The Spanish poker crushed Adrian Mateos won his latest major title overnight as he beat popular American pro Justin Saliba heads-up for a top prize on $1.7m. The Triton Poker Series has moved on to the stunning city of Montenegro this month and Mateos has made the latest event his own, taking the title after a final table including stars such as Phil Ivey, Dan Smith and Ben Tollerene were conquered.

Brewer Among Players to Cash

The $50,000-entry Event #7 was another No Limit Hold’em event and as such, it drew a vast field of 159 entries, with 62 of those entries being re-entries. Amid the 27 players who cashed, players such as Patrik Antonius (25^th), Linus Loeliger (24^th), Alex Kulev (22^nd) and Aleks Ponakovs (20^th) all sneaked into the money places.

Further up but not making the final table, Wiktor Malinowski won $95,000 in 19^th place, Danny Tang claimed $119,200 in 15^th and Kiat Lee failed to follow in the footsteps of recent first-time Triton winner Artsiom Lasouski or WSOP Main Event winner turned Triton titan Chris Moneymaker when he busted in 14^th for the same amount. Russian professional Artur Martirosian busted in 12^th for $132,000, while Chris Brewer just missed out on the final table, exiting in 10^th place for $151,000.

With nine players left, the chips were incredibly evenly spread, with the chip leader Tollerene (44BB) not so far ahead of the eventual winner and short stack Mateos, sitting on 18 big blinds. It was the former professional soccer player Mario Mosböck who fell first, leaving in ninth for $178,100 after the Austrian’s lost to Phil Ivey’s following a hand where Mosböck’s pocket queens were outflopped by a flush for Joe Zou.

Ivey Goes Close Before Matador Gets Him

Eight-handed play lasted some time before Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith was shot down for a score of $215,000. All-in for six bigs with , he was the subject of a bad beat when Justin Saliba’s got there to eliminate him, a nine on the turn sending Smith to the rail. Soon, Belarussian Mikala Vaskaboinikau joined him. All-in for his own half-dozen blinds with , he lost out to Phil Ivey’s pocket deuces as the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner won the flip, Vaskaboinikau winning $297,000 in seventh.

Ivey might have celebrated internally at that stroke of luck, but he soon headed to the rail himself. The American three-bet shoved pre-flop with but Mateos had the goods and the stack, calling it off with which held to send Ivey home with a score of $408,000.

Ben Tollerene is one of the biggest names to crush at both live and online poker and earned himself another $532,000 to bolster his live stats when he busted in fifth place. Tollerene, convinced to play by good friend and 10-time Triton champ Jason Koon, went from chip leader as the final table began to out in unlucky fashion, his losing to Mateos’ .

Saliba Shot Down in Final Duel

With four players left and no sign of the finish line, the action was delayed to a third and final day, with Mateos in the lead on 49 big blinds and Joe Zou shortest on just six. A quick double upon his return changed Zou’s fortunes, however, and it was Nick Petrangelo who left in fourth for a score of $667,000. The American got it in pre-flop with but was called – and busted – by Mateos who held and that held with ease to send play three-handed.

Joe Zou lost with pocket kings to Justin Saliba’s when the American hit two pair, and soon after, the Chinese player was out for $818,000. All-in with soon after, Zou was behind Mateos’ at the start and end of his final hand. The pot also helped Mateos enter the heads-up battle with a lead of 37 big blinds to Saliba’s 16 bigs. In the first hand of heads-up play, Saliba was all-in with the dominating as Mateos called with .

The flop of was a ‘belly buster’. A on the turn gave Mateos a straight and when a landed on the river, it was all over. Adrian Mateos took home the top prize of $1,761,000 with Saliba claiming a seven-figure score too, his runner-up prize of $1,188,000 representing the biggest result of his poker career so far, taking him over the $7m mark in career earnings according to The Hendon Mob.

Check out Triton Poker Series’ interview with their latest winner Adrian Mateos right here.

Photographs courtesy of Joe Giron for the Triton Poker Series, proudly partnered by PokerStake.