Kayhan Mokri Wins First Triton Poker Title in Monte Carlo

A final table featuring legends of the game such as Patrik Antonius, Dimitar Danchev and Alex Kulev all battled bravely but in the end none of them could stop the Norwegian player Kayhan Mokri. The Norwegian, a powerhouse at the poker felt in the past year, sealed the deal heads-up when he beat the Lithuanian poker professional Paulius Vaitiekunas to take home over a million dollars and the famous Triton trophy.

Bumper Field Yet Again on Triton Tour

With an incredible 144 entries, the second event of this year’s Triton Monte Carlo Series saw a prizepool of $4,320,000 gathered in and a top prize of $1,005,000 awarded to Mokri. Before he could get there, he had to negotiate a number of difficult moments as the tournament progressed in a series of exciting stages.

The Czech player Roman Hrabec bubbled the event, busting in 24^th place for nothing when his pocket sevens couldn’t hold against the suited queen-jack. Kristen Foxen claimed a min-cash of $50,500, and plenty of other big names busted inside the money places before the nine-handed final table.

Fedor Holz (21^st for $50,500), Daniel Dvoress (17^th for $60,500), Artur Martirosian (15^th for $67,000) and Samuel Mullur (10^th for $84,000) all busted for five figures before the final nine were set in place. As the final table began, it was the Britain-based Turkish player Orpen Kisacikoglu who led the way with 5.17 million chips. That was only the equivalent of 35 big blinds, however, and with the short-stacked Mokri on nine bigs, everything was possible as the eventual champion proved.

Antonius Out of Action

The first player to bust at the nine-handed final table was the Chinese player Zhou Quan, who cashed for $100,000 when he was eliminated by the eventual winner Mokri, who had doubled early and then won with ace-king against the at-risk player’s ace-queen to reduce the field to eight players.

Dimitar Danchev was the next to depart for $125,000. The Bulgarian shoved with ten-eight but lost to Mokri’s ace-four which reduced Danchev’s stack and he lost the final few chips in front of him with pocket tens when Kisacikoglu’s king-eight turned top pair. Another Bulgarian soon joined his countryman on the rail when Krasimir Neychev busted in seventh place for $171,000. All-in for seven bigs with pocket sixes, they couldn’t overtake Mokri’s pocket aces and the Norwegian’s dream start continued after a clean board.

After the Lithuanian Marius Kudzmanas left in sixth place for a score of $231,000, it was the Finnish 2023 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Patrik Antonius who left for $298,000 in fifth place. All-in with pocket fives, he couldn’t win a race against Mokri’s ace-queen of diamonds as the Norwegian hit to take out the most experienced player at the final table felt.

Next to leave was the Turkish player Kisacikoglu. Slipping short, he might have hoped to have two live cards when he moved all-in with king-queen. But Mokri was again his assassin, holding ace-queen and easily surviving the board to send play three-handed as Kisacikoglu left with $371,000 in fourth place.

With more than half the chip in play, Mokri had seized complete control and made his opponents pay. Paulius Vaitiekunas doubled up through the leader but soon after, Kulev fell victim to the Norwegian, his last 11 big blinds going into the middle with ace-seven. Once again, though, Mokri had found pocket aces and snap-called, and with the backdoor flush failing to come in, Kulev was out, claiming $454,000 in third place.

Heads-up, Mokri had a big lead with 47 big blinds to Vaitiekunas’ 25 big blinds. Having battled to the final duel all day, it took just two hands to find a winner at the death, as Mokri won the first hand with two pair, Vaitiekunas folding on the river to a shove. The second hand ended the event, as Mokri, now with over twice his opponent’s stack hit two pair on the 6-5-3 flop, holding six-three. All the chips went it, with Vaitiekunas holding five-four for middle pair and a straight draw. That failed to come in as a king on the turn and queen on the river saw Mokri finally crowned champion on the Triton Poker Series tour, two years after his first event.

“Today was my day. It’s a momentum thing,” he said. “I had the best cards today and that’s how it is. Now I finally won one, I can relax a bit more!”

The 30-year-old, who is now up to $7.9 million in winnings on The Hendon Mob, is a real threat on the high roller scene and won’t be stopping short this Triton Poker Series stop in Monte Carlo. He’ll be playing everything on this form.