Vladimir ‘Gambledore’ Korzinin Vanquishes Wizards At Triton Super High Roller Poker Series In Monaco

You can call him ‘Gambledore’ or ‘Gambledalf.’

Fans of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings may be divided on his nickname, but either way Vladimir Korzinin is playing like a wizard. In fact, he’s beating them.

Just one month after his first ever tournament cash, and just days after publicly declaring that he doesn’t “know how to play,” the bearded Estonian found an improbable victory worth $4,350,000 in the Triton Monte Carlo $150,000 no-limit hold’em event in Monaco.

Before this tournament series began, the businessman had just a single tournament result worth $78,300, coming at last month’s EPT Cyprus stop. This week started with a modest 26th place finish in the $40,000 no-limit hold’em event, and then he made it all the way to heads-up against one of the best poker players in the world in Patrik Antonius in the $200,000 Invitational for a whopping $3,470,000. His three cashes at Sporting-Monte Carlo Casino over the past few days have taken his total earnings up to nearly $8 million.

A fan favorite on the series live stream for his unconventional play, the enigma of a man offered no words in any requests for interviews after the big win, but did leave a note.

The magic of poker and the humility of a true champion. Vladimir Korzinin’s heartfelt notes and post-win embrace turned his $150K NLH win into a moment we’ll never forget. pic.twitter.com/WKLYTozp1e

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) November 14, 2024

The tournament attracted a field of 121 entries to put the prize pool at $18,150,000. The top 20 players would all take home a min-cash worth $236,000. Familiar faces included Paul Phua (10th), Daniel Dvoress (11th), Mikita Badziakouski (12th), Ren Lin (13th), Jesse Lonis (14th), Christoph Vogelsang (15th), Orpen Kisacikoglu (16th), Patrik Antonius (17th), Leonard Maue (18th), and Biao Diang (19th).

When the final table began it was Sam Greenwood up top, and Korzinin was stuck in the middle of the pack. But “Gambledore” had a few more tricks left up his sleeve, rivering a flush to double up and help Thomas Boivin to a ninth-place exit.

He then made quick work of Greenwood in eighth place to rocket to the chip lead when his pocket queens held against a flush, straight draw, and overcard. Korzinin then remained involved in the action as a three-way all-in disposed of Tom Fuchs in seventh place.

It was two of the best poker players in the world who fell next in Dan Smith (sixth), and Stephen Chidwick (fifth) and you guessed it … they both fell against Korzinin, who had become an unstoppable force.

Smith added $1,016,000 for his run, which gave him $57.6 million for his career, enough for sixth place on the all-time money list. Chidwick banked $1,300,000, however, bringing his totals to $61 million, which passed Mikita Badziakouski to move into third place overall.

Korzinin could not be stopped when he filled up on a flush draw to bust another top player in the world in Bryn Kenney in fourth place. Kenney, who added to his lead on the all-time money list earlier this week by winning the $125,000 event for $4,410,000, settled for $1,616,000 this time around.

The New York native now has $74 million in recorded earnings, a lead of nearly $8 million over Justin Bonomo in second place.

Ossi Ketola then took out Fedor Holz in third place to finish off the murderer’s row of top high-stakes players in the world that were seated at this final table. Holz added $1,962,000 to his totals, which puts him of Phil Ivey into 12th place all-time with $47.2 million.

That set the chip stacks for the final match with a slight 3:2 chip advantage in favor of Ketola over his newfound friend from this tournament series Korzinin.

Like Korzinin, Ketola was also a complete unknown. The Finnish player with the funky hat showed up in Monte Carlo and final tabled the $40,000 mystery bounty event for $247,000 and then added two min cashes in high rollers worth $183,000 and $218,000 respectively, before making his deep run in this event.

The last hand was befitting of the bizarre tournament as Ketola and Korzinin got their chips into the middle on a board reading QJ107. Ketola was ahead holding Q6 for top pair, and Korzinin held second pair with a flush draw sitting on 106.

The river brought the 9 to complete the flush draw, although Korzinin was not immediately aware that he won the tournament. He thought he was accepting applause as the runner-up in the tournament, but was quickly informed of the good news that he was the champion.

Ketola took home $2,970,000 million, giving him more than $3.6 million for the series overall.

Final Table Results

The Triton Super High Roller Poker Series in Monte Carlo runs from Nov. 1-14.

Photos: Triton Poker