Ossi vs Wiktor: $6,000,000 Match
The fearless online casino owner Ossi Ketola played four matches with Wiktor in one evening.
Wiktor won the first $1 million buy-in, but lost the next three – two $2 million and one $3 million. Ossi always plays his challenges as sit-and-go tournaments with no blind increases; you can only quit after losing your entire stack.
In one of the $2 million matches, Ossi 3-bet 80 blinds deep with and called Limitless' all-in with . The turn was a painful for Wiktor to see, but that's poker.
Ossi hadn't done anything so outrageous in other hands. Ketola's level of play (and fortune) came as quite an unpleasant surprise to Wiktor and his backers.
In the final hand, Wiktor limp-called preflop, and both checked the flop. Ossi check-called on the turn, and check-shoved on the river. Limitless thought for a moment and called, losing to two pair.
Ossi also plays his matches with a handicap, and, according to Trueteller (Timofey Kuznetsov), he “fights tooth and nail” for the conditions.
For Wiktor, the odds were 1.25, meaning that he actually lost $7.5 million.
Ossi and Wiktor were having a great time in Finland before the match, and they posted about it in detail on their social media.
A couple of days before their flight to Korea, they attended an anti-fascist rally together, where Ossi apparently shouted Nazi slogans. It nearly ended in a fight. That same day, Ossi and Viktor's car was stopped by special forces, most likely fake.
"lol Limitless following Ossi around sucking him off for a game only to get rinsed," Jason Mo laughed on Twitter .
Truteller defended his friend.
Jason refrained from further comment.
A user named Dr. W questioned whether two friends playing together was actually a legitimate game, calling it suspicious. They then deleted the tweet for some reason. Ben Lamb responded.
Dr. W was doubtful though:
You're absolutely right. That's completely normal among honest, genuine people, which is exactly why O. doesn't fit that description.
I have no doubts about you at all. When I used to play poker, I did the same with friends, everyone in the scene knows each other.
I wasn't generalizing in any way. My comment was aimed entirely at this specific person and this specific situation.
This match with Limitless marks almost exactly one year since his last huge game, where Ossi also played Jungleman and Alex Foxen.
Read ReadOssi vs Antonius: $20,000,000 Match
A couple of days later, the match between Ossi and Patrik Antonius took place, billed as the most expensive heads-up match in TV poker history. The buy-in increased to $10 million each.
Ossi wrote on his Instagram that it was "One of the greatest heads-up players of his generation against the man who's been taking on all challengers."
Patrik lasted just over 4 hours.
In the first half of the match, with the stacks tied, Ossi bluffed his opponent in three back-to-back hands.
First, he used a big overbet on the river.
Ossi raised preflop, Patrik check-called on the flop and turn, and after much deliberation, folded on the river. Ketola had .
Ossi won the next hand with a check-raise bluff on the river.
And the third pot was taken with an overbet on the turn.
Ossi's lead grew to $13 million over Antonius' $7 million. Patrik managed to even the stacks, but in the end, he was dealt a straight against a straight flush in a huge pot.
Patrik limped and called preflop. On the flop, he called a check-raise.
On the turn, Ossi checked again, Patrik bet $625k into a $1.75 million pot, and Ossi raised to $1.6 million. The pot was now just under $5 million, leaving Patrik with $4 million behind.
As soon as the river came, Ketola immediately shoved. Patrik thought for a few minutes, but folded.
In the next hand the players went all in.
Ossi opened with a raise to $250k, Patrik 3-bet to $850k and called the all-in.
The turn brought a jack.
“Not my day,” Patrik stood up from his seat and hugged his opponent.
Antonius' handicap in the match was 1.1.
MTT DB (an account that keeps detailed statistics on Triton players' results) said of the match on Twitter.
"We heard that Mickey Mouse will duel Daffy Duck next week for $200,000,000,000,000 #InsiderNews"
Nick Airball said that he has no doubt that the game was played for real money, but he doesn't understand where the hype came from.
"Let’s all freak out over a 100 big blind SnG where one guy is playing for 1 big blind, sooooooo exciting 😂🥱🙄!"
"I'd assume Patrik had atleast 1-2M of himself," a commenter disagreed. "Same guy who stacked Isildur in 09 for one 1.35M pot on full tilt… highly doubt he had sub 7 figs of himself… Unless you know otherwise?"
"I’d bet a lot of money he had less than 500k risk. Honest guess would be around 1-200k max…. The variance in these SNGs insane, I doubt sharp guy like Patrik is firing huge when it’s probably a coin flip (given the handicap they give Monarch).
More likely, consortium of Triton VIPs/Bosses take most of the action to help promote Triton as the stream does a lot of views and garners attention.
To be clear, nothing wrong with any of this. Just, in my opinion, not an interesting or cool format, and Patrik is playing for much smaller personal stakes. I think part of the interest in these kind of matches would be Monarch using the stakes to lean on his opponents. But when they all are selling MOST of their action and thus playing very comfortable stakes it becomes uninteresting.
Also, to clarify, no chance I’d play Monarch or anyone for insane sums of money in 100b HU SNG format. Would rather flip coins, more efficient use of time.
All that being said… If Monarch wants to battle in some HU deep stack cash, I’ll play up to 5/10k with 100% of myself."
"RE: Triton $20 million heads up match featuring Ossi "Monarch" Ketola. Why does the industry keep propping up the worst of us?" Norman Chad wondered.
"It’s the gambling industry. What exactly do you expect?" replied Haralabos Voulgaris. "How many people do you know willing to put up $10 million for a streamed heads-up match?
“He’s the worst of us” sounds dramatic, and maybe it’s true. I know nothing about the guy.
But as an aside, you’ve made a living working in poker for how many years now? You might want to be a bit more thoughtful on the whole “why does this industry keep propping up the worst of us?” routine.
Just a thought."
"I’m told Ossi Ketola is leaving Jeju," Dr. W wrote in the midst of a $200k tournament.
"Quite the coincidence: he arrived with a friend, played him, then played his business partner and friend.
They created the marketing spectacle they wanted, despite reportedly receiving offers from independent top poker players. He rejected those offers, and now he leaves.
If accurate, the whole thing looks very strange. Could this be the biggest LARP in poker history? Was the bankroll ever really available to face players outside his own circle, or was the entire spectacle just marketing theater?"
"Have we been played by the marketing “genius”?"
Ossi Ketola played the $200k tournament after his match with Antonius without much enthusiasm and was the first to be eliminated, calling an all-in preflop for 200BB+ with .
That same day, he streamed a little on Kick, but didn't re-enter.