Poker is an unpredictable game at the best of times, but it goes double when we're talking about PLO. And the first four-card tournament of this Triton ONE festival in North Cyprus threw up all manner of shocks and surprises at an action packed, star-studded final — none more so than the fact that the winner, Nikolai Kanunikov, was playing his first ever event on this series.

Kanunikov defeated Artur Teshaev heads-up, another player with precisely zero in recorded earnings before today on the Triton Poker Series. But those two not only saw off a field of 138 entries in this $6,000 buy-in event, they also outlasted familiar faces such as Danny Tang, Nacho Barbero and Zhou Quan, who all made the last eight but perished before the trophy came out.

France's Julien Sitbon possibly thought his name was going onto the winners' ledger too, especially after he hit a sensational one-outer to make quads and survive earlier at a thrilling final. But he fell in third, in the same pot as fouth-placed finisher Zhou.

After that, Kanunikov had a massive chip lead over his Uzbek opponent Teshaev and quickly closed it out for a $178,000 win. Not a bad debut at all. Teshaev, meanwhile, came up blank in the three Triton ONE events he played in Jeju this year, but now has $120,000 to his name.

A formidable one-from-one record for

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Pot-limit Omaha is popular in this part of Europe and this tournament, the first PLO event on the Triton ONE schedule, quickly raced to 138 entries. That was immediately more than 50 percent bigger than the two PLO events held during Triton ONE in Jeju, and put $766,590 in the prize pool.

One of the Jeju PLO champions Artur Martirosian was among the very familiar faces taking a seat in this event, and Martirosian narrowly edged into the money, busting in 22nd. That was only a matter of minutes after Finland's Juho Suutari landed the wrong side of the in-the-money line, watching his aces cracked by Nikolai Kanunikov's 998, which went runner-runner straight.

Such is the life of the PLO player, as Suutari, from the game's Finnish hotbed, will know only too well.

Fellow Finn Joni Joukimainen was next out the door, but at least he secured a $9,500 min-cash. The rest of the field then tried to focus on making the final table, which would be reached when seven players were left.

This was an exceptionally strong field, especially as it contracted, with Super High Roller Series champions Artsiom Lasouski, Nacho Barbero and Zhou Quan also running deep. Lasouski fell some way off the final table, but Triton Ambassador Danny Tang, the most decorated of any player in the late stages, had seemed set on taking his place at the final. But then it all went wrong for Tang.

Danny Tang fell one short from the final

He had 22 big blinds and woke up with AKA, otherwise known as double-suited aces. But Zhou's had plenty of ace-cracking potential, and a board of did the job. Tang therefore bubbled the final table in eighth, earning $22,500, but leaving the following to play to the end on a solitary table.

Zhou Quan - 7,850,000 (63 BBs)

Nikolai Kanunikov - 6,700,000 (54 BBs)

Nacho Barbero - 4,125,000 (33 BBs)

Artur Teshaev - 3,950,000 (32 BBs)

Julien Sitbon - 2,550,000 (20 BBs)

Tommi Lankinen - 1,325,000 (11 BBs)

Said Butba - 1,075,000 (9 BBs)

Event 13 final table players (clockwise from back left): Nikolai Kanunikov, Artur Teshaev, Tommi Lankinen, Zhou Quan, Nacho Barbero, Said Butba, Julien Sitbon

Said Butba brought only nine big blinds to the final table, but he was very quickly walking away without them. On the first hand, he picked up A10K and put in a raise. Zhou called on the button holding and the remainder of the chips went in after the flop.

The 7 turn and 7 river were cruel for Butba. Zhou's boat was a winner and Butba took $30,500 for seventh.

Said Butba lasted only one hand at the final

Nacho Barbero needs no introduction to Triton Poker Series fans. He's a four-time winner on the Super High Roller Series, and PLO is one of his best games. But Barbero endured a torrid time at this final, barely ever managing to put an upward slant on his chip graph, before losing his last 12 blinds to Artur Teshaev.

Teshaev's AK10 beat Barbero's , with the money all going in pre-flop. Teshaev flopped a king and added a second pair with a three on the turn. Barbero wandered away with a $41,000 payout.

Nacho Barbero doesn't like what he sees

Teshaev almost immediately lost most of his newly-acquired stack to Julien Sitbon, but still everyone was looking up at Zhou, who had close to 40 percent of the chips in play.

Teshaev, however, was doing pretty nicely too. And he next sent Tommi Lankinen out in fifth for $53,000. Lankinen had only five blinds and called Teshaev's pre-flop raise in the big blind, holding Q9J. Lankinen led out with bottom pair and some straight draws after the flop, but Teshaev put him all-in, holding . Lankinen called but the turn and river offered him no salvation.

They were down to four.

Tommi Lankinen was the last remaining Finn

Nobody had really been able to lay a glove on Zhou, but Julien Sitbon, thanks to help from the dealer, suddenly vaulted to prominence. Sitbon would have been taking the walk in the vast majority of similar set-ups to this, but he ended up finding a miracle one-outer to survive and prosper.

Sitbon had KK10 while Zhou had . In hold'em, this would all be in pre-flop, with aces versus kings. And when they both hit a set on the flop, there seemed to be no way this was ending up in any result other than Sitbon's elimination.

Sitbon check-called on the flop, then saw the benign 2 on the turn. The remainder of the money now went into the pot, with neither player holding either of the flush draws. There was only one card that could possibly save Sitbon, and -- bink! -- as if by magic, the K came on the river. His quads were good for a huge double and the chip lead.

The miracle one-outer saved Julien Sitbon

It proved difficult to hold on to, especially with Zhou at the table, who took a chunk back fairly quickly and drew level again. When they went on a dinner break, with four players left, the stacks had grown shallow and it was anyone's game. Zhou led with 22 blinds, ahead of Sitbon's 19. Nikolai Kanunikov had 17 and Teshaev 12.

The proof that this was still too close to call came very quickly after the break. Kununikov suddenly leapt ahead of everyone in another unlikely pot. He and Zhou both had pocket aces, Zhou finding AA and Kanunikov holding . It all went in pre-flop, but a run out of ended up giving Kanunikov trips and a massive double.

And then Zhou got aces again almost immediately afterward, but ended on the rail. This time he was joined by Sitbon as Kanunikov managed to knock them both out in one fell swoop.

Julien Sitbon's number was finally up

Kanunikov limped his button holding 876 and Sitbon three-bet from the small blind with . He had 10 big blinds. Zhou saw and got everything he had left in the middle, and then after the flop, Sitbon got the rest of his stack in as well.

Sitbon had top pair, Zhou had an over-pair, but Kanunikov now had a set. It stayed best and the two previously dominant forces were out. Zhou officially took $66,090 for fourth and Sitbon was third, for $80,500.

Sitbon and Zhou bust on the same hand

It was now Kanunikov, with 60 blinds, taking on Teshaev, with only nine. There had already been one massive heads-up comeback today, in the $10K hold'em. But lighting did not strike twice. Although Teshaev held his own for a while, he eventually suffered the same ignominy as many before him, having aces cracked to bust. The specifics of this one was that Kununikov's K107 flopped two pair and turned a boat to beat Teshaev's .

The board ran 87K with a single raise pre-flop, then the rest going in on the flop.

Artur Teshaev got to heads up with his first IT

It was a memorable way to end a memorable tournament for Kanunikov, who has the perfect Triton ONE record.