patrik antonius, triton poker. ossi ketola

A Week in Review: Antonius Faces Monarch, and Triton Poker Makes History

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Another fun week of poker is behind us, as we saw history made once again by the Triton Poker Series, which keeps pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in poker with every passing year. 

Once again, the very best of the poker elite gathered in Jeju for another Triton Poker Series festival, and a couple of standout events caught our eye. 

The first was an impromptu heads-up match between Patrik Antonius, a live and online poker legend, and Ossi Ketola, the edgy businessman who has found new ways to make poker entertaining for the people at home. 

Ossi and Patrik took to the felt with a total of $20 million on the line, an obscene amount of money for a single heads-up SNG. In a crazy twist of events, Ossi came out on top, showing it’s not always the pros who get the better side of the deal in events like this. 

Triton Poker continued to make history later in the week, as 120 players showed up to play the $200k buy-in Triton Invitational, making it one of the best high-roller tournaments of all time. 

If you missed the action so far, it’s all still available on Triton Poker’s YouTube channel, and a short recap of the events is found below. 

Patrik Antonius Drops $10 Million in a Historic Heads-Up Match

Massive heads-up matches have become somewhat of a norm in live poker recently, especially at Triton Poker stops, where some of the high rollers have made it a habit to play for big money on the sidelines. 

None have taken this as far as Ossi “Monarch” Ketola, a recreational poker player who makes a hobby of playing the top pros for millions of dollars. 

This week, Ossi took on Patrik Antonius in the biggest live-streamed heads-up match yet, with both players ponying up $10 million to play for a prize pool that shatters the guarantee of most high roller tournaments. 

Both players seemed somewhat unfazed by the stakes, with Ketola himself admitting in a pre-match interview that the money is of little consequence to him, while Patrik likely had partial backing from other Triton regulars. 

In either case, the two players brought $20 million in cash to the table and played a match with progressive blinds until one of them had it all. 

It was not Patrik’s day, as he started the match by folding a big hand on a paired board to Ketola’s stone-cold bluff, as the youngster fired a $3 million bet, representing a full house. 

Things only got worse for Antonius as the match continued, as Ketola kept the foot on the gas and won a few more medium-sized pots, while also getting caught bluffing by Ossi’s top pair in the meantime. 

Yet, the match eventually came down to a bad beat, as Patrik had a spot where he could have easily returned to an $8.2 million stack. 

Holding A♦K♦, Patrik put in a 3-bet and got Ketola to move all-in with his K♣J♣. The board ran Ossi’s way, as he spiked a Jack on the turn, sealing the deal for the stoic Finn and ensuring $10 million would go Monarch’s way. 

Triton Poker Invitational Sets a New Record

Even just 10 years ago, a tournament with a $200,000 buy-in was rare to find, but nowadays, Triton Poker seems to be hosting them on a regular basis. 

The most recent Triton stop in Jeju announced a $200k Invitational event some weeks ago, pairing top poker pros with wealthy recreational in a formula that’s been tried and tested by the popular high-stakes series. 

The Triton Poker Invitational in Jeju shattered all expectations, however, as it drew in an incredible 60 pairs of players, creating a player pool of 120 and a prize pool of $34,600,000, a kind of thing we rarely see even at the WSOP. 

One by one, top pros and recs fell along the way in the early going, as they played down to the final two tables. A number of those who busted recently already made the money, including Hustler Casino Live’s Peter Wang, David Coleman, Alejandro Lococo, Jessica Teusl, and Stephen Chidwick. 

These players may have doubled their buy-ins, but those still playing are looking at a top prize of $7,250,000, one of the biggest prizes in the history of tournament poker. 

Among those still in play are Adrian Mateos, Joao Simao, Biao Ding, Jesse Lonis, and Eric Wasserson, all household names in the high-stakes poker community. 

The sheer size of the stakes being played for and the gravity of the situation make this tournament one of the best events of the year, as Triton Poker continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible on the tournament scene. 

Over the next two days, a champion will be crowned at the Triton Poker Invitational, and all the action will stream live on Triton Poker’s official YouTube channel for your enjoyment. 

A Massive WSOPC Event in Montreal Comes to a Close

Montreal hosted another super successful World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) event this week, which attracted an incredible 2,844 entries at C$5,000 each, smashing records and creating an epic C$1.5 million first-place prize. 

426 players got paid in Montreal, but the final table is where it was all at, as heavy-hitters like Chance Kornuth and Jack Salter took on the local heroes.

In an incredible twist of events, it was a local player by the name of Mayukh Chakraboty who took down his first WSOPC ring and $1.5 million, having previously only made the money in two poker tournaments, worth just a few thousand dollars. 

From barely ever cashing an event, Chakraboty went from barely ever cashing an event to being a WSOPC champion overnight, and he won one of the most prestigious events of the year to do so. 

To get there, he had to beat his fellow countryman Benjamin Veenestra in a heads-up duel after surviving all the pros, including Daniel Negreanu, who also joined the event at the behest of GGPoker. 

All said and done, the WSOP Super Circuit Main Event demonstrated the popularity of poker in Montreal and Canada as a whole, and once again showed that live poker is anything but dead, as people continue to risk the big bucks for their chance at becoming poker champions. 

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