Champion Alex Boika

Alex Boika, from Belarus, completed a maiden triumph on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju this evening, earning $761,000 for his first win on the tour. Boika beat a field of 131 entries in a $25,000 buy-in event, pushing lifetime poker tournament earnings past $8.3 million.

The 38-year-old economics grad from Minsk is one of those players who has made a home for themselves on the Triton Poker Series over the past few years, jumping up to the super high roller streets after a long career grinding the mid-stakes tournament circuit.

And though he has previously been rewarded with two seven-figure Triton scores, including a runner-up finish earlier this year here in Jeju, he'd never before held the trophy nor worn the winner's cap.

If the cap fits...Alex Boika tries out his new headwea

Boika was plainly delighted.

"This actually means a lot to me," he said. "I'm very happy. This is one of the best achievements that a poker player can do, so I'm speechless."

A humble Boika admitted that the short structure demanded he run well to win, but he made the most of the rub of the green to defeat Philip Sternheimer after a short heads-up duel.

"This tournament involved a lot of luck, obviously, with 30 minute levels, but I'm just very happy to be here to be lucky," Boika said. "Sometimes it's better than skill."

He added: "Philip is a very thinking player, a very tough opponent...I'm sure he outplayed me a few times during this final table. But that's OK. It's a tough field, and that's what you expect to happen sometimes.

"The fields are really tough here. But that's what makes it the most interesting tournaments in the world right now. So I'm very happy to be here and I hope I will be able to continue grinding these tournaments."

No hard feelings from beaten heads-up opponent Philip Sternheimer

It had been another turbulent final table, also featuring Triton stalwart Seth Davies and another former champion Chen Mingcong. But Boika dodged the set-ups that accounted for many of his opponents, and earned the glory that has been in the offing for quite a while.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

As the latest $25,000 buy-in tournament got started here in Jeju, all eyes found themselves on freeroll qualifier Reda Achnit. The 24-year-old Moroccan, who won through a series of online satellites to book his package to Jeju, had never even played a live tournament, but was going to sit down among the Triton sharks.

He had Dan Dvoress on his right and Adrian Mateos on his left on his very first table, but managed not only to hold his own but to prosper. Also latterly rubbing shoulders with Phil Ivey and Stephen Chidwick, among others, Achnit continued to look immensely calm and unflustered as the money approached, even getting in on the elimination act to knock out Eelis Parssinen and Mateos.

Reda Achnit enjoyed the tournament of a lifetime

Thus when they got to the bubble, with all but 25 of the 131-entry field eliminated, Achnit was in line for a min-cash of $38,000 at least. Brandon Wilson then knocked out Hannes Jeschka, with AK holding against , and everyone, including Achit, was in the money.

They played late into the night, with only 17 players bagging before bedtime, and Achnit was still there. He was among the short stacks, but already had the best story in South Korea.

Achnit doubled early on Day 2, then saw Wang Yang, Mike Watson and Matthias Eibinger bust. But Achnit's dream run finally ended in 14th place when he slammed into the unforgiving Seth Davies' nut flush. Achnit turned his zero outlay into $51,000 — and a story he'll dine out on for many years to come.

Reda Achnit bids a warm fare

Davies made the most with Achnit's chips, bossing proceedings as they raced to the final. His path to a potential second title also got markedly smoother in a wild burst when the tournament was 11 handed: in the space of two hands, all of Brandon Wilson, Jesse Lonis and Artur Martirosian were knocked out. That meant an adjustment to the prize pool for Wilson and Martirosian to earn the same amount (they went out simultaneously) and also set an eight-handed final.

Davies knocked out Wilson, Alex Boika knocked out both Lonis and Martirosian. And those two winners took the biggest stacks to the final as a result.

Seth Davies - 5,160,000 (52 BBs)

Alex Boika - 5,060,000 (51 BBs)

Chen Mingcong - 4,370,000 (44 BBs)

Yu Lei - 3,270,000 (33 BBs)

Philip Sternheimer - 2,725,000 (27 BBs)

Vladas Tamasauskas - 2,550,000 (26 BBs)

Manuel Fritz - 1,615,000 (16 BBs)

Nevan Chang - 1,455,000 (15 BBs)

Event 5 final table players (clockwise from back left): Chen Mingcong, Manuel Fritz, Vladas Tamasauskas, Seth Davies, Yu Lei, Philip Sternheimer, Alex Boika, Nevan Chang.

The complexion of this line-up was perfectly in line with Triton's established player base. There were a few confirmed crushers from across the world alongside some breakout stars, all barreling towards what they hoped would be a $761,000 first prize. And, also true to form, there was nothing straightforward about what followed.

The Lithuanian pro Vladas Tamasauskas has been solidly building his reputation on the global tournament circuit in recent years, and here in Jeju had already cashed twice, in 21st and 10th. This was his first official final and he might have gone far deeper than eighth had he managed to get a premium hand to hold up.

Tamasauskas opened with red pocket queens from the cutoff, then watched Boika three-bet AQ from the small blind. Tamasauskas had 22 blinds and Boika had 39, so this had the potential to develop into a chip-leading pot.

When Tamasauskas jammed and Boika called, that potential was fulfilled. And after a troublesome flop, the emergence of the A on the turn gave Boika just what he was looking for. Tamasauskas, meanwhile, was toast.

Tamasauskas took $95,000 for eighth.

Another knock on the door from Vladas Tamasauskas

Boika therefore jumped ahead of Davies in the chip counts, while the short-stacked Manuel Fritz and Nevan Chang laddered up. But Fritz, with only four blinds, had to do something, and opted to make his stand with J9. However, Yu Lei had and went with it from the big blind. A king on the flop meant the jack that was also there wasn't enough for Fritz.

Like Tamasauskas, Fritz is becoming something of a reliable presence in the deep stages of Triton tournaments. His day will come, but it wasn't today. He earned $130,000 for seventh instead.

Manuel Fritz's day will surely also come soon

Chen Mingcong may not be a familiar name to most poker fans, but Triton watchers may well remember him from March this year, when he bested a final table also featuring Patrik Antonius and Danny Tang, among others, to win a $30K buy-in event. He therefore had as many titles as anyone still remaining.

In a rapidly shallowing final, Chen had 12 BBs left when he found AK in the big blind and saw Philip Sternheimer open from the button. Chen three-bet for almost everything, then Stenheimer, with pocket 10s, got the rest in, and they were off to the races.

This time, the pocket pair stayed best on a board of 876. Chen was out in sixth for $175,000.

Chen Mingcong had been aiming for a second title

Davies was now the only former Triton champion still in the field, and based on results at this Triton Jeju stop so far, that's not necessarily a good thing. All three previous events have been won by first-time champions, and Davies duly took a big plunge from this one.

First, he doubled up Yu Lei's 18-blind stack when the pair got it in preflop, with Davies' 88 never catching Yu's A. And after that, Davies, with nine blinds, failed to scoop up Nevan Chang's last six when they went at it. Chang's beat Davies' .

Davies was therefore left with two blinds and lost them with Q7 going down to Yu's 10. Davies was out the way, taking $226,000, and clearing the path for another first-time winner.

Seth Davies is forced to wait for his second title

Chang was still the short stack even after doubling through Davies and though he managed to hold on for a long while, no one around him took the fall. That meant that he was still in real peril, with only three blinds, when he found pocket sixes and realised it was now or never.

Sternheimer had opened the pot with a suited ace, and Chang was happy to stick in his last chips. Unfortunately for Chang, Boika picked up pocket queens in the big blind and this didn't end well for Chang. (Sternheimer got away). Chang's second cash of the week was worth $282,000 and a fourth place.

The only way is up for Nevan Chang

The three-handed counts were now pretty even. Yu Lei was shortest, with 23 blinds, but Sternheimer had 31 and even the chip-leading Boika had only 34. So everyone still had a chance.

Yu tried to stamp his authority on proceedings, when he limped from the small blind holding J10 and then three-bet jammed when Boika raised his big blind. And though Boika might have done just that with plenty of holdings, this time he was close to the top of his range. Boika called the jam with A and neither player hit anything useful on the board.

It meant Yu's tournament was over in third, which earned him $343,000.

Yu Lei perished in third

Boika and Sternheimer had both been heads-up for a Triton title before, but both had failed to get over the line. This time, things would have to change for one of them. Boika had the lead, with 56 blinds to Sternheimer's 32, and they hovered at something similar for the first six hands or so.

And then it all went in.

Sternheimer raised the small blind, holding 97 and Boika called from the big blind with J. Neither player really connected with the flop (Sternheimer had an inside straight draw) and both checked.

Philip Sternheimer watches the final run out

The J turned changed all that though. Boika had top pair; Stenheimer now had a combo draw. And the betting represented it again. Boika checked, Sternheimer bet and Boika check-raised. Sternheimer jammed.

In his post-game interview, Boika admitted that he thought at this point that he had a stronger hand than he did.

"I made a mistake in the last hand," he said. "I was thinking that I had two pair and I wanted to snap call. I rechecked my hand and it was one pair."

But he still made the call and the A river missed Sternheimer.

Boika said: "It was crazy, but if you're lucky, then even if you do some bad stuff, it can work out for you."

The new champ Alex Boika in his post-game interview

Sternheimer was therefore forced to accept $516,000 and another second place. But Boika is now off and running properly, the third player from Belarus to win on the Triton Poker Series in the past two years. They still all trail Mikita Badziakouski's five titles, of course, but Badziakouski was among those to offer Boika his applause as the new champion raised his trophy.