Aleksa Pavicevic Wins $1.2 Million And His Second Triton Title

It’s difficult to imagine a much better single-day than the one Aleksa Pavicevic enjoyed in Jeju. The emergent player from Montenegro turned his $50,000 buy-in in a Triton Super High Roller Jeju no-limit hold’em Quattro turbo bounty into $1,261,000 and a second career Triton title.

The turbo event saw Pavicevic outlast a field of 87 entrants to claim more than 25 percent of the $4,350,000 prize pool. In addition to his $781,000 first-place prize, Pavicevic claimed four bounties totaling $480,000.

Pavicevic broke through earlier this year with an eye-popping $6,180,000 victory in the $200,000 invitational event at Triton Montenegro. Prior to these two live victories, Pavicevic’s biggest live tournament result totaled $17,135, for 871st in the 2019 World Series of Poker main event.

“I’ve mostly been playing cash games and today we had a slow day so I decided to jump in a tournament and I ended up winning it,” said Pavicevic, to Triton media shortly after his victory. “I like the structure. It’s a one-day tournament, so it’s about gambling, short-stacks. Lots of all-ins, bounties, it’s a perfect structure. I definitely like the swings of it.”

A Whirlwind Of Action

With the elimination of Jun Li, the official final table was set. Alex Boika, who busted Li, was riding high with five bounties to his name. But his tournament run went down in flames, and to Pavicevic’s benefit. Boika’s A♦K♦ ran into Pavicevic’s pocket aces, and the latter’s hand held. Pavicevic finished Boika off a few hands later when his pocket nines held against Boika’s A♣10♣. Boika finished eighth, but because of the bounties he collected, Boika received the fourth-largest payout of the tournament.

Because of the increasing pressure of the turbo format, the chips swung wildly. Pavicevic ceded the chip lead to Long Cao, but then found himself in a three-way pot with a shot at a double elimination.

Poseidon Ho shoved in early position, Duan Bin called, and Isaac Haxton saw an opportunity to isolate a short stack and take a shot at a bounty. Holding J♠2♠, Haxton three-bet all in from the small blind. Pavicevic woke up with pocket kings in the big blind.

Ho had A♦3♦, and he made a flush to more than quadruple up on an 8♥8♦5♦10♦3♣ runout. Pavicevic eliminated Haxton in seventh, and claimed the bounty. Haxton now has 61 career Triton cashes, third-most all-time, but his long wait for his first title continues.

Pavicevic Keeps The Pressure On

Ho doubled one more time, but his stack was still perilously short. Pavicevic picked up another bounty when his 10♣7♣ made a straight to be Ho’s pocket fives, ending Ho’s comeback bid in sixth.

Long Cao went out in fifth. Biao Ding’s A♠10♠ remained ahead of Cao’s K♦6♣, and he picked up the bounty.

Pavicevic got another chance at a double elimination, and had the best of it. His A♣Q♥ dwarfed Mikita Badziakouski’s A♠3♠ and Bin’s Q♣8♥. But Pavicevic walked away from that pot with neither a bounty nor any of the chips in the pot, as it ran out 8♣4♦3♣4♣5♠.

Duan doubled through Badziakouski, but then Badziakouski doubled through Ding.

Ding’s last big blind went in, and the three other players checked down a board of A♣Q♦9♥7♦9♣. Bin won with 10♣7♣, and Ding was out in fourth. With four bounties, his payout hit $525,000, one of the biggest total payouts of the tournament.

Bin got unlucky three-handed. His A♦Q♠ was poised to give him a key pot and a chance at victory against Pavicevic’s A♣7♠. But two sevens on the flop earned Pavicevic the bounty and the crucial pot. Bin went out in third place.

Finishing The Job

Pavicevic faced off against Badziakouski with the title on the line. Despite making it down to heads-up play, Badziakouski, a five-time Triton champion with over $68 million in recorded earning, hadn’t won a bounty to that point.

The heads-up battle was brief. Badziakouski picked up A♦9♣ and Pavicevic got J♠J♦. The jacks held, and Badziakouski’s hopes of a sixth title or at least one bounty were dashed. He received $536,000 and 680 Card Player Player of the Year points. That puts Badziakouski 13th overall on the POY leaderboard, presented by CoinPoker.

For his victory, Pavicevic received 816 POY points for his first qualifying result of 2025. His previous win did not count, as it came in an invitational event.

Final Table Payouts