The Triton Poker Series Montenegro has been taking place over the last week, and there have been some massive tournaments with big payouts. This has become an event filled with players from around the world, and some of the top U.S. players are competing as well.
While a number of these tournaments have had a big payout, those are not even close to what was handed out at the Main Event. The $125K Main Event attracted the best live poker players in the world, and two big names from the United States were able to find success.
All of the action is taking place at the Maestral Resort & Casino in Montenegro, and there were 171 players that signed up to compete. More than $21.3 million in prize money was handed out, and the action took place over a grueling three days.
As the top nine players sat down to compete at the final table, Phil Ivey and Bryn Kenney were representing the United States. Everyone in the top-nine was able to cash in with a payout of at least $478,000, but the prizes got bigger along the way.
Americans Can’t Get it Done
Phil Ivey was looking to make a big splash at the final table, and he was the first to eliminate another competitor in the top-nine. Ivy knocked out Elizabeth Chen almost immediately at the final table to end her surprising run.
Kenney looked like he would join Ivey near the top of the chips leader after winning a big hand, but he then lost the next hand to fall out of the running in eighth place. The live poker legend finished in eighth place in this tournament, but still walked away with $580,000.
Ivey never got higher than third when it came to the chip count, but he would have settled to stay in that position. After he was forced to be aggressive, Ivey just went all-in with a big risk, and that was something that didn’t pay off for him.
Ivey is expected to be a major player at the WSOP later this summer, and his massive payday from this event will help that run. By finishing in fourth place at this tournament, Ivey was able to take home $1,795,000.
Top Three Finishers
The elimination of Ivey set the stage for an epic battle with the top three finishers in this tournament. These players just continued to trade chips for many rounds in a row, but it was ultimately Aleksejs Ponakovs that bowed out in third place with $2.2 million.
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic was representing Montenegro at the final table in the Main Event, and he looked like he was going to win it all. Some bad luck in heads up action pushed Kaladjurdjevic out of the running, but he still won nearly $3.2 million for his efforts.
When all of the poker action at the Main Event was done, it was Mikalai Vaskaboinikau from Belarus that walked away with $4.7 million.
