Laszlo Bujtas is having one of his best years ever on the live tournament circuit. The established online poker grinder has made six final tables in high-stakes events so far in 2022, cashing for more than $2.5 million along the way. The Hungarian’s most recent deep run saw him race through a 37-entry field in the fast-paced Triton Series Madrid €50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em eigh-max turbo event, earning €630,000 ($661,500 USD) and his first title of the year.
This was the fourth-largest score of Bujtas’ career, behind only the $797,609 he earned as the runner-up in the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe main event and the $791,219 he secured for taking down a €25,000 event at the 2019 European Poker Tour Barcelona festival. He now has more than $5.7 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name.
Bujtas also secured 408 Card Player Player of the Year points for this latest win, bringing his point total to 2,111. As a result, he climbed into 17th place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.
The top six finishers made the money in this event, with Bujtas being joined at the final table by a few of the hottest names in the game, as well as with a pair of new faces. Bali Gee and Denys Homliavyi had both never recorded a live tournament cash prior to entering this event. According to Triton reporters, Homliavyi had only picked up the game in the last few days while watching the live-streaming coverage of this series while on site in Madrid. The cryptocurrency investor from Ukraine put on quite a showing despite his lack of experience.
Gee, a friend of Homliavyi who reportedly encouraged him to try his luck in this event, finished sixth for $136,500 USD. He lost the majority of his stack with pocket sevens running into the pocket jacks of Wiktor Malinowski. He then got the last of his chips in with A-J and made two pair, but Malinowski’s Q-10 improved to a straight to narrow the field to five.
Three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus was the next to fall. His A-Q lost a classic race against the pocket jacks of Bujtas to finish fifth ($174,300 USD). This was the American poker pro’s 13th final-table finish of the year, with two titles won and more than $1.6 million in earnings accrued. He now sits in 3,162 place in the POY standings as a result.
Malinowski’s run in this event came to an end when his K-J clashed against the A-Q suited of Homliavyi. Malinowski, the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe champion, earned $223,125 USD for his strong showing.
Like Ausmus, 2019 POY award winner Stephen Chidwick was already making his 13th final-table appearance of 2022. He finished third when his small-blind shove with a lowly 5-2 was called by the A-10 suite of a surging Homliavyi out of the big blind. Chidwick failed to come from behind and settled for $291,375 USD. With 3,066 POY points, he now sits in fourth place in the overall rankings. He has cashed for more than $2.9 million already this year, bringing his lifetime total to more than $41.1 million.
Heads-up play began with Bujtas holding roughly a 2:1 lead over Homliavyi. That gap was closed considerably before a preflop cooler (pocket kings against pocket eights) saw Bujtas’ stack left in tatters. He managed to double his single blind that remained several times, and eventually won the final all-in to secure the title. Homliavyi earned $455,700 USD for his debut on the poker scene.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
| 1 | Laszlo Bujtas | $661,500 | 408 |
| 2 | Denys Homliavyi | $455,700 | 340 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | $291,375 | 272 |
| 4 | Wiktor Malinowski | $223,125 | 204 |
| 5 | Jeremy Ausmus | $174,300 | 170 |
| 6 | Bali Gee | $136,500 | 136 |
Photo credit: Joe Giron / Triton Poker.