Champion Zhou Quan!

It's the third Triton ONE festival in this mid-stakes tour's existence, and today in North Cyprus, we found a third player to add victory here to success in the Triton Super High Roller Series.

The player was China's Zhou Quan, a man who has never seen a poker tournament he won't play, and has similarly never seen a poker tournament he can't win.

This highly respected coach and mentor, with fans across China and beyond, is already a two-time champion on Triton ONE's big brother. And today he navigated a very tricky field in the $5,000 Mystery Bounty event for a $293,000 pick-up. He added another $35,000 when he translated his bounties into cash later.

The banner says it all

Zhou squared off at the final against fellow high roller regulars Punnat Punsri and Mikita Badziakouski, among others. But it was the Taiwanese sensation Eric Tsai who seemed destined to upset all of them, until Zhou knocked him out in third. That left only the obdurate Ihar Soika standing between Zhou and the title, but Zhou picked up aces to end Soika's chances in second.

Zhou had come good at precisely the right time — all part of his strategy, which he revealed in his winner's interview to be a little bit more conservative than others in this format. Zhou certainly timed this one right, coming to the fore when it mattered most and racing to a title.

Zhou thanked his many supporters watching the stream

Zhou said that he still prefers Jeju as a place to play poker, but he's committed to chasing big-field events across the world, and Cyprus fits the bill.

He then gave a shoutout to all his Chinese fans, who he knows will be watching the stream. He joins Artur Martirosian and Ngo Khoa Anh with titles across both Triton tours — and he gets to do what all poker fans dream of, pose with pocket aces for the winner's pic.

As for Tsai, he had the last laugh. His 12 bounty pulls included the big one, worth $155,000, giving him a $225,500 in bounties alone.

Eric Tsai pulls the biggest bounty

TOURNAMENT ACTION

A firm favorite format at every buy-in level, the Mystery Bounty tournament here at Triton ONE was typically well-attended. Through two flights, and after a frantic late-registration period was over, the tournament board showed 607 entries with more than $2.7 million in the prize pool — only half of which was on the main payout structure. There was a scheduled $293,000 for the champion, but tons more in the bounty envelopes that would be opened during the grand envelope-opening ceremony.

The nature of this format promotes chasing the bounties, but first players needed to build stacks to get them into the portion of the event where knockouts matter. And then there's a conventional bubble too, which kicked in when 103 players were left. The tournament reached that stage via a grand three-way all-in, in which both Luca Bojovic, with Q10 and Giuseppe Calio, with Q, went down to Andrei Konopelko's . Calio had the smallest stack of the pair, so he was the official bubble. Bojovic earned a $4,100 min-cash.

Giuseppe Calio's bubble elimination, amid the chaos

The subsequent action was every bit as chaotic as you might expect, with the race to the final table under way. It went on a good long while and so while this tournament was originally scheduled to last only two days, it was close to midnight as the final table was set and they took the smart decision to bag up and return for a third and final day.

They therefore found bags for the following chips.

Tsai Ting-Yi - 28,000,000 (70 BBs)

Punnat Punsri - 22,750,000 (57 BBs)

Daniel Braude - 15,800,000 (40 BBs)

Zhou Quan - 15,700,000 (39 BBs)

Raul Yunusov - 13,150,000 (33 BBs)

Ihar Soika - 11,275,000 (28 BBs)

Mikita Badziakouski - 7,975,000 (20 BBs)

Hu Chengxu - 6,125,000 (15 BBs)

Asaf Groofi - 575,000 (1 BB)

Mystery Bounty final table line-up (clockwise from back left): Tsai Ting-Yi, Daniel Braude, Ihar Soika, Mikita Badziakouski, Quan Zhou, Hu Chengxu, Raul Yunusov, Asaf Groofi, Punnat Punsri, Raul Yunusov.

Looking at the final table line-up, one is surely tempted to extend utmost sympathy to Asaf Groofi, who had to sleep on just one big blind. But Groofi had narrowly avoided total wipe-out on the last hand of Day 2, when his K8 lost to Daniel Braude's pocket queens. Braude had the marginally smaller stack and so doubled up, at the exact same time that Luigi Martins was busting to Ihar Soika on the other table. Martins ended up in 10th, with a $19,000 payday, while Groofi laddered to ninth, which came with $23,100 instead.

Groofi did need to return to play Day 3, with a speculative dream of turning that one blind into something more. But it wasn't to be. He was sent back to his hotel room after the first hand, with J5 falling to Tsai Ting-Yi's J. Groofi got to be a part of the final table photo and the official walk-on, but his participation on the last day was brief.

The comeback dream died quickly for Asaf Groofi

With Groofi on the rail, Hu Chengxu became the short stack and he too was unable to prosper on the final day. He did manage to boost his stack in one pot, jamming the river and getting a fold from Tsai. And that actually moved him above both Daniel Braude and Mikita Badziakouski in the counts. However, it was unfortunately a short-lived reprieve and Tsai was waiting in the wings to get his chips back, and more, and send Hu packing after a cooler.

Hu had 21 blinds in the big blind and called Tsai's mid-position raise. Hu had A10 and hit middle pair when the flop came 4. Betting continued, and Tsai's position improved through the turn and river. Hu checked his trips on the end, but then called off after Tsai jammed.

Hu may have given some consideration to Tsai having backed into a flush. But it was worse than that. Tsai had pocket queens, flopped a set and rivered a boat. Hu was now out, taking $29,100 from the main prize pool. He added $5,000 for his solitary bounty later on.

A short final day for Hu Chengxu

Braude had been enjoying himself at this event, surviving in that big hand on the final table bubble, and picking up six bounties thanks to six knockouts. But things hadn't necessarily gone so well on the last day, with a bunch of his chips heading to the surging Tsai, and mandatory blinds gobbling up the rest. He had 12 blinds left and was in the big blind when Ihar Soika open-jammed the button with the two shortest players to his left. Braude found KJ and got his last chips in.

Soika's 97 was behind, but a nine on the flop changed that. Braude missed everything, ending with just king high. And that was it for him. He took $43,000 from the main prize-pool and $32,500 in bounties.

Daniel Braude's ride ended in sixth

Soika was now on the upward trajectory, and he took another pot from Tsai to get close to the top spot. At the other end of the leaderboard, it was one of the Triton titans who was now struggling.

Mikita Badziakouski is a five-time winner on the Super High Roller Series and sits fifth on poker's all-time money list. And here he was at his first Triton ONE final, demonstrating that his passion for poker remains undimmed. He had doubled up once at the final, with pocket kings beating Tsai's 63, but was back down to only 10 blinds when he found A in the big blind and three-bet jammed over Raul Yunusov's open. Yunusov had pocket threes and the pair stayed best through a runout.

Badziakouski took $59,122 and made another $42,500 from his six bounty envelopes.

Mikita Badziakousi: A danger at all buy-in levels

It was uncharacteristic that Tsai had not been involved in a final-table elimination. But the Taiwan typhoon was back at it soon after, ending Yunusov's run. In the first of three major pots between the pair, Yunusov flopped a straight holding 87. The flop of also gave Tsai's and open-ender, which he filled when the turn and river came and . That cost Yunusov more than half his chips.

Yunusov doubled a six-blind stack back through Tsai an orbit or two later, but after the third time they tangled, Yunusov was forced to leave the table. Yunusov had pocket sevens and raised UTG. Tsai defended his big blind with K10 and hit top pair on the 9 flop. Both players checked, but much more money went in on the turn, when Tsai now had trips. The remainder was in after the river, with Yunusov unable to fold to Tsai's 12-blind effective shove.

Yunusov won $77,000 and pushed into six figures thanks to $35,000 in bounties.

Raul Yunusov tries to get a read from Tsai

There was heaps of experience among the four remaining players. Punnat Punsri and Zhou Quan are multiple Super High Roller Series champions, while Ihar Soika, though making his Triton debut, has more than $5 million in live earnings from various high-profile tournaments in Europe and the United States.

Tsai most recently made the final table at the Triton Invitational in Jeju and has played frequently with Triton in South Korea. Everyone had sufficient pedigree to get this one over the line.

By Punsri's standards, the final table hadn't quite been going in his favor, and he now found himself with the short stack. He saw Zhou open his button, and Punsri looked down at KJ in the big blind. He send his last 10 blinds into the middle.

Zhou called holding A7 and Zhou was ahead all the way through a board of 5. Punsri left in fourth place, with $97,000 already and a further $42,500 bounties.

Punnat Punsri couldn't add Triton ONE glory to his six SHRS victories

Zhou took over the lead, having also won a pile from Tsai holding Q10 on a queen-high board. Tsai's Q was second best -- and it began a downswing that ultimately ended in his third-place elimination.

Tsai doubled up Soika, with KQ going down to A. And when he did it again, with Tsai's dominated by Soika's , the Taiwanese player had fewer than 10 big blinds. He open-jammed from the small blind with , but Zhou had in the big blind and called. The only card that connected was the eight in Zhou's hand, with the pair big enough to bust Tsai

Tsai locked up $128,000, but hit the jackpot when he pulled his 12 bounty envelopes. One of them had the biggest prize in it, bringing his total payout to $353,500.

Tsai Ting-Yi couldn't quite convert after a thrill ride at the final

The tournament was therefore now heads up. Zhou had 55 blinds to Soika's 21 and both players had enough experience of this kind of tournament situation to know it could still go either way.

But, as can often be the case, it actually only went one way, Zhou's. And it went there quickly. Zhou won the first meaningful pot to leave Soika with only 13 blinds. And then Zhou dug deep into his box of tricks and got the dealer to pitch him pocket aces. That skill certainly helps tournament players. Zhou deviously called only from the small blind and Soika, with K2, deemed it good enough to shove it all.

Runner up Ihar Soika

Zhou snapped and although Soika flopped a king, it was not quite enough. The final bounty went to Zhou, who finished the tournament with five of them including his own. Soika banked $179,000 and added $35,000 in bounties from his first Triton cash. Zhou's total came in at has $328,000 — and a Triton ONE title to add to his Super High Roller Series successes.