Category: 2024

While the Triton Super High Roller Series has become the go-to tour for the most prestigious and highest-stakes tournaments in the world, it’s no secret that Triton’s elite players enjoy the odd cash game on the side. Some of these games take place on the TV set for broadcast after the tournament sessions are over. Some others take place in private rooms, where the pots can get even more tasty.

Over the past week at the Maestral Resort in Montenegro, this passion for cash-game action has been indulged even more lavishly than normal. Some of Triton’s most esteemed figures, as well as a handful of newcomers, have been playing the exclusive Triton Series Cash Game Invitational. And tonight, the first stream of the action went out, allowing us all to find out what they’ve been up to.

If you predicted numerous six-figure pots, million-dollar swings, enormous bluffs, and sensational strong-arm poker for hours on end, consider your bingo card complete. It was all there as the likes of high-rolling businessmen Paul Phua, Elton Tsang and Aaron Zang took to the felt alongside just one professional at a time, occupying the so-called hot seat. In this first session, that hot seat was occupied by one of the absolute best: Switzerland’s Linus Loeliger.

There was also a very welcome surprise among the recreational players: a first appearance around the Triton tables of the American high stakes cash-game enigma Handz, whose own Twitter bio describes himself as “Two time loser of the biggest pot on HCL”. That’s a reference to two enormous set-ups on Hustler Casino Live, which cost him more than $1 million each.

Handz found a natural home at the Triton Series, where he was also joined by Elizabeth Chen, Joe Zhou, ST Wang and Andy Ni for this first of seven sessions. There was a minimum buy-in of $200,000 and they played blinds of $1,000/$2,000 with a $2,000 big blind ante.

Here’s the highlights from the opening day’s play.

NI COMES RACING OUT THE BLOCKS

If you thought things might start in a cautious manner, you haven’t watched Triton cash games before. Within a matter of about five minutes, Andy Ni was up more than $100K. That profit came from two pots, the second of which was a good one, and went like this.

Linus Loeliger opened to $5,000 from the cutoff with and Ni called with on the button. Joe Zou called too in the big blind with and the brought plenty of interest.

After two checks, Ni bet $8,000 and only Zou called. The latter liked the turn. The filled his straight. Both players checked, but the river swung things back in Ni’s favour. After Zou’s check, Ni bet $24,000. Zou called and the $82,000 pot went to Ni.

ZOU NEEDS A REBUY

The TV broadcast of the cash game action brought with it a neat “Mystery Hand” element. This is where even the viewers were denied knowledge of what a player was sitting with, keeping everyone guessing throughout. Linus Loeliger was the first player to have a Mystery Hand, in a big pot against Joe Zou, who had red pocket kings. But they turned out to be not good enough.

Loeliger opened to $5,000 from the hijack. Zou three-bet to $16,000 from the small blind. Loeliger called.

Zou didn’t connect with the flop and checked it. Loeliger bet $12,000. But then Zou check-raised to $24,000. Loeliger’s call bought him the turn. Zou now bet $35,000 and Loeliger called again.

The river was the and Zou checked. He had only $86,000 with the pot sitting at $154,000. Loeliger jammed everything in, which meant Zou had to decide if he wanted to go with it all. He did. He put his last chips in, forcing Loeliger to show down his . The rivered straight felted Zou.

Not long after, Zou had pocket aces and ended up chopping with Aaron Zang’s when the rest of the wheel cards came on the flop. Tough going for him in the opening stages.

‘THIS GAME IS LOOSENING UP’

Randy Lew, in the commentary booth alongside Ali Nejad, was pretty much bang-on when he said, “It’s safe to say this game is loosening up”, having watched Andy Ni and Handz get nearly a quarter of a million in pre-flop.

Ni opened the pot to 5,000 from UTG+1 and then saw Handz three-bet to $15,000 from the button. Ni had to Handz’ . ST Wang, in the big blind, actually had better cards than both of them, but he binned his pocket nines. Ni wasn’t so reticent. He four-bet to $65,000.

Handz wasn’t going anywhere with his big slick and jammed for $136K. Ni figured out that he wasn’t quite priced in and let it go.

MYSTERY HAND LANDS CHEN A CHUNK

Elizabeth Chen took over the seat and stack of Joe Zou after the first session (an arrangement they had made before getting started) and she did not waste any time in getting embroiled in a monster.

With Chen posting a $4,000 straddle and Elton Tsang posting a double straddle of $8,000 there was plenty in the middle before anyone volunteered anything else. It actually folded all the way around to Chen, who raised it up to $24,000. The contents of Chen’s hand was known only to her at this point. She was playing the “Mystery Hand”, which meant it was hidden even to viewers of the stream.

We knew Tsang’s cards though. He had pocket threes and called. That took them to a flop of . Chen bet $15,000 and Tsang called with his under pair.

The turn improved Tsang’s hand considerably. Chen checked and Tsang bet $65,000 with his turned set. Chen called, taking them to the river and giving Tsang a boat.

Chen checked again, and Tsang sized his river bet at $215,000, almost full pot. The fact that Chen didn’t snap-call likely gave Tsang some hope that he was good. But then after a quick second check of her cards, Chen shoved for $379,000. Tsang called immediately, but Chen tabled pocket tens for a flopped set, rivered quads. Tsang had never been ahead.

This pot worth $753,000 all went to Chen. A disgusting cooler for the two players in the straddles, but Chen went some way to digging her team out the hole it was left in after Zou’s tough luck in the early stages.

HANDZ PUT TO THE TEST WITH ACES

Linus Loeliger was in the $4K straddle and the TV director opted to give him the mystery hand. He saw something he liked, however, because after Handz opened to $10,000 and Tsang called, Loeliger put in the three-bet to $50,000. Little did Loeliger know that Handz had pocket aces. Tsang had a pocket pair too, but they were only sixes.

Handz laid the trap, however, and only called Loeliger’s raise. That persuaded Tsang in too, and the trio saw a flop of .

Tsang checked but Loeliger fired $40,000. Handz continued to play it cute with a call. Tsang now got out of the way. The turn made the board even more dicey, but Loeliger kept telling his story. He bet another $75,000. Handz called once more.

The river seemed brick-like, but Loeliger now emptied the clip. He moved in for his last $202,000, bloating the pot to $585,000. Handz asked for a count (he had $343K behind) and burned through a decent number of time bank chips as he made his decision. It was a fold.

That turned out to be very shrewd indeed. Loeliger’s had made a straight.

CHEN VS TSANG: THE SUB-PLOT

For a short while, this full ring table became more like a heads-up duel between Elizabeth Chen and Elton Tsang, with the pair battling repeatedly in several significant pots. After losing to quads earlier on, Tsang ended up the better in almost all of the subsequent skirmishes, boosting his stack comfortably into big green figures and leaving Chen in the red.

In one of them, Chen opened the button to $12,000 with and Tsang three-bet to $50,000 from the small blind with . Chen called.

Tsang bet $50,000 after the flop, which Chen called, but then the river was brutal for Chen. Tsang now had the nuts; Chen had top pair. Tsang bet $75,000 and Chen shoved for $230K. Tsang snapped her off.

The river was blank and Tsang took down this $670,000 pot. Chen was forced to reload.

CHEN FLOPS THE WORLD, TSANG CATCHES UP

Elton Tsang has pretty much never seen two cards he didn’t like, especially on the button, and the he started off with here was plenty good enough for a raise to $12,000. Elizabeth Chen, his old nemesis, was in the $4,000 straddle and called with her .

Chen absolutely adored the flop, and checked the nuts to Tsang. Tsang obliged with a bet of $12,000, which Chen quickly raised to $35,000. Tsang had top pair, so was happy to call, and the turn was a scare card to both of them. Chen checked again, Tsang continued with his line and bet another $27,000. Chen couldn’t fold to such a small size. She called.

The was another horrible card for Chen’s hand. She checked for a third time. This time, Tsang fired out $111,000 with what was now the top flush, losing only to full house or quad combos.

It was grim for Chen, whose straight was now also a flush. She found a very disciplined fold, sending the pot over to Tsang, but refusing to pay him off the extra.

It was a rough few orbits for Chen, who picked up pocket queens a little while later. The problem was that ST Wang had pocket kings and they went to battle on the turn, with the board showing (Handz, sitting with had come to the flop as well). Wang got his whole stack in at this point, leaving Chen to decide whether to risk her $261,000 with the overpair.

She did. They ran the river twice. But Wang’s kings held both times. Chen was forced to reload.

CHEN CLAWS SOME BACK FROM HANDZ

Elizabeth Chen got things started with a raise to $6,000 from the hijack, sitting with . Andy Ni, one seat along, called with his and everything seemed standard so far.

Handz looked down at the button in front of him, and in his hand, and felt that this was a decent spot for a squeeze. He bumped it up to $25,000, and it might have been over there and then.

However, Chen was going nowhere. She called. That persuaded Ni to the flop as well, with $80,000 in the pot.

The flop gave both Handz and Chen top pair, and after two checks, Handz bet $30,000. Chen was going nowhere once again. She called, but Ni had now seen enough. He backed out.

The turn was something of a scare card for both, and it brought a couple of checks. But then the river turned Chen’s hand into the nuts. She didn’t conceal the strength of her hand either, shoving $185,000 into the middle, which was more than the size of the pot to that point.

Handz was suspicious. Very suspicious. He burned through several time-bank chips and then made the call, acknowledging, “Good” when Chen turned over the nuts. The $470K pot headed Chen’s way.

ZANG’S MYSTERY HAND TOO MUCH FOR PHUA’S FLUSH

Aaron Zang is best known in world poker for winning the inaugural Triton invitational tournament, which just happened to have a £1 million buy-in. Although he agreed a heads-up deal with Bryn Kenney in that one, with Kenney taking slightly more money, Zang took the trophy alongside his £13.8 million ($16.8 million). That wasn’t too bad.

Zang subsequently won another $1.5 million when he took down a second Triton title in Vietnam in March 2023, so his skills have never been in doubt. And one of the best cash-game hands in this session featured Zang putting Triton co-founder Paul Phua in all manner of difficulty.

Blinds were $1,000/$2,000, with a $2,000 big-blind ante, and Linus Loeliger in a $4,000 straddle. Phua was UTG+1, i.e., first to act, and he put in a raise to $10,000 with . Action folded round to Zang on the button, and he raised to $31,000. Phua deemed his suited connectors good enough to continue.

The contents of Zang’s hand was known only to him at this point. He was playing the “Mystery Hand”. But he seemed to like it. After a flop of , Phua checked and Zang bet $40,000. Phua, with his flush draw, called the bet.

The turn was the and Phua didn’t improve. He checked again. This time Zang also checked. The river completed Phua’s flush, and he decided to lead out for $75,000, leaving $154K behind.

Zang wasn’t ready to give this one up though. He had a near-$500K stack and raised to $250,000, asking Phua to gamble the rest of what he had. Phua agonised. He had hit his flush, but it was far from the nuts. After much anguish he gave up, allowing Zang to take the $476,000 pot.

What did he have? Eventually the TV director let us know. He had for two pair. Was it a value bet, or had he turned his hand into a bluff? Either way, he raked in the pot.

One important element to this hand that perhaps wasn’t immediately obvious was that earlier in the day, Phua had similarly folded a pretty big hand — pocket nines — to a Zang river bet, on a board of . In that instance, Zang had , which was way ahead. So Phua’s fold was good. However, Zang leveraged that history to make Phua fold the best hand later on.

DAY 1 PROFIT/LOSS

After nine hours, they called this a day. It was a pretty exhilarating scene-setting start, with Elton Tsang the biggest winner. Here’s how they all ended up:

PROFIT
Elton Tsang: +$760,000
ST Wang: $436,000
Andy Ni: + $389,000
Aaron Zang: +$135,000

LOSS
Linus Loeliger: -$268,000
Handz: -$375,000
Paul Phua: -$391,000
Elizabeth Chen/Joe Zou: -$689,000

Photography by Drew Amato

The curtain came down on the Triton Series’ third trip to Montenegro with a fast-paced, PLO Bounty Quattro tournament, where each knockout at the tournament’s business end paid an additional $40,000.

As we have come to expect, the man lifting the trophy was born in one of the Nordic countries, but this time it wasn’t Finland.

Denmark’s Martin Dam is another player who has had a quietly sensational trip to Montenegro, cashing in eighth and then 11th of the two tournaments he had played before now. But Dam made the absolute most of his last chance here at the Maestral Resort, winning $250,000 from the regular prize pool and another $280,000 in bounties for a delightful $530,000 total score.

“In bounty tournaments, you have to be quite loose,” Dam said, explaining how he managed to pick up seven of the 11 bounties in play. “It’s in your interests to be so. When there are some six or seven big-blind stacks all-ion, you have to be in it. Luckily I won most of them.”

The 27-year-old, originally from Copenhagen, decided to make his Triton Series debut after completing a move to Vienna, Austria, which has a more favourable tax arrangement for poker players than Denmark. It was a smart move. Dam was only out of the chip lead for the briefest of moments in the tournament’s late stages tonight, and took a big lead into the heads-up phase against Stephen Chidwick.

Then a little after midnight local time, he sent Chidwick packing too, denying the Brit a third title. Chidwick took $179,000, plus $40,000 in bounties, but this was Dam’s tournament all the way.

“Honestly, the experience has been amazing,” Dam said of his first trip to the Triton Series. “You really get a better experience here. Everything is just amazing. I feel great.”

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With levels shortened to 15 minutes, this one was fast and chaotic from the very first deal. Through 10 levels, the cashiers welcomed 41 entries, which meant $1.23 million in the prize pool and a first prize of $250,000. That’s not including the bounties, which weighed in at $40,000 apiece and came into play with 11 players remaining.

The first of those went to Dylan Linde, who cracked Richard Gryko’s kings to take the field down to 10. The next target was to make the money, which would kick in when only seven players were left.

No one had a big stack, but some were less pressured than others. Jason Koon gave himself a bit of breathing room by knocking out Sean Winter in ninth. That left them on the final table bubble, which also happened to be the “other” bubble, so they were split four and four to play hand for hand on two tables.

Although the tournament room was quiet, this was still a dramatic bubble because two players were all in at the same time, one on each table.

Brian Rast was one of them, squaring off against Koon, and in need of some help. The board read and Rast’s needed some kind of miracle against Koon’s .

The came on the turn and Koon said, “You gonna go backdoor fours on me again?” Rast did not reply, but the dealer did. The river was . That runner-runner kept Rast in the tournament.

On the outer table, the short stack was Jonas Kronwitter, but he was looking strong with on a flop of . His opponent Martin Dam had .

The didn’t help Dam. But the river did, and the unlikely turn of events sent Kronwitter to the rail in eighth and the others into the money and to the final. (Koon was 80/20 to win the hand on the first table, by the way, while Kronwitter had 70 percent equity on the other. He was pretty long odds to be walking away with nothing.)

They now lined up as follows:

Martin Dam – 2,530,000 (42 BBs)
Brian Rast – 2,010,000 (34 BBs)
Ding Biao – 1,270,000 (21 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 1,255,000 (21 BBs)
Stephen Chidwick – 480,000 (8 BBs)
Ronald Keijzer – 330,000 (6 BBs)
Jason Koon – 330,000 (6 BBs)

On the very first hand of the final table, there was a massive three-way all-in, which sent Stephen Chidwick climbing up counts, sent Ding Biao tumbling the other way, and left Ronald Keijzer looking for the payouts cage.

Everything went in pre-flop, with Keijzer opening with , Chidwick then jamming with and Biao calling with . Keijzer called too.

The dealer ran through the full board: and Chidwick’s kings and deuces were best. Keijzer’s brief stay at the final earned him $42,000 as Chidwick picked up a bounty.

Koon was stranded at the bottom of the counts, but doubled through the chip-leader Martin Dam to stay alive. But it was only a temporary reprieve as his chips found their way in the middle again soon after, and this time got stuck with Rast. (Koon’s tens couldn’t beat Rast’s kings. They both hit three of a kind.)

“GG Triton,” Koon said, making his way out with $51,000 waiting for him in his account, plus a bounty prize.

Rast now found himself in the chip lead, but an almighty collision with Dam, temporarily relegated to second place, put the Dane back at the top of the pile. Rast raised his button with double-suited jacks and Dam three-bet with kings, an ace and a four, single suited. Rast called.

The last of the money went in on a queen-high flop, and the kings held through turn and river. It was a big, big double for Dam, and when Ding Biao doubled soon after, Rast was the short stack all by himself.

Rast then lost with queens to Dam’s and his tournament was done. It was a nice break for him from commentary duties, and it earned him an extra $67,000.

Biao was now the shortest stack again and he also ran headlong into Dam to finish his tournament. Biao hit his ace after getting to a flop with . Dam’s flopped a straight draw and hit it on the river.

It was Biao’s second final table of the day, and this one earned him $87,000.

After nearly trebling his stack in the early stages, Chidwick had sat out most of the subsequent skirmishes but was now sitting with only about five big blinds. His double up through Dam not long after Biao’s elimination was most significant not for the number of chips he won, but for the fact it gave him survival for another orbit — time for Dylan Linde to bust.

Linde picked up aces single suited — — and when Dam three-bet his open pre-flop, they could get their whole stacks in at that point.

Dam had a lovely hand of his own — — and the hearts proved crucial as three fell on the board. That was Linde’s last involvement. He tossed his bounty chip to Dam and picked up prize money of $114,000.

For the second Triton stop in succession, Chidwick now found himself playing the final heads-up battle of the festival. But this time he really had his work cut out, staring over a six big blind stack at the 49 big blinds with Dam.

The comeback attempt started well. Chidwick cracked aces with his double suited , flopping three spades. But that was about all he could muster. The next time they got it in, Chidwick had to Dam’s .

The flop had an ace on it, but also a ten. Dam faded Chidwick’s full house outs and became our latest champion. Chidwick took $179,000 as runner up.

Dam played three events at his Triton debut and cashed all of them. This turbo win was the icing on the cake. He complemented his $250,000 winner’s prize with seven of 11 bounties available and so disappears back to Austria $530,000 to the good.

RESULTS

Event 16 – $30,000 PLO BOUNTY QUATTRO
Dates: May 26, 2024
Entries: 41 (inc. 14 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,230,000 (inc. $440,000 in bounties)

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 $10,000 in bounties)
6 – Jason Koon, USA – $51,000 (plus $10,000 in bounties)
7 – Ronald Keijzer, Netherlands – $42,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

For the second time in three days, a report from the Triton Series in Montenegro begins with the following line: Samuli Sipila is one of the best pot limit Omaha players in the world.

It first appeared after the 31-year-old Finn won the first event he had ever played under the Triton banner, the $25K PLO tournament that finished on Thursday. And now, remarkably, we’re adding Sipila’s name to the list of multiple Triton champions after he completed victory in the $50K buy-in PLO event and upped his all-time best tournament cash to $839,000.

“Wait, he’s going on the board already!?!” Jason Koon observed from across the room, naming a couple of players who hadn’t won a Triton event despite coming to every stop for years. Sipila is visiting for the first time and is leaving with his picture in the Hall of Fame.

Not only that, but for the second time, Sipila also had to overcome a significant chip deficit entering heads up play, and completed this victory by overhauling the formidable Nacho Barbero. The Argentinian, already a two-time Triton champion, had been the dominant force for the longest period of the final day, but ended up second best to this superlative PLO talent.

“I had hopes, obviously,” Sipila dead-panned after Ali Nejad asked him if he could possibly have imagined winning two events here in Montenegro. “Obviously there’s a lot of skill. It’s not just going all-in…But, to be fair, I have run really well.”

Three of the last four players in this event were from Finland (they teach PLO in kindergarten in Helsinki) but even in this kingdom of poker giants, Sipila stands tallest. He was keen to pay tribute to the player they all look up to, the long-time PLO legend Patrik Antonius, but Antonius was one of Sipila’s victims as he sailed to this incredible win.

“It’s easier to get better when you have a great group of people around you,” Sipila said, referencing the tight network of Nordic players who have made Montenegro their playground this week. Registration was still open on the PLO Turbo when the this tournament was finished. What price a hat-trick?

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The opening stages of the tournament played out in the same room as the PLO Main Event was reaching its dramatic conclusion. The player numbers gradually increased as busted players from the other event strolled across the room to reinvest, while others continued to fire bullets to make sure they were still around when all the short-stacked new entries came blasting at them.

Naturally, action slowed up somewhat once registration had closed, sealing the entry numbers at 61, with $3.05 million in the prize pool. But few could have predicted just how tortuous the tournament would then become, with play stretching hour after hour in the hope of bursting the bubble before bagging for the end of the night.

It was around 4.30 a.m. when things eventually finished. Laszlo Bujtas tried to knock out Alex Komaromi, but lost with kings against aces. It doubled up Komaromi and left Bujtas with not even one blind. Nacho Barbero snaffled that on the next hand, ending Bujtas’s incredibly long day with only his payout from the Main Event much earlier to keep him company.

Eleven players reached for bags, with the toll of this extended bubble evident in the size of some of the stacks.

Day two line-up:

Ding Biao – 2,740,000 (69 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 2,365,000 (59 BBs)
Nacho Barbero – 2,095,000 (52 BBs)
Samuli Sipila – 1,750,000 (44 BBs)
Danny Tang – 1,635,000 (41 BBs)
Alex Komaromi – 490,000 (12 BBs)
Chris Parker – 275,000 (7 BBs)
Eelis Parssinen – 270,000 (7 BBs)
Aku Joentausta – 220,000 (6 BBs)
Lautaro Guerra – 215,000 (5 BBs)
Jason Koon – 145,000 (4 BBs)

The most interesting subplot involved the seven big blinds belonging to Chris Parker. During earlier Day 1 conversation, Parker had told his tablemates that he had a flight booked for early on Sunday that would preclude his involvement in Day 2. The gist of the advice from Nacho Barbero and Jason Koon, among others, was that he should change it, but Parker revealed how difficult that might be. He was jetting in to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix early on Sunday, and landing slots were all booked up. Understanding that this was no ordinary flight for no ordinary purpose, Parker’s table-mates kept quiet and tucked the information away.

On Sunday, Parker’s stack was indeed unattended as play got started. By that point, its owner was probably sipping champagne in a paddock somewhere. The shepherds of three other short stacks wondered if they’d be able to outlast the rudderless ship. And, as it turned out, they couldn’t.

Lautaro Guerra, Koon and Aku Joentausta all lost the last of their chips in early exchanges, which meant Parker laddered up to eighth. The $115K he won will be wired to him, no doubt.

For what it’s worth, none of the three others could really do much about it. Guerra ran tens into queens. Koon came out the wrong side in two unraised pots without any cards of note to give him hope. And then Joentausta had an ace, flopped another one, but lost to Eelis Parssinen’s two pair.

Guerra and Koon min-cashed for $76,300 each. Joentausta took $87,000. Then when the dead stack was exhausted, they settled around a final table of seven. Biao still led, but most of the others at least now had workable stacks.

Ding Biao – 3,300,000 (83 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 2,965,000 (74 BBs)
Nacho Barbero – 2,235,000 (56 BBs)
Samuli Sipila – 1,340,000 (34 BBs)
Danny Tang – 1,295,000 (32 BBs)
Eelis Parssinen – 855,000 (21 BBs)
Alex Komaromi – 210,000 (5 BBs)

After making the final table of the PLO Main Event to keep his lead in the Player of the Year race, Danny Tang had kept the momentum going and landed back at another FT with another stab at a sixth career win.

But as quickly as he is learning the subtleties of PLO, he is understanding its viciousness too. Tang was the first out from the final, losing with aces. Not just pocket aces, but a turned set in fact. It’s just that Nacho Barbero had already flopped a straight.

Tang picked up another $146,000 for seventh place, and a handful more Player of the Year points. There’s only one event left, it’s getting very close now for Tang.

Alex Komaromi had squeezed through the bubble thanks to the big hand against Bujtas last night/this morning, and had now laddered another spot at the final despite having only five big blinds. He became Barbero’s latest victim when the Argentinian filled a boat with the king of hand you’ll play against a micro-stack, but would probably otherwise toss away.

Komaromi’s maiden Triton cash was worth $186,000.

Three of the last five players were from Finland, but the next elimination came about when the last South American took on the final Asian representative. Barbero was in one of those grooves where he could do no wrong, and was providing an unceasing monologue as he was also hoovering up Biao’s chips.

Biao had held on to the chip lead for a long time, before Barbero’s surge, but his pre-flop three-bet holding secured a call from Barbero’s .

Biao flopped top pair and jammed, but Barbero had flopped two pair. His hand then straightened out through turn and river. “Nice to play with you,” Barbero said and Biao hit the rail. Biao won this event in Jeju earlier this year, but had to settle for fifth in his defence. It came with $238,000.

With four players left, the Finnish wall lost its first brick. Eelis Parssinen has cashed four times on the Triton Series and made three final tables, all of them in PLO tournaments. He had to make do with fourth this time, though, with his countryman Samuli Sipila applying the finishing touches.

Parssinen’s flopped a straight when the dealer put the out there. But Sipila had queen blockers (two of them) and a flush draw and was happy to get chips in to cover Parssinen on the flop.

The on the river gave Sipila the flush to send Parssinen out in fourth. He won $300,100.

Two Finns were left, but Barbero had them covered by an enormous amount. And not even a player of Patrik Antonius’ calibre could mount a comeback. Barbero made a flush in a big pot against Antonius to leave the Antonius very short. And then Sipila took the last three blinds of his countryman, leaving Antonius heading home in third for $390,000.

As they prepared for heads-up play, Barbero talked to a video team and explained, “I am running very hot. I made the nuts many times and eliminated many players.” It really was that easy for him at this stage. Barbero had 9,100,000 (91 BBs) to Sipila’s 3,100,000 (31 BBs). We had seen Sipila overhaul a bigger heads-up deficit in the $25K PLO earlier this week, but could he do it again?

Let’s put it this way. He is a very good pot limit Omaha player. The blinds went up a couple of times and Sipila remained within one double up of levelling the stacks. And then in the first really grim cooler of the heads-up phase of play, he did just that.

Barbero picked up and limped. Sipila looked at and raised. Barbero called.

The flop was destined to see action. It came . Sipila had the jack but Barbero’s pocket fours meant he already had a boat.

It went bet (Sipila), raise (Barbero), call, with the turn now giving Sipila the better hand. Sipila slowed to a check, but Barbero saw no reason to slow down. He bet and Sipila called. The river was inconsequential, but Sipila checked again.

Barbero jammed, Sipila called, and he scored the full double thanks to the bigger boat. They suddenly had 40 blinds apiece.

Barbero is made of stern stuff, and although Sipila nosed ahead, he bounced back to regain a sizeable lead. But then came another major coup that gave Sipila a double: the Finn’s made a flush and earned Sipila the maximum.

They went on a tournament break and returned to stacks of 36 blinds (Sipila) to 13 (Barbero). And it was now Barbero’s turn to hit a river to double. They got to a flop of for one raise, then got everything else in at that point.

Sipila led with but was vulnerable to Barbero’s . The turn was another four, but the river hit Barbero’s flish and doubled him back into the lead.

But not for long. With everything now incredibly tight indeed, they took two premiums to a flop in a three-bet pot. Barbero had and Sipila had .

The rest of the money went in on the flop and Sipila’s flopped set did not come unstuck. That left Barbero with only a handful of blinds and they went in the next hand. Sipila made this one stick.

Sipila’s finished with a straight on the board of , cracking Barbero’s kings.

Sipila had done it once again. He is a very good pot limit Omaha player. You heard it here last.

RESULTS

Event 15 – $50,000 PLO
Dates: May 25-26, 2024
Entries: 61 (inc. 26 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,050,000

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
6 – Alex Komaromi, Uruguay – $186,000
7 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $146,000
8 – Chris Parker, UK – $115,000
9 – Aku Joentausta, Finland – $87,000
10 – Jason Koon, USA – $76,300
11 – Lautaro Guerra, Spain – $76,300

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

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 | $7,950,000
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

The biggest buy-in tournament on Triton’s latest trip to Montenegro went tonight to one of the biggest stars in poker who hadn’t yet got a title to his name.

Wiktor Malinowski, 29, might not be familiar to everyone, but his online alias “Iimitless” is one of the most feared at the virtual tables, where he is a match for absolutely anyone. He is a relentlessly aggressive player, applying ceaseless pressure on each and every opponent. It sometimes means he flames and dies; other times he burns to the title.

Renowned mostly as a nosebleed cash-game player, he also has a fine tournament resume, and he once had a massive chip lead coming into a Triton Main Event final in Cyprus. That one ended in a third place, but this time he went the distance. And what a time to do it.

The buy-in was $200,000, there was $18.6 million in the prize pool and a first prize of $4,789,000. Malinowski, who was chip leader coming into the final, closed out the tournament by downing Adrian Mateos heads-up. Not many people do that. He even had the confidence to reject a heads up deal.

When we flesh it out even further, and add the detail that the final table also included Jason Koon, Mikita Badziakouski, Steve O’Dwyer, Mike Watson, Jonathan Jaffe and Nick Petrangelo, you get an idea of how good this victory is.

“The table was very tough,” Malinowski admitted. “Many great players.” But he added that his online schooling gives him the confidence to take on anybody, and to prevail.

“I knew when I was coming to the final the job was not done,” he said. “I had had this chip lead before, so I had to stay focused.

“It’s the best feeling. There are so many moments in poker when it’s not so good, so when you win it feels very special.”

This is his biggest single tournament score, and pushes career earnings past $11 million. It is overdue. His potential is truly limitless.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

At the planning stage of the schedule for this trip to Montenegro, organisers weren’t sure whether to schedule two or three days for the $200K event. A buy-in like that may not appeal to the faint hearted. However, it quickly became apparent that the third day was very much the right call as 61 players sat down and put up 93 entries between them. It meant $18.6 million in the prize pool and another almighty event.

Every single seat was filled with a superstar, and even as plenty hit the rail after registration closed, the quality never dipped at all. Only 15 places were due to be paid, however, and so there was serious money quickly on the line.

For Danny Tang, there was even more than that. He is chasing the Player of the Year title, and currently sits at the top of the leader board. But he has players of the calibre of Phil Ivey, Dan Dvoress and Jason Koon breathing down his neck, all of whom will also take to the PLO tables. So it’s not yet a lock for Tang.

His elimination just short of the money in the $200K clearly hurt. And it brought them down to the most nervy stages with 16 players over two tables.

In comparison with previous boisterous bubbles, this one took place in an icy silence for the most part. It wasn’t the buy-in. nor even the €300K+ min-cash, it was more that this was the last no limit hold’em event of the trip and a last chance to make a big score (or get unstuck).

The first player to face the threat of elimination was Bryn Kenney. But he and Steve O’Dwyer had the same hand and chopped. They both ended with a Broadway straight. “Nuts, nuts!” Paul Phua observed, pointing at each player’s hand in turn.

On the outer table, Christoph Vogelsang and Adrian Mateos played a monster. These were the players ranked second and third in the chip counts, so this was serious. Mateos shoved the river, covering Vogelsang, and the German took a while before folding, vaulting Mateos to the top of the counts.

O’Dwyer was next with his head on the chopping block. But his pocket queens doubled through Mikita Badziakouski’s and it left Badziakouski with four big blinds. No fear: he called a min-raise from Jason Koon in the big blind, flopped two pair to double. Then he took up against Phua’s and hit two sixes on the board. That was another double.

The long period of hand-for-hand extended all the way to the scheduled dinner break. So the tournament director sent the last 16 for a 45-minute break as they pondered the bubble.

On their return, it didn’t take too long until Santhosh Suvarna put everyone out of their misery at the expense of his own tournament well-being.

Suvarna got his chips in as a three-bet shove with pocket nines over Badziakouski’s open. But Badziakouski called with to set up a flip, which he then won thanks to two kings appearing on flop and river. Suvarna was the 16th-place finisher. Everyone else could now focus on the final.

Phua bust next. Followed by Patrik Antonius, Ding Biao, Kenney, Vogelsang and finally Stephen Chidwick, which set up the final table. Just look at the quality in the six players who narrowly *missed* the final. This tournament was ridiculously good.

But there was only room on the final day for the following:

Wiktor Malinowski – 5,025,000 (63 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski – 2,665,000 (33 BBs)
Jason Koon – 2,020,000 (25 BBs)
Jonathan Jaffe – 1,945,000 (24 BBs)
Steve O’Dwyer – 1,840,000 (23 BBs)
Mike Watson – 1,785,000 (22 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 1,585,000 (20 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 1,000,000 (13 BBs)
Matas Cimbolas – 770,000 (10 BBs)

Although he is a familiar face on the tournament tables of Europe, Lithuania’s Matas Cimbolas is a relative newcomer to the Triton Series, making his debut in Jeju and returning for more in Montenegro. He made his way into the money of the Main Event, busting in 16th, and was then still involved during the tense bubble stages of the $200K.

Despite a short stack, Cimbolas mostly stayed out of dangerous situations, navigating his way into the final. And he found a very good hand with which to speculate his last 10 blinds as well: , against Mike Watson’s .

Although it was only a virtual all-in pre-flop, the last of Cimbolas’s chips went in on the turn, by which point the dealer had placed a queen on the flop. That marked a come-from-behind win for Watson, and sent Cimbolas away with $483,000, a new Triton best.

Having landed a first Triton title in the Turbo earlier this week, Nick Petrangelo was aiming to lay all his demons to rest with a potential double in the $200K. He had done what was necessary to put himself in with a chance, even if he was another of the short stacks coming into the final.

In the event, this one wasn’t to be for Petrangelo. True to the pattern so far established, Petrangelo got his chips in good — he had to Wiktor Malinowski’s — but a seven on the flop landed a crushing blow for the man known as “Iimitless”.

Petrangelo reached his limit in this one and took $661,000 for eighth.

With the first two players out from this final table getting their money in good, perhaps this was the time to be folding the big hands and getting it in with the worst of it. Certainly the unhappy pattern showed no sign of changing.

Jonathan Jaffe, who was among the players to have changed their original flights to compete in the final day of hold’em, became the next man out, and the next man to lose with the best hand. He got involved in a pre-flop raising battle with Adrian Mateos. After Jason Koon opened, Mateos three-bet, Jaffe cold four-bet fro the small blind and Mateos five-bet jammed.

Koon was long gone, but Jaffe called and learned he was in a dominant position with to Mateos’ . But the king fell on the flop to catapult Mateos ahead. There was no change through turn and river and Jaffe was done. He won $865,000.

The last six places all paid six figures, and all of the remaining players had played for this kind of money many times before. But the average stack was only 25 big blinds and so it was anyone’s game still.

Badziakouski managed to buck the trend of the best hand losing when he got pocket kings to stand up against Mateos’ when they got it in pre-flop. Badziakouski sweated it out in the company of his girlfriend on the rail, which means he maybe didn’t see the on the turn making it a little bit nervy.

Malinowski had the biggest stack by a long way and so was entering the most pots, knowing his opponents would need to battle for their stacks if they wanted to play. Koon found and opened, then called off when Malinowski jammed.

This time Malinowski had it — — and it held. Koon busted in sixth for $1,098,000.

There was a time when Koon and Badziakouski were neck and neck at the top of the Triton all-time champions leader board, before Koon went on a ridiculous run to pull five ahead. But Triton purists will have enjoyed seeing the two of them sitting side by side on another final, even if that particular subplot ended in a bang-bang double.

With Koon gone, Badziakouski became under threat, and he played another major pot against Mateos. This time Mateos had it. Pocket queens beat to send Badziakouski out in fifth. He won $1,405,000.

Mateos now had a stack to at least try to challenge Malinowski. It was still only half of the Polish player’s, but it was now considerably more than what both O’Dwyer and Mike Watson held. Mateos duly polished off the latter to give himself even more.

Watson has had a headline-grabbing week here in Montenegro, winning one title and bubbling another, before heading to the final of the biggest buy-in event. But Mateos has a knack of hitting card when he needs to (in addition to his immense skills) and Watson felt the truth of that at this final.

Watson shoved from the small blind and Mateos called with in the big. The jack on the turn was the crunch card and Watson was toast. He took $1,748,000 for fourth.

O’Dwyer had his work cut out with a tiny stack relative to his opponents, but having had comparatively few chips all the way since the bubble, this was already a fine, gritty showing from him. O’Dwyer had little choice but to take a stab, which he did as a three-bet jam after Malinowski had raised his big blind from the small.

O’Dwyer had and was behind Malinowski’s . He couldn’t catch up and picked up $2.157 million for third.

So here they were: Malinowski (94 BBs) against Mateos (30 BBs) for the title. It would be Malinowski’s first or Mateos’ third, and second of the trip.

Mateos, as is his wont, rarely backed down and drew stacks closer together. But this was really a case of irresistible force against immovable object. Neither player looked scared for even a second as they clashed with one another again and again.

The final hand came about when Mateos had . Malinowski had . This would not have been a relevant hand had the dealer not put the on the flop, followed by the turn and all the money went in.

The river was a blank. And that sent Mateos to the cage for a $3,292,000 second prize. Malinowski banks the biggest total of anyone here in Montenegro this week.

RESULTS

Event 11 – $200,000 NLH – 8-Handed
Dates: May 21-23, 2024
Entries: 93 (inc. 32 re-entries)
Prize pool: $18,600,000

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
6 – Jason Koon, USA – $1,098,000
7 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $865,000
8 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $661,000
9 – Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania – $483,000

10 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $390,000
11 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $390,000
12 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $344,000
13 – Ding Biao, China – $344,000
14 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $317,000
15 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $317,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Belarusian businessman Mikalai Vaskaboinikau is only an occasional player on the Triton Super High Roller Series, usually heading to town when there’s a big invitational to play, and when the buy-ins are biggest. He usually plays two events per trip, for six events total so far in his career. His tally of three final tables was already staggering.

Today, Vaskaboinikau has gone even better. After an early surge at the $125,000 buy-in Triton Montenegro Main Event final table, Vaskaboinikau prevailed from a nervy short-stacked, short-handed battle to down Dejan Kaladjurdjevic heads up and win $4.737 million.

It was his first title from a fourth final. It’s worth restating: he has only ever played six events on this series.

“It’s a really amazing feeling,” Vaskaboinikau said. “I had a good feeling about this a few months ago. I put this thought in my mind in a dream.” He hinted at the true value of his business dealings when he described the prize as “not life-changing money”, but added: “I’m really happy about this.”

Vaskaboinikau, who is 37, is hardly a household name in the world of poker. Neither is his defeated heads-up opponent Kaladjurdjevic, who became the first Montenegrin to play on the tour, the first to cash and the first to make a final table. He will have to try again to land a first title, but has $3.196 million to continue his quest.

But this was all about Vaskaboinikau, who managed to treat one of the world’s undisputed titans, Phil Ivey, as if he was a newbie, and also outgunned Triton heavyweights such as Bryn Kenney, Wai Kin Yong and Aleks Ponakovs — not to mention the rest of the world’s best who came and fell in this massive Main Event.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Day 1 was all about prize pool accumulation and stack building, with the entry tally quickly scooting past 100. When late registrants were included, it got all the way to 171 entries and a $21.375 million prize pool, with a promised $4.737 million to the winner.

Day 2 was characterised, as always, by an anxious trickle of eliminations all the way close to the money, at which point the $214,000 min-cash became the revised target for many.

The bubble in this one was again a lot of fun — unless you happened to be two of the three principal characters in the drama. After good-natured bubble a couple of days ago, boss man Paul Phua was once again among the short stacks as the field thinned to fewer than 30.

There were 27 places due to be paid, and Phua was alongside Matthias Eibinger and Mikita Badziakouski as the three players with sub-10 big blind stacks.

They were each on different tables, so Phua was sweating it from the Triton Poker Plus app. Suddenly Eibinger shot up to the dizzy heights of 11 big blinds. “No!” shouted Phua. “Eibinger got a walk!”

Chris Brewer, at Phua’s table, consulted the app and offered a correction. “It was a steal,” Brewer said. “He opened under the gun and they folded.”

Eibinger wandered past. You couldn’t miss him in his bright orange hoodie. “You got walk? Or you earn it?” quizzed Phua. Eibinger chuckled.

“Aaah, Mikita!” Phua said on the next deal.

“He’s celebrating that you folded your big blind,” Brewer explained, to laughs around the room.

Danny Tang soon wasn’t finding it funny. He three-bet jammed his big blind over Phil Ivey’s early position open, but quickly learned that Ivey wasn’t at it. Ivey called and his pocket jacks beat Tang’s . Tang plummeted out of the tournament in 29th place. It beckoned in hand-for-hand play and the stone bubble.

Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi took the microphone and stated the rules of hand-for-hand play, including the fact that if two players bust from separate tables on the same hand, they split the 27th place prize money.

Badziakouski hatched a plan. “Paul, we go blind all in together? Chop chop!”

Eibinger now chirped up from across the room. “That’s the way!” he said.

They continued to yuck it up like you would if the next hand could be the difference between $214,000 and nothing.

Phua got his chips in. It came as a shove over chip leader Paulius Vaitiekunas’s early position open. Vaitiekunas called and although Phua said, “I don’t have a very good hand,” his pocket sixes held against Vaitiekunas’ . “Mikita, sorry,” Phua said.

But it was not Badziakouski who really needed the apology. This was Eibinger’s bubble. The Austrian put out a raise to 300,000 from mid-position, leaving himself 140,000 behind. (The big blind was 50K.) Ivey, in the big blind, moved all in, comfortably covering Eibinger.

Eibinger waited for all the hands to finish elsewhere before committing his last chips. He was in trouble. Eibinger’s was behind Ivey’s . The flop was the all action . But the turn and river changed nothing.

That was that for Eibinger. The two-time champion hit the rail in 28th and the Main Event was in the money.

The plan was to play down to a final table of nine, but with significant payjumps all down the payout ladder, and ICM geniuses packing the field, this was never likely to be fast. Phua enjoyed his bubble reprieve and edged up the counts. Meanwhile Ivey continued his relentless surge through the field, underlining his immense pedigree.

Japan’s star Masashi Oya also spent some time at the top of the counts, but no one occupied the summit in the counts as long as Chris Brewer, whose careful aggression proved impossible to play against for many.

Without question, the most significant pot of this phase involved Brewer, chip-leading at the time, in a hand against another well-staked competitor, Wai Kin Yong. Brewer had aces, Yong had queens, and they went at it for heaps.

The vast majority of the money went in on the seven-high flop, with Brewer shoving and Yong calling off for his tournament. And then, boom, a queen on the turn. It gave Yong a massive double and sent Brewer plunging down the counts. He lasted only three more hands before busting in 13th, one spot before Phua.

As for Yong, he found himself unimpeachable at the top as the tournament played slowly into the early hours of the morning. With only 12 minutes left before officials intended to call it a night, Paulius Vaitiekunas bust in 10th to set a final table. Everyone could retire to get some sleep.

FINAL DAY ACTION

It had been a late finish to Day 2, but they finally got it done. It meant the following nine returned to play to a winner on the tournament’s last day.

Wai Kin Yong – 8,725,000 (70 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 7,850,000 (63 BBs)
Phil Ivey – 7,100,000 (57 BBs)
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic – 5,300,000 (42 BBs)
Igor Yaroshevskyy – 4,725,000 (38 BBs)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 3,100,000 (25 BBs)
Samuel Ju – 3,000,000 (24 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 1,650,000 (11 BBs)
Elizabeth Chen – 1,250,000 (10 BBs)

For obvious reasons, most poker fans had their eyes fixed on Ivey. Meanwhile, Triton observers wanted to know if the all-time money list leader Bryn Kenney could take down another monster event. Perhaps better than all that in wider poker terms, however, was the presence of Elizabeth Chen at this final table. Women remain under-represented in the poker world, and it was hugely refreshing to see Chen taking her place among this elite nine.

Chen had survived a heart-in-mouth moment on the bubble, but had subsequently picked her spots judiciously as she navigated her way to the last nine. With the shortest stack in the room, it was always going to be difficult to run it up, but she got it in good at the final with pocket eights to Ivey’s .

Anyone will tell you that the key to taking down any poker tournament is to win your flips. But Chen couldn’t win this one. The king on the flop ended her chances. Chen won $478,000 as the field slimmed to eight.

Kenney was now shortest, but doubled through Dejan Kaladjurdevic to survive. But the next significant pot Kenney paid pitted two pocket pairs against one another: Kenney with nines was faced with Igor Yaroshevskyy’s tens.

Kenny moved away from the table to watch the run-out through the reaction of his girlfriend sitting on the rail. She was watching the video screen and Kenney looked for her expression to crack as she saw the dealer put the flop, turn and river down. She didn’t break. The board was dry and Kenney was out.

He is still comfortable at the top of the Triton money list, but his payday this time was “only” $580,000 for eighth.

Having enjoyed the good fortune of the major cooler to eliminate Brewer yesterday, Yong was essentially freerolling into this final table. However, his luck quickly ran out at the most crucial stage, shipping back-to-back pots to Mikalau Vaskaboinikau. First, Vaskaboinikau doubled with beating Yong’s . But then the killer: Yong found pocket queens again and was this time ahead of Vaskaboinikau’s pocket tens.

But in a repeat of yesterday’s beat, the tens spiked a third on the river to give Vaskaboinikau a set. Yong was now sent to the rail with the same hand he had profited most with yesterday. Yong had gone from first to seventh at this final, and won $800,000.

Six players were left. And each was now guaranteed six figures. However, with $3.7 million between sixth and first, nobody was going to be taking any stupid chances.

The problem was that the dealer kept dealing out coolers. Samuel Ju had more than 4 million in chips, around 22 big blinds, when he picked up pocket queens. The resurgent Vaskaboinikau raised for the umpteenth time, Ju three-bet the queens and Vaskaboinikau jammed. Ju called all in, but Vaskaboinikau had it again.

His kings stayed best for another huge pot. Ju, following up his second-place finish in the $40K Mystery Bounty earlier this week, hit the rail in sixth. His $1,098,000 prize was still much bigger than his total prior Triton earnings combined.

With five players left, and levels now shortened in length, the shrinking stack sizes offered less for players to work with and increased the ICM pressure dramatically. Each payjump was now even more significant.

Dejan Kaladjurdjevic had the relative liberty of the tournament short stack and duly doubled it up. That put him essentially neck-and-neck with Ivey, Ponakovs and Vaskaboinikau at the top, with Yaroshevskyy a distant fifth.

Whatever happened in this event, Yaroshevskyy had already enjoyed a superstar trip to Montenegro. He had cashed three of the five previous tournaments he’d played, made two final tables and won the $50K Bounty Quattro. It was already a terrific return. A final table appearance in the Main Event was further proof of a player in form, but he didn’t quite get the run good at the final to go all the way again.

Yaroshevskyy seemed to have the second best hand in all the crucial spots, and he then suffered one last indignity when he called a shove with his last 10 blinds and ended up losing to a three-outer. Ponakovs made the aforementioned shove with and Yaroshevskyy had , technically the “average” pre-flop hold’em holding.

Yaroshevskyy made the call and had a dominant hand, but the jack on the flop hit Ponakovs and sent Yaroshevskyy packing. He won another $1,430,000 for fifth and retired to the lounge to watch the tournament play to its conclusion. He would have wanted more, but there were no complaints.

Ivey came into today’s final table knowing that a win would bring him within only a few Player of the Year points of Danny Tang as the season goes to the wire. But he had found a nemesis in this tournament in the form of Vaskaboinikau, who seemed to have Ivey’s number — or, at least, was a player who seemed to have a better hand when Ivey had a good one.

Vaskaboinikau won a massive pot with when he rivered a flush. That was convenient because Ivey’s had done the same, and they were both happy to risk it all.

That coup left Ivey in real trouble, and when he found an ace and a good opportunity to open shove, from the button, Vaskaboinikau was lurking behind him with an ace as well, and a better kicker. Vaskaboinikau’s beat Ivey’s as Ivey perished in fourth. It earned him $1,795,000, but he’ll need a good showing in the PLO to catch Tang.

The last three took a scheduled break, with Vaskaboinikau in a decent lead. He had 56 blinds, Ponakovs had 34 and Kaladjurdjevic continued to bring up the rear with 16 big blinds. Whatever happened for him, it was a pretty spectacular way to start a Triton career: locking up a minimum $2.2 million as a first cash on the series.

But he wasn’t giving up without a fight. Kaladjurdjevic found and called Vaskaboinikau’s three-bet jam with . That scored a double. And as Kaladjurdjevic continued to chip away, they bunched up with all three players having between 20 and 30 big blinds.

For some obvious reasons, the table tightened right up as every blind assumed ever more value. Vaskaboinikau managed to hold firm at the top, but Ponakovs slid down to the bottom of the pack. That was a good time for Ponakovs to find . He shoved, Vaskaboinikau called with , and Ponakovs doubled to stay alive.

Kaladjurdjevic was now short again, but shoved twice on Vaskaboinikau and chipped up, before he played an absolutely extraordinary hand against Ponakovs. The long and short version of it is that Kaladjurdjevic had pocket aces, Ponakovs had pocket kings and Kaladjurdjevic ended up with a royal flush. For real. Kaladjurdjevic limped his aces from the small blind and Ponakovs checked his kings in the big.

The fell and Kaladjurdevic bet one big blind. Ponakovs called. After the turn, Kaladjurdjevic bet a little more and got a call again. And then the river gave Kaladjurdjevic the royal and Ponakovs a set of kings.

Kaladjurdjevic laid the trap with a check. Ponakovs side-stepped it with a check back. Hands don’t get any bigger than that, and somehow it wasn’t a double up.

Vaskaboinikau was now the short stack, but not for long. He doubled through Ponakovs with everything going in pre-flop and beating . Vaskaboinikau took command again, with Kaladjurdjevic clinging on. And sometimes that’s all you have to do to win a million bucks.

Kaladjurdjevic must have greatly enjoyed seeing Ponakovs and Vaskaboinikau get it all in. They were the two biggest stacks. Ponakovs had to Vaskaboinikau’s . And though a jack on the flop gave Ponakovs hope, the ace on the turn snatched it away.

The three-handed grind was finally over, with Ponakovs leaving and picking up $2,200,000.

Vaskaboinikau had 44 big blinds to Kaladjurdjevic’s 9 as heads-up began. But there was only 1 minute on the clock, meaning very few hands, until the blinds went up again. And but two hands were all they needed.

Kaladjurdjevic shoved with and Vaskaboinikau found pocket sixes with which to make a mandatory call. They stayed good.

“Poker tournaments is always second, second, second for me,” Vaskaboinikau lamented. “Now finally it was my time.”

He takes a spectacular trophy and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece, given to Main Event champions on the Triton Series.

“For sure it will be one of the brightest moments in my life,” Vaskaboinikau said.

RESULTS

Event 9 – $125,000 – 8-Handed NLHE Main Event
Dates: May 19-21, 2024
Entries: 171 (inc. 69 re-entries)
Prize pool: $21,375,000

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
6 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $1,098,000
7 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $800,000
8 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $580,000
9 – Elizabeth Chen, China – $478,000

10 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $406,000
11 – Mauricio Salazar, Colombia – $406,000
12 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $353,000
13 – Chris Brewer, USA – $353,000
14 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $320,000
15 – Xianchao Shen, China – $320,000
16 – Matas Cimbolas, Lithuania – $287,000
17 – Wang Yang, China – $287,000
18 – Stanley Choi, Hong Kong – $256,000
19 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $256,000
20 – Yerai Iribarren, Spain – $256,000
21 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $235,000
22 – Hossein Ensan, Germany – $235,000
23 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $235,000
24 – Justin Saliba, USA – $214,000
25 – Dan Smith, USA – $214,000
26 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $214,000
27 – Joe Zou, China – $214,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

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