Brian Kim finally brushed off the Triton nearly-man tag and bagged his first win, taking down the $25k WPT Global Ultimate Slam for a $941,000 score.
The Triton Series opener in Monte Carlo bore the tag of their new title sponsor – WPT Global – with the promise of a $25k buy-in Ultimate Slam tournament at each and every Triton stop.
This, the inaugural event, pulled in a huge field of 170 entries, 107 of those unique, creating a prizepool of $4,250,000 and paying out 27 spots.
With 34 players making it to day two, it was an early bubble to look forward to and it saw the chip leader and the shortest stack clash, Frenchman Jeremy Zouari at risk but getting it in good…
Liang: J♣ 3♥
Zouari: A♦ K♦
Flop: Q♦ 5♥ K♣
Turn: 9♣
River: 10♦
A brutal river that sent Zouari crashing out and locking up $43,000 for the remaining players.
Next stop on the road to Triton glory was the final table, and some of the biggest names in the game fell short:
- Ike Haxton (21st for $47,000)
- Artur Martirosyan (20th for $51,000),
- Hossein Ensan (14th for $64,000)
Brian Kim made it, and with 18 Triton cashes – including three 2nd places and two 3rd spots – he was hoping that this time he’d make the breakthrough.
Elton Tsang bowed out first, pocket 9s no good against Alex Theologis’ pocket rockets, and the same fate befell Estonia’s Ranno Sootia, this time his Latvian neighbour Aleks Ponakovs with the aces.
With the stacks now very shallow indeed, Ponakovs was in fact next to depart, 8s no good against Roberto Perez’ queens. Then two of the youngsters clashed, Dominykas Mikolaitis from the third Baltic state, Lithuania, falling to good friend Camosci…
Mikolaitis: Q♥ 6♥
Camosci: 9♣ 9♦
Nothing is ever simple in poker and the flop gave the Lithuanian a gutshot…
Flop: 8♣ 4♥ 7♣
…and the turn added a flush draw for a decent sweat…
Turn: K♥
…but the brick came…
River: J♣
…and we were down to five contenders.
Tom Fuchs fell to Theologis and then Perez to Kim, who also ousted Theologis after the Greek player’s triple barrel bluff backfired and left him on fumes.
Heads-up would either give us a story with Kim finally winning a Triton Poker title, or Camosci scooping on his very first try.
There was a quick swing back and forth but then Camosci, down to just five BBs, found himself staring down the barrel…
Camosci: Q♠ 7♦
Kim: K♣ J♥
Flop: 9♣ 10♠ 6♥
Turn: 3♥
River: 9♠
…and with that, Kim had finally broken his Triton duck, taking a whopping $941,000, third only to his deep run in this year’s WSOP Main Event (7th for $1,500,000) and a 3rd spot in Jeju $50k (worth $954,000)
EVENT 1: $25K WPT GLOBAL ULTIMATE SLAM
Entries: 170 (inc. 63 re-entries)
Prize pool: $4,250,000
| 1 | Brian Kim | USA | $941,000 |
| 2 | Enrico Camosci | Italy | $634,000 |
| 3 | Alex Theologis | Greece | $436,000 |
| 4 | Roberto Perez | Spain | $356,000 |
| 5 | Tom Fuchs | Germany | $284,000 |
| 6 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | Lithuania | $218,000 |
| 7 | Aleks Ponakovs | Latvia | $159,000 |
| 8 | Ranno Sootia | Estonia | $115,000 |
| 9 | Elton Tsang | Hong Kong | $95,000 |
“It’s elusive,” Kim explained of his search for a Triton title in his winner’s interview with Marianella Pereyra. “With all these great players, it’s possible I could have been coming to Triton for another seven years and not winning one.”
Kim added: “I’m just so happy to be here and talking to you. I never knew if I would have one of these conversations. I’m going to take the trophy home and put it somewhere special.”
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