The online poker grind is living the dream by winning Triton Vietnam’s Mystery Bounty

Going to 2023, Mark Rubbathan’s biggest live tournament score was $14,280 cash for a final table shown in a 2019 Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Manchester £1,100 buy-in event. The 32-year-old UK online tournament grinder beat that number thanks to an incredible run at a high-stakes live tournament festival.

Rubbathan won his way into 2023 Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam through a promotion on the online poker site Game room of the Americas, with a $100,000 buy-in he was able to use throughout the series. Rubbathan, who streams his game online as part of the “ACRStormers”. ELITE Stream Team’, easily surpassed his first place finish with a 10th place in event no. 2, earning a new career prize of $50,300 for his long run in that $15,000 buy-in event. However, it didn’t take long for him to surpass that new personal best, as he was able to emerge victorious from a field of 179 entrants in event #1. 3, the no-limit hold’em mystery bounty with a $20,000 buy-in. For the win Rubbathane earns his first major live tournament title and $396,000 from the main prize pool.

“It’s all completely surreal. I don’t know what to say other than that it was a really good time to be racing better than I’ve ever raced at anything. I absolutely run the final table in the sun,” Rubbathan said Triton Poker journalists after the victory. “It is indescribable. The whole experience was pretty crazy right from the start. I won a package then freerolled up to here. I didn’t worry, in a sense, about cashing in. I just wanted the experience. I couldn’t wait to do it. This is of course beyond all expectations. It’s wild, absolutely wild.

In addition to the nearly $400,000 grand prize, Rubbathan reportedly added about $240,000 in mystery bounty prizes to his total haul. He also insured 936 Card player Player of the Year points for winning.

Rubbathan was one of 179 participants in this $20,000 buy-in deal that took place March 3-4 at the Hoiana Resort near Da Nang, Vietnam. The main prize pool of $1,790,000 was paid out to the top 27 finishers, with the same amount going towards rewards.

Pedro Garagnani fell to Rubbathan in ninth place ($40,100) to set the official final table. Bracelet winner Timothy Adams (8th – $48,500) followed closely, with his suited QJ unable to get past the AK of a rising Rubbathan, who had more than double the chips of his nearest competitor heading into the action to seven.

Two-time bracelet winner Joao Vieira was next to be eliminated. The recent European Poker Tour Paris the winner of the high roller side event moved all-in with AK leading Rubbathan’s Q-10. The board gave Rubbathan two pair on the flop, which stayed good until the river to end Vieira’s run in seventh place ($67,000).

Gytis Lazaouninkas held A-9 suited against bracelet winner Daniel Dvoress’s AJ for sixth place ($92,000). Calvin Tan then lost a preflop flip with pocket nines to Rubbathan’s AQ for a big pot. Tan took home $120,000 for his fifth-place finish.

A clash of pocket pairs ended Dvoress. His pocket eights failed to make a comeback against Rubbathan’s pocket queens and Dvoress busted in fourth place ($150,400). This was already his fourth POY extension-qualified score of the year, with over $750,000 to date POY extension earnings and 1,158 points. As a result, Dvoress now sits in 51st place in 2023 POY extension race classification presented by Global Poker.

Rubbathan entered the three-handed game with over 63% of the total chips in play. After his AK held up against Victor Chong’s AQ, Rubbathan built an approximately 10:1 chip lead into heads-up play into 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe champion Wiktor Malinowski. The high-stakes regular known to many by his alias ‘Limitless’ managed to double up, but was eventually eliminated in second place ($268,000) when his K9 couldn’t fade the J9 by Rubbatan. The board is out of Q86Aj to give Rubbathan a winning pair of jacks.

The largest bounty offered in this event was $250,000. That lucky envelope was selected by Orpen Kisacikoglu. Payments listed below do not include bounty prize money.

Here’s a look at payments and POY extension points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: Joe Giron / Triton Poker.