Battle Rapper Alejandro Lococo Beats Pros in WSOP Paradise Triton Million for $12M
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As a battle rapper, Argentina's Alejandro Lococo is used to performing under pressure in front of large crowds with glory on the line. Tonight in the Bahamas, Lococo used that competitive drive to take down Event #2: $1,000,000 Triton Million at World Series of Poker Paradise for $12,070,000 and his first bracelet.
The unique collaboration between WSOP and Triton, which drew 96 entrants for a $48 million prize pool, paired the best high-stakes players in the world like Alex Foxen (6th - $2,795,000) and runner-up Benjamin Heath ($8,160,000) with deep-pocketed VIPs like David Einhorn (14th - $865,000) and Sosia Jiang ($1,605,000).
With $2.8 million in earnings and a WSOP Main Event final table appearance in 2021, Lococo, a VIP in the event, was somewhere in between the two groups.
"I'm a rapper. I don't study the game. I just try to do the best in every single hand," Lococo told PokerNews in a winner's interview. "I love the game and I try to win of course, but I'm not using solvers (or) ... running sims. You have to be really, really professional and invest a lot of hours of your life to beat these guys."
Negreanu's Vlogs Are Back in Paradise!
Triton Million Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (In USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alejandro Lococo | Argentina | $12,070,000 |
| 2 | Benjamin Heath | United Kingdom | $8,160,000 |
| 3 | Sinan Unlu | Turkey | $5,304,000 |
| 4 | Daniel Dvoress | Canada | $4,390,000 |
| 5 | Elias Talvitie | Finland | $3,542,000 |
| 6 | Alex Foxen | United States | $2,795,000 |
| 7 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | $2,140,000 |
| 8 | Sosia Jiang | New Zealand | $1,605,000 |
| 9 | Michael Moncek | United States | $1,200,000 |
Winning for Argentina
Lococo's palms weren't sweaty as he battled on Day 3 of the $500,000 buy-in tournament. Nor were his knees weak. But his arms were in fact heavy as he hoisted the golden Triton trophy in triumph, along with his first WSOP bracelet.
"I don't know how to explain it," he said. "It's amazing, like (I'm) dreaming. I knew that in some moment of my life, it was going to come, my bracelet. I was feeling really (good) with my game."
It was a victory that almost never happened as the PokerStars ambassador was originally planning on being at EPT Prague. "Sometimes the world (conspires) in your favor."
The bluffs also helped. Lococo is no stranger to going for the win and seemed to make all the right decisions as he raised and re-raised his opponents off hands. "Probably if I play like 200 times with these guys, they're going to find (an) amazing strategy (against me). But lucky for me, I beat them in my first Triton."
Several Spanish and South American pros cheered for Lococo and posed for winners photos, including Juan Pardo, 11th-place finisher Adrian Mateos and Argentina's all-time money leader Nacho Barbero.
Whether when battle rapping or running deep in a tournament, Lococo said Argentinians back home are constantly rooting for him. "I love Argentina. I think all the Argentinians love Argentina."
The victory puts Lococo second on the country's all-time money list, and he plans to catch up with Barbero. "Of course, man. I am a competitor. I'm not f***ing stopping right now."
Day 3 Action
With his dark hoodie and a baseball cap covering his face, Lococo looked like an Argentinian B-Rabbit as he went into battle on Day 3. The field of 14 players reached a final table within an hour with the eliminations of Stephen Chidwick, Esti Wang, Chance Kornuth and Einhorn, who was looking for a fantastic comeback story after being eliminated on the first hand of the tournament and making the most of his second bullet.
The high-VPIPing Michael "Texas Mike" Moncek dominated the first two days of action, but the back-to-back chip leader's reign ended as he fell in ninth at the hands of Heath.
Jiang was next to go after three-bet jamming with king-queen only to be dominated by the ace-king of Daniel Dvoress. Things continued to go the Canadian's way as he eliminated Aleksejs Ponakovs and Foxen.
Lococo took over from there as he eliminated Finland's Elias Talvitie, who had a miraculous spin-up but eventually fell in fifth as his top pair was crushed by Lococo's rivered straight. Lococo then eliminated Dvoress and Turkey's Sinan Unlu to have a dominant chip lead over Heath.
The British high-stakes pro needed a lot of luck on his side to overcome Lococo and didn't get it. In the final hand, Heath had ace-king to dominate Lococo's king-deuce but couldn't fade a deuce on the flop.
That wraps up PokerNews' coverage of a historic event in the Bahamas. Stay tuned for live updates on other events throughout WSOP Paradise.
In this Series
- 1 Ivey & Negreanu Looking for 2nd Bracelets of Year in WSOP Paradise Triton Million
- 2 Texas Mike Retains Chip Lead After Day 2 of Triton Million, With Dvoress Close Behind
- 3 Brazil’s Matheus Cardoso Machado Wins WSOP Paradise Event #4: GGMasters Online Championship ($432,623)
- 4 Battle Rapper Alejandro Lococo Beats Pros in WSOP Paradise Triton Million for $12M
- 5 Specialist Lautaro Guerra Wins Record-Breaking $100K PLO SHR at WSOP Paradise
