Big Bet Berkey Battles to Beat Box Breaker Bleznick
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Matt Berkey and Jared Bleznick battled on PokerGO's High Stakes Duel 6 for 12 hours of high-stakes no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha, with the former winning big.
PokerGO split up the match into two days — six hours each — culminating with Wednesday's finale that ended up lopsided but wasn't one-sided. That differs from the Day 1 session on Wednesday, which ended with both players nearly deadlocked in the $200/$400 cash game. Day 2 was anything but a tie.
High Stakes Duel originated in 2020 as a sit n' go style heads-up competition with Phil Hellmuth beating Daniel Negreanu in three straight matches. The show has evolved into, at least for the current edition, a cash game, and there was no shortage of monster pots.
Bleznick Battles in Round 1
Bleznick, one of the OG's of sports card box breaking livestreams, defeated Poker Hall of Famer Patrik Antonius last year three straight matches on High Stakes Duel 5 for a $350,000 profit. He found a new opponent, and this one turned out to be a tougher challenge.
Each player bought in for $100,000 on Day 1, and both players would add on some throughout the six-hour contest. Bleznick finished with a $22,700 profit, but that's small potatoes considering the length of time and stakes they were playing.
"Not much blood considering six hours of play," PokerGO commentator Alex Livingston said at the end of the show.
Despite the close final result, there were a number of large pots throughout the match. Bleznick jumped out to an early lead in a PLO hand with a set on the turn against a straight draw that didn't come through on the river. Berkey would fold to a river bet and surrender a pot that had reached $150,000.
Berkey would earn a double moments later, however, when he hit a flush on the river to get back to just over his $100,000 starting stack. Bleznick, however, would go on to bleed Berkey's stack down over the next two hours. But that didn't last long as the Solve for Why founder came right back to even the score.
The game then switched to NLH, and Berkey, an NLH specialist, would take over in his best game. Well, right up until he ran into a rough one with 6?3? on a board of 4?J?6?3?A? and $30,400 in the pot. Berkey checked, and then faced an all in bet of $56,000, which he begrudgingly called only to find out his opponent had 5?2? for a straight. Berkey added on $100,000 to his stack and come back to book a small win.
Poker Pro Turns on the Jets
The second match on Wednesday wasn't nearly as close as the first. But Bleznick did battle, he just found himself on the losing end of the biggest pots. He'd pick up some early chips with Q?Q? when his opponent three-bet preflop, and then folded to a four-bet, with Q?7?.
Bleznick, however, attempted some aggression with ace-high on a board of 5?9?5?8?Q?, using the A? in his hand to block the nut flush, as he bet $15,000 into a pot of the same size. And it would get through as Berkey, holding A?8?, mucked his cards and fell to an early deficit.
Berkey started picking up the aggression. In one hand, he made a sizable wager of $17,000 on the river with nine-high and got it through against king-high. That hand, as Livingston said at the time, was "a huge turning point for Berkey," because had he lost the hand, he would have been getting close to needing another add-on.
Instead, he was back in the ballgame, but Bleznick came right back and Berkey would have to add-on another $100,000 after his stack dipped below $50,000. Berkey would fall even further behind, down about $160,000 on the session before it all turned around thanks to one fortunate river card.
Bleznick would four-bet to $16,500 with K?6? and receive a call from 8?7?. The flop came out 7?K?Q? and Berkey would check-call a bet of $16,000. The turn was the 6? which brought some serious action. Berkey. who turned a flush draw, again checked and so did his opponent.
The J? on the river completed the flush, but Berkey went for the sneaky check, hoping to induce a bet. He'd get his wish when Bleznick fired out a wager of $35,500, about half the size of the pot. But the value bettor would face an all in shove for $139,000, leaving "The Backer" in a tough spot with two pair. He made the correct but difficult fold to save $100,000, but his opponent gained some momentum.
Berkey then brought out a big bet of $47,500 on the river into a pot of $33,400 with queen-high, which forced king-high off the pot. Bleznick would, shortly after, lose his entire stack when he flopped top pair and ran into an over pair.
Bleznick had one misstep in a $100,000 pot he won when he turned a set to crack aces, but attempted to induce a raise on the river when he bet small and his opponent only called.
"God, how good do you play?" a frustrated but impressed Bleznick asked. "How good are you at poker?"
Berkey, after raising the turn, would check back J?6? on the river with $93,400 in the pot on a board of 6?Q?2?J?J?. Bleznick had 9?4? for a missed flush draw and bet $25,000 on a bluff. He'd be forced to fold when the all in check-raise came.
Despite trailing a bit in the match, Berkey came to play. On a board of 8?3?3?, Bleznick bet $38,000 with 10?9? and Berkey, holding A?Q?, sniffed it out and confidently moved all in for $143,000, enough to take down the pot.
Bleznick was continually put in tough spots and it turned out to cost him the match. He faced a $33,000 bet with A?J? on a board of 7?8?10?J?7? and couldn't find a fold against Q?2?. It was just that kind of night for the owner of Blez Sports.
The end result was a $315,000 loss for Bleznick across the two six-hour sessions. Berkey is the champion of High Stakes Duel 6.
*Images courtesy of PokerGO.
