Aleks Ponakovs Victorious in $100K Triton Main Event at WSOP Paradise

Incredibly, this was the Latvian’s first Triton title, one that was well overdue after winning almost $20 million on the circuit.

He didn’t earn quite as much as Kayhan Mokri the other night, but $4,750,000 was a new career-best prize, taking his record up to top 32 on the all-time money list.

Ponakovs also gets his third WSOP bracelet as the Triton events are still a part of the WSOP Paradise 2025.

Immediately after the win, Ponakovs looked flustered as if he couldn’t believe that he’d finally done it.

“I don’t know where to start. I was not even planning to go here, and I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad my wife is here to support me. The curse is broken. 

“We had a laugh that when your partner comes to support you, no chance. But now it’s great…I also heard that if you have baby, you get a good run. And eventually I get it.”

The intensity of the battle against China’s Ye Wang left an indelible mark on Ponakovs, reminding him just what a level of poker this is at Triton and what an achievement it is to win one of their titles.

“It’s very hard to play against him. He’s a very advanced player. He put me in a lot of blenders and I was not sure what to do to be honest.

“After that, I was preparing for a heads-up against a very strong player, Pedro from Brazil. I’m happy that it last three hands or something. It’s a great feeling.

“I definitely remember mistakes I did. I thought of them, and I prepared not to do them again. Experience gives a lot of confidence, and motivates you.”

Action Recap

The action was slow to build up while the Triton Invitational was still coming to its conclusion, but a whopping 237 entries still made their way into the pot, creating a prize pool of $23,700,000.

Unusually, by the time the money bubble came around, many of the big hitters had already shot their bolt. The first day and a half saw a lot of aggressive play, seemingly without a care for the $100,000 buy-in.

When 11 players returned for the Day 3 action, we were treated to a roster of superstars once again. This was going to be a display and a half of what the best in the game can produce.

Brazil’s Kelvin Kerber went right away, closely followed by Jason Koon in 10th place, unable to challenge for a record 13th Triton title.

As the final table kicked off, the aggression continued — nobody at this table was nervous about the money at stake.

Pedro Padilha flopped the nut flush early on and was delighted to get paid as Ponokovs tried to bluff him off it, sending the Brazilian into the lead.

The man who was the most accomplished at this final table was probably Spain’s Adrian Mateos, searching for a sixth WSOP bracelet and looking to complete a hat-trick of Triton titles.

Sadly for him, running A♦ K♦ into the A♠ A♥ of Ye Wang ended his run in ninth place.

There were now three players on less than 12 big blinds but Triton regular Jean-Noel Thorel called off his stack incorrectly to leave in eighth for $597,000.

Yang Wang arrived with the shortest stack and nailed a career-best for seventh place, and then Finnish PLO wizard Eelis Parssinen was out after running his 20 big blind stack into pocket kings with A♦ Q♥.

With only five left at the table, Ponakovs timed his run to perfection and it all started to come together.

First a double-up through Ye Wang when his aces held, and then he sent Klemens Roiter to the rail in a blind versus blind battle.

Fifth place finish and a $1,462,000 prize was a great result for the Austrian and two hands later Ye Wang paid up the rest of his stack to Ponokovs and went to collect his $1,865,000.

All three players remaining were now separately short of chips but it was Manuel Fritz who bled away his stack the fastest.

His day was over when Ponokovs open-jammed A♣ 5♦ from the small blind, flopping a five to overcome Fritz’s A♦ Q♦. The $2,311,000 payday made him another player celebrating a new career-best result.

And so heads-up began with Ponokov wielding a stack of 47 big blinds against Padilha’s 28, and neither player instigated talk of a deal.

But there was no time to reconsider, because only minutes later Ponakov’s pocket nines swept aside Padilha’s A♦ 9♠ for his last 19 blinds.

Finally, Aleks Ponokov has a Triton title to his name.

WSOP Paradise $100K Triton Main Event Final Table Results

Mark Patrickson

Professional Poker Journalist

Mark Patrickson is a poker journalist with over ten years of experience. He writes for VIP-Grinders.com, sharing his deep knowledge of poker. He creates interesting content about poker strategy, trends, and news for poker fans worldwide. [more]