Ossi ‘Monarch’ Ketola, the player who has lit up the poker world in recent months with a string of high-stakes heads-up games, has had all of his X accounts suspended. That includes his personal @monarch account, as well as his business-linked crypto casino accounts, @duel and @CSGOEmpire.
Ketola first appeared on the poker radar at the end of last year, and in just six recorded cashes, he has already amassed nearly $5 million in tournament winnings. But it’s his participation in massive heads-up battles that has made recent headlines, repeatedly breaking the record for the largest televised pot — against opponents such as Dan 'Jungleman' Cates and Alex Foxen. The latest came in a $12.7 million hand that Ketola won against Bjorn Li.
Ketola — who has said the heads-up matches form part of a broader marketing push for his Duel casino — has used racist language in both social media posts and live streams, defending it as ‘freedom of speech.’ That speech has now been curtailed, on X at least.
Monarch banned across X
Ketola streamed live on Kick after his X suspensions, and said the following:
“It looks like they are attacking. Just as we launch zero edge games, this happens. From what we looked into it, it seems somebody spent a significant amount of money to get the accounts banned. Now, obviously, the priority is to get them unbanned.
“We can’t lose our voice like this. You never know what happens next. They will probably go for our other platforms. They’ll try to get our Discord nuked.
“They also poisoned me with COVID. I‘ve been sick since the last poker tournament, that’s when I got sick. I was supposed to go and play poker tomorrow, but there’s no chance.”
Conspiracy theories abound
Monarch has used racial slurs on his X account, but given the content that’s been allowed by Elon Musk in recent months it would seem unlikely this alone would be enough to get him banned.
From his chat, Ketola believes it’s his competitors who have managed to get him taken down.
Ketola’s chat was burning with conspiracy theories, with one saying, “This is some Andrew Tate-level shit.”
Musk’s own Grok AI had this to say: “I lack access to X's internal moderation details on specific accounts. Suspensions often stem from violations like promoting unregulated gambling, spam, or deceptive practices, especially in competitive crypto/gaming spaces.”
Whatever the reason, many in the poker community are likely to welcome the silence of one of the game’s loudest and most controversial new voices.
