Tuesday in Monte Carlo brought about the conclusion to another five-figure buy-in at the Triton Super High Roller Series. The 147 entries in Event #4: $50,000 NLH served to generate a prize pool of $7,350,000 – the largest of the series thus far – with 23 players paid the $85,000 minimum cash and $1,710,000 up top for the eventual winner.
When the final hand was dealt, Alex Foxen stood atop the winner's podium, notching his first-ever Triton SHRS title. After taking a five-year break from the circuit, Foxen's return to the Triton tables has become a triumphant one. In his winner's interview, Foxen expressed his desire to attend more stops in the future. "I definitely think the Foxens will be on the Triton tour a lot more. I think that was already decided before this outcome came to be."
He continued, saying, "After even just the first tournament or two, without any good results, we were like, 'Man, we can't miss anymore of these.' So, yeah you'll definitely be seeing more of us."
Foxen catches fire
Following Day 1 proceedings, 31 hopefuls returned to the tournament area to battle their way first through the money bubble and, later, down to the final table. Foxen caught fire as the field thinned quickly once players reached the money, vaulting up the chip counts to take a commanding chip lead into the final frame of play. Foxen's Triton resume before this event included $317,000 in earnings, but no titles.
Behind him, Triton SHRS first-timer Marius Kudzmanas held a decent edge over third-place Xu Liang, who in turn sat comfortably above his fellow Chinese countryman and fourth-place Zhou Quan. Also in search of a first Triton title to add to a number of cashes, Aleksejs Ponakovs started proceedings firmly in the middle of the pack, with Dominykas Mikolaitis just below him in sixth. Kiat Lee, Lun Loon, and Alex Theologis rounded out the bottom third of the counts, all in the danger zone and in need of serious spin-ups.
Short stacks bow out
Theologis committed the remainder of his stack with 
from the cutoff and Foxen, with chips to spare, made the call with 
. "How is this possible?" Theologis exclaimed as he saw Foxen's live holding.
"I'm pretty indifferent," said Foxen.
"I'm not, I would rather win this one," Theologis responded with a smile.
The deck had other ideas in mind, however, as the dealer spread the 
to provide Foxen with a superior pair and leave Theologis drawing to two outs. The 
turn and 
river weren't the cards the Greek needed to see and his final table run ended in a ninth-place finish. Theologis' day took a profitable turn, however, as he went on to pull the $400,000 top bounty prize in the Event #3: $40,000 Mystery Bounty NLH drawing.
Alex Theologis was the first player out at the final table, but went on to pull the $400,000 top bounty during the Event #3: $40,000 Mystery Bounty NLH drawing. Loon assumed short-stack duties following Theologis' exit and wasted no time in pursuit of a double-up. When the action folded to him in the hijack, Loon committed half of his remaining chips with 
before Ponakovs three-bet from the button with . The Malaysian stuck to his plan and called off for his tournament life, in need of a fortuitous runout. The 
runout saw him pair up on the river, but it wasn't enough to overcome Ponakovs' pocket pair and Loon's day ended in an eight-place finish.
Foxen widens the gap while Zhou, Lee, and Liang bow out
Following the departure of the two shortest stacks, the pace of play slowed as each player hoped to outlast their opponents and ladder up. Foxen, on the other hand, ramped up his aggression as he widened the gap between himself and the rest of the field. In a clash against second-in-chips Kudzmanas, Foxen turned a set against his opponent's top pair and extracted maximum value with a hefty check-raise on the river. Kudzmanas paid off the raise and sent the majority of his stack Foxen's way to bring the American's share of the chips in play over 50%.
Foxen: 
Kudzmanas: 
Board: 
Shortly after, two eliminations came in quick succession. Quan bowed out as his 
ran into Mikolaitis' 
and failed to improve on the 
runout. Despite handing most of his chips to Foxen, Kudzmanas still had a stack to work with and found a good spot to chip up. Facing an open from Lee, Kudzmanas moved all-in from the small blind with and his opponent called off with . Both players improved to two pair on the 
runout, but Kudzmanas held the winner and Lee's day ended in a sixth-place finish.
Liang committed the remainder of his sub-five big blind stack with 
, only to see Ponakovs call behind with 
. With only three immediate outs, Liang's hopes of a double evaporated across the 
runout and his run came to an end in a fifth-place finish.
Four-handed deal struck
At the start of four-handed play, the players paused play to discuss a potential final table deal. After looking at the numbers, an agreement was reached to set aside $170,000 of the remaining prize pool for a winner-take-all incentive and split the rest of the cash based on ICM values – with a sweetener given to Foxen as the chip leader.
Following the deal-making, which was conducted in part due to players wanting to finish the tournament in time to register for Event #5, Mikolaitis and Kudzmanas exited in rather quick fashion. In a three-bet pot, Mikolaitis found himself in a tough spot with on a board. Foxen, having three-bet from the big blind with , moved all-in on the turn and Mikolaitis went deep into the tank as he considered his options.
Dominykas Mikolaitis agonized over this spot at the final table. Eventually, after burning through numerous time bank chips, the Lithuanian made the call, only to see the bad news. With only two outs to make the winning hand, Mikolaitis needed a miracle river, but the deck refused to cooperate as the completed the board.
Kudzmanas got his chips in as a slight favorite with against Foxen's 
, but the 
flop offered up no shortage of outs for his opponent to improve on. The turn was a complete brick, but the river improved Foxen to the nut straight and sent Kudzmanas to the payout desk in third.
With nearly all the chips in play stacked up in front of him, Foxen needed to win one more all-in pot to secure the victory. The confrontation came as Ponakovs moved all-in over the top of Foxen's preflop limp with 
and his opponent called it off with . If there was any doubt as to whether it was Foxen's tournament to win, the 
runout dispelled those notions.
Event #4: $50,000 NLH final table results
| Place | Player | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Foxen | $1,470,000* |
| 2 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | $922,000* |
| 3 | Marius Kudzmanas | $964,000* |
| 4 | Dominykas Mikolaitis | $915,000* |
| 5 | Xu Liang | $507,000 |
| 6 | Kiat Lee | $393,000 |
| 7 | Zhou Quan | $291,000 |
| 8 | Lun Loon | $214,000 |
| 9 | Alex Theologis | $170,000 |
*denotes ICM deal
Images Courtesy of Triton Poker
