Aleksejs Ponakovs Leads $150K Triton Montenegro Final Table

Aleksejs Ponakovs holds 2.58 million in chips at the nine-handed final table of Triton Montenegro's $150K 10th Anniversary Special — and a shot at what would be his largest score in years.

The $150K buy-in drew 76 entries, building a prize pool north of $11.4 million. Nine players remain. Ponakovs, listed second in the chip counts, sits near the top of a stack distribution that has no dominant leader — a structure that rewards patience and post-flop depth, both longtime Ponakovs trademarks.

Ponakovs holds 2.58 million in chips at a nine-handed final table drawn from 76 entries at $150K apiece.

The Field Around Him

Ponakovs isn't alone at the top. Jean-Noel Thorel, the French businessman and Triton fixture, holds 1.975 million — roughly three-quarters of Ponakovs's stack and close enough to apply pressure in any three-bet pot. Thorel has been a recurring presence at Triton final tables for years, and his willingness to play big pots with marginal holdings makes him one of the more volatile stacks at any table he sits at.

Malaysian pro Wai Kiat Lee sits fifth with 1.845 million, another stack deep enough to contest every meaningful pot. And at the short end, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau of Belarus holds 715,000 — well under a third of Ponakovs's count but far from dead at these blind levels.

Four named stacks, five more players whose chips will shape the action. The pay jumps from ninth to first in a 76-entry, $150K field are enormous. The difference between a min-cash and a win here could easily exceed $2 million.

Why Ponakovs Matters

For a stretch in the early 2010s, Ponakovs was one of the most feared names on the European high-roller circuit. The Latvian pro built a résumé heavy on seven-figure scores, at one point ranking inside the top 10 on the all-time tournament money list. He was a PokerStars Team Pro, a regular at the biggest EPT and WSOP events, and a player whose presence at a final table made the rail pay attention.

Then the scene shifted. The influx of solver-trained professionals, the explosion of short-deck and Triton-style events, and the natural churn of high-stakes poker pushed many mid-2010s names down the leaderboard. Ponakovs never disappeared — he kept entering, kept showing up — but the marquee final tables came less frequently.

This one is different. A $150K Triton event billed as the 10th Anniversary Special carries weight beyond prize money. The field is curated by buy-in alone: 76 players willing to put up six figures on a single tournament. Leading that field into the final nine is the kind of result that puts a name back in conversation.

What to Watch

The stack dynamics favor Ponakovs but don't guarantee anything. His 2.58 million is a comfortable lead, not a commanding one. Thorel's 1.975 million is close enough that a single cooler flips the hierarchy. Lee's 1.845 million means there are three stacks capable of winning any all-in confrontation.

Ponakovs's edge, if he has one, is situational awareness. He's been at tables like this before — deep in a Triton field, surrounded by players who won't fold to pressure alone. The question is whether the 2026 version of Ponakovs can convert a chip lead into a trophy at a final table where the shortest stack still has room to maneuver.

Seventy-six players entered at $150K each. Nine remain. Ponakovs has more chips than anyone not yet named in the counts — and a career that says he knows what to do with them.