These heads-up matches have generated enormous interest across the poker world, but they haven’t come without controversy. Ossi Ketola has described his approach as part of a broader marketing strategy — one that has, disturbingly, included the use of racist language on his social media platforms and live streams, under the banner of ‘freedom of speech.’ While the poker on display is undeniably newsworthy, the wider context surrounding Ketola’s behavior cannot be ignored or condoned. Poker.Org condemns the use of racist language in any form. Read our full statement here.
Doug Polk continued a busy promotional schedule with a $1,200,000 win in a heads-up duel against Ossi Ketola on Monday, capping off a stretch of livestreamed nosebleed stakes for the popular poker personality.
Polk first spent the weekend at the PokerGO Studio, where he battled it out with pleasant poker stars like Jennifer Tilly, Alan Keating, and even a man named Senor Tilt on a special livestreamed edition of High Stakes Poker. From there, he switched gears and hustled to the nearest streaming setup to play Ketola on Monday in a multi-million dollar game of heads-up poker on the ClubWPT Gold platform.
Ketola, a Finnish online casino owner and noted edgelord, has been one of poker's most toxic figures since he burst on the high stakes scene. ClubWPT Gold has shown little restraint in their quest to gain eyeballs in the poker space, so it was an inevitable match. Meanwhile, Polk's P.T. Barnum era has enhanced the visibility of the unregulated poker site and the intensity of the programming has only gone up a notch as ClubWPT Gold defies ongoing efforts to shut down sweepstakes gaming.
Polk cleans up
The duo sat down with $400K each and Polk streamed with his cards up while a split screen in the corner showed the heads of both players. And while there wasn't a lot of conversation, there was plenty of gambling going on.
Polk won the first and second matches before he dropped the third one while the stream was down. They set it back up and doubled the stakes for one final $1.6 million match.
The final hand of the big money match started with a flop of 
and Polk had 
. Ketola fired $32,000 and Polk called to see a 
on the turn. It was a big bet from Ketola on the turn with $106,000 and Polk called with the flush draw. The river was 
and Ketola shoved to a snap call.
All told, Polk walked away with $1,200,000 in just a couple of hours, a take he called "the biggest cash game win of my entire life."
