Alex Boika has finally won a Triton Poker title, defeating Philip Sternheimer heads-up to claim the $25,000 NLHE 8-Handed event at Triton Jeju II for $761,000. The Belarusian survived a 131-entry field and then provided one final twist by admitting he initially misread his hand during the pot that decided the tournament.
Boika thought he had turned two pair when Sternheimer moved all-in during the final hand. He actually held only top pair, but made the call anyway and survived the river to secure the biggest prize of the tournament and his first Triton trophy.
The result continues an unusual pattern during the opening days in Jeju, where the first completed events have repeatedly produced new champions.
Boika Beats 131 Entries for $761,000
Event #5 attracted 131 entries at $25,000 each, creating a $3,275,000 prize pool. The final 23 players were paid, with $761,000 waiting for the champion and more than half a million dollars for second.
Boika entered the final day behind chip leader Brandon Wilson but steadily moved through a field containing several established Triton regulars. By the final table, he had already eliminated Jesse Lonis, Artur Martirosian and Vladas Tamasauskas in succession.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Boika | Belarus | $761,000 |
| 2 | Philip Sternheimer | UK | $516,000 |
| 3 | Yu Lei | China | $343,000 |
| 4 | Nevan Chang | Taiwan | $282,000 |
| 5 | Seth Davies | USA | $226,000 |
| 6 | Chen Mingcong | China | $175,000 |
| 7 | Manuel Fritz | Austria | $130,000 |
| 8 | Vladas Tamasauskas | Lithuania | $95,000 |
Boika is far from the only player to end a long Triton wait during this festival. Klemens Roiter completed a remarkable heads-up comeback against Alejandro “Papo MC” Lococo after reaching 11 previous final tables without a victory.
Three Eliminations Put Boika in Control
Boika’s charge toward the trophy accelerated before the official final table. He eliminated Lonis and Martirosian before knocking out Tamasauskas in eighth, with ace-queen cracking pocket queens in the latter confrontation.
Seth Davies was among the players attempting to stop him. The American was appearing at his 23rd Triton final table but lost a major pot when his pocket eights ran into Yu Lei’s aces, before further setbacks eventually sent him out in fifth for $226,000.
Sternheimer then took control as the field became shorter. Boika responded by eliminating Nevan Chang in fourth and Yu Lei in third, taking almost a two-to-one chip advantage into heads-up play.
First-time winners have become an early theme in South Korea. Alexandros Theologis had already claimed his first Triton in the $15,000 opener after arriving with more than $4.5 million in previous Triton cashes.
Boika Misreads the Winning Hand
The final hand gave the tournament an unusual ending. Sternheimer opened with nine-seven of hearts and Boika defended the big blind with jack-six offsuit before both players checked an eight-five-three flop.
Boika paired his jack on the turn. Sternheimer bet, Boika raised and the British player responded by moving all-in with his straight and flush draws.
Boika called with top pair and held when an ace arrived on the river. Only afterwards did he reveal that his initial reaction to the shove had been based on a mistake.
He first believed he had two pair and wanted to call immediately before realizing he actually held only one pair. The correction did not change his decision, Sternheimer missed his outs and Boika’s pair of jacks survived.
The misread ended with a $761,000 victory.
A First Triton Trophy After Coming Close
The breakthrough is significant because Boika was hardly a newcomer to Triton’s high-stakes fields. He entered the heads-up battle in Event #5 having already recorded numerous cashes on the tour without converting one into a title.
Earlier in 2026, Boika came particularly close when he finished runner-up to Daniel Rezaei in a $60,000 NLHE 8-Handed event. That result was worth more than $1.3 million, considerably more than Tuesday’s first prize, but it did not come with a Triton trophy.
The fields in South Korea leave little room for error. Established champions, high-stakes regulars and players still chasing their first trophy are competing through a schedule that eventually reaches a $200,000 buy-in.
Boika finally converted his opportunity.
Four First-Time Winners in a Row
Boika’s victory extends one of the most striking trends from the opening days of Jeju II. The early events have repeatedly ended with players lifting their first Triton trophy.
Theologis started the sequence by winning the opener for $642,000. Roiter then ended his own long wait in the $20,000 NLHE 8-Handed event, before Ngo Khoa Anh added another breakthrough victory.
Boika makes it four consecutive maiden champions across the opening completed events. It is an unusual sequence on a tour where many fields contain players who have already accumulated multiple Triton titles.
The variety of stories has stretched beyond the winners as well. Moroccan freeroll qualifier Reda Achnit arrived without having played a live tournament before finding himself among the leaders of a $25,000 Triton event.
Boika could hardly have arrived with a more different résumé. His problem was never proving that he could compete at this level, but finally turning one of his deep runs into a trophy.
Triton Jeju Is Only Getting Bigger
The $25,000 event may have awarded $3.275 million, but the largest tournaments of Jeju II are still ahead. The festival runs until September 17 and builds toward a $200,000 Triton Invitational, $100,000 Main Event and $150,000 10th Anniversary Special.
Those three tournaments alone represent $450,000 in buy-ins for anyone entering all of them. The standard of competition is unlikely to become any easier as the stakes climb.
Boika now approaches the biggest part of the schedule from a very different position. Previous seven-figure scores established him as a successful high-stakes tournament player, but Event #5 provided something even his $1.3 million runner-up finish could not.
A Triton title.
