Ossi 'Monarch' Ketola sat down for more nosebleed heads-up action this weekend, finding foes in Wiktor 'Limitless' Malinowski and Alex Foxen in two double headers at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju.
Monarch, a flashy Finnish entrepreneur who dropped $15 milion in a clash with Dan 'Jungleman' Cates last month, spent millions more against the two pros on Saturday and Sunday, losing both matches to Malinowski for a total of $6 million and splitting with Foxen to lose $3 million more.
It well went down in South Korea, where the Triton Super High Roller Series in Jeju is running concurrent to the spontaneous heads-up challenges.
Monarch grabbed a quick win from Foxen in the first half of their matchup, but the rest was bad news. Limitless rebounds after early bluff
The barrage of giant pots started on Saturday when Monarch sat down against Malinowski for a match where each player tossed in $2 million and played $10K/20K. A still relatively-unknown Monarch jumped out to an early lead with a big bluff.
The board of 
had nothing for Monarch and his 
, but that didn't stop him from firing $750K into a pot that had swelled to over $1 million. Malinowski, who held 
, eventually got away from it and handed the chip lead to Monarch. It was all in the game for the unpredictable gambler, who used his image often to play against the pro's expectations.
Soon after, however, Malinowski got it all back and more with 
after Monarch three-bet with 
. Malinowski fired back a four-bet and called Monarch's shoved for his last $1.6 million. The board ran out 
and Malinowski's kings left Monarch in a lot of trouble. Malinowski soon closed the deal on Round 1 and the players took a short break before doubling the stakes for another go.
The bad news continued for Monarch in Round 2, where back-and-forth big bets came to a head with Monarch holding 
against Malinowski's 
. A $400K three-bet from Monarch juiced the pot and the 
stimulated the action, starting with $300K on the flop. The turn was 
and another $700K went in from each player to set up a $2.8 million pot and a 
river card. Monarch tapped the table for a third time after two check-calls and Malinowski shoved with the bigger stack. Monarch called for his last $2.1 million and the match ended with an empty-handed Finlander, who would have to return on Sunday to try and get it back against Foxen.
Foxen tags in
Foxen was to be a big test for Monarch, who seems to want to play against anyone for as much money as possible. It wasn't a chatty affair, but it did start out much different than Saturday after Monarch made quick work of Foxen in the first match, grabbing $2 million in just one hour.
It started fast when Monarch built a straight to put Foxen down $900K within minutes. Moments later, Foxen misfired on a bluff that set him back for good and he eventually got it all in with a wheel straight, but Monarch turned over a flush to end the match inside of 60 minutes.
Foxen tuned up Monarch for the rope-a-dope in the second session. The two players took a break and sat back down with bigger stakes for a rematch that would cost $5 million each, and the results proved different than the first frame. An early straight gave Foxen the lead and he did not give any ground for the rest of the duel, though Monarch managed to squeeze out of spots that could have ended the match a lot earlier.
In one such instance, Foxen jammed with after Monarch tossed out $400K on a board of 
with 
. Monarch went deep into the tank with the shared trips, eventually tossing the worst hand into the muck to protect his last $2.6 million.
At another point, Foxen put Monarch to the test when he was down to less than $1 million. Monarch had 
on a board of 
and Foxen shoved with a dusty 
. The unpredictable Monarch found a call and a little bit of life late in the match.
It wouldn't matter, however, as Foxen kept the pressure on and eventually took the whole jackpot when Monarch's pocket eights couldn't outrun Foxen's king-queen after two pairs fell on the flop.
In total, it appears to be a $9 million loss across the two challenges for Monarch, who may have gone for another rematch against Foxen if it weren't already the next morning in South Korea.
Image courtesy of Triton Poker.
