Champion Artur Martirosian

Artur Martirosian is a three-time champion on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series and, more than that, the Russian pro did absolutely all he could to lock up the Ivan Leow Player of the Year award as he took down the $25,000 buy-in PLO event in Jeju.

Martirosian was already in the box seat in the season-long race for the prestigious POY award, having flown into the lead during the first qualifying event in Monte Carlo. But with the likes of Alex Foxen and Punnat Punsri still hopeful of snatching honours with some unlikely heroics, Martirosian effectively slammed the door shut on his competitors.

He took down the 60-entry tournament, winning $421,000 in the process, having successfully navigated a tough, short-stacked final. Coincidentally, Punsri and Foxen were both also there, but perished in sixth and fifth, respectively.

It cleared the way for Martirosian to face PLO wizard Ben Tollerene heads up, but to seal the deal with a minimum of fuss. By that point, stacks were short and Martirosian could let the dealer get him over the line.

Artur Martirosian all but sealed POY with the win

But while one short-stacked heads-up battle can always go either way, the comparative marathon of a season-long POY race truly shows Martirosian's class—and he was delighted to get the accolade under his belt.

"It means a lot for me," the 28-year-old said. "When I started to play PLO, my first goal was to win POY. I said on at the first stop of this series that I would win POY. It means more than any titles. I'm very happy."

He added: "We have a lot of tournaments, so sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But this award, it's for your whole life."

Martirosian admitted that it had been a tricky final table, but that by the time he got to face off against Tollerene, there was little either player could do to influence the result.

He said: "Battling for 20 BBs is not like real battling. It's more about luck. But I'm happy to beat one of the best...The table was quite tough. It's not a big tournament, but it was a very tough final table."

Ben Tollerene was powerless in a short-stacked heads-up duel

Martirosian celebrated his win by immediately jumping into the $50K PLO event that began alongside the $25K event. There are only three tournament still left on the schedule in Jeju. Don't bet against Martirosian for any of those either.

TOURNAMENT ACTION

Played in the shadow of the PLO Main Event, this tournament nonetheless featured most of the top PLO stars who had fallen short of the final table in the big one. After a field of 60 entries assembled and then shrivelled on Day 1, 10 players came back for Day 2, already in the money.

There were 18 previous Triton titles among them, plus some PLO dark horses waiting to emerge fully from the shadows. There were also, of course, three players jostling at the top of the Ivan Leow Player of the Year race: Artur Martirosian, Alex Foxen and Punnat Punsri.

Those three remained when the final table of seven was confirmed fairly quickly. It lined up as follows:

Ben Tollerene - 4,195,000 (105 BBs)

Santhosh Suvarna - 2,830,000 (71 BBs)

Alex Foxen - 1,345,000 (34 BBs)

Dirk Gerritse - 1,295,000 (32 BBs)

Punnat Punsri - 915,000 (23 BBs)

Kosei Ichinose - 715,000 (18 BBs)

Artur Martirosian - 705,000 (18 BBs)

Event 13 final table players (clockwise from back left): Dirk Gerritse, Santhosh Suvarna, Alex Foxen, Kosei Ichinose, Ben Tollerene, Artur Martirosian, Punnat Punsri.

Punnat Punsri prefers hold'em, but having recently learned PLO, he has already got one title in the variant. And here he was again at a final. However, he slid down to the bottom of the counts after losing a big pot to Santhosh Suvarna, and was sitting with only five blinds when Suvarna went into another battle, this time with Kosei Ichinose.

Suvarna had KKQ9 and put in an early-position raise. Ichinose, with 17 blinds, had AKJ8 and called in the big blind, taking the pair to a flop of 4J10. Ichinose checked and Suvarna bet. Ichinose committed the last of his chips for not much more and Suvarna called.

The 4 turn and 6 river did not give Ichinose the help he needed and he was out in seventh for $73,000.

Kosei Ichinose's tournament ended in seventh

Punsri surely enjoyed the outcome of that pot probably more even than Suvarna. But one more rung was as far as he could climb up the ladder. Although he all but doubled in a pot against Alex Foxen shortly after Ichinose's elimination, Punsri wasn't able to pull off anything miraculous. His last six blinds went to Ben Tollerene when Punsri opened his button holding AJ103 and Tollerene called from the big blind with 9875.

The rest of Punsri's stack was inevitably going in on the flop, and Tollerene was going to be matching it. But the board of 4J8Q2 favoured only Tollerene and Punsri's race was run. He took $93,000 from this one.

Sixth place for five-time champ Punnat Punsri

Artur Martirosian doubled up through Foxen. But Foxen pushed Martirosian out of a pot soon after and got most of it back. Foxen was, in fact, on a surge of his own that took him past both Tollerene and Suvarna to the top of the counts.

But Gerritse then doubled through Foxen, with Martirosian then doubling through Gerritse, and the merry-go-round resulted in five players sitting with between 20 and 40 blinds. Anyone's game.

Gerritse took over at the top after he doubled through Foxen once more, but then Survana chipped back through the Dutchman and he ended up back on the top of the pile.

The craziness was not done yet. Foxen's AKJJ stayed best against Suvarna's AJ87 for another double-up, and by default, Martirosian took over the chip lead. The average stack was only 24 blinds, so when Tollerene then doubled through Martirosian -- AJ109 finishing with a straight to beat KQ85 -- it was the American who surged back to the top.

All five players had been chip leader in the space of about three table orbits.

Someone had to break this bottleneck, and it turned out that Tollerene was now in unforgiving mood. Or, rather, the dealer was. Having flopped that straight to double through Martirosian, Tollerene's Q1092 now flopped a flush to beat Foxen's AJ86.

They had been effectively all-in pre-flop, with Foxen three-betting Tollerene's open, and the rest of Foxen's 14 blinds going in on the 489 flop. But by that point he was drawing very thin, and though the J turn gave him some outs, the 6 slammed the door on his tournament.

Foxen's run to fifth was worth $120,000.

Not this time for Alex Foxen

The lunacy wasn't yet at its end, however. Three spades on the board helped Martirosian double with AQJ8 over Suvarna's AKQ7. But then Survana doubled again, through Gerritse, with AKJ3 beating AJ22.

It was not, however, enough for Suvarna. He had 11 blinds and A997 when he went up against Martirosian's QQJ10. They were all in pre-flop and board offered nothing to help Suvarna. His particular rollercoaster ended with a $152,000 payout.

Santhosh Suvarna's fun ended in four

Martirosian was now the big leader, with 64 blinds to Tollerene's 26 and Gerritse's six. But then Gerritse doubled through Martirosian to stay alive a little longer still. But it was only a little...

The next time Gerritse's chips went in the middle it was when he was holding A233 and a flop of 379 was on the table. Geritsse check-raise-jammed with his flopped set and backdoor hearts and was in great shape against Martirosian's 10765.

The K turn changed nothing except bringing that heart draw closer and reduce Martirosian's straight outs. But the 8 river was one of the cards that hit Martirosian only, making him the winning straight. Gerritse was out in third for $201,000.

Dirk Gerritse still hunting a first Triton win

They were now heads up: Martirosian had 60 blinds to Tollerene's 21. And Martirosian had to play one of the world's best PLO players heads up.

Ultimately, there was not much Tollerene could do. The final hand came about with Tollerene holding 29 blinds and AKJ7 and Martirosian sitting with KK109.

It went raise, three-bet, four-bet, call for all of it, and Martirosian hit two tens on the flop to seal the deal.