This November, the poker community is buzzing with excitement as plenty of live events take center stage. The North American Poker Tour is making waves in Las Vegas, while the PLO Grand Slam and World Series of Poker Circuit in Sanremo are heating up in Europe.
Also, sharing the spotlight is the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Monte Carlo, where a handful of players have already entered the winner's circle.
Brian Kim kicked off the festival, winning the $25K WPT Global Ultimate Slam for his first Triton title after several close calls. Kayhan Mokri bagged $1,005,000 for his triumph in the $30K before Roman Hrabec celebrated his engagement to poker player Monika Zukowicz in style with a Mystery Bounty victory.
Fresh off of bagging a WSOP online bracelet, Alex Foxen pocketed a seven-figure payout in the $50K event, and Artur Martirosian came out on top in an all-Russian heads-up to claim the Bounty Quattro title.
Also among the latest champions is Pieter Aerts. The Belgian high-stakes player was awarded his second Triton trophy after topping the field in Event 6: $100K – NLH 8-Handed for a career-best score of $2,234,587 after a four-way deal that saw Michael Soyza walk away with the biggest payout of $2,305,000.
The 100K saw 85 unique entries and 46 reentries, bringing the tally to 131. The final prize pool stood at $13,100,000, and the top 23 players made the money.
Notable names to walk away with a payout included Stephen Chidwick (17th-$183,000) , Alex Kulev (14th-$203,000) and Phil Ivey (11th-$255,000) but the trio fell short of making the final table.
After Steve O'Dwyer departed in fifth place, Mario Mosböck, Fedor Holz, Soyza and Aerts decided to chop it up and leave $310,000 up top for the winner.
Soyza led with 109 big blinds, while Aerts was in second place with 54. Mosböck’s 24 big blinds were narrowly ahead of Holz’s 23. Holz would flush out Mosböck's trips to set up three-handed play where Aerts was at the bottom of the counts. However, a double-up with ace-eight against Soyza's pocket fours gave Aerts the chip lead
Holz jammed with ace-four suited but ran into Soyza's aces to enter heads-up with the advantage but Aerts took over once more after flopping a straight against his opponent's two pair.
The duo then engaged in an elongated duel, with the lead swapping several times. Aerts was whittled down to four big blinds before doubling up twice in back-to-back hands.
The final hand saw Aerts with ace-ten suited and was dominating Soyza's jack-ten suited. Soyza could not leapfrog the better hand and was confirmed as the runner up.
| Place | Name | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pieter Aerts | Belgium | $2,234,587* |
| 2 | Michael Soyza | Malaysia | $2,305,000* |
| 3 | Fedor Holz | Germany | $1,528,097* |
| 4 | Mario Mosböck | Austria | $1,544,316* |
| 5 | Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | $904,000 |
| 6 | Kiat Lee | Malaysia | $701,000 |
| 7 | Roland Rokita | Austria | $519,000 |
| 8 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | $381,000 |
| 9 | Andy Ni | China | $304,000 |
Aerts has no time for a break to celebrate his win, as the stakes have doubled. The $200K Triton Invitational has just shuffled up and dealt, with 80 players taking their seats.
You can follow all the action in the live stream above, and the chip counts away from feature tables here.
| Event | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25K WPT Global Ultimate Slam | 170 | $4,250,000 | Brian Kim | $941,000 |
| $30K NLH 8-Handed | 144 | $4,320,000 | Kayhan Mokri | $1,005,000 |
| $40K Mystery Bounty 7-Handed | 155 | $6,200,000 | Roman Hrabec | $1,182,019*** |
| $50K NLH 8-Handed | 147 | $7,350,000 | Alex Foxen | $1,470,000* |
| $100K NLH 8-Handed | 131 | $13,100,000 | Pieter Aerts | $2,234,587* |
| $30K NLH Bounty Quattro | 133 | $3,190,000 | Artur Martirosian | $891,000** |
*indicates deal, ** includes bounty prizes, *** notes deal & bounties
Images courtesy of Joe Giron/Triton Poker
