When the record for the largest-ever televised pot in poker history is broken not once, but twice in the same week, it should be no surprise that one of those hands will stand as the PokerOrg Hand of the Week. And, lo and behold, the $12.7M pot between Ossi 'Monarch' Ketola and Bjorn 'AsianFlushie' Li takes the cake this week.
While the sheer size of the pot makes it impossible to ignore, there's not much to dissect in terms of decision-making.
For Ketola, the decision to four-bet all-in with pocket nines didn't take much thought – in fact, he said the magic words within seconds of Li's three-bet. The real decision in this hand comes on Li's behalf: whether or not to call off nearly one hundred big blinds with pocket eights. It's a tough spot no matter the stakes in play. Ketola might shove with pairs worse than eights, but most of the time Li would be flipping against over cards or in bad shape against a superior pair.
After nearly a minute and a half in the tank, Li decided to risk it and made the call – only to see the bad news. If Li opted to pass on the spot – like Wiktor 'Limitless' Malinowski did in his match against Ketola – his wealth of heads-up experience would likely have lead him to victory in the end. Unfortunately, the spot arrived in the wake of an impressive comeback from Ketola and Li's frustration at not ending the match sooner may have played a role in his decision.
In the early goings, Li had Ketola on the ropes after whittling the Finn's stack down as low as $2M. Then, the tides turned in one consequential hand.
The comeback kickstarter
With nearly 75% of the chips in play, Li was one big hand away from ending the entire match. When the opportunity arose, however, a brutal turn card saw his victory slip away.
Ketola kicked off the action with a raise from the button with 
and Li defended his big blind with 
. The 
flop smashed both players as Li made a flush and Ketola connected with top two pair. With $400,000 in the middle, Ketola came with a chunky continuation bet for $300,000 and Li opted to play his flush slowly with just a call.
The turn 
was gin for Ketola as he improved to a full house to surge into the lead in the hand. With the hand locked up, Ketola continued for $700,000 and Li raised for the rest of it. Ketola tossed a single chip across the betting line for a call and rolled over his full house. On seeing Ketola's hand, Li could only shake his head with a slight smile.
Was the largest-ever pot in televised poker history a result of tilt? Chime in below with your thoughts.
