The American defeated a field of 88 entries at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa which consisted of 44 pairs of invitees who teamed up with an established professional.
Jesse Lonis is one of the hottest properties in poker right now, having achieved four high roller wins in only the last three months.
Chief among those was his career best score of $3,446,298 for winning the $100K Triton Montenegro Main Event. Last night’s $1,745,625 prize is his third best payday so far.
Lonis had nothing but praise for the new poker venue and his experience this week.
“The experience here at Onyx, or at Merit has been world class, and I’m not just saying this because I’m here. It’s honestly just everything from the service, the property, the way the tournaments are run.
“It was amazing and I hope this, I know this place will definitely grow in the future and I will promote it for sure. And every year that you guys have something, I’ll definitely be back.”
Action Recap
This was a jaw-dropping final table performance by Jesse Lonis. Of the eight opponents who lined up against him, Lonis personally dispatched seven of them.
And that was from a position of weakness as his average stack had dwindled somewhat by the time there were only nine players left. Interestingly, runner-up Maher Nouira was in last place just behind Lonis.
Lonis got straight on with business, showing the table he was still there to win. Demonstrating that anyone who wins a tournament needs some luck, he struck lucky when his ace-deuce beat Markkos Ladev’s pocket kings to send him into second place.
Further aggression had the table wary of folding to him until Rahul Byrraju check-called three streets with second pair only to soon discover that Lonis had the goods, having flopped two pair.
Dejan Kaladjurdjevic and Matt Moss followed Byrraju to the rail only minutes later.
It took the talent of Phil Ivey to stand up and try to stop Lonis’s wave of aggression, but even the G.O.A.T. can mistime his own counter.
Ivey put in a big three-bet bluff attempt against Lonis with A♣ 6♠ but he wasn’t prepared to risk his 30 big blind stack against the A♦ J♦ of Lonis who came back over the top.
Ivey must have been a bit miffed at that as he had barely played a hand at the final table, but he did get revenge only a few hands later. A turned two pair brought down Lonis’s top pair and suddenly the field was quite even again.
Jamil Wakil is another man of the moment, racking up many good results recently, including a runner-up finish to Moussa Ahmad in the $10,400 GG Million$ last week.
The Canadian was another victim of Lonis who checked to Wakil’s small blind limp, forcing him into a nasty check-call down to end his run.
The action really began to heat up now. Rob Yong lost a huge pot to Maher Nouira and then exited in a clash against Lonis.
Phil Ivey also suffered against Lonis, exiting when his dominated ace didn’t find help.
This flurry of action set up heads-up with fairly even stacks, encouraging the players to quickly agree a deal with only the trophy to play for.
Lonis took the bragging rights when his inferior king spiked two pair on the turn of the final hand.
$102,000 Onyx SHRS NLH Invitational Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Jesse Lonis | United States | $1,745,625* |
| 2 | Maher Nouira | Tunisia | $1,704,375* |
| 3 | Phil Ivey | United States | $1,080,000 |
| 4 | Rob Yong | United Kingdom | $856,000 |
| 5 | Jamil Wakil | Canada | $670,000 |
| 6 | Matt Moss | United Kingdom | $520,000 |
| 7 | Dejan Kaladjurdjevic | Montenegro | $400,000 |
| 8 | Rahul Byrraju | India | $310,000 |
| 9 | Markkos Ladev | Estonia | $250,000 |
*denotes heads-up deal
