Champion Jesse Lonis!

In a hectic tournament room at the Triton Poker Series in Monte Carlo this afternoon, it was at time difficult to know where to look. Up on the main stage, the Triton Invitational played to a winner, while the rest of the room was filled with the start of the Main Event.

But for American pro Jesse Lonis, the quiet corner of the secondary feature table will be the place he remembers the most. That was where this 29-year-old New Yorker (now a Las Vegas resident) took down the first Triton title of his career, beating Punnat Punsri heads up at the end of a $50,000 buy-in 7-Handed event.

Despite playing way down the bill, this tournament came with a first prize of $1,502,000, an amount second only to the sum he received for winning a huge PLO title at the World Series a year ago. It came over a characteristically tough Triton field, from which Dan Smith finished third and Leonard Maue was fourth.

Punsri, already a three-time Triton champion, had proved to be the most difficult foe, sitting for long periods with a dominant chip lead. But Lonis simply focused on his game.

“I think I never gave up, which was good,” Lonis said, reflecting on his win. “I didn’t quit, or just get it all in, just kept doing my normal thing, stabbing and it worked out…Obviously you never know when you’re going to win, so I just came in and played my best.”

He allowed himself a moment of congratulation. “It was awesome to get my first Triton,” he said.

Punsri had to make do with $1,021,000, another fine result for him. They got in done in plenty of time to head over to join the Main Event, and that’s where both quickly headed.

Jesse Lonis and Punnat Punsri embrace at the end of the duel

TOURNAMENT ACTION

By the standards of some events in Monte Carlo this week, this final tournament before the Main Event got started clipped along at breakneck pace. From 125 entries on Day 1, only 28 players came back for Day 2, and the bubble was only eight spots away.

Punnat Punsri had a vast chip lead, but players including Luc Greenwood, Ren Lin and Artur Martirosian had fewer than 10 big blinds. Sure enough, they were all swept away before Nikita Kuznetcov burst the stone bubble.

There were still a good handful of players with fewer than 10 blinds when 21 players remained, but one of them, Orpen Kiscacikoglu, got a three-bet shove through, while another, Jonathan Jaffe, scored a double through David Yan.

Kuznetcov open-jammed his five blinds from under the gun, holding K J and he nearly got it through. But Anson Ewe woke up in the big blind with A , made the call, and watched his better hand hold. Kuznetcov perished in 21st and took nothing. Everyone else was in the money.

Nikita Kuznetcov bubbles event 9

With 30 minute levels and a couple of significant chip leaders (Dan Smith and Jesse Lonis had moved alongside Punsri at the top), the tournament went through a period of stagnation as players attempted to inch to the final table.

All of Jaffe, Kisacikoglu and Yan perished, among others, leaving the rest to play a high-variance shootout to try to book their place at the final. Eventually, and after doubling up Leonard Maue one hand before, Punsri knocked out Pieter Aerts in ninth place to set an eight-handed final.

They lined up as follows:

Punnat Punsri – 6.325m (63 BBs)

Jesse Lonis – 6.18m (62 BBs)

Dan Smith – 4.145m (41 BBs)

Daniel Rezaei – 3.455m (35 BBs)

Leonard Maue – 1.88m (19 BBs)

Mario Mosböck – 1.16m (12 BBs)

Alex Kulev – 1.12m (11 BBs)

Anson Ewe – 725,000 (7 BBs)

Triton Monte Carlo Event 9 final table players (clockwise from back left): Punnat Punsri, Dan Smith, Alex Kulev, Daniel Rezaei, Leonard Maue, Mario Mosböck, Jesse Lonis, Anson Ewe.

All eyes were on short-stacked Anson Ewe, but it was actually Alex Kulev who was the centre of the action on the very first deal. He had 11 big blinds and peered down at a pair of aces. Now he just had to figure out how to get value from them.

Maue helped him out, raising from the button. Kulev three-bet his small blind and Maue called. They went to a flop of  7D] 8 and both players cagily checked. Then the Q came on the turn.

Kulev now bet 225,000 (the big blind was 100K) and Maue called. That took them to the Q river. Kulev now shoved his last five blinds in, and Maue snapped him off. Maue had flopped the world with his J 10 and the day was done for Kulev. He took $194,000 for eighth.

Ewe managed to cling on for a bit longer, and ended up getting his last three blinds in with a chance of tripling them up. He jammed with 8 7 and, after Lonis called, Mosböck jammed behind, holding 8 .

Lonis called that shove too, holding J 10, and a ten on the flop should have resulted in a double elimination. However, the case eight was also on that flop, keeping Mosböck alive. Ewe, though, was toast. He took $262,000 for seventh.

Anson Ewe laddered one spot with his short stack

It proved to be something of a false dawn for Mosböck too. He bobbed along for another five hands or so, before A 4 gave him every reason to three-bet shove over Punsri’s opening raise. Punsri called and had A . He hit both of them on the flop to win this one.

Mosböck banked another $350,000 from his good week.

Another good run from Mario Mosböck

Although there were fewer than 100 blinds between five players, there was a ton of ICM pressure on everyone and there were few major swings. Daniel Rezaei slipped to the bottom of the counts purely by folding blinds, and when he did make a stand, it spelled the end.

Rezaei picked up A 6 in the small blind and moved all in for his last seven blinds. Punsri was lurking with pocket eights in the big blind and didn’t need any help to stay best. Rezaei’s fourth Triton cash, this one worth $446,000, pushed his earnings past the $1 million mark.

Daniel Rezaei says goodbye

Punsri was playing well and running well, and was able to knock out Leonard Maue only a couple of hands later. This time Punsri picked up A K on the button and opened. Maue found A  in the big blind and pushed in his 24 big blinds.

Punsri called immediately and the best hand held up again, boosting Punsri’s stack to 73 big blinds, while his two remaining opponents — Dan Smith and Jesse Lonis — had only 25 between them. Maue meanwhile had $556,000 to take to the main event.

Lonis got his stack in first, and found a double against Punsri. His A 3 counterfeited Punsri’s pocket fours after a double-paired board. It meant that when they returned from another tournament break, Smith had 10 big blinds, Lonis had 23 and Punsri 51.

The first hand back and Smith’s stack went in. He had J Q and opened for half of it from the button. Punsri moved in from the small blind with  and Smith called.

It looked good for Smith after a jack came in the window. But Punsri continued to find the cards when he needed them and the  river was the last Smith saw in this tournament. He took $675,000 for his efforts here.

An ace on the river ended Dan Smith’s day

Punsri had Lonis outchipped by exactly three-to-one, but they asked to look at the ICM numbers to figure out if they wanted to chop it up. After a short discussion they opted just to play it out — and Lonis was immediately the happier. He doubled very quickly after the restart, making two pair with  and getting Punsri to pay off his river shove with a pair of eights.

It put Lonis marginally ahead in an otherwise even battle, but it proved decisive a moment later when they got it all in again. This time, Lonis had A9 to Punsri’s A , and his chip advantage was crucial. The board ran dry, which gave Lonis the outright win and a first Triton title.

“I knew the first time I came, in Jeju, I would always try to come back,” Lonis said. “This obviously helps.”

Punnat Punsri, second best heads up this time