Ben Tollerene Secures the Win in Triton Montenegro $100K PLO Main Event

Ben Tollerene has tasted Triton glory once again, after taking down the biggest ever high-stakes PLO tournament in poker history at Triton Montenegro.

The American PLO legend made his name in PLO cash games but turned his hand to tournaments more seriously during 2018-19 before backing off. But over the last 12 months his commitment and form have been second to none.

This win marks a hat trick of Triton titles for Ben Tollerene, the last one coming only six months ago in a $50K PLO event in Monte Carlo.

Hungary’s Laszlo Bujtas — AKA “omaha4rollz” — was the man to push Tollerene the hardest. He is another PLO legend who has battled at many of the same tables as Tollerene over the last decade, and it was no surprise to see these two duelling it out for glory.

In this event, though, it was Ben Tollerene’s turn to claim the trophy and $2.39 million prize. Bujtas had to settle for $1.645 million.

Action Recap

When late registration closed, 93 entries had been chalked up, creating a $9,300,000 prize pool and claiming status as the largest ever PLO in history.

There would be 15 prizes paid out with Stephen Chidwick snatching a min cash of $160,000 while Jesse Lonis and Seth Davies just missed out, departing the stage in 17th and 16th place respectively.

Once Chidwick left the table, the action ramped up and the final table of seven players was set quickly. Once again, we cannot avoid glancing at this line-up and thinking how tough these Triton events are.

With seven left, Tollerene and Martirosian had stacks of more than 100 blinds, both ready to put pressure on the other five. But somehow by the time it came to break for dinner, nobody had busted out.

When play resumed, it was Phil Ivey who was struggling to chip up. He was out when a rivered flush came up against a full house of Dvoress.

Chips were being passed around for a while with nobody busting out, but it was Laszlo Bujtas who collected more than anybody else as he moved to the top of the counts.

The Hungarian PLO master then dealt with Sean Rafael to send him home in sixth with a career-best score of $549,000.

After being told they would break for the day when the next player was out, Daniel Dvoress obliged. The Canadian opened with Q♥ 10♣ 9♥ 7♣ on the button and Tollerene called in the big blind with K♠ Q♠ 10♥ 2♦.

The flop came down 2♠ 8♠ 9♠ and Tollerene check-raised it all-in and Dvoress called. The turn and river didn’t help and Dvoress packed up his gear to go and collect his $702,000 prize.

Dan “Jungleman” Cates lasted only a few hands on the unscheduled Day 3 with Bujtas relieving him of the few chips he had left.

Martirosian was now the short stack but doubled up through Bujtas to give him some hope. It was short-lived, though, because an all-in confrontation with Bujtas left the Russian with only seven blinds.

Bujtas took those as well, a couple of hands later, and it was time for heads-up between two of the best PLO players the world has ever seen. With around $800K difference in the two top prizes, this was certainly worth watching.

Tollerene soon overtook Bujtas’s small lead but the Hungarian fought back before the stacks leveled.

Then after a short period of small pots, Tollerene opened the throttle and charged to a popular victory.

Clearly emotional after picking up the win, Ben Tollerene told reporters:

“Feels amazing. It would have been hard to pick someone more suitable to be heads-up with…I’ve played him a ton and have a ton of respect for him. I’m glad that it was him.”

Triton Montenegro Event#15 $100K PLO Main Event

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]