Triton Main Event in Montenegro Won by Polish Star Wiktor Malinowski

Polish superstar Wiktor Malinowski beat Spanish poker legend Adrian Mateos heads-up for the title in Montenegro as he captured the latest Triton Poker Series title in stunning style. With poker professionals Jason Koon, Nick Petrangelo and Steve O’Dwyer all going close, Malinowski’s win catapulted him up over 100 places on the All-Time Money List on The Hendon Mob in the process.

Malinowski Proves His Skills are ‘Limitless’

The biggest entry on this year’s Montenegro schedule was the $200,000-entry Super High Roller event and with 93 entries, just 15 players would take home a part of the $18 million prizepool. Over the course of three days, players went from sitting down with a starting stack to all being on the rail, that is, except for the player known as ‘limitless’ in the online poker world, Wiktor Malinowski.

Wit 15 places paid, the most painful position to fall in was 16^th, where Santosh Suvarna lost out with pocket nines outdrawn by Mikita Badziakouski’s king-ten, two kings coming on the flop to put the remaining players on the rail. Two players won $317,000, with Malaysian businessman and Triton Series regular Paul Phua joined by Finnish poker legend Patrik Antonius in cashing for that amount.

Others to make a profit on their $200,000 entry fees but fail to make the final table included Chinese player Ding Biao (13^th) and All-Time Money List leader Bryn Kenney (12^th), who both took home $344,000. The German poker professional Christoph Vogelsang (11^th) and British WSOP bracelet winner Stephen Chidwick both received $390,000 for their efforts.

Malinowski had the chip lead with 63 big blinds as the final table began, and at the other end of the scale, Lithuanian player Matas Cimbolas propped up the leaderboard on just 10 big blinds. Cimbolas shoved with ace-king and was in good shape to double when he was called by Mike Watson with king-queen but a queen arrived on the flop to reduce the field to eight and send Cimbolas home with $483,000.

Jason Koon Fails to Improve on Perfect Ten

With eight left, Nick Petrangelo was as unfortunate as Cimbolas to leave the action. All-in pre-flop with ace-ten, the American lost to Malinowski’s ace-seven as a seven arrived on the flop and Petrangelo failed to hit a ten on later streets. The United States player left with a score of $661,000 but will have been bitterly disappointed to get so far only to be bad beat from proceedings as things were just starting to get interesting payout wise.

Jonathan Jaffe completed a trio of players who left with dominating hands as he shoved with ace-queen, called by Adrian Mateos with king-queen. Out in seventh for $865,000, Jaffe grimaced when a king landed on the flop and never recovered, busting to aid Mateos in his pursuit of yet another major title.

With six players remaining, the ten-time Triton champion Jason Koon was the man to lose his seat. Going for title #11 was always going to be tough with the field he took on, but at least Koon didn’t lose with a dominating hand. He shoved with ace-five and was called and defeated by Malinowski with ace-jack, a not insignificant cash of $1,098,000 being collected by Jason Koon as he left, the 14^th seven-figure score of his incredible poker career.

Mateos Goes Close as Malinowski Makes History

“I knew when I was coming to the final the job was not done.”

Losing for $1,405,000 in fifth place was the Belarussian player Mikita Badziakouski. His ace-seven couldn’t hit against the pocket queens belonging to Adrian Mateos and Badziakouski, who moved into the top six on the All-Time Money List on The Hendon Mob in winning his latest seven-figure score.

Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson became Mateos’ latest victim in fourth place when the Spanish professional saw his jack-five hit a jack on the turn against Watson’s king-seven which missed the board entirely, the Canadian heading home with $1,748,000. Not long after, play was heads-up when Irish-American Steve O’Dwyer three-bet shoved with nine-four of clubs and Malinowski snap-called with ace-three. The Polish player’s hand held and he forced O’Dwyer home in third place for $2.15 million.

Heads-up, Malinowski had three times Mateos’ chips and made them count. A cruel flop of 8-4-3 led to the Spanish player shoving with eight-six before Malinowski made the quick call holding eight-three for a flopped two pair. No help came for Mateos, who claimed the runner-up prize of $3,292,000, while it was Malinowski took the top prize of $4,789,000 – the biggest of his poker career.

“The table was very tough, [with] many great players,” said Malinowski to reporters following his victory. “I knew when I was coming to the final the job was not done; I had to stay focused. It’s the best feeling. There are so many moments in poker when it’s not so good, so when you win it feels very special.”