Bulgarian poker star Alex Kulev wins his first Triton title and the biggest win of his career!
Kulev is known as one of the best online poker players, but since 2018, he has also started playing some live events. In 2023, he won his first WSOP bracelet when he came first in the $50,000 No Limit Hold ’em – High Roller – 8-Handed event for $2,087,073.
In this Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, he has already won three cashes, two final tables, and his first title.
Alex won the $100,000+6,000 No Limit Hold’em—8-Handed event for $2,566,000. The event had 102 entries and generated a prize pool of $10,2 million, with $2,566,000 guaranteed for the winner.
Final Table Action
At the final table, we saw a few well-known faces, like the all-time money leader Bryn Kenney and Canadian crusher Daniel Dvoress. Bryn was the first one to be eliminated when his pocket queens ran into Danny Tang’s pocket kings. Bryn finished in ninth place for $255,000.
The next one to leave was Aleks Ponakovs, who opened his A♣8♣, got shoved on by Dylan Linde with pocket jacks, called, and got no help from the board. Ponakovs finished in eighth place for $342,000.
Linde was out in seventh place when he hit a pair of fives with his A♠5♠, but Liang also hit a pair of tens with his A♥10♦. Money went in on the low turn, and Liang’s pair of tens was held. Linde won $454,000.
The Canadian crusher Daniel Dvoress was next on the line when he open and shoved vs 3-bet his A♠Q♣ for 20 big blinds vs Santerne’s pocket queens. Daniel had only three outs but didn’t find one, and he was out in sixth place for $594,000.
A big flip happened when Tang and Kulev ended up in a preflop all-in situation with pocket queens against ace-king. Flop has shown a pair of aces for Kulev, and Tang didn’t manage to hit a queen. Tang was up in fifth place for $752,000.
Pocket queens were also unlucky hand for Nouira when he ran into Santerne’s aces all-in preflop. Aces held, and Nouira was out in fourth place for $933,000.
With three players left in the action, Liang was all-in with pocket sevens against Kulev’s K♦Q♥. Flop awarded Kulev with trips of kings, and seven never showed up to save Liang. Liang finished in third place for $1,127,000.
Heads-Up
We saw a clash of two European rising stars, Alex Kulev and Thomas Santerne. Both had 68 big blinds and the ambition to win their first Triton Poker title.
The action was back-and-forth, with players changing the lead until the last two hands, when Kulev first won K♦3♦ vs J♣6♣ and A♦10♣ vs. pocket sevens, officially giving him the title.
Throughout the whole final table, Kulev was railed and supported by his girlfriend and parents. “I’m a little bit overwhelmed, to be honest,” Kulev said. “This means a lot to me. To accomplish this in front of my family is very special to me. I will cherish this for a long time.”
Triton $100,000 – 8 Handed Event Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | $2,566,000 | |
| 2 | Thomas Santerne | France | $1,735,000 | |
| 3 | Xu Liang | China | $1,127,000 | |
| 4 | Maher Nouira | Tunisia | $933,000 | |
| 5 | Danny Tang | Hong Kong | $752,000 | |
| 6 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $594,000 | |
| 7 | Dylan Linde | United States | $454,000 | |
| 8 | Aleksejs Poankovs | Latvia | $342,000 | |
| 9 | Bryn Kenney | United States | $255,000 |
Images courtesy of Triton Poker.
