Poker Writer
Tuesday’s high-stakes heads-up battle between Ossi “Monarch” Ketola and Dan “Jungleman” Cates in North Cyprus set records and smashed previous high-profile heads-up battles. PokerScout decided to look back at just how big it was compared with some other high-stakes matches while also looking to the future and what might come next.
What started as an impromptu challenge match at the Onyx Super High Roller series at the Merit Royal Diamond Resort became the largest poker game ever dealt in public. Cates and Ketola played blinds of €30,000/€60,000 that look like they belong only in a tournament structure.
Could Ketola’s thirst for nosebleed action push the envelope even further someday? Which opponents might come next? A couple of notable names have already popped onto the radar.
History Of High-Stakes Heads-Up Poker
The Monarch versus Jungleman match called to mind other high-profile heads-up cash game battles that have occurred in poker history. Andy Beal versus “the corporation,” “High-Stakes Duel,” and other battles have taken their places in poker lore for the mind-boggling sums changing hands.
Billionaire banker Beal took on a rotating cast of top poker pros between 2001 and 2004. They had to pool their bankrolls to raise enough capital to play. The battleground was limit hold’em, with stakes reaching at least $50,000/$100,000 — some reports had them as high as $100,000/$200,000.
Eight-figure swings followed. Beal reportedly amassed a win of roughly $10 million before losing more than $16 million back. Phil Ivey broke Beal across multiple days of play. “The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King,” a book by Michael Craig, provides an account of the match, which took place out of the public view.
In the public eye, PokerGO has run a series of heads-up battles called “High Stakes Duel” over the last few years. The concept is that two players pit themselves against one another in heads-up challenges. It features escalating stakes, with the loser having first right of refusal in a rematch at double the buy-in.
Jason Koon won the biggest match there, topping Phil Hellmuth for $1.6 million.
The most high-profile version of the “High Stakes Duel” series came in 2021. Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk re-branded it as “High Stakes Feud” as they took their bad blood to the felt in a series of heads-up matches. They ended up playing over the course of three months at $200/$400. Polk came out on top with a $1.2 million windfall.
The National Heads-Up Championship will return in the fall with prize money numbers going into the hundreds of thousands.
Aside from the Beal match, though, the swings haven’t compared to Jungleman versus Monarch.
Larger Matches On The Horizon?
Jungleman versus Monarch may have simply set the stage for more high-stakes battles on the regular. Ketola was actively searching for more opponents after Tuesday’s action. He has interacted with many players and fans on social media, many of whom await the next opponent. Alex Foxen and Doug Polk are two names to keep an eye on.
The Onyx Super High Roller series goes on for a few more days in Cyprus. Ketola could find yet another opponent there — he already faced Kayhan Mokri in addition to Cates. But he also could wait until the next Triton Poker Series stop in Jeju, South Korea.
Ketola has already sown the seeds of a possible match with Foxen.
— Alex Foxen (@WAFoxen) August 20, 2025
Doug Polk, after making a video about Jungleman’s big win, posted on X that he’s willing to play Monarch at nosebleeds. Ketola replied that he’ll play for Polk’s “entire net worth” with “no phones present.”
Could the matches in Cyprus on eventually pale in comparison to the even larger games to come? Cates admitted he had “a small piece of myself,” so even the world’s top heads-up players have to carefully consider meeting Ketola at the stakes he prefers.
Meanwhile, Ketola, proclaimed all the money at stake on his end comes from his pocket:
Intro for the poker newcomers:
– Yes, it’s 100% my own money. Never staking.
– Owner of http://Duel.com, the first ever 0% edge casino, launched a month ago.
– I am on a mission to build the fairest form of gambling, expose fraudulent operators & hunt down scammers.
