Triton Montenegro concludes with Samuli Sipila clinching two; Petrangelo, Kulev, Yaroshevskyy among winners

The 2024 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro concluded its fifteen day run at the Maestral Resort and Casino in Budva. The festival ran from May 12 to 20, 2024. Here are the final results. 

Triton Montenegro

Largest Bounties

One of the first half events of Triton Montenegro was Event #5 $40,000 NLH 7-Handed Mystery Bounty with players having to wait an extra day to draw for bounties. A whopping $3,020,000 was up for grabs. Friends and family were invited to help with the drawing       ]process and Hossein Ensan played the fairy for Daniel Rezaei by pulling the golden envelope worth $400,000.  Rezaei redeemed four bounties for $560,000 total, the second-biggest tally awarded.

Only Artsiom Lasouski topped that amount as his 12 bounties were converted to $680,000, more than the $669,000 cash prize he earned for the victory in his third-ever Triton Poker Super High Roller Event. Stephen Chidwick had one bounty to redeem and made it count for $200,000 while Nikita Kuznetsov turned seven bounties into an additional payday of $300,000. Likewise, Leon Sturm had lucky hands with two bounties being worth $260,000.

Comeback Victory for Igor Yaroshevskyy; Isaac Haxton Denied Again

Event #6 $50,000 NLH 7-Handed Bounty Quattro drew a total of 126 entries for a prize pool of $6,300,000 of which $1,920,000 were awarded in bounties. The top 20 spots were paid at least $57,000 in cash with Asian Poker Tour’s co-owner Michael Soyza reaching 13th place for $196,600 including $120,000 in bounties.

Only two players from Asia reached the eight-handed final table on which Patrik Antonius became the first casualty for $136,000. Spanish wizard Adrian Mateos bowed out in sixth place for $495,000 with almost half of that coming from bounties, surpassing the amount collected by fifth place finisher Shyngis Satubayev ($463,000).

Thai prodigy Punnat Punsri reached the podium and had to settle for third place, which came with $773,000 in cash and bounty prizes. Heads-up saw Igor Yaroshevskyy take on Isaac Haxton and the latter was once again denied a Triton title.  Yaroshevskyy started the final with the second-shortest stack and collected only $120,000 in bounties but he also took down the tournament for a payday of $1,172,000 in total, while Haxton was the bridesmaid once more for $896,000 in total.

Second Triton Title and Massive Payday for Matador Mateos

During the early stages of the festival in Montenegro, Adrian Mateos already reached two final tables and took some rough beats to avoid even better results. But he all made up for the misfortune in Event #7: $50,000 NLH 8-Handed in a field of 159 entries, as he earned the biggest slice of the $6,040,000 prize pool.

A total of 27 players earned cash prizes with Tan Xuan and James Chen earning the min-cash of $80,000. Elton Tsang made the pay jump to $87,500 while Anson Eng Siang Ewe received $107,000 for 17th place. Danny Tang earned more vital points for the overall leaderboard but fell in 15th place for $119,200, swiftly followed by Wai Kiat Lee who took home the same cash prize.

Chris Brewer bubbled the unofficial final table with the likes of Mario Mosboeck, Dan Smith and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau following thereafter. Five Americans made the final nine and three of them bowed out next in Phil Ivey ($408,000), Ben Tollerene ($532,000) and Nick Petrangelo ($667,000). China’s Joe Zou finished in third place for $818,000 and that set up a duel for the title between Justin Saliba and Mateos.

Both had locked up seven-figure prizes already and Saliba had to settle for a consolation prize of $1,188,000, while Mateos earned his second Triton Title and top prize of $1,761,000. With this victory, the Spaniard jumped into 12th spot in the all-time money list on The Hendon Mob and is now chasing Ivey.

Bulgaria’s Alex Kulev Becomes Newest Triton Title Holder

In the first six-figure buy-in of the series, a total of 102 entries were made in Event #8: $100,000 NLH 8-Handed and that brought with it a massive prize pool of $10,200,000. The top 17 finishers received at least $160 for their efforts and three players from Asia finished in the money. Among them was Japan’s rising star Masashi Oya, who has taken over first place on his country’s all-time money list.

Oya entered the Super High Roller scene in 2023 and took down the $100,000 Super High Roller at WSOP Paradise for his first gold bracelet and $2,940,000. Ever since, Oya has notched up some big cash prizes and the $184,000 for 13th place feels rather small compared to the previous feats. He was followed to the rail by Wiktor Malinowski, Stephen Chidwick and Sean Winter to set up the nine-handed final.

Two contenders for the overall Triton leaderboard were still in the mix with second-placed Daniel Dvoress finishing in sixth place for $594,000. Hong Kong’s Danny Tang extended his lead by a notch with fifth place for $752,000 but the victory is far from locked up. Three players then earned seven-figure prizes after the elimination of Maher Nouira in fourth place ($933,000).

China’s Xi Liang was the last Asian player standing and took home $1,127,000 for third place, while two young European prodigies battled for the title. Thomas Santerne of France finished as the runner-up for $1,735,000 while Alex Kulev earned his biggest score on the live poker circuit so far worth $2,566,000. The Bulgarian is another rising star in the high-stakes scene and has a WSOP bracelet to his name from 2023 as well.

Nick Petrangelo Finally Breaks his Duck and Wins First Triton Title

With more than $34 million in live poker cashes and sitting inside of the top 20 on the all-time money list, Nick Petrangelo has seemingly been involved in high-stakes live poker events for an eternity with six scored above $1 million. However, he had never won a Triton Event but this has now changed.

It may only be his eighth-biggest score of $775,000 for his victory in Event #10: $50,000 NLH Turbo, but it still counts as a major achievement on the resume after all. Out of a field of 53 entries, only the top nine spots were paid and Artur Martirosiyan bubbled to send the tournament into the money.

Petrangelo led the way when the final nine players combined to one table with three contenders having ten big blinds of less with no Asian hopes in the mix. Leaderboard contender Daniel Dvoress was among them and bowed out first for $77,000, followed by Steve O’Dwyer and Leon Sturm. Isaac Haxton reached another Triton final table but exited in sixth place for $164,000, while Nouira had another decent showing with fifth place for $212,000.

Online and live poker wizard David Yan from New Zealand finished in fourth for $273,000 with mixed game specialist Dylan Linde taking home $362,000 for third. Petrangelo then also overcame the UK’s Lewis Spencer, who walked away with a consolation prize of $556,000, as the long-time American poker pro finally notched up the first Triton victory.

Wiktor Malinowski Denies Mateos Second Title in Montenegro

That left another five tournaments on the Montenegro schedule but only one of them in the No-Limit Hold’em, format:  Event #11: NLH 8-Handed features a price tag of $200,000 which played down to a winner on May 23, 2024. Leaderboard contender Danny Tang crashed out just before the money stages in the tournament, which drew a staggering 93 entries including 32 re-entries for a prize pool of $18,600,000.

On the bubble, Mikita Badziakouski was left short and doubled twice to then knock out Santhosh Suvarna in a flip to let the bubble burst. Triton co-founder Paul Phua and Patrik Antonius earned the min-cash of $317,000 while Ding Biao followed next for $344,000. Stephen Chidwick bubbled the nine-handed unofficial final table and no Asian players were left in the mix.

The top six players earned seven-figure cash prizes with Jason Koon being the first to do so for a payday of $1,098,000. Badziakouski followed next ($1,405,000) and the eliminations of Mike Watson and Steve O’Dwyer set up a heads-up duel between Adrian Mateos and Wiktor Malinowski. Mateos already had one title to his name during the series but was denied this time to cash for $3,292,000, while cash game specialist Malinowski earned his biggest MTT score of $4,789,000.

The remaining four events thereafter were all Pot-Limit Omaha and certainly favored the four-card aficionados.

Samuli Sipilä Wins Two Omaha Titles on Triton Debut

Players from Scandinavia are widely considered among the best in PLO and Samuli Sipilä showed just that in Event #12: $25,000 PLO 6-Handed. With 82 total entries, there was $2,050,000 in the pot and the top 14 finishers earned a slice of it. Three players from Asia were among those to prevail including Masashi Oya (11th for $44,000), Quan Zhou (9th for $55,000) and Anson Eng Siang Ewe (third for $242,000).

In heads-up, Main Event champion Mikalai Vaskaboinikau was up against Sipilä but had to settle for the runner-up finish this time. Vaskaboinikau padded his bankroll with a payday of $371,000 while Sipilä notched up his largest live score to date for $535,000.

Fast forward to Event #13: $100,000 PLO Main Event, the crowd was very similar and 83 entries generated a prize pool of $8,300,000 as once again, the top 14 finishers were paid. Quan Zhou min-cashed for $152,000 this time while Tang earned vital points for the leaderboard with a sixth place finish worth $495,000.

Three PLO specialists followed to the payout desk in Tomas Ribeiro ($635,000), Eelis Pärssinen ($795,000), Laszlo Bujtas ($983,000). American poker pro Dylan Weisman has a PLO bracelet to his name and certainly favours the game variant as well. He agreed to a deal with Christopher Frank and then finished in second place for $1,666,090, while Frank was crowned the champion to take home $2,008,910.

The Triton debut of Sipilä then became even more impressive as he also claimed the title in Event #15: $50,000 PLO. This time, a field of 61 emerged and the top 11 finishers earned a share of $3,050,000. Only two Asian players advanced to the money stages and that included once again Tang with seventh place for $146,000.

Ding Biao finished two spots further ahead in fifth place for $238,000 with Finland’s Pärssinen ($300,100) and Antonius ($390,000) bowing out next. Only Jose Ignacio “Nacho” Barbero could avoid another Finnish victory but he came up short to settle for $596,300, while Sipilä triumphed once more and topped his previous result by collecting $839,000 for the efforts.

Last but not least, the series in Montenegro concluded with Event #16: $30,000 PLO Bounty Quattro. Only seven players earned a portion of the cash prize pool in a field of 41 entries with $440,000 up for grabs in bounties. Ding Biao made a deep run once more and finished in fourth for $87,000 without collecting any bounties.

Dylan Linde ($114,000) and Stephen Chidwick ($179,000) earned $40,000 in bounties on top but Denmark’s Martin Dam dominated the proceedings. He earned the Triton title, trophy, top prize of $250,000 plus $280,000 in bounties to more than double his earnings in this event.

This concludes the last Triton Event for this season but the high-stakes contest will certainly be back after the summer break.

*Article by Christian Zetzsche