Mike Watson Wins First No Limit Event in Triton Series for Fourth Crown and $1m (2024)

The Canadian player Mike Watson, also known as ‘Sir Watts’, took down the eight-handed final table of the $30,000-entry NLHE 8-Max Triton Poker Series event in Montenegro last night. Beating a final table that included David Yan, Stephen Chidwick and Leon Sturm to the title, Watson’s latest win takes him past $26 million in lifetime winnings on The Hendon Mob.

Mosböck Kicked on the Bubble

Austrian footballer Mario Mosböck has enjoyed a stellar start to his poker career after transitioning from the world’s most popular sport to the greatest card game on Earth. His ascent has been such that seeing him in these high roller events has become the status quo rather than the outlier and here in Montenegro he again ran deep. Sadly for Mosböck he was one place off deep enough for profit as he bubbled the 154-entry event.

Banking some money after making the top 27 places were a variety of top players. Chris Moneymaker followed up on his GG MILLION$ Live win on Monday by finishing 23^rd for $50,800 while Dylan Linde came one place higher for the same amount. Dylan Weisman came 20^th for $55,400, Dimitar Danchev received $62,300 in 16^th place, while Adrian Mateos (15^th for $69,300) and Patrik Antonius (11^th for $88,000) both went close to the final table without making the cut.

Going into the final nine, Kiat Lee held the chip lead, with the range of stacks from 50 big blinds at the top to nine big blinds at the lowest end of the leaderboard. Stephen Chidwick wasn’t short stack but he left first, cashing for $103,400. All-in with , he lost to Watson’s after previously losing a coinflip to German player Serhat Hissou.

Sturm Caught in the Storm

Down to eight players, Daniel Rezaei did then bust, lowest of the counts and all out of luck. Losing twice with dominated hands to Norwegian player Morten Klein, Rezaei cashed for $125,000 when his was beaten by . Soon, seven became six. German player Leon Sturm moved all-in from the small blind with but he was called by Kiat Lee with pocket queens and the ladies held to send Sturm home with $173,000.

Sturm’s fellow German Hissou slid out of contention in sixth place for $238,000. After doubling through the chip leader Watson, the German player held on a board of but it wasn’t good enough, with David Yan’s turning a straight. It was Yan who shoved on the river, and Hissou’s call left him crestfallen as he stood up and bid his opponent’s farewell.

David Yan’s run was coming at exactly the right time. Morten Klein got it in pre-flop with but couldn’t hit against Yan’s pocket nines, and the Norwegian lost for a score of $309,000 in fifth place. With four players left, the average stack was only 25 big blinds and the race was on to claim a vital crown.

Sir Watts Rules the Night

“Every time you come to a Triton stop you want to come away with a trophy.”

David Yan went from chip leader to out on the rail, with his chips losing to Biao Ding’s flush on the river with pocket tens before ace-king lost to king-queen. Yan’s tournament ended for $387,400 in fourth place, and he was soon joined on the rail by his conqueror Ding. He won $475,000 when his pocket jacks lost to Kiat Le’s , and ace on the flop sending play heads-up.

The final duel saw Lee with a huge lead but Mike Watson came back quickly, drawing almost level before he hit gin with on a board showing by the turn. Watson got it in, Lee called with top pair . Losing that pot, Lee was left with three bigs and soon lost them to Watson’s pocket fives which flopped a set.

“Every time you come to a Triton stop you want to come away with a trophy,” Watson said after victory. “It feels really good to get one in Hold’em, which I hadn’t done either. The growth of the Triton tour has been incredible – there’s no chance I can ever skip one. The fields are so big, they’re so good.”

Watson eulogised not only on the Triton Poker Series tour but his heads-up opponent too. “Jeju was insane and Montenegro has been good as well,” he said. “Kiat has been playing all the hold’em recently and he’s gotten really good really quickly. He’s definitely a very tough player. The heads-up match was definitely a grind. I felt good, confident for whatever reason. I thought maybe this was going to be my time.”

That it was as ‘Sir Watts’ once again proved just how durable his talent really is.