It’s supposed to be difficult to win a tournament on the Triton Super High Roller Series, but nobody told Kayhan Mokri that.
The Norwegian high roller enjoyed one of the smoothest passages to a title ever seen on this elite series, blazing through the second day of this event in Monte Carlo, to wrap up a victory worth more than $1 million. It was only 7.15pm by the time Mokri had his hands on his first Triton trophy, two years after his debut.
“Today was my day,” Mokri said with evident delight, adding, “It’s a momentum thing. I had the best cards today and that’s how it is.”
This takes nothing away from the 30-year-old from Oslo, whose results in high buy-in poker tournaments over the past couple of years reveal a player with bags of talent. He has won tournaments of various buy-in levels across the globe, and managed to translate some excellent form into a Triton win too, a series on which he had previously come up short.
“Now I finally won one,” he said. “Now I can relax a bit more.”
Mokri came into the second day of play in Monte Carlo with one of the shortest stacks in the room. But he quickly doubled up twice to move into contention, then continued a fine run as the tournament got short-handed and shallow.
He came to the final placed ninth of nine, but ended up knocking out seven of those adversaries. The last opponent was Lithuania’s Paulius Vaitiekunas, a player who won a first Triton title in Jeju earlier this year. But in the tournament’s final hand, Vaitiekunas took a stand with a flopped pair of fives and a straight draw, running into Mokri’s flopped two pair that became a flush.
Vaitiekunas won $680,000, while Mokri’s final total hit $1,000,5000.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
While the slow conclusion to Event #1 was playing out late on Saturday night/Sunday morning, Event #2 was motoring through its phases. Registration closed with 144 entries through the gates, and they raced through the bubble which burst when Roman Hrabec was knocked out in 24th. Hrabec had 12 big blinds and raised/called it off with pocket sevens, losing to Zhewen Hu’s 
.
A jack on the flop sealed Hrabec’s fate and put the remaining 23 in the money.
Kristen Foxen led the late charge to the payouts desk, busting in the same hand as Lun Loon. When the bags came out for the night, 20 players were left, the average stack was only 24 big blinds, and there was every indication that there would be a sprint to the finish line on Sunday.
Hu and Alex Kulev were all but neck-and-neck at the top of the counts, with former Triton champions Andy Ni, Orpen Kisacikoglu, Zhou Quan, Luc Greenwood and Paulius Vaitiekunas also in the top 10. Attention now turned to the final table, but it was far from guaranteed that a seat was reserved for anyone there.
Hu, for instance, tumbled out in 12th. He lost a huge pot with 
to Patrik Antonius’ 
, which turned a flush. Vaitiekunas took the last of his chips. The last woman in the field, Saya Ono, made it to 13th before perishing to Kayhan Mokri.
Mokri edged his way into the final, which lined up as follows:
Orpen Kisacikoglu – 5.175m (35 BBs)
Marius Kudzmanas – 5.1m (34 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 4.575m (31 BBs)
Paulius Vaitiekunas – 3.525m (24 BBs)
Alex Kulev – 2.85m (19 BBs)
Krasimir Neychev – 2.325m (16 BBs)
Dimitar Danchev – 2.025m (14 BBs)
Zhou Quan – 1.9m (13 BBs)
Kayhan Mokri – 1.325m (9 BBs)
The average stack was only around 25 big blinds, which meant this one was going to be turbulent. China’s Zhou Quan, who considers himself more of a PLO expert than hold’em, resultantly knows all about the ups and downs of tournament poker, but it was a speedy downward ride for him at the final.
His stacked slipped to the smallest at the table, and he then got it all in with 
against Mokri’s . A queen on the flop was the decisive card for Mokri and ended Zhou’s tournament in ninth. That was worth and even $100K.
Things were looking up for Mokri and he also found himself in a lovely spot to double once more. After action folded to Dimitar Danchev in the small blind, the Bulgarian player (one of three at the final) moved all in. It was a standard move, even though he had only 
.
Mokri woke up with 
, and called. There was nothing unusual on the board and the coup left Danchev with fumes. He lost his last chips with pocket tens. Orpen Kisacikoglu’s 
turned a king.
Danchev’s eighth place earned him $125,000.
One Bulgarian on the rail quickly became two. Krasimir Neychev first appeared on the Triton Series at our last event in Montenegro, where he reached the money once from five attempts. This time, he had progressed further than ever before, but became the latest person to run into a resurgent Mokri.
Neychev’s graph had slipped steadily downward since landing at the final, and with only seven blinds, it was a standard shove with pocket sixes in the big blind after Mokri opened from mid-position. Mokri was lurking with aces, and that was the end of the day for Neychev. He won $171,000, the most so far on the Triton Series.
Mokri and Kisacikoglu were now rubbing shoulders at the top of the counts, with the average now not quite 20 blinds. Meanwhile, pocket sixes continued to be something of a bogey hand: Marius Kudzmanas found it next and was knocked out by his Lithuanian countryman Paulius Vaitiekunas.
Kudzmanas is another player who is making his first appearance on the Triton Series here in Monte Carlo and after a whiff in the opening event, got himself comfortably into the black numbers in the second. Sixth place earned him $231,000, locked up after he three-bet shoved those sixes over Vaitiekunas’ raise. But Vaitiekunas’ kings held.
Pressure was now building on everyone, including even Kisacikoglu who lost a massive chunk of his chips with the dreaded pocket sixes. It was a huge skirmish with fellow big stack Mokri, and Mokri’s 
won the race.
Kisacikoglu clung on with a handful of blinds as Mokri turned his attentions to Patrik Antonius. The Monaco resident was playing his customary flawless game, but he got into a race against Mokri and became the latest to lose the flip. Antonius’ pocket fives lost to Mokri’s . It gave Antonius a payout of $298,000 and left Mokri with a sizeable chip lead over his three remaining opponents.
Three rapidly became two as Kisacikoglu’s final chips left his possession. They went, of course, to Mokri, whose beat Kisacikoglu’s 
. The two-time champion from Turkey, via London, hit the rail in fourth for $371,000.
Mokri had more than half the chips in play and could continually torment his two opponents, for whom ICM pressure was now painful. There was a $230K payjump between third and second, with another $320K up to first. Vaitiekunas found a double, though, turning a straight with 
to beat Mokri’s 
.
It left Kulev feeling the heat the most and, worse, he ran into Mokri with a pocket pair of aces. After yet another Mokri button raise, Kulev jammed for 11 big blinds with 
only to find out that Mokri had .
The bullets faded backdoor draws and Kulev was dusted in third, taking that $454,000 prize.
They reset the table for heads up play with Mokri sitting with 47 blinds to Vaitiekunas’ 25. Mokri was a clear favourite, but it was far from a foregone conclusion.
After early jostling, it all came down to two hands. In the first, Vaitiekunas limped with 
and Mokri checked his . That took them to a flop of 
. Mokri check-raised to 1.8 million after Vaitiekunas bet 500K. Vaitiekunas called.
The 
came on the turn and Mokri now bet 1.7 million. Vaitiekunas called. Mokri then jammed after the river and Vaitiekunas found a fold.
That left Mokri with a lead of 40 big blinds to 17 and it wasn’t long before the skirmish that ended it.
Vaitiekunas again started with a limp, holding 
. Mokri checked with his 
. The 
flop had plenty of opportunities for both players and it was no suprise that all the money went in.
Mokri checked, Vaitiekunas bet 500K, Mokri raised to 2.2 million and Vaitiekunas jammed for 10 million. Mokri called and the 
turn followed by the river ended it all.
The TV crew gave Mokri a few minutes’ break while they polished his new trophy. “I like gold,” he said, which is lucky. Much of it has come his way this year.
EVENT 2: $30k NLH 8-HANDED
Dates: November 2-3, 2024
Entries: 144 (inc. 47 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,320,000
1 – Kayhan Mokri, Norway – $1,005,000
2 – Paulius Vaitiekunas, Lithuania – $680,000
3 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $454,000
4 – Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – $371,000
5 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $298,000
6 – Marius Kudzmanas, Lithuania – $231,000
7 – Krasimir Neychev, Bulgaria – $171,000
8 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $125,000
9 – Zhou Quan, China – $100,000
10 – Samuel Mullur, Austria – $84,000
11 – Andy Ni, China – $84,000
12 – Zhewen Hu, China – $73,500
13 – Saya Ono, USA – $73,500
14 – Wai Kin Yong, Malaysia – $67,000
15 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $67,000
16 – Luc Greenwood, Canda – $60,500
17 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $60,500
18 – Juan Pardo, Spain – $54,500
19 – Webster Lim, Malaysia – $54,500
20 – Dan Smith, USA – $54,500
21 – Fedor Holz, Germany, $50,500
22 – Lun Loon, Malaysia, $50,500
23 – Kristen Foxen, Canada, $50,500