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Ramin Hajiyev defeated a field of 86 entries in the 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series North Cyprus $200,000 Luxon Invitational event, securing his first live poker tournament title and the top prize of $4,122,554. The Azerbaijani entrepreneur now has more than $7.8 million in recorded earnings.
According to quotes given to Triton reporters, this was Hajiyev’s tenth time playing in one of the tour’s high-stakes events. He had not found much success during his earlier attempts.
“If you’re going to brick nine events and then ship a tenth, it’d better be this one, right?,” he said after securing the multi-million dollar top prize.
This event featured a unique format, with the recreational poker enthusiasts that entered each a poker professional to invite. This was the only way that a pro could enter the event. The recreational and pro fields were segregated for day 1 inside the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa in North Cyprus, with the fields combining for day 2 and beyond.
The final day began with just nine players remaining, with five pros and four recreational representatives. High-stakes tournament regular Sean Winter held the chip lead to start, with Hajiyev sitting on the next-largest stack when cards got in the air.
Bracelet winner Ben Heath was the first to fall, with his A-J suited running into the A-K of 2022 Triton Cyprus main event winner Punnat Punsri’s A-K.
The next big clash was a three-way preflop all-in between Tobias Duthweiler’s pocket aces, the A-Q of Winter, and the pocket sevens of Wai Kin Yong. Duthweiler made aces full to triple up, eliminating Yong (8th – $636,000) in the process.
Sosia Jiang’s run in this event ended in seventh place ($820,000) when her A-J suited ran into the A-K suited of Winter, who barely had her covered. Jiang flopped a jack to take the lead, but Winter rivered the ace-high straight to drag the pot and narrow the field to six.
Kiat Lee got all-in with pocket aces. He raised from the button and called the three-bet shove of Hajiyev, who had K-2 suited. Hajiyev flopped a flush draw, which came in on the river to eliminate Lee in sixth place ($1,030,000). This score increased his live earnings to nearly $6 million, with roughly $4.5 million of that coming from cashes in Triton events.
A classic preflop race spelled the end of Punsri, as his A-K was unable to outrun the pocket tens of Hajiyev, which flopped a set and held from there. Punsri earned $1,325,000 as the fifth-place finisher, increasing his lifetime total to more than $7.8 million.
Winter committed his remaining eight or so big blinds with A-8 from the cutoff, only to find himself in rough shape against the A-J of Duthweiler. They both ended up making a pair of aces on the river, with Duthweiler’s kicker playing to earn him the pot and the knockout. Winter cashed for $1,640,000 as the fourth-place finisher. The American poker pro now has more than $26 million in lifetime cashes to his name.
Patrik Antonius got his land handful of big blinds in with J
J
, committing all but a single chip preflop. Duthweiler called with A
10 and called the last chip on a 105
2 flop. Duthweiler picked up a gutshot to the wheel on a 4 turn. The 3 completed the board and the draw, giving Duthweiler his five-high straight and the knockout. Antonius earned $2.1 million for this third-place showing. This was the second-largest tournament payday of the Finnish high-stakes player’s career. It increased his earnings to nearly $16.3 million.
Heads-up play began with Hajiyev holding more than a 2:1 lead over Duthweiler. The two hashed out an agreement that redistributed the remaining prize money, seeing Hajiyev secure $3,992,554 while Duthweiler guaranteed himself $3,606,446. There was $130,000 and the title left on the side to play for. Duthweiler managed to double up with pocket nines holding against A-3 to take the lead. The tables were soon turned yet again when Hajiyev’s A-J held against A-9.
The final hand saw all the chips go in with Hajiyev’s AK flipping against the 88 of Duthweiler. The board came down K9774 and Duthweiler was eliminated in second place, earning the $3.6 million he negotiated for. This was by far the largest cash of the German online cash game player’s tournament career.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Ramin Hajiyev | $4,122,554 |
| 2 | Tobias Duthweiler | $3,606,446 |
| 3 | Patrik Antonius | $2,100,000 |
| 4 | Sean Winter | $1,640,000 |
| 5 | Punnat Punsri | $1,325,000 |
| 6 | Kiat Lee | $1,030,000 |
| 7 | Sosia Jiang | $820,000 |
| 8 | Wai Kin Yong | $636,000 |
| 9 | Ben Heath | $481,000 |
Photo credit: Triton Poker / Joe Giron.
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