It was a clean sweep for Jared Bleznick in High Stakes Duel 5 as he completed a three-round knockout of his Hall of Fame opponent Patrik Antonius. In Rounds 1 and 2, Bleznick took Antonius first for $50,000 and then for $100,000, but each time the Finn threw in the red challenge flag to continue the fight.
After sending another $200,000 to 'The Backer' in Round 3, Antonius called it quits and threw in the white flag, leaving Bleznick to claim the High Stakes Duel 5 Champion's Belt.
Shades of Round 1 to start
In the early goings of Round 3, Antonius displayed shades of his performance in Round 1 by pulling ahead quickly. Unlike their prior encounters in High Stakes Duel 5, the two players started Round 3 with ten hands of PLO – a setup that served Bleznick well, but not well enough as his opponent took an early lead when the action switched back to NLH.
Antonius' momentum stalled out, however, when Bleznick rivered a set against his two pair and completed the crawl back to even stacks. From there, the two players traded small pots back and forth until Bleznick caught another fortunate river card to seize the lead. In an all-too-familiar pattern for Antonius throughout this duel, his turned nuts crumbled to pieces on the river.
Antonius: 
Bleznick: 
Board: 
After check-raising Bleznick on the turn with his nut flush, Antonius' hand downgraded significantly on the 
river. With his full house, Bleznick led out on the river, allowing Antonius to correctly send his cards back to the dealer and avoid disaster. Still, with that pot, Bleznick took a decent lead of his own and continued to widen the gap from there.
Antonius drags a big one
After biding his time, Antonius struck in a key pot that saw the momentum shift considerably in his favor. From the button, the Finn raised to $4,000 with 
and Bleznick defended his big blind with 
. On the 
flop, Bleznick opted to lead into his opponent for $3,000. With a draw to the nuts, Antonius opted for a flat call and the two players went to the 
turn. Bleznick checked and Antonius, having turned top pair to go with his flush draw, bet $10,000 into the $14,000 pot.
Bleznick reached for raising chips and put in a check-raise to $28,000. Antonius didn't take long to make the call and, with $70,000 in the middle, the river came the to give him the best possible hand. Bleznick wasn't ready to relinquish the chips he'd put in the middle and continued his bluff to the tune of $58,000. When his opponent moved all in over the top, Bleznick instantly mucked his cards.
"That's not good for me," reflected Bleznick.
Antonius, meanwhile, let the sound of his chip stacking do the talking for him as he took the largest lead of the round.
Another comeback victory
Despite his disadvantage in chips, Bleznick continued to play his game and quickly regained his footing after the bluff gone wrong. The PLO rounds, in particular, brought chips Bleznick's way as he made the most of his prowess in the format to eventually cobble together another lead. Once he re-took control of the match, Bleznick wasn't keen to let it slip out of his grasp again and ramped up his aggression to widen the gap.
As the match wore on well into its fourth hour, the blinds increased to the point where Antonius' stack neared the danger zone and a preflop all-in confrontation grew all the more likely. With a little less than 15 big blinds remaining, Antonius looked down at 
and moved all in from the button.
"Please, give me a hand," Bleznick said before glancing at his cards and seeing 
.
After asking for a count, Bleznick called it off and, just like that, High Stakes Duel 5 Round 3 came down to a 60/40. As he threw down his cards and took to his feet, Bleznick said to Antonius, "Show me king-high."
Antonius obliged, rolling over his hand.
"I know. It doesn't matter, I have to win," Bleznick continued.
The two players had the option to run two boards and, as they discussed whether to go once or twice, Bleznick made a bold proclamation.
"I'm going to tell you this right now – I'm being honest – win or lose, I've completely outplayed you. You can pick, I don't care," he said.
Antonius, with a wry smile on his face, let Bleznick have his moment before saying, "Let's do it one time."
The dealer spread the 
flop to vault Antonius into the lead with his middle pair and Bleznick threw up his hands in frustration. It wasn't over just yet, however, as Bleznick had outs to a higher pair and a gutshot straight.
"I need a three, I deserve a three. I deserve a three," Bleznick said. "I'll tell you right now, I deserve a three."
And a three he got as the dealer turned the .
With that card, Bleznick locked up the hand and the Round 3 match. As the two players shook hands, the meaningless 
peeled off on the river.
Antonius took to his feet and headed for the exit, but the dealer and floor staff called him back to throw out either the red challenge flag or the white concession flag. Antonius returned to the table and tossed the white flag into the middle with a conciliatory nod of the head.
Images Courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
