Alex Kulev won event #08 $100,000 No Limit Hold’em Montenegro from the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series. It’s his first title but also the best live cash, well $2,566,000which raise a the Bulgarian player has won over 13 million in his career.
An event that closed the recordings with 102 entries, including 62 returns, for a Total prize pool of $10,200,000divided between the top 17 qualifiers.
In what was the most important event played to date in this Triton stop, the bubble fell to Mike Watson who had won a title in Montenegro a few days ago. He played a decisive hand against Thomas Santerne AK vs 1010, with the “captains” even completing a set on the river after Mike had caught an Ace on the flop.
In a final table with an interesting mix of familiar faces and newcomers in these Tritons, the biggest winner of all time in these series was the first to fall.
Bryn Kenney even managed to double against Danny Tangwith his nines beating AK, but just two hands later, with QQ, he beat Tang’s KK.
Sixth place went to Dan Dvoress because on the hand following Linde’s elimination, Dvoress opened with AQ to which Santerne 3-bet. Action returned to Dvoress, who moved all in for 20 BB and Santerne called with QQ. The board showed no Aces and Dan was eliminated.
After a bit of doubling and alternating chips, it was time, in a classic flip, to Danny Tang to be eliminated in 5th place, when his queens failed to beat Kulev’s AK. An ace on the flop gave the future winner the success.
Maher Noira placed fourthwhen his QQs beat Santerne’s AA who was rewarded with $933,000, leaving the bottom 3 to compete for 7-figure prizes.
The bronze medal is won by Xu Liang, who saw his pocket 7s hit on a flip against Kulev who held KQ. He hit two Kappas on the flop which eliminated Liang, who won $1,127,000 for third place.
L‘heads up between Kulev and his 10,250,000 chips (68 BB) against Santerne and his 10,150,000 chips (68 BB) starts in almost perfect parity. At stake was the $850,000 difference between first and second place.
In the end it was Kulev who prevailed. The final hand came in a traditional flip, where Santerne had pocket sevens and Kulev had A10. A ten on the flop, followed by another ten on the turn, gave Kulev a huge lead. The seven does not arrive and Kulev became the grand champion of this event, for $2,566,000 while Santerne guaranteed $1,735,000 for his second place.
Event #08: $100,000 NLHE – Triton Poker Series 8 handed Montenegro
1st place Alex Kulev Bulgaria $2,566,000
2nd place Thomas Santerne France $1,735,000
3rd place Xu Liang China $1,127,000
4th place Maher Nouira Tunisia $933,000
5th place Danny Tang Hong Kong $752,000
6th place Dan Dvoress Canada $594,000
7th place Dylan Linde US $454,000
8th place Aleks Ponakovs Latvia $342,000
9th place Bryn Kenney US $255,000
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10th place Sean Winter US $209,000
11th place Stephen Chidwick England $209,000
12th place Wiktor Malinowsli Poland $184,000
13th place Masashi Oya Japan $184,000
14th place Nacho Barbero Argentina $168,000
15th place Brian Kim US $168,000
16th place Seth Davies US $160,000
17th place Ben Heath England $160,000
