Monarch Battles for Another Record-Breaking Poker Hand Worth $12,700,000
Another day, another record-setting, eight-figure poker hand played by a controversial high roller prone to casually making racial slurs, Ossi "Monarch" Ketola.
The Finnish owner of the Duel casino battled for a $12,700,000 pot — no, we didn't accidentally add a few extra zeros — on Tuesday during a heads-up match against Hong Kong's Bjorn Li during the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju.
Pocket Pairs Go to War in Massive Poker Hand
The nosebleed-stakes players played a series of $2,000,000-a-piece matches, won by Li three-games-to-one. In the final game at those stakes, Li won after Monarch bluffed with "The Robbi" (jack-high) into the nuts. They'd agree to one more rematch, but this time they played for a combined $16,000,000 pot.
Li would jump out to a massive early lead with queens after Ketola's 10-high bluff didn't get through. But the match would take a sharp turn the other way in what is being considered the largest pot ever livestreamed.
The blinds remained at $40,000/$80,000 throughout the game, and Monarch started the action by raising from the button to $200,000 with 9♥9♣. Li, who had the biggest stack, three-bet to $800,000 with 8♦8♥.
Ketola, whose hand was a heavy favorite, moved all in for $6,350,000. Li tanked before making the call to create a pot of $12,700,000. The flop came out 6♠7♥10♥, giving both players straight and backdoor flush draws. No help for Li would come on the 3♣ turn or 2♠ river, and the chips all went to Monarch.
Li still had $3,300,000, but trailed nearly 4:1 in chips. He'd lose a race for the rest of his stack about 90 minutes later. Monarch won just two of the five matches. But he turned a $4 million overall profit thanks to winning the highest-stakes contest.
Is Tom Dwan Still the Record-Holder?
There has been some debate within the poker community as to whether Monarch's hands during his ongoing heads-up matches should count in the record books. Tom Dwan, a Triton regular, prior to August 2025, held the record for winning the largest televised or livestreamed pot when he shipped a $3.1 million hand against Wesley Fei on Hustler Casino Live in May 2023.
Dwan's hand came in a traditional style cash game where players are permitted to cash out any time they'd like. Monarch has been involved in numerous pots larger than Dwan's previous record-breaking hand the past few weeks, including during a series of matches against Dan "Jungleman" Cates, who clipped the polarizing high roller for $15 million.
Monarch, however, would take an $10,990,000 pot against high-stakes crusher Alex Foxen earlier this week. That hand held up as the livestream record for all of three days.
*Images courtesy of Triton Poker.
