Good for the game? Two people who have barely played the game got heads-up in the $150,000 buy-in event last night at a stacked final table.
95% of the time when you sit at a Triton table you are surrounded by the poker world’s elite. Every now and then, however, you also see some complete amateurs thrive.
That is what happened this month for Estonia’s Vladimir Korzinin who got heads-up with Patrik Antonius last week in the $200,000 Invitational, then went one better last night by winning the $150,000 No Limit event.
He is genuinely new to the game, getting his first Hendon Mob cash last month. Since then he has won $7,896,800 and tops Estonia’s all-time money list.
His heads-up opponent, Ossi Ketola of Finland, is also a complete newbie to poker who had not played the game two months ago. He now has $3,578,000 in cashes, all from this series, and is 6th in Finland’s all-time money list.
The fact that these two men got heads-up at a final table that included Sam Greenwood, Dan Smith, Stephen Chidwick, Dan Smith, Bryn Kenney and Fedor Holz is a small poker miracle in itself.
The poker world has been desperate to find some new Cinderella stories of amateurs beating the best in the world. Could this be it?
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vladimir Korzinin | Estonia | $4,350,000 |
| 2 | Ossi Ketola | Finland | $2,970,000 |
| 3 | Fedor Holz | Germany | $1,962,000 |
| 4 | Bryn Kenney | USA | $1,616,000 |
| 5 | Stephen Chidwick | UK | $1,300,000 |
| 6 | Dan Smith | USA | $1,016,000 |
| 7 | Tom Fuchs | Austria | $762,000 |
| 8 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | $562,000 |
| 9 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | $435,000 |
Is this good for the game or are these rich amateurs missing from most poker tables? Let us know in the comments: