Young Poker Star Wins First Triton Title & $2.5 Million With Parents on Rail

The Triton Poker High Roller Series in Maestral Resort & Casino in Budva, Montenegro continued on with the biggest buy-in of the series so far in Event #8 – $100,000 – 8-Handed, an event that drew 102 runners for a prize pool of $10.2 million.

The lion’s share of that went to high-stakes darling Alex Kulev, who earned his first Triton title and $2,566,000 as he defeated fellow young pro Thomas Santerne during heads-up play. Meanwhile, a second Triton trophy went to another dominant young poker player in Adrian Mateos, who shipped Event #7 – $50,000 – 8-Handed for $1,761,000.

Kulev Gets Family Support

There were dramatic moments during the $100,000 buy-in tournaments, including when chip leader Santerne tangled with fellow big stack Mike Watson on the stone bubble.

Watson, who won an earlier event in the series, found himself all in with ace-king to be flipping against Santerne’s pocket tens. An ace-high flop all but assured a double for Watson, but a rivered ten sucked the life out of the room as the Canadian crusher missed out on a six-figure payday.

Those who made the money but were eliminated ahead of the final table include Seth Davies (16th – $160,000), Nacho Barbero (14th – $168,000) and Sean Winter, who fell on the final table bubble for in tenth for $209,000.

Bryn Kenney was the first to go at the final table as he ran queens into the queen of Danny Tang shortly after doubling through the same opponent. Next out was Latvian star Aleksejs Poankovs, whose ace-eight couldn’t beat out the jacks of American pro and poker author Dylan Linde.

Linde was next to go as his ace-five was pipped by Liang’s ace-ten. The eliminations of Daniel Dvoress, Tang, Maher Nouira and Xu Liang followed before a heads-up showdown between young stars Kulev and Santerne.

The two players were even in chips, but Kulev had the advantage as his parents flew into Montenegro to witness their son battle for the Triton title.

“I’m a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest,” Kulev told Triton after the victory. “This means a lot to me. To accomplish this in front of my family is very special to me. I will cherish this for a long time.”

Kulev wasn’t the only 29-year-old crusher to pick up a trophy and seven-figure score at Triton. Adrian Mateos topped a field of 159 runners in the $50,000 buy-in Event #8 to win his second Triton title and $1,761,000 as the Spaniard defeated yet another up-and-coming player in Justin Saliba.

“This week I ran so good,” said Mateos. “And I enjoyed it.”

Others who cashed in Event #8 include Patrik Antonius (25th – $80,000) Kulev, (22nd – $87,500), Brian Kim (11th – $151,000) and Chris Brewer (10th – $151,000).

There were no shortage of big names who ran deep, including poker legend Phil Ivey (6th – $408,000), Austrian soccer pro Mario Mosbock (9th – $178,100) and high-stakes crushers Dan Smith (8th – $215,000) and Nick Petrangelo (6th – $667,000).