Argentinian Battle Rapper Wins $12M Triton World Series of Poker Collab Event 

Argentine battle rapper and YouTube star Alejandro Lococo can now add the title of his country’s second-highest earning poker winner to his CV. That’s after taking down a huge high-limit tournament this week in the Bahamas. 

Lococo won the $500,000 buy-in Triton Poker Million Main Event, which is part of the World Series of Poker’s Paradise Island series. He beat a star-studded field of entrants, including all-time money listers Stephen Chidwick and Adrian Mateos, to scoop the $12.07 million tournament top prize. 

As well as one of the biggest poker prizes of recent years, it was also Lococo’s first WSOP bracelet win. The high-stakes player was invited to the tournament by his professional poker playing friend ,Joao Viera. Lococo’s previous biggest cash was $1.2 million for finishing 7th at the WSOP 2021 Main Event. 

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said, speaking to media after his win. “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.”

When he’s not crushing super high-stakes poker tournaments, Lococo mostly spends his time rapping and reacting to rap music on YouTube. His account, PapoMC, has 2.7 million followers. 

The Tournament

The last time Lococo was at the final table of a big tournament was in 2021. His bust out to Koray Aldemir at the WSOP 2021 Main Event in Las Vegas was highly talked about at the time.

Sitting in the final seven players with the second-biggest stack, Lococo called Aldemir’s all-in with pocket tens. But his opponent already had the nuts full house, and it was Lococo’s last call of that tournament. 

The loss must have hurt. But the aggressive style and willingness to call and make bluffs hasn’t dropped off in the three years since. 

In the Triton Million, Lococo played loose, but had his foot on the gas from the start. 

That saw him head into the final day with a decent stack. After a series of coin-flip pots went his way, and a couple of prescient bluff calls, Lococo went into the final heads-up of the Triton Million with a massive chip lead against British player Ben Heath. 

He then closed out the proceedings in short order, with 80% more chips to throw around than his opponent. As well as a $12 million payday, Lococo also picked up a weighty gold Triton trophy and a WSOP bracelet. 

The Victor 

Lococo is now Argentina’s second-highest all-time poker earner. He has $14.89 million in poker earnings to his name in just his first tournament victory.

That’s although he is some way behind first-place Triton Poker regular Jose Ignacio Barbero, who has won $21.5 million. 

]Lococo says he’s not sure he’ll be back to play much more on the high-limit Triton poker scene. He attributed some of his success in the tournament to his Triton newcomer status, meaning his opponents hadn’t had much time to work out his aggressive game. 

“Probably if I play like 200 times with these guys, they’re going to find an amazing strategy. But lucky for me, I beat them in my first Triton.”

He also said he’s not a professional poker player, although some would question that. He said his aggression on the felt was down to his competitive spirit that has also seen him succeed in rap battles and on YouTube. 

“I play for glory. I play for the trophy. I play trying to do my best in every single hand…. again, I’m not a solver guy, I’m not a professional poker player who is studying eight hours each day,” he said. 

“I’m a professional competitor, you know. I’m professionally competing at rap and competing at poker because I try to do my best in every single sport. But my main objective is to win.”