Polish high-stakes pro Wiktor Malinowski scored a whopping $4.8 million for being the final player standing who put $212,000 — or more — into the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series event in Montenegro. He was part of a field of 61 who built a $18.6 million prize pool with 93 entries.
“It’s the best feeling. There are so many moments in poker when it’s not so good, so when you win it feels very special.”
The 29-year-old, who plays on international online poker sites as “limitless,” began his poker journey as a teenager in the lowest of stakes. He is now a nosebleed cash and occasional tournament player closing in on $12 million in lifetime tournament cashes.
This is Malinowski’s second win in a super high-stake poker tournament — He won the $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl Europe in Kyrenia in August of 2021 for $3,690,000.
One tough (and very rich) final table
The top 15 players of this banger won at least $317,000. They included names that Triton fans are used to seeing in the cash column. Paul Phua and Patrick Antonius won the minimum, while Bryn Kenney and Bao Ding leveled-up in 13th and 12th for $344,000, Christoph Vogelsang and Stephen Chidwick missed the final table finishing 11th and 10th for $390,000.
The next three players would miss out on a $1 million payday.
First to go was Matas Cimbolas, who pushed his lifetime tournament poker winnings up over the $6.5 million mark with a $483,000 cash in Montenegro.
Nick Petrangelo pushed his life tourney booty into the $35 million neighborhood with a $661,000 cash for eighth.
Jonathan Jaffe was one spot away from his second seven-figure cash, but stalled in seventh for his second-best lifetime cash of $865,000. He’s approaching $13 million in lifetime tournament cashes. His best came in the 2023 $111,111 World Poker Tour Alpha8 for $1,537,600.
Jason Koon, the man with the most Triton Super High Roller titles, is no stranger to the seven-figure cash. Including the $1,098,000 he took for finishing sixth here, he has 14 of them. He was going for his 11th Triton title. The man raised in West Virginia will most likely break the $60 million lifetime tourney mark sometime this year.
Mikita Badziakousk of Belarus is another player with plenty of seven-figure tourney cashes. His 16 puts his lifetime tourney total at $54.5 million, including $1,405,000 he got for a fifth-place finish here. He’s coming off a $7.1 million bink for winning the $100,000 WPT Big One for One Drop in December.
Canada’s Mike Watson scored his second $1 million win for finishing fourth, and that’s just in May. His $1,748,000 won in Montenegro goes nicely with the $1,895,000 he took by winning n the $159,000 buy-in Triton event in South Korea. He’s quite close to breaking the $30 million mark.
Ireland’s Steve O’Dwyer scored a lifetime best for third. The $2,157,000 that came with his finish pushed his lifetime total over $43 million.
Runner-up Adrian Mateos was also going for his second Triton Super High Roller title of the month. He just won the series’ $50,000 offering for $1,761,000 just six days before bowing out in second-place for $3,292,000. He will most likely become a $50 million man sometime this year.
That left “limitless” with the trophy and a giant pile of cash. Kudos to him.
