Champion Elena Yasyuchenya!

The $3,000 One-W Championship event at Triton ONE in North Cyprus — a women's only tournament — ended in the small hours of Monday morning with an all-Russian heads-up duel between two Triton newcomers.

Neither Elena Yasyuchenya nor Kseniia Kolotiuk had ever played on the Triton Poker Series before heading to North Cyprus this week, but they will presumably both be very happy with their debut performances, landing $35,500 and $25,500, respectively, for their first and second place finishes.

Yasyuchenya was the champion, seizing the momentum very late in the tournament to knock out each of her last three opponents. They were the Super High Roller Series regular Jessica Teusl and the previous One-W Championship runner-up Tang Lili, before Yasyuchenya also then downed Kolotiuk heads up.

The final two embrace at the end of a long final table

"Of course, I'm happy and I'm feeling amazing," Yasyuchenya said, mustering the energy for a winner's interview after a 16-hour grind. "I'm very glad to be the winner."

She added: "Most of the ladies are really good players and it was hard to win. It was hard. Of course, I was happy that it was two Russian girls heads-up."

The fact that it was two relatively inexperienced players left at the end of a marathon event underlined the very purpose of Triton ONE, and particularly this women's only event. The series aims to introduce as many players as possible to poker, while the women's tournament is designed to remove some of the barriers faced by women wishing to play what is typically a male-dominated pursuit.

The tournament, and Yasyuchenya's performance in particular, should serve notice that there's plenty to recommend for everyone at Triton ONE.

The champion said, "It's my first time [with Triton]. Merit is an amazing place for poker players. But this is my first experience with Triton ONE and I'm really happy."

TOURNAMENT ACTION

With a $3,000 buy-in, the tournament offered a perfect opportunity for some of Europe's leading women players to test their mettle for meaningful money against the plentiful representatives from Asia who had made the trip. In all, there were 42 entries, including 15 re-entries, with former WSOP Main Event finalist Leo Margets and Triton Super High Roller Series reg Sosia Jiang among the earliest to fall.

Xuan Liu, Ana Marquez and Elizabeth Chen similarly perished before they set a final table, and the clock had already ticked beyond 11pm before Iuliia Livshits left in 10th, revealing the final nine. The bubble had not even burst yet, so this was going to be a very late night.

The money would hit when seven were left, and the action remained cagey in this crucial period. It all played perfectly into the hands of Tang Lili, the runner up in this tournament in Jeju, who had 100 blinds and more than double her closest rival.

One-W Championship final table players (clockwise from back left): Ye Yi, Liao Wenyan, Yuan Yiwen, Jessica Teusl, Tang Lili, Zhao Yue, Kseniia Kolotiuk, Diana Kalietina, Elena Yasyuchenya.

Liao Wenyan and then Diana Kalietina became the two unluckiest players at the final, hitting the rail in eighth and seventh, respectively. Zhao Yue's AJ made a straight to knock out Liao, who had pocket sixes (and was also behind Yuan Yiwen in a three-way all-in). Only a few hands later, Kalietina picked up jacks just as Tang found queens. There was no outdraw, and Kalietina will have to hope for better fortune in the Triton Invitational, which she'll play in a couple of weeks time.

The bubble bursts with the elimination of Diana Kalietina

The last seven were now in the money, and lined up as follows:

Tang Lili - 3,590,000 (60 BBs)

Zhao Yue - 1,550,000 (26 BBs)

Elena Yasyuchenya - 1,400,000 (23 BBs)

Kseniia Kolotiuk - 1,250,000 (21 BBs)

Ye Yi - 1,055,000 (18 BBs)

Yuan Yiwen - 1,015,000 (17 BBs)

Jessica Teusl - 640,000 (11 BBs)

Tang still held a commanding lead, but no one is immune to variance in this game. Jessica Teusl was first to double through Tang, albeit for only six blinds. But it was a crucial pot because it sent Teusl on an upward trajectory and allowed her to challenge Tang.

The next step in Teusl's resurgence was a pot that eliminated Yuan Yiwen. Yuan had 11 blinds and saw Teusl raise her button. Yuan had A5 in the small blind and pushed, but Teusl wasn't raising light. She called with pocket queens and held. Yuan perished in seventh, with the first in-the-money elimination earning her $5,900.

Yuan Yiwen found Teusl near the top of her range

Teusl now had 28 blinds but trailed Tang's 40. (Tang had been treading water, but the blinds had gone up a couple of times.) However, when the two chip leaders tangled in a pot soon after, with Teusl's A10 flopping an ace to beat Tang's pocket sevens, the Austrian assumed the chip lead.

Tang responded in spirited fashion, winning a big pot back from Teusl and then winning a huge flip against Zhao Yue that sent the latter packing. Zhao made two final tables on her Triton ONE debut in Jeju in March, finishing second and sixth. And this time she had to make do with another sixth place when her AK couldn't hit to beat Tang's pocket 10s. Zhao won $7,300, but Tang was back ahead.

Zhao Yue couldn't win a crucial flip

When the blinds went up once more, the average stack was suddenly only 17 blinds and Tang was the only player with more than that.

Teusl was staying active, picking up blinds and antes from the handcuffed shorter stacks. But when Kseniia Kolotiuk made a stand, her A7 made a straight to beat Teusl's pocket 10s and Kolotiuk survived.

It was now, however, Kolotiuk's time to shine. Very soon after her victory against Teusl, Kolotiuk won another significant pot, finding a miracle river card to leave Ye Yi's tournament in tatters.

Ye had the beautiful AK and raised from the small blind. Kolotiuk, in the big blind, had a pretty nice hand too -- A -- and shoved the big blind. Ye called off and only got stronger as the first four cards off the deck fell . Although Kolotiuk was now also up-and-down, Ye had a flush draw to take away some of the outs. But the dealer found the , which was a clean winner for Kolotiuk.

Ye was left with less than one big blind.

Ye wisely folded a few hands hoping to somehow ladder up, and she nearly managed it as Elena Yasyuchenya put her tournament life on the line -- technically, at least. Yasyuchenya was actually way ahead when most of the money went in. Her A10 had made trips by the turn on a runout of A, and she bet-called Tang's shove.

Tang had been trying to represent something stronger than her 93 and hoping that the micro-stack also at the table would persuade Yasyuchenya to fold. But Yasyuchenya called to double her 14-blind stack, taking over the chip lead.

Ye was then forced all in in the big blind and had the misfortune to be dealt 32. It didn't win, and she was out in fifth for $9,600.

There was no miracle comeback for

Having sat tight for so long at the final table, the Russian pair of Koltiuk and Yasychenya were now neck-and-neck at the top of the leaderboard, with Teusl holding only eight blinds and Tang 16. And Yasyuchenya was the player to apply the finishing touch to Teusl's tournament as the two went to a flop of 752 after a single pre-flop raise.

Yasyuchenya had made that raise holding K10, which now became a flush draw. Teusl's Q now had bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw, and she jammed her last four blinds. Yasyuchenya called and found the on the turn to leap ahead. The river kept her there.

Teusl, who has been in great form on the Triton Super High Roller Series of late, took $12,400 for fourth place in this event.

Jessica Teusl pats the table as she is knocked out

Having accounted for the dangerous Teusl, Yasyuchenya now set her sights on the long-time chip-leader Tang. And there was no coming back for the last remaining Chinese player either. Yasyuchenya was now finding some great hands at precisely the right time, and after seeing Tang jam her final nine blinds from the button, Yasyuchenya looked down at pocket queens.

A quick call and a board missing anything to connect with Tang's A3 later, and there were only two players left. Tang, a former runner up in this tournament in Jeju, was forced to settle for third and $16,318 this time.

Another very close one for Tang Lili

The two Russians therefore now went head-to-head, with Yasyuchenya leading Kolotiuk by 33 blinds to 19. And there was still the opportunity for this one to play even later. However, the dealer had other ideas.

On the very first hand of heads-up play, Kolotiuk found pocket aces and must have thought she was on her way back into it. Yasyuchenya had pocket fours and similarly wanted to play. Kolotiuk raised, Yasyuchenya called and they saw the flop. Boom. It came 49 and the chip leader now had a set.

Yasyuchenya check-raised her monster, but obviously Kolotiuk too had a huge hand. The remainder of the chips went in on the 6 turn.

Kseniia Kolotiuk's aces were cracked to end the marathon

Kolotiuk was drawing to only two outs, and the 7 river missed. After a marathon came an explosive sprint to finish things off. And Yasyuchenya marks her Triton card with a very hard-fought win.