Category: Poker

Here is a list of players who have won more than one title on the Triton Super High Roller Series between its inception in 2016 and the present day.

Most recent update: March 22, 2024

TEN-TIME CHAMPION

JASON KOON (USA)
Montenegro 2018 – HK$ 1 million ($3,579,836)
Jeju (South Korea) 2019 – HK$ 1 million Short Deck ($2,899,000)
Jeju (South Korea) 2019 – HK$ 1 million NLH Refresh ($993,221)
Madrid 2022 – €150,000 Short Deck One Bullet (€1,750,000)
Vietnam 2023 – 50,000 NLH Turbo (574,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $20,000 NLH 7-Handed ($663,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $100,000 NLH Main Event ($2,451,082)
London 2023 – $60,000 NLH 7-Handed ($1,570,000)
London 2023 – $60,000 Short Deck Main Event ($828,000)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $25,000 PLO ($365,000)

FIVE-TIME CHAMPIONS

MIKITA BADZIAKOUSKI (Belarus)
Jeju 2024 – €100,000 Short Deck ($1,153,000)
Madrid 2022 – €50,000 NLH 7-Handed (€1,340,000)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$ 750,000 Short Deck ($1,729,000)
Jeju (South Korea) 2018 – HK$ 2 million NLH Main Event ($5,257,027)
Montenegro 2018 – HK$ 1 million NLH Main Event ($2,499,185)

PHIL IVEY (USA)
Montenegro 2018 – HK$ 250,000 Short Deck ($604,992)
Cyprus March 2022 – $75,000 Short Deck ($1,170,000)
Cyprus September 2022 – $30,000 Short Deck ($387,000)
London 2023 – $60,000 NLH Turbo ($1,007,000)
London 2023 – $25,000 Short Deck Turbo ($280,500)

DANNY TANG (Hong Kong)
Vietnam 2023 – $25K Short Deck (427,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $50K NLH Turbo ($545,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $50K Short Deck Main Event ($750,000)
London 2023 – $60K NLH ($1,600,000)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $50K NLH 7-Handed ($1,580,000)

FOUR-TIME CHAMPIONS

FEDOR HOLZ (Germany)
Philippines 2016 – HK$ 200,000 Cali Cup ($3,072,748)
Philippines 2017 – HK$ 250,000 NLH 6-Max ($444,893)
London 2023 – $25,000 NLH 7-Handed ($609,853)
Jeju 2024 – $15,000 NLH 8-Handed ($786,000)

WAI KIN YONG (Malaysia)
Manila (Philippines) 2016 – HK$ 490,000 Charity event ($793,604)
Parañaque (Philippines) 2016 – HK$ 500,000 Main Event ($2,080,556)
London 2019 – £100,000 NLH Main Event ($2,591,695)
London 2023 – $30,000 Short Deck Ante Only ($350,000)

THREE TIME CHAMPIONS

MATTHIAS EIBINGER (Austria)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $125,000 NLH Main Event ($3,461,261)
Cyprus March 2022 – $50,000 NLH Turbo ($676,000)
Cyprus September 2022 – $50,000 NLH Turbo ($545,000)

BRYN KENNEY (USA)
London 2023 – $250,000 Luxon Invitational ($6,860,000)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$ 500,000 NLH 6-Handed ($1,459,900)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$ 1 million NLH Main Event ($2,769,000)

WEBSTER LIM (Malaysia)
Vietnam 2023 – 25K NLH GG Super Millions (965,000)
Madrid 2022 – €50,000 Short Deck (€855,000)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $25,000 GG Million$ Live ($899,893)

MIKE WATSON (Canada)
Jeju 2024 – $25K Short Deck ($380,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $30K Pot Limit Omaha ($347,000)
Vietnam 2023 – 50K Short-Deck (695,000)

TWO-TIME CHAMPIONS

TIM ADAMS (Canada)
Jeju 2019 – HK$ 2M NLH Main Event ($3,536,550)
London 2023 – $125,000 NLH Main Event ($4,185,000)

MICHAEL ADDAMO (Australia)
Madrid 2022 – €20,000 NLH (€478,000)
Madrid 2022 – €75,000 NLH (€1,152,086)

NACHO BARBERO (Argentina)
Jeju 2024 – $30K – PLO Bounty Quattro ($763,000 inc. $320,000 in bounties)
Vietnam 2023 – 15K NLH 8-Handed (600,000)

DING BIAO (China)
Jeju 2024 – $50K Pot Limit Omaha ($1,107,000)
Cyprus 2023 – $30K NLH Mystery Bounty ($540,500)

JUSTIN BONOMO (USA)
Jeju (South Korea) 2019 – HK$ 250,000 Short Deck ($598,000)
London 2019 – £100,000 Short Deck Main Event ($3,257,400)

CHRIS BREWER (USA)
Madrid 2022 – €20,000 SHORT DECK (€372,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $25,000 PLO ($292,449*)

DANIEL CATES (USA)
Philippines 2016 – HK$ 200,000 Suncity Cup ($359,229)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$ 300,000 Mixed NLH/Short Deck ($510,900)

RUI CAO (France)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$ 1 million Short Deck Main Event ($3,351,130)
Madrid 2022 – €25,000 Short Deck (€497,000)

STEPHEN CHIDWICK (UK)
Jeju 2024 – $20K Short Deck Turbo ($265,000)
Madrid 2022 – €100K Short Deck Main Event (€1,800,000)

DAN DVORESS (Canada)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $50,000 PLO ($956,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $20,000 Short Deck ($214,000)

TOM DWAN (USA)
Madrid 2022 – €25,000 PLO (€290,000)
Madrid 2022 – €30,000 Short Deck (€336,000)

HENRIK HECKLEN (Denmark)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$ 250,000 NLH Turbo ($434,500)
Madrid 2022 – €100,000 NLH Main Event (€2,170,509)

JOHN JUANDA (Indonesia)
Macau 2017 – HK$ 1 million NLH Main Event ($2,870,092)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$ 250,000 Short Deck ($613,600)

ORPEN KISAKICOGLU (Turkey)
Vietnam 2023 – 75K NLH (1,753,000)
Rozvadov 2019 – €100K NLH (€905,938)

IVAN LEOW (Malaysia)
Jeju (South Korea) 2018 – HK$ 500,000 ($1,079,367)
Sochi (Russia) ₽ 6 million Super High Roller ($1,133,555)

MARIO MOSBÖCK (Austria)
Jeju 2024 – $25k – GG Million$ Live ($1,191,196*)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $40,000 NLH – 7 Handed – Mystery Bounty ($718,000 +$720K in bounties)

STEVE O’DWYER (USA)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $25,000 NLH Turbo ($416,000)
Montenegro 2019 – HK$250,000 NLH Turbo (HK$3,708,784)

PUNNAT PUNSRI (Thailand)
Jeju 2024 – $50,000 NLH 7-Handed ($2,010,000)
Cyprus 2022 – $100K NLH Main Event ($2,600,000)

DAN SMITH (USA)
Jeju 2024 – $50,000 NLH Turbo $15K Bounty Quattro ($1,251,000 inc. bounties)
Monte Carlo 2023 – $200,000 NLH Invitational ($3,870,000)

MICHAEL SOYZA (Malaysia)
Jeju 2019 – HK$500K NLH 6-Max (HK$11,150,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $75K NLH 8-Handed ($1,735,000)

RICHARD YONG (Malaysia)
Montenegro 2018 – HK$250,000 No Limit Hold’em – Six-Max (HK$3,046,000)
North Cyprus 2023 – $25,000 Short Deck Ante-Only ($323,000)

WINFRED YU (Hong Kong)
Montenegro May 2019 – HK$ 100,000 Short Deck ($259,952)
Cyprus March 2022 – $75,000 Short Deck ($1,010,000)

TAN XUAN (China)
Jeju 2024 – $50K Short Deck Main Event ($922,000)
London 2019 – £100K Short Deck (£1,881,000)

Poker’s young prince is back in the Triton Poker Series throne tonight after Fedor Holz defeated a record-breaking field to win the first event of this second visit to Jeju, South Korea.

Holz, who is still only 30 despite a reign of dominance that has lasted close to a decade, won the fourth Triton Series title of his career, taking Triton winnings past $12 million thanks to this $786,000 first prize.

That was the lion’s share of a $4.035 million prize pool, comprising 269 entries of $15,000 apiece. It kicked off the visit to Jeju in spectacular fashion, vastly increasing the numbers on this ever-growing series.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and in Holz we saw a very familiar champion. He won the first two Triton events he played, in the Philippines and Montenegro in 2016 and 2017, and added a third win last year in London.

“It’s just nice winning tournaments, no matter what,” Holz said, adding that the presence of his girlfriend Annelina here, along with many of his friends, made this one special.

Holz late-registered for this event but was his customary relaxed presence at the table, managing to find big hands and big outdraws at precisely the right time to down Seth Gottlieb heads up. Holz has seen it all before and told reporters, “I always try to focus on just the hand I’m playing. That’s always been my mantra.”

Although Holz has occasionally intimated that he may move away from poker, the Triton Series has continued to enthral this brilliant German. “It’s a really big deal,” he said. “The best players in the world play these tournaments…It’s the nicest feeling.”

Gottlieb, the 41-year-old Digital Marketing executive, was gunning for a second Triton title of his own, but found Holz in unforgiving form. Gottlieb had his aces cracked in the heads-up battle and could never recover. He took $500,000 for second.

Other superstars including Dimitar Danchev and Nick Petrangelo made the final table but fell short of the title. But when Holz is sitting close by, there only ever seems to be one man clutching the trophy at the end.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After a blockbuster opening day, which began with a traditional Lion Dance in the lobby and then moved to the lion’s den of the poker room, only 48 players remained. That was notable for two reasons: firstly, it was the remainder from a starting field of 269 entries, which represented a new Triton record.

Secondly, only 47 players were due to be paid, so they returned on the stone bubble. The first player knocked out today would leave with nothing, while the others could celebrate at least a min-cash from this opening event.

Quan Zhou not only had the smallest stack in the room, he was also drawn into the big blind for the first hand. That was an especially unfortunate turn of events, but he looked down on pocket sixes after the opening deal, which was likely far better than he might have hoped.

Jesse Lonis opened the pot from middle position, Zhou shipped in his last six blinds and Lonis then called. They were flipping. Lonis had .

“I could have burst the bubble last night,” Lonis said, detailing a pot in which his kings were beaten by the ace-king of Andrey Andreev. Had Lonis won that one, he would have stacked 3 million going into Day 2.

It was perhaps small consolation, but a king on the flop this morning accounted for Zhou and gave Lonis a small amount of chips. More importantly, it put everyone in the money.

Zhou still had some hope. Two other players were all-in and called on the same hand and, had either or both of them been knocked out, they would have split the $23,000 prize for 47th. However, both Alex Theologis and Xie Haoqi doubled their short stacks to survive, leaving Zhou the only person out. He applauded loudly as Luca Vivaldi announced that everyone else was in the money and that hand-for-hand was over.

Discounting the small matter of a few pay jumps, the principal focus now turned to making the final table. There were still 47 players left and only nine seats for the finale, and the field quickly went about filling those chairs.

Everyone involved in bubble shenanigans was knocked out. So was the overnight leader Stephen Chidwick, who perished in 12th. The American titan Ike Haxton had a decent-ish stack when they got 10 handed, but it ended up being slid in the direction of his countryman Seth Gottlieb to leave Haxton on the rail.

Haxton had to Gottlieb’s when it all went in pre-flop. The king paired and that was that. We reached the final nine.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS

Seth Gottlieb – 15,525,000 (78 BBs)
Dimitar Danchev – 7,975,000 (40 BBs)
Dominykas Mikolaitis – 6,940,000 (35 BBs)
Fedor Holz – 6,025,000 (30 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 5,600,000 (28 BBs)
Lun Loon – 3,850,000 (19 BBs)
Josh Mccully – 3,675,000 (18 BBs)
Ken Tong – 3,250,000 (16 BBs)
Pieter Aerts – 950,000 (5 BBs)

Haxton’s elimination was especially welcomed by Pieter Aerts, who had been sitting with a short stack for a long while. The Belgian player, who won his first Triton title in Cyprus last year, locked up $81,000 by virtue of making it to the final here. But he could go no further.

On the very first hand of final table play, Aerts was in the big blind and found . Gottlieb opened from early position and Aerts called.

The flop of showed enough to encourage Aerts to part with his last two blinds. But Gottlieb had flopped best with and stayed good.

That left only eight.

Ken Tong now assumed the duties of short stack and he similarly couldn’t spin it up. Tong made his debut on the Triton Series in Monte Carlo last November, and landed on the Main Event final table, where he finished sixth.

His tournament here ended at the hands of Fedor Holz, who opened with pocket tens. Tong, in the big blind, shoved with but whiffed the flop. Holz took over the chip lead, while Tong banked $98,000.

Australia’s Josh Mccully is riding a hot streak at the moment, having earned a career-best score of more than $275,000 at a WPT event in Cambodia in January. He returned to Asia for his Triton Series debut and made his way to the final table in the first event he played.

Mccully’s run ended in seventh, when he became the third player in succession to get into trouble defending his big blind.

Nick Petrangelo opened and Mccully paid to see the flop with . The flop seemed friendly. It came ten high. Mccully checked, Petrangelo shoved with the covering stack and Mccully called for his tournament life and about 12 big blinds.

Mccully was ahead. Petrangelo showed only , meaning he was drawing to three outs (or some backdoor flush possibilities). Unfortunately for Mccully, the was a killer. He hit the road in seventh for $134,000.

By this point, Gottlieb had reassumed the chip lead, but it didn’t last long. Now came the rise of Lun Loon.

Loon initially profited from the perfect set-up: action folded to the big stacked Gottlieb in the small blind. He made an “any-two” shove, with three times the stack of Loon in the big blind. But Loon looked down at pocket aces and was more than happy to risk it all.

Gottlieb’s wasn’t quite the worst starting hand in poker, but it wasn’t far off. It didn’t catch the aces, so Loon doubled.

After the Malaysian businessman then pushed Petrangelo off a pot, Loon was top of the charts. However it was a very brief stay; after the rise came the fall.

Loon somehow conspired to become the next man out. Petrangelo got his revenge with pocket aces to Loon’s eights, and on the very next hand, Loon had but couldn’t beat Dimitar Danchev’s .

Loon added another $182,000 to his bankroll for a sixth-place finish.

Dominykas Mikolaitis was another Triton first timer enjoying a terrific run during the first event he had ever played. An online crusher from Lithuania, Mikolaitis flexed his muscles on the Triton Series too and took a seemingly effortless cruise to this final.

The run ended in fifth, however, with Holz doing most of the damage. Mikolaitis and Holz got it in pre-flop, with Holz at risk. Mikolaitis flopped top pair with his , but Holz’s pocket queens flopped a set.

Holz ended up with a full house and a full double, leaving Mikolaitis short. He was out not long later, with Gottlieb taking the last couple of blinds. Gottlieb had to Mikolaitis’ . Fifth place was worth $240,000, his best ever live result.

The tournament edged into Level 29, right around the time it starts to get incredibly short, even with a record-breaking number of entries. It followed that the chip lead swung wildly, with any pot of significance usually sending its winner surging and its loser down to the bottom.

Petrangelo’s rocky ride was the next to come to its conclusion. In a final table characterised by big hands, Petrangelo smacked into the latest: pocket kings belonging to Gottlieb.

Gottlieb raised it up, Petrangelo looked at and three-bet/called it off after Gottlieb shoved for 21 big blinds. Petrangelo couldn’t overturn Gottlieb’s advantage and was knocked out in fourth, earning $303,000.

Petrangelo is still without a Triton title, but is now knocking on the door frequently. It’s only a matter of time.

Gottlieb now had a significant advantage over the remaining three, but Holz pulled closer thanks to the hand that knocked out Danchev.

This was a tough coup between two comparative short stacks: Holz shipped from the small blind with and Danchev saw and only 16 big blinds in his stack.

In the commentary booth, Nick Schulman acknowledged that it was a difficult decision for Danchev, and he maybe regretted getting it in. The board only favoured Holz, eventually giving him a diamond flush.

Bulgarians have quickly become a force on the Triton Poker Series and with Monte Carlo champion Ognyan Dimov watching from the rail, Danchev went looking for the $375,000 that came with his third place.

The final two settled in for the heads-up duel, with Gottlieb’s 55 big blinds ahead of Holz’s 35. Both men had been here before: Holz already had three titles, while Gottlieb won his first in London last year (having only just learned the rules of PLO).

Most of the early small pots headed in Gottlieb’s direction, and it soon looked as though he would be finishing the job in no time. Gottlieb picked up aces and slow-played them to perfection, limping the small blind and then only calling after Holz bet.

That meant they then saw a flop of and Holz, with continued to bet. Gottlieb called again.

The on the turn, followed by a check from Holz, was the moment Gottlieb sprang the trap. He shoved with the covering stack. Holz called for his tournament and learned he was behind. But then the on the river was one of his miracle outs. Stacks were all but even once again.

“The five-eight hand I got lucky and I’m really happy about that,” Holz said when everything was said and done.

Gottlieb tried to climb back on the horse and wear Holz down again. But although he continued to snag the smaller pots, Holz always seemed to come out on top when there was the most on the line.

Holz four-bet shoved with and 27 bigs, earning a call from Gottlieb’s . The board changed nothing and Holz doubled into the lead.

Gottlieb now had only 10 big blinds and Holz did not let this one slip from his grasp. He found pocket jacks while Gottlieb had and it all went in pre-flop.

The jacks held and Holz was champion once again. “It’s nice to win the first tournament,” he said. “It gives you confidence.” Like this man needs any more of that.

Event #1 – $15k NLH 8-Handed
Dates: March 5-6, 2024
Entries: 269 (inc. 93 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,035,000

1 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $786,000
2 – Seth Gottlieb, USA – $500,000
3 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $375,000
4 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $303,000
5 – Dominykas Mikolaitis, Lithuania – $240,000
6 – Lun Loon, Malaysia – $182,000
7 – Josh Mccully, Australia – $134,000
8 – Ken Tong, Hong Kong – $98,000
9 – Pieter Aerts, Belgium – $81,000

10 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $67,800
11 – Weiran Pu, China – $67,800
12 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $60,000
13 – Phil Nagy, USA – $60,000
14 – Wei Hsiang Yeu, Malaysia – $53,500
15 – Axel Hallay, France – $53,500
16 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $47,000
17 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $47,000
18 – Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic – $41,500
19 – Xie Haoqi, China – $41,500
20 – Jamil Wakil, Canada – $41,500
21 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $37,500
22 – Dong Chen, China – $37,500
23 – Aram Zobian, USA – $37,500
24 – Li Yuan, China – $33,500
25 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $33,500
26 – Kevin, Indonesia – $33,500
27 – Andy Wang, Australia – $33,500
28 – Jesse Lonis, USA – $29,500
29 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $29,500
30 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $29,500
31 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $29,500
32 – Alex Boika, Belarus – $25,800
33 – Alex Theologis, Greece – $25,800
34 – Seth Davies, USA – $25,800
35 – Aleksander Zubov, Russia – $25,800
36 – Ognyan Dimov, Bulgaria – $25,800
37 – Michael Soyza, Malysia – $25,800
38 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – $25,800
39 – Andrey Andreev, Russia – $25,800
40 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $23,000
41 – Shi Chun, China – $23,000
42 – Frederic Delval, France – $23,000
43 – Alexandre Vuilleumier, Switzerland – $23,000
44 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $23,000
45 – Yu Xiangyu, China – $23,000
46 – Espen Jorstad, Norway – $23,000
47 – Biao Ding, China – $23,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Ever since its inception, the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series has made a firm commitment to helping charitable causes. The company’s founders and players have donated many hundreds of thousands of dollars through the years, with charities across the world benefiting from this philanthropy.

Underlining the commitment, the Triton Series’ second visit to Jeju, South Korea, kicked off today with the “Raise for Change Charity Exhibition Game” — a single-table tournament in which seven of the world’s best poker players did battle, and guaranteed another $30,000 for three charities.

Half of that came from the buy-ins of the poker players. Triton Series matched the other half.

It meant that when Chris Brewer, Dan Dvoress and Christoph Vogelsang finished in first, second and third places, respectively, their chosen charities benefited to the tune of $20,000, $12,000 and $8,000.

Brewer opted to give the money to the Melanoma Research Alliance, a charity dedicated to end suffering and death due to melanoma; Dvoress’ went to Evergreen, whose mission is to create a healthier future through better public spaces; Vogelsang’s success benefitted Mary’s Meals, which seeks to find a simple solution to world hunger.

Each of the tournament’s seven participants — Brewer, Vogelsang and Dvoress, as well as Dan Smith, Mario Mosboeck, Seth Davies and Tony Lin — paid $5,000 to enter, creating a prize pool of $35,000.

The top three received their buy-in back, with the remaining $20,000 pledged to charity. The winner took $10,000, second took $6,000 and third took $4,000. Triton Series then matched each of these amounts.

“We were thrilled to organise the game,” said Andy Wong, Triton Poker Series CEO. “By matching the winnings of the top three players, we hope to encourage even more players to participate and support this worthy cause.”

Wong added: “Poker has the power to bring people together and make a positive impact and we were delighted to see this event succeed.”

As you would expect, the atmosphere was buoyant as the players took their seats, only a couple of hours before Event 1 of the Triton Series Jeju began. Triton players are good friends with one another, and the charity format allowed them to be even more relaxed than usual.

Brewer’s exceptional recent tournament hot streak extended into this event too, with a jubilant cruise to the win. “It feels good,” Brewer said, adding that he always has fun playing poker even if his own bankroll will feel no immediate benefit.

However the cause is close to his heart. “My mom had a melanoma scare this year,” Brewer said, adding that she is now having preventative infusions to ensure she remains cancer free. “I’m happy to be able to give something to a cause I care about.”

Today’s game is only the beginning of a process by which Triton will continue to ensure the money raised has maximum positive impact. Wong intends to visit the organisations to discuss their work and learn how the Triton Poker Series’ donation will be spent.

Triton Series is keen to make a lasting difference to local communities and is happy that three distinct charities from across the world will receive funds from this game.

In the broader context of the growing popularity of charity poker games, the Raise for Change Charity Exhibition Game presented an exciting opportunity for industry players to showcase their skills while contributing to worthwhile causes.

Triton has previously been instrumental in sending significant amounts to non-profit organisations, most notably from the Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity event in 2019. The £50,000 registration fee from each of 54 participants in the event went to a number of global charities selected by Triton.

With numerous events planned for the coming year and beyond, there will be further opportunities for players to earn significant funding for charitable causes of their choosing.

Watch this space.

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

On a night when at one point we seemed set to raise a glass to the record-breaking exploits of Danny Tang, we instead find ourselves flabbergasted once again at an altogether more familiar result.

The Triton phenom Jason Koon — truly in a league of his own on the tour for which he is an ambassador — wrapped up this first trip to Monte Carlo with a last-gasp, high-speed turbo triumph, securing a 10th title.

This one came in the $25K PLO Turbo, which brought the curtain down on this spectacular festival in Monaco, and it earned him another $365,000. But this victory further cements his reputation as the leading Triton Series talent. In winning this one, Koon becomes the first player to win titles in hold’em, short deck and PLO — and he’s done so simply so many times.

The last player standing in Koon’s way tonight was the online PLO wizard Eelis Parssinen, who plays nosebleed stakes pretty much every day. But Parssinen was stepping into Koon’s manor on the familiar black and gold Triton set, and there’s usually only one winner.

“Happy to close it up,” Koon said, admitting that it had been a weird trip to Monte Carlo where he had been on the wrong side of variance.

“Every night I go home and I study my play and I think I played the best I’ve played in a couple of years,” Koon said. “It’s bizarre to get wiped out but playing really well.”

Koon was referring to the hold’em section of this festival in particular, where he had not quite got over the line in pretty much any event. But Koon always finds a way.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

After its structure was changed slightly to accommodate one more level in the registration period, the info board showed 50 entries, including 15 re-entries, and $1.25 million in the prize pool.

Levels were only 20 minutes long at the start, reduced to 15 minutes later, so there was no time to

The bubble slowed things down for a little while, but Li Tong ended up seeing his aces cracked by Laszlo Bujtas when his short stack was in the middle, and that took them through the money threshold.

Everyone else was now certain a payday of at least $36,500, but for the players of the Triton Series, all that really seems to matter is the title.

Bujtas was out in front. Eelis Parssinen was a distant second, with Jason Koon and Sam Greenwood further back. But such is the volatility of this game, particularly with a turbo structure, that Tom-Aksel Bedell, Ren Lin, Joao Vieira and Sergio Martinez would not have considered themselves out of it, despite sub 15-big-blind stacks.

Very quickly, and while the tournament was still eight handed, 15 big blinds would have been considered a luxury. It was pretty cagey and the average stack slipped to 10 big blinds at one point.

But the dam had to break eventually, and all of a sudden Martinez (eighth, $47,500) and Bedell (seventh, $61,500) were cast aside.

Bedell cashed for the second time today after also making the money in the $50K PLO that concluded earlier. And with that tournament now off the main stage, tournament organisers shifted the turbo up beneath the studio lights for its final short-stacked shootout.

Bujtas still led, with 22 big blinds. The average stack was only 11 and Eelis Parssinen was the only other player with more of that. All of Greenwood, Vieira, Koon and Lin had less than 10 bigs.

Lin hit the rail first. He was the latest player to lose with aces when Parssinen’s connected with the board containing two sevens. Lin took $77,500 and his third cash of the trip.

Another Omaha specialist Bujtas perished next, this time with kings losing to Parssinen’s . These two have likely clashed in online hands far bigger than the total prize pool in this event, but this one went to Parssinen and sent Bujtas out, looking for $100,000.

Koon started his charge right about now. He doubled through Parssinen after flopping a flush draw but hitting a crucial nine on the river to make two pair. He then knocked out both Greenwood and Vieira, mopping up their micro-stacks.

Greenwood banked $129,000 for fourth and Vieira took $171,000 for third. It left Koon and Parssinen to play for the title, with Koon holding a small chip lead.

They were spectacularly short and the first time it got all in this time, the dealer decided it in Koon’s favour. He had and Parssinen .

The board ran and that was that. It sealed Koon’s sixth title of the year and by the time his trophy was awarded, the wall banner bearing Koon’s face also showed the legend “10 TIME CHAMPION”.

“I’m going to go home, get myself in shape, and hang out with my family,” Koon said, describing his immediate plans. Amen to that.

See you all in Jeju!

RESULTS

Event #13 – $25,000 PLO Turbo
Dates:November 4, 2023
Entries: 50 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,250,000

1 – Jason Koon, USA – $365,000
2 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $262,000
3 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $171,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $129,000
5 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $100,000
6 – Ren Lin, USA – $77,500
7 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – $61,500
8 – Sergio Martinez, Spain – $47,500
9 – Li Tong, New Zealand – $36,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Canada’s Dan Dvoress has a habit of leaving things late.

Back in Cyprus earlier this year, he won the first Triton title of his career in the series’ very last tournament, telling reporters he had no time to party because he had to dash off to catch a flight home.

Tonight in Monte Carlo, Dvoress put himself among the multiple champions with victory in the $50,000 buy-in PLO event — and it too came on the very last night of play on Triton’s first trip to the principality.

Not only did Dvoress need to beat a 72-entry field, he had to overcome the Monte Carlo sensation Danny Tang heads up. Tang had an enormous chip lead too, and would have become the first player to win titles in no limit hold’em, short deck and PLO had he closed it out.

But Dvoress had other ideas. He found a couple of double ups as the heads-up game got short stacked, and then ground Tang down until they got it all in with Dvoress holding trips and Tang’s overpair needing to hit.

It didn’t, and Tang’s festival ended with one win, one second, two third places and a sixth. But this one belonged to Dan Dvoress.

“It’s fun!” Dvoress told Ali Nejad during his winner’s interview when asked how he stays motivated. “I enjoy the process. Of course, it’s great to win money as well.”

Dvoress took $956,000 for this one, beating by a huge margin what he won for his short-deck title in Cyprus. But Dvoress’ mastery of all games has earned him more than $10 million on the Triton Series, from 11 final tables and 28 cashes.

“There are elements that transfer,” he said, describing how one player manages to excel at more than one variant. “Skills such as keeping it together under pressure.” He went on to pay tribute to his friends and fellow pros with whom he can share frustrations and celebrations. “Most of the time tournaments don’t go that well and it’s extremely important to get things off your chest,” he said.

Tonight, it’s about celebration, however. And Dvoress has already said he’ll be back for Triton’s next stop in Jeju.

So will Tang, no doubt, with $664,000 more in his coffers from this second-place finish.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

After a comparatively steady opening day, the starting field of 70 entries had been reduced to 15 players. That left all the drama for Day 2: the bubble, which would appear when 14 were left (13 places paid), the subsequent push to the final, and then, of course, the crowning of a champion.

To deal with the first of those landmarks: our bubble boy this time was the Brazilian crusher Yuri Dzivielevski. He had been reduced to his last one-and-a-half big blinds, but must have watched in glee as Tom-Aksel Bedell was all-in and called on another table.

However, Bedell doubled up, which meant Dzivielevski had no choice but to watch the button pass gradually around the table and simply pray for good cards when the big blind next reached him.

Those prayers were not answered. When the time came he looked down as and ended up coming third in a three-way coup.

With Dzivielevski out the way, they ground on toward a final. It was remarkably slow going, but eventually Rajamurthy Kabeelan, Eelis Parssinen, Bedell and two of yesterday’s final table players, Dylan Weisman and Iakov Onuchin departed.

That left another of yesterday’s feature table players, Dan Dvoress, ahead of the pack and the remarklable Danny Tang at yet another final. The last eight lined up like this:

Dan Dvoress – 49 BBs
Chris Parker – 48 BBs
Nacho Barbero – 25 BBs
Dylan Linde – 16 BBs
Keith Lehr – 11 BBs
Mads Amot – 11 BBs
Danny Tang – 10 BBs
Shyngis Satubaev – 10 BBs

Shyngis Satubaev is the first player from Kazakhstan to play on the Triton Series and this was already his second cash. He would need something of a miracle to spin up his short stack at the final — and that miracle did not come.

He managed to double up on one of the first hands, getting the beautiful looking to make a flush and crack Chris Parker’s kings. But on the very next hand he ran queens into Dvoress’ aces and this time all his chips went to the Canadian.

Satubaev took $133,000 for eighth.

Dylan Linde had endured a difficult trip to Monte Carlo, with no cashes before this one. (Don’t worry, there are plenty of players that endure that kind of run. Variance in tournament poker is a terrible thing.)

While it’s doubtful whether this tournament could provide a complete trip-saver, it’s always good to make a final — but Linde’s tournament ended in seventh. This was another case of aces cracked. Nacho Barbero limped, Linde raised with and Barbero called.

The flop might have seemed innocuous at first glance, but there was danger lurking. It was . Linde moved in, at least blocking the nut flush draw and the bottom end of the straight. But Barbero called with and his flopped straight stayed good.

Linde won $171,000.

Mads Amot decided to come to Monte Carlo for his first Triton event this week and played just the PLO events. The $30K Bounty didn’t work out for the Norwegian, but here he was at this final justifying his trip.

He was another to curse the sight of Nacho Barbero, however, as Barbero flopped another straight with on a flop of .

Amot’s pocket queens were already defeated, but Barbero ended up with a boat after the turn and river.

Amot had to make do with $216,000 for sixth.

Keith Lehr is another player for whom the Triton Series is quickly becoming something of a home away from home. The American businessman accepted an invitation to play the $250K in London this year, and subsequently received and accepted another one to play the $200K here in Monte Carlo.

Neither of those invitational tournaments worked for him, but he cashed a PLO tournament in London and here he was again with his deepest run yet.

Lehr made it to fifth, but couldn’t make it any further. He ended up being knocked out with three aces in his hand — not quite such a good thing in Omaha as it might seem. His ended up as only a pair of aces after a run-out of . Meanwhile Chris Parker and Danny Tang both had a straight.

Lehr took $277,000 but seems likely to return to the Triton Series for more.

Parker, however, was the next man out. The British player was yet another Triton first timer here in Monte Carlo, and had played two events before this one. Those were whiffs, but he had made this one stick and he’d been chip leader for periods today.

But Dvoress was now the man to beat, and Parker couldn’t do so in a big pot that ended the latter’s tournament. Dvoress had and Parker .

All the money went in after a flop of , where Parker had top two and Dvoress had a set. It was a rough way to end for Parker, but his $344,000 payout was three times his previous tournament scores combined.

So it was that three Triton titans remained: Dvoress, Tang and Barbero. The latter led, but Tang doubled up to get back in contention, and that left Barbero most under threat.

Barbero had actually asked tournament officials to tinker with the schedule of the $25K Turbo taking place in the same room to potentially allow him time to register, should he be eliminated from the $50K. But by the time he was actually put at liberty, the turbo was on the bubble, with registration long closed.

Barbero’s elimination hand came in a four-bet pre-flop pot, with Barbero’s losing out to Dvoress’ .

Barbero this time had to settle for $439,000 — but at least didn’t lose heads-up yet again.

That left the two Dans heads up: Tang versus Dvoress, both of whom were at their second PLO final in as many days. Chip stacks were fairly even, but stacks were short. This could go either way still.

But those aces just kept on coming out. They landed in Tang’s hand — — and the double-paired aces was plenty good enough to call after Dvoress five-bet shoved with .

“Hold!” Tang shouted, and hold it did, giving Tang more than 60 big blinds to Dvoress’ seven.

“Da-nny Tang! Da-nny Tang!” chanted Kiat Lee and Punnat Punsri as they answered the bat signal to come to the tournament room to watch another Tang show. They immediately learned the news that their man had doubled, and took their seats in the stands to watch it all play out.

Dvoress doubled up fairly quickly with a flush. He then doubled once again with a full house. And all of a sudden the stacks were even.

The heads-up duel from this point was conducted in precisely the way you would expect from players as skilled as these. They kept pots small and tried to gently out-manouevre one another.

But Dvoress had the momentum and the prevailing wind blew the chips in his direction. When he had ground Tang down to a short stack, they got it in on a flop of . Tang had but Dvoress was ahead with .

The turn and river couldn’t come to Tang’s rescue. And the title belonged to Dvoress.

RESULTS

Event #12 – $50,000 PLO
Dates:November 3-4, 2023
Entries: 72 (inc. 29 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,600,000

1 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $956,000
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $664,000
3 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $439,000
4 – Chris Parker, UK – $344,000
5 – Keith Lehr, USA – $277,000
6 – Mads Amot, Norway – $216,000
7 – Dylan Linde, USA – $171,000
8 – Shyngis Satubaev, Kazakhstan – $133,000

9 – Iakov Onuchin, Russia – $101,000
10 – Dylan Weisman, USA – $77,500
11 – Tom-Aksel Bedell, Norway – $77,500
12 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $72,000
13 – Rajamurthy Kabeelan, Malaysia – $72,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Webster Lim is a three-time champion on the Triton Super High Roller Series after winning a fascinating all-Malaysian heads-up duel tonight in Monte Carlo and winning the latest GG Poker Million$ Live tournament.

This is actually Lim’s second GG Million$ Live victory having won the same $25,000 buy-in tournament in Vietnam earlier this year. It’s no mean feat because, at $25K, this is the lowest buy-in on the Triton Series and draws the biggest crowd.

This one was a Triton record, with 187 entries.

“Maybe I should play only this one,” Lim joked as he picked up his trophy.

Lim’s prize was $899,893, an adjusted total after he struck a heads-up deal with his countryman Hing Yong Chow. As ever, the seats around the final table were full with the great and the good of Asian poker, with this crew as tight as any in the world.

“It’s 1am and they’re here, I cannot ask for more,” Lim said.

He added that members of the crew — Danny Tang, Punnat Punsri, Kiat Lee, Lun Loon, Michael Soyza, among others — regularly share notes and tips and support. “You always learn every day,” Lim said.

He also said he enjoyed the fact that he took down the title with the most ever entries on the Triton Series. “It’s always good to see Triton growing,” he said.

TOURNAMENT ACTION RECAP

The tournament resumed overnight with 41 players left from that record-breaking field of 187 entries. As always, the only decisive thing that could happen in the early levels was that players could bust, and quickly the field reduced by nine to leave the tournament on its stone bubble.

Almost immediately, that particular milestone passed. Paul Phua opened a pot, Viacheslav Buldygin shipped with about 10 big blinds, and Phua made the call. It was a classic flip: pocket jacks versus , with Phua holding the jacks. And when another appeared on the flop, Buldygin was drawing to the straight only.

It never came.

The Russian left the field, Phua boosted his stack, and the race towards the final began.

For once in this Triton Series stop, the Asian contingent quickly rose to the top. Phua’s trajectory continued upward, and he was joined by fellow Malaysians Hing Yang Chow and Webster Lim, while China’s Biao Ding also found his stride.

The same couldn’t be said for Steve O’Dwyer, Tim Adams, Alex Kulev, Bruno Volkmann and Artur Martirosian, who were among the players knocked out ahead of the final. When Jean-Noel Thorel’s friend and traveling partner Frederic Delval went out in 10th, the final table was set, with the three Malaysians in the top spots.

Hing Yang Chow – 43 BBs
Paul Phua – 38 BBs
Webster Lim – 28 BBs
Yulian Bogdanov – 28 BBs
Ren Lin – 26 BBs
Biao Ding – 24 BBs
Igor Yaroshevskyy – 22 BBs
Ben Heath – 16 BBs
Ferdinand Putra – 9 BBs

Cash-game regular Ferdinand Putra had locked up a cash for the third time on the Monte Carlo trip, but his stay at this final table was brief. He became the first of three consecutive players to go broke at the hands of Ren Lin, unable to get to hold up against .

Putra picked up $100,200 for this one.

Lin wasted little time before despatching Yulian Bogdanov next. Bogdanov pushed all in from the small blind with and Lin woke up with pocket queens in the big. That was an easy call and Bogdanov took $122,000 — another good result for the Bulgarians.

This tournament, which carried the GG Poker name, employed the “seat swap” format heading into the final table, which is used on the online site. It means that players can select their position at the final, with choices made in order of chip stack.

Phua, who was second in the standings heading into the final, cursed his luck with having swapped seats with Lin. That was certainly the hot seat — and it stayed warm for the elimination of Biao Ding next.

Lin raised from the button with and Ding called in the big blind, sitting with . Ding probably hoped to see a queen, but that was actually the last thing he really wanted. However, the dealer maybe heard his silent plea.

The board came queen high and all the money went in. Lin’s kicker played as Ding was ousted. He won $166,600.

Lin took a back seat now as Webster Lim — one spot along the keyboard only — took over. He knocked out Phua and Igor Yaroshevskyy in back-to-back hands and took over at the top of the leader board.

Lim found aces and, obviously, called Phua’s three-bet jam. Phua did pick up a straight draw with his , but it never came. Phua busted in sixth for $228,000.

On the very next hand, Yaroshevskyy moved all in from under the gun with and Lim snapped him off with , which stayed good.

Yaroshevskyy cashed this very event back in Cyprus earlier this year, where his third place earned him $339,500. This time he had to settle for $301,000 for fourth.

Ben Heath now assumed the unfortunate role of the short stack and he wasn’t able to get it moving in the right direction. In fact, he could do little but sit and stare as others picked up all the pots, then finally getting his last chips in with and losing to Hing Yang Chow’s .

Heath won $380,000, but Chow’s stack was near even with his two opponents as they began three-handed play.

Having scaled the heights earlier, Lin was now the player on the ropes. Lim’s surge had coincided almost precisely with Lin’s decline and there was no surprise when the duo played the pot that sent Lin out in third.

This was a bit of a cooler. Lin had and watched the board come . There was betting on every street, with a shove on the river, and Lin had every reason to think his straight was good.

But Lim had and rivered a full house. He scored a huge double.

Chow took the last few blinds from Lin’s stack with beating . Lin’s tournament ended with a $468,000 payout.

The bleachers were now packed with supporters for this all-Malaysian showdown.

Lim had 62 big blinds; Chow had 31, but both players had been here before and closed it out.

Lim was already a two-time champion, having won this GG Super Million$ in Vietnam, after winning a €50K Short Deck in Madrid. Chow too had a Triton title. He won a PLO event in Montenegro in 2019.

The pair quickly decided on a deal, with Lim securing a minimum $859,893 and Chow locking up $760,107. That left $40K to play for on the side, plus the trophy. There was still life in this one yet.

Lim took the more aggressive lines heads up, but Chow actually managed to quickly pull into a chip lead in pots that went the distance. However, Lim managed to stay calm and continue to chip away at his opponent, opening up a lead of 41 BBs to 18 BBs when they entered Level 29.

Lim shoved on the first hand, but Chow tank-folded. However, Lim built an even bigger lead and Chow had only eight bigs when the chips all went in the middle for the first time. Chow was able to double, however, when his beat Lim’s .

Lim just set to work again and built his lead once more. But then a hand came up that was difficult for anyone to get away from, and it happened to favour Lim.

Chow had pocket sevens while Lim had . There was betting on every street as the board slowly ran .

Lim shoved on the end and Chow called, learning the bad news. Never mind: he dived into the crowd of supporters to show his appreciation too for Lim, who moves up the multiple champion standings and takes a third trophy home.

RESULTS

Event #10 – $25,000 NLH – 8 Handed – GGMillion$ Live
Dates:November 1-2, 2023
Entries: 187 (inc. 70 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,675,000

1 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $899,893*
2 – Hing Yang Chow, Malaysia – $760,107*
3 – Ren Lin, USA – $468,000
4 – Ben Heath, UK – $380,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $301,000
6 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $228,000
7 – Biao Ding, China – $166,600
8 – Yulian Bogdanov, Bulgaria – $122,000
9 – Ferdinand Putra, Indonesia – $100,200

10 – Frederic Delval, France – $85,000
11 – Yuri Dzivielevski, Brazil – $85,000
12 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $76,000
13 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $76,000
14 – Jans Arends, Netherlands – $69,000
15 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $69,000
16 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $62,000
17 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $62,000
18 – Francisco Benitez, Uruguay – $55,400
19 – Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – b$55,400
20 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $55,400
21 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $50,600
22 – Mario Mobock, Austria – $50,600
23 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $50,600
24 – Jan Schwipperts, Germany – $45,800
25 – Robert Flink, Sweden – $45,800
26 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $45,800
27 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $45,800
28 – Phil Ivey, USA – $41,000
29 – Ian Bradley, UK – $41,000
30 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $41,000
31 – Shyngis Satubaev, Kazakhstan – $41,000

*denotes deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Full details of everything that happened at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Monte Carlo, which ran from October 24 through November 4, 2023

EVENT #13 – $25,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA TURBO

PERFECT 10 FOR KOON, CLOSES MONTE CARLO EVENT IN STYLE
It looked for a moment as though Jason Koon had forgotten to win a title at Triton Monte Carlo, but on the final night, in the final tournament, Koon came good to land his 10th career title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jason Koon, USA – $365,000
2 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $262,000
3 – Joao Vieira, Portugal – $171,000
4 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $129,000
5 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $100,000

50 entries | $1,250,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #12 – $50,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA

DVORESS BAGS TITLE NUMBER TWO AS $50K PLO CONCLUDES
On the last night of the Monte Carlo festival — just as he had done when he had a flight to catch out of Cyprus — Dan Dvoress stormed through a final day final table to win the second title of his Triton career.

Top five finishers:
1 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $956,000
2 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $664,000
3 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $439,000
4 – Chris Parker, UK – $344,000
5 – Keith Lehr, USA – $277,000

72 entries | $3,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #11 – $30,000 POT LIMIT OMAHA – BOUNTY

ANDREANOFF COMES OUT OF THE SHADOWS TO CLAIM MAIDEN TRITON WIN
A PLO cash-game pro, Gavin Andreanoff cashed the first Triton title he played in London, then travelled to Monte Carlo to win the second. It’s his first live tournament victory and earned him more than $500K, including bounties

Top five finishers:
1 – Gavin Andreanoff, UK – $387,000 (+ $160,000 in bounties)
2 – Quan Zhou, China – $269,000 (+ $120,000 in bounties)
3 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $178,000 (+ $120,000 in bounties)
4 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $139,000 (+ $160,000 in bounties)
5 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $112,400 (+ $40,000 in bounties)

74 entries | $2,220,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #10 – $25,000 NLH 8-HANDED GG MILLION$ LIVE

THREE UP FOR LIM AS MALAYSIA DOMINATES GG MILLION$
Webster Lim is the man to beat in the GG Poker Million$ tournaments on the Triton Series as the Malaysian followed up success in this event in Vietnam with another victory, over a record field, in Monte Carlo. He beat his countryman Hing Yang Chow heads up.

Top five finishers:
1 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $899,893*
2 – Hing Yang Chow, Malaysia – $760,107*
3 – Ren Lin, USA – $468,000
4 – Ben Heath, UK – $380,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $301,000

187 entries | $4,675,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #9 – $50,000 NLH 7-HANDED

FAMOUS FIVE FOR TANG AS IN-FORM TITANS CLASH IN MONTE CARLO
There’s no stopping Danny Tang on the Triton Series as he completed an incredible fifth triumph in 2023, downing the Super High Roller scene’s other leading tournament winner, Ike Haxton, heads up.

Top five finishers:
1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,580,000
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $1,070,000
3 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $715,000
4 – Chris Brewer, USA – $585,000
5 – Pedro Garagnani, Brazil – $469,000

162 entries | $6,480,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #8 – $40,000 NLH 7-HANDED – MYSTERY BOUNTY

SUPER MARIO IN MONTE CARLO AS MOSBÖCK BLITZES BOUNTY
After coming up agonisingly short in the $200K Invitational, Austrian former soccer player Mario Mosböck made it count in the $40K bounty, landing his first Triton title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $718,000 (+$720K from 10 bounties)
2 – Imad Derwiche, France – $484,000 (+$80K from one bounty)
3 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $333,000 (+$280K from five bounties)
4 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $272,000 (+$240K and Bombay yacht stay from three bounties)
5 – Axel Hallay, France – $216,500

162 entries | $6,480,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #7 – $30,000 NLH 7-HANDED

DIMOV PUTS BULGARIA ON THE BOARD WITH FIRST-TIME SUCCESS
A strong Bulgarian contingent of players arrived to Monte Carlo for the Triton Series this week, and Ognyan Dimov landed the country’s first win in only his third tournament.

Top five finishers:
1 – Ognjan Dimov, Bulgaria – $1,010,000
2 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $685,000
3 – Ole Schemion, Germany – $457,000
4 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $374,000
5 – Travis Endersby, Australia – $300,100

145 entries | $4,350,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #6 – $100,000 NLH 8-HANDED

VOGELSANG BATTLES BACK FROM ONE BLIND TO END TROPHY DROUGHT
He’s been playing on the Triton Series since the very start, and finally Christoph Vogelsang landed a debut title, coming back from near-elimination to land a $2.6m prize.

Top five finishers:
1 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $2,644,000*
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $2,190,000*
3 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $1,296,000
4 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $1,068,000
5 – Ben Heath, UK – $858,000

*denotes heads-up deal

120 entries | $12,000,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #5 – $25,000 NLH TURBO

O’DWYER AT THE DOUBLE AS LATEST TURBO HEADS TO AMERICAN
It might have looked like a short-stack shootout, but Steve O’Dwyer picked his spots the best to claim a second Triton title, four years after he earned his first.

Top five finishers:
1 – Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $416,000
2 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $299,000
3 – Mike Watson, Canada – $195,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $147,000
5 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $114,000

57 entries | $1,425,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT #3 – $125,000 NLH MAIN EVENT

EIBINGER OUTLASTS MATEOS TO SNATCH MAIN EVENT TRIUMPH
The Austrian turbo specialist Matthias Eibinger managed to overhaul an enormous Adrian Mateos chip lead to claim the biggest cash of his career and a Triton Main Event title.

Top five finishers:
1 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $3,461,261*
2 – Adrian Mateos – $3,120,739*
3 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $1,772,000
4 – Chris Brewer, USA – $1,450,000
5 – Quan Zhou, China – $1,165,000

*denotes heads up deal

135 entries | $16,875,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 2 – $200,000 TRITON INVITATIONAL

SMITH HALTS MOSBÖCK TO LAND MONTE CARLO INVITATIONAL
The American pro Dan Smith overcame Mario Mosböck’s heads-up chip lead to bank a $3.8 million first prize and secure his first title on the Triton Series. The event featured a specially invited field of VIPs and elite pros.

Top five finishers:
1 – Dan Smith, USA – $3,870,000
2 – Mario Mosböck – Austria – $2,690,000
3 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $1,780,000
4 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $1,390,000
5 – Alexander Shelukhin, Russia – $1,125,000

73 entries | $14,600,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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EVENT 1 – $50,000 NLH TURBO

JAFFE BLASTS THROUGH BOUNTY EVENT TO CLAIM FIRST TITLE
Triton Monte Carlo got up and running with a swashbuckling performance from Jonathan Jaffe who tore through the $50K bounty tournament to claim his first title — and picking up nine scalps, worth $20K each, along the way.

Top five finishers:
1 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $501,000 (+ $180,000 in bounties)
2 – Brian Kim, USA – $359,000 (+ $80,000)
3 – Leonard Maue, Germany – $233,000 (+ $80,000)
4 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $176,000 (+$60,000)
5 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $136,000 (+$120,000)

57 entries | $1,710,000 prize pool
FULL REPORT AND RESULTS

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Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Final tables during the Triton Series’ first trip to Monte Carlo have fallen into a pattern. One player has had a dominant chip lead when the last players sit around a single table, but that person never quite closes the tournament out.

In the very first event to conclude here in Monaco, that player was the Austrian pro Mario Mosböck, who ended up finishing second in the $200K Invitational, despite leading the last nine.

Mosböck, 27, learnt his lesson. As they pushed towards the final table in today’s $40K Mystery Bounty event, he allowed Michael Soyza to rush into an enormous chip lead. But when final-table play began, this one was all about Mosböck.

At around midnight local time, Soyza was gone and Mosböck closed this one out by beating Imad Derwiche heads up. It landed Mosböck his first Triton title, a payout of $718,000 and the last of 10 bounty tokens, which he’ll convert into at least $40,000 apiece at the mystery bounty draw tomorrow.

Derwiche provided the entertainment and a measure of competition, but Mosböck was a player in a groove. He had a big heads-up lead, which was enough to turn him into a champion, the first time all the chips went in.

“I got engaged last month,” Mosböck told Ali Nejad, when asked what had happened to improve his game so dramatically since his last trip to the Triton Series. “I took a little break from poker. I feel great. I love it.”

The former soccer pro added that his comfort with high-level competition assists him at the poker table. “It helps quite a bit,” he said. “These situations are very high pressure. I am used to playing football at a high level, so I can get my head in the right place.”

He fiancee Amanda, supporting him throughout the final from the rail, also came on stage to pose for the winner’s photo. Fedor Holz popped his head in too, supporting his friend.

The Vienna crew have crushed this week in Monte Carlo, and we are not done yet.

TOURNAMENT RECAP

As always, the Mystery Bounty element of the tournament attracted a particular excitement as it got under way on Day 2. Although Day 1 was all about chip accumulation, the second day brought the extra bounty dynamic and you need look no further than the pre-bubble period to discern how play can change.

With 28 players left, one from the money, Henrik Hecklen pushed for his last 10 big blinds. Viacheslav Buldygin looked at his cards in the big blind and said, “I think I’m going to call.”

He got a count, double checked his stack, and then called. He had . Yes, three high. Hecklen’s held up, and Buldygin lost another chunk of his stack when he called Punnat Punsri’s shove on the next hand.

This time, Punsri had tens and Buldygin had sixes and the bigger pair stayed best.

Despite Buldygin’s best efforts, the bubble actually burst on a neighbouring table. That’s where action folded to Jans Arends in the small blind and he moved all in, covering Lun Loon’s smaller stack in the big.

Look, however, found and was flipping against Arends’ pocket fours. There was an ace in the window but a four just behind it. The set finished with a full house and Loon was toast.

The rest were all now guaranteed a payout from the main pool, but there were still bounties to be collected too.

None of Hecklen, Arends or Punsri made it to the final, but Buldygin did, despite those two lost pots ahead of the bubble. They were only a handful of the well known players who perished before the last eight, and it left us with what amounted to a largely unfamiliar last eight.

Michael Soyza – 118 BBs
Sammy Bolung – 55 BBs
Imad Derwiche – 38 BBs
Mario Mosböck – 34 BBs
Axel Hallay – 24 BBs
Steve O’Dwyer – 24 BBs
Fahredin Mustafov – 18 BBs
Viacheslav Buldygin – 14 BBs

Only a few days ago, we watched the former professional footballer Mosböck take a wrecking ball to the deep stages of the $200K Triton Invitational, before finishing in second place. Mosböck’s return to the final today started from lower down the counts, but progressed in similar fashion as he sent Fahredin Mustafov to the rail in eighth, before taking huge chunks too from Axel Hallay.

First things first: Mustafov hit the rail in a spot that would likely have accounted for anybody. He opened with , then called Mosböck’s three bet, taking them to a flop of . Mosböck bet, Mustafov jammed with his top pair, but quickly learnt that he was behind Mosböck’s pocket jacks.

After blank turn and river, Mustafov left with $88,000, plus whatever his two bounty tokens bring him tomorrow.

Sammy Bolung was only playing his second tournament on the Triton Series having made his debut on the VIP side of the draw in the London Invitational. He had looked very comfortable in this open-entry event, and held the chip lead for a while in the run up to the final.

Things didn’t go in his favour when there was only one table left, however, and he lost a major chunk of his chips to Axel Hallay’s rivered straight, before losing the very last few to Imad Derwiche, whose beat Bolung’s .

Bolung nonetheless cashed for $121,000, nearly three times as much as his previous combined poker tournament haul.

Six players were now left, but it rapidly became five when Buldygin’s rocky road reached its end. This one was another flip, which came about after Steve O’Dwyer pushed from the button with pocket sevens and Buldygin woke up with in the big blind.

Buldygin made an obvious call but hit nothing on the flop and O’Dwyer took this one down. Buldygin banked $166,300, plus one bounty.

Hallay made his debut on the Triton Series in Cyprus this year, and although he cashed once, he never made a final table. This tournament represented his deepest run by quite a distance — but it ended in a fifth-placed finish.

As noted, Hallay lost a lot of his stack to Mosböck, when the latter played flopped trips beautifully. Hallay had top pair and ended up calling Mosböck’s huge river bet, all but doubling up the Austrian. Hallay could only tread water for a few orbits, before losing another nasty pot to Mosböck.

This time they got it all in pre-flop, with Mosböck’s making a straight to defeat Hallay’s pocket jacks. Hallay won $216,500. (He didn’t capture any bounties.)

It’s time now for the line that makes it to all reports this week: the tournament was now pretty shallow. There wasn’t a whole lot of wiggle room out there, evidenced by the fact that O’Dwyer became the next man out.

O’Dwyer proved during his turbo event success that he can pick his spots precisely in this short-stacked environment. But, to be honest, who is ever going to get away from pockets kings in a battle like this? It’s just that Mosböck had pocket aces.

That spelled the end for O’Dwyer, and sent him looking for $272,000 at the payouts desk. Mosböck was a big chip leader three-handed, with Michael Soyza and Imad Derwiche with their work cut out.

Derwiche managed an early double, turning his pocket tens into a flush. But when Soyza was all in for the first time, his lost to Mosböck’s .

Soyza dragged in a few bounties before they got to the final table, so he’ll have those to complement his $333,000 third-place prize. But that chip-leader curse struck again, and he still hunts his third title. For Mosböck, however, he continued to grab yet more valuable bounty tokens, as well as the chips to give him a huge heads-up advantage.

Mosböck had 26 million (66 big blinds) to Derwiche’s 6.1 million (15 big blinds).

They went back and forth for a little while, and Derwiche initiated a fun game where the winner would show one card to the player he beat out of the pot. Mosböck obliged and the two saw at least half of each other’s bluffs (or value bets).

However, Derwiche didn’t have enough chips to do much damage and the final hand came about when Mosböck completed from the small blind, Derwiche shoved and Mosböck called. It was for Derwiche and for Mosböck. There were no dramas.

Derwiche won $484,000 plus one bounty token. However, Mosböck’s haul guarantees him at least $400,000 more tomorrow, and his second seven-figure score of the trip.

Those soccer fields seem a long way away…

RESULTS

Event #8 – $40,000 NLH – 7 Handed – Mystery Bounty
Dates: October 30-31, 2023
Entries: 162 (inc. 66 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,480,000 (inc. $3,240,000 in bounty pool)

1 – Mario Mosböck, Austria – $718,000 (+$720K from 10 bounties)
2 – Imad Derwiche, France – $484,000 (+$80K from one bounty)
3 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $333,000 (+$280K from five bounties)
4 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $272,000 (+$240K and Bombay yacht stay from three bounties)
5 – Axel Hallay, France – $216,500
6 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $166,300 (+$100K from one bounty)
7 – Sammy Bolung, Indonesia – $121,000 (+$720K from four bounties)
8 – Fahredin Mustafov, Bulgaria – $88,000 (+$140K from two bounties)

9 – Jean Noel Thorel, France – $72,000 (+$200K from one bounty)
10 – Julien Sitbon, France – $61,500 (+$80K from two bounties)
11 – Leon Sturm, Germany – $61,500 (+$200K from one bounty)
12 – Jonathan Jaffe, USA – $53,500
13 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $53,500
14 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $48,500
15 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $48,500
16 – Johannes Straver, Netherlands – $43,500
17 – Luc Greenwood, Canada – $43,500
18 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $38,800 (+$80K from two bounties)
19 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $38,800
20 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $38,800
21 – Jans Arends, Netherlands – $35,600 (+$200K from four bounties)
22 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $35,600 (+$40K from one bounty)
23 – Ragnar Toompere – $35,600
24 – Francisco Benitez, Uruguay – $33,000
25 – Morten Klein, Norway – $33,000
26 – Henrik Hecklen, USA – $33,000
27 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $33,000

PLUS
Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $80K from one bounty
Maher Nouria, Tunisia – $40K from one bounty

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive