The curtain came down on the Triton Series’ third trip to Montenegro with a fast-paced, PLO Bounty Quattro tournament, where each knockout at the tournament’s business end paid an additional $40,000.
As we have come to expect, the man lifting the trophy was born in one of the Nordic countries, but this time it wasn’t Finland.
Denmark’s Martin Dam is another player who has had a quietly sensational trip to Montenegro, cashing in eighth and then 11th of the two tournaments he had played before now. But Dam made the absolute most of his last chance here at the Maestral Resort, winning $250,000 from the regular prize pool and another $280,000 in bounties for a delightful $530,000 total score.
“In bounty tournaments, you have to be quite loose,” Dam said, explaining how he managed to pick up seven of the 11 bounties in play. “It’s in your interests to be so. When there are some six or seven big-blind stacks all-ion, you have to be in it. Luckily I won most of them.”
The 27-year-old, originally from Copenhagen, decided to make his Triton Series debut after completing a move to Vienna, Austria, which has a more favourable tax arrangement for poker players than Denmark. It was a smart move. Dam was only out of the chip lead for the briefest of moments in the tournament’s late stages tonight, and took a big lead into the heads-up phase against Stephen Chidwick.
Then a little after midnight local time, he sent Chidwick packing too, denying the Brit a third title. Chidwick took $179,000, plus $40,000 in bounties, but this was Dam’s tournament all the way.
“Honestly, the experience has been amazing,” Dam said of his first trip to the Triton Series. “You really get a better experience here. Everything is just amazing. I feel great.”
A great feeling for champion Martin Dam
TOURNAMENT ACTION
With levels shortened to 15 minutes, this one was fast and chaotic from the very first deal. Through 10 levels, the cashiers welcomed 41 entries, which meant $1.23 million in the prize pool and a first prize of $250,000. That’s not including the bounties, which weighed in at $40,000 apiece and came into play with 11 players remaining.
The first of those went to Dylan Linde, who cracked Richard Gryko’s kings to take the field down to 10. The next target was to make the money, which would kick in when only seven players were left.
No one had a big stack, but some were less pressured than others. Jason Koon gave himself a bit of breathing room by knocking out Sean Winter in ninth. That left them on the final table bubble, which also happened to be the “other” bubble, so they were split four and four to play hand for hand on two tables.
Although the tournament room was quiet, this was still a dramatic bubble because two players were all in at the same time, one on each table.
Brian Rast was one of them, squaring off against Koon, and in need of some help. The board read and Rast’s needed some kind of miracle against Koon’s .
It looks bleak for Brian Rast…until it didn’t
The came on the turn and Koon said, “You gonna go backdoor fours on me again?” Rast did not reply, but the dealer did. The river was . That runner-runner kept Rast in the tournament.
On the outer table, the short stack was Jonas Kronwitter, but he was looking strong with on a flop of . His opponent Martin Dam had .
The didn’t help Dam. But the river did, and the unlikely turn of events sent Kronwitter to the rail in eighth and the others into the money and to the final. (Koon was 80/20 to win the hand on the first table, by the way, while Kronwitter had 70 percent equity on the other. He was pretty long odds to be walking away with nothing.)
PLO is a cruel game to bubble boy Jonas Kronwitter
They now lined up as follows:
Martin Dam – 2,530,000 (42 BBs)
Brian Rast – 2,010,000 (34 BBs)
Ding Biao – 1,270,000 (21 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 1,255,000 (21 BBs)
Stephen Chidwick – 480,000 (8 BBs)
Ronald Keijzer – 330,000 (6 BBs)
Jason Koon – 330,000 (6 BBs)
Triton Montenegro Event 16 final table players (clockwise from back left): Dylan Linde, Stephen Chidwick, Martin Dam, Ronald Keijzer, Brian Rast, Ding Biao, Jason Koon.
On the very first hand of the final table, there was a massive three-way all-in, which sent Stephen Chidwick climbing up counts, sent Ding Biao tumbling the other way, and left Ronald Keijzer looking for the payouts cage.
Everything went in pre-flop, with Keijzer opening with , Chidwick then jamming with and Biao calling with . Keijzer called too.
The dealer ran through the full board: and Chidwick’s kings and deuces were best. Keijzer’s brief stay at the final earned him $42,000 as Chidwick picked up a bounty.
Ronald Keijzer hits the rail first, but the right side of the bubbleStephen Chidwick won a three-way all in on the first hand at the final
Koon was stranded at the bottom of the counts, but doubled through the chip-leader Martin Dam to stay alive. But it was only a temporary reprieve as his chips found their way in the middle again soon after, and this time got stuck with Rast. (Koon’s tens couldn’t beat Rast’s kings. They both hit three of a kind.)
“GG Triton,” Koon said, making his way out with $51,000 waiting for him in his account, plus a bounty prize.
A final farewell to Montenegro for Jason Koon
Rast now found himself in the chip lead, but an almighty collision with Dam, temporarily relegated to second place, put the Dane back at the top of the pile. Rast raised his button with double-suited jacks and Dam three-bet with kings, an ace and a four, single suited. Rast called.
The last of the money went in on a queen-high flop, and the kings held through turn and river. It was a big, big double for Dam, and when Ding Biao doubled soon after, Rast was the short stack all by himself.
Rast then lost with queens to Dam’s and his tournament was done. It was a nice break for him from commentary duties, and it earned him an extra $67,000.
Brian Rast busts in fifth
Biao was now the shortest stack again and he also ran headlong into Dam to finish his tournament. Biao hit his ace after getting to a flop with . Dam’s flopped a straight draw and hit it on the river.
It was Biao’s second final table of the day, and this one earned him $87,000.
A fourth-place finish for Ding Biao in his second final table of the day
After nearly trebling his stack in the early stages, Chidwick had sat out most of the subsequent skirmishes but was now sitting with only about five big blinds. His double up through Dam not long after Biao’s elimination was most significant not for the number of chips he won, but for the fact it gave him survival for another orbit — time for Dylan Linde to bust.
Linde picked up aces single suited — — and when Dam three-bet his open pre-flop, they could get their whole stacks in at that point.
Dam had a lovely hand of his own — — and the hearts proved crucial as three fell on the board. That was Linde’s last involvement. He tossed his bounty chip to Dam and picked up prize money of $114,000.
Dylan Linde throws his bounty chip to Martin Dam as his tournament ends in third
For the second Triton stop in succession, Chidwick now found himself playing the final heads-up battle of the festival. But this time he really had his work cut out, staring over a six big blind stack at the 49 big blinds with Dam.
The comeback attempt started well. Chidwick cracked aces with his double suited , flopping three spades. But that was about all he could muster. The next time they got it in, Chidwick had to Dam’s .
Runner-up Stephen Chidwick
The flop had an ace on it, but also a ten. Dam faded Chidwick’s full house outs and became our latest champion. Chidwick took $179,000 as runner up.
Dam played three events at his Triton debut and cashed all of them. This turbo win was the icing on the cake. He complemented his $250,000 winner’s prize with seven of 11 bounties available and so disappears back to Austria $530,000 to the good.
A fist bump from Ali Nejad for new champ Martin Dam
RESULTS
Event 16 – $30,000 PLO BOUNTY QUATTRO Dates: May 26, 2024 Entries: 41 (inc. 14 re-entries) Prize pool: $1,230,000 (inc. $440,000 in bounties)
1 – Martin Dam, Denmark – $250,000 (plus $280,000 in bounties)
2 – Stephen Chidwick – $179,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)
3 – Dylan Linde, USA – $114,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)
4 – Ding Biao, China – $87,000
5 – Brian Rast, USA – $67,000 (plus $10,000 in bounties)
6 – Jason Koon, USA – $51,000 (plus $10,000 in bounties)
7 – Ronald Keijzer, Netherlands – $42,000
For the second time in three days, a report from the Triton Series in Montenegro begins with the following line: Samuli Sipila is one of the best pot limit Omaha players in the world.
It first appeared after the 31-year-old Finn won the first event he had ever played under the Triton banner, the $25K PLO tournament that finished on Thursday. And now, remarkably, we’re adding Sipila’s name to the list of multiple Triton champions after he completed victory in the $50K buy-in PLO event and upped his all-time best tournament cash to $839,000.
“Wait, he’s going on the board already!?!” Jason Koon observed from across the room, naming a couple of players who hadn’t won a Triton event despite coming to every stop for years. Sipila is visiting for the first time and is leaving with his picture in the Hall of Fame.
Not only that, but for the second time, Sipila also had to overcome a significant chip deficit entering heads up play, and completed this victory by overhauling the formidable Nacho Barbero. The Argentinian, already a two-time Triton champion, had been the dominant force for the longest period of the final day, but ended up second best to this superlative PLO talent.
Nacho Barbero can’t bear to look
“I had hopes, obviously,” Sipila dead-panned after Ali Nejad asked him if he could possibly have imagined winning two events here in Montenegro. “Obviously there’s a lot of skill. It’s not just going all-in…But, to be fair, I have run really well.”
Three of the last four players in this event were from Finland (they teach PLO in kindergarten in Helsinki) but even in this kingdom of poker giants, Sipila stands tallest. He was keen to pay tribute to the player they all look up to, the long-time PLO legend Patrik Antonius, but Antonius was one of Sipila’s victims as he sailed to this incredible win.
“It’s easier to get better when you have a great group of people around you,” Sipila said, referencing the tight network of Nordic players who have made Montenegro their playground this week. Registration was still open on the PLO Turbo when the this tournament was finished. What price a hat-trick?
Samuli Sipila ‘had hopes’
TOURNAMENT ACTION
The opening stages of the tournament played out in the same room as the PLO Main Event was reaching its dramatic conclusion. The player numbers gradually increased as busted players from the other event strolled across the room to reinvest, while others continued to fire bullets to make sure they were still around when all the short-stacked new entries came blasting at them.
Naturally, action slowed up somewhat once registration had closed, sealing the entry numbers at 61, with $3.05 million in the prize pool. But few could have predicted just how tortuous the tournament would then become, with play stretching hour after hour in the hope of bursting the bubble before bagging for the end of the night.
It was around 4.30 a.m. when things eventually finished. Laszlo Bujtas tried to knock out Alex Komaromi, but lost with kings against aces. It doubled up Komaromi and left Bujtas with not even one blind. Nacho Barbero snaffled that on the next hand, ending Bujtas’s incredibly long day with only his payout from the Main Event much earlier to keep him company.
Eleven players reached for bags, with the toll of this extended bubble evident in the size of some of the stacks.
Day two line-up:
Ding Biao – 2,740,000 (69 BBs)
Patrik Antonius – 2,365,000 (59 BBs)
Nacho Barbero – 2,095,000 (52 BBs)
Samuli Sipila – 1,750,000 (44 BBs)
Danny Tang – 1,635,000 (41 BBs)
Alex Komaromi – 490,000 (12 BBs)
Chris Parker – 275,000 (7 BBs)
Eelis Parssinen – 270,000 (7 BBs)
Aku Joentausta – 220,000 (6 BBs)
Lautaro Guerra – 215,000 (5 BBs)
Jason Koon – 145,000 (4 BBs)
The most interesting subplot involved the seven big blinds belonging to Chris Parker. During earlier Day 1 conversation, Parker had told his tablemates that he had a flight booked for early on Sunday that would preclude his involvement in Day 2. The gist of the advice from Nacho Barbero and Jason Koon, among others, was that he should change it, but Parker revealed how difficult that might be. He was jetting in to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix early on Sunday, and landing slots were all booked up. Understanding that this was no ordinary flight for no ordinary purpose, Parker’s table-mates kept quiet and tucked the information away.
On Sunday, Parker’s stack was indeed unattended as play got started. By that point, its owner was probably sipping champagne in a paddock somewhere. The shepherds of three other short stacks wondered if they’d be able to outlast the rudderless ship. And, as it turned out, they couldn’t.
Chris Parker’s stack, foreground, begins its laddering
Lautaro Guerra, Koon and Aku Joentausta all lost the last of their chips in early exchanges, which meant Parker laddered up to eighth. The $115K he won will be wired to him, no doubt.
For what it’s worth, none of the three others could really do much about it. Guerra ran tens into queens. Koon came out the wrong side in two unraised pots without any cards of note to give him hope. And then Joentausta had an ace, flopped another one, but lost to Eelis Parssinen’s two pair.
Guerra and Koon min-cashed for $76,300 each. Joentausta took $87,000. Then when the dead stack was exhausted, they settled around a final table of seven. Biao still led, but most of the others at least now had workable stacks.
Triton Montenegro Event 15 final table players (clockwise from back left): Biao Ding, Patrik Antonius, Danny Tang, Nacho Barbero, Eelis Parssinen, Samuli Sipila, Alex Komaromi.
After making the final table of the PLO Main Event to keep his lead in the Player of the Year race, Danny Tang had kept the momentum going and landed back at another FT with another stab at a sixth career win.
But as quickly as he is learning the subtleties of PLO, he is understanding its viciousness too. Tang was the first out from the final, losing with aces. Not just pocket aces, but a turned set in fact. It’s just that Nacho Barbero had already flopped a straight.
Tang picked up another $146,000 for seventh place, and a handful more Player of the Year points. There’s only one event left, it’s getting very close now for Tang.
Danny Tang busts, but more PoY points
Alex Komaromi had squeezed through the bubble thanks to the big hand against Bujtas last night/this morning, and had now laddered another spot at the final despite having only five big blinds. He became Barbero’s latest victim when the Argentinian filled a boat with the king of hand you’ll play against a micro-stack, but would probably otherwise toss away.
Komaromi’s maiden Triton cash was worth $186,000.
Alex Komaromi survived fraught bubble and stuck around for sixth
Three of the last five players were from Finland, but the next elimination came about when the last South American took on the final Asian representative. Barbero was in one of those grooves where he could do no wrong, and was providing an unceasing monologue as he was also hoovering up Biao’s chips.
Biao had held on to the chip lead for a long time, before Barbero’s surge, but his pre-flop three-bet holding secured a call from Barbero’s .
Biao flopped top pair and jammed, but Barbero had flopped two pair. His hand then straightened out through turn and river. “Nice to play with you,” Barbero said and Biao hit the rail. Biao won this event in Jeju earlier this year, but had to settle for fifth in his defence. It came with $238,000.
Ding Biao’s title defence ends in fifth
With four players left, the Finnish wall lost its first brick. Eelis Parssinen has cashed four times on the Triton Series and made three final tables, all of them in PLO tournaments. He had to make do with fourth this time, though, with his countryman Samuli Sipila applying the finishing touches.
Parssinen’s flopped a straight when the dealer put the out there. But Sipila had queen blockers (two of them) and a flush draw and was happy to get chips in to cover Parssinen on the flop.
The on the river gave Sipila the flush to send Parssinen out in fourth. He won $300,100.
Yet more PLO success for Eelis Parssinen
Two Finns were left, but Barbero had them covered by an enormous amount. And not even a player of Patrik Antonius’ calibre could mount a comeback. Barbero made a flush in a big pot against Antonius to leave the Antonius very short. And then Sipila took the last three blinds of his countryman, leaving Antonius heading home in third for $390,000.
Patrik Antonius becomes Finn number two to depart the final
As they prepared for heads-up play, Barbero talked to a video team and explained, “I am running very hot. I made the nuts many times and eliminated many players.” It really was that easy for him at this stage. Barbero had 9,100,000 (91 BBs) to Sipila’s 3,100,000 (31 BBs). We had seen Sipila overhaul a bigger heads-up deficit in the $25K PLO earlier this week, but could he do it again?
Let’s put it this way. He is a very good pot limit Omaha player. The blinds went up a couple of times and Sipila remained within one double up of levelling the stacks. And then in the first really grim cooler of the heads-up phase of play, he did just that.
Barbero picked up and limped. Sipila looked at and raised. Barbero called.
The flop was destined to see action. It came . Sipila had the jack but Barbero’s pocket fours meant he already had a boat.
Samuli Sipila played another long and flawless heads up match, this time against Nacho Barbero
It went bet (Sipila), raise (Barbero), call, with the turn now giving Sipila the better hand. Sipila slowed to a check, but Barbero saw no reason to slow down. He bet and Sipila called. The river was inconsequential, but Sipila checked again.
Barbero jammed, Sipila called, and he scored the full double thanks to the bigger boat. They suddenly had 40 blinds apiece.
Frustration builds for Nacho Barbero
Barbero is made of stern stuff, and although Sipila nosed ahead, he bounced back to regain a sizeable lead. But then came another major coup that gave Sipila a double: the Finn’s made a flush and earned Sipila the maximum.
They went on a tournament break and returned to stacks of 36 blinds (Sipila) to 13 (Barbero). And it was now Barbero’s turn to hit a river to double. They got to a flop of for one raise, then got everything else in at that point.
Sipila led with but was vulnerable to Barbero’s . The turn was another four, but the river hit Barbero’s flish and doubled him back into the lead.
But not for long. With everything now incredibly tight indeed, they took two premiums to a flop in a three-bet pot. Barbero had and Sipila had .
Samuli Sipila remains unflustered throughout
The rest of the money went in on the flop and Sipila’s flopped set did not come unstuck. That left Barbero with only a handful of blinds and they went in the next hand. Sipila made this one stick.
Sipila’s finished with a straight on the board of , cracking Barbero’s kings.
Sipila had done it once again. He is a very good pot limit Omaha player. You heard it here last.
Full details of everything that happened at the Triton Super High Roller Poker Series at the Maestral Resort, Montenegro, which ran from May 12-26, 2024.
EVENT #16 – $30,000 PLO BOUNTY QUATTRO TURBO
Martin DamDAM BLASTS THROUGH BOUNTY TO GO THREE-FROM-THREE ON DEBUT
The Vienna-based Dane Martin Dam cashed all three PLO events he played in Montenegro and brought the curtain down on the festival with a dominant win in the Bounty Quattro turbo, for a total $530K score.
Top five finishers:
1 – Martin Dam, Denmark – $250,000 (plus $280,000 in bounties)
2 – Stephen Chidwick – $179,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)
3 – Dylan Linde, USA – $114,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)
4 – Ding Biao, China – $87,000
5 – Brian Rast, USA – $67,000 (plus $40,000 in bounties)
Samuli SipilaSIPILA COMPLETES SENSATIONAL PLO DOUBLE
Samuli Sipila has only ever played three Triton tournaments, all in Montenegro. He has now won two of them. The 31-year-old survived a final table featuring four players from Finland, and downed Nacho Barbero heads up.
Top five finishers:
1 – Samuli Sipila, Finland – $839,000
2 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $596,300
3 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $390,000
4 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $300,100
5 – Ding Biao, China – $238,000
Chris FrankFRANK HITS OMAHA JACKPOT TO LAND PLO MAIN EVENT
Vienna-based German Chris Frank said he began focusing on PLO because he figured it gave him his best chance of success. With a barnstorming victory in the biggest PLO event ever held at the Triton Series, he made good on the claim.
Top five finishers:
1 – Chris Frank, Germany – $2,008,910*
2 – Dylan Weisman, USA – $1,666,090*
3 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $982,000
4 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $795,000
5 – Tomas Ribeiro, Portugal – $635,000
Samuli SipilaSIPILA GETS NORDIC PLO CHARGE OFF TO WINNING START
A whole new cohort of players arrived to Montenegro for the PLO portion of the schedule, and one of their leading lights, Finland’s Samuli Sipila, led the way with a heads-up clinic to deny Mikalai Vaskaboinikau a back-to-back triumph.
Top five finishers:
1 – Samuli Sipila, Finland – $535,000
2 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $371,000
3 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $242,000
4 – Klemens Roiter, Austria – $195,000
5 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $156,000
Wiktor MalinowskiMALINOWSKI FULFILS ‘IMITLESS’ POTENTIAL WITH $200K WIN
It was the biggest buy-in event on the Triton schedule in Montenegro, and one of the online game’s most fearless stars, Wiktor Malinowski, landed his biggest ever tournament score, denying Adrian Mateos a second of the trip.
Top five finishers:
1 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – $4,789,000
2 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $3,292,000
3 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland – $2,157,000
4 – Mike Watson, Canada – $1,748,000
5 – Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus – $1,405,000
Nick PetrangeloPETRANGELO’S TRITON TROPHY HUNT GETS STARTED IN TURBO
American pro Nick Petrangelo finally managed to get over the line in the first single-day turbo event of the trip to Montenegro. Petrangelo beat Lewis Spencer heads up but immediately targeted even bigger wins on the tour.
Top five finishers:
1 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $775,000
2 – Lewis Spencer, UK – $556,000
3 – Dylan Linde, USA – $362,000
4 – David Yan, New Zealand – $273,000
5 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $212,000
Mikalai VaskaboinikauVASKABOINIKAU VANQUISHES ALL EN ROUTE TO MAIN EVENT WIN
The elite of world poker was no match for occasional Triton visitor Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, who dreamt of one day winning the Triton Main Event title, and then turning that dream into reality–and a $4.7 million payday.
Top five finishers:
1 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $4,737,000
2 – Dejan Kaladjurdjevic, Montenegro – $3,196,000
3 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $2,200,000
4 – Phil Ivey, USA – $1,795,000
5 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $1,430,000
Alex KulevPARENTS SPUR KULEV TO $100K TRITON TRIUMPH
In a tense heads-up battle with Thomas Santerne, Alex Kulev’s parents completed a long journey to watch their son play poker–and their presence gave the young Bulgarian the impetus to go on to claim the title.
Top five finishers:
1 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $2,566,000
2 – Thomas Santerne, France – $1,735,000
3 – Xu Liang, China – $1,127,000
4 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $933,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $752,000
Adrian MateosMATEOS WINS MARATHON TO LAND SECOND TITLE
A monster turnout pushed the $50K event into an unscheduled third day, but Spain’s Adrian Mateos had all the skill to last the distance and wrap up a $1.8m payday and another trophy for his parents’ mantle.
Top five finishers:
1 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $1,761,000
2 – Justin Saliba, USA – $1,188,000
3 – Joe Zou, China – $818,000
4 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $667,000
5 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $532,000
Igor YaroshevskyyYAROSHEVSKYY’S SHORT-STACK COMEBACK EXTENDS HAXTON’S WAIT
Ukraine’s Igor Yaroshevskyy has made at least one final table at each of his previous trips to the Triton Series and emerged from the Montenegro Bounty Quattro with a maiden title, denying Isaac Haxton once again.
Top five finishers:
1 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $1,172,000 (inc. $120K in bounties)
2 – Isaac Haxton, USA – $896,000 (inc. $180K in bounties)
3 – Punnat Punsri, Thailand – $773,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
4 – Dimitar Danchev, Bulgaria – $690,000 (inc. $300K in bounties)
5 – Shyngis Satubayev, Kazakhstan – $463,000 (inc. $150K in bounties)
Artsiom LasouskiFIRST CASH, FIRST TITLE FOR DEBUTANT LASOUSKI
Many Triton regulars have played this tour for many years and are yet to land a title. But Artsiom Lasouski is already a champion, winning only the third tournament he’s ever played and from his first in-the-money finish.
Top five finishers:
1 – Artsiom Lasouski, Belarus – $669,000
2 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $452,000
3 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $311,000
4 – Nikita Kuznetsov, Russia – $253,000
5 – Samuel Ju, Germany – $202,000
Mike WatsonWATSON LANDS HOLD’EM WIN TO COMPLETE TRITON SET
With titles already in short deck (two) and PLO, Canada’s Mike Watson only needed a hold’em title to complete his Triton set. And he managed it in the third Montenegro tournament, earning the first seven-figure payday of the trip.
Top five finishers:
1 – Mike Watson, Canada – $1,023,000
2 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $691,000
3 – Ding Biao, China – $475,000
4 – David Yan, New Zealand – $387,400
5 – Morten Klein, Norway – $309,000
Andy NiDOUBLE KNOCKOUT SECURES WIRE-TO-WIRE TRIUMPH FOR NI
The $25K NLHE event ended in a spectacular collision when Andy Ni knocked out both of his last two opponents on the same hand and earned his first ever victory on the Triton Series.
Top five finishers:
1 – Andy Ni, China – $785,000
2 – Nicolas Chouity, Lebanon – $531,000
3 – Chris Brewer, USA – $354,000
4 – Aram Sargsyan, Armenia – $290,000
5 – Viacheslav Buldygin, Russia – $233,000
EVENT #1 – $25,000 GG MILLION$ LIVE – NLH 8-HANDED
Chris MoneymakerBOOM TIME AGAIN AS MONEYMAKER SECURES TRITON TRIUMPH
One of modern poker’s most recognisable figures came of age as a high roller when Chris Moneymaker, the man responsible for the poker boom of the early 2000s, scored a maiden Triton Series title.
Top five finishers:
1 – Chris Moneymaker, USA – $903,000
2 – Brian Kim, USA – $609,000
3 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $419,000
4 – Ding Biao, China – $341,000
5 – Danilo Velasevic, Serbia – $272,000
As he filled in a questionnaire sent to players before they arrive on the Triton Series, Christopher Frank described his poker dream. “To win a big tournament, obviously,” he wrote.
Tonight, Frank can consider that achievement unlocked.
The 29-year-old German, based in Vienna, came to Triton Montenegro to play just the pot-limit Omaha phase of this festival, and today took down the $100K buy-in PLO Main Event for a career-best score of a little more than $2 million. It was the first time Triton had hosted a PLO Main Event and the first time Frank had made it to a final.
He achieved his victory in the style of a man who could grow accustomed to this.
Frank agreed an ICM chop with American PLO specialist Dylan Weisman when Frank was a big chip leader entering heads-up play. Weisman banked $1,666,090, with the rest of the 83-entry field having departed. They still had enormous stacks going into heads-up and opted to take the variance out of it a bit by agreeing the deal, leaving $70,000 to play for.
Dylan Weisman secured a career-best score with his second place
But Frank completed the job for which he had laid the foundation during a long first day, a tense pre-bubble period, and then a high octane final table. He was obviously and visibly delighted, racing to friends on the outer tables when they agreed the chop and he guaranteed himself that enormous score. And then as he talked to reporters at the end, he expressed that joy some more.
“I’m feeling very good, it’s a very nice feeling,” he said, adding that he was slightly numbed and was expecting things to sink in tomorrow. He said he came to Triton for the PLO because he thought: “People are worse at it, so I thought I’d have a shot.”
This field was stacked with some of the very best PLO players in the world, and Frank can count himself among them. As he wandered away from the table, he received congratulatory fist-bumps from Danny Tang and Phil Ivey, and a hug from Sami Sipila, yesterday’s PLO winner.
This is the company you keep when you’re a Triton champion.
“I really like these events. I really want to be back,” he said.
Chris Frank receives his Jacob & Co timepiece
TOURNAMENT ACTION
Day 2 began with 25 left and Michael Duek leading the charge. The American was another drawn to the Triton Series for the very first time this week, specifically for the PLO portion of the schedule. After whiffing the $25K, he was perfectly placed to make the trip worthwhile in the Main Event.
The opening stages of the second day were as one might expect: plenty of players headed to the rail, with others building for the final. The Triton regs Jason Koon, Isaac Haxton and Phil Ivey couldn’t survive, and we pushed on to a very tense bubble period.
Dylan Weisman got to a queen-high flop with Zhou Quan. Then all the money went in, with Weisman the effective stack. Weisman’s aces had been outdrawn by Quan’s queens, which filled up on the turn. Staring at elimination, an ace fell on the river to give Weisman a bigger boat. Quan joined the short stacks.
Mads Amot lost a massive pot to Laszlo Bujtas to bust. Then Manuel Stojanovic followed him to the door. They were playing soft hand-for-hand, which allowed for plenty of downtime and plenty of chatter. Weisman, Jonas Kronwitter and Eelis Parssinen pondered aloud what the difference was betwen a regular Triton event and a Main Event.
“You get a bigger trophy,” they observed, before learning that they were also playing for the beautiful Jacob & Co watch. They headed over to the display plinth to check it out. “Chris, do you only get a ‘Champion’ hat from the Main Event?” they asked Mr Brewer. He told them hats came with every tournament win, just about the time that Samuli Sapila came into the room wearing the one he won in the $25K PLO yesterday.
The exclusive Jacob & Co watch is worth a second look
“I figure this is one of the only places I can get away with wearing it,” Sipila said.
Seth Davies and Masahi Oya played a huge pot on the feature table, with almost precisely equal stacks. Both players had a straight, but Davies had the bottom end and Oya had the higher. It left Davies with only 10,000 in chips, or one third of a big blind.
Seth Davies was reprieved on the bubble
With Davies now all but certain to be the bubble boy, everyone but the big stacks folded immediately. Martin Dam folded his hand without even picking it up, and Brewer said, “I’m only looking for the fun of it.”
But Davies then won the next pot he entered and emerged with 70,000 chips, having won the ante plus three other blinds. When he more than doubled his stack again on the next hand, he had seven big blinds and could adjust his expectations again.
He had a ringside seat for what actually transpired to be the bubble hand. And he didn’t have any chips over the line. Instead, Davies watched Tomas Ribeiro raise his small blind and Oya peel in the big.
The flop fell . Oya checked. Ribeiro bet. Oya check-raised. Ribeirio jammed. Oya put his last chips over the line, knowing he had a three and two hearts in his hand. The problem was, Ribeiro also had a three, with a bigger kicker. And when the hearts missed, Oya was out.
The worst place to be for Oya Masashi
Having been so close to bursting the bubble from the winner’s side, Oya was now taking the walk himself as the last player without a cash. The rest of them had a minimum $152,000 coming their way.
The final table had seven seats, although Davies wasn’t able to stick around long enough to claim one. Neither was Brewer, Quan, Dam or even Duek, with the overnight leader busting in 10th. When Kronwitter and Sean Winter hit the rail in ninth and eighth, respectively, the last seven were sent to dinner.
They came back to the following stacks:
Laszlo Bujtas – 4,555,000 (91 BBs)
Chris Frank – 4,310,000 (86 BBs)
Dylan Weisman – 3,815,000 (76 BBs)
Danny Tang – 2,980,000 (60 BBs)
Eelis Parssinen – 2,930,000 (59 BBs)
Tomas Ribeiro – 1,665,000 (33 BBs)
Benjamin Tollerene – 495,000 (10 BBs)
Triton Montenegro Event 13 final table players (clockwise from back left): Ben Tollerene, Eelis Parssinen, Danny Tang, Chris Frank, Laszlo Bujtas, Tomas Ribeiro, Dylan Weisman.
Not many of Triton’s no limit hold’em specialists stayed in Montenegro to play PLO, but those that did made their presence felt in both four-card tournaments held so far. In this event, Ben Tollerene and Danny Tang had made it all the way to the final table, despite clearly preferring hold’em.
The PLO wizards didn’t let them get much further, however, with Tollerene busting to Tang early on, and then Tang losing a huge pot to Bujtas soon after. Ribeiro then finished Tang off.
With only 10 blinds after dinner, Tollerene knew he would be up against it. His last seven blinds went in with against Tang’s . Tang raise pre-flop, Tollerene called and then Tang jammed the flop.
Tang hit another spade to end with a flush, while Tollerene ended with $391,000 for seventh.
Ben Tollerene taps the table before he heads away
Even making the money in this event had given Tang’s hopes of landing the coveted Ivan Leow Player of the Year award a huge boost, but he obviously had designs on a sixth Triton title too. The hand against Tollerene gave him hope, but a massive collision with Bujtas all but snuffed it out.
Tang flopped top two pair with his , but he was always behind Bujtas, whose flopped top set and ended with a flush.
They bet all the way, before Bujtas jammed the river. It left Tang on fumes. He perished with queens against aces, all-in pre-flop. He turned a straight draw, but missed. Tang took $495,000 for sixth and now just needs Phil Ivey and Jason Koon *not* to win either of the last two PLO tournaments to lock up the PoY. (There are various combinations, but that’s the gist of it.)
Danny Tang can still hope to win Player of the Year
Bujtas held the chip lead for long periods heading to the bubble, and though Chris Frank managed to nudge in front of him, the hand against Tang put him in command once more. But only until Frank got going again.
The German won two sizeable pots, back to back, knocking out Ribeiro first of all and then taking a big one from Bujtas. In Ribeiro’s last hand, Frank had to Ribeiro’s . Ribeiro limp/three-bet pre-flop and got the rest in on the flop. But Frank managed to find the on the river to fill a straight and crack the aces.
Tomas Ribeiro gets his chips in. They dd not come back
He then won nearly as much from Bujtas when he got involved in a pot with double suited pocket queens, and ended up with three fours after two came on flop and river. It was enough.
Frank quickly extended his lead: he had 159 blinds ahead of Bujtas’ 50, Weisman’s 37 and Parssinen’s 14. And very soon those chips of Parssinen landed in Frank’s stack too.
Parssinen flopped a set with on a flop of . Frank had but the turn gave Frank the straight.
That gave Parssinen his third Triton PLO cash, worth $795,000 this time.
Eelis Parssinen does not like what he sees
This was now very lopsided. Frank was sitting with 16.25 million chips, or 130 big blinds. Bujtas had 2.95 million (24 BBs) and Weisman had 1.55 million (12 BBs). Frank therefore had nearly 80 percent of the chips in play. Even the exceptional PLO talents that are Weisman and Bujtas were staring at a precipitously uphill battle.
The only way Frank could likely come under pressure seemed to be if Weisman and Bujtas went at one another, doubling one of them up at the other’s expense. And that’s essentially what happened, with Weisman seizing the chance to first take some chips from Frank and then cannibalise the fellow short stack Bujtas.
Weisman got a double with against Frank’s . Frank flopped a king for top pair, but Weisman’s aces were better.
That put Weisman ahead of Bujtas and meant that when Weisman’s flopped a straight and faded Bujtas’ flush draw, Bujtas was out. Bujtas, known as OMAHA4ROLLZ, won $982,000 for third place. He is hunting a second title, of course, but will need to come again another day for that.
Laszlo Bujtas bounced in third
With Bujtas out the way, Frank and Weisman quickly agreed to look at the numbers, and barely took any time to agree a deal, the first in any tournament during this trip to Montenegro.
Frank had a lead of 119 BBs to Weisman’s 47, but the ICM calculation locked up $1,938,910 for the former and $1,666,090 for the latter. There was $70,000 to play for, plus the trophy and the watch. It was already both players’ biggest live tournament score.
Deal negotiations
This was now a winner-takes-all heads-up battle for $70K and a very, very nice timepiece. And both parties gave it the respect it deserved.
Unfortunately for Weisman, Frank’s momentum continued. He steadily grew his lead even further, with Weisman then losing all but one big blind of his stack in a particularly gross cooler. Frank had . Weisman had and both players checked flop and turn as the dealer put the out there.
The river gave Frank a full house and filled Weisman’s straight. It almost all went in, and almost all went to Frank.
That solitary blind vanished on the next hand, with Frank filling a tournament-winning flush. It was over, with Chris Frank beginning life as a new Triton champion.
Christopher Frank: Focused on the win
RESULTS
Event 13 – $100,000 PLO MAIN EVENT Dates: May 24-25, 2024 Entries: 83 (inc. 36 re-entries) Prize pool: $8,300,000
1 – Chris Frank, Germany – $2,008,910*
2 – Dylan Weisman, USA – $1,666,090*
3 – Laszlo Bujtas, Hungary – $982,000
4 – Eelis Parssinen, Finland – $795,000
5 – Tomas Ribeiro, Portugal – $635,000
6 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $495,000
7 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $391,000
8 – Sean Winter, USA – $298,000
9 – Jonas Kronwitter, Germany – $221,000
10 – Michael Duek, USA – $176,000
11 – Martin Dam, Denmark – $176,000
12 – Zhou Quan, China – $152,000
13 – Chris Brewer, USA – $152,000
14 – Seth Davies, USA – $152,000
The biggest buy-in tournament on Triton’s latest trip to Montenegro went tonight to one of the biggest stars in poker who hadn’t yet got a title to his name.
Wiktor Malinowski, 29, might not be familiar to everyone, but his online alias “Iimitless” is one of the most feared at the virtual tables, where he is a match for absolutely anyone. He is a relentlessly aggressive player, applying ceaseless pressure on each and every opponent. It sometimes means he flames and dies; other times he burns to the title.
Renowned mostly as a nosebleed cash-game player, he also has a fine tournament resume, and he once had a massive chip lead coming into a Triton Main Event final in Cyprus. That one ended in a third place, but this time he went the distance. And what a time to do it.
The buy-in was $200,000, there was $18.6 million in the prize pool and a first prize of $4,789,000. Malinowski, who was chip leader coming into the final, closed out the tournament by downing Adrian Mateos heads-up. Not many people do that. He even had the confidence to reject a heads up deal.
Wiktor Malinowski and Adrian Mateos come together at the end
When we flesh it out even further, and add the detail that the final table also included Jason Koon, Mikita Badziakouski, Steve O’Dwyer, Mike Watson, Jonathan Jaffe and Nick Petrangelo, you get an idea of how good this victory is.
“The table was very tough,” Malinowski admitted. “Many great players.” But he added that his online schooling gives him the confidence to take on anybody, and to prevail.
“I knew when I was coming to the final the job was not done,” he said. “I had had this chip lead before, so I had to stay focused.
“It’s the best feeling. There are so many moments in poker when it’s not so good, so when you win it feels very special.”
This is his biggest single tournament score, and pushes career earnings past $11 million. It is overdue. His potential is truly limitless.
Wiktor Malinowski: Job done
TOURNAMENT ACTION
At the planning stage of the schedule for this trip to Montenegro, organisers weren’t sure whether to schedule two or three days for the $200K event. A buy-in like that may not appeal to the faint hearted. However, it quickly became apparent that the third day was very much the right call as 61 players sat down and put up 93 entries between them. It meant $18.6 million in the prize pool and another almighty event.
Every single seat was filled with a superstar, and even as plenty hit the rail after registration closed, the quality never dipped at all. Only 15 places were due to be paid, however, and so there was serious money quickly on the line.
For Danny Tang, there was even more than that. He is chasing the Player of the Year title, and currently sits at the top of the leader board. But he has players of the calibre of Phil Ivey, Dan Dvoress and Jason Koon breathing down his neck, all of whom will also take to the PLO tables. So it’s not yet a lock for Tang.
His elimination just short of the money in the $200K clearly hurt. And it brought them down to the most nervy stages with 16 players over two tables.
Danny Tang maintains a slender PoY lead
In comparison with previous boisterous bubbles, this one took place in an icy silence for the most part. It wasn’t the buy-in. nor even the €300K+ min-cash, it was more that this was the last no limit hold’em event of the trip and a last chance to make a big score (or get unstuck).
The first player to face the threat of elimination was Bryn Kenney. But he and Steve O’Dwyer had the same hand and chopped. They both ended with a Broadway straight. “Nuts, nuts!” Paul Phua observed, pointing at each player’s hand in turn.
On the outer table, Christoph Vogelsang and Adrian Mateos played a monster. These were the players ranked second and third in the chip counts, so this was serious. Mateos shoved the river, covering Vogelsang, and the German took a while before folding, vaulting Mateos to the top of the counts.
Tough decisions on the bubble for Mikita Badziakouski
O’Dwyer was next with his head on the chopping block. But his pocket queens doubled through Mikita Badziakouski’s and it left Badziakouski with four big blinds. No fear: he called a min-raise from Jason Koon in the big blind, flopped two pair to double. Then he took up against Phua’s and hit two sixes on the board. That was another double.
The long period of hand-for-hand extended all the way to the scheduled dinner break. So the tournament director sent the last 16 for a 45-minute break as they pondered the bubble.
On their return, it didn’t take too long until Santhosh Suvarna put everyone out of their misery at the expense of his own tournament well-being.
Santhosh Suvarna’s pain is the rest of the field’s gain
Suvarna got his chips in as a three-bet shove with pocket nines over Badziakouski’s open. But Badziakouski called with to set up a flip, which he then won thanks to two kings appearing on flop and river. Suvarna was the 16th-place finisher. Everyone else could now focus on the final.
Phua bust next. Followed by Patrik Antonius, Ding Biao, Kenney, Vogelsang and finally Stephen Chidwick, which set up the final table. Just look at the quality in the six players who narrowly *missed* the final. This tournament was ridiculously good.
Stephen Chidwick fell one spot short of another final table
But there was only room on the final day for the following:
Wiktor Malinowski – 5,025,000 (63 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski – 2,665,000 (33 BBs)
Jason Koon – 2,020,000 (25 BBs)
Jonathan Jaffe – 1,945,000 (24 BBs)
Steve O’Dwyer – 1,840,000 (23 BBs)
Mike Watson – 1,785,000 (22 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 1,585,000 (20 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 1,000,000 (13 BBs)
Matas Cimbolas – 770,000 (10 BBs)
Triton Montenegro Event 11 final table players (clockwise from back left): Nick Petrangelo, Matas Cimbolas, Adrian Mateos, Wiktor Malinowski, Mike Watson, Jason Koon, Mikita Badziakouski, Steve O’Dwyer, Jonathan Jaffe
Although he is a familiar face on the tournament tables of Europe, Lithuania’s Matas Cimbolas is a relative newcomer to the Triton Series, making his debut in Jeju and returning for more in Montenegro. He made his way into the money of the Main Event, busting in 16th, and was then still involved during the tense bubble stages of the $200K.
Despite a short stack, Cimbolas mostly stayed out of dangerous situations, navigating his way into the final. And he found a very good hand with which to speculate his last 10 blinds as well: , against Mike Watson’s .
Although it was only a virtual all-in pre-flop, the last of Cimbolas’s chips went in on the turn, by which point the dealer had placed a queen on the flop. That marked a come-from-behind win for Watson, and sent Cimbolas away with $483,000, a new Triton best.
Matas Cimbolas got it in good, bust in ninth
Having landed a first Triton title in the Turbo earlier this week, Nick Petrangelo was aiming to lay all his demons to rest with a potential double in the $200K. He had done what was necessary to put himself in with a chance, even if he was another of the short stacks coming into the final.
In the event, this one wasn’t to be for Petrangelo. True to the pattern so far established, Petrangelo got his chips in good — he had to Wiktor Malinowski’s — but a seven on the flop landed a crushing blow for the man known as “Iimitless”.
Petrangelo reached his limit in this one and took $661,000 for eighth.
Nick Petrangelo was back at another Triton final
With the first two players out from this final table getting their money in good, perhaps this was the time to be folding the big hands and getting it in with the worst of it. Certainly the unhappy pattern showed no sign of changing.
Jonathan Jaffe, who was among the players to have changed their original flights to compete in the final day of hold’em, became the next man out, and the next man to lose with the best hand. He got involved in a pre-flop raising battle with Adrian Mateos. After Jason Koon opened, Mateos three-bet, Jaffe cold four-bet fro the small blind and Mateos five-bet jammed.
Koon was long gone, but Jaffe called and learned he was in a dominant position with to Mateos’ . But the king fell on the flop to catapult Mateos ahead. There was no change through turn and river and Jaffe was done. He won $865,000.
Tough break for Jonathan Jaffe
The last six places all paid six figures, and all of the remaining players had played for this kind of money many times before. But the average stack was only 25 big blinds and so it was anyone’s game still.
Badziakouski managed to buck the trend of the best hand losing when he got pocket kings to stand up against Mateos’ when they got it in pre-flop. Badziakouski sweated it out in the company of his girlfriend on the rail, which means he maybe didn’t see the on the turn making it a little bit nervy.
Malinowski had the biggest stack by a long way and so was entering the most pots, knowing his opponents would need to battle for their stacks if they wanted to play. Koon found and opened, then called off when Malinowski jammed.
This time Malinowski had it — — and it held. Koon busted in sixth for $1,098,000.
Jason Koon is stuck on 10 titles after busting this one in sixth
There was a time when Koon and Badziakouski were neck and neck at the top of the Triton all-time champions leader board, before Koon went on a ridiculous run to pull five ahead. But Triton purists will have enjoyed seeing the two of them sitting side by side on another final, even if that particular subplot ended in a bang-bang double.
With Koon gone, Badziakouski became under threat, and he played another major pot against Mateos. This time Mateos had it. Pocket queens beat to send Badziakouski out in fifth. He won $1,405,000.
Mikita Badziakouski couldn’t survive one last all-in
Mateos now had a stack to at least try to challenge Malinowski. It was still only half of the Polish player’s, but it was now considerably more than what both O’Dwyer and Mike Watson held. Mateos duly polished off the latter to give himself even more.
Watson has had a headline-grabbing week here in Montenegro, winning one title and bubbling another, before heading to the final of the biggest buy-in event. But Mateos has a knack of hitting card when he needs to (in addition to his immense skills) and Watson felt the truth of that at this final.
Watson shoved from the small blind and Mateos called with in the big. The jack on the turn was the crunch card and Watson was toast. He took $1,748,000 for fourth.
A long and successful trip for Mike Watson
O’Dwyer had his work cut out with a tiny stack relative to his opponents, but having had comparatively few chips all the way since the bubble, this was already a fine, gritty showing from him. O’Dwyer had little choice but to take a stab, which he did as a three-bet jam after Malinowski had raised his big blind from the small.
O’Dwyer had and was behind Malinowski’s . He couldn’t catch up and picked up $2.157 million for third.
Steve O’Dwyer shows his hand and awaits his fate
So here they were: Malinowski (94 BBs) against Mateos (30 BBs) for the title. It would be Malinowski’s first or Mateos’ third, and second of the trip.
Not this time, Adrian Mateos
Mateos, as is his wont, rarely backed down and drew stacks closer together. But this was really a case of irresistible force against immovable object. Neither player looked scared for even a second as they clashed with one another again and again.
The final hand came about when Mateos had . Malinowski had . This would not have been a relevant hand had the dealer not put the on the flop, followed by the turn and all the money went in.
Triton’s Kate Badurek celebrates victory with fellow Pole Wiktor Malinowski
The river was a blank. And that sent Mateos to the cage for a $3,292,000 second prize. Malinowski banks the biggest total of anyone here in Montenegro this week.
Samuli Sipila is one of the best pot limit Omaha players in the world, and it follows that the 31-year-old Finn would take the trip to Triton Montenegro where four high-stakes PLO events round out this spectacular festival.
Sipila took his seat in the first of those events. And when the tournament got done after five hours of play on its second day, Sipila was the only man still sitting.
His Triton record now reads: Played 1, Won 1 after he put on a PLO clinic to win $535,000.
“I’m feeling amazing, obviously,” Sipila said, admitting that he was on a real heater. He has won three of the last five tournaments he has entered, and sets a new career mark with this enormous cash.
“It’s a pretty run good year, Sipila said, explaining his decision to take a shot on the Triton Series for the first time. “It’s pretty unreal. When you’re running this hot, why not come?”
This was a really brilliant display. Sipila came to Montenegro among a huge cohort of Nordic PLO specialists drawn to Montenegro by the four-card focus at this stop. They helped swell the field of this $25K buy-in event to 82 entries, and were then instrumental as the first day of play slimmed it all the way down to the last four.
Sipila had the most PLO pedigree in the final quartet, but he was faced heads up with a man in great form, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, who opted to hang around in Montenegro and play some more poker after winning the hold’em Main Event just yesterday. Vaskaboinikau prefers hold’em but he had an enormous lead in the heads-up match against Sipila, which required the Tallinn-based Finn to dig especially deep.
In the end, Sipila managed to land the punches at precisely the right moments, chipping away at Vaskaboinikau’s lead, before knocking him out after about three hours of one-on-one play. Vaskaboinikau wore his “Champion” cap throughout the whole tournament, but now Sipila will get one of his own.
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau narrowly missed out on back-to-back wins
“I really enjoy the challenge,” Sipila said. “These are the toughest fields in the world.” He gave a shout out to all his Finnish friends, battling away in the $100K, before adding, “I think you’re going to see more of me!”
TOURNAMENT ACTION
The original tournament plan had been for Day 1 to play to a final table only, but the PLO lovers persuaded tournament officials to let them play to a final quartet. They did it quickly, leaving some big stack and some big names still involved at the close of play.
When they came back for the conclusion, they stacked up as follows:
Triton Montenegro Event 11 final four (l-r): Samuli Sipila, Klemens Roiter, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Anson Ewe.
Although only four players remained, the average stack was an enormous 81 big blinds. However, only two players had more than that, considerably more, and the other two were already up against it. The absolute shortest was Austria’s Klemens Roiter, and he couldn’t get anything going on the last day.
Roiter’s graph was a steady decline until a final hand in which Samuli Sipila’s made two pair against Roiter’s .
Roiter banked $195,000 for his fourth place.
Without question, most neutrals were supporting Anson Ewe at this final, mainly because of the way he had ended up even playing the event. Ewe had run deep in the $200K hold’em tournament, sitting among the last 21 players.
He originally had a flight booked home for today, but decided to make the commitment to stay longer and redouble his efforts in that event, aiming for the final table. He cancelled his existing flight and extended his hotel stay, as he was still sitting at the table.
And then, one hand after pressing “Confirm” on his new bookings, he bust. Bryn Kenney knocked him out, and Ewe was now at a loose end.
What does a poker player do when he has an unexpected extra day? He plays more poker, that’s what, even if PLO is far from his favoured game. Undeterred, Ewe bought in and suddenly found the four-card game to his liking. He built a huge stack and landed in the last four.
With Roiter now departed, Ewe was the shortest and he also really struggled to get a foothold on the last day. His stack dwindled slowly but surely, and he ended up forced all-in with . Both Vaskaboinikau and Sipila went to the flop with him, but Sipila’s managed to turn a straight.
Ewe couldn’t catch up and was out in third. He took $242,000 — hopefully enough to cover the flight change fee and hotel.
Anson Ewe: A profitable rescheduling
It was, therefore, the final two we would have predicted at the beginning of the day, but certainly not at the start of the tournament itself. PLO specialist Sipila versus newly-crowned Triton hold’em champ Vaskaboinikau. The stacks were all but even:
Sipila would have definitely backed himself in this spot, but he hadn’t reckoned on Vaskaboinikau’s new-found swagger at any poker table. The first significant pot put the Belarusian ahead by a wide margin. In it, Sipila opened to 300K and Vaskaboinikau called for a flop of .
Vaskaboinikau check-raised and Sipila called, taking in the turn. Vaskaboinikau now continued with a bet of 1 million, which was 10 big blind. Sipila called and the came on the river.
Vaskaboinikau bombed it. All in. And Sipila folded to stay in the tournament. With no live stream, we’ll never know what they had.
There then followed a Vaskaboinikau steamroll. While Sipila had the PLO experience, his opponent was managing to find the hands to keep him pegged back — and Vaskaboinikau is never shy to inflate the pot and win the maximum.
“Straight.” “Flush,” he said. Sipila sigh-folded down to about 20 big blinds.
Sipila might still have fancied his chances of mounting a comeback, such are his PLO abilities. But whenever he landed a big blow, Vaskaboinikau hit back. On the last hand of Level 22, Vaskaboinikau bombed 1 million at a board of and Sipila called. They both checked the river and Vaskaboinikau’s were the pertinent cards to give him another win.
The small stack was now only 13 blinds, but Sipila more than doubled it without even getting to a river card. Three times in a row he raised Vaskaboinikau off hands post-flop, with Vaskaboinikau seemingly still keen to bet anything, but Sipila asking him to play for more. When Sipila check-raise-jammed a flop of , with Vaskaboinikau folding to surrender his 1.4 million flop bet, Sipila actually moved into the lead for the first time in the tournament.
This was the start of a very impressive comeback.
It was difficult to imagine Sipila putting a foot wrong during this phase of play. Whenever there was a showdown in a sizeable pot, he had Vaskaboinikau beat. And one can only assume when he was folding, he was losing the minimum.
The trophy appears between the heads up players
A case in point came when Vaskaboinikau raised preflop, then fired at the flop of , getting a check-call. They both checked the turn, and then Sipila checked the river. Vaskaboinikau fired, Sipila called and Sipila showed . His two pair now gave him a lead.
As the momentum continued, they entered Level 25 with Sipila holding a chip lead of 28 blinds to 13. And then Sipila turned the screw some more. Vaskaboinikau said he flopped a straight when the hit the table, but by the time the turn and river was down, it was no longer close to the nuts.
Sipila bet big on both those cards, with Vaskaboinikau needing to call all in on the river to see what his opponent had. He didn’t. He folded. “Bluff? Or I bust on this hand?” Vaskaboinikau asked. He got no reply.
With 12 big blinds he was still in the event, but there wasn’t much left in this one. Vaskaboinikau opened a pot with a raise to 1.2 million. Sipila called and they saw a flop of . All the money was quickly in the middle.
Vaskaboinikau tabled . Sipila had .
The turn was the , which was very good for Sipila. The river ended the job.
With that, the Nordic invasion claims its first Triton scalp. It will not be its last.
The Belarusian businessman Mikalai Vaskaboinikau is only an occasional player on the Triton Super High Roller Series, usually heading to town when there’s a big invitational to play, and when the buy-ins are biggest. He usually plays two events per trip, for six events total so far in his career. His tally of three final tables was already staggering.
Today, Vaskaboinikau has gone even better. After an early surge at the $125,000 buy-in Triton Montenegro Main Event final table, Vaskaboinikau prevailed from a nervy short-stacked, short-handed battle to down Dejan Kaladjurdjevic heads up and win $4.737 million.
It was his first title from a fourth final. It’s worth restating: he has only ever played six events on this series.
“It’s a really amazing feeling,” Vaskaboinikau said. “I had a good feeling about this a few months ago. I put this thought in my mind in a dream.” He hinted at the true value of his business dealings when he described the prize as “not life-changing money”, but added: “I’m really happy about this.”
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau wraps things up in the Main Event
Vaskaboinikau, who is 37, is hardly a household name in the world of poker. Neither is his defeated heads-up opponent Kaladjurdjevic, who became the first Montenegrin to play on the tour, the first to cash and the first to make a final table. He will have to try again to land a first title, but has $3.196 million to continue his quest.
But this was all about Vaskaboinikau, who managed to treat one of the world’s undisputed titans, Phil Ivey, as if he was a newbie, and also outgunned Triton heavyweights such as Bryn Kenney, Wai Kin Yong and Aleks Ponakovs — not to mention the rest of the world’s best who came and fell in this massive Main Event.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
Day 1 was all about prize pool accumulation and stack building, with the entry tally quickly scooting past 100. When late registrants were included, it got all the way to 171 entries and a $21.375 million prize pool, with a promised $4.737 million to the winner.
Day 2 was characterised, as always, by an anxious trickle of eliminations all the way close to the money, at which point the $214,000 min-cash became the revised target for many.
The bubble in this one was again a lot of fun — unless you happened to be two of the three principal characters in the drama. After good-natured bubble a couple of days ago, boss man Paul Phua was once again among the short stacks as the field thinned to fewer than 30.
Paul Phua was once again central to the bubble fun
There were 27 places due to be paid, and Phua was alongside Matthias Eibinger and Mikita Badziakouski as the three players with sub-10 big blind stacks.
They were each on different tables, so Phua was sweating it from the Triton Poker Plus app. Suddenly Eibinger shot up to the dizzy heights of 11 big blinds. “No!” shouted Phua. “Eibinger got a walk!”
Chris Brewer, at Phua’s table, consulted the app and offered a correction. “It was a steal,” Brewer said. “He opened under the gun and they folded.”
Eibinger wandered past. You couldn’t miss him in his bright orange hoodie. “You got walk? Or you earn it?” quizzed Phua. Eibinger chuckled.
“Aaah, Mikita!” Phua said on the next deal.
“He’s celebrating that you folded your big blind,” Brewer explained, to laughs around the room.
Danny Tang soon wasn’t finding it funny. He three-bet jammed his big blind over Phil Ivey’s early position open, but quickly learned that Ivey wasn’t at it. Ivey called and his pocket jacks beat Tang’s . Tang plummeted out of the tournament in 29th place. It beckoned in hand-for-hand play and the stone bubble.
Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi took the microphone and stated the rules of hand-for-hand play, including the fact that if two players bust from separate tables on the same hand, they split the 27th place prize money.
Badziakouski hatched a plan. “Paul, we go blind all in together? Chop chop!”
Eibinger now chirped up from across the room. “That’s the way!” he said.
They continued to yuck it up like you would if the next hand could be the difference between $214,000 and nothing.
A relaxed Matthias Eibinger fell just short of the money
Phua got his chips in. It came as a shove over chip leader Paulius Vaitiekunas’s early position open. Vaitiekunas called and although Phua said, “I don’t have a very good hand,” his pocket sixes held against Vaitiekunas’ . “Mikita, sorry,” Phua said.
But it was not Badziakouski who really needed the apology. This was Eibinger’s bubble. The Austrian put out a raise to 300,000 from mid-position, leaving himself 140,000 behind. (The big blind was 50K.) Ivey, in the big blind, moved all in, comfortably covering Eibinger.
Eibinger waited for all the hands to finish elsewhere before committing his last chips. He was in trouble. Eibinger’s was behind Ivey’s . The flop was the all action . But the turn and river changed nothing.
That was that for Eibinger. The two-time champion hit the rail in 28th and the Main Event was in the money.
The plan was to play down to a final table of nine, but with significant payjumps all down the payout ladder, and ICM geniuses packing the field, this was never likely to be fast. Phua enjoyed his bubble reprieve and edged up the counts. Meanwhile Ivey continued his relentless surge through the field, underlining his immense pedigree.
Japan’s star Masashi Oya also spent some time at the top of the counts, but no one occupied the summit in the counts as long as Chris Brewer, whose careful aggression proved impossible to play against for many.
Without question, the most significant pot of this phase involved Brewer, chip-leading at the time, in a hand against another well-staked competitor, Wai Kin Yong. Brewer had aces, Yong had queens, and they went at it for heaps.
The vast majority of the money went in on the seven-high flop, with Brewer shoving and Yong calling off for his tournament. And then, boom, a queen on the turn. It gave Yong a massive double and sent Brewer plunging down the counts. He lasted only three more hands before busting in 13th, one spot before Phua.
As for Yong, he found himself unimpeachable at the top as the tournament played slowly into the early hours of the morning. With only 12 minutes left before officials intended to call it a night, Paulius Vaitiekunas bust in 10th to set a final table. Everyone could retire to get some sleep.
FINAL DAY ACTION
It had been a late finish to Day 2, but they finally got it done. It meant the following nine returned to play to a winner on the tournament’s last day.
Wai Kin Yong – 8,725,000 (70 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs – 7,850,000 (63 BBs)
Phil Ivey – 7,100,000 (57 BBs)
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic – 5,300,000 (42 BBs)
Igor Yaroshevskyy – 4,725,000 (38 BBs)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 3,100,000 (25 BBs)
Samuel Ju – 3,000,000 (24 BBs)
Bryn Kenney – 1,650,000 (11 BBs)
Elizabeth Chen – 1,250,000 (10 BBs)
Triton Montenegro Main Event final table players (clockwise from back left): Elizabeth Chen, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Phil Ivey, Wai Kin Yong, Bryn Kenney, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Aleks Ponakovs, Samuel Ju, Dejan Kaladjurdjevic.
For obvious reasons, most poker fans had their eyes fixed on Ivey. Meanwhile, Triton observers wanted to know if the all-time money list leader Bryn Kenney could take down another monster event. Perhaps better than all that in wider poker terms, however, was the presence of Elizabeth Chen at this final table. Women remain under-represented in the poker world, and it was hugely refreshing to see Chen taking her place among this elite nine.
Chen had survived a heart-in-mouth moment on the bubble, but had subsequently picked her spots judiciously as she navigated her way to the last nine. With the shortest stack in the room, it was always going to be difficult to run it up, but she got it in good at the final with pocket eights to Ivey’s .
Anyone will tell you that the key to taking down any poker tournament is to win your flips. But Chen couldn’t win this one. The king on the flop ended her chances. Chen won $478,000 as the field slimmed to eight.
Elizabeth Chen’s fine run ended in a ninth-place finish
Kenney was now shortest, but doubled through Dejan Kaladjurdevic to survive. But the next significant pot Kenney paid pitted two pocket pairs against one another: Kenney with nines was faced with Igor Yaroshevskyy’s tens.
Kenny moved away from the table to watch the run-out through the reaction of his girlfriend sitting on the rail. She was watching the video screen and Kenney looked for her expression to crack as she saw the dealer put the flop, turn and river down. She didn’t break. The board was dry and Kenney was out.
He is still comfortable at the top of the Triton money list, but his payday this time was “only” $580,000 for eighth.
Bryn Kenney stood with back to the video wall as his fate was decided
Having enjoyed the good fortune of the major cooler to eliminate Brewer yesterday, Yong was essentially freerolling into this final table. However, his luck quickly ran out at the most crucial stage, shipping back-to-back pots to Mikalau Vaskaboinikau. First, Vaskaboinikau doubled with beating Yong’s . But then the killer: Yong found pocket queens again and was this time ahead of Vaskaboinikau’s pocket tens.
But in a repeat of yesterday’s beat, the tens spiked a third on the river to give Vaskaboinikau a set. Yong was now sent to the rail with the same hand he had profited most with yesterday. Yong had gone from first to seventh at this final, and won $800,000.
Six players were left. And each was now guaranteed six figures. However, with $3.7 million between sixth and first, nobody was going to be taking any stupid chances.
The problem was that the dealer kept dealing out coolers. Samuel Ju had more than 4 million in chips, around 22 big blinds, when he picked up pocket queens. The resurgent Vaskaboinikau raised for the umpteenth time, Ju three-bet the queens and Vaskaboinikau jammed. Ju called all in, but Vaskaboinikau had it again.
His kings stayed best for another huge pot. Ju, following up his second-place finish in the $40K Mystery Bounty earlier this week, hit the rail in sixth. His $1,098,000 prize was still much bigger than his total prior Triton earnings combined.
Samuel Ju found queens at precisely the wrong time
With five players left, and levels now shortened in length, the shrinking stack sizes offered less for players to work with and increased the ICM pressure dramatically. Each payjump was now even more significant.
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic had the relative liberty of the tournament short stack and duly doubled it up. That put him essentially neck-and-neck with Ivey, Ponakovs and Vaskaboinikau at the top, with Yaroshevskyy a distant fifth.
Whatever happened in this event, Yaroshevskyy had already enjoyed a superstar trip to Montenegro. He had cashed three of the five previous tournaments he’d played, made two final tables and won the $50K Bounty Quattro. It was already a terrific return. A final table appearance in the Main Event was further proof of a player in form, but he didn’t quite get the run good at the final to go all the way again.
Yaroshevskyy seemed to have the second best hand in all the crucial spots, and he then suffered one last indignity when he called a shove with his last 10 blinds and ended up losing to a three-outer. Ponakovs made the aforementioned shove with and Yaroshevskyy had , technically the “average” pre-flop hold’em holding.
Yaroshevskyy made the call and had a dominant hand, but the jack on the flop hit Ponakovs and sent Yaroshevskyy packing. He won another $1,430,000 for fifth and retired to the lounge to watch the tournament play to its conclusion. He would have wanted more, but there were no complaints.
Igor Yaroshevskyy can’t watch as the dealer ends his Main Event run
Ivey came into today’s final table knowing that a win would bring him within only a few Player of the Year points of Danny Tang as the season goes to the wire. But he had found a nemesis in this tournament in the form of Vaskaboinikau, who seemed to have Ivey’s number — or, at least, was a player who seemed to have a better hand when Ivey had a good one.
Vaskaboinikau won a massive pot with when he rivered a flush. That was convenient because Ivey’s had done the same, and they were both happy to risk it all.
That coup left Ivey in real trouble, and when he found an ace and a good opportunity to open shove, from the button, Vaskaboinikau was lurking behind him with an ace as well, and a better kicker. Vaskaboinikau’s beat Ivey’s as Ivey perished in fourth. It earned him $1,795,000, but he’ll need a good showing in the PLO to catch Tang.
Elimination hurts, even for Phil Ivey
The last three took a scheduled break, with Vaskaboinikau in a decent lead. He had 56 blinds, Ponakovs had 34 and Kaladjurdjevic continued to bring up the rear with 16 big blinds. Whatever happened for him, it was a pretty spectacular way to start a Triton career: locking up a minimum $2.2 million as a first cash on the series.
But he wasn’t giving up without a fight. Kaladjurdjevic found and called Vaskaboinikau’s three-bet jam with . That scored a double. And as Kaladjurdjevic continued to chip away, they bunched up with all three players having between 20 and 30 big blinds.
For some obvious reasons, the table tightened right up as every blind assumed ever more value. Vaskaboinikau managed to hold firm at the top, but Ponakovs slid down to the bottom of the pack. That was a good time for Ponakovs to find . He shoved, Vaskaboinikau called with , and Ponakovs doubled to stay alive.
Kaladjurdjevic was now short again, but shoved twice on Vaskaboinikau and chipped up, before he played an absolutely extraordinary hand against Ponakovs. The long and short version of it is that Kaladjurdjevic had pocket aces, Ponakovs had pocket kings and Kaladjurdjevic ended up with a royal flush. For real. Kaladjurdjevic limped his aces from the small blind and Ponakovs checked his kings in the big.
A royal flush at a Triton final for Dejan Kaladjurdjevic
The fell and Kaladjurdevic bet one big blind. Ponakovs called. After the turn, Kaladjurdjevic bet a little more and got a call again. And then the river gave Kaladjurdjevic the royal and Ponakovs a set of kings.
Kaladjurdjevic laid the trap with a check. Ponakovs side-stepped it with a check back. Hands don’t get any bigger than that, and somehow it wasn’t a double up.
Vaskaboinikau was now the short stack, but not for long. He doubled through Ponakovs with everything going in pre-flop and beating . Vaskaboinikau took command again, with Kaladjurdjevic clinging on. And sometimes that’s all you have to do to win a million bucks.
Kaladjurdjevic must have greatly enjoyed seeing Ponakovs and Vaskaboinikau get it all in. They were the two biggest stacks. Ponakovs had to Vaskaboinikau’s . And though a jack on the flop gave Ponakovs hope, the ace on the turn snatched it away.
The three-handed grind was finally over, with Ponakovs leaving and picking up $2,200,000.
Another deep run and huge score for Aleks Ponakovs
Vaskaboinikau had 44 big blinds to Kaladjurdjevic’s 9 as heads-up began. But there was only 1 minute on the clock, meaning very few hands, until the blinds went up again. And but two hands were all they needed.
Kaladjurdjevic shoved with and Vaskaboinikau found pocket sixes with which to make a mandatory call. They stayed good.
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic: Second place
“Poker tournaments is always second, second, second for me,” Vaskaboinikau lamented. “Now finally it was my time.”
He takes a spectacular trophy and an exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece, given to Main Event champions on the Triton Series.
“For sure it will be one of the brightest moments in my life,” Vaskaboinikau said.
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau: One of the brightest moments of my life
There are a handful of players on the Triton Series who for some reason can’t quite get over the line. They’re spectacular talents, who might easily have five or more titles, but for the villainous variance.
Nick Petrangelo has been near to the top of that list for quite a while, with 14 cashes and five final table appearances. And finally tonight, the 37-year-old American can call himself a Triton champion after taking down the $50K NLHE Turbo at Triton Montenegro.
“This one doesn’t count,” the laconic Petrangelo joked as the winner’s cheque moved into view and the trophy edge nearer his hands. He admitted soon after that that was a joke, but said, “Obviously I want to in one of the Mains or the Invitational or the $200Ks.”
He continued: “Obviously this is great and I’m happy. I’d like to win one of the big ones before I’m done.”
Nonetheless, this was a thrilling tournament with tons of top players taking their place in the first one-day event of the stop. Petrangelo held the chip lead for long periods as the turbo nature meant players came and went quickly, and the blinds became the most dominant factor.
“It’s a different skill set,” Petrangelo said, noting that the nature of the game means more all-in pre-flop confrontations. But Petrangelo’s timing was excellent, and he was there to get his hands of some silverware at last, beating the UK’s Lewis Spencer heads-up.
Has the dam now broken for Petrangelo? It would surprise nobody if this was the first of many. They all count, Nick.
Nick Petrangelo belatedly joins the gallery of Triton stars
TOURNAMENT ACTION
Played against the slow structure of the Main Event taking place in the neighbouring room, the turbos are always especially frantic affairs. None of the players would deny that they would prefer to be still engaged in the bigger buy-in event next door, but they tend to relax into these ones despite the $50K buy-in.
The eight levels of registration brought 53 entries, including 15 re-entries, and put more than $2.6 million in the prize pool. That meant a $775,000 first prize, proof that there’s no such thing as a small event on the Triton Series.
After a few hands of hand-for-hand play across two tables, Nick Petrangelo and Lewis Spencer got involved in a major pot. Spencer opened under the gun, Petrangelo called on the button and it went check-bet-call on both the flop of and the turn of .
They both checked the river and Spencer’s beat Petrangelo’s . It was a pot that could have been much bigger.
It possibly had an impact on what happened next, however. Petrangelo — steaming? — raised again, this time from the cutoff, and Artur Martirosian jammed for 16 big blinds. That was far from the shortest stack in the room. The blinds got out the way but Petrangelo called and tabled his pocket eights.
Martirosian was looking at a flip for his tournament. His needed to hit.
Bubbling hurts: Artur Martirosyan is knocked out in 10th
It did not. Martirosian was bounced in 10th setting the final and locking up a minimum $77,000 payday for everyone else. Petrangelo now assumed the lead as they settled down with the following stacks:
Nick Petrangelo – 2,705,000 (54 BBs)
Isaac Haxton – 2,135,000 (43 BBs)
Lewis Spencer – 1,890,000 (38 BBs)
Maher Nouira – 1,070,000 (21 BBs)
Steve O’Dwyer – 920,000 (18 BBs)
David Yan – 630,000 (13 BBs)
Dylan Linde – 475,000 (10 BBs)
Leon Sturm – 405,000 (8 BBs)
Dan Dvoress – 385,000 (8 BBs)
Triton Montenegro Event 10 final table players (clockwise from back left): Leon Sturm, Nick Petrangelo, Steve O’Dwyer, Maher Nouira, Lewis Spencer, Dan Dvoress, Dylan Linde, Isaac Haxton, David Yan.
The turbo format means action right from the off regardless of the cards, but when short-stacked Leon Sturm picked up aces immediately at the final, he found a willing customer in Isaac Haxton, who found pocket kings. The biggest pre-flop collision poker offers gave Sturm an immediate double.
That hand was bad new for Dan Dvoress for two reasons. Firstly it made him the shortest stack at the table. Secondly, it gave Sturm the chips to call his shove a few hands later, knocking Dvoress out.
To be honest, the money was going in here regardless. Dvoress open jammed with . Sturm reshoved with pocket tens. The dealer offered nothing for the all-in player and Dvoress was out in ninth. He took that $77,000 min cash.
Dan Dvoress first out from the final
Dylan Linde doubled through Haxton. Then David Yan doubled through Sturm. Both had tiny stacks, but no one really had enough chips to survive too much buffeting.
Steve O’Dwyer was now the short stack and he found pocket queens. Spencer gave him a spin with and it looked good for O’Dwyer until the ace on the river ended his participation. O’Dwyer moved silently to the exit looking for $101,000.
Steve O’Dwyer packs his bags and walks away
O’Dwyer’s elimination was pretty cruel, but Sturm’s, on the next hand, was even more against the odds. Sturm got his chips in with pocket jacks against Maher Nouira’s pocket sixes. The flop, all clubs, missed both of them, and with the in his hand, Sturm was in a very strong position.
However the river was an offsuit six, spiking a set for Nouira and sending Sturm out in seventh for $130,000.
Bad news for Leon Sturm, out in seventh
With the blinds getting remorselessly higher, chips were moving around the table with abandon. Linde doubled through Yan when queens stayed best against nines. But then Yan doubled back through Spencer with a dominant ace. Both these were all-in pre-flop.
More than ever, you need the rub of the green to win a turbo, and Haxton seems cursed to run worse than most at Triton finals. Despite landing his 40th cash on this series, his long hunt for a win continues as his fell to Petrangelo’s .
The money here went in pre-flop too, and Haxton’s last handful of blinds gave Petrangelo hope that his own trophy drought might end. Haxton’s sixth place was worth $164,000.
When will it end? Forty cashes, no titles for Isaac Haxton
At this stage, Yan seemed to be getting his chips in most frequently, which was securing him vital blinds when opponents folded. However, the now short-stacked Spencer called all in with pocket kings and beat Yan’s . That bunched all five players up between 10 and 16 big blinds apiece.
Remarkably, they managed to play another two levels without an elimination, which sliced everyone’s stack down even further in comparison with the blinds. The average stack was now 11 big blinds.
Spencer now doubled through Nouira, with beating . There was a king on flop and river. And he hadn’t finished delivering the punishment on his Tunisian opponent. Spencer found aces in the small blind a moment later, jammed his bigger stack in, and got a call from Nouira’s .
Nouira shook his head in disbelief, but was sent packing in fifth. He picked up $212,000 for that.
The roller coaster ride ends for Maher Nouira
Spencer now had around 50 percent of the chips in play, but it was still only 25 blinds. When Petrangelo doubled through him, with beating (Spencer had shoved blind-on-blind), Petrangelo was into the lead.
Yan doubled his two blinds through Linde. Petrangelo now did the shoving as chip leader. And then Petrangelo shoved into Yan’s big blind again and this time Petrangelo’s hit a five to beat Yan’s . Yan was out in fourth for $273,000.
David Yan’s up and down hits a low point
Everything was happening at quite a pace now, with Linde next to hit the rail. Petrangelo shoved with this time and Linde was all in with pocket deuces. There was a nine and a jack on the flop and Petrangelo claimed another scalp.
Linde won $362,000 for third.
Third place for Dylan Linde
Petrangelo had 38 blinds to Spencer’s 15 as heads-up began. But the pace this was moving, it wouldn’t take long. One hand, to be precise.
Spencer limped with . Petrangelo checked for the flop of . Some more money went in here, but then Spencer shoved the turn. Unfortunately for him, Petrangelo’s was now huge. The tournament was his.
Close call for Lewis Spencer
Spencer’s deepest finish gave him a $556,000 second place prize, his biggest so far on the series. Petrangelo, though, was a worthy champion. He is overdue no more.
“You try to be objective about your play,” Petrangelo said, in answer to a question about how he deals with barren spells. “I’m doing nothing different. The preparation is the same every trip.” He added: “It doesn’t mean you’re playing better when you’re winning.”
The first six-figure buy-in tournament of the Triton Poker Series visit to Montenegro ended tonight in a duke out between two of this exclusive world’s sharpest young shooters.
Both Bulgaria’s Alex Kulev, 29, and France’s Thomas Santerne, 25, have only recently emerged from the hordes of young online whizzes to become new forces in the high buy-in live arena. And tonight, with all the other wizened old heads that comprised a 102-entry field having left the stage, Kulev and Santerne went head to head for the latest trophy.
Kulev was the man who remained standing as the clock ticked precisely to midnight. It was especially sweet given the circumstances: his parents completed a six-hour journey to watch him just as the heads-up match was heading in Santerne’s direction. “That was the turning point,” Kulev said, as he won a string of pots to wrestle into the lead.
He never looked back and picked up the $2.56 million first prize.
“I’m a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest,” Kulev said. “This means a lot to me. To accomplish this in front of my family is very special to me. I will cherish this for a long time.”
Alex Kulev begins celebrations with his girlfriend Rosi-Eliz
Kulev’s profession has taken him away from the country of his birth. He is based now in Dublin, from where he became one of the best known online tournament poker pros. But he has found an immediate home on the Triton Series, which he described as being the place that “the best play against the best”. After a number of recent final tables, he has now secured a first title and said he is here to stay. “I won’t miss another one for a long time,” Kulev said.
For Santerne, he banked $1.735 million and one suspects we will be seeing a whole lot of him as well. He is four years Kulev’s junior and has plenty of time to build on this performance too.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
With a $100K buy-in, this tournament was always certain to be the biggest so far of the festival, and the 102 entries put more than $10 million in the prize pool. It was a two-day tournament certain to go the distance, and the steady journey to the business end was full of the usual thrills and spills.
There was all kinds of drama at the bubble approached, mainly featuring our four-time champion Mike Watson. He had been one of the short stacks, but won a huge pot from Stephen Chidwick when he turned pocket kings into a full house and earned the maximum, which left Chidwick with fewer than 10 blinds.
Up on the feature table, Jason Koon bust two from the money, and Watson moved up there to balance things out. It was there that Watson again played a massive pot, this time holding . Watson was fifth in chips while his opponent, Thomas Santerne was the tournament leader at the time. Santerne had pocket tens and all the money went in pre-flop.
The ace on the flop gave Watson considerable hope of not only getting into the money, but perhaps assuming the chip lead. But the river was a third ten for Santerne, ending Watson’s tournament and sending Santerne into the stratosphere.
A two outer stuns Mike Watson on the bubble
Around the room, Chidwick, Sean Winter, Nacho Barbero and Seth Davies were among the short stacks to enjoy the scenes. They crept into the money as Watson skulked away empty handed.
Santerne’s chip lead seemed unassailable until he ran kings into Xu Liang’s aces, resulting in a massive double for the latter. Meanwhile Danny Tang was running riot on another table and the four-time champion took over the ultimate chip lead.
When they reached a final, they lined up as follows:
Triton Montenegro Event 8 final table players (clockwise from back left): Xu Liang, Aleks Ponakovs, Dan Dvoress, Danny Tang, Dylan Linde, Maher Nouira, Alex Kulev, Thomas Santerne, Bryn Kenney.
There was a healthy mix here of familiar faces and Triton newcomers, interspersed with some players who have been around a while but eyeing a breakout success. As the leader of the all time Triton Series money list, Bryn Kenney clearly belonged into the first category, even if it had been a while since he was at a final table.
This stay didn’t last long for Kenney. He managed to double through Danny Tang with nines beating , but two hands later slammed queens into the same player’s kings. That was that for Kenney, who took $255,000 for ninth.
Bryn Kenney: All time money list leader busts in ninth
Aleks Ponakovs is still looking for a first Triton title despite 14 cashes and more than $8 million in prize money. He also has a very healthy habit of running deep in the biggest buy-in events. Here he was again at a six-figure buy-in final, but he couldn’t turn the short stack into anything more significant.
He open/called all-in when Dylan Linde jammed, but Linde’s pocket jacks beat Ponakovs’ and it was the end of the road. Ponakovs banked $342,000 for eighth.
Aleks Ponakovs hit the rail in eighth
By the standards of all other finals this week, this one was deep at this stage. The average stack was close to 40 big blinds, and there was play still for everyone. That soon included Maher Nouira too, who doubled his small stack through Linde. It left the American to try to cling on, but he could not do it.
Linde’s final hand was and he was up against Liang’s . They got to a flop for only one raise and a call and both hit their kicker. After a low turn, the rest of the money went in and Linde called it off.
Liang’s tens were best, leaving Linde with $454,00 for seventh.
Dylan Linde made his second final table of the week
It turned out to be a bad few minutes for players from North America as Dan Dvoress lasted only one hand longer than Linde. In this one, Dvoress opened with , only to see Santerne three-bet. Dvoress jammed for 20 BBs and Santerne called. The Frenchman had pocket queens.
Dvoress needed an ace. He didn’t get one. So he left in sixth for $594,000.
Tough break for Daniel Dvoress, out in sixth
Santerne reassumed the chip lead with that pot, but he only held it as long as it took Kulev to find pocket aces and score a full double through Danny Tang, who had jacks. Kulev hadn’t been near the lead until that point, but he rocketed up to 70 big blinds and left everyone else in his wake. Of the five left, only Nouira had not been in the lead at some point in this final. The waves may only lap gently onto the exclusive beach of the Maestral Resort, but these were choppy waters inside.
The red light of doom was next illuminated when the last of Nouira’s chips found their way into the middle. He had pocket jacks and they needed to stay better than Kulev’s . They did. Nouira doubled. While Kulev remained in the lead, the other four bunched up. And we were looking at another of those cagey battles — which got even tighter when Santerne doubled through Kulev.
Two big hands will always break an impasse, however, and Tang picked up queens soon after, taking on Kulev’s ace-king. “Big flip!” Tang shouted to his rail.
The dealer put an ace on the flop. “Come on ladies, you’ve betrayed me so many times before,” Tang pleaded. But he prayed in vain. The turn and river offered no further help and Tang was out in fifth.
Danny Tang is “betrayed” by pocket queens
Tang leads the Player of the Year race and in addition to the $752,000 payday, his fifth place earns another chunk of points in that freeroll. However, as Tang himself noted, his PoY rival Dvoress only finished one spot lower than him. That’s still a nervy race.
None of the four remaining players had ever won a Triton title before, so we were guaranteed a new champion. But the identity was still very much anyone’s guess, even though Kulev now had the lead again.
There was, however, now a flurry of big hands. Nouira picked up the queens very soon after Tang and he felt a similar betrayal. Santerne had aces, all the money went in, and Nouira bust in fourth for $933,000. It was nine times his combined total winnings on the Triton Series to date and reflected some success he’s been having of late on other tours. He is far and away the Tunisian No 1.
Maher Nouira tightens grip on Tunisian No 1 spot
The last three were guaranteed seven figures each. It was also an intriguing battle between two of European poker’s undisputed rising stars, alongside a lesser-known Asian player whose results nonetheless pointed to a sincere talent.
Santerne and Kulev were neck-and-neck, with Liang sitting with around half their chips. And it was in the spirited attempt to pull level that Liang ended up on the rail.
Yet another flip took place with Liang’s pocket sevens going up against Kulev’s . Two kings fell on the flop and the seven remained elusive. Liang’s race was run. He took $1,127,000 for third.
Tan Xuan, left, comes to celebrate a fine performance from Xu Liang, right
As tournament officials reset the table for heads-up play, the chip counts could not have been tighter. Kulev had 10,250,000, or 68 big blinds. Santerne had 10,150,000, also 68 big blinds. The stage was set for a heads-up duel for $850K.
The early going was all about Santerne. He built a big lead through a series of pots without showdown, so much so that when Kulev picked up pocket queens and played it cute to score a full double, he still only drew level. They each had a little more than 40 blinds and settled back down to play on.
Thomas Santerne was a close second
But now the momentum was with Kulev. He later said it was about this point he noticed his parents on the rail, keenly watching his every move. They admitted they didn’t know much about poker, but they were clearly sweating every card with their son.
He won a big one with against . And then another somewhat inevitable flip landed on the felt: Santerne had pocket sevens to Kulev’s .
There was a ten on the flop. Another ten on the turn. And the river was not a seven.
With his family still watching anxiously from the sidelines, Kulev had delivered the knockout blow. He took that $2.5 million and confirmed that he is on this tour to stay. As he left the tournament room, he bumped into Adrian Mateos, a winner from earlier in the day.
“Well done champion!”
“Thank you champion!” they said.
Alex Kulev credited the arrival of his parents for turning the momentum of the final
1 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $2,566,000
2 – Thomas Santerne, France – $1,735,000
3 – Xu Liang, China – $1,127,000
4 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $933,000
5 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $752,000
6 – Dan Dvoress, Canada – $594,000
7 – Dylan Linde, USA – $454,000
8 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $342,000
9 – Bryn Kenney, USA – $255,000
10 – Sean Winter, USA – $209,000
11 – Stephen Chidwick, UK – $209,000
12 – Wiktor Malinowsli, Poland – $184,000
13 – Masashi Oya, Japan – $184,000
14 – Nacho Barbero, Argentina – $168,000
15 – Brian Kim, USA – $168,000
16 – Seth Davies, USA – $160,000
17 – Ben Heath, UK – $160,000
Adrian Mateos came to Triton Montenegro in exemplary form, riding the wave of some fantastic results in both the online and live games and every inch the formidable player we’ve grown to know and love.
He made two final tables from the first four events here in Montenegro, and can point to wicked beats in both halting what had seemed likely to be a charge to the title. But true to form, Mateos simply came back for more, bludgeoned his way to the final once again, and this time came out on the right side of a couple of beats.
It helped him on his way to his second career Triton title in the $50K 8-Handed Hold’em, landing him a payday of $1.761 million. He is now closing in on $10 million on the Triton Series.
“This week I ran so good,” Mateos said. “And I enjoyed it.” He said that he worked very hard on his game and knows that he plays well. “But to win a tournament you have to run good,” he said, adding that it was a “technical” final table, but the kind he has played many times before.
When someone as skilled as this 29-year-old runs good, there are few who can compete.
Adrian Mateos can finally celebrate
The tournament took three days to complete, a day longer than initially scheduled, but Mateos was irresistible throughout. He dominated the final table and secured the top spot by downing Justin Saliba heads-up, leaving Saliba with a $1.188 million runner-up prize.
It was a tournament packed with superstars, many of whom made it to the final. But the late stages were characterised by the sight of Mateos trying to shake off the challenges of Saliba and Triton first-timer Joe Zou. Both were stubborn, but Mateos is indefatigable. And that’s why he’s one of the very best in the world.
TOURNAMENT ACTION
As is the way with Triton, buy-ins gradually crept upwards through the first stages of this trip to Montenegro, and the $50K entry fee proved exceptionally popular. There were 159 entries and nearly $8 million in the prize pool, with the game’s very best all challenging for it.
There was a sensational top five after Day 1: Dan Smith, Phil Ivey, Paul Phua, Kiat Lee and Dan Dvoress. But in the early running, it was the player in sixth, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, who surged up and into the lead. That was thanks to the double elimination of Daniel Rezaei and Ding Biao in the same hand: Vaskaboinikau’s kings held against queens and .
It set a tone for a race from 56 players to the 27 who would cash, which only slowed during a tense but entertaining bubble period.
Most of the fun centred on Paul Phua, or Mr Paul as he’s known to friends and staff on the Triton Series. Phua was holding court on one of the outer tables, discussing future Triton plans with Dan Smith, Chris Brewer and Danny Tang, while also fielding questions from players on other tables.
“What is the over/under on number of hands to break the bubble?” Elton Tsang asked, having taken a short stroll in Phua’s direction. Phua consulted the Triton Poker Plus app, learned that the shortest stack was 10 big blinds, and said, “Nine.” He added: “If someone said six, I would take the over.”
Paul Phua burst the bubble, going for the win
Tsang suggested seven-point-five was probably better. Phua seemed to think that was fine too. As it turned out, they should have taken the under.
Hand-for-hand was only about four hands old when Phua got involved in a pot against Smith. Phua limped from the small blind and Smith raised from the big blind, enough to put Phua all in. Phua looked back at his cards and then asked, “What’s the min-cash?” A chorus of opponents replied, “Eighty k!” and intimated that Phua shouldn’t worry about that kind of money.
Eventually, he concurred. “Go for the win,” he said as he dumped his stack over the line.
Phua was in great shape. He had to Smith’s . But after a dry flop, the fell on the turn and there was no miracle queen on the river. That was the end for Phua, who plummeted out of the tournament on the stone bubble.
James Chen, Tan Xuan, Patrik Antonius, Linus Loeliger and Tsang breathed a sigh of relief and bust too fairly quickly after. But they at least locked up that min cash.
Sights then turned onto the final table, but it would be a long, long time until the tournament reached that stage. With around 14 players left, a real slowdown descended and tournament organisers were forced to make alternative plans for the day. What had been intended to conclude on Saturday night was forced to go into Sunday. The news was announced when they did, finally, get down to the last nine.
That happened in the space of two rapid-fire hands. Chris Brewer and Phil Ivey got involved in a big one, with Brewer open-shoving the small blind sitting with enough chips to cover Ivey in the big. But Ivey looked down at and called for all of it, finding himself ahead of Brewer’s .
An ace on the flop made it even tougher for Brewer to come back and Ivey’s big double left Brewer with three big blinds.
Chris Brewer lost a big pot against Ivey and the rest went on the next hand
Brewer picked up on the next deal and committed his last chips. Mario Mosbock, in the big blind, made a mandatory call, even though he had only . The dealer made this particularly cruel on Brewer, following the flop with the turn and then the killer river.
Brewer walked away, leaving nine players stacking up as follows:
Ben Tollerene – 5,550,000 (44 BBs)
Dan Smith – 4,875,000 (39 BBs)
Nick Petrangelo – 4,325,000 (35 BBs)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 3,925,000 (31 BBs)
Phil Ivey – 3,225,000 (26 BBs)
Mario Mosbock – 2,725,000 (22 BBs)
Joe Zou – 2,475,000 (20 BBs)
Justin Saliba – 2,425,000 (19 BBs)
Adrian Mateos – 2,225,000 (18 BBs)
Triton Montenegro Event 7 final table players (clockwise from back left): Mario Mosbock, Ben Tollerene, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Justin Saliba, Joe Zou, Dan Smith, Phil Ivey, Adrian Mateos, Nick Petrangelo.
The revised plan was to play four more levels or down to four players, whichever came first. It seemed likely to take us to around 1.30 a.m. local time, and would unfortunately mean these guys couldn’t register in time for the $100K event unless they were knocked out within 45 minutes of the final table starting.
Only Mosbock ended up meeting that criteria. Mosbock lost a massive hand with pocket queens when Joe Zou flopped a flush with . Mosbock also flopped a set, but couldn’t fill up.
Although Mosbock did find a small double through Tollerene, the last of his chips went to Ivey when the American’s beat . Mosbock banked $178,100 for ninth.
Mario Mosbock departed early from the final
The next hour or so of eight-handed play sent chips moving slowly around the table, with everyone retaining their seat. As levels went up, the average stack reduced to just 18 big blinds. Nobody was a runaway leader; everyone was under threat.
When the tension finally broke, it was Dan Smith who ended up on the receiving end of a nasty beat. He got six big blinds in with and was called by Justin Saliba’s .
Both players matched their ace on the flop, but the nine on the turn spelled trouble for Smith. The river was a blank and eight belatedly became seven. Smith won $215,000 for this one.
Dan Smith led the tournament for long periods, but bust in eighth
All of a sudden, things were moving. Ivey felted Vaskaboinikau on the very next hand. In this one, Ivey found pocket deuces and moved all in. Vaskaboinikau picked up and risked his last six blinds.
The tiny pair wasn’t threatened through all five board cards and that meant Vaskaboinikau was out in seventh, for $297,000.
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau made the early running on Day 2 but bust before the end
Despite the win, Ivey’s stack was still less than 20 big blinds, and he became the next man to hit the rail. Adrian Mateos, revelling the short-stacked, high pressure battle, had built a commanding tower of chips and Ivey three-bet shoved from the button after the latest Mateos open raise.
Ivey had but soon learnt that Mateos wasn’t raising light. Mateos made the call with and secured the knockout with a jack on the flop and an ace on the turn. Ivey banked $408,000 for sixth.
Phil Ivey had been in great form until he ran into Mateos
Tollerene, only an occasional visitor to the Triton Series, usually after eventually giving in to the hectoring of his good friend Jason Koon, had once again proved why Koon is so keen to get him out of here. He had played a typically flawless game to make it to the final table as chip leader.
However, Tollerene fell short of his second win during the volatility of the late stages, first doubling up Nick Petrangelo in a standard blind vs. blind battle, and then falling to a come-from-behind win for Mateos.
In at least two previous tournaments here in Montenegro, Mateos had suffered the cruel hand of fate in tournament defining pots at final tables, but today it was the Spanish player’s turn to land a lucky blow. Tollerene got his nine-blind-stack in with but Mateos’ not only hit a ten, but also four hearts to make the nut flush.
Both those hands were too much for Tollerene, who departed in fifth for $532,000. With that, the tournament paused again for the night, leaving four players to come back for an unprecedented Day 3.
Ben Tollerene again showed Triton what he’s made of
Mateos led with 49 BBs. Saliba sat second with 28 BBs. Petrangelo (23 BBs) was in third and Zou’s six blinds was the shortest. But they had all locked up $667,000 already.
On the return for the third day, Zou immediately doubled with pocket fives, and then shoved the next two hands to earn some more blinds. It helped him tread water as the other two took some potshots at Mateos’ chip lead, with only limited success.
Petrangelo managed to time a couple of shoves well and add some chips. But things went south soon after. Petrangelo found in the small blind and just called, with Mateos behind him. Mateos raised to 1 million (the big blind was 300K) and Petrangelo jammed for 7.5 million.
Petrangelo had that ace, but Mateos did too. And the Spaniard’s was best. The jack played after the board missed everything. Petrangelo left the table $667,000 better off.
Nick Petrangelo found Mateos with a bigger ace
The last three players in this tournament were the bottom three coming into the final. It was indicative of how this final table had turned things on its head.
Mateos was in irresistible form and had more than half the chips in play. But after Zou landed another double up, with pocket nines beating Mateos’ , it was a reminder that things can change very quickly. Zou turned his back to the table as the dealer delivered his fate, unable to watch what was essentially a runout determining a $350K pay-jump. But he survived it, leaving Saliba now most under threat.
Zou thought he had Saliba soon after, but Zou’s kings were cracked by Saliba’s after a run out of . That again elevated Saliba to second place and allowed Mateos to continue to shove with impunity against opponents with near-equal stacks hoping to outlast one another.
Joe Zou can’t watch
Zou managed another double, picking off a Mateos shove with beating . And on the battle raged.
The level went up and the stacks shallowed some more. And then, finally, Zou’s race was run. He got his last six blinds in with and turned his back once more. But this time the trick wasn’t enough to beat Mateos’ .
Zou is on his first visit to the Triton Series and this was his first cash from the fourth tournament he played. His score of $818,000 put him comfortably in the black.
Joe Zou finally makes way
Both remaining players were now guaranteed a seven-figure payday, with around $600K between first and second place prizes. Mateos, seeking a second title, had 37 blinds to Saliba’s 16. There wasn’t likely to be long left, but it was far from a foregone conclusion.
Except it actually only lasted one hand. Mateos and Saliba both picked up aces and Saliba had a good shot at a crucial double up when his went up against Mateos’ . The money was already all in when the dealer produced the something-for-everyone flop of .
Second place for Justin Saliba
Both players remained static, even after the turn gave Mateos the straight. The river wasn’t what Saliba needed and it handed the title to Mateos.
“My trophies are all in my parents’ house in Madrid,” Mateos said afterward, revealing that it was to the Spanish capital that this latest one was also headed. “I hope more to come,” Mateos continued.
That much seems certain.
Time for Mr and Mrs Mateos to make some more room on the mantlepiece
1 – Adrian Mateos, Spain – $1,761,000
2 – Justin Saliba, USA – $1,188,000
3 – Joe Zou, China – $818,000
4 – Nick Petrangelo, USA – $667,000
5 – Ben Tollerene, USA – $532,000
6 – Phil Ivey, USA – $408,000
7 – Mikala Vaskaboinikau, Belarus – $297,000
8 – Dan Smith, USA – $215,000
9 – Mario Mosbock, Austria – $178,100
10 – Chris Brewer, USA – $151,000
11 – Brian Kim, USA – $151,000
12 – Artur Martirosian, Russia – $132,000
13 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – $132,000
14 – Kiat Lee, Malaysia – $119,200
15 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong – $119,200
16 – Maher Nouira, Tunisia – $107,000
17 – Anson Ewe, Malaysia – $107,000
18 – Aram Sargsyan, Armenia – $95,000
19 – Wiktor Malinowski, Poland – $95,000
20 – Aleks Ponakovs, Latvia – $95,000
21 – Elton Tsang, Hong Kong – $87,500
22 – Alex Kulev, Bulgaria – $87,500
23 – Igor Yaroshevskyy, Ukraine – $87,500
24 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – $80,000
25 – Patrik Antonius, Finland – $80,000
26 – Tan Xuan, China – $80,000
27 – James Chen, Taiwan – $80,000
and Rast’s 
needed some kind of miracle against Koon’s 
came on the turn and Koon said, “You gonna go backdoor fours on me again?” Rast did not reply, but the dealer did. The river was 
. That runner-runner kept Rast in the tournament.
on a flop of 
. His opponent Martin Dam had 
.
didn’t help Dam. But the 
river did, and the unlikely turn of events sent Kronwitter to the rail in eighth and the others into the money and to the final. (Koon was 80/20 to win the hand on the first table, by the way, while Kronwitter had 70 percent equity on the other. He was pretty long odds to be walking away with nothing.)
, Chidwick then jamming with 
and Biao calling with 
and Chidwick’s kings and deuces were best. Keijzer’s brief stay at the final earned him $42,000 as Chidwick picked up a bounty.
and his tournament was done. It was a nice break for him from commentary duties, and it earned him an extra $67,000.
— and when Dam three-bet his open pre-flop, they could get their whole stacks in at that point.
, flopping three spades. But that was about all he could muster. The next time they got it in, Chidwick had 
to Dam’s 
flopped a straight when the dealer put the 
