PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel 5 is set to go at least three rounds. Jared Bleznick scored a second consecutive win over 2024 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Patrik Antonius, setting up a $200,000 buy-in rematch on Nov. 26 with $400,000 on the line.
This time around the heads-up clash featured a mix of both no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha, a couple of big-bet games that these two competitors have logged plenty of hands in at the highest stakes.
Bleznick, a World Series of Poker bracelet winner and the 2023 Super High Roller Bowl Pot-Limit Omaha champion, has more than $7.4 million in career tournament cashes under his belt. Antonius holds the honor of being Finland’s all-time money leader with more than $29.2 million in tournament scores. More than $5.1 million of that was secured earlier this month when he took down the $200,000 buy-in invitational event at the Triton Poker Monte Carlo festival for a career-best score.
Now, Antonius will be looking to turn things around in this heads-up clash after losing the first two rounds of High Stakes Duel 5. The 43-year-old cash game star quickly threw the red flag after the final hand of round 2 went Bleznick’s way. That symbolized that he was exercising his option to play round 3 with Bleznick, who has turned much of his focus in recent years to his sports card business after a long career in the poker streets.
Round 2 Action
The two players started with $100,000 each and blinds of $200-$400. An early clash saw Antonius raise to $1,000 on the button with A
5. Bleznick, listed as ‘The Backer’ on the hole card graphics, three-bet to $5,400 from the big blind with A
A
. Antonius called and the flop came down 922
. Bleznick bet $4,000 and Antonius came along. The 3 on the turn was an action card, giving Antonius a gutshot steel wheel draw. Bleznick checked and Antonius fired $8,000 into the pot of $18,800. Bleznick called and the 6 completed the board. Action checked through and Bleznick took down the sizable pot with his pocket aces to jump out to a quick lead.
Antonius was able to overtake the lead briefly after winning a sizable pot with top pair of aces after Bleznick had three-bet with Q-8 suited and taken a few stabs at the pot with air. The Finn’s time on top was short-lived, though. He soon fired a turn bluff in pot-limit Omaha, but was of course unable to push Bleznick off of the nut full house.
Toward the end of the first hour of action, Bleznick raised to $1,800 from the button in a round of PLO with J985 and Antonius called with Q663. Antonius checked after a 975 flop. Bleznick bet $2,500 with top and bottom pair and Antonius check-raised to $8,500. Bleznick called and the K turn gave both players backdoor flush draws. Antonius led out for $10,000 with his queen-high diamonds, only to have Bleznick unleash a raise to $50,600. Antonius quickly folded to see Bleznick take nearly a 2:1 lead.
Soon after that, Bleznick rivered a full house to best Antonius’ turned straight in PLO to give him roughly a 3:1 advantage. The next key hand began with Bleznick limping from the button for $400 with 8754. Antonius raised from the big blind to $2,400 with AA63. Bleznick called and the flop came down 1063. Antonius bet $4,000 with his bottom two pair and Bleznick called with his big wrap draw. The turn brought the 9 and Antonius potted for $12,800. Bleznick raised all-in with his ten-high straight and Antonius called for $19,500 total with his two pair. He only had a 10 percent shot of improving to the winner according to the on-screen graphics. The 6 on the end was one of his four outs for a full house, giving him the double up to extend the round.
Bleznick was still well out in front even after losing that pot, though. He sat with nearly 85 percent of the chips in play when the final hand was dealt. He picked up AQ on the button and limped in for $1,000 total. Antonius raised to $4,000 from the big blind with AJ off of a stack of $30,700. Bleznick limp-shoved and Antonius called. The board came down 74310K and Bleznick’s A-Q high was enough to earn him the pot and the victory.
BACK TO BACK WINS FOR “THE BACKER” @harrington25
: https://t.co/IsyPbo020F pic.twitter.com/oUB9y88SLP
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) November 20, 2024
As previously mentioned, Antonius wasted no time in throwing the red flag to indicate that he wanted a rematch. Round 3 is set to play air on Tuesday, Nov. 26, with $400,000 going to the winner.
High Stakes Duel first debuted in 2020, and is now in its fifth run. Previous iterations included the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari, Jason Koon, Daniel Negreanu, Doug Polk, Shaun Deeb, Mike Matusow, sports commentator Nick Wright, Tom Dwan, and reigning WSOP Player of the Year Scott Seiver.
For a full replay of this match and all previous and future episodes of High Stakes Duel, head on over to PokerGO.
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Photo credits: PokerGO /Antonio Abrego.