Champion Artur Martirosian

When Artur Martirosian collected the Ivan Leow Player of the Year award in a glitzy ceremony at the start of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series trip to Jeju this month, confirming the brilliance of his Season 4 performances, he vowed that he would do everything he could to defend it as Season 5 kicked off.

"I will see you at the tables," he said, and it sounded like a clear threat.

But the two weeks playing no limit hold'em that followed were, by Martirosian's exceptional standards, disappointing. He cashed only twice, and made only one final table, where he finished ninth.

But wind the clock forward another couple of days, and Martirosian is a winner again on the Super High Roller Series, this time playing PLO. Tonight he overcame an incredibly star-studded final table in the $50,000 PLO Mystery Bounty event, knocking out every single opponent at the seven-handed final.

That's especially good in this format, as every elimination earned him a minimum $50,000 more, in addition to the $494,000 he gets as the tournament winner. In short, if you emerge from any table with Jason Koon, Stephen Chidwick, Seth Davies and Matthias Eibinger among your scalps, you surely deserve the win.

When Martirosian pulled his seven bounty envelopes later in the day, he found $550,000 more. That gives him a $1,044,000 payout.

Matthias Eibinger, left, was the last to face Artur Martirosian

"It feels amazing. Really," Martirosian said. "Especially after two weeks of running very bad in no limit. I come to PLO and I feel free."

He continued: "My opponents were playing very good, so it was tough. We played deep. It was a long, tough final table with deep stacks. But I think I played good, so I'm quite happy with the quality of my decisions. And I felt lucky."

This was Martirosian's fourth title on the Super High Roller Series, adding to his one victory in Triton ONE. Three of those four big ones have come in PLO, and Martirosian also noted his incredible heads-up conversion rate.

"That's sick," he said. "It's insane, but I've played heads-up four times and four times won. So very good heads-up player."

In this one, Martirosian came to the final as one of the short stacks, but secured an early double up and was untouchable from that moment on. This 28-year-old Russian has earned the freedom of the PLO streets.

The POY is a champion again

TOURNAMENT ACTION

The first pure PLO event of the schedule added its own unique twist. This was the first time the Mystery Bounty element appeared in a four-card tournament, meaning that after 75 percent of the field were out, each subsequent elimination earned the winner of the hand an envelope with a bounty inside. They were worth a minimum of $50,000, with a $300,000 top prize.

If it wasn't difficult enough already to calculate PLO equities, this dimension made everything even more difficult to track.

Of course, the tournament dynamics were the same: a flood to the registrations desk in the early stages of on Day 1 (they collected 73 entries of $50K each), followed by the field reducing to the top 25 percent.

This "bounty bubble" ended the first day, leaving 18 remaining on Day 2, where every knockout won a prize. The more conventional bubble would burst when only 12 players were left, and they approached this stage in a hurry as well. There were 14 left when Matthias Eibinger knocked out both Ben Tollerene and Gergo Nagy on the same hand, bursting the bubble instantly.

Former two-time PLO winner Gergo Nagy went out on the bubble

With Richard Gryko, Laszlo Bujtas, Dan Dvoress, Sean Rafael and Eelis Parssinen then slipping out of contention (in the money, but not at the final), it left us with only seven. They redrew and the following players took their seats at the final:

Matthias Eibinger - 3,750,000 (94 BBs)

Jason Koon - 2,785,000 (70 BBs)

Seth Davies - 2,495,000 (62 BBs)

Cesar Garcia - 2,335,000 (58 BBs)

Stephen Chidwick - 1,410,000 (35 BBs)

Artur Martirosian - 1,150,000 (29 BBs)

David Wang - 675,000 (17 BBs)

Event 15 final table players (clockwise from back left): Matthias Eibinger, Cesar Garcia, Stephen Chidwick, David Wang, Seth Davies, Artur Martirosian, Jason Koon.

To this point, Eibinger had been the star turn, picking up three bounties (including that double bubble knockout) and building a big lead. But almost immediately at the final, Artur Martirosian elbowed his way into the limelight.

Martirosian won the first significant pot, doubling through Jason Koon. Koon had AJ54 and was up against Martirosian's QQ95. They got to the flop for the minimum, both checking and Eibinger also checking his big blind, but the Q6A was certain to see action.

12-time Jason Koon could do little at the final table in this one

Koon led with his top pair and nut flush draw. Martirosian raised his set of queens and Koon called to see the 10 turn. Koon now bet enough to put Martirosian all-in, and the reigning POY called for all he had left.

The 8 river only helped Martirosian, and he was now cooking. And it got event better. Only three hands later, Martirosian got involved in a massive three-way, pre-flop all-in, where David Wang opened, Koon called, Cesar Garcia three-bet, Martirosian called and then Wang moved the rest of his short stack in.

Koon now folded, but Garcia, who started the hand with 48 blinds, ripped everything he had into the middle. Martirosian was held JJ98 and called for only a few blinds more than what Garcia had.

Wang held KKJ4. Garcia had AKK3. According to equity calculators, Martirosian was now the favourite to win, with 33%. Garcia had 26% and Wang, despite his kings, had only 13%.

They were now going to see all five cards.

Cesar Garcia, left, and David Wang perished in the same hand

The dealer put the 104738 out there, and Martirosian suddenly found himself with a decisive straight. Wang was out in seventh, for $88,000. He didn't win any bounties. Garcia was officially sixth, earning $111,000, and had two bounties.

They proved to be very lucrative indeed at the bounty ceremony, where Garcia managed to pull the top two bounties, of $300,000 and $200,000, to add an additional half million to his return.

A belated moment of joy for Cesar Garcia, whose two bounties earned him $500K

Meanwhile back at the tournament, Martirosian picked up two of his eventual seven bounties and was an overwhelming chip leader.

As for Koon, he hadn't ever really managed to recover from the hand against Martirosian at the start of the final. He slipped below 20 blinds and Martirosian duly hoovered them up too. This one started with Eibinger limping, then Koon limping holding AQ33.

Martirosian had QQ109 and put in a raise, which both opponents called.

The flop was A2J, pairing Koon's ace but giving Martirosian a flush draw. The remainder of the chips went in at this point, and the dealer quickly put the 6 on the turn. Koon was now drawing dead and departed looking for $139,000. He added $125,000 at the bounty ceremony.

Jason Koon didn't let busting out spoil his dinner

Stephen Chidwick had come to the final with 35 blinds and his stack had not undergone any significant fluctuations since then. However, he'd paid the blinds a few times and the level had gone up, which meant he started what turn out to be his final hand with 19.

Chidwick had A974 on the button and put in a call. Eibinger, in the small blind, called to, but then Martirosian raised from the big blind. Only Chidwick called.

The 597 flop gave Chidwick two pair. And after Martirosian bet nearly enough to cover Chidwick, the British pro volunteered the rest. Martirosian called and turned over AAQ4.

Chidwick was ahead at this point, but the 5 turn gave Martirosian a better two pair, which the Q river did nothing to change. Martirosian added yet another bounty as Chidwick departed in fourth for $174,000. His one bounty pull yielded another $150K.

Stephen Chidwick prepares to depart

With three left, Martirosian had a stack of 155 blinds, ahead of Eibinger's 87 and Seth Davies' 50. Martirosian took a chunk away from Eibinger, but then gave most of it back when Eibinger doubled holding KJJ2 against Martirosian's AAQ10. Eibinger flopped a boat and extracted the maximum through a J101034 runout.

After they went on a break and the level went up again, the stacks were now 97 to 57 to 29 for Martirosian, Eibinger and Davies.

Davies was next on the block and, of course, it was Martirosian again who did the damage. Only three hands into the next level, Martirosian opened A1054 from the button and Davies three-bet AJ96 from the small blind. Martirosian called and they saw the 1038 flop.

The equities were now dead even and when Davies shoved and Martirosian called, it was down to the dealer to flip the coin. The 8 turn and 4 river were two of the raggiest cards they could find, but that four swung it decisively to Martirosian once more.

Davies' payout for third was $226,000. He earned another $125K for his two bounties.

Seth Davies too was powerless to halt Martirosian

Martirosian had now knocked out every single player at the final table and was sitting with five bounties and a chip lead of 124 blinds to Eibinger's 59. This was deep still, and there was plenty of play still possible.

That was doubly apparent when Eibinger won the first big pot of heads-up, flopping two pair and rivering a full house holding 10875. Martirosian turned a straight, but was second best. It brought the stacks close to equal, and it was time to dig in.

They remained essentially neck-and-neck for a while, but then Eibinger managed to pull ahead. The Austrian, remember, only started playing PLO in Paradise in December, but has one win and now two final tables with PLO involved.

However, a classic Martirosian one-two punch got it done for the man with an even better PLO record.

In the first of the two decisive hands, Martirosian turned a boat holding AAJ5 and took half of Eibinger's stack. The board was 444A10 and Eibinger had the misfortune to turn the nut straight with his A1053 at the exact time Martirosian landed his even bigger hand.

In the very next deal, it was Eibinger with the aces, but the best hand ended up with Martirosian again.

Martirosian called holding K334, Eibinger raised with AA86 and they saw the flop of 6105. Eibinger bet, Martirosian called and the 3 came on the turn. That was the killer card as it turned Martirosian's pocket threes into a set.

Matthias Eibinger couldn't halt Martirosian

Eibinger checked, Martirosian bet and Eibinger called. The 9 completed the board.

With obvious straight draws completing, Eibinger checked again. Martirosian did not have a straight, but bet the pot with his three threes, which was more than Eibinger had behind. Eibinger had only one pair, and muttered out loud, "I should fold." However, he seemed to give credit to Martirosian for a possible bluff, even after he also said, "Would you value bet a set?"

Martirosian didn't reply, but Eibinger couldn't lay down his hand.

With that, Martirosian claimed the win, his sixth bounty (he keeps his own as well), and gets that POY defence off and running. Eibinger won $336,000 and $225,000 in bounties, but this was all about Martirosian.

"GG Artur, well played," Eibinger said. Well played indeed.