Phil Hellmuth selling pieces of his action for upcoming rematch against Antonio Esfandiari

Jon Sofen
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Posted on: October 16, 2020 1:17 am EDT

Phil Hellmuth will face Antonio Esfandiari October 21 heads-up on PokerGO’s show, High Stakes Duel, for the third time. If you’re interested in getting in on the fun, the “Poker Brat” is selling a piece of his action on YouStake.

YouStake is a poker staking platform. Many pros use the site to sell a piece of their action — or a percentage of the buy-in — or to buy a piece of someone else’s action. In this case, the 15-time WSOP bracelet winner is selling off up to $20,000 of the $200,000 buy-in (10%).

Unlike many of his other sales on YouStake, Hellmuth isn’t charging any markup for this one. So, for every dollar you buy, you’ll receive 100% of the profits based on the percentage of his buy-in you purchased. For example, if you buy 1% of his action ($200) and he wins, you’ll receive $400 total ($200 buy-in back, plus 1% of the $200,000 profit).

Poker players can purchase up to $250 of Hellmuth’s action. He’s selling off the $20,000 to as many of his fans as possible. The Aria poker ambassador often sells off some action so that his fans can have a fun sweat. You can watch the upcoming match, October 21, at 7:30 pm EST on the PokerGO app (paid service) or Poker Central’s YouTube channel (for free).

As of Friday, Hellmuth has sold just over 2% of his total action, and still has more than $15,000 up for sale remaining. You can buy in, assuming he hasn’t sold it all off, right up until October 20. The match is tape-delayed.

Will Esfandiari finally win one?

Hellmuth defeated Esfandiari in the inaugural High Stakes Duel match in August, and shipped the $100,000 prize pool (each player bought in for $50,000). The “Magician” instantly challenged his rival and friend to a rematch, which occurred last month.

During the second match, which had a prize pool of $200,000 (both paid $100,000 this time), Esfandiari had another frustrating day. He lost for the second straight time thanks to some timely bluffs, lucky river cards, and two excellent river folds from Hellmuth.

The rules of the show state that a player must either win three in a row to cash out, or the opponent must give up. But Esfandiari can’t quit Hellmuth. He’s waited years to face and beat the “Poker Brat” in a high-stakes heads-up match. He finally got his wish thanks to Poker Central, but the results haven’t exactly been what he expected.

So, he’s going to give it another shot. If he loses, Hellmuth can quit him and await a new challenger. Or, he could decide to play double-or-nothing again. Should Esfandiari win the third game, they’ll play again, likely sometime next month.

Featured image source: Poker.org