Champion Joni Jouhkimainen

When PLO is the game, the Finns come to town. And although the distinctive blue and white flag had hitherto been absent from the list of winners during this Triton Super High Roller Series trip to Jeju, Joni Joukimainen emphatically put it there on the festival's closing night.

Joukimainen is a leading light of that irrepressible Finnish four-card cadre, a group that he joked learns PLO for the first time in elementary school. But by his standards, he'd been going through a barren spell — 14 bullets, no cashes in Jeju — before this tremendous trip-saving $1,381,000 score.

That was the prize not only for defeating a field of 67 entries in a $75,000 buy-in event, but also for surviving arguably the most unpredictable and volatile final table of an inherently unpredictable and volatile game.

"Wow, it was like the craziest final table ever," Jouhkimainen admitted, relieved to be the last man alive. "I was lucky enough to be standing here."

With Triton Ambassadors Danny Tang and Jason Koon also at the final, alongside Triton powerhouses Punnat Punsri and Isaac Haxton, and fellow PLO experts Martin Dam and David Wang, the standard of play was guaranteed to be elite. But they had to battle with exceptionally short stacks as nearly every all-in in the early stages resulted in a double up.

The boss, Joni Jouhkimainen

Jouhkimainen had to dig deep into his box of tricks to prevail, showing his skills particularly when he began to pull away from his last two opponents, Koon and Tang. With Koon clinging on to a short stack, Jouhkimainen's play effectively kept him in the game to allow the big stack to profit through the man-in-the-middle, Tang.

"It's a tricky concept," Jouhkimainen explained. "I didn't do it because Jason is my good friend. I just did it because keeping Jason in I'm able to steal chips from Danny. In PLO, when these guys are neck and neck, I can just pot, pot, pot and these guys have to fold."

Koon threatened to upset them both with the hint of a comeback, but Jouhkimainen was able to hold his nerve to close it out.

"In the beginning it looked like it will be some deep-stacked poker," Jouhkimainen said. "We had a decent average stack. But then things changed dramatically...It was a little bit too much of a flip-fest for my taste."

Ultimately, it didn't matter. Jouhkimainen is long overdue on the list of Triton champions. And though he did it the hard way, it will surely mean even more in the long run.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The tight-knit community of PLO players are nothing if not committed, and all the familiar faces turned out for the last multi-day PLO tournament of the trip. Tournament officials accepted 67 entries, which built a prize pool of $5,025,000, and 11 places would be paid.

Only 16 were left at the end of Day 1, and they rapidly progressed to the bubble. That's when Sean Rafael got his last eight big blinds in, three-betting Punnat Punsri's open, and seeing his aces cracked by Punsri's Q1086. Punsri made a straight on the run-out of 9JJK10 to beat Rafael's especially pretty, but defeated, AA98.

A final day bubble for Sean Rafael

With eight players left and the final table in sight, Ben Tollerene was at his familiar spot at the top of the leaderboard. But a massive pot against Isaac Haxton sent the recently-crowned PLO Main Event champion to the top and cut Tollerene down to the smallest stack, which he then needed to double through Jason Koon to survive.

Tollerene, however, was back down to a single blind when he was one of two players all-in simultaneously on both the tables in play. Danny Tang was the other, and that hand played out first, giving Tang a crucial double up. Tollerene was not so fortunate. His last crumbs went to Haxton and sent him out in eighth. The last seven could therefore form a final table.

Final table line-up

Isaac Haxton - 4,090,000 (82 BBs)

Jason Koon - 2,215,000 (44 BBs)

Martin Dam - 2,160,000 (43 BBs)

Punnat Punsri - 1,955,000 (39 BBs)

Joni Joukimainen - 1,165,000 (23 BBs)

Danny Tang - 1,155,000 (23 BBs)

David Wang - 655,000 (13 BBs)

Event 16 final table players (clockwise from back left): Punnat Punsri, Danny Tang, Joni Jouhkimainen, David Wang, Martin Dam, Jason Koon, Isaac Haxton.

Surrounded by a gallery of established Triton superstars, David Wang was the relative unknown. However, this was his second final table since dealers had been dishing out four cards per player in Jeju, and he is beginning to make all the right noises to suggest a new breakout talent is in our midst.

Wang was, nonetheless, the short stack coming into this final and couldn't be expected to do much else with aces than to play them as aggressively as possible pre-flop and hope for the best. The dealer, however, didn't assist: Wang's AA63 went down to Haxton's 10673 when the latter made a straight on a J41089 run out.

Haxton called Wang's pre-flop raise from the big blind and everything else went in on the flop. After that river killed Wang's hopes, he was out in seventh for $241,000.

David Wang has enjoyed a breakout series here in Jeju

Nobody was prepared to give an inch as play resumed, with the blind levels slowly increasing and gobbling up stacks. Danny Tang moved up the counts, while Haxton was running through treacle. Everyone bunched up behind those two and there was suddenly an average stack of only 18 blinds with six players still left.

Frankly, this was a little ridiculous. Even with six top-tier PLO players at the table, the fact that chips continued to be passed around for so long without an elimination seemed unlikely. Joni Jouhkimainen doubled through Martin Dam to survive, and then took over at the top of the counts. But then Tang bounced ahead after winning a huge pot from Haxton.

And then it was time for Jason Koon.

The Triton Ambassador's rise to the top coincided with Dam's eventual elimination. Dam picked up AKQ10 and opened from under the gun. Koon defended his big blind with K974. Dam had only three blinds left and Koon's bet on a flop of 854 asked for all of them. Dam called.

The 9 turn and 3 river was only good for Koon. He sent the Dane to the rail in sixth place, winning $307,000.

Martin Dam fell short of a second title

Punsri slipped down the counts and needed a double up through Haxton to remain in contention. That put Haxton on the ropes but he doubled from five blinds to hold on. When he then did it again soon after, through Koon, Haxton was at the summit and Koon was propping everyone up. This last hand came about when Haxton's J10107 beat Koon's AKK4, all in pre-flop. Haxton finished with a straight.

Haxton and Punsri were one and two in the counts, but Punsri's jam on a jack-high flop in a three-bet pot forced a fold from Haxton, and Punsri took over at the summit. But not for long. Jouhkimainen flopped a set of jacks and rivered quads to double his 11-blind stack through Punsri.

After Koon rivered Tang to stay in his seat, the level went up and there was suddenly a preposterous 13-blind average stack. Jouhkimainen was now the leader, with Koon in sixth. But only seven blinds separated the entire field.

An exhausting final for Jason Koon

It really seemed as though they might be playing until the weekend without an elimination, and even when there was suddenly a three-way all-in, nobody bust. The players under threat were Tang and Koon, holding AAK2 and KA89, respectively.

Punsri's AQ107 would need to hit something to come from behind to win, but the QK865 run-out effectively tripled Tang, gave Koon a couple more blinds, and left Punsri with seven blinds to play with. On they went.

Three-way all-in No 1

It was, however, finally time to shed one. And it was Haxton who took the fall. Having finally lifted his Triton curse in the PLO Main Event, Haxton might have been hoping for the flood of titles to start. But he got his last six blinds in pre-flop with A576 and Jouhkimainen's AJJ10 finished with a straight.

Haxton, at yet another final table, took $392,000 for fifth.

Not yet for number two Isaac Haxton

Punsri was now the overall short stack--or, shortest stack, to be more precise. His last seven blinds went in against his friend Tang, and the pair stood together to watch the dealer decide this one again. True to form, there was a double-up lurking in the deck. Punsri's A765 came from behind to beat Tang's AKQ8.

They went on a tournament break amid mumbles of "most ridiculous final table ever" only to return to a 13 big blind average and a chip leader (Tang still) with 17 blinds. Punsri's short stack was 12.

And then Punsri's race was finally run. His last chips went to Jouhkimainen, whose KK82 beat Punsri's AK55. Punsri, the last hope at this final table for a double Jeju champ, perished in fourth for $495,000.

Time for bed, Punnat Punsri and animal friend

Koon was the smallest stack with 10 blinds, and two hands later it was down to just one. Tang took a bit, Jouhkimainen took more, and then Koon had only one blind. But Jouhkimainen wanted him to stick around, and Koon wasn't done. He tripled back immediately, then doubled that through Tang soon after. Koon still only had eight blinds but was now one double away from second place, and two from the chip lead.

Even better for Koon was the sight of his two opponents going at it. Jouhkimainen took almost all of Tang's chips when his 10869 made two pair, and Tang was forced all in soon after. He turned his last 25K chip into three of the same, and that actually proved to be very important indeed.

On the very next hand, all the chips were in the middle with the flop showing 1063.

Tang had Q543

Koon had Q876

Jouhkimainen had K842

"This is the perfect hand to end this tournament," Koon said as players on the rail and at the table bellowed the cards that everyone needed to hit to either win, double or triple up, respectively. They weren't always the right cards, but it was late.

A three-way all-in ends in the elimination of Jason Koon

The 5 came on the turn and the shouting of cards continued. When the dealer put them all out of their misery with the 3 river, it was apparent that Tang had hit a boat to win the "main" pot. Jouhkimainen's straight took to side.

Koon was on the rail in third for $643,000. That 13th title is elusive still for him.

Tournament staff went through the motions to reset the table for heads-up play. But Jouhkimainen's lead of 50 blinds to three quite possibly made a lot of this pointless.

Another big score for Danny Tang

So it would prove. On the first hand of heads-up play, all the chips went in with Joukimainen's 369A going up against Tang's 6JJK. The board of 236QA sealed the deal for this PLO wizard.