Monarch Battles for Another Record-Breaking Poker Hand Worth $12,700,000

One other day, one other record-setting, eight-figure poker hand performed by controversial excessive curler Ossi “Monarch” Ketola.

The Finnish proprietor of the Duel on line casino battled for a $12,700,000 pot — no, we did not by chance add just a few further zeros — on Tuesday throughout a heads-up match towards Hong Kong’s Bjorn Li through the Triton Poker Tremendous Excessive Curler Sequence Jeju.

Pocket Pairs Go to Warfare in Large Poker Hand

The nosebleed-stakes gamers performed a collection of $2,000,000-a-piece matches, received by Li three-games-to-one. Within the closing sport at these stakes, Li received after Monarch bluffed with “The Robbi” (jack-high) into the nuts. They’d agree to 1 extra rematch, however this time they performed for a mixed $16,000,000 pot.

Li would leap out to an enormous early lead with queens after Ketola’s 10-high bluff did not get by way of. However the match would take a pointy flip the opposite approach in what’s being thought of the most important pot ever livestreamed.

The blinds remained at $40,000/$80,000 all through the sport, and Monarch began the motion by elevating from the button to $200,000 with 9♥9♣. Li, who had the largest stack, three-bet to $600,000 with 8♦8♥.

Ketola, whose hand was a heavy favourite, moved all in for $6,350,000. Li tanked earlier than making the decision to create a pot of $12,700,000. The flop got here out 6♠7♥10♥, giving each gamers straight and backdoor flush attracts. No assist for Li would come on the three♣ flip or 2♠ river, and the chips all went to Monarch.

Li nonetheless had $3,300,000, however trailed almost 4:1 in chips. He’d lose a race for the remainder of his stack about 90 minutes later. Monarch received simply two of the 5 matches. However he turned a $4 million total revenue due to profitable the highest-stakes contest.

Is Tom Dwan Nonetheless the Document-Holder?

There was some debate throughout the poker group as as to if Monarch’s arms throughout his ongoing heads-up matches ought to depend within the report books. Tom Dwan, a Triton common, previous to August 2025, held the report for profitable the most important televised or livestreamed pot when he shipped a $3.1 million hand towards Wesley Fei on Hustler On line casino Stay in Might 2023.

Dwan’s hand got here in a conventional fashion money sport the place gamers are permitted to money out any time they’d like. Monarch has been concerned in quite a few pots bigger than Dwan’s earlier record-breaking hand the previous few weeks, together with throughout a collection of matches towards Dan “Jungleman” Cates, who clipped the polarizing excessive curler for $15 million.

Monarch, nevertheless, would take an $10,990,000 pot towards high-stakes crusher Alex Foxen earlier this week. That handheld up because the livestream report for all of three days.

*Photographs courtesy of Triton Poker.