Just a day removed from a podium finish in the second event of the 2025 Triton Poker Montenegro, Argentina’s Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero stormed back to take down the title in the following high-stakes tournament offered at the Maestral Resort & Casino. He outlasted a field of 147 entries in the $30,000 buy-in eight-max no-limit hold’em affair, securing his third career Triton victory and the first-place prize of $1,025,000.

“I ran super good in this tournament, I’m not going to lie,” Barbero told Triton reporters after locking up the trophy. “I got the chip lead and I was just pressuring. I was winning every all-in, pretty much.”

Barbero had earned $341,000 for his third-place showing in the $25,000 buy-in tournament on the previous day. Less than a week before that, he had placed seventh in a €25,000 tournament at the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo festival for another $222,723. All told, he has now cashed for nearly $1,589,000 in the span of a week, bringing his career total to more than $24.7 million in the process.

This high-roller spree has helped propel Barbero up the rankings in the 2025 Card Player Player of the Year race presented by Coin Poker. The 1,008 points he secured with this latest win was enough to move him into third place in the overall standings, with 3,898 points accrued across eight final-table finishes so far this year.

The strong turnout for this event built a prize pool of $4,410,000 that was paid out amongst the top 23 finishers. Big names like Kiat Lee (16th), Phil Ivey (14th), Daniel Dvoress (13th), and Artur Martirosian (10th) all were among those who cashed.

The elimination of Abdullah Alajmi in ninth place set the official eight-handed final table, with Barbero out in front after scoring the latest knockout. France’s Thomas Santerne was the next to fall. The recent EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 runner-up got the last of his short stack in with middle pair facing the two live overcards of bracelet winner Barak Wisbrod of Israel. The turn brought a jack to give Wisbrod a higher pair, and he held from there to send Santerne to the rail in eighth place ($128,000).

Despite scoring that elimination, Wisbrod was the next to head to the payout desk. He ran A-10 suited into the A-K of Barbero to finish seventh ($175,000). This came just a day after finishing fifth in a $25,000 buy-in at this festival for $224,000. The very next hand also prominently featured A-K, with Tobias Schwecht calling off the last of his stack preflop with the nut-no-pair preflop combo racing against the pocket sixes of Barbero. A queen-high runout failed to connect with either player and Schwecht busted in sixth place ($235,000).

Like Barbero, Kristen Foxen was also at her second final table in as many days. The women’s all-time money leader backed up her fourth place showing in the kickoff $25,000 event by finishing fifth in this tournament to bring her total haul for the series to $639,000. She was left on fumes after committing all but a single 25,000 chip from her shorter stack, only to fold when her shove was called by Stephen Chidwick and then jammed on by Barbero. She folded her K-8 suited and the Chidwick folded A-Q to send the pot to Barbero, who turned out to have also held A-Q. That hand was the last before the break, and upon returning, she busted on the next deal with 8-5 against Barbero’s Q-2 suited.

Foxen now sports nearly $12.2 million in career earnings after this latest deep run worth $304,000. She has now climbed to eighth place on the POY leaderboard thanks to six final tables and three titles won on the year. While she was busy with two final-table visits in as many days, her husband Alex Foxen took down event no. 2 for his third Triton title.

High-stakes cash crusher Linus Loeliger’s run in this event ended in fourth place when his A9 lost a preflop showdown with the 66 of four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos. The Swiss phenom earned $379,000 for his fourth-place finish. He now boasts more than $11.7 million in recorded career cashes.

Chidwick and Mateos were facing an uphill battle, with Barbero having more than three times as many chips as either of them. He kept the pressure on, leading to several all-in confrontations. Chidwick managed one double, but was soon all-in and at risk again with Q7 trailing the A10 of Barbero. The AAJ6J runout gave Barbero aces full and the pot, sending Chidwick home with $463,000. The two-time bracelet winner and Triton champion now has nearly $66 million in lifetime earnings, placing him third on poker’s all-time money list.

Heads-up play began with 25,900,000 for Barbero and just 3,500,000 for Mateos. After just a few hands, Barbero shoved with Q10 from the button and Mateos quickly called all-in from the big blind with JJ. The board came down Q9238 to give Barbero a winning pair of queens. Mateos settled for $694,000 as the runner-up. The Spanish superstar grew his lifetime haul to more than $55.6 million with his this second-place showing.

Final Table Results

Photo credits: Triton Poker.