Railbirds got an unexpected treat on Tuesday night when Finnish wildman Ossi Ketola, aka Monarch, put out an open invite to the poker world to play him heads-up live on Kick.com for up to €1m apiece.
Not everyone will know Ketola, but the wealthy and polarizing figure, best known as the owner of a CS:GO skins casino, turned up at Triton Monte Carlo last year and final tabled two events, including a runner-up finish in the $150K for a $2,970,000 payday. He also finished fifth in the $100K Triton at WSOP Paradise for another seven-figure score. He might not be a full-time pro, but he's clearly got game.
Ketola put out the challenge on his X account on Tuesday night in a bid to get more eyeballs on his new crypto casino business, Duel, which, according to the site's tagline, is “the first casino that gives a f**k.”
Cocktails and caviar at the Bombay Club
The $5K/10K games were being played at the Bombay Club in Tallinn, which was playing host to a series of tournaments, including a €1 million guaranteed invite-only event that had attracted the likes of Ketola and Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates.
Viewers could even bet on the heads-up matches via Duel before the cards were dealt, with Ketola claiming “0% house edge and virtually no limits.” It felt like the Wild West.
Ketola’s first game was a €500K buy-in against Elias Talvite, another player from Finland who has $4,828,088 in career earnings. Talvite won that one when Ketola shoved 
on a 
board. Talvite had 
and made the call with Ketola drawing dead.
The second match was against Kayhan Mokri, another high-roller regular with $8,074,666 in career earnings. The stakes were doubled for this one — each player put up €1 million, while Mokri brought four amaretto sours to the table. He’d knocked back two of them after about half an hour, while Ketola was munching on caviar like it was a bowl of breakfast cereal.
One wild hand saw Ketola move all-in for €618K with a flush draw on the turn. Mokri eventually folded and ordered another four amaretto sours.
Jesse May on commentary
It wasn’t exactly a poster for responsible gambling — but with high-stakes action and surreal antics, it was impossible to look away. It got even better when legendary commentator Jesse May stepped into the commentary box.
While playing Mokri, Ketola was checking the betting on his third matchup, set to be against Jungleman. Punters thought there was some easy money to be made on Jungleman at 4/5: “Look at the betting now,” Ketola said to Mokri. “There’s $160K on Jungleman and $800 on me.”
Mokri was down to just €67K at one point, less than 10 big blinds, but built back up to almost €500K before a set-over-set cooler hit Ketola.
Kayhan had fives and hit big on the 
[2] flop. Ketola had fours and turned the 
. All the money went in, and Mokri had retaken the lead.
It didn’t last long, though. All the money found its way in when Mokri had fours and Monarch had kings. The 
board was suitably sensational.
Jungleman loses his cool
Then in came Jungleman for an early morning match. It was around 6am in Tallinn but there was enough time for Monarch to win another €1m from one of the best players in the world.
This match took around two hours, and Jungleman looked exhausted towards the end of it, flinging his cards across the table in frustration after one hand.
In the final hand, Jungleman raised to €20K with 
and Ketola called with 
. The 
gave Ketola enough to stick around, and he called the €10K bet from Jungleman. The turn gave Ketola more outs and the action was checked to the 
river, where Ketola check-raised all-in. Jungleman called for his last 12 big blinds to see Ketola table the straight.
“He lost his patience,” May said, as Jungleman threw his final chips across the table. “One thing is very clear. Who is the king of Bombay? The king of Bombay is Monarch.”
Ketola had won €1,500,000 and was ready to put it all on the line again, tweeting out an open invite to play Phil Ivey for €2 million apiece. Will the stream fire again on Wednesday night and could we see €4 million on the table?
