Alejandro Lococo outlasted the pros in Paradise to win his first World Series of Poker bracelet, his first Triton title, and a humungous pile of cash.
The “amateur” player who exists in another life as Papo MC, the rapper from Argentina, won a staggering $12 million in the $500,000 buy-in Triton Million that took place at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Why organizers didn’t make millions plural is lost in translation, because the uber-rich and their professional invitees were playing for a chunk of the $48 million dollar prize pool they generated.
The WSOP and Triton paired-up to run the invitation-only event, which was capped at 74 players. Thirty-seven VIPs were invited, as was 37 pros who each put up $500,000 and sometimes more, as there were 22 rebuys for a total of 96 entries.
Lococo was categorized as a VIP, but he has shown the world that he could battle alongside the very best when he finished seventh in the 2021 WSOP Main Event, which was good for $1.225 million.
The top 17 cashed at least $755,000, with the top nine winning at least $1.2 million.
Lococo, an aggressive and fearless player, showed no signs of intimidation or nerves as he maneuvered his way to the top. Like most champs, he got more than his fair share of luck, which came to a head in the final hand against Ben Heath’s AK against Lococo’s unsuited K2.
A deuce on the flop sent Heath’s final 10 blinds to Papa for the victory.
“It’s amazing. I’m very lucky to be here with my family and my friends,” Lococo said. He gave particular props to Spanish player Adrian Mateos, who he said had persuaded him to come to the Bahamas.
“I’m very lucky to have Adrian as my friend. He’s a really humble person. He helps everybody, including myself. He is a big, big part responsible for my wining.”
Lococo now has $14,898,530 in lifetime tournament earnings.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (In USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alejandro Lococo | Argentina | $12,070,000 |
| 2 | Benjamin Heath | United Kingdom | $8,160,000 |
| 3 | Sinan Unlu | Turkey | $5,304,000 |
| 4 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $4,390,000 |
| 5 | Elias Talvitie | Finland | $3,542,000 |
| 6 | Alex Foxen | United States | $2,795,000 |
| 7 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | $2,140,000 |
| 8 | Sosia Jiang | New Zealand | $1,605,000 |
| 9 | Michael Moncek | United States | $1,200,000 |
Einhorn eliminated first hand
The Triton Million started with a bang, as one of the VIP’s, investment guru David Einhorn, dusted away his first buy-in the very first hand.
Einhorn found himself against pro Jared Bleznick holding AK, and well, went a little crazy with it. After facing a significant rerelease from Bleznick, he went all-in for the entire 1 million starting stack.
Unfortunately for Einhorn, he was faces pocket rockets. Einhorn earned two outs on the flop when a king hit, but couldn’t improve.
So he did what any billionaire would do in that situation and anted-up another half a million.
Einhorn went on to finish 13th for $865,000.
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