Jared Bleznick Sweeps Patrik Antonius To Win High Stakes Duel 5Sports Card Business Owner Earned $350,000 Thanks To Three Consecutive Heads-Up VIctories Over Poker Hall of Famer |
|
Sometimes one needs to know when to wave the white flag. Or, in this case, when to throw it in.
For Poker Hall of Famer Patrik Antonius, that moment came after he lost his third consecutive heads-up no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha match against Jared Bleznick on PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel 5.
The show pitted the two against each other in escalating one-on-one showdowns, with Bleznick coming out on top in each of them. He made relatively quick work of Antonius in round 1, which sported a $50,000 buy-in. Round 2, which cost $100,000 from each contender, also went to Bleznick after just a couple of hours.
The third round, at $200,000 a piece, was a much longer affair. It ultimately took Bleznick, a sports card business owner and longtime high-stakes poker player, over five hours to close out this victory this time. Bleznick, who has a World Series of Poker bracelet and last year’s Super High Roller Bowl Pot-Limit Omaha ring in his trophy collection, might need more space to accommodate the hefty High Stakes Duel champions belt.
While Antonius is out $350,000 after his losses, the 43-year-old Finnish poker legend will likely be able to take comfort in the fact that he is having one of his best year’s ever on the live tournament circuit. He has cashed for more than $12.1 million so far in 2024 across 19 in-the-money finishes, including taking down the recent Triton Monte Carlo $200,000 invitational for a career-best $5,130,000 payday. The former tennis pro and model now has more than $29.2 million in lifetime cashes to his name.
Round 3 Action
The players took a seat with $200,000 in chips each, with initial blinds of $300-$600
for an opening round of PLO. The game switched every ten hands between PLO and NLH. After slow starts in the first two rounds, Antonius managed to hop out to a quick lead this time around. At the end of the first hour, Bleznick (listed as ‘The Backer’ on the hole card graphics during the match) managed to even the playing field when his pocket fives rivered a full house to best the turned aces up of Antonius.
Hour two also concluded with a larger pot, with Antonius turning the nut flush against Bleznick’s smaller flush (with straight flush redraw) and a set of fives. The river paired the board to give Bleznick fives full and the pot. His small river bet of $6,000 into a pot of $24,400 was called by Antonius to give Bleznick roughly an 11:9 advantage heading into the third hour of action.
Not long after that, the two squared off in a sizable no-limit hold’em clash. With blinds of $800-$1,600, Antonius raised to $4,000 from the button with A
6 and Bleznick called with Q8
from the big blind. The flop came down K109 and Bleznick led out for $3,000. Antonius called and the turn brought the A to give Antonius top pair to go along with his nut flush draw. Bleznick checked and Antonius bet $10,000. Bleznick check-raised to $28,000 and Antonius called. The river brought the 5 to give Antonius the nuts with $70,000 already in the middle. Bleznick mulled over his options before deciding to fire a sizable bluff of $58,000. Antonius moved all-in for $125,000 and Bleznick quickly folded to give the Finn roughly a 5:3 chip lead.
Flush-over-flush in PLO saw Bleznick edge back in front, with his nut flush topping Antonius’ second-nuts. Bleznick then extended his advantage thanks to a wheel besting Antonius’ set of fives. Both platers had flush redraws, but those ended up not coming in on the river. Bleznick’s five-high straight was the nuts on the end. He bet the pot for $107,000. Antonius went into the tank before making the correct laydown, preserving his remaining $117,500 while Bleznick’s stack soared to $282,500.
Antonius briefly evened things up with a set of deuces against top two for Bleznick, who was able to eventually get away on the turn. Soon after, his stack began to slide. After a failed bluff attempt into jacks full for Bleznick, Antonius was left with fewer than 25 big blinds.
The final hour of play was action packed, with several dramatic all-ins. Antonius’s stack was all but committed with KJ109 against Bleznick’s AA
J2. Antonius flopped jacks up and an open-ended straight draw on J98 and the last $8,000 went into the pot. Bleznick opted to use his one ‘run it twice’ option. He was behind at the moment, but had the nut flush draw and several other ways to win the pot. In the first runout the 3
and 5 kept Antonius ahead. The second time around saw the 10 turn complete Bleznick’s diamond draw to give him the lead, but Antonius made three pair to give him several outs to a full house. The river was the Q, though, and the two chopped the pot.
Antonius was down to $65,000 when the next big all-in arose. He got all-in from the button with A7 and was in trouble against KK for Bleznick. Antonius had just a 29 percent chance of winning the pot preflop. The JJ5 flop left him with a 16 percent shot at doubling. It came in with the A on the turn. Bleznick was down to two outs heading into the river to end the match there, but the 8 rolled off instead.
O U C H
Round 3 of High Stakes Duel 5 is LIVE now!
: https://t.co/5a1A6SsAuI pic.twitter.com/cdfUd16NAe— PokerGO (@PokerGO) November 27, 2024
After all of this, the two were essentially back to starting stacks early in the fifth hour of action. Bleznick then won a healthy pot with middle pair against a flop bluff from Antonius in NLH to jump back out to a lead ahead of the final hand of the tournament. With $4,000-$8,000 blinds, Antonius looked down at K4 on the button and open-shoved for $123,000. Bleznick picked up A5 and asked for a count. He made the call and saw that he was ahead. Antonius asked Bleznick if he would prefer to run it once or twice, as Antonius still had his one option to run it twice in his pocket.
“I’m going to tell you, win or lose, okay, I’m going to tell you this right now, I’m being honest… win or lose, I completely outplayed you. You can pick, I don’t care,” said Bleznick.
Antonius opted for one time and the two shook hands. The board came down 742 and Antonius jumped ahead.
“This is why I don’t play poker anymore,” lamented Bleznick. “Give me a three, I deserve a three.”
The 3 rolled off on the turn. “Thank you,” said Bleznick, who had his opponent drawing dead.
Antonius began to leave the studio, before returning to grab and toss in the white flag.
Bleznick sat with his hands on his head for a moment before commenting to somebody off screen that, “I played so good…. Wait til you see the film, I bluffed him so many times.”
With this win, Bleznick became the second player to win High Stakes Duel in a sweep, following in the footsteps of 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, who went 3-0 against Antonio Esfandiari in this show’s debut and then did the same in the next round against Daniel Negreanu.
Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
