After the excitement of two bounty events, the Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro continued with a “vanilla” $50,000 NL Hold’em event. Drawing a respectable field of 159 entries generated a total prize pool of $7,950,000, with the top two finishers each receiving seven-figure payouts.
After a three-day marathon, Adrian Mateos emerged victorious, defeating Justin Saliba in a heads-up match for the title. Mateos pocketed $1,761,000 for his first-place finish, while Saliba had to settle for $1,188,000.
Mateos’ victory is impressive as he started the final table as the shortest stack but quickly picked up the pace and started dominating the final table. The seventh event of the Triton Montenegro series extended into a third day instead of the scheduled two days, as the players bagged and tagged their chips for the night when Ben Tollerene was eliminated in fifth place.
Despite the unscheduled break, this didn’t disturb the Spaniard’s mojo as he continued with the momentum, securing the win. “This week was amazing, I played five tournaments and made final tables in three,” Mateos said. “I’m running so good, and I hope it continues.”
This victory marks Mateos’ second Triton title, and with a total of 16 cashes, he now boasts almost $10,000,000 in Triton earnings. On the other hand, Saliba was a bit disappointed, feeling he could’ve achieved more. This second-place finish is the closest he has been to a first Triton title after his third-place finish in a $60,000 event at the London 2023 series. Nonetheless, a million-dollar payday is a good consolation prize.
2024 Triton Montenegro $50,000 NLHE Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 |  Adrian Mateos | Spain | $1,761,000 |
| 2 |  Justin Saliba | USA | $1,188,000 |
| 3 |  Joe Zou | China | $818,000 |
| 4 | Nick Petrangelo | USA | $667,000 |
| 5 | Ben Tollerene | USA | $532,000 |
| 6 | Phil Ivey | USA | $408,000 |
| 7 |  Mikala Vaskaboinikau | Belarus | $297,000 |
| 8 | Dan Smith | USA | $215,000 |
| 9 |  Mario Mosböck | Austria | $178,100 |
2024 Triton Montenegro $50,000 NLHE Final Table Recap
Day 2 of the Triton Montenegro $50,000 No Limit Hold’em event saw 56 players return, with 27 places paid. It took nearly 10 hours before the final table burst for the nine players left.
Ben Tollerene entered the final table as the chip leader with 44 big blinds, while Adrian Mateos had the shortest stack with 18 big blinds. At this point, it was already decided that the day would pause once four players were left.
The first player to exit the final table was Mario Mosböck. He flopped a set with his pocket queens, but Joe Zou flopped a better hand with a flush. All the chips went into the middle on the river, leaving Mosböck with only a few big blinds, which he lost shortly after to Phil Ivey.
Stacks were relatively even, so it took some time before the next elimination. Dan Smith pushed all-in with ace-queen on the button, and Justin Saliba called with ace-nine. A nine on the turn sealed Smith’s fate, and he was sent home with $215,000.
It seemed this knockout set off a chain reaction. On the very next hand, Mikala Vaskaboinikau was eliminated. Phil Ivey pushed with pocket deuces, and Belorussian called with ace-ten. The board did not improve Vaskaboinikau’s hand, and he finished in seventh place.
At this point, Adrian Mateos began to leverage his growing stack, frequently pushing players out of pots and accumulating valuable chips. Ivey tried to play back at Mateos with a three-bet all-in holding king-eight, but to his demise, Mateos had ace-jack, eliminating Ivey in fifth place.
Mateos’ next victim was Tollerene. Preflop, Ben was ahead with ace-queen against Mateos’ ace-ten, but the flop gave Mateos a ten, and turn and river completed a runner-runner flush. With Tollerene’s exit, the tournament was paused for the day.
When play resumed the next day, Mateos led with 49 big blinds. Saliba was second with 28 big blinds, Petrangelo held 23 big blinds, and Zou was the shortest stack with six big blinds. All four had already locked up $667,000.
Zou, who had survived many money ladders on a short stack, doubled up early on Day 3, while Nick Petrangelo found himself on the other side with ace-three against Mateos’ ace-jack. The board didn’t help Petrangelo, and he was eliminated in fourth place.
Zou’s run ended when he pushed his last five big blinds with king-five against Mateos’ ace-queen. Unable to watch, Zou turned away from the table as a queen hit the flop, and the turn and river provided no help, sealing his fate.
Mateos entered the heads-up battle with a chip lead of more than 2:1 over Justin Saliba. If the whole tournament was a one marathon session, the heads-up certainly was a sprint as it lasted only one hand.
Adrian shoved from the button with A♣7♥, and Saliba snap-called with A♠10♣. The flop came 8♥10♥9♣, providing many options for both. The turn brought a J♠, giving Mateos a straight, but the river could still save Saliba with a chop pot. The river was a blank, and Mateos secured his second Triton title.
