How Poker's New Celeb 'Monarch' Went from 'Annoying Scammer' to Exposing Scammers
Table Of Contents
Ossi Ketola, aka "Monarch," the high roller who lost $15 million on Tuesday to Dan "Jungleman" Cates, is an admitted rehabilitated scammer.
The Finnish poker player, by his own account, was once a "little annoying scammer" in the role-playing game world. He fessed up to his past transgressions last year in a lengthy tweet that created engagement among those who've followed his professional career in the Counter-Strike community.
From Scammer to Exposing Scams
Monarch, who has $4,750,000 in live poker tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob, claims he "started off as a little annoying scammer playing RuneScape," a fantasy multiplayer online role-playing game, when he was a youth (ages 6-13). He explained that his scam involved promising "to double your items if you gave them to me, but conveniently log out after you give me your stuff."
Ketola, at age 14, started running businesses within the industry and began developing "quite a hatred towards scammers." He became known for outing and exposing scammers and "finding creative ways of putting them out of business."
The young entrepreneur, at age 18 in 2016, started CSGOEmpire, a CSGO gambling site that claims to be "one of the first licensed and regulated skin gambling websites, and we do our best to make the system as fair and as transparent as possible."
CSGOEmpire was created to counter the shady Counter-Strike gambling sites that operate illegally and unchecked.
"Over the years, I exposed countless casinos for their fraudulent behavior," Ketola wrote.
Monarch's tweet was met with heavy criticism from those who aren't buying his story, however. One person went so far as to call him a "weird schizophrenic freak," while another claims "he's still the most scummy scammer the internet has ever seen."
Tough Loss to 'Jungleman'
Ketola has focused on poker more than business the past few days, challenging high-stakes pros at the Onyx Super High Roller Series Cyprus to compete for massive heads-up stakes. He first battled with Danish high roller Kayhan Mokri on Monday, losing $2 million.
The Finnish poker player then challenged one of the best poker players in the world, Jungleman, to a series of nosebleed heads-up matches. Cates won four of the six matches for a $15 million profit. Ketola, during the final match, frustratingly questioned if the deck was rigged against him.
He even called for his opponent to play without accessing his cell phone after losing a $5 million game.
Monarch, however, wants more heads-up action and has even challenged heads-up legend Doug Polk to a match. A poker fan on X asked him if he'd face Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu. He replied: “would love to, I think he’s super gay. Would love to mog him.” Mog, in online slang, means to completely outclass or dominate someone.
Monarch competed in and lost the largest televised poker game in history to Jungleman, and it doesn't appear it's going to deter him from continuing to play at such massive stakes.
