Kevin Paqué heads the field going into the final

Triton Poker’s showpiece hold’em event in Madrid — the €100,000 buy-in Main Event — reached its final table late on Saturday night, finding the last nine players who will do battle for the lion’s share of an incredible €9.3 million prize pool.

The winner, who will be crowned on Sunday, is set to win €2.477 million — as well as an exclusive watch commissioned from Jacob & Co, a unique Main Event trophy, and the sole right to call himself the no limit hold’em Main Event champion from Triton’s first visit to Spain.

The last nine players are led by Kevin Paqué, the same player who bagged the chip lead at the end of a frantic Day 1. It was a fine showing from Paqué, who slipped out of that chip lead early in the day, but who was then able to navigate a path through the bubble, then to the final table.

In fact, he was the man responsible for bursting the bubble, sending Nick Petrangelo out in 14th (see below) and Paqué steadily chipped up from there. He leads Sam Grafton into the final, after the Brit won an enormous pre-bubble pot from Luuk Gieles, which sent the Dutchman home in 16th.

The final table also features the established pros Aleksejs Ponakovs, Henrick Hecklen, Patrik Antonius, Sam Greenwood and Bruno Volkmann, as well as the businessmen-turned-poker players Orpen Kisacikoglu and Alfred DeCarolis.

That is nine players from nine different countries, including Triton first timers and those who have been here many times before. (Only Hecklen has a Triton win before, however.)

There was no room for Sirzat Hissou, Brian Kamphorst, Chris Brewer and Linus Loeliger, who busted in 13th through 10th — in the money but before the final table. Loeliger was the last man out, shoving for 1.3 million with his A7 but running into Ponakovs’ .

Linus Loeliger, out in 10th

Loeliger took €200,000 for 10th, gave Ponakovs a huge boost ahead of the final, and left us with the following:

Kevin Paque, Netherlands – 5,125,000
Sam Grafton, UK – 4,225,000
Aleksejs Ponakovs, Latvia – 3,465,000
Henrick Hecklen, Denmark – 2,855,000
Sam Greenwood, Canada – 1,810,000
Patrik Antonius, Finland – 1,720,000
Bruno Volkmann, Brazil – 1,630,000
Orpen Kisacikoglu, Turkey – 1,505,000
Alfred DeCarolis, USA – 820,000

A reminder of what they’re playing for, and who has cashed already:

Triton Madrid – Event 9 €100,000 NLHE Main Event

Dates: May 20-22, 2022
Entries: 93 (inc. 34 re-entries)
Prize pool: €9,300,000

1 – €2,477,000
2 – €1,710,000
3 – €1,134,000
4 – €888,000
5 – €716,000
6 – €558,000
7 – €440,500
8 – €344,000
9 – €260,500

10 – Linus Loeliger, Switzerland – €200,000
11 – Chris Brewer, USA – €200,000
12 – Brian Kamphorst, Netherlands – €186,000
13 – Sirzat Hissou, Germany – €186,000

PETRANGELO BURSTS THE BUBBLE AS MAIN EVENT CLOSES IN ON ITS FINAL

Nick Petrangelo hit the rail in the most unfortunate spot

The skills of an elite poker player are practically limitless, but there’s one in particular that is never taught in the textbooks. It’s the skill of looking nonchalant when you’ve just hit the rail on the bubble in a €100K buy-in tournament, your chances of winning €2.4 million ended in the worst position possible.

Tonight at the Triton Madrid €100K Main Event, the player showing off this particular talent was Nick Petrangelo. Without question, Petrangelo is one of tournament poker’s absolute elite, but he’s had a stinking time of it on the Triton Series. He has $24 million in documented live tournament winnings, but none of it has come under the Triton branding.

Zero. Zilch. Cashless. And that unhappy record continued here in the Main Event where the bubble finish only added insult to injury.

Although there was one man with a shorter stack at the table, the obdurate Sirzat Hissou, Petrangelo found a good spot to get his last 14 big blinds in. He had  and three-bet jammed after Kevin Paque opened his button.

Unfortunately for Petrangelo, Paque was near the top of his range with his AK. And there was no help on the board for Petrangelo.

That was the end of a comparatively short stone bubble period, although the threat of elimination had hovered over the tournament room ever since registration closed after two levels of Day 2.

Immediately following that close, there were a handful of players who had a freshly minted stack. At that stage, 250,000 chips was about 19 big blinds, so there was work to do.

Unfortunately for the likes of Brian Rast, Christoph Vogelsang, Jason Koon and others, they weren’t able to spin it up. They were soon joined on the sidelines by other superstars such as Ike Haxton, Fedor Holz, Phil Ivey and Michael Addamo, the latter unable to mount a serious challenge for his third victory of the week.

A field of 18 went to dinner, one of whom, Paul Phua, had only one big blind in his stack. Phua is an absolute master of short-stack play, but this was too big a mountain even for him. His departure in 18th brought the bubble much closer, with play spread across three short-handed tables.

The next player out had led the field at one point today — a position with which he is well accustomed. But Steve O’Dwyer lost a big pot with AQ against Orpen Kisacikoglu’s pocket kings, and the same player finished off O’Dwyer. On the final hand, O’Dwyer flopped a pair of tens with his Q, but Kisacikoglu managed to turn trip fives with his . All the money went in and O’Dwyer was done, bringing the field down to two tables.

There was then a slight slowdown in proceedings, before a huge explosion. Although there were 16 players remaining, two hands played out simultaneously on the feature and outer table that had the potential to burst the bubble immediately.

Up on the feature, Sam Grafton won a huge one from Luuk Gieles. Grafton opened to 80,000 from the hijack with Q9 and Gieles called with A on the button. Patrik Antonius also called in the big blind.

Sam Grafton won a massive pot to eliminate Luuk Gieles

The two saw a dangerous flop of Q34 and, after Antonius checked, Grafton checked too. Gieles then bet 55,000, Antonius called, and then Grafton check-raised to 230,000. Gieles three-bet to 430,000 and that was too much for Antonius. But Grafton called.

The 9 came on the turn, giving Grafton two pair. He checked and Gieles moved all in for 585,000. Grafton snapped him off.

The J was a blank on the river, and Grafton’s outdraw scooped him a huge pot. “What a punt,” Gieles was heard to mutter as he wandered away from the table.

At that exact time, Henrik Hecklen, Bruno Volkmann and Andras Nemeth were playing a big hand on the outer table. Hecklen raised the hijack, making it 80,000. Volkmann three-bet the cutoff, putting 220,000 in the middle, and then Nemeth shipped for 370,000 from the button.

Hecklen, with the covering stack, called the all-in and that persuaded Volkmann to let it go. His fold meant we couldn’t burst the absolute bubble here, but Nemeth’s departure, if it happened, would leave us with 14.

And Nemeth did depart. He had found pocket jacks at precisely the wrong time. Hecklen had queens and the board ran out dry. Nemeth headed out the door.

We don’t know what Volkmann had in that hand, but his decision to fold kept him alive. And that was a big deal because moments later Petrangelo found himself all-in on the feature table. And we know how that turned out.

Thirteen players therefore remained and the quest now continued for the eight players who will sit at the final table. Here’s a reminder of what’s on offer to all of them.

Triton Madrid – Event 9 €100,000 NLHE Main Event

Dates: May 20-22, 2022
Entries: 93 (inc. 34 re-entries)
Prize pool: €9,300,000

1 – €2,477,000
2 – €1,710,000
3 – €1,134,000
4 – €888,000
5 – €716,000
6 – €558,000
7 – €440,500
8 – €344,000
9 – €260,500
10 – €200,000
11 – €200,000
12 – €186,000
13 – €186,000

Luca Vivaldi & Ruyi Xi unveil details of the exclusive Main Event winners’ prize

There was huge excitement in the tournament room of Triton Madrid this afternoon as registration closed on the €100K No Limit Hold’em Main Event, and players learned what they had the chance to win.

By the time the shutters came down on the registration desk, there had been 93 entries to the tournament, including 34 re-entries, which meant €9.3 million in the prize pool.

Thirteen players will be paid, with a min-cash worth €186,000. The winner of this showpiece event will earn €2.477 million. Wow.

Triton Tournament Director Luca Vivaldi also revealed details of an additional prize. In affiliation with Triton’s new partner Jacob & Co, the Main Event winner will also be awarded an exclusive watch.

To call it just a watch seems to understate it, however. This is a truly exceptional piece of kit, the result of an exclusive collaboration.

The exclusive Jacob & Co timepiece

Named the Triton Epic X Skeleton, it is a 44mm skeleton timepiece with the Triton logo integrated at the 12 o’clock position. It has a rose gold face and the word “CHAMPION” engraved on the case back. Look out for more details, and further information about Triton’s partnership with Jacob & Co, later this week.

Winners of both the short deck and long deck Main Events will get the watch — as well as the exclusive Triton trophy, of course.

Ruyi Xi, Regional Brand Director of Jacob & Co, joined Vivaldi on stage to reveal details of the prize. She then instructed dealers to shuffle up and deal as this freezeout part of the tournament began. Anyone out from now can’t come back.

The Triton Main Event trophy

Photography by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive