During the first tournament, commentators including Brian Rast and Randy Lew couldn't decide whether Vladimir resembled Gandalf, Dumbledore or Satoshi Nakamoto more, but by the end of the second, he had finally become Gambledore. The white magic that accompanied the series debutant's play worked even against the best of the best – and not just in all-ins.
Since Vladimir refused all interviews during the series, not much is known about him: he lives in Estonia, holds three patents in the field of stock trading, and started playing poker in 2024. Commentators during the second tournament called Korzinin a mathematician, although his game, not to mention his behavior and appearance, had much more mysticism than exact science.
He previously played several high-stakes tournaments on the European Poker Tour stages in Cyprus and Barcelona (where he competed in the $50k and $100k high rollers) and only cashed once – 3rd place in the $10k Mystery Bounty for $45,800.
Aleksejs Ponakovs took 2nd place in that tournament. It is not known whether the Baltic neighbors had known each other before, but it is possible that this final table was the beginning of a strong friendship. In any case, when Triton Poker started organizing an invitational tournament with a $200,000 buy-in, Korzinin entered it as an amateur and invited Ponyakov as a professional.
A good-natured amateur who resembled an ancient magician was the first to be eliminated from the tournament, but he returned immediately, having invested another $200,000. As a reminder, on the first day of this tournament, amateurs play only amateurs, and professionals play only professionals. The two groups merge on the second day, and the final table is played on the third.
The bubble boy on the evening of the second day was Ponyakov: he entered with against Patrik Antonius's two nines, bought a flush draw against a set but failed to improve. The final table of nine was formed around 1 a.m.
Patrik Antonius – 9.66 million (121 bb)
Roman Hrabec – 5.36 million (67 bb)
Vladimir Korzinin – 4.155 million (51 bb)
Mikita Bodyakovsky – 2.975 million (37 bb)
Tan Xuan – 2.5 million (31 bb)
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – 2.155 million (27 bb)
Konstantin Maslak – 1.725 million (22 bb)
Espen Jorstad – 1.38 million (17 bb)
Morten Klein – 735,000 (9 bb)
The amateurs were represented by Norwegian entrepreneur Klein, Chinese high stakes regular Tan Xuan, and Vaskaboinikau and Maslak (the amateur criteria seem to be rather vague). Klein and Jorstad were on the same team.
Antonius quickly eliminated Klein, Xuan and Maslak. Konstantin, who was introduced as a real estate investor and sports betting specialist, took home the biggest prize of his career – $908,000.
Then Korzinin opened from the middle and got a call from Mikita Bodyakovsky with on the BB. Draw on the flop It turned out to be quick: continuation bet – raise – instant all-in – call.
– Less? I have less? – Vladimir was surprised by the assessment of the chances. – I have only one hundred percent. No less!
The turn was a ten, the river was a blank.
"When you know, you just know," the winner assured his neighbors. He walked up to Mikita Bodyakovsky, hugged him, patted him on the shoulder, said: "Love you," and returned to the table.
Vladimir generally created a powerful aura of love around himself.
“Patrik, you look so beautiful in your hat,” he said to Antonius, referring to the fur hat of Ossi Ketola, the brilliant Finnish bettor and streamer who had invited Antonius to the tournament.
“I’ll put it on later... I guess,” Patrik looked a little confused.
– Ketola is an amazing person. I love him. An amazing creature. My beloved son, – Vladimir said dreamily. – Have you known each other for long?
– Six years.
– Give him greetings from Santa Claus. Tell him I love him.
But all this lyricism did not promise an easy life to the table neighbors.
A small 3-bet wins the pot preflop“There were reasons,” Vladimir shrugged, answering his opponent’s silent question. And literally a couple of minutes later Nikolay lost almost his entire stack, unsuccessfully attacking Roman Hrabec’s big blind:
The Czech thought for a surprisingly long time, but still made the call and held. The player under the flag of Belarus had six blinds left. He did a good job of pushing all-ins and not meeting any resistance, but as soon as he got a call and went all-in (against the same Grabec), he was forced to end the tournament. The second seven-figure prize in his career!
Vladimir lost a medium pot against Antonius.
3-bet preflop, delayed c-bet on turn, river check – check
– Wow! How played! How played! I love you, – Korzinin commented on the course of the hand after the showdown and applauded his opponent a little. – How played. Maestro!
“What can I say?” Antonius was embarrassed. “I was older on all the streets.”
"That's true, but few would have played like that," Vladimir continued, smiling broadly. "I almost went all-in on the river. But I didn't have the courage."
In 4-max, when the stacks of Antonius' pursuers evened out, Vladimir's courage returned.
"Good luck to you, Patrik," Gambledore said, stretching. "Win or lose, I still love you."
"There's going to be magic now!" he warned everyone after the dealer had turned the turn.
“Did you know there would be a split, already on the turn?” Hrabec asked him.
“I knew, I didn’t know... I felt that something could happen that would save my ass,” Vladimir answered.
Soon he shocked the commentators to the core by beating the Czech pro in a limped pot:
By that time, the neighbors at the table were already aware that Korzinin’s favorite hand was suited. She hit this board pretty well!
Hrabec's aura clearly took a hit during the hand. A minute later, he lost a coin flip to Jorstad and was left with eight blinds, while the Norwegian dropped to second place.
In this hand, Vladimir raised preflop and bet the flop, the turn was checked. On the river, Patrik bluffed. About half a minute later, he was asked:
– When is your birthday? What month?
“In December,” Patrik answered, a little confused.
– Then I owe you a present! – and there was an immediate call.
“Not today! My birthday is not today,” was all the legendary Finn could say.
– Okay. Then another time.
"What was that?" one commenter asked in surprise. "Did he randomize the decision using Patrik's birthday? He should have bluffed and said he was born in March."
The game was still shortstacked with five blinds when Korzinin restealed with QJo:
“That’s a lot,” Antonius noted, having learned the size of his opponent’s stack. And he folded, showing his cards. Vladimir, of course, immediately showed his cards in response.
Another unusual play against Antonius:
Preflop there was a limp and a call of a min-raise. The flop was checked. On the turn Patrik tried to take the pot – but got a raise of 2,000,000 and was forced to fold!
After this hand, Antonius lost his lead at the final table for the first time – his fearless opponent took first place.
Meanwhile, Hrabec got aces, he got a bit more hyped up – and again became a convenient target for the chip leader’s pressure:
In the next hand, Roman was eliminated by Antonius – both flopped top pair, but the Finn’s kicker was higher. And again hugs and “I love you” from Vladimir Korzinin.
The 3-max didn't last long – Jorsted had nothing to counter two such powerful wizards.
Call and winThis time, after hugging the eliminated one and confessing his love, Vladimir added a few more words:
– I really liked your energy and vibrations.
The heads-up started with the stack ratio 61-41 in Korzinin's favor. The battle lasted for an hour and a half and was full of unusual situations, of which we will not show all. For example, how do you like such an all-in on the flop in an unremarkable limped pot?
An unsuccessful straight bluff from Korzinin gave Antonius a double chip lead, but Vladimir soon caught a straight against top pair and doubled up, gaining an even more significant advantage.
And then Antonius decided to show that he was no slouch either.
Went to float this raise with queen high and pushed the river after checks on the turn!
Vladimir thought so hard that it seemed that he would call now, and the walls of the ancient casino would collapse, unable to withstand the pressure of such spiritual power.
– With each pot, Vladimir is getting closer to the status of a legend! – declared Ali Nejad.
Soon Gambledore showed himself again from an unexpected side: he limped JTo, got all-in for 20 blinds – and called! Antonius showed A7o and doubled up.
– 44%! – Rast couldn't calm down. – Almost half of the time the tournament ended right here!
Despite this accident, Vladimir soon came out ahead again.
– Why do you like the hand? " " Patrik asked between hands. " Any success with her?
– 69 – that’s the age in my passport. But I love her not for that, but for other reasons. Sixty-nine! – answered Korzinin.
The tournament could have ended in the next hand, but Vladimir checked the turn:
Patrik checked after that. The flush came on the river, and he didn't get as much as he wanted.
– I think this is the second time we’ve played together. The first time was in Barcelona, right? – Vladimir asked.
– Yes, we even played in Barcelona twice. In a small tournament…
– A small tournament for you means 50 thousand? Ha-ha-ha!
– A small tournament is when there are few participants…
When the cooler was handed out to Patrik, he managed to get it in full. However, he was in position...
Bet, All-in, Call"I'm so glad!" Vladimir said, seeing that he was all-in with no outs. "I didn't want to end it..."
But after a few minutes the match was over. There was nothing to indicate it (except for the rather short effective blind stack of 15): limped pot, check – check flop... On the turn Patrik check-raised all-in – and Gambledore called!
“I only have a four,” said Vladimir, turning over the cards.
– Me too...
The river paired a nine and the tournament was over.
“How you’ve got me on edge today!” Antonius said admiringly to his opponent.
– Ha-ha-ha! I don’t even know how to play poker!
But variance has not yet had its last word. Or perhaps magic?
The $150,000 buy-in tournament was no longer by invitation, and all of Triton's stars played in it. And they had to make room!
121 entries, including 55 re-entries. $18 million in prize money. $4.35 million for first place. Chris Brewer busted on the bubble, losing AKs to KQs. Patrik Antonius was one of the first to bust in the money. The founder of this tournament series, Paul Phua, finished his fight on the final table bubble.
Sam Greenwood – 5.105 million (85 bb)
Tom Fuchs – 4.42 million (74 bb)
Stephen Chidwick – 2.875 million (48 bb)
Bryn Kenney – 2.87 million (48 bb)
Vladimir Korzinin – 2.785 million (46 bb)
Thomas Boivin – 2.25 million (38 bb)
Ossie Ketola – 1.665 million (28 bb)
Dan Smith – 1.23 million (21 bb)
Fedor Holtz – 1 million (17 bb)
At the very beginning, Korzinin raised with . The self-confident Boivin defended . Flop checked. On the turn Boivin bet 2/3 of the pot. The action was all-in! Boivin called – and the river was a seven of spades. Down one!
Gambledore played his next huge pot against the former chip leader. Greenwood defended against a raise . On the flop Vladimir overbet seven blinds on his opponent's check. Greenwood pushed, Vladimir called with two queens – and, as you can imagine, not only held his ground, but also got a huge stack at his disposal.
Fuchs was eliminated in 7th place, giving the remaining players seven-figure prizes. Shortstack Dan Smith was eliminated in 6th place, falling to Korzinin. Smith defended and through a check-push he went all-in on the flop . Vladimir showed , the first card that fell was a six...
Next, the owner of the magic hat, Ossie Ketola, knocked out the amazingly moustachioed Chidwick in a working hand.
Riding the wave of success, he doubled his against Korzinina and took over the lead. Vladimir got even, winning a coin from Bryn Kenney and sending the winner of the main tournament of this Triton to the cashier for more millions.
Ketola finally finished off the tenacious Fedor Holz, and the good friends – the Finn and the Estonian – went heads-up. Ketola had 49 blinds, Korzinin – 32. In heads-up, Gambledore broke through. At first, the finalists tried to play poker for a while:
Korzinin put 2.1 million into a bank of 1.5 millionHow do you like that overbet! Ketola, of course, gave up
But then Vladimir lost a big pot with top pair versus two pair, and the all-in festival began. To be fair, the festival might not have happened if the Finn had won the first comparison, when Vladimir shoved 13 blinds with .
“I respect you!” said Ketola, seeing his comrade’s cards.
“I went all-in because you said it was your favorite hand,” Gambledore admitted.
“And I was already about to hug,” the grandfather smiled slyly.
– It's too early!
After this hand, Vladimir finally understood where his strength was and switched to all-in play. It should be noted that his opponent used fairly conservative calling ranges, so it is quite possible that this was an adjustment.
– Do you remember which hand is my favorite?
And here Ketola also threw his cards into the fold.
And here..."I have nothing to say. Absolute madness! Simply amazing!" Nanonoko commented.
Finally, postflop happened! Vladimir limped, his Finnish friend checked. Flop:
Thorn:
Instant all-in, almost as fast call.
– Thank you! No, I have nothing special. Ten, – said Vladimir.
The players stood in front of the dealer, Ketola was extremely tense, Korzinin – as always, extremely relaxed.
Boom! Vladimir Korzinin wins his first tournament!
"Freedom!" he exclaimed and tried to leave the stage. But the producer managed to bring him back for the traditional photo.
