In what was likely the richest poker game ever publicly broadcast, Daniel “Jungleman” Cates beat Finland’s Ossi “Monarch” Ketola in a series of heads-up matches to profit an incredible €13 million ($15.1 million). Streamed on the Onyx Live YouTube channel as part of the Onyx Super High Roller Series Cyprus, the six one-on-one contests treated viewers to some of the wildest nose bleed action we’ve seen in a while.
In the first two matches, each player put up €1 million – they split the pair of battles. Things got more interesting in the third game, as the stakes increased to €3 million. Ketola won that one for his second straight victory, but neither he nor Cates were about to stop there.
They upped the stakes again, each putting €5 million at risk in the fourth match. With blinds at $25,000/$50,000, Ketola kept his run going, but Cates came roaring back to claim the most lucrative purse of the day.
The two men kept the stakes the same for the fifth round. Cates snapped off an early Ketola bluff to take control, and though the Finn stayed feisty when nearly down to the felt, Cates had little trouble finishing him off for another €5 million win.
They agreed to one more rematch, increasing the stakes “slightly” to €6 million. Cates again started hot, but this time, Ketola was able to punch back, taking a huge pot from Cates when he hit two pair with A-J against Cates’ A-8. Cates was able to find a fold on the river when Ketola shoved, but he still sacrificed a massive pot to drop behind 2-to-1 in chips.
Cates’ key hand came around two hours into the sixth contest when he turned to pair to best Ketola’s flopped two pair. That was 80 big blinds right there and Ketola couldn’t recover. He made a bit of a run, but Cates nailed him on a bluff to take down a $1.8 million pot. That was the beginning of the end for Ketola, as Cates win on to finish off his three-game winning streak and €13 million day.
On Wednesday, Cates posted on social media that he only had a “small” piece of his own action through the series against Monarch, but he was “happy to make my supporters money and do it for the good of the game.”
Image credit: PokerGO.com
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