Category: Poker

Canada’s Mike Watson is the latest player to join the Triton two-time champions club after a high-speed finale to the $30,000 Pot Limit Omaha event in Cyprus today ended with Sir Watts the last man standing.

Watson knocked out all three opponents he faced today, riding the momentum he picked up at the end of the first day, when the opening field of 34 entries had been reduced to just a quartet.

Watson shot up the chip counts with a huge pot against Laszlo Bujtas that ended the opening day, and he finished the job on Bujtas, before also sending Gergo Nagy and Andriy Lyubovetskiy to the sidelines at the end of authoritative display.

Watson finished seventh in the NLH Main Event yesterday, but hopped into the PLO and took it down for $347,000. His previous title came in Vietnam earlier this year, in a short-deck event, and it put the new champion in a good position with three short deck events remaining on the Cyprus schedule.

“My main focus the last few years has been hold’em and short deck,” Watson said. “I haven’t had much time for PLO.”

But Watson has a strong online history in all mixed games, and demonstrated that he is a master of anything he turned his hand to.

“Obviously doubling up on the last hand last night gave me confidence coming into today,” Watson said. He was unflustered and characteristically calm as he closed this one out for a that second Triton triumph.

Lyubovetskiy, another player best-known for his online prowess, particularly in PLO, banked $239,500 for his second place.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

After the final no limit hold’em event of the week ended on the main stage, any migrants who fancied their four-card chances joined the fray. That included both Jason Koon and the man he had displaced at the top of the POY leader board, Stephen Chidwick, with both still eager to maximise their chances of success in the Ivan Leow Player of the Year race.

It wasn’t to be for either of them in this one, however. Koon was knocked out in 13th, followed by Chidwick in 12th. With Patrik Antonius, Bogdan Capitan and Marius Torbergsen perishing next, there were eight players left with six due to be paid.

When is a bubble not a bubble? Well, when you get a hand like the one that occurred at this final table. Raphael Schreiner, Chris Brewer and Laszlo Bujtas were the three smallest stacks in the tournament at this stage (Brewer had only 25K) but they all went to war.

After Gergo Nagy limped pre-flop, Bujtas limped behind him. Schreiner then raised to 110,000 (the big blind was 20K) and Brewer committed his last chip. Nagy folded, but Bujtas’ call took them to a flop. It came .

Bujtas bet 300,000 and Schreiner moved in for not much more. Bujtas called and we saw three hands:

Bujtas:
Schreiner:
Brewer:

The turn left Brewer dead, and the river finished the job on Schreiner too. It was great news for Bujtas, of course, who climbed high into contention.

The original plan for the day had been to end it there, allow the six in-the-money finishers to bag up and return to play to a winner tomorrow. But the opted to play a couple more levels instead, until the next tournament break. That was a target that neither Daniel Perkusic nor Eddie Ke Ti Tran could make.

Perkusic became another of Bujtas’s victims. He had and played through all the streets as the board ran . He had a straight draw on the flop, but only a pair by the river. Bujtas’s was two pair.

Perkusic, who cashed the previous PLO tournament this week, took $71,500 from this one.

Tran had also run deep in the $25K PLO, and followed up fourth place in that tournament with fifth in this one. Tran’s elimination came at the hands of Lyubovetskiy, with aces cracked.

Bujtas opened and Lyubovetskiy called, prompting Tran to three-bet with . Bujtas folded, but Lyubovetskiy called. The Ukrainian was sitting with .

The flop was a frankly absurd , giving Lyubovetskiy two sets, or two full houses, whatever you want to call it. One was enough, of course, and the turn and river locked it up.

Tran won $92,000 for fifth.

Although he had sat out most of this carnage, Day 1 ended on a high note for Watson, when his beat Bujtas’s aces. The money went in on the flop and Watson turned a straight.

That meant that the tournament paused overnight, with players sitting with the following stacks:

Andriy Lyubovetskiy – 3.025m (61 BBs)
Mike Watson – 1.59m (32 BBs)
Laszlo Bujtas – 1.445m (29 BBs)
Gergo Nagy – 740,000 (15 BBs)

After returning with four players, however, the field was reduced to two in the blink of an eye.

Watson continued his persecution of Bujtas. After cracking aces at the very end of Day 1, Watson’s aces now held against Bujtas’s on the second hand of Day 2.

Watson again had the smaller stack, but there was only one chip in it, meaning Bujtas suffered the indignity of having just 5K left after Watson’s double double. Inevitably Watson took that too on the very next hand, with Bujtas now watching helpless as queens were downed by Watson hitting a flush, holding .

It was a fairly miserable demise for the Hungarian PLO master, who departed shocked and looked for $117,000 for fourth.

The other Hungarian at the table, Gergo Nagy was still the short stack, but had now laddered at least one spot. Watson soon demonstrated that he was an equal-opportunities destroyer, however, and sent Nagy to the rail next.

Watson limped from the small blind with and Nagy raised from the big blind with . Watson called for a flop of .

Watson put out a chunky bet with middle pair and a gutshot. Nagy moved in with his open-ended draw. Watson called the small amount more.

The turn hit Watson, and the river was too little too late for Nagy. He was eliminated in third for $153,000.

The two heads-up players then prepared for the mano-a-mano duel, each with decent sized stacks. Watson had 78 big blinds to Lyubovetskiy’s 56 big blinds. They also probably knew one another’s game from online battles.

Both players seemed content to keep things small ball in the opening exchanged, but Watson then applied his foot to the accelerator. He won five hands on the bounce, including the first sizeable heads-up pot, which also ended the tournament.

Lyubovetskiy completed the small blind with and Watson, with raised from the big blind.

Lyubovetskiy now three-bet and Watson called.

The flop came . Watson jammed and Lyubovetskiy called for his last 15 big blinds, ahead at this stage.

The turn changed that, however, and the river was a blank. Watson’s two pair was enough to take him to the title, with the final day lasting less than two hours.

Plenty of time for short deck, and more trophy hunting…

Event #13 – $30,000 Pot Limit Omaha
Dates: May 22-23, 2023
Entries: 34 (inc. 12 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,020,000

1 – Mike Watson, Canada – $347,000
2 – Andriy Lyubovetskiy, Ukraine – $239,500
3 – Gergo Nagy, Hungary – $153,000
4 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $117,000
5 – Eddie Ke Ti Tran, Australia – $92,000
6 – Daniel Perkusic, Germany – $71,500

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Jason Koon wrote another chapter in his Triton Series fairytale tonight after the 37-year-old from West Virginia completed yet another awesome tournament victory.

A highly emotional Koon won the $100,000 buy-in NLH Main Event in North Cyprus, bagging a seventh title on the series for which he is an ambassador. No one else has more than four. It was Koon’s second victory of the trip (he also has a runner-up finish to his name this week) and will have far-reaching implications in the Ivan Leow Player of the Year race too.

Although final calculations are still being made, and this festival has three more days yet to run, Koon may have done enough to overhaul Stephen Chidwick at the top of the leader board for the inaugural PoY trophy.

“I was here a little under a year ago when we lost Ivan,” Koon said, choking back tears after the tournament wrapped. “Ivan was a good friend of mine. And walking through these halls every day I feel a little bit emotional about that. Just the title of Player of the Year, it gets me emotional. I miss the guy.”

Koon’s victory tonight, after a heads-up deal with Sam Greenwood, earned him $2,451,082, the Main Event trophy, and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece. Koon might also earn himself a watch for the other arm after Triton founder Paul Phua offered him a timepiece from his personal collection if he could win the Player of the Year race. Koon has done everything he can to make that happen.

“I’ve been studying all night,” Koon told reporters before the start of play today. “Even if it might only last one hand.” He was referencing his position in the overnight chip counts, where he was placed second-last of nine remaining players. But Koon weathered the many storms that played out, got his big hands to hold up when he needed them, and remained focused even as the final table became something of a tetchy affair in places.

“I’m always trying to hold it together most days,” Koon said, when asked by Ali Nejad about the emotions that were running through him, and spilling out after the event. “I feel pretty good. I’m always a happy guy when I’m playing. But it’s been a long trip. I’ve made a lot of long, deep runs and I’ve pushed myself really, really hard.”

After doubling up early, and earning another double through PoY rival Chidwick, Koon could do no wrong, and downed Greenwood on the very first hand of heads-up play.

There has surely never been an affinity to rival this one between brand ambassador and tour. And there has surely never been a modern tournament talent to rival that of Jason Koon.

“You deal with a lot,” Koon added. “You hold in a ton of your feelings, and this was one of those ones where it wasn’t just joy. It was just, like, ‘I can’t believe this.’ This is it for me. I don’t really play other poker tournaments. These are the most important to me. I’m sure [Phil] Hellmuth would feel the same whenever he wins a bracelet. To me, these are the most important. I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude.”

TOURNAMENT ACTION REVIEW

The Main Event played out over three days, and it follows that much of the tournament was shaped during the first two sessions. On Day 1, it was about registrants and re-registrants, building a prize pool of $10.1 million before the entry desk closed at the start of Day 2. There were 101 entries, including 36 re-entries.

Day 2 was always likely to be a long one, with the target of the final table beginning as a speck on the horizon but gradually creeping nearer. In tournaments of this type, with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line (not to mention Player of the Year points), recklessness takes a back seat to security. Players will now nurse a stack of literally any size. If someone gets knocked out elsewhere, your tournament equity sky-rockets so it’s worth clinging on.

Sean Winter spent a lot of time at the very foot of the counts as the field thinned towards its bubble. Fifteen would be paid in this one. Winter managed a double to earn some breathing space, however Seth Davies lost a cooler (jacks beaten by queens); Wai Kin Yong took a bad beat (kings beaten by ) and then then Triton superstar Mikita Badziakouski sampled the real hurt of a last-gasp bubble.

Badziakouski’s was far too good to do anything but three-bet with pre-flop, leaving himself only crumbs behind, and Mike Watson became his sole opponent. They both checked a flop of , before the turn.

Watson now bet. Badziakouski committed the last of his chips and the cards were exposed. Watson’s pocket eights was now a full house and Badziakouski was drawing dead. We were in the money.

By the standards of the day, the next six eliminations happened rapidly. Each of Chris Brewer, Kiat Lee, Fedor Holz, Michael Addamo, Nacho Barbero and Aleksejs Ponakovs busted short of the final, but each with a payout to their name.

That took us to the end of Day 2 and set a final table led by Henrik Hecklen, but at which nobody could feel entirely comfortable. They lined up like this:

Seat 1: Jason Koon – 1.45m (15 BBs)
Seat 2: Sean Winter – 875,000 (9 BBs)
Seat 3: Sam Greenwood – 3.6m (36 BBs)
Seat 4: Mike Watson – 2.6m (26 BBs)
Seat 5: Steve O’Dwyer – 2.55m (26 BBs)
Seat 6: Dan Smith – 2.75m (28 BBs)
Seat 7: Viacheslav Buldygin – 3.65m (37 BBs)
Seat 8: Henrik Hecklen – 5.525m (55 BBs)
Seat 9: Stephen Chidwick – 2.25m (23 BBs)

FINAL DAY ACTION

Although the scene was set for a cagey affair, Viacheslav Buldygin was prepared to get involved from the very outset. However, the approach turned out to be his undoing as he slipped from second in the overnight counts to rock bottom, losing consecutive pots to Stephen Chidwick and then Sam Greenwood.

Chidwick turned three queens in the first of those hands, and Buldygin did well to bin his top-pair aces on the river, faced with Chidwick’s bet. The second was even more significant, for 2.4m chips, and vaulted Greenwood into the lead.

In this one, Buldygin got involved with against Greenwood’s . The flop brought the and Greenwood slow-played it all the way, including after the turn gave Buldygin encouragement and the river gave Greenwood a lock.

Greenwood check-jammed the river and won piles.

Koon completed Buldygin’s demise. In a pot opened by Dan Smith, Buldygin under-called all-in with . Koon, in the small blind, also called. Three players saw a flop of . The two active players checked.

The came on the turn and Koon now bet 325,000. Smith let his hand go, and Koon tabled his , which was now ahead of Buldygin. The Russian had a wheel draw, but whiffed the river and that was that.

Buldygin was first out from the final, collecting $263,000.

Koon stacked up some more chips but, in truth, the more significant hand for him happened slightly earlier. Smith opened this pot too, but Chidwick three-bet the small blind with . Koon then four-bet jammed the big blind with .

The better ace won it, and this pot carried enormous Player of the Year implications. The two challengers in that flipped their position in the counts here and left Chidwick, the POY leader, in a spot of bother again. Koon was riding high.

Hecklen had started the final as chip leader, but after Greenwood overtook him, Steve O’Dwyer managed it too, this time as a direct result of a big clash between the two. Hecklen’s pocket eights were outraced by O’Dwyer’s after they got it in pre-flop.

Hecklen also then doubled up Sean Winter, whose beat Hecklen’s . Winter, doing everything he could to ladder up, only had one big blind going into this pot, so it didn’t do Hecklen much damage. At least not on the face of it.

Winter’s refusal to budge put plenty of others under pressure, however. And the man who ended up busting next was Chidwick. The UK pro managed one double up, with through Greenwood’s , but despite both Watson and Winter lower than him in the counts, Chidwick went to battle with O’Dwyer. It didn’t end well.

Chidwick opened from mid position with and O’Dwyer called in the big blind with . The flop came . O’Dwyer checked and Chidwick moved all-in.

O’Dwyer had top pair with no kicker, but he had to try to figure out if he was prepared to risk half his stack. He decided he did and got the good news. The turn and river were blanks, and Chidwick departed in eighth for $358,500. With Koon still seated, the Player of the Year race only heated up.

Chidwick was gone, but Watson and Winter had no intention of joining him. They both doubled up their short stacks to survive, but were still in real peril. And it was Watson who lost the crucial flip first to bust.

Watson had pocket sevens and Hecklen had . A jack on the turn sealed Watson’s fate and he was out in seventh for $469,500. Winter’s extraordinary survival skills continued.

The next pot of note was again huge for Koon. He won another race with versus O’Dwyer’s and that put him at the very summit. He was so untouchable that he even then managed to win a pot against Winter, and that finally ended Winter’s incredible durability.

Winter was in the big blind for the Koon vs. O’Dwyer race, which meant he gave up two of his four blinds. Another one went in on the next hand, when he was in the small blind, and after Koon raised from the button, Winter decided he had to call as well.

Winter only had , live against Koon’s . But the board bricked out and Winter was finally frozen out. He had been the short stack since well before the bubble yesterday, but now was heading out with a $595,000 payday.

The atmosphere had turned a little frosty at the table, with Dan Smith and Koon disagreeing on a point of etiquette and both making their opinions loudly known. Other players had tried to broker peace — “Let’s get cocktails,” said Winter — and although tempers calmed eventually, there was something inevitable that the next major battle would play out between Koon and Smith.

This time is was a more familiar hold’em match-up of pocket pair versus over-cards. Smith jammed his 10 big blinds with . Koon called with pocket tens. The board ran dry, and Smith was out in fifth for $762,000.

Hecklen’s tournament lasted only two hands longer. Almost immediately after Smith’s demise, Hecklen found pocket queens. Even better for him, he saw Koon open raise and then O’Dwyer call, with this now the perfect spot to push.

Koon called, O’Dwyer folded, and Hecklen was in great shape against Koon’s . However there was an ace in the window and Hecklen couldn’t find the last queen in the deck. Instead, he looked for a payout of $946,000.

Three were left, and all were guaranteed seven figures. Koon had 66 big blinds, while the others had fewer than 20 each. But O’Dwyer doubled almost immediately, with beating Koon’s . So it was game on again.

Except it wasn’t. Koon and O’Dwyer went to war once more, in a rare pot that played through the streets. O’Dwyer completed from the small blind and Koon checked his option. The flop fell . O’Dwyer checked, Koon bet 375,000 and O’Dwyer called.

The came on the turn and the pattern repeated. It went check, bet (1.5 million), call. That took them to the river, and O’Dwyer only had 1.8 million behind.

O’Dwyer checked, Koon bet all of it, and O’Dwyer called off. Koon’s was a straight. O’Dwyer’s was not.

O’Dwyer took $1,171,000 for third.

There were two players left, ranked second and third on the Player of the Year leader board at that point. Koon had a big chip lead — 80 BBs to Greenwood’s 21 BBs — and they immediately asked to do a straight ICM chop and to leave 10 percent to play for.

Tournament staff facilitated it, and the confirmed payouts guaranteed Koon $2,367,082 and Greenwood $1,923,918, with $84,000 to play for.

They took their seats again quickly, but were standing up again in a matter of minutes. All the money went in on the very first hand of heads-up play: Koon completing the small blind with and Greenwood moving all in with . Koon called it off and flopped a queen.

The full board ran . And that was it. Seventh heaven for Jason Koon.

Event #11 – $100,000 NLH Main Event
Dates: May 20-22, 2023
Entries: 101 (inc. 36 re-entries)
Prize pool: $10,100,000

1 – Jason Koon, USA – $2,451,082*
2 – Sam Greenwood, Canada – $1,923,918*
3 – Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $1,171,000
4 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $946,000
5 – Dan Smith, USA – $762,000
6 – Sean Winter, USA – $595,000
7 – Mike Watson, Canada – $469,500
8 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $358,500
9 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $263,000

10 – Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – $215,000
11 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $215,000
12 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $190,000
13 – Fedor Holz, Germany – $190,000
14 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $175,000
15 – Chris Brewer, USA – $175,000

*denotes heads up deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

It took Danny Tang 53 attempts at Triton Series events until he won his first title. But just two months and 10 tries later, he is the latest double champion on this prestigious Super High Roller series.

Tang just won the $50,000 NLH Turbo event at Triton North Cyprus, banking $545,000 in the process.

“Happy birthday, mum!” Tang shouted at the jib camera, which swung around to capture his winning moment. It came just before midnight, with the Main Event taking place on neighbouring tables, and after Tang down Santhosh Suvarna heads-up to claim this victory and put him among the multiple champions.

“I love $50Ks,” Tang said, referencing the buy-in for this event. His previous title actually came in a $25K buy-in short-deck tournament, which he rattled through like it was a turbo in Vietnam. Now he’s a no limit hold’em champ too, and was delighted with the outcome.

“What’s the jackpot?” one supporter asked from the rail, after Tang had sealed the deal. Tang didn’t even know. It wasn’t about the money. All of Kiat Lee, Elton Tsang and Punnat Punsri joined the winner’s photo, and Tang enjoyed every moment.

He did it despite battling an outbreak of gout that has plagued him this week, spreading from one foot to the next and back again, and causing him great pain to walk. Perhaps that was why he stayed at the table as long as he could.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With 32 entries, including 12 re-entries, action was frenetic from the outset. The key number here was six: that’s how many places would be paid, which meant there was no point hanging around until you were at the last table. Only then did things slow a little.

Both Igor Yaroshevsky and Santhosh Suvarna were very short, but a couple of double-ups ended up putting them to the top of the counts. And then Danny Tang got involved in a skirmish with Jonathan Jaffe that Tang didn’t like at the outset, but which left him smiling like the cat that got the cream by the end.

Tang open-pushed with pocket 10s for 16 BBs. He was then faux outraged when when Jaffe snap-called. Tang seemed to think he should have waited for some drama. Jaffe turned over his pocket jacks and was ahead of Tang. But after the dealer put a ten on the flop, the domination flipped and Jaffe was knocked out on the bubble.

Dao Minh Phu’s tournament had been something of a cakewalk until the final table too, but he was responsible for one of Yaroshevsky’s double-ups and so was left short for the first time. When he was all-in and at risk, he was immediately eliminated. Suvarna did the damage with pocket nines to Phu’s .

Phu was the first player to be paid. He earned $111,000.

Ding Biao has enjoyed a phenomenal trip to North Cyprus this time, winning one tournament and cashing another. He was at the final table of this one as well, but he couldn’t make it the double. After Suvarna opened from under the gun, Biao called from the big blind with and a tiny stack.

The pair saw a flop of and Bioa, with his pair, now ripped in his final handful of blinds. Suvarna snap-called.

“Wow! Top set!” the table cooed. Suvarna’s pocket jacks were very pretty in the circumstances, and although chop outs appeared when a fourth spade came on the turn, the river was an off-suit three. It was all over for Biao, who took another $144,000 for fifth.

It goes without saying that stacks were short at this point, none shorter than Brian Kim. However, he found a good spot for a potential triple up and got his chips in. The potential was not realised.

The hand in question began with an open raise from fellow shorty, Yaroshevsky, on the button. Suvarna then moved all in from the small blind. Kim burnt through about three time banks before deciding to commit his last six big blinds, but the result wasn’t what he was looking for.

Yaroshevsky folded and Suvarna tabled his . Kim was behind with his . Both players hit their kicker on the flop, but Suvarna stayed better. Kim was out in fourth for $184,000.

Yaroshevsky was again the short stack, but he doubled up again with pocket nines against Suvarna’s pocket fours, and it brought the stacks remarkably even. Yaroshevsky and Tang had 27 big blinds each, while Suvarna had 26. Not much play in it, but it was anyone’s game.

Tang started going through the gears. In one delicious pot, Yaroshevsky opened to 160,000 (big blind was 80,000) from the button and both Suvarna and Tang called in the blinds. They then saw a flop of and, after two checks, Yaroshevsky continued for 200,000. Suvarna called but now Tang found a check-raise to 580,000.

That gave Tang a decent filip, and Yaroshevsky never really recovered. He got his last chips in as a three-bet jam with but Tang wasn’t at it with his open. He had , called and won. Yaroshevsky won $240,000 for third.

Suvarna versus Tang heads up pitted two players who had already won one Triton title. Tang won his in Vietnam a few months ago; Suvarna won his at the beginning of this event. Tang took a 60 BB to 20 BB lead into the last phase of play, with the third important factor here being the clock.

They only played one hand before they slipped into the next level, and it was 47 BBs to 17.

Most pots stayed on the small side at the beginning of heads up play, but then came a whopper. Tang completed from the small blind and Suvarna checked. The flop was innocuous. It came . Suvarna check-called Tang’s bet of 150,000.

The fell on the turn and Suvarna checked again. Tang bet 375,000 and Suvarna suddenly moved all-in for 1.5 million.

Tang pondered for a moment, but then put out the calling chips. Suvarna showed , which was now a double-gutter. But Tang had for top pair.

“A picture and we win,” Tang said. The dealer delivered. The river was the and Tang was the champion again. Suvarna banked $376,000 and came up just short of a second win. But tonight the night belongs to the family Tang.

Event #12 – $50,000 NLH Turbo
Dates: May 21, 2023
Entries: 32 (inc. 12 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,600,000

1 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $545,000
2 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $376,000
3 – Igor Yaroshevsky, Ukraine – $240,000
4 – Brian Kim, USA – $184,000
5 – Ding Biao, China – $144,000
6 – Dao Minh Phu, Vietnam – $111,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The latest Triton Series trophy is heading to Azerbaijan tonight in the possession of the country’s leading poker player, Ramin Hajiyev.

That Hajiyev is not even a professional player is a crucial factor in this story. The 35-year-old for tennis pro is now an entrepreneur, concerned with food imports and exports and the restaurant industry. That qualified him to be one of 32 recreational poker enthusiasts who jumped at the chance to play the Luxon Invitational tournament at the Triton Super High Roller Series in North Cyprus.

Hajiyev not only outlasted the one professional player he was permitted to invite to this $200,000 buy-in event, but he beat the whole field of the game’s leading talents.

After agreeing a two-way deal with German professional Tobias Duthweiler at the conclusion of a three-day tournament, Hajiyev went on to win and bank $4,122,554. That’s more than his entire previous tournament poker cashes.

Hajiyev already had a near $2 million lead over his closest challenger in the Azrbaijan money list. He’s practically unassailable now — and overcome with delight.

“If you’re going to brick nine events and then ship a tenth, it’d better be this one, right?,” Hajiyev said, referencing a modest return in Triton tournaments before today. He added that his passion for poker kept him going through the lean spell.

“I know that poker has a lot of variance, so I was just staying focused, motivated, because I love the game, obviously,” he said.

This was a famous triumph. Hajiyev was ranked second in chips coming into the final, and was able to prosper as others suffered the cruel fortunes that are all too common at the end of major poker events like this.

His beaten heads-up opponent, Germany’s Tobias Duthweiler, was bottom of the counts coming into the tournament’s final day, but he enjoyed elevation to top two, and had his chances to win outright.

Duthweiler, a much-feared online cash game pro, was forced to make do with $3,606,446, however. That’s also his biggest tournament score.

The Luxon Invitational, with a $200K buy-in, pitted poker’s elite against high-rolling recreational players. The latter are always keen to do battle with the former and prove that tournament poker can be anyone’s game. The former are happy to entertain the notion, certain that their skills will prevail.

Both camps will consider their point proven. From a field of 62, six of 13 players who were paid were pros; seven were recreationals. From a final table of nine, five were pros; four were recreationals. And heads up, it was one pro versus one businessman. The equilibrium that characterises the tournament endured throughout.

Hajiyev, however, was able to follow Aaron Zang, winner of 2019’s £1m Triton Million to strike a blow for the boardroom.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After two long days of play, in which poker’s top talents came and went, nine players returned at the start of the final day. There was still plenty of play in it, at least on paper, but as things got going, it was clear that we might be in for some unpredictability.

FINAL TABLE STACKS

Sean Winter, USA – 5.295m (66 BBs)
Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – 4.875m (61 BBs)
Punnat Punsri, Thailand – 4.12m (52 BBs)
Patrik Antonius, Finland – 4.02m (50 BBs)
Kiat Lee, Malaysia – 2.115m (26 BBs)
Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – 1.905m (24 BBs)
Wai King Yong, Malaysia – 1.45m (18 BBs)
Ben Heath, UK – 1.045m (13 BBs)
Tobias Duthweiler, Germany – 895,000 (11 BBs)

Looking at the starting stacks, we might have expected a couple of early eliminations as the short-stacks looked to climb up the ladder. However, in the Super High Roller world, it is never financially prudent to be too reckless and ICM pressure was huge.

In the first hour, one all-in was chopped and Ben Heath doubled, but there were almost no other significant fireworks. And they’d play another three hours before the first player hit the rail from the final.

Despite that earlier double, it was Heath who grew short again and then took the walk. He had around seven big blinds when he found and raised for almost all of his stack. Punnat Punsri, with , three-bet and Heath was now all in.

He couldn’t catch the jack he needed to survive, however, and was first out today taking $481,000.

Sean Winter was still the table captain, and was the only player who could comfortably see some flops and play through the street. However, he lived to regret doing just that in a hand against Ramin Hajiyev, with the result being a change in the chip lead.

Winter, with , opened to 300K (2x the big blind) from under the gun and Hajiyev called from the cutoff with .

Winter check-called the flop, with his queens now ahead. Winter then led out on the turn, and Hajiyev called. That call was rewarded with the river, giving him the nuts.

Winter checked, Hajiyev made a big bet of 1.7 million and Winter wasn’t able to ditch his top pair. Hajiyev moved into the chip lead and put Winter back down in the pack.

Wai Kin Yong and Duthweiler were now two of the many short stacks, but their fortunes changed significantly on the very next hand. Yong found pocket sevens and shoved. Duthweiler looked down at pocket aces and obviously he was all in as well. Winter then woke up with in the big blind and had the chance for a double knockout.

He called, but the aces held. That gave Duthweiler a triple, cut some more from Winter, and sent Yong packing. Yong earned $636,000 for eighth.

Stacks were so short now that it felt that the next all-in-and-a-call was always imminent. When it duly arrived, it was the turn of Sosia Jiang to find herself up against the wall.

Not long after her Luxon Invitational partner Jason Koon had been narrowly defeated heads up in the PLO event, Jiang was knocked out of this big one. She three-bet jammed with over Winter’s open, but Winter had it this time. He called and tabled . He ended up making a straight.

Jiang’s fourth Triton cash was her biggest yet. She took $820,000 for seventh.

The top six prizes were all worth more than $1 million and it would be difficult for anyone to feel hard done by picking up a score of that size. Even so, with the tournament so shallow, everyone knew that if only someone else could be eliminated, that payday would grow significantly.

The truth was, this was now one of those tournaments where skill played only a small part in deciding the next few eliminations. Hands and situations were essentially playing themselves.

Kiat Lee bust next. He found pocket aces on the button and made a standard raise. Hajiyev found the “wrong” time to shove from the big blind with . However, there were three clubs on the board and Lee was toast. The final club just happened to be an ace, giving him a useless set.

Lee nonetheless took $1,030,000.

Punsri became Hajiyev’s next victim. Hajiyev opened with pocket tens, Punsri had and three-bet. Hajiyev shoved. There was a ten on the flop just to make sure and Punsri perished, picking up $1,325,000.

For a man who had been all-in on the stone bubble, Punsri cannot be too disheartened.

Then it was Winter’s turn. He opened with and Duthweiler was lurking behind with . Duthweiler three-bet, forcing Winter to put in all but one 25K chip to call. He opted to do just that rather than raise.

So they went to a flop of and then the last chip went in. Things hadn’t really improved for Winter, and the turn and river didn’t help. Winter race was run in fourth. He took $1,640,000.

Patrick Antonius might have a reputation as one of those aggressive northern-European types, but his is among the shrewdest minds in the game. And Antoninus thought nothing of clinging on with a micro-stack during this final table, doubling up once, but mostly just staying out of harm’s way and watching his pay-cheque increase in size.

He had only five blinds when he found pocket jacks, and got his money in eventually. (He too raised and left one chip back, putting it in on the flop after being called by Duthweiler.)

Duthweiler had so a flop of was good for him. However, he needed the turn and river to give him the straight that beat Antonius’s pocket pair. But either way, that was it for Antonius. His $2,100,000 prize was the second biggest of his career, and biggest since 2018.

With that, only two players remained. One pro and one recreational, but both with significant poker experience. Hajiyev is a semi-regular in the highest stakes tournaments across Europe, when he finds the time away from his various business pursuits. Duthweiler, known as “dudd1” online, is a formidable cash-game player, enjoying his best ever tournament run.

Hajiyev had the chip lead — 71 BBs to 33 BBs — and they immediately looked at the numbers. Duthweiler didn’t really like the ICM chop. He wanted to play it out. But Hajiyev said he would give him an additional $40,000 and they came to an agreement.

Duthweiler locked up $3,606,446 to Hajiyev’s $3,992,554. With $130K left on the side, the heads-up winner would also be taking the most money, alongside the trophy.

Hajiyev could have won it very quickly. All the chips were in the middle sharpish, but Duthweiler’s pocket nines held firm against Hajiyev’s . But then it flipped back again. They were all-in once more, but Hajiyev’s stayed good against .

There were at least three more all-ins called, which mostly favoured the shorter stack (one was chopped), until Duthweiler’s stack was small enough that even when he doubled it, he was still in great peril.

Finally, at around 8.25pm local time, Hajiyev got one to stick. He and Duthweiler got involved in a flip for it all: against Duthweiler’s . There was a king on the flop and that was all Hajiyev needed this time.

He held his head in his hands, then punched the air in obvious relief and delight. He accepted Triton’s invitation, came to Cyprus, and is now a huge, huge winner.

Event #9 – $200,000 NLH Luxon Invitational
Dates: May 18-20, 2023
Entries: 86 (inc. 24 re-entries)
Prize pool: $17,200,000

1 – Ramin Hajiyev, Azerbaijan – $4,122,554*
2 – Tobias Duthweiler, Germany – $3,606,446*
3 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $2,100,000
4 – Sean Winter, USA – $1,640,000
5 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $1,325,000
6 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $1,030,000
7 – Sosia Jiang, New Zealand – $820,000
8 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $636,000
9 – Ben Heath, UK – $481,000

10 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $369,500
11 – Philip Sternheimer, UK – $369,500
12 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $350,000
13 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $350,000

*denotes heads-up deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The biggest tournament poker bubble of 2023 just burst at Triton North Cyprus, with the elimination of Stephen Chidwick from the $200,000 buy-in Luxon Invitational.

Chidwick placed 14th in the tournament, one spot outside the in-the-money places, where a min-cash is $350,000. With 86 entries to the tournament, there’s $17.2 million in the prize pool and $4.56 million reserved for the winner.

But the chances of Chidwick, the current leader in the Triton Player of the Year race, went up in smoke at around 1.30 am local time when he ever-dwindling short stack became the possession of Punnat Punsri.

Punsri himself had been all in and under threat moments earlier, but managed to turn pocket kings into quads to beat Ben Heath’s . That gave Punsri enough chips to play some pots, including the one that burst through the enormous bubble.

In the decisive hand, Chidwick raised for almost all of his nine big blind stack. He left just one chip behind. Punsri called and they saw a flop of . The last chip went in here.

Punsri had while Chidwick had . Although the turn gave Chidwick a flush draw, the river was a brick.

The hand played out all but silently, with Chidwick quickly making his departure and the remaining 13 players settling back to play down to a final table of nine.

Over the other side of the tournament room, Jason Koon was among the last six in the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha event, banking more Player of the Year points as Chidwick missed out on gaining more. Chidwick still has a comfortable lead in that race, but he won’t be quite so relaxed if Koon claims top spot in that one. It concludes tomorrow.

The Luxon Invitation also finishes off, with a characteristic constellation of the game’s biggest stars ready to divvy up this $17.2 million prize pool.

Event #9 – $200,000 NLH Luxon Invitational
Dates: May 18-20, 2023
Entries: 86 (inc. 24 re-entries)
Prize pool: $17,200,000

1 $4,560,000
2 $3,169,000
3 $2,100,000
4 $1,640,000
5 $1,325,000
6 $1,030,000
7 $820,000
8 $636,000
9 $481,000
10 $369,500
11 $369,500
12 $350,000
13 $350,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The Triton Series was founded in Malaysia, the home of its visionaries Paul Phua and Richard Yong. And the country has produced a long series of superlative talents, who have taken to Texas Hold’em as if Kuala Lumpur was somewhere between Dallas and Houston.

One of the absolute very best from this Asian hotbed of poker is Michael Soyza, who learned the game alongside the Triton founders and who has been a fixture on the series since its inception. Tonight, Soyza won the second Triton title of his brilliant career, took his lifetime earnings from all live poker tournaments past $14 million, and put Malaysia on the board for the first time on this trip to Northern Cyprus.

Soyza is the champion of the $75K buy-in Event 8 at Triton North Cyprus, banking $1.735 million. He also had to defeat a customarily formidable field of players, including a final five that featured all of Michael Addamo, Dan Smith and Mikita Badziakouski.

Fortunately for Soyza, he had an enormous chip lead by the time they got short-handed, which allowed him to treat those titans like bunnies. He appeared to be sauntering to the title for almost all of the final table, never being anything short of a dominant leader.

Only when he squared off against Badziakouski heads up did he face real resistance. Badziakouski doubled up twice and brought stacks all but even, and he then took a heroic stab on what turned out to be the final hand, forcing Soyza to dig deep to make an even more heroic call.

Badziakouski was the sixth player Soyza knocked out at the final, so his decision making had been A1 throughout. Even so, finding a call with on a board of must have been tough, with Badziakouski moving all in.

But Soyza did call, forcing Badziakouski to show his .

“We’re here to battle,” Soyza said in his post-game interview, admitting that Badziakouski had him worried for a while.

But Soyza completed the job brilliantly and claimed all the applause. Badziakouski fell narrowly short in his quest for a fifth Triton title, but has $1.2 million to fall back on. Soyza begins life as a double champion, with a new Shamballa Jewels bracelet around his wrist as well.

FINAL DAY ACTION

For the first time at this festival, registration remained open at the start of Day 2, and the predictable last-minute influx of players duly arrived. There were 10 re-entries at the start of play, worth 25 big blinds, and it brought the total entry tally to 87.

That meant a prize pool of $6.525 million and a projected first prize of $1.735 million.

Two of those last-gasp re-entries were still battling after the bubble had burst too — Matthias Eibinger and Addamo — while plenty of the players who had stuck around through a tough Day 1 found it even harder going on Day 2 and left with nothing.

That bubble featured as its starring man another of the Day 2 registrants (or, more correctly, re-registrants), Henrik Hecklen, whose elimination in 14th put everyone into the money.

There were a lot of players clinging on with sub 15 BB stacks as the money moved nearer, and then one of them, Badziakouski, doubled up with through Artur Martirosian’s . Badziakouski’s stack continued to move in the right direction, but Hecklen’s moved elsewhere.

Hecklen got his chips in with pocket tens, called by Dan Smith’s . Smith flopped a jack and Hecklen was raced out.

Short stacks including Ben Heath (who had been chip leader for long periods today) and Santhosh Suvarna breathed a sigh of relief. Hecklen’s departure meant that when they both departed soon after, they dropped by the payouts desk for $131,000 each. Hecklen didn’t need to make that stop.

The next point of order was the final table bubble, and we knew that every step of this tournament would take no more or less than the GTO-approved time. Every Triton field is full of poker’s elite, but when the higher buy-in events get towards their conclusion, the skill levels are at their absolute peaks.

Players make the right decisions in precisely the right amount of time. Even so, we sometimes see some big collisions — and we went from 11 to nine, then nine to seven, in only two hands thanks to two double eliminations.

The first of those skirmishes accounted for both Christoph Vogelsang and Nacho Barbero, and took us to a final. In it, Badziakouski opened with and Barbero moved all-in for his last 1.1 million (14 big blinds) with . Vogelsang, with five big blinds (two of which were in the middle already as blinds and antes), under-called all-in with .

Badziakouski flopped a full house to finish this one off quickly, and send two dangerous players out.

It left us with a final table, which stacked up like this:

Mikita Badziakouski – 3.6 million
Dan Smith – 3 million
Vicheslav Buldygin – 2.2 million
Michael Soyza – 2.2 million
Artur Martirosian – 1.6 million
Michael Addamo – 1.5 million
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 1.3 million
Matthias Eibinger – 805,000
Dylan Linde – 775,000

(Big blind was 80,000.)

The final was only a few hands old when that second double knockout occurred. And remarkably, perhaps, neither of the two short stacks were even involved.

This one was a real cooler, played expertly by Soyza, and it kickstarted his rush to the title. He laid a trap and watched two opponents fall head-first into it.

Artur Martirosian opened the pot from under the gun with a standard min-raise. Martirosian had pocket queens, so nothing wrong with that. Soyza called two seats along, and Triton first-timer Mikalai Vaskaboinikau called too from the big blind. He had . All pretty standard.

There were three of them to a flop of . That was top pair for Vaskaboinikau while Martirosian still had an over-pair. Oh, maybe it’s worth mentioning here that Soyza had .

All the money went in now, and those aces faded everything. It meant that Soyza rocketed up the counts while Vaskaboinikau was officially out in ninth, for $182,500, while Martirosian departed in eighth for $241,500.

The next two eliminations also came quickly, although it was separate hands that accounted for Dylan Linde and then Matthias Eibinger.

Linde was also making his first appearance on the Triton Series here in North Cyprus, and after a few whiffs in the opening events, he picked up $310,000 for this seventh place finish. He had the short stack coming into the final, and his was picked off by Addamo’s pocket queens.

Eibinger’s departure a couple of hands later was one from the book marked “standard” too. He got his chips in with and Viacheslav Buldygin knocked him out with pocket tens.

That proved to be the high point of this final table for Buldygin, however. His quest for a sensational back-to-back triumph finished in a fifth place and with a cheque for $502,500.

After knocking out Eibinger, Buldygin’s chips ended up scattered among all remaining adversaries, before the very last chunk went to Soyza. Soyza found pocket tens this time and open-raised. Buldygin shipped with , Soyza called and then won the race.

Buldygin was disappointed, but it wasn’t quite 48 hours ago since he was walking away with the Event 6 title. So the smile returned quickly.

With four players left, there was an enormous chip disparity. Soyza had close to 100 big blinds and nobody else had more than 20. But each of Badziakouski, Dan Smith and Addamo know their ICM shoving charts absolutely inside out, and it was simply a case of letting fate decide what happened next.

Soyza of course was simply pushing, pushing and pushing, usually collecting blinds and antes unopposed. When Smith tried to get something going and pushed himself, his timing was massively unfortunate. Soyza was sitting behind him with pocket queens and Smith’s was no match.

To further underline how difficult it is to do anything with a short stack and a dominant chip leader, look no further than what happened to Addamo. He scored a double up through Badziakouski when his hit a five on flop and turn to defeat pocket jacks.

But just as the brilliant Australian was hoping to get some momentum and charge for a third title, he found an ace of his own — — and got it in against what turned out to be pocket jacks in Soyza’s hands.

This time the jacks flopped a set and Addamo was done. He went double/bust in two hands. The $796,000 third-place prize was kind of nice, however.

That left two Triton stalwarts heads-up for the title. The four-time winner Badziakouski peered over the table at one of Malaysia’s very best, who had picked up a title in Jeju in 2019, and was last seen heads-up for the Vietnam Main Event. He came second in that one, but it was another million to his name.

In this tournament, Soyza had 99 big blinds to Badziakouski’s 17 BBs, so there was work for do for Badziakouski. He was, however, prepared to dig in for the fight — and to continue to play his game even after Soyza’s many fans poured int the bleachers after the player party kicked out.

Badziakouski was first all-in for 13 blinds with against Soyza’s . The first four cards — — were all OK for Soyza. But the river hit Badziakouski and doubled him up.

They played on. And there was soon another double.

This time, Badziakouski always had the best of it. His beat Soyza’s when they got it all in pre-flop.

Stacks were a lot shallower thanks to the blinds escalating rapidly. But they were very even now. Each player had 30-ish of them.

Blinds had actually just gone up again when the final hand came about. Soyza flopped middle pair while Badziakouski had a gutshot. Money went in on every street before Badziakouski decided to put Soyza to the test, having missed his draw. “Soyza in the blender,” said Randy Lew in the commentary booth.

Soyza was up to it. He made the call that brought the house down, with all the Malaysian contingent having poured into the tournament room chanting his name.

It puts him in great form for tomorrow, where Soyza will sit down in the pros’ side of the draw for the Luxon Pay invitational.

Event #8 – $75,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: May 16-17, 2023
Entries: 87 (inc. 32 re-entries)
Prize pool: $6,525,000

1 – Michael Soyza, Malaysia – $1,735,000
2 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $1,200,000
3 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $796,000
4 – Dan Smith, USA – $623,000
5 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $502,500
6 – Matthias Eibinger, Austria – $391,500
7 – Dylan Linde, USA – $310,000
8 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $241,500
9 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $182,500
10 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $140,500
11 – Christoph Vogelsang, Germany – $140,500
12 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $131,000
13 – Ben Heath, UK – $131,000

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

Two Triton first-timers played deep into the North Cyprus night tonight, eventually settling the first $25,000 single-day turbo event of the festival with a heads-up deal and a rapid conclusion.

The winner was Anatoly Zlotnikov, completing a Russian double on Monday night after his countryman Viacheslav Buldygin took down the $50K tournament that ran alongside this action-packed turbo.

Zlotnikov beat Niko Koop heads up, a matter of minutes after the pair decided to chop the prize money and lock up close to $500K apiece. With $16,000 on the side for the winner, Zlotnikov walked away with $496,100 to Koop’s $480,100.

Both players bettered their entire previous tournament cashes in one fell swoop, giving Triton another new champion to add to its glittering roster. Zlotnikov, whose previous best tournament score was $69,000, will now find his photo alongside the megastars that make the Triton Series their home.

HOW IT PLAYED OUT

There were 83 entries to the event, including 19 re-entries, the rate of which sped up as the end of the registration period approached. Of course, entering or indeed re-entering didn’t guarantee anything, and many of the world’s best players were scattered aside before the money even got close.

Much as in the $50k event taking place at the same time, this turbo raced through its bubble and then landed at a final table in double-quick time.

Ding Biao knocked out both Fedor Holz and Robert Kuhn on the same hand, trimming the field of 13 down to the 11 who would be paid. Biao had pocket jacks as Holz shoved with a raggy queen and Kuhn reshoved with . The jacks held.

After Damir Zhugralin and Dylan Linde went out on the next two hands, it was time for a group hug — sorry, group photo — and time to play some more turbo poker for heaps.

The stacks entering the final looked like this:

Ding Biao — 71 BBs
Niko Koop — 68 BBs
Paul Phua — 61 BBs
Elton Tsang — 39 BBs
Barak Wisbrod — 29 BBs
Linus Loeliger — 21 BBs
Anatoly Zlotnikov — 20 BBs
Phil Nagy — 13 BBs
Santhosh Suvarna — 9 BBs

The final table was, of course, intriguing — made all the moreso by the presence of two players who had already won tournaments this week: Ding and Suvarna. They were bookending the counts at this stage, but things can change so quickly.

They certainly changed for Elton Tsang. He went from middle of the pack to out first, losing a big one to Loeliger’s pocket queens (Tsang had pocket fours), and then being bounced for good by Barak Wisbrod. This time Tsang ran into kings.

After a surprisingly long period without an elimination, Survana then did take the fall. It came after another three-way all-in, with Koop knocking out India’s Triton champion, and doubling up through Zlotnikov at the same time.

Koop had pocket eights, Zlotnikov had and Suvarna had . Suvarna’s tribute to Doyle Brunson didn’t help him today, and even a king wasn’t enough for Zlotnikov. Koop was the only player with a spade and there were four on the board. Survana won $77,800.

If further proof was necessary about how volatile this kind of tournament can be, it came when the next player knocked out was Ding. He had been sitting pretty at the start of the final table, but took a big dip when Wisbrod doubled through his big slick with pocket jacks. Then Ding tried to outlast the blinds going up until he decided to get it in with , only to lose to Zlotnikov’s pocket sevens.

Ding, who won the mystery bounty event, picked up another $99,600 for seventh place in this one.

Phil Nagy was next to depart. The ACR founder was treating this tournament like a home game, and thoroughly enjoying every up and down. He experienced his fair share of both, until he called all-in from the button after Koop had open-shoved, and found out he had a dominated ace.

Nagy’s never caught up against Koop’s . Nagy has four previous Triton Series cashes, and this one earned him another $126,500.

Koop had a decent strategy of shoving any two cards with short stacks behind him, and it accounted for the ever-dangerous Loeliger soon after. Koop shipped, even though he had only the . Loeliger knew he had a very good chance of being ahead with his .

However, Koop flopped a queen and rivered a superfluous four, making two pair and sending Loeliger out. He picked up $161,900.

Zlotnikov wasn’t to be outdone either, and he did his bit by eliminating Wisbrod next. This one was a straight flip, with Zlotnikov’s beating Wisbrod’s . Wisbrod was cashing for the first time on the Triton Series and earned $204,500.

Paul Phua is not only Triton’s founder, he is one of the tour’s most successful players. However, he only managed one cash in Vietnam — meagre by his standards — and hadn’t yet cashed through five tournaments here. That simply wasn’t like Phua.

He remedied things in this turbo, lasting all the way to third. He could go no further, however, and lost with to Zlotnikov’s . Phua earned $265,600 for this one.

With stacks all but even heads-up — Zlotnikov’s 35 BBs versus Koop’s 31 BBs — the duo decided to look at the numbers. Both were playing at their first Triton stop, and were in the money for the first time. They locked up $480,100 each, leaving $16,000 on the side to play for.

It really didn’t take long. On one of the first hands of heads-up play, Koop got it in with pocket tens and Zlotnikov had . Without the kerfuffle of a TV production to worry about, the flop, turn and river was quick. And a in the window was decisive.

There will be more turbo action later in the series, but for now let’s congratulate our latest winner: Anatoly Zlotnikov.

Event #7 – $25,000 NLH 8-Handed Turbo
Dates: May 15, 2023
Entries: 83 (inc. 19 re-entries)
Prize pool: $2,075,000

1 – Anatoly Zlotnikov, Russia – $496,100*
2 – Niko Koop, Germany – $480,100*
3 – Paul Phua, Malaysia – $265,600
4 – Barak Wisbrod, Israel – $204,500
5 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $161,900
6 – Phil Nagy, USA – $126,500
7 – Biao Ding, China – $99,600
8 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $77,800
9 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $59,100
10 – Dylan Linde, USA – $51,900
11 – Damir Zhugralin, Kazakhstan – $51,900

*denotes heads-up deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

If you think elite modern-day poker players don’t ever show their emotions, you haven’t watched Viacheslav Buldygin play. The Russian star contorts his features through every flop, turn and river, seemingly hauling in winners or losers with a grin or a grimace.

And tonight at the Merit Resort & Spa in North Cyprus, Buldygin was doing equal parts smile and scowl: the smiles because he was hitting every card he needed to become champion of the $50,000 7-Handed event on the Triton Series, and the scowls because he knew full well he was getting the run of the deck and seemingly felt he needed to apologise, or at least show some embarrassment.

He really didn’t. Buldygin is a great talent and he also didn’t put a foot wrong as he ran the final table. He managed to knock out six of his last eight opponents, banking $1,342,000.

Asked to describe his animation at the tables, Buldygin told Ali Nejad: “I don’t know what’s going on in my head. Please king come. Please seven come. Please fold, please fold.”

He claimed that he didn’t study poker too much — “Just intuition” — but was happy to reveal his secret as to how he has started cashing far more recently. “I did more rebuys,” he said.

Whatever the truth, there was no one who could match him tonight. Those players cast aside included Jason Koon, falling short in his bid for a seventh title; David Yan, at a second final table inside two days; Punnant Punsri, looking for a second Triton victory; and then Brian Kim, the fearsome American hoping for a Triton first.

Kim lost heads up, banking $920,000, which was more than double his previous best cash.

But today was all about Buldygin, whose name seemed etched on the title from a long way out, and who made sure it stayed there, indelibly.

FINAL DAY ACTION

A field of 104 entries amassed on the opening day, with fewer than 30 remaining when they came back to finish things off.

For the second time this week, we were denied the drama of a protracted bubble period by the simultaneous elimination of two players. With the tournament boards showing 17 players left and 15 due to be paid, both Ben Heath and Soon Ewe were all-in and called on neighbouring tables.

Both were knocked out. Heath’s couldn’t beat Artur Martirosian’s pocket kings. Meanwhile, Ewe’s was no match for David Yan’s pocket aces.

Just like that, we knew the identities of the final 15, each guaranteed a minimum $88,400.

At $50,000, the tournament boasted the biggest buy-in of the trip so far and as buy-ins increase, the willingness of players to stick around with sub 20-big-blind stacks goes up. It usually means that stacks get shallow as they crawl toward a final table.

Such was the case today, as players including Dan Smith, Danny Tang and Henrik Hecklen fell short, but we ended up flying through another crucial stage of the event when we went from 10 to eight in the blink of an eye.

Artur Martirosian and Justin Bonomo busted in 10th and ninth all but simultaneously, which meant the following lined up around the final table:

Brian Kim – 63 BBs
Sean Winter – 30 BBs
Punnat Punsri – 26 BBs
Viacheslav Buldygin – 24 BBs
David Yan – 24 BBs
Teun Mulder – 19 BBs
Jason Koon – 14 BBs
Mike Watson – 8 BBs

Stack sizes dictated the style of play once again, with the number of tricky middle-ranked stacks making ICM considerations paramount. Mike Watson, propping up the counts, no doubt knew his precise shoving ranges and doubtless was in there, especially after Punnat Punsri had open-shoved.

Watson called, saw Punsri’s pocket tens, but didn’t get any assistance from the dealer. The board bricked and Watson, on the very cusp of the dinner break, was able to pass by the payouts desk en route to the buffet. He won $184,500.

Sean Winter’s stack went on an upward trajectory, pushing him up alongside Brian Kim at the top of the counts and allowing them the freedom to play. That was in clear contrast to all of the others, still ICM-shackled.

However Winter tumbled back to join them when he shoved pocket jacks over Viacheslav Buldygin’s open. Buldygin’ called off with pocket queens, held and doubled. So now only Kim and Buldygin had room for manoeuvre.

Jason Koon usually enjoys the freedom of a big stack. His incredible talent for chip accumulation usually makes sure of that. However, he couldn’t get anything going at his second final table of the week, and was forced all-in from the small blind with . Kim found an ace in the big blind and snapped him off. Koon whiffed.

The Triton Ambassador’s title tally sticks at six for the time being, but he picked up $241,000 for his seventh place, further ammunition for battles ahead.

David Yan is another player who has enjoyed a highly profitable trip to North Cyprus so far, and here he was again gunning for the top prizes.

It wasn’t to be for the New Zealander, however, as he became the latest to find an underpair when Buldygin was sitting behind with something bigger.

It was sevens versus nines this time, but the result was the same. Yan didn’t hit and his day was done. He took $306,400 this time around.

Buldygin now had the big stack, big enough to open-shove with impunity and force the tough decisions onto everyone else. Even Kim now was in a rough spot, sitting to Bulgygin’s right.

This state of affairs was the direct cause of the next two eliminations, with Teun Mulder and Winter sacrificing their short stacks to Buldygin. They both got it in very good against the bully, but in hold’em there’s rarely such a thing as a lock.

Buldygin’s beat Mulder’s . Then his bested Winter’s . Mulder won $392,300 for fifth and Winter took $488,000 for fourth. Buldygin just kept on building.

Buldygin had more than 60 blinds while his two opponents had only 20 between them. But the Russian was able to sit back and watch the two bald men fight over the comb. Kim shoved with and Punsri called with . Kim hit both of his cards on the flop, and although Punsri picked up a straight draw on the turn, he whiffed the river.

Kim actually had the smaller stack going into the hand, so Punsri survived with just a couple of blinds. But the blow was all but fatal. The last few chips ended up with Buldygin, whose rivered an ace to beat Punsri’s , which had flopped a king.

Kim had the daunting task of attempting to overturn a three-to-one disadvantage heads-up, particularly difficult when an opponent is playing and running as well as Buldygin. At least it didn’t last long. Kim got his chips in with pocket jacks and Buldygin had .

There was a king on the flop. Of course there was. Buldygin was the champion, and takes the latest Shamballa Jewels bracelet alongside the trophy and the million bucks.

Event #6 – $50,000 NLH 7-Handed
Dates: May 14-15, 2023
Entries: 104 (inc. 41 re-entries)
Prize pool: $5,200,000

1 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $1,342,000
2 – Brian Kim, USA – $920,000
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $603,000
4 – Sean Winter, USA – $488,000
5 – Teun Mulder, Netherlands – $392,300
6 – David Yan, New Zealand – $306,400
7 – Jason Koon, USA – $241,000
8 – Mike Watson, Canada – $184,500
9 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $135,000
10 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $109,000
11 – Henrik Hecklen, Denmark – $109,000
12 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $96,500
13 – Rachid Ben Cherif, Netherlands – $96,500
14 – Dan Smith, USA – $88,400
15 – Steve O’Dwyer, USA – $88,400

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive

The first $5 million prize pool of this Triton Series stop in North Cyprus awarded two $1m+ payouts to two of the series’ relative newcomers. Both picked up the biggest single cashes of their careers and made their presence felt in one of the toughest fields in the world game.

Frenchman Gregoire Auzoux and Germany’s Robert Heidorn agreed a near-even deal heads-up at the end of a rapidly-shallowing $40,000 buy-in tournament, before Auzoux completed a remarkable comeback from a short stack to earn his first title.

It is another brilliant step in a relatively short high roller career for Auzoux. He had a breakthrough series here in Cyprus last September, making two final tables, and he has continued to run deep in high buy-in events across Europe since then.

But today he hit a new high note, banking a total $1,050,024 after downing Heidorn heads-up. He also had to compete with, and eliminate, Justin Bonomo, the player who has won more than any other in live tournament poker, and deny Santhosh Survana a second title of the week.

“My strategy was easy,” Auzoux said after securing his victory. “I was such a short stack when we started. I just played my cards and then quadrupled up in four hands, and then just tightened up. I climbed the ladder and tried to go to the end. Actually, it was a pretty smooth journey. I got lucky when I needed and I got some good cards. I ran like crazy, so it’s thanks to the cards mostly.”

It was a pretty topsy-turvy day for this 39-year-old Frenchman, who wore the same broad smile on his face whether he was down to his last few blinds, or sitting with a massive stack and eliminating the superstars.

“Allez Gregoire!” a supporter shouted from the sidelines shortly after Auzoux took a seat at the final table, ranked close to the bottom of the counts. He grinned at his friend and from that moment on, he had his sights perfectly honed on that win.

Although he and Heidorn opted to take the variance out of things at the very end, nonetheless ensuring seven-figure scores for each of them, Auzoux enjoyed the best of a short finale. At around midnight, it was all done.

Heidorn couldn’t be too disappointed. He had been all-in and at risk on the bubble, and now there he was padding his bankroll by more than $1 million too.

FINAL DAY ACTION

After a slightly shorter opening day, clearing the way for one of Triton’s infamous cash games to play out, a slightly larger-then-usual field of 42 returned to go through the familiar motions.

First, it was all about short stacks either perishing or climbing the ladder — Teun Mulder, Henrik Hecklen, Fedor Holz and Patrik Antonius were among those who busted — and then the focus landed on the bubble. Only 17 places would be paid.

As noted, Heidorn secured the first bubble-up, with pocket queens flopping a set to beat Tom Dwan’s pocket nines. (The nines also completed an irrelevant set on the river.) And Dwan might have thought he could knock out Tim Adams after both players flopped a pair of aces and Dwan rivered two pair, but Adams wriggled away.

It left the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Maher Nouira, particularly after he got all his chips in with pocket eights, called by Dwan again.

Dwan had and note the suits. Nouira certainly did. Even though he flopped a set when the rolled off, he was far from out of the woods.

Nouira began happy, he then seemed anguished, and he then turned away because he couldn’t face the drama. The turn was no problem for him, but when gasps persuaded him to glance over his shoulder at the river, he saw the and that was disastrous.

Nouira became the bubble boy, falling only marginally short of a first Triton cash. Our photographer Joe Giron captured the full story.

The race to the final table now began, with many of the short stacks who had been clinging on being finally hounded out. They included Adams, Michael Addamo and the overnight leader Kevin Paque.

Paque was knocked out in 10th, falling with pocket queens that just happened to run into Heidorn’s aces. And then there were nine.

The tournament final had as its leader the same man who has led poker’s all-time money list for quite a while: Justin Bonomo. But there was also that incorrigible talent Tom Dwan, the online beast Artem Vezhenkov and the winner of the first event here in North Cyprus, Santhosh Suvarna. They stacked up like this:

1 – Justin Bonomo – 59 BBs
2 – Tom Dwan – 48 BBs
3 – Artem Vezhenkov – 48 BBs
4 – Robert Heidorn – 29 BBs
5 – Santhosh Suvarna – 22 BBs
6 – Daniel Dvoress – 18 BBs
7 – Gregoire Auzoux – 12 BBs
8 – Florencio Campomanes – 11 BBs
9 – Samuel Ju – 6 BBs

Although it was far from certain who would be hoisting the trophy at this stage, it was clear that the two players at the bottom of the counts had their work cut out. And unfortunately for Germany’s Samuel Ju and Florencio Campomanes of the Philippines, everyone else seemed to double up except them.

Ju busted with pocket nines to Bonomo’s pocket jacks, winning $125,000. He has only played three tournaments on the Triton Series, all here in North Cyprus, and this was his second cash.

After the break for the mystery bounty draw, Campomanes also found himself seeking alternative entertainment. His lost to Dwan’s . Campomanes picked up $167,500.

France’s Gregoire Auzoux started the final table with only one big blind more than Campomanes, but he managed to enjoy the rub of the green. He doubled up twice to keep himself fully afloat and put the pressure on everyone else, in a rapidly shallowing tournament.

Even so, the next player out came as a surprise. Dwan had been very active, both pre-bubble and post, continually putting those less equipped into spots where they had to gamble for their life. Unfortunately for Dwan, he lost pretty much all of the flips he played at the final.

He then found himself staring at the abyss after he got his stack in in bad shape against one of only two players who could have knocked him out. Bonomo had pocket queens and snap-called after Dwan three-bet shoved his . The board bricked out and Dwan was out in seventh, taking $222,500.

Bonomo was now the only player with a stack bigger than the average 28 big blinds, but it was turning into a tournament where the cards would play a fairly hefty part in deciding the outcome. There wasn’t much wiggle room for any of the players and and significant clashes could mean a rush to the exits.

Vezhenkov quickly found that out, to his peril. His stack had been pretty stable for much of the final table, but it took a hasty nosedive in back-to-back pots against Bonomo and then Auzoux. The second of those was particularly cruel on the Russian online crusher: he three-bet jammed aces over Dvoress’ initial open, only to see Auzoux re-jam from the big blind. Dvoress folded.

Auzoux’s pocket tens were a significant underdog to those rockets, but a ten on the flop changed that. Two blanks on turn and river, and that was all she wrote for Vezhenkov. He won $291,000.

Dvoress had sidestepped that collision after raise/folding, but he lasted only one more hand. In this one, Suvarna looked down at pocket kings and open-shoved. Dvoress found pocket nines and called for the last of his chips.

Though this was a virtual repeat of the previous pot, albeit with one pip less in both hands, there was no repeat of the outcome. This time the better pair stayed best and Dvoress was out.

The $369,000 prize this time was his 17th on the Triton Series, but he remains without a trophy.

One man who definitely does have a trophy is Suvarna. He was the popular winner of the $25K GG Super Million$ Live that kicked off this festival, and his momentum continued into this, the fourth event on the schedule.

Suvarna had looked back to his best as he built up from a short stack, but he then suffered a pretty tough beat at the hands of Heidorn. Suvarna had pocket jacks and was ahead of Heidorn’s when they got it all in pre-flop. But Suvarna ended up counterfeited when the board ran .

That set Heidorn steaming upward and began a decline for Suvarna. He wasn’t able to get anything else going and his tournament ended in a flip against Bonomo. Suvarna’s pocket eights lost the race to Bonomo’s .

Suvarna added $457,500 to his $700K from the other day. That’s still a very fine start to this trip for him.

Every pot now was the difference between taking over the chip lead or being relegated back to the bottom, and it was Bonomo’s turn to be under the cosh. He has, of course, as many skills as any player in the modern game, but he was powerless to halt the twin-pronged attack of Heidorn and Auzoux. The latter, in particular, repeatedly put Bonomo in tough spots.

In one particular hand, Bonomo used up eight time-bank chips when put to a decision on the turn with the board showing . Auzoux had three-bet pre-flop, bet the flop and then jammed the turn.

Bonomo, with laid it down. He was correct, of course. Auzoux had .

The very next hand was Bonomo’s last, however. In this one, Auzoux raised his button with and Bonomo called from the big blind with . The flop of brought a straight draw for Bonomo and top pair for Auzoux. The chips went in but the draw missed.

Bonomo took $552,500 for third place, extending his lead at the top of poker’s money list. But He missed out on a potential seven-figure score.

Auzoux had the chip lead as heads up started. The stacks were:

Auzoux: 16 million
Heidorn: 9 million

But there were only about 60 big blinds between them. They started to play without discussing any split, but after Heidorn doubled with queens against , bringing stacks much closer to parity, they asked to see the numbers.

They chatted for a bit, and Heidorn (the more experienced player) asked Auzoux to give up a little bit more than strict ICM. Auzoux made a counter-offer and they agreed on it. With $40,000, the trophy and the Shamballa Jewels bracelet on the side, they locked up more than a million each.

Auzoux was guaranteed $1,010,024. Heidorn locked up $1,057,976. And off they went again to decide who picked up the remaining shrapnel.

The duo quickly made it plain that they were ready to play. When they both found an ace, all the money went in, and Auzoux doubled up with against Heidorn’s .

That gave him a massive chip lead, and although Heidorn did double back once, with beating , it was only for crumbs.

The very next hand the money was in the middle once more, and Auzoux’s spiked a deuce to beat Heidorn’s .

Auzoux started playing poker back in the early 2000s and said, “When I started playing poker, these stakes didn’t exist.” But it only added to the relish with which he savoured victory. “It means a lot. Winning a title is very, very important. It’s pretty insane, actually.”

Allez Gregoire!

RESULTS

Event #5 – $40,000 NLH 8-Handed
Dates: May 13-14, 2023
Entries: 125 (inc. 42 re-entries)
Prize pool: $5,000,000

1 – Gregoire Auzoux, France – $1,050,024*
2 – Robert Heidorn, Germany – $1,057,976*
3 – Justin Bonomo, USA – $552,500
4 – Santhosh Suvarna, India – $457,500
5 – Daniel Dvoress, Canada – $369,000
6 – Artem Vezhenkov, Russia – $291,000
7 – Tom Dwan, USA – $222,500
8 – Florencio Campomanes, Philippines – $167,500
9 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $125,000

10 – Kevin Paque, Netherlands – $102,500
11 – Thomas Muehloecker, Austria – $102,500
12 – Aleksei Platanovv, Russia – $90,000
13 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $90,000
14 – Michael Addamo, Australia – $82,500
15 – Timothy Adams, Canada – $82,500
16 – Ian Bradley, UK – $78,500
17 – Andrew Chen, Canada – $78,500

*denotes heads-up deal

Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive