Aymon Hata and Ivan Leow Win Triton Poker Events at LIVE MILLIONS Russia

One week after Bulgaria’s Mikita Badziakouski took down the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju Main Event in South Korea for US$5,257,027, the prestigious high stakes tournament festival rolled into the Sochi Casino and Resort in the Krasnodar region of Russia. Its presence there is part of a collaboration between the Triton brand and partypoker LIVE, with two Triton events having been added to the schedule, namely the RUB3 million (US$50k) Triton High Roller, and the RUB6 million (US$100k) GTD Triton Super High Roller.

Locking up the first tournament was German pro Aymon Hata, while Malaysia’s Ivan Leow emerged victorious at the $100k event to book his second Triton Poker title in just a fortnight.

$50k Triton High Roller

The $50k Triton High Roller attracted 47 entries, resulting in a prize pool $130,184 in excess of its $2 million guarantee. At the end of two days of action, it was German pro Aymon Hata who would eventually emerge victorious over the tough field to claim a whopping top prize worth RUB48 million ($755,384).

Hata now boasts $2,373,415 in career earnings, but interestingly his latest score is just his second best to date, with his biggest result also coming this year after booking a third place finish at the $100k WSOP No Limit Hold’em – High Roller event for $1,247,230. Later commenting upon how his victory might influence his tournament selection going forward, Hata responded:

“I don’t think a lot will change. I am going to continue playing in High Rollers but won’t play every single one of them for the sake of it. I will make sure that the fields are interesting and look for spots.”

Final Table

Just six players in the $50k Triton High Roller would see a return on their buy-ins, with Philipp Gruissem’s 6th place finish earning him a min-cash of $118,125 after his A-9 hand was bested by Patrik Antonius holding A-J. Antonius (K-K) followed up by doling out the same treatment to Paul Phua (9-9), who subsequently hit the rail in 5th, but the Finn then lost a series of hands, eventually leading to his busting the tournament in 5th at the hand of Aymon Hata.

Ten minutes later, Hata (Q-Q) eliminated a short stacked Konstantin Uspenskii (K-8) in 3rd, leaving just Troyanovskiy standing between himself and victory. Nevertheless, Uspenskii chose a wrong time to run a seven-high bluff as Hata had made a full house, and after being reduced to just nine big blinds Uspenskii then shoved his remaining chips preflop holding J-7. Hata opted to call with K-4, and after the dealer laid out a queen-high board, Troyanovskiy collected $501,795 for his runner-up finish, while Hata secured a memorable win.

Final Table Results (US$)

1: Aymon Hata $756,000
2: Vladimir Troyanovskiy $501,795
3: Konstantin Uspenskii $354,375
4: Patrik Antonius $236,250
5: Paul Phua $165,375
6: Philipp Gruissem $118,125

$100k Triton Super High Roller

Meanwhile, the $100k buy-in Triton Super High Roller saw 20 players register, which together with nine re-buys helped create a prize pool $629,847 in excess of its $2 million guarantee. This included such players as Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and partypoker sponsored pro Philipp Gruissem, all of whom fell short of a money spot.

Final Table

On Day 2, Dietrich Fast then bubbled the competition in 5th, after which the remaining players were all guaranteed at least $283,500 for their efforts thus far. It was Ivan Leow (K-Q) who eliminated Fast (9-9), and soon after the Malaysian pro did likewise to another German player, Manig Loeser, in 4th to take a commanding lead into three-handed play.

Soon after, however, Leow lost a huge pot in a full house under full house hand against Germany’s Abraham Passet, but managed to recover after being dealt A-10 and sending fellow countryman Wai Leong Chan (Q-J) to the rail in 3rd. Heads-up play then began with almost $400,000 separating a first from second place finish.

Leow started the final battle as chip leader, and despite Passet mounting a valiant comeback and taking the lead at one point, Leow’s sheer aggression helped him secure a commanding lead by the time the deciding hand was played more than an hour later.

In the hand in question, Leow (Jd-5s) and Passet (6h-2h) limped in preflop, before taking in a Jh-4h-4d flop. Leow subsequently bet out, leading to an all-in shove from his opponent, which Leow called. A 2d on the turn gave Passet a few more ways to win, but a Qc on the river put paid to his hopes, and so he had to be satisfied with a runner-up finish worth $740,880.

Ivan Leow, on the other hand, collected the biggest payday of his career worth $1,134,000, although that amount was only just short of the $1,079,367 he won just two weeks earlier after also taking down the HK$500,000 ($65k) Triton Poker Super High Roller Short Deck Ante-Only in South Korea. As a result, Leow now boasts $3,610,190 in career winnings since his first cash in 2015, with all but $123,274 of that amount won this year alone.

Final Table Results (US$)

1: Ivan Leow $1,134,000
2: Abraham Passet $740,880
3: Wai Leong Chan $472,500
4: Manig Loeser $283,500