Triton Million WSOP Event Won by Battle Rapper Alejandro Lococo for $12 million

Atlantis Resort was packed with talent as both Stephen Chidwick and Adrian Mateos began the day hoping to move into second and third place on The Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List but both left early as Lococo became a legend. British star Ben Heath got the biggest cash of his career in second but it was Lococo’s day in the sun in The Bahamas.

Huge Numbers See Prizepool Near $50m

With a prizepool of $48,000,000, only 17 players received money back on their half-million-dollar entry. Day 2 included re-entries and new registrations as big names from the world of poker and business or entertainment paired up and took each other on for the title.

Mikita Badziakouski and Punnat Punsri both scored a min-cash of $755,000 in 17^th and 16^th place respectively, before Phil Nagy bowed out in 15^th place. With 14 left, Stephen Chidwick was heavily fancied for the kind of run that might have seen him rise to second on the all-time money list with victory, but those dreams were shot down as he plummeted from fourth in chips with 14 left to the rail in 14^th place for a score of $792,000.

After players such as David Einhorn (13^th for $865,000) and Adrian Mateos (11^th for $985,000) both departed, it was Chance Kornuth who bubbled the final table, leaving in 10^th place for $985,000 too. On a board showing 9-8-5-5-J, Kornuth bet then called off his stack on the river, having flopped the nut straight with seven-six. Daniel Dvoress, however, had turned a superior full house, as his pocket eights filled up and that put the final nine in place with Dvoress holding a marginal lead from the Turkish player Sinan Unlu.

Foxen Falls

It was the former chip leader Michael Moncek who was next to leave, busting in ninth place for $1.2 million. All-in with ace-seven, his hand was no match for Ben Heath’s pocket jacks, which held through the 7-Q-8-5-Q board to cut the luckless Moncek from the field. Soon, eight became seven as New Zealand-Chinese poker player Sosia Jiang left for $1.6 million, doubling her total lifetime career earnings in the game. Her king-queen was dominated by Dvoress’ ace-king and the Canadian held to grow his lead further.

The next player to leave was Latvian high roller regular Aleks Ponakovs, who has the honor of having once beaten Phil Ivey heads-up for a WSOP bracelet. All-in pre-flop with nine-eight, Ponakovs was dominated by the runaway chip leader Dvoress, whose ace-eight held with ease through the 4-4-2-7-7 board which even took away heart outs on the flop for the unlucky Latvian player, who left in seventh place for $2.14m.

Next to leave was the last remaining U.S. player in the event, Alex Foxen. Once again it was Dvoress who did the deadly damage to Foxen’s stack as the American, who had recently doubled with a dominating ace, lost to an ace to see his stack disappear. All-in with pocket sevens, Foxen was slain by Dvoress’ ace-eight which won when Foxen shipped on the flop of A-5-2. No help came on the jack turn or five river and Foxen cashed for $2,795,000 in sixth place.

Dvoress Goes from Hero to Zero

Down to five players, Daniel Dvoress had a stranglehold on proceedings, but one hand was enough to take that table control away. All-in pre-flop with ace-ten, Dvoress was dominated by the Finnish player Elias Talvitie’s ace-jack, which held to nearly equalize their stacks rather than give Dvoress an unassailable lead.

It was around this time that British player Ben Heath lost chunks to Lococo, but Heath doubled not once or twice, but four times, to come back from just four big blinds to a chip stack he could play with again. The last of those double-ups was with queen-jack against Dvoress’ ace-eight, when the Canadian’s ill-timed bluff on a jack-high flop eventually led to him slipping to a stack of 15 big blinds.

Alejandro Lococo began his ascent to the throne with a thrilling straight, as he took full advantage of Talvitie chasing a flush draw with a top pair on the turn all the way to the river. On a board of 8-6-4-K-9 where the first three cards were all hearts, the Finn held king-jack with the jack of hearts. Lococo’s hand of ten-seven of clubs for a rivered straight was disguised brilliantly and his play across the board was rewarded by another elimination, as Talvitie cashed for $3,542,000.

It was the chip leader with five remaining, Canada’s Daniel Dvoress, who busted next. He three-bet his stack into the middle with pocket deuces and couldn’t win the most crucial all-in of his tournament as he grimaced when Lococo turned over pocket jacks and a board of K-J-7-7-Q had Dvoress drawing dead to the river as he departed with $4.39 million in fourth place.

Lococo Builds his Legend

“I knew that in some moment of my life, it was going to come, my [WSOP] bracelet. “

Turkish player Sinan Unlu was the player to miss out on the heads-up battle, cashing for just over $5.3 million in third place when Lococo’s king-six remained ahead of Unlu’s jack-five when the chips went in pre-flop. That pot gave Lococo a firm 7:1 chip lead over his British opponent Ben Heath as both men were guaranteed the biggest single cashes of their poker careers.

A short time later, Heath was all-in with ace-king for his tournament life and hoping to double seven big blinds. The British player was dominating Lococo’s king-deuce but a flop of Q-8-2 reversed that immediately. A seven on the turn was no help at all for Heath and he needed an ace and only an ace to survive. Instead, an eight landed to give Lococo the title and $12,070,000, along with the WSOP bracelet and Triton trophy for his collection.

After a rocket-like rise to prominence over the past few years, the Argentinian is now only behind Nacho Barbero in his country’s all-time standings, while Ben Heath’s impressive career earnings of $31 million (boosted by $8.16m on the day) now has him inside the top 25 players ever to play the game, above Patrik Antonius, Brian Rast, Antonio Esfandiari and Scott Seiver on The Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List.

“I’m a rapper – I don’t study the game!” the winner Lococo  told PokerNews after the event. “I just try to do the best in every single hand. I love the game and I try to win of course, but I’m not using solvers [or] running sims. You have to be really, really professional and invest a lot of hours of your life to beat these guys. It’s amazing, like [I’m] dreaming. I knew that in some moment of my life, it was going to come, my bracelet. I was feeling really good with my game.”

In one of the biggest moments of his career, Alejandro Lococo became a poker legend and the first player in poker history to win a Triton title at the same time as breaking his bracelet duck, a truly golden memory for everyone in Lococo’s large social circle.