Mikita Badziakouski Secures Record Fourth Triton Poker Title With Win In Madrid

Mikita Badziakouski has been one of the top-performing live tournament players in recent years, with millions upon millions in cashes in high-stakes events around the globe. The Belarusian has had particular success in Triton Series events, with three of his top five scores coming on the tour. The 30-year-old poker pro continued his strong form in Triton events by taking down the 2022 Triton Series Madrid €50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em seven-max event on Wednesday, May 18. He defeated a field of 101 entries to secure his record-setting fourth Triton trophy, along with the top prize of €1,340,000 ($1,407,000 USD).

This was Badziakouski’s eighth-largest career score. It marked the tenth time that he has cashed for seven figures in a tournament. He now has more than $36.6 million in lifetime earnings, enough to put him in ninth place on poker’s all-time money list. His three previous Triton wins were all for a million or more. His first victory saw him take home $2.5 million as the champion of the 2018 Triton Montenegro $1 million HKD ($127,396 USD) buy-in NLH event. Later that year he emerged victorious in the Triton Jeju $2 million HKD ($254,839 USD) buy-in NLH event for a career-best score of $5.2 million. His most recent victory on the tour came in 2019, when he took down a $750,000 HKD ($95,599 USD) short deck event for more than $1.7 million in Montenegro.

In addition to the title and the money, Badziakouski also earned 1,020 Card Player Player of the Year points for his latest win. This was his second title and fourth POY-qualified final-table finish of the year. With 2,270 total points and year-to-date earnings of more than $3.1 million, he now sits in 12th place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

The second and final day of this event began with 29 players still in contention, thanks to the large turnout that built a prize pool of more than $5.3 million. Badziakouski was in second chip position behind Swiss online tournament superstar Linus Loeliger when cards got in the air.

The top 13 finishers made the money, with Wiktor Malinowski being eliminated on the bubble to guarantee six-figure paydays for the remaining baker’s dozen competitors. Plenty of big names made deep runs in this event but fell short of the official final table, including five-time bracelet winner Brian Rast (13th – $106,050 USD), ten-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey (11th – $114,030 USD), four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (10th – $114,030), and Loeliger (8th – $196,350 USD).

The final table began with Badziakouski sat at the top of the chip counts, having added to his lead by eliminating Loeliger to set the final seven. Tom Aksell Bedell was the first to fall, with his A-6 running into the A-10 of Fedor Holz to finish seventh ($252,000 USD).

Bracelet winner Danny Tang was the short stack entering six-handed play, but he managed to triple up when his K-J suited beat out the A-K suited of Holz and the pocket queens of Brazilian online star Bruno Volkmann in a multi-way all-in. Volkmannfinished third in the hand and was left on fumes. He was eliminated soon after in sixth place ($318,150 USD).

Kevin Paque’s run in this event came to an end when his A-4 from the bi blind lost to the Q-2 suited that Tang shoved from the small blind when it folded to him. Tang flopped a queen and held from there to send Paque home with $408,450 USD.

World Poker Tour and Euroepan Poker Tour main event winner Michael Watson three-bet shoved all-in with pocket fours from the big blind facing a button raise from a surging Tang. Watson received a quick call, as Tang had been dealt pocket aces. The larger pair held up and Watson was eliminated in fourth place ($506,415 USD). This was Watson’s sixth final-table finish of the year, with more than $2.4 million in POY earnings accrued along the way. He has climbed into 17th place in the POY standings.

Tang continued to grow his stack thanks to coming out on top in the next major clash, which happened the very next hand after Watson was sent packing. Tang opened with A-K from the cutoff (there was a dead small blind after Watson’s elimination), only to have Holz three-bet with A-Q out of the big blind. Tang four-bet shoved and Holz called all-in. Tang flopped a king and had Holz drawing dead when the board paired on the turn. Holz earned $646,800 USD for his third-place showing. The 28-year-old German two-time bracelet winner now has more than $35 million in career earnings, placing him 10th on the all-time money list.

With that, Tang took roughly a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up action against Badziakouski. The early going saw him extend that advantage even further, but Badziakouski eventually found a double up with K-10 besting A-J. he doubled again, this time with A-Q holding against K-J. Badziakouski overtook the lead after winning a pot where he and Tang both flopped a pair of queens, but his ten kicker ended up playing.

Tang regained the edge not long after that, though, and was beginning to pull away again before Badziakouski picked up pocket kings in the big blind facing a button shove from Tang, who held 10-9. The kings held up and the lead changed hands yet again. Not too long after that, Badziakouski limped in from the button with 99. Tang moved all-in with K2 for just over 11 big blinds and was met with a quick call. The board ran out A94J10 and Badziakouski’s set of nines secured him the pot and the title. Tang took home $978,600 USD as the runner-up. This was the third-largest cash of his career. It increased his total earnings to more than $11.8 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Joe Giron / Triton Poker.

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