Champion again Artur Martirosian!

Last week, immediately after Artur Martirosian won the $30K NLH Bounty Quattro tournament here at Triton Monte Carlo, the Russian pro was asking about Player of the Year. At that point, he'd already cashed in four other tournaments too and fancied his chances.

Back then, it was far too early to know. But Martirosian has fired every event he could here in Monaco, and tonight he got another one to stick. Martirosian became the only player here to claim two titles, banking another $525,000 including $180,000 in bounties, in the PLO Bounty Quattro. It's clearly a format he likes very much.

Administrators still haven't yet figured out the Player of the Festival prize, and there are another three festivals before Player of the Year is settled. But Martirosian has always been a formidable force in any tournament series, and he's clearly in the form of his life.

Tonight, he became the latest player to deny Isaac Haxton a Triton title. Haxton made his 44th in-the-money finish, but it ended in second place and $270,000, including bounties. It's mystifying that he hasn't yet converted any of these cashes into a title, but a player of Haxton's quality will continue to return and continue to crush. It's only a matter of time.

Isaac Haxton remains without a Triton title

But tonight, and this week, it's Martirosian's time. The 27-year-old Russian has been excellent, and it's another richly deserved success.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

As the last event on the schedule, players were doubly keen to get involved, either as a trip saver or a way to put a cherry on top of a winning series. With 75 entries through the gates, there was $1.875 million in the prize pool, of which $570,000 would go to bounty payments.

With quick levels and the additional dangling carrot of the bounties, this one flew by.

The bubble, always dramatic, was also rapid this time. There were two called all-ins on neighbouring tables, with three players at risk. Elias Harala had his last chips in the middle against Stephen Chidwick, and this was the first one to be decided.

Harala got what he wanted. With 8JA9 the board of 8QK210 gave him a straight. Chidwick's single-suited pocket kings went into the muck.

Elias Harala doubled to survive

Over on the next table, Dan Smith had both Santhosh Suvarna and Joni Joukimainen covered, and his 10789 had lots of potential. Suvarna had 2KK10 and Joukimainen was technically ahead with A4A2.

Joni Joukimainen bubbled the turbo

With big-stacked Ren Lin providing commentary, and much of the field crowded around the table, Smith proceeded to realise his equity. The board of 7J8A10 made Smith a winning straight.

Suvarna and Joukimainen were gone and the tournament was in the money. Smith added a couple of bounties to his chip-leading mountain of chips.

Santhosh Suvarna bubbled too

The flood of eliminations continued as they moved steadily towards a final table. Harala's bubble-up was only for peanuts and he was soon gone, followed by Danny Tang, Zhou Quan, Sam Greenwood and Stephen Chidwick. When Sergio Martinez hit the rail in eighth, they were at the final table. It lined up as follows:

Ren Lin - 3.675m (74 BBs)

Dan Smith - 3.46m (69 BBs)

Ronny Kaiser - 2m (40 BBs)

Isaac Haxton - 1.89m (38 BBs)

Michael Duek - 1.58m (32 BBs)

Artur Martirosian - 1.565m (31 BBs)

Richard Gryko - 935,000 (19 BBs)

Triton Monte Carlo Event 16 final (clockwise from back left): Ronny Kaiser, Ren Lin, Isaac Haxton, Michael Duek, Artur Martirosian, Richard Gryko, Dan Smith

This tournament represented a first Triton cash for British Omaha expert Richard Gryko, after an unsuccessful trip to Montenegro and a difficult first couple of PLO events here. With the monkey off his back, he would have liked to have played more than one hand at the final, but Ren Lin had other ideas.

Lin opened A8QQ and Gryko three-bet AJ4K. Lin four-bet, Gryko jammed.

Gryko was the double suited player, but the flop had two clubs on it, which was Lin's suit. The turn was a third club and that sealed it for Lin. Gryko collected $62,000 for seventh.

Two hands later, Michael Duek cracked Ronny Kaiser's aces to leave the Swiss player on fumes. He couldn't recover, and Artur Martirosian was waiting to sweep up the bounty with 7Q95 hitting a nine to beat Kaiser's 3AQ10. Kaiser won $78,000, plus one bounty, which was also his first Triton cash from his second tournament.

Ronny Kaiser made a final table in his second Triton tournament

By the standards of some turbos we've seen, a 50 big blind average at this stage represents an enormous stack, and there was no immediate certainty that eliminations would continue at their breakneck pace. But with levels only 15 minutes long, there was not a whole lot anyone could do to stop the noose tightening.

Michael Duek was the next to be squeezed out. He went to a flop with 5J75 and flopped a flush draw on the 2Q2 board. Dan Smith, his opponent, had 10109A and was ahead already with his pair of tens.

It stayed that way as the 9 turn and 2 river missed. Duek departed in sixth for $78,000.

Ren Lin had had a big stack for much of this event, and that meant the volume was kept high throughout. But he finally succumbed in what was the biggest hand of the tournament to that point, with Martirosian and Smith also involved, and Martirosian scooping piles.

Lin opened his button with AJQ6 and Smith three-bet the small blind. Martirosian called in the big blind with A42J, and then Lin under-called all-in for his last four blinds.

Huge pot three-handed

It meant they were three way to an intriguing flop of 879. Smith checked, and Martirosian dumped a pile of chips over the line, covering Smith. Smith had only five blinds left, but folded. Lin said, "Flush?"

"Nut flush," Martirosian said, and showed his [poker card="as"][poker card="4s"]. Lin prepared to leave. The chatty Chinese player took $124,500 plus six bounty tokens of $30,000 apiece.

Ren Lin: "See you in the Bahamas"

Smith got away from this one, but his reprieve didn't last long. The very next hand, his chips went to Martirosian anyway. Smith's 1010Q2 lost to Martirosian's 4Q96. The latter made a straight.

Smith had four bounties, and took $159,000 as well, but Martirosian added another scalp to his ledger.

Dan Smith made a good fold, but was left with dust

Martirosian had a two-to-one lead heads up, with around 35 blinds to 15.

But this one didn't last long. The first time they were all-in turned out to be the last. They were at the turn, with the board showing Q3106 and all the money went in. Martirosian's 89K8 was a flush draw, which needed to hit against Haxton's KQ53.

Bink. The [poker card="4c"] river completed that flush for Martirosian. A handshake, and it was done. Haxton had to settle for $240,000 plus one $30K bounty. Martirosian won $345,000 plus six bounties. It's his second title of the trip and he's in pole position for Player of the Year.