Montenegrin amateur Aleksa Pavicevic bulldozed his way to the biggest title on the Triton Poker schedule. The real estate and hospitality expert lifted $6.18 million for the win.
As we reported yesterday, Phil Ivey bubbled and other huge-name pros and rich recs fell by the wayside on day 2 of the $200k Invitational event in Montenegro.
The final 11 returned today — Independence Day (from Serbia) in the former Yugoslav nation —to sort out the lion’s share of the $26.6million prizepool and it was an amazing day of action at the Maestral casino in Budva.
We were soon down to the official final table of none, Dejan Kaladjurdjevic and Joseph Oren falling, setting up a treat for fans watching the Triton Poker livestream.
Final table set for Event #9 $50K NLH at Triton Poker SHRS Montenegro 2025.
Seven players remain with $1,258,000 up top. Danilo Velasevic, @alexkulev95, @JesseLonis, Dominykas Mikolaitis, @dpeterspoker17, Poseidon Ho, and Ben Tollerene are all chasing the title.
A tight field,… pic.twitter.com/M6TNVzpU9b
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 21, 2025
The only pro/rec pairing to have survived was Thomas Santerne and Maher Nouira and remarkably the rec sent his invited pro to the rail with a painful river…
Nouria: J♠ J♣
Santerne: A♣ Q♠
Flop: 9♦ 5♣ Q♦
Turn: K♥
River: 10♠
When Finnish online legend Joni Jouhkimainen fell in 8th to Ismayilov ( A♠ Q♣ vs A♥ K♣ ) the remaining 7 had all locked up $1million+ paydays – and five of them were amateurs!
Two of them were Azerbaijani entrepreneurs and one of them, Ramin Hajiyev, had lifted the self-same title back in 2023 for $4million. He’d have to settle for 7th spot this time, though, suffering the exact same fate as Santerne.
Meanwhile, Seth Davies was staging a revival, doubling through Nouira at the expense of the Tunisian’s title hopes with 7♦ 7♥ against A♥ 5♠
Five-handed play and the table was clearly having fun, much of which was due to Taylor Von Kriegenbergh’s witty repartee. His chip stack ended up as empty as his ever-present wine glass, however, when his pocket 4s couldn’t hold up against Ismayilov’s A♣ 2♣
With just four left, and the payouts massive by almost anyone’s standards, Aleksa Pavicevic went full-tilt crazy — in a poker sense only. First he shoved Q5off on Wasserson and survived the fallout of an ace calling, and then he cracked aces for an incredible double…
Kings. Aces. What started as a quiet three-handed grind turned into the kind of chaos that’s forever etched into Triton Poker history. You couldn’t script it—one hand that rewrote the endgame.#TritonPoker #TritonInvitational #HighStakes pic.twitter.com/vo3lIzHrZQ
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 21, 2025
An unbelievable situation and Pavicevic wasn’t finished there. Heads-up with a 12-1 chip lead over the resurgent Davies, he proceeded to double up the American three times, and then what looked like a potential title-winning fourth time…
Davies: K♥ 3♦
Pavicevic: ? ?
Flop: 7♥ K♦ 3♠
The limped pot was checked through to the turn…
Turn: A♥
…where Davies check-raised his two pair. Pavicevic called. There was now 8.4million in the middle, Davies playing 13.5m and his opponent 18m.
River: 10♥
“He should seek value, especially holding the king of hearts,” was Randy “nanonoko” Lew’s assessment in the commentary box.
When he did just that, betting 2.4million, he was met with a dismissive “all-in” from Pavicevic!
It was a fantastic WPT Global Mystery Hand for the fans at home, Pavicevic’s cards unknown, and Davies was as confused as the rest of us. The call finally came, and with it the bad news…
Pavicevic: 5♥ 2♥
He had the flush and had just bagged the biggest live title and prize of the year so far.
Final table results
| 1 | Aleksa Pavicevic | Montenegro | $6,180,000 |
| 2 | Seth Davies | USA | $4,190,000 |
| 3 | Javid Ismayilov | Azerbaijan | $2,793,000 |
| 4 | Eric Wasserson | USA | $2,287,000 |
| 5 | Taylor Von Kriegenbergh | USA | $1,835,000 |
| 6 | Maher Nouira | Tunisia | $1,423,000 |
| 7 | Ramin Hajiyev | Azerbaijan | $1,053,000 |
| 8 | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | $774,000 |
| 9 | Thomas Santerne | France | $617,000 |
He added: “I kind of just decided a week ago that I was going to play this thing. I didn’t expect much, just to come, have a good time, see some friends. I love this resort, I love the people here, so I came for kind of a vacation.”
“It just been an incredible experience. I wouldn’t change anything”
“I decided I’d just take a try. Honestly I expected to bust maybe four levels in, and if not then run up a stack and maybe try to win the whole thing. So, it worked out.”
Concerning it being Montenegro’s Independence Day, he told reporters: “It was meant to be, I guess. There was a lot of good energy in the place … It’s very good for me to have my childhood friends here for this special moment.”
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