Poker Writer
Ossi “Monarch” Ketola conducted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit last week, in which he ruled out the possibility of introducing poker to Duel. While most questions focused on either his high-stakes poker matches or his racist behavior on social media, one user floated the idea of bringing rake-free poker to Ketola’s new venture, Duel.com.
Ketola made his fortune in the skin betting space, but is now pivoting to real-money gaming with Duel. Currently, the new site offers traditional casino games and sports betting, and boasts of offering certain games with zero house edge. The user asked Monarch if the zero-edge gimmick might mean adding zero-rake poker to the mix as well.
To which the Finn replied:
I would fucking love to implement poker, but I’m afraid it’s just an uphill battle. I firmly believe online poker is dying & also I believe that poker sites must do some really deceptive shit in order to succeed. A legitimate/transparent/pure poker site wouldn’t succeed imo
a huge pity.
So, that settles it. Duel does not offer poker and does not plan to do so in the future.
Ketola’s answer reiterates his belief that most online gambling is a scam or shady business, a sentiment he has expressed before. He has called other sites’ bonusing systems a “Ponzi scheme” and insinuated that any random number generation system that doesn’t provide public transparency is suspect. Regulated gambling sites typically rely on third-party certification to demonstrate fairness.
Duel Poker Would Have Been Controversial
It may be for the best for the poker world at large that a poker room on duel.com is not going to happen.
Ketola has quickly become a polarizing figure because of his affinity for dropping slurs on social media. Duel does not moderate its chat or usernames, so site visitors are often met with a wall of slurs and profanity as soon as they arrive.
2012 WSOP Main Event runner-up Jay Farber was one of the first to call out Ketola for his multiple racist tweets. PokerGO presenter Jeff Platt was among those who backed up Farber:
Extremely racist, extremely antisemitic
The guy sucks
The poker world is already politically polarized and prone to personal drama as it is.
While rake-free poker would no doubt be irresistible to some, playing poker on a site run by Ketola would no doubt be controversial. There would likely be many cases of players choosing to participate in games there and being called out for doing so by their peers.
The Reddit AMA offers a glimpse into the polarization surrounding Ketola. While some questions came from apparent fans, many others used the opportunity to challenge Ketola about his racial comments. One user asked Ketola why he was “such a shitty person even though life has made you extremely wealthy”.
Others seemed more interested in egging Monarch on, with one heavily-upvoted question asking “What’s your favorite slur?”
Ketola and his supporters have shown they are not ones to back down from accusations of racism or other attacks. Because of his background in skin betting, Ketola’s following intersects more heavily with the world of video gaming than gambling. He and they fall into the so-called “edgelord” subculture, in which racism and other violations of social norms are a form of posturing.
