Triton Poker festivals showcase the best of the best in the poker world, but for railbirds, the Invitationals are where the real spectacle lies, with fields split 50/50 between top-end pros and rich, happy businessmen.
It leads to confrontations that remind us why we love poker. In the $200K Monte Carlo Invitational, it was a showdown for the ages between the unknown 69-year-old Estonian, Vladimir Korzinin, who had only discovered poker a few months ago, and Patrik Antonius, a Poker Hall of Famer and one of the most recognizable faces in the game.
The YouTube chat christened Vladimir ‘Gambledore’ after the Richard Harris/Michael Gambon character in the Harry Potter films. It wasn’t just his looks, but his desire to gamble it up on the biggest stage. And Korzinin cast a spell over the high-profile $200K field, playing as wild as he looks and, in the end, besting everyone but Antonius heads-up.
Korzinin nearly won it. After knocking out former WSOP Main Event champ Espen Jorstad in third, he held an 18,200,000/12,400,000 chip lead.
And his best shot came when Antonius shipped his final 5 million with 
on a 
board. Unfortunately, Korzinin wasn’t wild enough to make what would have been a sick call with 
.
Korzinin down but never out
The hand that swung the momentum back to Antonius was a cooler for Korzinin.
Antonius called preflop with 
and made a set on the 
flop. Korzinin had made bottom pair with 
, called a bet from Antonius, and thought he’d backed into a winning monster on the turn.
“Oh my goodness,” said Ali Nejad on comms. “Two pair on the turn, it couldn’t get any better for Patrik.”
“What an unlucky card for Vladimir,” Brian Rast agreed. “Patrik’s going to get a double here.”
And a double he got. Korzinin was actually drawing dead when he shipped over a 2.5M bet from Antonius.
Korzinin: The happiest player to lose a huge-money heads-up?
That left Antonius with the chip lead, but it didn’t phase Korzinin, who looked like he was enjoying every second of the experience as much as we were on the rail, with the results being completely superfluous to his mood.
Nejad was happy, too. “I mean, I wish I dealt with every hiccup in my life with the same carefree spirit of Vladimir, who just said, ‘I’m so happy I didn’t want it to end,’ even though that ending comes with an extra $1.5 million. In the moment, in the zone, Zen, and just a beautiful spirit on that man right there.”
Korzinin: ‘I don’t know how to play poker’
After a short break, Korzinin got back to work, shipping all his chips in with 
over a raise from Antonius with 
. “No action,” said Antonius, showing his cards and tapping the table when Korzinin showed his.
Korzinin went out like he played the whole three days, making a call for all his chips with 
on a 
board. He wasn’t drawing dead against his opponent’s 
but he was in about as bad a shape as he could be, drawing to two outs and missing.
The two players embraced afterwards, with Antonius saying, “You gave me so much hard time today. You outplayed me pretty much the whole first half.”
“I don’t know how to play poker,” Korzinin said, laughing.
“How much fun has this been?” asked Rast in the booth. “The stream has loved watching Vladimir, and so have we. His attitude, some of his lines, how aggressive he is.”
Korzinin didn’t win, but he won over a whole legion of fans.
Patrik Antonius with the trophy and the biggest cash of his career.
DREW AMATO
Career-best score for Antonius
This was pretty magical for Antonius as well. A career-best score for the player who was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Generally a man of few words, Antonius opened up afterwards when he said, “Obviously feels really special at home. A bit surreal. I just came to play… I love the competition. I love it, and I’m still getting started. I’m planning on playing at the highest level for a long time. Without the passion for the game, I wouldn’t be getting these results. What else can I say? I’m living my dream life.”
Triton Monte Carlo $200K Invitational results
| Place | Player | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patrik Antonius, Finland | $5,130,000 |
| 2 | Vladimir Korzinin, Estonia | $3,470,000 |
| 3 | Espen Jorstad, Norway | $2,255,000 |
| 4 | Roman Hrabec, Czech Republic | $1,867,000 |
| 5 | Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus | $1,506,000 |
| 6 | Mikita Badziakouski, Belarus | $1,188,000 |
| 7 | Konstantin Maslak, Russia | $908,000 |
| 8 | Tan Xuan, China | $684,000 |
| 9 | Morten Klein, Norway | $510,000 |