The partypokerLIVE-hosted Triton Poker High Roller series is now in Sochi, Russia, and has already found a winner. Part of the partypokerLIVE MILLIONS Russia festival, the series’ $50,000 High Roller tournament wrapped up with Aymon Hata taking the top prize of $756,000.
The tournament attracted a field of just 47 players, with the top six finalists finishing in the money. With nine players at the final table, action was tense but consistent.
Bartlomiej Machon was the first to go, only about an hour after the final table action had begun. It took several hours for the next player to hit the rail, but Timothy Adams was finally eliminated in eight place. Ivan Leow, who was the chip leader when the final nine players sat down at the table, got into a rut and was never able to recover and he was the next to hit the lockers. His unlucky streak was punctuated by a K-K fall to the AJ held by Hata after an Ace came on the flop, and an ill-timed bluff against Philip Gruissem—Gruissem was sitting on pocket rockets. Adding insult to injury, Leow busted after his A-10 faced the Q-Q of Patrik Antonius, but wasn’t able to find a match.
Down to six players, Hata picked up a key hand against Gruissem when he flopped a King to match his A-K hand. Gruissem, who was holding Q-Q, didn’t pair up and Hata improved his stack while Gruissem saw his drop to only ten big blinds. He would bust shortly after to Antonius, taking $118,125 with him.
Paul Phua was sent packing next after he fell to Antonius, who picked up a monster all-in. Phua had moved all in with pocket nines, only to have his smile turn upside down when Antonius revealed his pocket Kings. Phua was awarded a handshake and $165,375.
The run seen by Antonius didn’t last long, as he was eliminated next. He gave a huge gift to Russian Vladimir Troyanovskiy and followed it up with another one a few hands later to bust out. At that point, the elimination was all but a sure thing, as Antonius only had 30 big blinds.
On the next hand, the Russian mixed it up with both Antonius and Hata—he held an A-K to the 7-6 heart combo by Antonius and the A-4 heart combo of Hata. Two hearts on the flop saw Antonius move all in and a re-raise all-in bet by Hata. Troyanovskiy bowed out and no runners for either Antonius or Hata gave the eventual winner the hand with a high card and Antonius a pink slip with $236,250.
Hata continued his run, eliminating Konstantin Uspenskii in third place when his Q-Q held against a suited K-8. Uspenskii was awarded $354,375 for his performance.
Going into the heads-up battle, Hata managed to lead the pace of the game the entire time. When Troyanovskiy got it all in with J-7 off-suit against Hata’s suited K-4, he missed and Hata won with a Q-high hand. For his second-place finish, Troyanovskiy took home $501,795.
