Mokri wins $7.7 million and first WSOP bracelet in star-studded $250K Invitational

After the drama of the three-hour bubble on Monday night, the $250K Triton Invitational was left with 15 players and three tantalizing storylines on Day 3.  

1. The reigning champion – Alejandro Lococo

Lococo won this event last year (when it was a $500K buy-in) for his biggest-ever cash of $12,070,000. Could he go back-to-back and take home this year’s $7,725,000 first prize? 

2. The last remaining woman in the field – Monika Hrabec

Ahead of the $250K Invitational, Hrabec’s total live earnings were $600,523. She needed to finish 11th or better to beat that in one payday in The Bahamas on Tuesday. 

3. The runaway chip leader – Kayhan Mokri

He started Day 3 with a huge chip lead – 8,295,000 (83bb) compared to Jonathan Jaffe's 3,975,000 (40bb) in second. Mokri's previous biggest cash was $3,835,059, which he won at Triton Jeju in September when he took down a $150K event. Could he go wire-to-wire here?

The $250K Invitational had some fascinating storylines waiting to play out on Day 3.

Let’s take these in order

1. Lococo started the day as one of the shorter stacks, and he was one of the first out today, after Joao Simao and Philip Sternheimer. He got his last 10 big blinds in with , flipping against Tyler Stafman’s , and came out short. He did make a ladder and was eliminated in 13th for $540,000. 

2. Hrabec doesn’t normally play this high. She’s played a couple of Tritons before, but the biggest was a $25K. She started the day with the ninth-biggest stack, and after Lococo, Dan Oren, and Tsz Heung were eliminated, Hrabec still had the ninth-biggest stack with 10 players left.

Eight would make the final table, and the elimination of Mikita Badziakouski took us one spot off that. Hrabec had chipped up to 19bb and had Cong Pham below her. Unfortunately, she was next out, shoving with eights and running smack into Stafman’s aces. Ninth place was good for $771,000.

3. Mokri eliminated Badziakouski, and that took him close to a 10 million stack – 9.7 million to be precise. 

His next victim propelled him to new heights. And it was a brutal hand. Pham raised to 450K preflop with and Mokri just ripped it all in for 12 million with . Pham started the hand with 5,225,000, and when he called, it created a monster pot. 

The flop was all Pham. The turn was irrelevant, but the sent all the chips Mokri’s way, and he ended the hand with a stack of 18 million. 

Monika Hrabec more than held her own at the highest level and secured her biggest career cash in ninth.

The Kayhan Mokri show 

Sergio Aido, Stafman and Thomas Boivin were eliminated before Mokri played grim reaper again, this time taking out Jaffe’s nines with . 

Three-handed, Mokri still had a huge lead – 20.5 million to Gabriel Andrade’s 11.6 million and Albert Daher’s 7.8 million – and it seemed like nothing could stop him from winning his first WSOP bracelet.

And nothing did. Mokri eliminated Daher (the VIP who invited him to the event) in third before waiting patiently for the spot to seal the win against Andrade. 

He found it when he flopped two pair on a flop. Mokri had and had Andrade’s in a whole world of trouble.

Talking afterwards, Mokri said, "I don’t know what’s going on, to be honest… I keep showing up, and somehow I keep finding the win. I’m having the year of my life, and I’m very happy. I don’t know what to say."

Kayhan Mokri knocked out his invitee, Albert Daher, in third.

$250K Triton Invitational results