Champion Igor Yaroshevskyy!

One of the early viral clips from this Triton Series stop in Monte Carlo showed the American pro Isaac Haxton putting in a gutsy bluff and getting it through in a hand against Igor Yaroshevskyy in the Triton Invitational.

But Igor Yaroshevskyy has made sure that’s far from the lasting memory for him from this trip to Monaco.

Tonight in the Salle des Etoiles, Yaroshevskyy took down the $60K NLH Turbo for $862,357, beating a field of 61 entries and securing the second Triton title of his career.

“Second time!” bellowed his rail after Yaroshevskyy closed it out, overcoming a slight disadvantage heads-up to down Alex Theologis after the pair agreed a heads-up deal.

By the time they decided to look at the numbers, this tournament had become an all-in slug-fest, with only 40 big blinds between them and a supposed $300K differential between first and second place. They agreed the chop after Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis was knocked out in third and Yaroshevskyy had secured a double-up to draw stacks all but level.

Igor Yaroshevskyy and Alex Theologis celebrate a job well done

Theologis has enjoyed a sensational festival here in Monaco, finishing third, ninth, ninth, 10th and now second in five of the six tournaments he has played. He still hunts for a first title, but already had earnings of $3.3 million and took another $860,143 from the deal here.

But this one was all about Yaroshevskyy, who had a terrific festival in Montenegro in May and has done just as well here too.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The mid-festival turbo is always something of a consolation prize, attracting a field comprised almost entirely of players who have played and busted the Main Event. But it would be a mistake to ignore it; by the time registration closed on this one today, there had been 61 entries and $3.66 million in the prize pool. That meant someone would pick up more than $1m for first prize.

There was, of course, no hanging around as the race began towards the bubble, which was due to burst when 11 players remained, and then the final table of nine.

The bubble was tense, played out across two tables. On one of them, Ren Lin had a tiny stack but clung on to see his neighbour, Michael Soyza, get involved in a pot against chip leading Aleks Ponakovs. Soyza check-called all the way as the dealer put a board of K 8 3 [C] on the table. The final bet by Ponakovs was sly: it was perfectly calculated to leave Soyza with one big blind, should he call.

That was what he did, learning that Ponakovs had an eight. Ponakovs took the big pot, but crucially Soyza was still in the tournament.

On the neighbouring table, Artur Martirosian and Leon Sturm was also playing a big one. Sturm made a 2x raise; Martirosian three-bet to nine bigs and Sturm shoved with the covering stack. Martirosian called it off and they were flipping: pocket tens for Sturm against Martirosian’s A 10.

The tens held and Martirosian bubbled. He won the first turbo here in Monte Carlo, but fell in the cruellest spot in this one. Everyone left guaranteed themselves at least $91,500.

Winner of the first turbo here, bubble in the second: Artur Martirosian

Soyza was out next, followed by Brian Kim. That left a final table of nine, as follows:

Thomas Boivin 2.215m (37 BBs)

Aleks Ponakovs 2.205m (37 BBs)

Alex Theologis 1.86m (31 BBs)

Leon Sturm 1.46m (24 BBs)

Dominykas Mikolaitis 1.24m (21 BBs)

Igor Yaroshevskyy 1.07m (18 BBs)

Luc Greenwood 1.045m (17 BBs)

David Yan 575,000 (10 BBs)

Ren Lin 550,000 (9 BBs)

Triton Monte Carlo Event 11 final table (clockwise from back left): David Yan, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Alex Theologis, Aleks Ponakovs, Ren Lin, Dominykas Mikolaitis, Luc Greenwood, Thomas Boivin, Leon Sturm.

The hand that almost eliminated Kim was a double-up for Lin, and he again survived an all-in after the start of the final, rivering a straight to beat Ponakovs’ dominant hand. That put David Yan under the most pressure, and he wasn’t so fortunate when he got his stack in the middle with pocket tens facing Luc Greenwood’sA Q.

There were two spades on the flop to make it look pretty grim, but it was the A on the turn that was decisive. Yan headed out with $104,000 for ninth.

David Yan out in ninth

Belgium’s Thomas Boivin was still riding high at this point, but he landed on the wrong side of a grim cooler against Luc Greenwood to plummet to the bottom of the counts. Boivin’s A 5 filled a flush on the turn. But when thanks to an eight on the river, coupled with two sevens on board, Greenwood’s pocket eights became a boat.

All the remaining money went in at this point, and Greenwood landed the full double. Boivin was left with only four big blinds, which were surrendered too to Greenwood soon after. Boivin won $137,200 for eighth after a brutal end to his tournament.

Thomas Boivin: from leader to bust

Lin, on the other hand, was positively delighted how things had turned out. Having survived the nervy time on the bubble, then watched four others depart before him, he was freerolling among the final seven. He wasn’t able to go any further than that, however, as he saw Igor Yaroshevskyy three-bet over his opening raise, and decided to rip it in with A 9 .

Yaroshevskyy was sitting with pocket jacks this time, called and held. Lin made his way to the payouts desk looking for $175,700.

Ren Lin survived the bubble bust bust in seventh

With six players left, the average stack was 16 big blinds and the chip leader, Yaroshevskyy, had 30. It was still absolutely anyone’s game as any double up had the potential to change the leader board dramatically. Alex Theologis managed one with his short stack, and that put Aleks Ponakovs, who lost the hand, under pressure.

Ponakovs survived a while longer during a shove-fold phase of the game. The next man out was Leon Sturm, who opened from the cutoff with , only to see Greenwood push with a covering stack from the small blind.

Sturm made the call, discovering that Greenwood had found A K. The best hand held when all five community cards were lower than a ten. Sturm collected $223,200 for sixth.

Leon Sturm hit the rail in sixth

The hand sent Greenwood top of the charts again, even though another raising of the levels measured his stack at only 23 big blinds.

That took a massive hit in the next most significant skirmish, which was a three-way all-in between Greenwood, Ponakovs and Alex Theologis. This was great for Theologis, whose pocket tens were up against Greenwood’s Q J and Ponakovs’ K . Even after a jack flopped, Theologis rivered the case ten to double through Greenwood and take the last of Ponakovs stack, vaulting him into the chip lead.

Ponakovs long hunt for a title continues, but he left this one with $285,500 for fifth.

Average stack at this point? Fifteen big blinds. Chip leader? Theologis, with 25. But still they played on in one of those gravity defying tournaments we see these days, extending longer than might otherwise seem possible.

Dominykas Mikolaitis now took his turn as the chip leader. He doubled with Q [10] through Theologis’ A 3 after two queens came on the flop. But the very next hand, Theologis doubled back, this time knocking out Greenwood.

This one was was a straight flip, with Greenwood’s A Q losing out to Theologis’ pocket eights. Their stacks were incredibly even, but Theologis had a whisker more than Greenwood, which sent the Canadian out the door in fourth. It came with a $360,000 cushion.

Luc Greenwood was at a second final of the trip

Theologis had the lead three-handed: he had 23 bigs to Mikolaitis’ 19 and Yaroshevskyy’s 7. But that lead soon got a whole lot bigger after he felted Mikolaitis in third.

Yaroshevskyy still had by far the smallest stack, but he would have been rubbing his hands when Mikolaitis shoved the small blind with pocket eights and Theologis called quickly in the big. Theologis had J 10 but flopped a jack. There was no miracle set this time for Mikolaitis, and he was out in third. He took $468,900 for that.

Dominykas Mikolaitis made it to third

Theologis had 38 big blinds to Yaroshevskyy’s 11 when heads-up play started, but the short stack doubled quickly. His A Q stayed good against Q  when the money went in pre-flop, and they were at near parity.

It wasn’t clear which of them suggested it, but the pair decided that enough is enough and signed for an ICM chop. They were required to leave 10 percent on the side to play for, but agreed that Theologis would take $860,143 and Yaroshevskyy $833,357. The $29,000 they left would go to the winner and guarantee the biggest payout too.

It’s been a brilliant festival for Alex Theologis

This didn’t last long. A couple of small pots went to Theologis. But then a couple of bigger ones went to Yaroshevskyy. They then got it all in pre-flop when Theologis jammed with 6 [10] and Yaroshevskyy called with A 3 . There was an ace and a three on the flop, and another three on the turn.

That was a full house. “Second time!” said that rail-bird, pointing to the LED screens that line the tournament room. There’ll be one with Yaroshevskyy’s face on it this time tomorrow.