straight draw with on a flop of . But Nikita Kuznetsov had hit a pair of sevens and Grafton couldn’t shift him.

Grafton took $68,000 for ninth and the final table was set. For the third day in a row, the overnight chip leader was top of the charts heading to the final too.

FINAL TABLE STACKS

Nikita Kuznetsov – 7,400,000 (74 BBs)
Artsiom Lasouski – 6,250,000 (63 BBs)
Daniel Rezaei – 5,000,000 (50 BBs)
Chris Moneymaker – 3,675,000 (37 BBs)
Samuel Ju – 3,000,000 (30 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 1,975,000 (20 BBs)
Stephen Chidwick – 1,950,000 (20 BBs)
Danny Tang – 925,000 (9 BBs)

Tournament organisers had planned a dinner break at the point the final table was set, but with registration potentially closing soon on Event 5, the last eight in this one unanimously agreed to crack straight on and eat at the table, if they wished.

The two players most anxious to forego dinner were the two shortest stacks — nothing worse than only min-cashing *and* missing reg — and lo and behold, Danny Tang and Stephen Chidwick were the first players out from the final.

As Moneymaker requested a menu, settling in for the long haul, Chidwick ran into Moneymaker’s pocket jacks to bust in eighth. Then Tang couldn’t get pocket eights to beat Daniel Rezaei’s , especially when the suited cards made a flush.

Chidwick added $82,000 to his ledger. Tang took $114,000. And, yes, they both made it in time to play the next one.

Despite the bounties in front of all the players still, or perhaps because of them, we had to wait a good couple of hours before the next elimination. Short stacks repeatedly doubled up, with Dylan Linde in particular pulling off a Lazarus-style resurrection when seemingly dead and buried. Meanwhile players like Moneymaker and Kuznetzov bounced up and down the leader board.

Daniel Rezaei mostly sat this out, but had to make a move sooner or later as the blinds began swallowing up his stack. He wasn’t in terrible shape when he opened/called all-in with agaisnt Artsiom Lasouski’s . However any equity he had vanished when the flop brought an ace, and Rezaei’s second final table of the week finished in sixth. He took $156,000 plus whatever he’ll get in bounties.

Another slowdown descended and it resulted in the average stack among the last five slipping t just 15 big blinds. We were once again in that purgatory where any slip up is potentially terminal and a boatload of equity slides away.

Germany’s Samuel Ju, at his first Triton final table, enjoyed and endured both the highs and lows of the experience in quick succession. He shoved with and got looked up by Kuznetsov, ending the hand with a straight and a double up.

But two hands later, his chips were in again with and this time he lost to Kuznetsov’s pocket jacks. Although he now only had three big blinds and was in the big blind next hand, he must have been thrilled to see Lasouski three-bet shove over Linde’s raise, with Linde not having the stack to do anything but call.

Ju folded and left them to it, and Lasouski’s made two pair to beat Linde’s . That put Linde out in fifth for $202,000 and allowed Ju to see another hand.

And what a hand it was. Ju found and was obviously happy to get his chips in after Lasouski shoved his button. Amazingly enough, Kuznetsov called all in from the big blind too, having seen .

Lasouski wasn’t bluffing, though. He had , putting the two others at risk. A jack on the flop saved Ju but Kuznetsov was knocked out. It meant another step up the ladder for Ju as the erstwhile leader bust in fourth for $253,000.

Ju had five big blinds now, with Moneymaker sitting with 10 and Lasouski riding high with 60. How long was left in this one now?

Well, Ju certainly wasn’t giving up the ghost. He was all in again on the next hand and turned pocket tens into a flush to beat Lasouski’s ace high. That gave him 12 big blinds and put him in second place, with Moneymaker now on the ropes.

Having come back from one big blind himself to win the GG Million$ earlier in the festival, Moneymaker must have appreciated Ju’s escapology skills here. But it was now Moneymaker who fell victim to it. The American shoved the button with and, with the confidence of someone who could do no wrong, Ju snapped him off with .

Moneymaker didn’t hit anything and was out in third, adding $311,000 to what is already a very, very good week here in Montenegro.

What had seemed to be a pushover was now a contest. Ju had a miraculous 20 big blinds entering the heads-up portion of play, with Lasouski sitting with 55. It was a big lead, but one double and the tables would turn. And that’s exactly what happened.

Ju had edged closer when the pair got to a flop of . A bunch of chips went in there, but the remainder got in the middle after the turn. Lasouski showed his but it now needed to hit a diamond because Ju’s was now two pair. The diamond missed and Ju was now in a significant chip lead.

Could he close it out now? No. He could not. Lasouski quickly doubled back into the chip lead with holding against . But then the pendulum swung back into Ju’s favour after a dry runout kept his better than Lasouski’s .

However, after Lasouski nudged back into the lead, they once again butted heads in a major coup. With a board of out there, Lasouski bet enough to put Ju all in.

Ju agonised, but made the call. However, Lasouski’s pocket queens were still better than Ju’s . And with that, we have a new champion. Third time lucky.

RESULTS

Event 5 – $40,000 – Mystery Bounty NLH – 7-Handed
Dates: May 15-16, 2024
Entries: 151 (inc. 52 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,040,000 (inc. $3,020,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Artsiom Lasouski, Belarus – $1,349,000 (inc. $680,000 in bounties)
2 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $492,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)
3 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $511,000 (inc. $200,000 in bounties)
4 – Nikita Kuznetsov, Russia – $553,000 (inc. $300,000 in bounties)
5 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $282,000 (inc. $80,000 in bounties)
6 – Daniel Rezaei, Austria – $716,000 (inc. $560,000 in bounties)
7 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $214,000 (inc. $100,000 in bounties)
8 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $282,000 (inc. $200,000 in bounties)

9 – Sam Grafton, UK – $188,000 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
10 – Aleksandr Zubov, Russia – $177,500 (inc. $120,000 in bounties)
11 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $217,500 (inc. $160,000 in bounties)
12 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $90,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)
13 – Andrew Chen, Canada – $50,000
14 – Mario Mosbock, Austria – $85,000 (inc. $40,000 in bounties)
15 – Xianchao Shen, China – $45,000
16 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $40,500
17 – Phil Ivey, USA – $40,500
18 – Jason Koon, USA – $36,000
19 – Thomas Santerne, France – $36,000
20 – Roland Rokita, Austria – $36,000
21 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $293,000 (inc. $260,000 in bounties)
22 – Hossein Ensan, Germany – $33,000
23 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $33,000
24 – Alex Boika, Belarus – $30,000
25 – Stoyan Madanzhiev, Bulgaria – $30,000
26 – Benjamin Chalot, France – $30,000
27 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $30,000

Other bounty winners:

Anvar Muratov – $40,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu – $80,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive