Champion Jesse Lonis!
Jesse Lonis had a very efficient way of putting it.
"It was a good time to run hot," the American pro said, basking in the immediate glow of winning his fourth title on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju on Wednesday night.
The 30-year-old certainly did run hot — and his timing was immaculate. This was the $50,000 NLH Bounty Quattro, where each of the last 12 players (one quarter of the field) had a $60,000 bounty on their heads.
Lonis won nine of them, representing eight knockouts plus his own bounty, to bolster a $474,000 payout with a $540,000 bounty payment. It put total earnings to $1,014,000, which is pretty good for eight hours' work.
"It was very fun," Lonis said. "I'd be lying if I said I'd never run as pure as that before — I've had some moments where I've run really good — but honestly, this trip, I kept losing a lot of all-ins. Most of my chips were coming post flop. So in a weird way, when I was getting all-in here, I was like, you know what, I kind of feel like I'm just going to start winning some hands. And it was a good time to do it."
The prayers were answered for Jesse Lonis
He makes it sound so easy, and that's certainly how it looked from the rail. The final group of players made the most of the wine reception being hosted upstairs by YEET, the Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event sponsor. It helped lubricate a tournament that was played in a relaxed atmosphere throughout, with the champion the most laid back of them all.
"They had the wine party tonight," Lonis said. "And luckily on break I was, like, let me just take the edge off."
He added that he'd recently been cutting back on some other vices, "So this is the first time I've had a buzz in a month...It was nice to just be able to let loose and play."
Lonis came to the final table with a soaraway chip lead and never let it go, securing victory by beating fellow three-time champion Kiat Lee heads up. Lee banked $343,000, but hadn't managed to eliminate anybody, so his runner-up prize was dwarfed by that received by Lonis.
Another outstanding performance from Kiat Lee
Brazil's Kelvin Kerber went out in third, with another American pro (and three-time winner) Alex Foxen in fourth.
Lonis said: "I've always dreamed of being here and when the highest stakes are on and the pressure's on, I think for most people the pressure maybe gets to them. For me, I started with nothing so at this point it's a freeroll, so I just enjoy it and go with it."
TOURNAMENT ACTION
Played in the shadow of the Main Event, which was playing out its long second day, the NLH Bounty Quattro was nonetheless a tournament with a $50K buy-in and $1.58 million in the prize pool, which meant there was still plenty worth caring about.
The first target was to get into the bounty portion of the event, which would happen when only 12 players remained, before then progressing to a final table of nine. But there was a cruel kicker here: after 46 entries, only eight places were due to be paid. It meant that one player would leave the final table without a payout.
As these important moments played out, one man rose to prominence. American pro Jesse Lonis knocked out all of Ramin Hajiyev in 12th, Dan Dvoress in 11th and Jun Obara in 10th, the latter two in a single hand. That meant he picked up each of the first three available bounties as the field thinned to nine.
They lined up as follows for the pseudo final, with Zhou Quan's continued involvement surely feeling tenuous.
Jesse Lonis - 2,785,000 (93 BBs)
Yuya Arito - 1,790,000 (60 BBs)
Kiat Lee - 1,140,000 (38 BBs)
Anatoly Zlotnikov - 975,000 (33 BBs)
Alex Foxen - 945,000 32 BBs)
Klemens Roiter - 700,000 (23 BBs)
Kelvin Kerber - 615,000 (21 BBs)
Danilo Velasevic - 195,000 (7 BBs)
Zhou Quan - 55,000 (2 BBs)
But Zhou survived. And that's because, on the first hand of final table play, Austrian pro Klemens Roiter saw Alex Foxen and Lonis limp ahead of him, then looked down at AK. He shoved. Everyone except Lonis folded, but the massive chip leader could afford to take a flyer with 106.
KLEMENS ROITER WAS THE ONLY ONE NOT CELEBRATING AS THE BUBBLE BURSTS
The board of 510Q79 gave Lonis what he needed to hoover up the last of Roiter's chips, plus another bounty. And he celebrated with Zhou, who had inched into the money. Roiter must have been sick as he headed away empty handed.
Lonis, therefore, already had four bounties. That was $240,000 already, more than the third-placed prize. And he was still on for the clean sweep.
LONIS AND ZHOU CONGRATULATE ONE ANOTHER AS THE BUBBLE BURSTS
"You owe me!" Lonis said to Zhou as the gang posed for a chummy final table pic.
EVENT 10 FINAL TABLE PLAYERS (CLOCKWISE FROM BACK LEFT): JESSE LONIS, DANILO VELASEVIC, ANATOLY ZLOTNIKOV, ALEX FOXEN, ZHOU QUAN, KELVIN KERBER, KIAT LEE, YUYA ARITO.
When play resumed, the bonhomie continued. Players were making side bets with cash and jewellery, in between playing a few hands. Zhou quickly tripled in a hand against Kelvin Kerber and Anatoly Zlotnikov, with Kerber also profiting at Zlotnikov's expense.
That left the Russian vulnerable with only five blinds, and lo and behold, he was the next to perish.
The was another mad one. Zlotnikov shoved with AK and Lonis, of course, re-shoved holding QK. But Kerber looked down at AJ, which was similarly good enough to commit his 21 blinds. They therefore went three-way to a runout that was all Brazilian.
It came 2758Q. Kerber's flush was good for more than just a double. He also knocked out Zlotinikov, winning his $60K bounty, and revealed the first chink in Lonis' armour.
Zlotnikov won $64,000 for eighth.
ANATOLY ZLOTNIKOV, STANDING, WAS FIRST OUT IN THE MONEY
This wasn't the table to be finding big pre-flop hands as Danilo Velasevic became the next player eliminated after a brutal runout. After Lonis limped UTG and Kerber followed him into the pot for the minimum, Velasevic looked at QQ in the small blind and moved in his tiny stack.
Alex Foxen, in the big blind, called along with Lonis and Kerber, which meant four players saw the flop of 9610.
Foxen jammed for the remainder of his 19 blind stack. Lonis folded, but Kerber called and showed that his 109 was now two pair and ahead. Scenting the double knockout, Kerber wheeled away in anguish as the 6 turn and 7 river gave Foxen the straight with his 108.
Foxen doubled through Kerber and knocked out Velasevic, whose queens came third out of three. Velasevic won $80,500.
Zhou was somehow still alive, albeit with four blinds, and all of Kiat Lee, Kerber, Foxen and Yuya Arito were bunched in the 30-40 big blind territory.
DANILO VELASEVIC SEES THE FUNNY SIDE EVEN AS HIS TOURNAMENT ENDS
Something even more unpredictable happened next: the tournament settled down. Despite win still free flowing, fireworks were slightly fewer and further between as chips moved slowly around the table. However, there was still time for one big flip, which proved terminal for Yuya Arito.
Lonis opened from UTG and Arito three-bet pocket nines from the cuoff. Lonis, whose opening raise didn't signify anything except his dominant chip stack, now proved he meant business by jamming. He covered Arito's 30 blinds.
But Arito called to see Lonis show AQ, and an ace on the flop, followed by another on the turn, was the end of the Japanese challenge. Arito had only one Triton cash before this, a min-cash in the Triton ONE Main Event in 2025. But he now has $101,000 for his sixth place here.
YUYA ARITO HIT A NEW TRITON HIGH
After another relatively slow period, things were now critical for Zhou, while Foxen's chip tracking graph began sliding downward as well.
The struggle had to end at some point for Zhou, but when it did, he at least had the chance of a quadruple up. Zhou was in the big blind when Lonis, still with the biggest stack, opened from UTG+1 and Kerber called on the button. Kiat Lee called in the small blind as well, with all of them eyeing Zhou's bounty.
Zhou was all-in blind, and the flop fell KQ5. Kerber's bet attracted a call from only Lonis.
The 8 came on the turn and both active players checked. The 9 completed the board. Both players checked again,and it was Kerber's 105 that was best, beating Zhou's A10 and Lonis' 75. That was another bounty for Kerber, while Zhou's tournament ended with a payout of $129,500.
Zhou Quan's incredible laddering finally came to an end
Foxen couldn't hang around much longer. He doubled to 10 blinds with QJ beating Kerber's 32, but on the next deal, he open-jammed those 10 blinds from the small blind with A5. Lonis called from the big blind with Q7 and a seven on the flop proved most significant.
Foxen finished in fourth for $167,000, plus $60,000 for the bounty he won. That's $227,000 total for the three-time Triton champ.
Alex Foxen was the first three-time champion eliminated at the final
Lonis now had 58 blinds, six bounties, and a big glass of red wine. Kerber was holding 19 blinds (and a wine) and Lee 15. The levels remained short and the blinds were moving ever upward. And then the reaper knocked for Kerber.
This was the kind of hand that plays itself, and would likely have happened in precisely the same manner even in a less hectic event. Lee folded his button and Lonis
found AQ in the small blind. He raised.
Kerber looked down at pocket 10s in the big blind and jammed all of his 19 blinds. Lonis called to set up another flip. And it was another flip Lonis won.
The board was dry and Kerber was out, taking $221,000 from the main prize pool, plus $120,000 for his two bounties.
The fun stops for Kelvin Kerber
When they started heads-up play, Lee had 17 blinds and Lonis 57. But whatever way the heads-up battle went, Lonis would be taking more money from the tournament thanks to the seven bounties he had amassed already. Lee could only aim for Lonis's (and to retain his own).
Heads up between Lonis and Lee
But even that proved to be beyond him. The got everything in the middle pretty quickly, with Lonis holding pocket threes and Lee K10d]. Although the dealer made it interesting with a flop of QA7, they sat back and watched the Q turn and 6 river end it in Lonis' favour.
It was a good time to run hot.
