Kayhan Mokri made headlines as the first high-stakes poker regular to square off against Ossi ‘Monarch’ Ketola in the highly-publicized, multi-million-dollar heads-up matches that have taken place in recent weeks. Mokri won €2 million in that live-streamed contest. While that windfall won’t count towards his career tournament earnings, the Norwegian pro’s recent mammoth win at the 2025 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju sure will.
Mokri defeated 114 entries in the $150,000 buy-in eight-max event held at Landing Casino Jeju, earning a career-best payday of $3,835,059 as the champion. His career haul is now approaching $13 million after factoring in this massive victory.
This was the second Triton title for Mokri, who previously took down a $30,000 buy-in event at last year’s stop in Monte Carlo. He now has more than $6 million in cashes in Triton events alone.
Mokri was on the brink of an earlier elimination in this event, falling down to just a couple big blinds at one point during the final table before surging back up the chip counts and eventually closing out the win.
“It feels insane. It was an insane final table. A lot of all-ins. It’s probably the most insane poker I’ve played ever in my life for this sum. I got the better end today,” Mokri told Triton reporters after all was said and done. “I think in nine hands I doubled up like five times or something and became the chip leader…I’m grateful. At this stage, you’ve just got to get some good hands and make them hold up.”
Narrowing The Field
The prize pool for this event swelled to $17.1 million thanks to the sizable turnout of 114 entrants. The top 20 finishers made the money, including both sides of the latest nosebleed-stakes heads-up matches in Ossi Ketola (19th) and Alex Foxen (10th). Others to cash were Isaac Haxton (16th), Tan Xuan (14th), Christoph Vogesland (13th), Arthur Martirosian (12th), Daniel Dvoress (11th), and June Obara (9th), who was just days removed from a win in the $40,000 mystery bounty event for more than $1.7 million with bounties factored in.
Mokri sent Obara packing in ninth to set the official eight-handed final table. He held the chip lead to start, with all remaining contenders having locked up at least $530,000 for their efforts. That sum was ultimately awarded to bracelet winner Brian Kim, who was left on fumes after he bluff-shoved with a busted straight draw and was hero called by the third pair of Wang Ye. Mokri took the rest of Kim’s short stack soon after, leaving just seven players in contention.
The mystery hand revealed. Can you guess before the showdown? pic.twitter.com/pXhlkc95ys
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) September 16, 2025
Javid Ismayilov soon followed in seventh place ($718,000) when his pocket jacks lost a preflop race against the A♣K♠ of Wang. Ismayilov’s pocket pair was best through the turn, but an ace on the river sent him to the payout desk to collect the second-largest score of his career.
Mokri’s Stack Slides As Big Names Fall
Jason Koon
Mokri lost a preflop coin flip against a player who has asked to remain anonymous. That same player then picked up pocket aces facing the shove of Austria’s Samuel Mullur and called. The larger pair held up and Muller was eliminated in sixth place ($957,000). This hefty payday came just a few days after the bracelet winner finished sixth in a $50,000 event for $391,000. A week before that, he won a Triton One event for $72,000. Muller’s streak in Jeju has helped grow his lifetime haul to nearly $7.5 million.
All-time Triton titles leader Jason Koon was the next to fall. The 12-time champion on the tour got his final six big blinds in from the small blind with 10♣5♦ and as called by Yu Zhang, who had him covered and dominated with K♦5♣. King high played in the end and Koon was sent packing with $1,222,000 for his fifth-place showing. The score grew his career earnings to $68.4 million, which is good for fifth on poker’s all-time money list.
Four-handed play saw a preponderance of all-in and calls, with plenty of swing along the way. Mokri’s stack was eaten up by the blinds to the point that he was left with just 950,000 after folding 4-3 offsuit in the big blind facing a button shove from Yu. With limits of 200,0000-400,000 and a big blind ante of 4,000,000, that amounted to just over two big blinds for Mokri, putting his back firmly against the wall.
All Mokri Down The Stretch
The very next hand, Mokri picked up pocket kings in the small blind and held against the pocket jacks of Wang. He then won with K-9 against A-8 suited of Yu to continue his comeback. Not long after that, Mokri’s 8♠8♦ outraced the A♦J♦ of Wang to see him double into the chip lead after a K♠9♠7♦4♠2♠ runout.
Yu’s last big blind went in with A♥7♥ leading the Q♦J♣ of Mokri. A queen-high runout gave Mokri top pair and the pot, ending Yu’s run in fourth place ($1,846,000). This was by far the biggest score yet for the Chinese player.
Wang’s final stand pitted his A♦9♠ against the 4♥4♦ of the now surging Mokri. The J♠7♠6♠ flop further intensified the sweat, giving Wang a flush draw to go with his two overcards. The 5♥ turn added even more outs, as an eight on the end would now give Wang a winning nine-high straight. The final card turned out to be the Q♣, though, keeping Mokri’s small pocket pair best. Wang earned $1,846,000 as the third-place finisher. This was his second-largest score, trailing the $2.1 million he earned for the same finish in this $150,000 buy-in event at the Jeju festival held this spring. He now boasts more than $6.5 million in total cashes.
That left Mokri well out in front with the anonymous player. The two hashed out a deal to redistribute the prize money a bit, locking up at least $3.7 million for Mokri and nearly $3.1 million for his opponent while leaving $130,000 and the title to play for. Mokri was able to close out the win in the end, with his 10♥9♥ besting K♥3♣ in the final showdown. A board of 9♠9♦4♣Q♣6♣ gave Mokri trip nines to drag the pot and bring the event to a close.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Kayhan Mokri | $3,835,059 | 1,200 |
| 3 | Wang Ye | $1,846,000 | 800 |
| 4 | Yu Zhang | $1,846,000 | 600 |
| 5 | Jason Koon | $1,222,000 | 500 |
| 6 | Samuel Mullur | $957,000 | 400 |
| 7 | Javid Ismayilov | $718,000 | 300 |
| 8 | Brian Kim | $530,000 | 200 |
Photo credit: Triton Poker.
