Champion Christoph Vogelsang

German poker players have been at the top of the European game for quite a while. But even by their standards, this trip to the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro has been outstanding.

Tonight at the Maestral Resort & Casino, it was Christoph Vogelsang's turn to add a third Triton title to his incredible resume, following in the footsteps of previous winners this trip Chris Nguyen and Fedor Holz.

With it, Vogelsang pulled closer to Holz at the top of the Germany all-time money list, picking up $1,037,858 for victory in the latest $50,000 NLH 7-Handed event. The total represented Vogelsang's share of a three-way ICM deal, negotiated with, you guessed it, two other German-speaking players.

One of them, the chip-leader at the time Thomas Mühlöcker, is Austrian. Mühlöcker took the most money but finished in third. Second place went to Leonard Maue, securing the German 1-2.

Vogelsang, Mühlöcker and Maue agree a chop with Luca Vival

Mühlöcker's $1,071,015 prize was the biggest of his Triton career; Maue's $909,197 was similarly his biggest result.

But the 40-year-old Vogelsang is quite accustomed to the big, seven-figure scores and is a former Main Event winner. He will no doubt join the $100K NLH Main Event field later in the evening, planning to add further accolades to his tremendous career.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Despite starting as the Triton Invitational was playing towards its final table, the latest $50K still drew 118 entries to build a prize pool close to $6 million. There was another $1.4m prepared for the winner, and competition was reliably tough.

Day 1 brought the field down to 23, three places from the money, which set up a tricky opening period for the short stacks. But after Igor Yaroshevskyy toppled from the top ten to the rail -- AK losing to Bryn Kenney's -- and Jamil Wakil ran kings into Wang Ye's aces, the stone bubble arrived rapidly. Then Cong Pham, the shortest in the room, defended his big blind to big-stacked Leonard Maue's button open, and got unlucky to lose everything with Maue's flopping two pair and beating Pham's .

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The day was barely 30 minutes old and the tournament was in the money. Kenney and Maue, the two players to profit the most during this testy period, now led the field.

The tournament's last two tables came into the main tournament room, where the Invitational final was playing out. And like the neighboring event, this tournament rapidly became alarmingly short stacked as the 30-minute levels passed steadily, but player eliminations were slow.

Maue toppled downward, doubling Alex Kulev and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau in consecutive hands. Meanwhile Christoph Vogelsang and Kayhan Mokri began rising upward, along with Wang Ye and Wiktor Malinowski.

As the seven-handed final table grew closer, Vaskaboinikau and Kulev were out, while Alex Theologis had joined the climbers. Kenney had slipped, but bounced back to take a place in the top three, while Mikita Badziakouski and Malinowski had crashed out in ninth and eighth, respectively.

They wound the blinds back to get a 30 big blind average, and there were suddenly only seven left in the hunt.

FINAL TABLE LINE-UP

Kayhan Mokri - 4,650,000 (47 BBs)

Christoph Vogelsang - 3,925,000 (39 BBs)

Bryn Kenney - 3,750,000 (35 BBS)

Thomas Mühlöcker - 3,475,000 (35 BBs)

Alex Theologis - 3,050,000 (31 BBs)

Leonard Maue - 2,550,000 (26 BBs)

Wang Ye - 2,200,000 (22 BBs)

Event 9 final table players (clockwise from back left): Thomas Mühlöcker, Christoph Vogelsang, Kayhan Mokri, Wang Ye, Bryn Kenney, Leonard Maue, Alex Theologis.

The rolling back of the levels gave everyone a bit more breathing room. This was quite a bunched final table line-up, with no one running away with things. However, no matter the circumstances, there are certain match-ups that inevitably mean all the chips go in the middle, and when Wang Ye three-bet jammed his 19 blinds over Alex Theologis' open, we saw one such example. Wang had AK to Theologis' pocket queens.

The queens held to leave Wang heading out in seventh, picking up $248,000.

Wang Ye picked up a seventh-place finish

Christoph Vogelsang started the final table pretty quietly and slowly slipped below Kenny, Mokri, Maue and Theologis. But in one hand he vaulted back to the top. His AK beat Kenney's pocket nines, a flip that sent the pair to opposite ends of the leaderboard.

Kenney stuck around a bit longer, mainly thanks to a hand versus Mokri where Kenney shoved the river looking at a board of 10107. Mokri folded, but lost around 40 percent of his stack. A few hands later, Mokri was out. Thomas Mühlöcker three-bet jammed over Mokri's open, and Mokri called the rest of his 11-blind stack.

Mokri flopped a king but Mühlöcker rivered an ace and that was the end for Mokri. He took $331,000 for sixth.

The Bahamas Invitational winner Kayhan Mokri finished sixth

Mühlöcker now tied Vogelsang in the lead and drew ahead by busting Kenney soon after. Mühlöcker open-jammed pocket fives from the cutoff, with three sub 20-blind stacks behind him. Kenney called with AQ but lost the flip. Kenney had to settle for fifth and $422,000.

Money list leader Bryn Kenney had to settle for fifth

Mühlöcker was enjoying a fantastic burst and he soon eliminated the dangerous Alex Theologis to add to his collection of victims. Mühlöcker again open-shoved, this time from the small blind, and Theologis called for all he had, 14 big blinds, in the big blind holding A6. Mühlöcker had A, however, and was never in danger.

Theologis earned $525,000 for fourth.

Alex Theologis raps the table and leaves

The three-handed chips showed Mühlöcker in a significant lead with 45 big blinds. Vogelsang, the only player in the last four who had previously won on the Triton Poker Series, had 26. Maue had 23. It has already been a very good series for Triton's German-speaking contingent, and here they were guaranteed another victory.

Before they determined who it would be, the trio beckoned over Luca Vivaldi and asked to look at the numbers. They agreed on an ICM chop from which Mühlöcker would take $1,071,015, Vogelsang got $937,858 and Maue earned $909,127. There was $100,000 on the side plus the trophy.

"The good thing is, we can all win a million," Vogelsang observed, and his opponents smiled to signal their happiness too.

So often, a deal makes very little difference to the pace of play. But this was not one of those occasions. Quite the contrary. After a few pots all went to Vogelsang, he assumed the chip lead. And from that point, he got it done in two big hands.

Three-handed leader Thomas Mühlöcker

In the first, Mühlöcker opened KJ from 15 blinds and Vogelsang shoved, holding A. Mühlöcker called off and the ace only got stronger when another ace appeared. That sent Mühlöcker out in third for the $1,071,000 he had agreed on.

On the very next hand, Vogelsang limped from the small blind holding K5 and Maue jammed for 23 bigs holding A.

Second place for Leonard Maue

Vogelsang needed some help this time, and he got it with a king on the flop. That was the decisive card for Vogelsang to get it done, claim his million, and add a third Triton title.

The final stages took place exactly as the Triton Invitational was concluding, drawing the attention of the streaming crew and most of the reporters. But let the record state, it was another immaculate performance from the consummate pro Vogelsang: unassuming and away from the spotlight, but just how he likes it.