Matt Berkey and Jared Bleznick battled on PokerGO’s Excessive Stakes Duel 6 for 12 hours of high-stakes no-limit maintain’em and pot-limit Omaha, with the previous profitable huge.
PokerGO break up up the match into two days — six hours every — culminating with Wednesday’s finale that ended up lopsided however wasn’t one-sided. That differs from the Day 1 session on Wednesday, which ended with each gamers practically deadlocked within the $200/$400 money recreation. Day 2 was something however a tie.
Excessive Stakes Duel originated in 2020 as a sit n’ go type heads-up competitors with Phil Hellmuth beating Daniel Negreanu in three straight matches. The present has advanced into, a minimum of for the present version, a money recreation, and there was no scarcity of monster pots.
Bleznick Battles in Spherical 1
Bleznick, one of many OG’s of sports activities card field breaking livestreams, defeated Poker Corridor of Famer Patrik Antonius final yr three straight matches on Excessive Stakes Duel 5 for a $350,000 revenue. He discovered a brand new opponent, and this one turned out to be a more durable problem.
Every participant purchased in for $100,000 on Day 1, and each gamers would add on some all through the six-hour contest. Bleznick completed with a $22,700 revenue, however that is small potatoes contemplating the size of time and stakes they have been taking part in.
“Not a lot blood contemplating six hours of play,” PokerGO commentator Alex Livingston stated on the finish of the present.
Regardless of the shut remaining consequence, there have been plenty of giant pots all through the match. Bleznick jumped out to an early lead in a PLO hand with a set on the flip towards a straight draw that did not come by way of on the river. Berkey would fold to a river wager and give up a pot that had reached $150,000.
Berkey would earn a double moments later, nevertheless, when he hit a flush on the river to get again to simply over his $100,000 beginning stack. Bleznick, nevertheless, would go on to bleed Berkey’s stack down over the subsequent two hours. However that did not final lengthy because the Remedy for Why founder got here proper again to even the rating.
The sport then switched to NLH, and Berkey, an NLH specialist, would take over in his finest recreation. Effectively, proper up till he ran right into a tough one with 6♥3♦ on a board of 4♠J♦6♣3♠A♥ and $30,400 within the pot. Berkey checked, after which confronted an all in wager of $56,000, which he begrudgingly referred to as solely to search out out his opponent had 5♦2♦ for a straight. Berkey added on $100,000 to his stack and are available again to e book a small win.
Poker Professional Activates the Jets
The second match on Wednesday wasn’t practically as shut as the primary. However Bleznick did battle, he simply discovered himself on the dropping finish of the largest pots. He’d choose up some early chips with Q♦Q♣ when his opponent three-bet preflop, after which folded to a four-bet, with Qâ™ 7â™ .
Bleznick, nevertheless, tried some aggression with ace-high on a board of 5♠9♦5♦8♣Q♦, utilizing the A♦ in his hand to dam the nut flush, as he wager $15,000 right into a pot of the identical dimension. And it could get by way of as Berkey, holding A♣8♦, mucked his playing cards and fell to an early deficit.
Berkey began choosing up the aggression. In a single hand, he made a large wager of $17,000 on the river with nine-high and bought it by way of towards king-high. That hand, as Livingston stated on the time, was “an enormous turning level for Berkey,” as a result of had he misplaced the hand, he would have been getting near needing one other add-on.
As a substitute, he was again within the ballgame, however Bleznick got here proper again and Berkey must add-on one other $100,000 after his stack dipped beneath $50,000. Berkey would fall even additional behind, down about $160,000 on the session earlier than all of it circled thanks to 1 lucky river card.
Bleznick would four-bet to $16,500 with Ok♥6♥ and obtain a name from 8♣7♣. The flop got here out 7♠Ok♣Q♦ and Berkey would check-call a wager of $16,000. The flip was the 6♣ which introduced some severe motion. Berkey. who turned a flush draw, once more checked and so did his opponent.
The J♣ on the river accomplished the flush, however Berkey went for the sneaky verify, hoping to induce a wager. He’d get his want when Bleznick fired out a wager of $35,500, about half the scale of the pot. However the worth bettor would face an all in shove for $139,000, leaving “The Backer” in a troublesome spot with two pair. He made the proper however tough fold to avoid wasting $100,000, however his opponent gained some momentum.
Berkey then introduced out an enormous wager of $47,500 on the river right into a pot of $33,400 with queen-high, which pressured king-high off the pot. Bleznick would, shortly after, lose his whole stack when he flopped high pair and bumped into an over pair.
Bleznick had one misstep in a $100,000 pot he received when he turned a set to crack aces, however tried to induce a increase on the river when he wager small and his opponent solely referred to as.
“God, how good do you play?” a pissed off however impressed Bleznick requested. “How good are you at poker?”
Berkey, after elevating the flip, would verify again Jâ™ 6♣ on the river with $93,400 within the pot on a board of 6♥Q♦2♣J♣J♥. Bleznick had 9♣4♣ for a missed flush draw and wager $25,000 on a bluff. He’d be pressured to fold when the all in check-raise got here.
Regardless of trailing a bit within the match, Berkey got here to play. On a board of 8♣3♦3♠, Bleznick wager $38,000 with 10♥9♥ and Berkey, holding A♠Q♣, sniffed it out and confidently moved all in for $143,000, sufficient to take down the pot.
Bleznick was regularly put in powerful spots and it turned out to value him the match. He confronted a $33,000 wager with A♥J♣ on a board of seven♠8♣10♣J♠7♣ and could not discover a fold towards Q♣2♣. It was simply that form of night time for the proprietor of Blez Sports activities.
The top consequence was a $315,000 loss for Bleznick throughout the 2 six-hour periods. Berkey is the champion of Excessive Stakes Duel 6.
*Pictures courtesy of PokerGO.
