Patrik Antonius has taken down the $200K buy-in Triton Invitational at the Monte Carlo Casino after defeating a stellar line-up for a career best payday.
This event is the biggest regular event on the calendar, only pipped by the Big One for One Drop when it costs a cool million dollars to enter.
The format of the tournament pitches amateurs against professionals with the twist that each pro must get an invite from one of the non-pros to be able to play.
Day 1 is all about each group playing only against each other but one Day 2 the groups combine with the pros hoping for a softer table and not to end up sat with a table full of their elite peers.
In total, there were 80 players who accounted for 102 entries for a prize pool of $20,400,000 and $5,130,000.
Action Recap
Linus Loeliger was the man heading the pro field at the conclusion of Day 1. The Swiss online cash wizard has crossed over into high-stakes live tournaments in recent years and is making quite a name for himself.
Estonian VIP Vladimir Korzinin led the amateurs with enough chips to leave him in third place overall.
Day 2 started with 73 challengers remaining, all vying for a slice of that huge prize pool which would be divided between the top 17 finishers.
Loeliger started with the lead but it didn’t take many hours before Monaco resident and poker legend Patrik Antonius stamped his authority on the event.
As the money bubble approached, a cluster of big names all ran out of steam and exited the event. Phil Ivey, Adrian Mateos, Stephen Chidwick, Ike Haxton, and Fedor Holz all dipped out on getting a payday.
Prophetically, it was Antonius who burst the bubble himself, in a confrontation with Latvian Aleks Ponakovs.
The Finn’s pocket nines came out best against Ponakov’s A♣ K♣ when the flush didn’t come in and the board paired to give nines a full house.
As usual, play now got a lot looser and several players walked to the rail, including Nick Petrangelo and Chris Brewer.
Antonius still maintained a lead of almost double his closest rival with 121 big blinds.
Morton Klein was the first to leave, picking up a nice $510,000 after failing to spin up his short stack.
Tan Xuan was never likely to be in the mood to think about ICM while newcomer and amateur Vladimir Korzinin was at the table. He needed chips and he needed them fast.
Sadly for the Chinese player, his pocket jacks came unstuck against the ace-queen of Antonius for his last 20 big blinds. No third Triton title today.
Antonius then repeated the trick with his jacks beating the ace-king of Konstantin Maslak to make it a trio of VIP players leaving the final table first.
Now it was four pros to two VIPs.
Vladimir Korzinin then dealt with Mikita Badziakouski in what will no doubt be the biggest bust in his poker career.
A straight triumphed over two pair to send the Belarussian home in sixth place with a $1,188,000 prize.
The other man from Belarus at the table, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, was next to leave, picking up a $1,506,000 win to continue his amazing hot run this year. King-queen suited not being able to hit against the fours of Roman Hrabec.
The stacks were now starting to get short, well, for everyone but Antonius that is.
But also by now, everyone was starting to get excited at the prospect of Vladimir Korzinin pulling this off. Down to the last four in this field is a great achievement.
The Estonian needed to chip, though, and luckily survived with a chop when his dominated ace was rescued by a double paired board.
Hrabec was then crippled after losing a flip versus Jorstad to leave him with only four big blinds. Antonius took those with his dominating jack a hand later.
Jorstad was now starting to run low on chips with Korzinin dealing a mortal blow in a blind versus blind confrontation.
Korzinin opened A♦ 2♣ in the small blind and Jorstad called with J♥ 7♥
The flop came down A♥ 6♥ 10♦ and the action played itself. Korzinin bet out and Jorstad jammed with a flush draw which Korzinin then called.
A blank turn and river saw Jorstad out, banking $2,255,000 for his trouble.
Incredibly, Korzinin had managed to pull himself up into the chip lead. 61 big blinds to Antonius’ 41.
The Finn picked up a few small pots in a row but Korzinin soon showed his mettle in some big pots.
In one hand, Korzinin hit a straight which beat Antonius’ trips and got paid to leave him on the brink of the impossible.
Antonius then picked up a timely double to pull ahead once again, but Korzinin would not go away, winning several pots in succession to regain the lead.
And then, as we could almost feel it coming before it happened, Patrik Antonius won a key pot to double up with a set to pull out a massive lead which would become unassailable in the very next hand.
A great performance from both players and Vladimir Korzinin will take home $3,470,000 with some special poker memories.
Event 8: $200K – Triton Ivitational Final Table Results
| Place | Name | Country | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Patrik Antonius | Finland | $5,130,000 |
| 2 | Vladimir Korzinin | Estonia | $3,470,000 |
| 3 | Espen Jorstad | Norway | $2,255,000 |
| 4 | Roman Hrabec | Czech Republic | $1,867,000 |
| 5 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $1,506,000 |
| 6 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | $1,188,000 |
| 7 | Konstantin Maslak | Russia | $908,000 |
| 8 | Tan Xuan | China | $684,000 |
| 9 | Morten Klein | Norway | $510,000 |
- Get the best rakeback deals
- See the best poker promotions
- View the latest poker news
- Get the best No Deposit Poker Bonuses
- Benefit from the biggest poker bonus
- Calculate your rakeback with the rakeback calculator
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org.
