Champion Robert Cowen!

The curtain came down on the Triton Poker Series' long stay in Jeju late on Wednesday night, but the final event ended in a flurry of action, a commotion of bounty hunting, and a newly-minted champion in the form of the UK's Robert Cowen.

The $30K PLO Bounty Quattro Turbo is, by its very nature, volatile. But Cowen's tear through the final stages was all but unprecedented. He won nine-and-a-half of the 10 available bounties, knocking out everyone who had a $40K bounty on their head. (The half bounty came from a chopped pot.)

The final table took 52 minutes, start to finish.

"I think it's gone as well as any final could go," Cowen, 40, said. "Just ran very, very hot. And that's the nature of bounties. If you're running hot, you're going to win."

Cowen picked up $242,000 from the main prize pool and another $380,000 for those bounties, a sum that will go a long way to make up for an otherwise disappointing series for the Brit.

Cowen said: "I feel good. It's a rough series, so it's nice to claw a lot back. And obviously to win my first event is brilliant. It's always nice to win."

On the subject of half bounty, which he shared with Punsri, Cowen deadpanned: "I'm a generous guy."

Robert Cowen, a "generous guy"

Cowen is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and a leading figure in the world of high-stakes PLO. But this was the first time he has won on the Triton Series, and he needed to beat a final table that also featured 12-time champion Jason Koon, British No 1 Stephen Chidwick, and two-time Triton Main Event winner Ben Tollerene.

But as it turned out, they were merely there to make up the numbers as Cowen surged to the title. Vowing to return for more in Montenegro, Cowen added: "These tournaments are amazing, Triton is amazing... Everything is so good here."

Stephen Chidwick tosses in the final bounty

As we look back on another hugely successful series in Jeju, few would disagree.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

As is now traditional, the final tournament on the schedule was a Turbo Bounty Quattro, promising one last hurrah for the hardy souls who extended their stay in Jeju until the bitter end.

There was a $30,000 buy-in and bounties worth $40,000 each, which came into play when 10 players were left. The field had a very familiar make up, but all the PLO whizzes had one more chance to make it stick.

The bounty bubble burst when Jason Koon sent David Wang to the rail in 11th, meaning every subsequent knockout brought the extra dollars. And Koon was still ahead when the tournament passed through its more conventional bubble: Robert Cowen knocked out Zhou Quan to take the tournament down to seven.

A final bubble for Zhou Quan

Conveniently that was precisely the number of players who would find seats at the final, which meant the following put their chips into racks and headed over to the feature table stage, recently vacated by the $75K PLO that had now concluded.

Jason Koon - 1,920,000 (38 BBs)

Robert Cowen - 1,910,000 (38 BBs)

Ben Tollerene - 1,375,000 (28 BBs)

Lautaro Guerra - 905,000 (18 BBs)

Gergo Nagy - 870,000 (17 BBs)

Stephen Chidwick - 435,000 (9 BBs)

Punnat Punsri - 385,000 (8 BBs)

Event 19 final table players (clockwise from back left): Lautaro Guerra, Robert Cowen, Stephen Chidwick, Ben Tollerene, Punnat Punsri, Jason Koon, Gergo Nagy.

All of these players had also once been involved in that $75K event. Chidwick cashed it, but Koon had bubbled. He was now stepping back onto the very stage from where he had departed with nothing, and his 13th title was in his sights.

The first step now was to pick off some of the short stacks. And this quickly became Robert Cowen's area of expertise. In the first major pot of the final, Cowen dismissed both Ben Tollerene and Gergo Nagy in a hand that started quietly and soon got out of control.

Koon limped from UTG+1. Tollerene also came in for the minimum. Cowen limped from the button as well, and Lautaro Guerra also called from the small blind. Nagy, however, looked down at AAJ2 and put in a raise. Tollerene and Cowen were the only two to call.

Gergo Nagy was the official sixth-place finisher

The flop was 2QQ and Nagy can't have been thrilled. But he put in his last 10 blinds. Tollerene had the flush draw, holding KJJ4 and got his chips in. But Cowen had the queen in his Q664.

There was still a way for all of them to potentially win, but the 9 turn and K river shipped it all to Cowen. He earned two more bounties as Nagy took $40,000 for seventh and Tollerene $50,000 for sixth.

Ben Tollerene barely got settled at the final

The aces were out again on the very next deal, but this time they went into Cowen's hand. That was good enough to account for Punnat Punsri, who still had the eight blinds with which he came to the final, but lost them with AK92.

It was another $40K bounty for Cowen, as the six-time champ Punsri left with $66,000 for fifth. He also had $20,000 for half a bounty, having chopped a pot with Cowen when they knocked out Danny Tang.

Punnat Punsri was the only other player to get something of a bounty

There had barely been time for anyone to draw breath, but another double elimination was on the way. This time, Lautaro Guerra and Jason Koon were swept away, again by Cowen, whose 9852 turned a straight to beat Koon's 10866 and Guerra's QQJ5.

It was fairly benign pre-flop, with Cowen's raise called in two spots. But then everything went in on the 426 flop and the 7 turn gave the pot to Cowen.

Lautaro Guerra and Jason Koon were knocked out on the same hand

The situation was now as follows: Stephen Chidwick sat opposite his countryman Cowen with four blinds to Cowen's 152. Chidwick was heads-up at the final table but hadn't actually won a single pot.

However, he won the first hand uncontested, then saw his K10109 beat Cowen's K986 on the next hand to double to 10 blinds. Was the comeback on?

Robert Cowen and Stephen Chidwick play heads up

The answer was no. Only a few hands later, Chidwick succumbed to the inevitable. His 11 blinds went in pre-flop holding 9983 and Cowen's AJ65 rivered a flush to win.

Chidwick took $175,000 for second, but Cowen was a new and deserved champion. From 10 available bounties, he had won nine and a half. That's the way to do it.