Mateos and Vogelsang Secure Historic Victories as Triton Montenegro Action Intensifies

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro festival continues to deliver high-stakes tournament poker, highlighted by record-breaking field sizes, historic career milestones, and highly competitive fields. While several major trophies have already been awarded, the festival schedule remains busy, with events scheduled to run through May 28.

Among the standout achievements at the festival, Spanish professional Adrian Mateos secured a career-best payout of $6,370,000 by winning the $200,000 buy-in Triton Invitational. The tournament drew a record-breaking field of 133 entries. 

With this victory, the 31-year-old became only the seventh player in poker history to surpass $60 million in live tournament earnings, moving ahead of Alex Foxen and Daniel Negreanu in the all-time money rankings. 

Following his victory, Mateos expressed his motivation for the invitationals and his satisfaction with securing his third Triton title.

In parallel action, Germany's Christoph Vogelsang completed a Triton hat trick by winning the $50,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em 7-Handed event on May 21. The 40-year-old outperformed a 118-entry field to earn $1,037,858, marking the 13th seven-figure score of his career. 

The final prize amounts were adjusted following a three-handed deal between Vogelsang and fellow German-speaking players Thomas Muehloecker and Leonard Maue, who received $1,071,015 and $909,127, respectively.

The focus has shifted to the $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event, where Day 1 has concluded. The tournament attracted 142 entrants, including re-entries. After 10 levels of play, the field was reduced to 73 surviving players. 

Germany's Leon Sturm secured the overnight chip lead, bagging a stack of 1,370,000 chips, which equates to 137 big blinds.

Sturm built his stack steadily throughout the day, winning a significant pot by turning a straight with king-ten of spades against Tobias Schwecht. 

He later eliminated Wiktor Malinowski in a coinflip situation where his ace-jack bested Malinowski's pocket fives. Late in the evening, Sturm won the remainder of Schwecht's chips by flopping a set of threes against Schwecht's pocket aces.

Sturm returns for Day 2 action at 1:00 p.m. local time on May 22. Danilo Velasevic sits in second place with 1,031,000 chips, and Javid Ismayilov holds the third-place position with 1,016,000 chips. 

The remaining field includes numerous notable poker personalities, such as Ben Tollerene (988,000), Alex Foxen (819,000), Jesse Lonis (771,000), Isaac Haxton (754,000), Fedor Holz (647,000), recent invitational winner Adrian Mateos (545,000), Mikita Badziakouski (413,000), and Triton founder Paul Phua (201,000).

The No-Limit Hold'em Main Event is scheduled to conclude on May 23, but tournament action continues for several more days. 

On May 22, the single-day $50,000 Turbo Bounty Quattro takes place. In the prior year, this event attracted 51 entries and was won by Matthias Eibinger, who took home $531,000 plus bounties.

May 23 features the start of the $150,000 buy-in 10th Anniversary Special. Last year's equivalent event generated a $16,200,000 prize pool from 108 entries, with Jason Koon winning the top prize of $3,393,656.

The schedule also introduces a new tournament format for 2026: a $30,000 No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha mixed event running from May 24-25. 

This will be followed by a heavy schedule of Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments, beginning with the $100,000 PLO Main Event from May 25-27. Ben Tollerene enters as the defending champion, having won $2,390,000 in the 2025 edition.

The final three events of the Montenegro festival are all Pot-Limit Omaha variants. The $50,000 PLO Mystery Bounty runs from May 26-27, followed by the $75,000 PLO 6-Handed event from May 27-28. The festival concludes on May 28 with the $25,000 PLO Bounty Quattro.

As the $100,000 Main Event progresses toward its May 23 conclusion, the tournament series is positioned to maintain its momentum until the final trophies are awarded on May 28.