Champion Anatoly Zlotnikov!
Russia's Anatoly Zlotnikov is a two-time champion on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series after the 32-year-old from Moscow defeated a field of 119-entries to win the $25,000 NLH event in Montenegro.
The victory brought with it a first prize of $715,000, and came at the end of a speedy but lop-sided final table at the Maestral Casino & Resort, near Budva. The opening exchanges of the final were slow and cagey. But suddenly Zlotnikov moved into top gear and carved through everyone, leaving players of the caliber of Mikita Badziakouski, Jason Koon and Curtis Knight in his wake.
Zlotnikov also put a brutal beat on the YouTube streaming sensation Ethan Yau, hitting running cards on turn and river to beat Yau's flopped top-pair/top kicker. It was a very tough way for Yau's tournament to end, but it sent Zlotnikov charging to the top.
"I'm a killer too!" Zlotnikov said when asked whether it was tough to face off against the Triton assassins at the final. "We are all killers. They shoot at me, I shoot at them. Everything was great."
He added: "Yeah, this was a tough final table. Everybody knows what they're doing, like Ponakovs, like Mikita Badziakouski. True legends." Of his own tournament, he said: "This is pure luck and some sort of skill."
It certainly wasn't his first rodeo, however, with Zlotnikov having previously won a turbo event in Cyprus in 2023. He now has two titles from only 17 tournaments played on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series.
Commenting that the new win will now see Zlotnikov installed among the gallery of champions that line the Triton tournament room, he added: "I have amazing feeling because I want you guys to put me on the wall." Pointing to the poster bearing Koon's image, he said: "12-time Jason Koon, I'm coming for you baby!"
It was a second win for the talkab
The high-spirited interview matched Zlotnikov's table demeanour, with the Russian continually chatting through the final to undermine the idea that these super high rollers are silent. He entered the final third in chips but kept the conversation flowing whether he had chips or not.
It only grew slightly more serious when Zlotnikov squared off heads-up against Tunisia's Maher Nouira. But Nouira was unable to overcome a significant heads-up deficit, and the tournament was done only slightly after 6pm local time.
Zlotnikov had an inferior hand to Nouira when the chips went in for the last time, but his chip advantage, and his momentum, kept him calm even at what should have been the most high-pressure moment.
"I try to keep my mind relaxed," Zlotnikov said. "It's going to happen or it's not going to happen. I'm still in. I have more blinds than him. I'm pretty sure that I will find my victory."
He continued: "It's flip, flip, flip, flip. All about flips. And I win a lot."
Only time will tell how long it will take him to get to the 12-title mark.
Anatoly Zlotnikov watches the final t
TOURNAMENT ACTION
A long Day 1 in this event concluded with the push into the money. From a starting field of 119 entries, only 20 would cash, and the day pushed into tomorrow with the new intention of ending when the bubble burst.
As can so often be the case, the actual moment of truth came and went in an instant. The field stood at 22 when Paulius Plausinaitis lost 10 of his 11 blinds in a hand against Maher Nouira. Plausinaitis bet for almost everything he had on the full board of 55. But then after Nouira raised, Plausinaitis folded to leave himself less than a single blind.
He doubled on the next hand to stay alive, but was all in again immediately after. This time, however, Leon Sturm also entered the pot for his last 16 blinds, and the big stack of Alejandro Lococo put them both at risk. (Lococo open-shoved the button with QJ and Sturm called for everything from the big blind, holding pocket nines. Plausinaitis was all-in from the small, with K.)
Lococo somehow found a way to thread the needle and win everything in this particular coup, flopping a queen and turning another. Plausinaitis officially departed in 22nd, with Sturm out in 21st and the stone bubble.
With that, the bags came out to end the day. The average stack in a shallow event was only 20 blinds. Aleks Ponakovs topped the field, ahead of Lococo and Mikita Badziakouski.
Day 2 began with the status quo unchanged: players were short-stacked, but they were in the money. And that meant a fairly hasty race to the final table. Lococo was one of the players who took a tumble down the standings, eventually busting in 11th, by which point former Triton champs Punnat Punsri, Ben Tollerene, Danny Tang and Alex Kulev, among others, had also hit the skids.
Stephen Chidwick's elimination in 10th brought them to a final. And though plenty of superstars had departed, plenty remained.
FINAL TABLE LINE-UP
Curtis Knight - 6,870,000 (86 BBs)
Ethan Yau - 3,610,000 (45 BBs)
Anatoly Zlotnikov - 3,390,000 (42 BBs)
Jason Koon - 3,355,000 (42 BBs)
Hannes Jeschka - 1,460,000 (18 BBs)
Yu Zhang - 1,445,000 (18 BBs)
Mikita Badziakouski - 1,290,000 (16 BBs)
Maher Nouira - 1,205,000 (15 BBs)
Aleks Ponakovs - 1,180,000 (15 BBs)
Event 2 final table players (clockwise from back left): Maher Nouira, Aleks Ponakovs, Ethan Yau, Jason Koon, Yu Zhang, Curtis Knight, Anatoly Zlotnikov, Mikita Badziakouski, Hannes Jeschka.
Final table players earned some extra breathing space with the winding back of the blinds a couple of levels. It allowed the smaller stacks to think they could run something up, while it made Knight's lead at the top seem even stronger.
It also meant it took a while for the first elimination, even if the field did eventually start thinning from the bottom up.
Ponakovs, the overnight chip leader turned smallest stack entering the final, didn't find a single hand to play in the early stages. But he eventually picked up pocket 10s and judged that perfectly good enough to commit his last six blinds. Mikita Badziakouski, who only had eight blinds, opened the pot from mid-position, essentially jamming himself holding AJ.
Ponakovs called for all of his chips and was racing, but the J on the river hit Badziakouski. Ponakovs was first out from the final for $71,500.
Aleks Ponakovs shifts his last chips to neighbor Badziakouski
Action remained slow with a lot of middle-sized, ICM-handcuffed stacks around the table. Russia's Anatoly Zlotnikov was probably the most active player at the table, and a handful of small pots nudged him up the leaderboard until he eventually even overtook Knight. In one hand in particular, he shoved the river looking at a board of 53 and made Badziakouski fold . Zlotnikov had just .
Mikita Badziakouski in the blender
Badziakouski was now short, but doubled through Knight, A10 beating K. That continued a steady downward trend for Knight, who met with Zlotnikov when both had around 35 blinds. The levels had been moving relentlessly forward. The average stack at this stage was down to only 20 blinds again.
Yu Zhang was another moving in the right direction. He doubled through Jason Koon with A6 beating Koon's pocket threes, and he also four-bet jammed Zlotnikov off the next hand. When Zhang then also won a decent pot from Knight, he edged into the lead, with Knight slipping to third.
The short stacks were also scrapping, and after Maher Nouira won a flip against Hannes Jeschka, A9 beating pocket fives, Jeschka was the shortest. But he then doubled through Badziakouski, with K beating pocket nines, and it was Badziakouski back with the smallest stack.
Still no one bust, even though both Badziakouski and Nouira were all in and at risk, but both doubled. The further increase in the blinds resulted in a 15-blind average.
Then a hand played out that will leave Ethan Yau's hordes of fans screaming in frustration. The popular vlogger had been progressing well at the final, usually sitting north of the average stack line and seemingly set for a decent run at the title. But he then suffered an especially bad beat, not just because his AK went down to Zlotnikov's A, but because three other players at the table had stacks of eight blinds or less at the time.
Zlotnikov needed two fours, and got them
Yau opened the pot from a 13-blind stack and Zlotnikov ripped in his entire 32 blind stack from the button, covering everyone. Yau called with the monster, and only got stronger after the KQJ flop.
The 4 turn gave Zlotnikov still only the dimmest hopes. But the miraculous 4 river arrived and that gave it to Zlotnikov. Yau was forced to depart in eighth for $92,000. Zlotnikov had only a 5% chance of winning after the flop, but pulled it off.
A grim beat for Ethan 'Rampage' Yau
Suddenly, the dam broke. Badziakouski surrendered his two blinds to Jeschka on the very next hand. Badziakouski was in the big blind and had A4. Jeschka, in the small blind, had J but flopped a jack and turned another.
The end of the short-stack battle for Mikita Badziakouski
But Jeschka's reprieve was temporary. He was out on the next hand. Jeschka open-pushed his seven blinds from the button, with no small blind in play. Knight found A10 in the big blind, however, and called. Jeschka's Q couldn't catch up.
Badziakouski earned $125,000 for seventh. Jeschka took $166,000 for sixth. It must have felt a whole lot better than that bubble in the first event here this week.
Hannes Jeschka bounced back after his Event 1 bubble
It was a pretty wild final table now, but nothing Jason Koon hadn't seen before. Still, the best Triton closer in the business was now the critical short stack with only five blinds and ended up as more roadkill to Zlotnikov's juggernaut.
Koon was in the big blind and peeled with 85 following Zlotnikov's UTG raise. Koon hit top pair when the dealer delivered the 2 flop, and check-called Zlotnikov's inevitable c-bet.
Koon was leading, but the J turn was all about Zlotnikov. There was nothing for Koon on the river, and his race was run. Koon gets his Montenegro 2026 account started with a $212,500 cash for fifth.
Another final, but still no title 13 for Jason Koon
There was seemingly no stopping Zlotnikov now and he sent Knight following in Koon's footsteps on the very next deal. In this one, Knight picked up QJ in the cutoff and raised from a 15-blind stack. Zlotnikov saw no reason to play things cute after finding K in the big blind and simply shoved all in.
Knight called for this tournament life and saw the bad news. Knight flopped a flush draw when two diamonds appeared, but the crucial third never materialized. Knight finished fourth for $265,000.
Curtis Knight endured a rough final to bust in fourth
The overwhelming chip advantage once held by Knight was now resolutely with Zlotnikov. And it only grew more as he knocked out Yu in third. Yu had 14 blinds and looked at A8 in the small blind. He completed. Zlotnikov had 61 blinds one seat over and found K. He jammed.
Yu called and was ahead at this point, but the K on the flop switched everything into Zlotnikov's favor. Like so many prior to him, Yu couldn't catch up again and was out in third for $321,000.
Yu Zhang adds a third place to his record
There were suddenly just two players left.
Zlotnikov had 75 blinds to Nouira's 20.
The sizes of these stacks in other players' hands might have had spectators expecting a long heads-up duel. But the speed at which action had been moving meant everyone prepared for the precise opposite.
And we didn't have to wait too long.
After a few pots went this way and that, Nouira was down to around 15 blinds. He got his whole stack in pre-flop holding A5 and faced Zlotnikov's 10. Zlotnikov's pure run continued when the dealer deposited the
Maher Nouira was the last man to face Zlotnikov
It was the deepest run yet for Nouira, but Tunisia awaits its first Triton winner. For Zlotnikov, the equation was different.
"Two time champ! Two time champ!" he repeated, offering interviews for $100 apiece. Stanley, on the Triton live stream, got it for free this time. But maybe we'll all have to pay next time.
Triton host Stanley get a free interview
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