Brian Kim and Kayhan Mokri Open Triton Monte-Carlo Series With Victories; Danny Tang Collects Player of the Year Award

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Monte-Carlo kicked off on November 1, 2024, and the first two winners have been crowned during the high-stakes contest. Furthermore,  UK-born Danny Tang accepted the Ivan Leow Player of the Year Award in the Salle des Etoiles after what has been a stellar 12 months for the number one on the all-time money list of Hong Kong.

During last season’s four Triton Poker stops, Tang cashed in 19 tournaments and reached the final table 13 times. He earned two titles across these to bring his Triton tally to five and his overall cashes on the live poker circuit have since soared to more than $28.6 million.

On top of all that, Tang narrowly missed his second gold bracelet during the 2024 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas earlier this year. In Event #79 $50,000 Pot Limit Omaha, Tang finished as the runner-up for $1,400,217 before adding a deep run in the Main Event soon thereafter with a 62^nd place for another $160,000.

In a nutshell, Tang has cemented his status as one of the rising stars on the live poker circuit and did so in one of the arguably toughest competitions out there, which regularly fields some of the game’s biggest wizards alongside wealthy entrepreneurs. He was also friends with the late Leow, who passed away in September 2022 to make the triumph even more emotional.

The first two completed events of the newest Triton Poker live poker stop didn’t bring any success for Tang yet, as he failed to cash in either of them in the stunning Sporting Monte-Carlo on the French Riviera – the home of the rich and famous.

Brian Kim Finally Wins First Triton Title

Not long ago, Triton Poker and WPTGlobal announced a partnership that would include a trademark event included as part of the schedule on each stop. The series in Monte-Carlo kicked off with Event #1 $25,000 WPT Global Ultimate Slam and it kicked off the high-stakes shenanigans with a field of 170 entries, generating a prize pool of $4,250,000.

Only the top 27 spots were paid and many of the usual faces of the Triton Poker stops added more deep runs to their resume. Among them were the likes of Isaac Haxton, Artur Martirosian, and Hossein Ensan. China’s Xu Liang was the one to burst the bubble via runner-runner and went on to finish in 12^th place for $71,000, while fellow countryman Zhewen Hu bowed out next for $81,000.

The final nine only contained one further Asian hope, but Elton Tsang was the first to bust thereafter after he ran a short stack with pocket nines into pocket aces to collect $95,000. They belonged to Alexandros Theologis, who made it to third place for $436,000.

In heads-up, Brian Kim converted his ninth Triton final table into the first victory after he came out on top of a heads-up tussle with Italy’s Enrico Camosci. The maiden title came with a top prize of $941,000, while Camosci collected $634,000 in his first Triton appearance.

Kayhan Mokri Joins the Winner’s Circle

Throughout the last few years, Kayhan Mokri has seen a near meteoric rise on the live poker circuit which has propelled the Norwegian to more than $7.9 million in cashes, including a dozen six-figure and two seven-figure scores. He won the 2024 EPT Barcelona €100,000 Super High Roller for €1,372,420 and followed that up with another marquee victory.

In Event #2 $30,000 NLH 8-Handed, Mokri came out on top of an 144-entry strong field to claim the largest slice of the $4,320,000 prize pool. Nearly one quarter of it – $1,005,000 to be exact – was the top prize from a final table including three Bulgarians and two Lithuanians.

This time, the top 23 spots were paid and the min-cash of $50,500 was awarded to Kristen Foxen, Fedor Holz and Malaysia’s Lun Loon. Chin Wei “Webster” Lim made the pay jump to $54,500 while Wai Kin Yong collected $67,000 for 14^th place. Pot-Limit Omaha cash game player Saya Ono  from the US was the last woman standing and earned $73,500, as did aforementioned Zhewen Hu.

Just prior to the nine-handed unofficial final table, Andy Ni had to settle for $84,000 and The Lord of Poker co-owner Quan Zhou then became the first casualty when the field combined to one table. Zhou, a long-time grinder of high-stakes events all over the world, opened his Monte-Carlo resume with a score of $100,000 for his ninth place.

The final table included the likes of Dimitar Danchev, Patrik Antonius, Orpen Kisacikoglu, and Alex Kulev but neither of them could stop Mokri en route to victory.

A total of fourteen events are included in the first stop of the new Triton Super High Roller Series in Monte-Carlo, which runs from November 1 to November 14, 2024. Buy-ins range from $25,000 to $200,000, the latter of which is the price tag for the cash of poker pros and entrepreneurs in the Triton Invitational.