PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel returned on Tuesday with Jared Bleznick besting Patrik Antonius for the $100,000 payout at Aria in Las Vegas.
The event featured a departure from past duels, mixing no-limit hold’em with pot-limit Omaha where the game would change every 10 hands. Each player put up $50,000, and had the “run it twice” option they could use one time per round. The loser could also choose to take a double-or-nothing rematch or walk away from the duel, allowing another player to take their place.
Bleznick is a Las Vegas sports card shop owner and poker player originally from New York. A PLO specialist, he has $7.4 million in live tournament earnings and won the $50,000 high roller this summer at the World Series of Poker for more than $2 million and the $100,000 Super High Roller Bowl PLO event in 2023 for $1.3 million.
Antonius, who was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame this year, grabbed the biggest tournament score of his career last week in a Triton Poker event for $5.1 million. In March, he banked $1.7 million at Triton Jeju and then in April, he won the EPT Monte Carlo high roller for $2.1 million. His success this year has brought his recorded tournament earnings to just shy of $29 million.
Inside The Action
One interesting early hand came in PLO. On a board of A
Q
3 7
, Antonius looked to be in nice shape with Q
J 8 3. But a sizable bet on the turn by Bleznick with just J 9 8 7 saw Antonius fold his two pair and Bleznick collect a pot of $15,200.
Antonius and Bleznick were affable throughout the match, discussing the high-stakes poker scene, mixed games, and other topics. A short time after the PLO hand, Bleznick added a $24,600 pot with 10 7 against Antonius’s A 8. Bleznick caught a pair of sevens on the flop and Antonius couldn’t get away from paying off with his ace high.
Bleznick continued with aggression throughout the match, which paid dividends in a few key spots. The back-and-forth action came to a sudden end when both caught a pair of queens in a no-limit hold’em hand.
Bleznick raised to $2,500 with Qs 8s and Antonius made the call with K Q. The flop of Q 8 6 gave Antonius top pair, but Bleznick snagged top two pair. Antonius checked and Bleznick bet $2,000.
Antonius check-raised to $6,500 and that brought a reraise to $14,000 from Bleznick. Antonius then moved the last of his almost $40,000 chips in. Bleznick called and it was all over as the turn and river bricked out. He collected a total payout of $100,000 in the process.
With the match concluded, Antonius agreed to a rematch, set for Nov. 19 with stakes now at $100,000 each.
High Stakes Duel initially launched in 2020 and has featured the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Jason Koon, Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Doug Polk, Shaun Deeb, Mike Matusow, Nick Wright, Tom Dwan, and Scott Seiver. You can watch a full replay of the match, as well as all future episodes of High Stakes Duel on PokerGO.
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*Photos by PokerGO – Antonio Abrego