A dramatic three-way all-in shootout decided the destination of Triton Montenegro’s event #2 this evening, Andy Ni emerging from the smoke with a Super High Roller trophy and $785,000!
Ni had joined 134 other nosebleed MTT players for the $25k NLHE 8-handed tournament at the Maestral Resort in Montenegro, hoping perhaps to join Chris Moneymaker as a first-time Triton Poker champ.
The 2003 WSOP Main Event winner had claimed the SHR series’ opener yesterday, and again there was a sizeable prizepool to chase – $3,375,000 across 23 paid spots.
Matthias Eibinger took the role of bubble-boy, losing his stack in two big blows involving pocket jacks – Alex Kulev cracking them and then Patrik Antonius holding them and holding up.
That meant a min. cash of $39,200, boosted to $42,500 by the time day one ended with 18 players.
Back today to play down to a winner, Steve O’Dwyer (17th for $47,300),
Ben Tollerene (16th for $47,300) and Antonius himself (12th for $57,500) were among the stars who fell before the final table.
The octet who made it represented eight different nations, with Ni representing China, though now living in Spain. He was joined by Triton regulars Danny Tang and Chris Brewer as the action heated up.
Ni’s aces were enough to dispose of Kulev in 8th spot, then Brewer did the same with pocket rockets against Barbero’s AK. Big slick was up again on the next bustout hand, Chouity up against Tang’s queens.
Chouity: A♦ K♦
Tang: Q♥ Q♠
Flop: 5♦ 3♣ 6♣
Turn: 3♥
River: K♠
The payjumps were now worth at least $50k and by the time Buldygin (5th) and Sargsyan (4th) had fallen, the final three had locked up $350k plus change, but eyeing more than double that number up top.
Shallow stacks and huge money made for a tense finale, and it was Ni who got lucky, first doubling with K10 against KJ and then finding himself ahead in the three-way all-in that decided matters.
Brewer opened for 5million but left one big blind behind, which – after Ni jammed and Chouity called all-in, gave Brewer a tough decision. Fold and hope to ladder up $200k if Chouity bust?
Eventually he made the call…
Brewer: A♣ 8♠
Ni: A♥ J♣
Chouity: A♠ 10♦
Flop: Q♦ 7♥ Q♣
Turn: 6♦
River: 4♦
…and that gave Ni his first Triton Poker title, plus $785,000, while Chouity sneaked in to second, ahead of Brewer, and also moved to second spot behind Freddy Deeb in the all-time Lebanese moneywinners list.
Final results
| 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 |
| 6 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | $180,500 |
| 7 | Nacho Barbero | Argentina | $133,600 |
| 8 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | $98,500 |
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