Crushing High-Stakes Final Tables: A Triton Main Event Deep Dive with Samuel Mullur

What’s up, Pokercode community! Curtis Knight here, and I’m buzzing from a recent session I had the pleasure of hosting. This wasn’t just any session; I was joined by a special guest, high-roller crusher and Grindhouse 3 legend, Samuel Mullur, to break down one of the biggest stages in poker: the $100k Triton Main Event Final Table.

Why this session? Because this was on the biggest stage. Navigating a final table with seven-figure pay jumps on the line is a completely different beast. The ICM pressure is big, the opponents are world-class, and every single decision is magnified. For advanced players, mastering these spots isn’t just about improvement; it’s about taking that step to the next level and holding your own when competing with the best.

In this session, Samu and I worked through the key hands from his deep run. We dove into the theory, the exploitative adjustments against different player types, and the mindset required to battle against the best. Our goal was to sharpen your ICM knowledge and give you a framework for how to think when the pressure is heightened.

Let's dive into a spot that came up early on, six-handed. This is a situation that looks standard on the surface but has some disguised ICM complications.

The Million-Dollar Squeeze Spot

The scene: We’re six-handed at the Triton Jeju 100k Main Event. The pay jumps are massive.

The line-up is stacked with talent like Christoph Vogelsang and Aleks Ponakovs. Samu is the clear short stack at the table with **15 big blinds**.

The action folds to Aleks Ponakovs (47bb) in the cutoff, who opens. Christoph Vogelsang (80bb) just calls on the button.

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The action is on you in the big blind. You’re Samu.

Take a second and really think about it. What’s your strategy here?

- What does your shoving range look like? Are you jamming all your pairs? Any suited ace?

- How wide are you defending by calling? Are hands like `76s` or `JTo` a call?

- How do the two big stacks involved in the pot change your decision-making process?

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This is so much trickier than a standard chip EV spot. As Samu pointed out in the session, Vogelsang’s flatting range on the button is stronger than in a chip EV scenario. He’s not just calling with speculative hands; he’s deep enough to flat hands like `TT`, `JJ`, or `AK` to keep Ponakovs’ wider opening range in the pot.

This means the button is far less capped than in a normal cash game or early-stage MTT. If you decide to jam, you’re not just trying to get it through a cutoff opener; you have to worry about a monster waking up on the button who has you covered, comfortably. This dynamic forces you to construct your shoving and defending ranges with precision.

In the session, Samu walked us through his thought process:

"Whenever I'm in the big blind, I do not get to jam, like, crazy wide. I think I want to shove a linear range and have equity if I get called... I think I probably shove something like 88 for sure, and then like 77, I'm not sure about. I want to shove suited Broadways and something like suited Aces."

This is the kind of high-level thinking that separates the pros. It’s not just about your hand; it’s about how your range fares against two distinct and uncapped ranges, all under the crushing weight of ICM.

Get the Full High-Stakes Blueprint

This one hand is just the tip of the iceberg. We spent over an hour breaking down the solver-approved lines, discussing how to adjust against hyper-aggressive players, and analyzing the complex multi-way pots that cropped up at this final table.

Want to see the GTO-verified shoving and defending ranges for this exact spot? Curious to hear our discussion on a wild dynamic where we reverse the stack sizes and see how the strategy completely flips?

To get the full deep dive and absorb every last drop of high-stakes final table wisdom, you need to watch the complete coaching session.

Join Team Pokercode and get instant access to this session and our entire coaching library on the Pokercode dashboard!

It’s Time to Level Up

This session with Samuel Mullur is a perfect example of what we do at Pokercode. We bring in the best minds in the game to dissect real, high-stakes situations and provide you with actionable strategies to implement in your own game. If you're serious about taking your game to the next level and competing in the toughest fields, you’ve found your community.

Join us, and let's crush together.

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