The inaugural Onyx Super High Roller Series kicked off at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa on August 9, bringing many of the world’s highest-stakes players out to the Mediterranean paradise.
The brand new event, hosted by poker legend Rob Yong, boasted millions in guaranteed prizes, along with a handful of invitational events reserved for VIP players and their guests.
Yet, among all the high-stakes tournament craziness, it was the cash games and side action that stole the show, as the new Onyx Live channel on YouTube gave us an exclusive insight into the world of true high-stakes poker.
While we have been privy to some fairly high-stakes games on shows like Hustler Casino Live and High Stakes Poker in recent years, what we saw over the past few days at the Onyx Club was completely new.
From $200/$400/$1,000 cash games, to $6,000,000 heads up matches, Onyx Live brought us unprecedented action and a glimpse of the world we have been hearing so much about, but have rarely had a chance to see in the past.
High-Stakes Cash Games Bring Out the High Rollers
Even as action was raging in the Onyx SHRS tournaments, Rob Yong, Eric Wasserson, Handz, Paul Phua, and a group of other less-known high rollers took to the tables to play some $200/$400 Texas Hold’em with a $1k.
The massive game saw well over $2,000,000 make its way to the table over some five hours of live streaming, with Rob Yong walking away nearly half a million richer, mostly at the expense of Hanz, a well-known high roller who dropped nearly $440,000 in the first stream.
Action continued the next day, as Handz and Phua returned to the felt, while the host was gracious enough to give his seat to one of the numerous guests who sought a place in the game.
A group of players from the United Arab Emirates, an emerging poker market, joined the game, with Harissa walking away as the game’s biggest winner, taking home over $250,000 in profits.
Handz would recover a decent chunk of his earlier losses in this game, but what was even more interesting was the number of unfamiliar faces we saw at the felt.
The Onyx Live games introduced us to a group of players we have not had a chance to meet earlier, all of whom seemed very comfortable playing six and seven figure pots.
This goes hand in hand with Onyx Club’s idea of creating a safe haven for high rollers from Asia and the Middle East in Cyprus, giving them all an opportunity to battle for high stakes in a reputable poker club.
The Onyx cash games had a very similar vibe to those streamed on Triton Poker’s channels, but the action in Cyprus seemed to be even more unhinged.
We only discovered just how wild things could get more recently, as Finnish millionaire Ossi Ketola decided to show the viewers what high-stakes poker truly is.
Ossi Ketola Takes on Kayhan Mokri for $4 Million
Things took a crazy turn at the Onyx Club on Monday, as we were treated to an impromptu heads up match with a massive $4,000,000 pot in play.
Young Finnish millionaire Ossi Ketola, who made his fortune by building CSGOEmpire, a unique crypto and eSports betting platform, challenged poker player Kayhan Mokri to this massive heads up duel.
It seemed that the whole thing was put together on rather short notice, with the two players simply agreeing to have their match streamed to the masses.
To make things even wilder, the two players agreed to play $10,000/$20,000 stakes, making their stacks just 100 big blinds, a rather shallow stack to play with in such a massive game.
The match ended up taking around five hours, with Mokri getting the best of “Monarch” as Ketola is known as in the eSports world.
Not content to quit, Ketola asked Mokri for a $5 million rematch, but Mokri had a flight to catch, which meant Monarch would need a new challenger.
Jungleman Emerges as the New Heads Up Challenger
Action continued with Dan “Jungleman” Cates, a legend of the high stakes poker world, agreeing to play Ketola in a EUR 1,000,000 heads up match.
The players started with EUR 1,000,000 in chips, and blinds at EUR10,000/EUR20,000 and Jungleman won the first match, before the players agreed to play another one, which went Monarch’s way this time.
Just as it seemed things could not get any crazier, the players decided to pick the stakes up, this time playing for EUR 3,000,000 each.
Monarch would once again get the best of the high-stakes pro, and once again the pair agreed to kick the stakes up, this time playing for EUR 5,000,000.
After many hours of play, Jungleman managed to win two EUR 5,000,000 games, as well as the final EUR 6,000,000 game, netting a profit of EUR 13,000,000 over the course of six games.
If these stakes seem insane, it’s because they are, as we have not had a chance to see a game this big on any televised or streamed show in the past.
What Does Onyx Club Have in Store for the Future?
The first-ever Onyx SHRS was a massive success, both in terms of tournament and side game action.
Many of the world’s best poker players, such as Phil Ivey and Nick Schulman made their way to Cyprus to play in the massive tournaments, while VIPs from all continents joined them on the felt.
The incredibly high-stakes being played for didn’t seem to faze anyone, except for the viewers, many of whom were shocked at the amount of money being moved across the tables.
What really stood out were the super high-stakes heads up games between Ketola and his opponents, which gave us a glimpse into what we could expect from Onyx Live in the future.
If you are a poker fan, we highly recommend subscribing to the Onyx Live channel on YouTube, and regularly checking for new content, as we expect more exclusive and unexpected games to stream there over the coming months and years.
