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Viacheslav Buldygin has won the $50,000 buy-in seven-max no-limit hold’em event at the 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Cyprus festival. The Russian outlasted a 104-entry field to secure the title and the top prize of $1,342,000.
This was the second-largest score of his career, trailing only the $1.4 million he earned as the runner-up in the 2017 PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo €100,000 buy-in high roller event. He now has more than $5.7 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name.
In addition to the title and the money, Buldygin was also awarded 1,020 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his first title and second final-table finish of the year, having also finished fourth in a $50,000 event at the Triton Vietnam festival for $618,000 back in March. With $1,960,000 in to-date POY earnings, Buldygin is now the 76th-ranked contender in the 2023 POY race standings, which are presented by Global Poker.
This tournament played out over the course of two days. The 104 entries that turned out to the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa in North Cyprus were narrowed to fewer than 30 by the end of day 1. Just the top 15 ended up making the money, with the simultaneous eliminations of Ben Heath and Soon Ewe in 17th and 16th place locking up at least $88,400 for the remaining players.
By the time the field combined onto a single table, bracelet winner Brian Kim had claimed the chip lead while Buldygin was virtually tied for fourth place. Recent European Poker Tour Monte Carlo main event winner Michael Watson (8th – $184,500) was the first to fall, with his A-Q losing a preflop race against the pocket tens of Punnat Punsri.
Six-time Triton Poker title winner Jason Koon’s run for a record-extending seventh win on the tour came up just short this time around. He got the last of his very short stack in with 7-6 trailing the A-2 of Kim in a battle of the blinds. Neither player improved and Koon was eliminated in seventh place ($241,000). He now has more than $44.2 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name after this latest score.
David Yan (6th – $306,400) ran pocket sevens into the pocket nines of Buldygin to see the field cut to just five contenders. Buldygin further added to his stack when his 7-4, shoved from the cutoff, outran the A-K suited of Teun Mulder (5th – $392,300).
Buldygin continued to bully the table with his big stack. In the next key confrontation, he shoved from the button with K-4 suited and Sean Winter called all-in from the small blind with A-Q. Buldygin flopped a flour to take the lead and held from there to send Winter home with $488,000 for his fourth-place showing.
2022 Triton Cyprus main event winner Punnat Punsri was left short after Kim had doubled through him. He got his last few blinds in with K-Q trailing the A-3 suited of Buldygin. Punsri flopped a king to move ahead, but an ace on the river saw him busted in third place ($603,000). The score saw the Thai player increase his career earnings to more than $6.5 million.
With that Buldygin took more than a 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Kim. In the final hand, Kim limped from the button with J
J
and snap-called all-in when Buldygin shoved from the big blind with K5
. The board ran out K7683 and Buldygin’s pair of kings earned him the pot and the title.
Kim earned a career-best payday od $920,000 as the runner-up. This was his sixth final-table finish of the year, with more than $1.9 million in POY earnings accrued along the way. As a result, the 2022 WSOP main event 23rd-place finisher has joined the top 20 on the 2023 POY leaderboard. His 2,520 total points are currently good for 17th place.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Viacheslav Buldygin | $1,342,000 | 1020 |
| 2 | Brian Kim | $920,000 | 850 |
| 3 | Punnat Punsri | $603,000 | 680 |
| 4 | Sean Winter | $488,000 | 510 |
| 5 | Teun Mulder | $392,300 | 425 |
| 6 | David Yan | $306,400 | 340 |
| 7 | Jason Koon | $241,000 | 255 |
Photo credit: Triton Poker / Joe Giron.
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