Sports activities card store proprietor Jared Bleznick confirmed some aggression throughout Tuesday’s Excessive Stakes Duel 5 opening spherical whereas defeating poker legend Patrik Antonius for $100,000 in a four-hour battle.
The no-limit maintain’em/pot-limit Omaha combine sport on PokerGO price $50,000 per participant to enter. Every participant acquired $50,000 in chips, and the growing blinds began at $100/$200.
Excessive Stakes Duel is a heads-up competitors that started in 2020 with Phil Hellmuth defeating Antonio Esfandiari three consecutive instances for a $350,000 revenue. The “Poker Brat” then dropped Daniel Negreanu in three straight matches and completed his run 9-2 general on the present.
Negreanu returned to motion final yr and defeated Eric Persson in a one-off match on Excessive Stakes Duel 4. The heads-up poker present returned on Tuesday for what turned out to be a aggressive battle between two high-profile gamers.
Again and Forth They Go
All 12 earlier Excessive Stakes Duel matches featured no-limit maintain’em completely. Pot-limit Omaha was integrated into the latest version, with the sport performed altering each 10 arms. Every participant has the flexibility to run it twice on an all-in wager as soon as per spherical.
Spherical 1 was fairly the back-and-forth battle between two gamers unwilling to offer in and spazz off chips. It wasn’t till the ultimate hand flop betting motion earlier than a clear-cut favourite had been decided.
The sport started with Bleznick elevating in no-limit maintain’em on the button with a mediocre hand, being known as by an excellent weaker hand, after which the preflop raiser taking it down on the flop after hitting backside pair.
The primary little bit of fireworks occurred when, on a board of A♦J♣J♦3â™ , Antonius led for $400 with Aâ™ 4♦ and Bleznick, holding 8♦7♦ semi-bluff raised his flush draw to $1,200. Antonius known as to see the two♥ on the river. He checked after which confronted a wager of $5,500, greater than the scale of the pot. However it’s robust to get journeys to fold in a heads-up sport, and the participant with one of the best handcrafted the decision.
That hand put the Poker Corridor of Famer as much as over $56,000 chips, the primary vital lead for both participant an hour into the match. Antonius would slowly however certainly put a bit extra of a dent into Bleznick’s stack, and would ultimately get to just a little over $60,000. However the chip lead by no means turned insurmountable, and the Las Vegas sports activities card store proprietor would shortly battle again to take a slim lead.
Bleznick, who performed aggressive all through a lot of the session, then picked the fallacious spot to bluff. Antonius, with the blinds at $100/$200, limped on the button with Ax3x earlier than calling a elevate from the massive blind and hitting an ace on the flop. Bleznick, who had nothing however 10-high, wager flop, flip, and river solely to lose a large pot to fall again right into a 3:2 gap.
The aggression would once more fail Bleznick moments later when he three-bet with Qâ™ 8♦ just for his opponent to pressure him to fold with an all in wager. However he’d choose a greater spot to bluff in a while, and it turned out to be one of many key arms of the match. The board confirmed Okâ™ Q♥Ok♣J♦7♦ in pot-limit Omaha. Bleznick made a pot-sized wager of $13,500 with 6â™ 6♦4â™ 4♣, an terrible hand for that board.
Antonius had the ten♦9♥ for a straight however would fold on the paired board. Had he made the decision, his stack would have reached practically $75,000, and the end result very properly may have been totally different.
Bleznick Finishes it Off
Bleznick, a PLO specialist who gained an NLH bracelet this yr, made one other robust play with Ok♥5♠4♠4♣ on a flop of two♣5♣A♥ when he wager $1,200, after which after dealing with a elevate to $4,000, got here again excessive and took down the pot. He technically had one of the best hand with center pair as his opponent solely had backside pair and an inside straight draw.
Antonius was starting to fall again and his stack had dwindled to round $30,000 when he hit a superior two pair on the river to crack Bleznick’s flopped two pair in pot-limit Omaha. The $17,000 pot modified issues again within the different route a bit.
The stacks would once more get near even, however solely briefly, after which the match got here to an abrupt finish. Bleznick raised on the button to $2,500 with Qâ™ 8â™ in no-limit maintain’em. Antonius simply known as with Okâ™ Q♥ earlier than the flop got here out 6♣8♣Q♦, a little bit of a cooler.
Antonius checked after which confronted a wager of $2,000. He’d go for a check-raise to $6,500 with prime pair. However he was up in opposition to prime two pair, and the participant with one of the best hand got here again excessive to $14,000.
The poker legend then determined to simply transfer all in for $39,900 and acquired a snap-call. Antonius had the choice to run the flip and river twice, however he opted to play it out the usual means, and neither the 8♥ on the flip or A♠on the river modified something.
Bleznick completed off the victory to safe the $100,000 Spherical 1 match of Excessive Stakes Duel 5. Antonius then instantly tossed the pink flag on the desk to point he is difficult his opponent to a rematch. As such, he’ll be on the hook for including $100,000 to the pot to create a $200,000 Spherical 2 prize pool. A date for the match has been set for Nov. 19 on PokerGO.
Antonius, regardless of the loss, is having an enormous week with a career-best $5.1 million rating on Sunday for profitable the $200k Triton Invitational in Monte Carlo.
Phil Hellmuth Sweets Daniel Negreanu in Three HSD Matches
*Pictures courtesy of PokerGO.
