Xuan Liu makes Triton history in Montenegro

Through 200 tournaments on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, this prestigious tour has crowned champions from across the world representing a broad spectrum of the game's very best players.

But there had never been a female champion.

Until now.

In the 201st tournament held under the Triton branding, and the first of the tour's latest 15-event stop at the Maestral Resort & Casino, Montenegro, Canada's Xuan Liu has ended one of the most enduring, and least welcome, streaks.

Liu today defeated a field of 155 entries to win the $25,000 WPT Global Slam, becoming the first woman to win a title on the Triton Poker Series.

Wearing the branding of the tournament's title sponsor, the WPT Global Ambassador claimed an $860,000 first prize and the famous Triton trophy.

Perhaps all we were waiting for was Liu to decide to play. This was the first event she had ever registered for on the Triton Series, and she joins that exclusive club whose Triton record reads Played 1, Won 1.

"Obviously this is beyond my wildest dreams," Liu said, basking in her triumph. "This is what the beauty of poker is all about."

Xuan Liu overcame a huge heads-up deficit to prevail

Liu overcame a considerable heads-up up deficit against her fellow Canadian Dan Dvoress to take this one down. Dvoress was aiming for a third career Triton title, and had seemed to be an unstoppable force on the last of three days as the event played to a winner.

But Liu dug deep and played a flawless heads-up battle, leaving Dvoress with a $579,000 consolation prize.

"I didn't have the chip-lead at all at the final table and had a huge chip disadvantage heads-up," Liu said. But she added that she enjoyed playing as the underdog and relished the chance to make history. "When one door closes for you, another one opens," she said.

This was Liu's day, and this tournament was one during which female players really came to the fore. Sosia Jiang cashed in 20th. Kristen Foxen accompanied Liu to the final table and finished fourth.

The sincere hope among everyone in Montenegro is that this becomes a habit as the tour now heads into its third century of tournaments.

"It's just going to happen more and more," Liu promised.

The winning moment for Xuan Liu

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Thirty one players made it through Day 1 action, which put the tournament close to its bubble at the start of the second day. With Punnat Punsri, Leon Sturm and Danilo Velasevic perishing quickly, all attention focused on Mario Mosbock and Orpen Kisacikoglu, who had fewer than five blinds each.

Jesse Lonis was a short stack too, and laid out his plan quite openly. "Go ahead boys, take by big blind." Lonis told his table-mates. "I'm not going to play it."

Mosbock and Kisacikoglu had the same plan too, though they were both forced all in as the button moved around the table. Mosbock squared off against Joao Vieira, with a flood of other players coming to sweat the action.

"You all here for me guys?" Mosbock asked.

"I have a lot of fans now," Vieira said.

Mosbock had found pocket kings at just the right time, and they held against Vieira's A5. Mosbock doubled.

Mario Mosbock doubles on the bubble

Kiscakoglu doubled as well, though he had to sit in anguished silence as Krissy Foxen and Ike Haxton played through the streets, with Kiscikoglu all-in pre-flop. It was worth the wait for Kisacikoglu, however, as he won the pot and stayed alive.

Meanwhile, over on Lonis's table, the most significant pot of this period played out between the big stacks of Dejan Kaladjurdjevic and Michael Soyza. Kaladjurdjevic tried to run a bluff with KQ through a board of 664A8. He three-bet pre-flop, checked the flop, then led turn and river.

Soyza called everything with A10 and left Kaladjurdjevic with only two blinds. He was forced to commit them as the button moved to two seats to his left, and his 75 couldn't beat David Peters' aces.

Kaladjurdjevic did have a chance to chop the 27th place money as Mosbock was all-in on the same hand. But Mosbock had a dominant ace against Artur Martirosian and scored another double. It meant he and Kisacikoglu both inched into the money, while Kaladjurdjevic became the stone bubble.

Dejan Kaladjurdevic bursts the bubble

Over the next few hours, the field thinned dramatically, with all of those micro-stacks departing and some former leaders hitting the rail as well. Soyza, who led just after the bubble, ended up knocked out in 10th, and that took them to a nine-handed final.

For the first time in Triton history, there were two women at the final (and a third, Sosia Jiang, cashed in 20th). However, the familiar figures of David Peters and Dan Dvoress sat at the top of the leader board.

Final nine line-up:

David Peters - 8,875,000 (71 BBs)

Dan Dvoress - 7,875,000 (63 BBs)

Zhang Yu - 6,925,000 (55 BBs)

Xuan Liu - 4,125,000 (33 BBs)

Kristen Foxen - 4,075,000 (33 BBs)

Mike Watson - 2,075,000 (17 BBs)

Tom Fuchs - 1,875,000 (15 BBs)

Paulius Plausinaitis - 1,875,000 (15 BBs)

Theodore McQuilkin - 1,050,000 (8 BBs)

Triton Montengro Event 1 final table players (clockwise from back left): Mike Watson, Tom Fuchs, Paulius Plausinaitis, Theodore McQuilkin, Xuan Liu, Kristen Foxen, Zhang Yu, Dan Dvoress, David Peters

Theodore McQuilkin was at the first final table of his Triton career, from only his third event, but the man representing Grenada wasn't able to translate his eight blind stack into something more meaningful. Picking up pocket jacks in the opening orbit of final table play might have been the impetus he needed, but Zhang Yu had pocket kings and called McQuilkin's three-bet jam.

The kings held and McQuilkin was out in ninth for $105,000.

Theodore McQuilkin was the first out from the final table

Lithuania's Paulius Plausinaitis had previously appeared on the Triton Poker Series in the most recent two events in Jeju, but he was now playing closer to home. And he seemed to be enjoying it. He made his way to the final with a short-ish stack and, like McQuilkin, was unable to spin it up. He opened KQ and then called all-in after Mike Watson's three bet, covering what Plausinaitis had left.

The board offered no help to the overcards and Plausinaitis's eighth place finish earned him $105,000.

Paulius Plausinaitis wasn't able to move up the counts

For the first time here in Montenegro, Triton tournament organisers have given themselves the option of winding back the levels if final tables begin with an average stack of 30 big blinds or fewer. This is a way to insure against the crazy micro-stack finales the tour has been seeing a lot of over the past few years.

Luca Vivaldi implemented this for the first time in this opening event, rolling the clock back a level when the tournament went nine-handed, which meant bigger stacks relative to the blinds and offered more play. It also meant that when Tom Fuchs became the first player to double when under threat at the final -- kings holding against Zhang Yu's AQ -- all seven remaining players had a minimum of 20 blinds as the clock ticked past 9pm.

It didn't help Yu. He lost that big hand in doubling up Fuchs and landed with the shortest stack, and he decided to three-bet jam with it from the button after the chip-leading Dvoress raised from the cutoff. Yu had K10 but didn't get the fold he was probably hoping for from Dvoress. Dvoress tabled pocket queens and they held. Yu was out in seventh for $144,500.

Zhang Yu was out in seventh

Mike Watson is no stranger to the deep stages of Triton tournaments. He has four titles among his 36 cashes on the series, so knows how to ride out the short-stacked final period. However, Watson soon fell foul of the same trap that snared McQuilkin earlier in the final. He found pocket jacks at the same time an opponent had pocket kings.

This time, Watson opened his big pair from early position and Dvoress, who had the kings, three-bet the small blind. Watson jammed of course and Dvoress snapped him off of course. The all-Canadian battle went in the favour of Dvoress.

Watson departed, $199,000 richer, as Dvoress extended his lead at the top.

Mike Watson fist-bumps goodbye to his countryman Dan Dvoress

The tournament played for another couple of levels after Watson departed, but with five players still left and the hour getting late, organisers decided to push the final stages into another day. They bagged at around 11:30pm, with Dvoress bagging 49 blinds and the chip lead, ahead of Peters (40 BBs), Liu (24 BBs), Foxen (23 BBs) and Fuchs (19 BBs).

When they reconvened on Thursday, things got fiery straight away.

The day was less than 40 minutes old before two players landed on the rail. Fuchs was first: he three-bet hammed his last 18 blinds over a raise from Dvoress in the hijack. Dvoress called and Fuchs learned that he was live with his KJ against Dvoress' pocket sevens.

But the board ran dry and the pocket pair held. That was the end of the line for Fuchs, who took a second fifth-place finish in a WPT Global Slam event, having progressed to the same spot in Monte Carlo last year. His prize this time was $259,000.

Tom Fuchs was first out on the tournament's third day

Only four hands later, Foxen was in the small blind. Having seen Dvoress win her big blind and big-blind ante uncontested, Foxen tried to get the chips back with an open-raise small to big against Xuan Liu. It was a virtual all in, and Liu called to see a flop of 1073. Foxen checked and Liu bet to put Foxen's last 25K chip in the middle. Foxen called with K8, but Liu's KJ was still best.

Turn and river were blanks, and Foxen was gone. Foxen earned $325,000 for fourth, her best Triton score to date, while Liu got herself back afloat with 24 big blinds.

Kristen Foxen's run ended in fourth

Margins were now pretty fine as there were fewer than 100 blinds between the last three. Dvoress was running riot — the luxury of the big stack — as Peters and Liu jostled for second place. Liu nosed just ahead of Peters, but the latter ended up being undone by a blind-vs.-blind cooler against the rampant leader.

Peters found K4 and opened from the small blind. Dvoress looked at 107 and defended his big blind. The dealer gave each of them something they probably liked. The flop was 5K9.

Peters bet his top pair. Dvoress shoved his flush draw. Peters called.

The dealer didn't prolong Peters' agony. The 6 turn left him drawing dead and he headed off to look for a $398,000 third prize.

Third place for DP

Dvoress and Liu now squared off for the title. Dvoress had the big chip advantage, with 61 blinds to Liu's 16, and he was also by far the more experienced of the duo on the Triton Series. Liu was playing her first ever event, while Dvoress has 45 cashes dating back to 2017.

But stranger things have happened in poker than a spectacular come-from-behind rookie victory--and Liu was clearly in the mood to grind this one out. She chipped away at Dvoress' lead slowly and methodically, grinding to within a handful of blinds. Then she won a huge flip with red pocket fives beating Dvoress' AQ to go into a dominant chip lead.

Dan Dvoress will have to wait for title No 3

The very next hand, Dvoress got his last few blinds in with 103 and was up against Liu's 76. A seven landed on the flop and that proved decisive. Liu was a famous champion.

"I only came here to play this one tournament," she said, fending off encouragement to stick around and play more. "You can't top this!"