Thursday December 8, 2022 at 8:14 pm

High Stakes Duel III at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas continued with HSD3 heads-up champion Phil Hellmuth taking on challenger Jason Koon in Round 5. Koon defeated Hellmuth and banked $1.6 million. Hellmuth has the option for a rematch in Round 6, but the stakes are doubled to $3.2 million.

HellmuthKoon_HSD3R5

Ship it to Jason Koon! Koon defeated the Poker Brat in the latest installment of the popular heads up series High Stakes Duel. The third installment of High Stakes Duel III or HSD3, completed its fifth round with Phil Hellmuth taking on four different opponents and defeating three.

The original High Stake Duel features Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari, which seems like a decade ago. The Poker Brat edged out the Magician in three straight heads-up matches. In the second installment of High Stakes Duel II, Daniel Negreanu stepped into the limelight to battle Hellmuth. Kid Poker could not handle the Poker Brat, and dropped three heads up jousts in a row to lost HSD2.

High Stakes Duel III began with Phil Hellmuth battling Fox Sports announcer Nick Wright. Hellmuth easily defeated Wright in Round 1 to win a seventh-straight HSD match.

Wright declined a rematch, and HSD3 found a new opponent for the Poker Brat. HSD3 Round 2 featured Tom Dwan. Dwan and Hellmuth had previous bad blood stemming back to the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship during the apex of the poker boom in the mid 2000s. Dawn beat Hellmuth in the second round, much to the delight of haters and trolls. Hellmuth's record final had a blemish on it at 7-1.

Hellmuth wanted a rematch against the legendary Durrrr, and the two were set to meet in HSD3 Round 3. Hellmuth won the second battle against Dawn, and the Poker Brat took down Round 3. His record improved to 8-1. Dwan declined a rematch in the next round.

Scott Seiver decided to take a shot at Hellmuth in Round 4 with $800,000 on the line. It was another generational battle between a former online poker phenom versus Hellmuth representing the old guard. The grumpy and cantankerous old man fended off another internet whiz kid to win Round 4. Hellmuth defeated Seiver and his overall record improved to 9-1. The two were expected to meet again in Round 5 with the stakes raised to $1,600,000, but a scheduling conflict prevent Seiver from playing. That's when Jason Koon stepped in.

This time the old man in black could not beat the next young gunslinger who stepped up for a high-stakes showdown. Koon defeated Hellmuth in HSD3 Round 5 to bank $1.6 million. Hellmuth's record slip to 9-2.

It's up to Hellmuth to decide if he wants to a rematch worth $3.2 million for a sixth round of High Stakes Duel III . If the Poker Brat declines, then anyone else can challenge Koon if they have $1.6 million to pony up for Round 6.

The escalating and doubling stakes makes High Stakes Duel one of the best made-for-tv .... er, made-for-streaming... events. During the peak of the poker boom 15-plus years ago, TV executives could not figure out a way to generate excitement and drama of poker but contain it to a condensed time frame to appeal to specific broadcast schedules. Heads-up poker was a happy medium and comprise, which is why NBC spent big bucks to create and sponsor the Heads Up Poker Championship.

The recent high balla heads-up drama has been fun to watch since the pandemic began including the Phil Galfond challenges, the beef between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu, and the High Stakes Duel series with Hellmuth as the perfect foil and villain.

Stay tuned for more info on High Stakes Poker III Round 6 with $3.2 million at stake if you want to go swimming with Jason Koon and one of the deadliest sharks in poker. We'd love to see HSD3 continue and see the stakes continue to escalate to redonkulous nosebleed stakes. Round 7 would be $6.4 million, Round 8 would balloon to $12.8 million, Round 9 would double to an eye-popping $25.6 million, or how about $51.2 million for Round 10? Heck, let's go to Round 11 and $102.4 million. We'll see if anyone has the bankroll, backers, and/or balls to go nine-figures deep in a heads-up battle.

Latest news
Monday November 13, 2023 at 11:20 pm
Sami Bechahed wins 2023 NAPT Las Vegas Main Event

The PokerStars-branded North American Poker Tour made its triumphant return, and Sami Bechahed shipped the NAPT Las Vegas Main Event at Resorts World. The $1,650 buy-in NAPT Main Event attracted 1,095 runners and a prize pool worth $1.6 million. Bechahed -- a poker dealer -- banked $268,945 for first place when he outlasted a final table that included Jonathan Borenstein, David Coleman, Ping Liu, Sergio Aido, and Nick Schulman.

Saturday October 21, 2023 at 8:46 pm
Jared Bleznick ships $1.3 million at Super High Roller Bowl PLO

Jared Bleznick was the last player standing at the first-ever Super High Roller Bowl PLO $100,000 buy-in event at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas. Bleznick outlasted 38 runners and won $1,292,000 in the record-setting high roller PLO affair. Meanwhile, Isaac Haxton finished in second place but he moved into first place on the PokerGo Tour Leaderboard after his deep run.

Tuesday October 10, 2023 at 3:09 am
RIP Anthony Holden, ‘Big Deal' poker author passes away at 76

The poker world lost one of its finest authors when Anthony Holden passed away at age 76. Holden penned, translated, and edited nearly 40 books during his illustrious career as a journalist and writer. “Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player” is considered one of the best books ever written about poker, and it chronicled Holden's journey into the gambling underworld in Las Vegas in the late 1980s.

Tuesday September 19, 2023 at 12:27 am
2023 Poker Masters: Darren Elias, Vladas Tamasauskas early winners

The 2023 Poker Masters is underway at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas and two events are in the books. Lithuania's Vladas Tamasauskas outlasted a record-setting field of 114 entries to win Event #1 $10K NL for a score worth $239,400. American pro Darren Elias was the last player standing in Event #2 $10K NL and he banked $223,100 and his second PGT title.

Wednesday September 6, 2023 at 1:52 am
Simon Wiciak wins 2023 EPT Barcelona Main Event for €1.1 million

France's Simon Wiciak was the last player standing at the 2023 EPT Barcelona €5,300 buy-in Main Event, and he outlasted 2,120 runners to win €1,134,375 at a rowdy final table that included a pair of Brazilians. The final three players cut a money deal with Wiciak besting Brazil's Joao Sydenstricker and British pro Carl Shaw. The final table in Barcelona also included Canada's Santiago Plante, Brazil's Andre Akkari, and Argentina's Ezequiel Waigel.

Thursday August 24, 2023 at 7:19 pm
Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk meet in High Stakes Duel 4

The next big matchup in PokerGo's High Stakes Duel will feature Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk. The two pros will meet once again in the latest installment of HSD 4 Round 2. Polk defeated Negreanu in their own High Stakes Feud than ended in early 2021 with Negreanu losing $1.2 million after logging 25,000 hands of heads-up NL.

Friday August 18, 2023 at 5:35 pm
PokerStars releases 2023 WCOOP schedule

PokerStars released the schedule for the upcoming 2023 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). This year's epic and popular online series features 110 tournaments with three different tiered buy-ins and $80 million in guaranteed prize pools starting on Sunday, September 10 and running for 25 days through October 4. There are 12 championship events on the docket at the 2023 WCOOP.

Wednesday August 16, 2023 at 8:16 pm
Billy Kopp and Tobias Schwecht win WSOP Circuit Main Events

The World Series of Poker Circuit handed out gold rings to a pair of Main Event champions. German pro Tobias Schwecht was the last player standing at the World Series of Poker International Super Circuit London in the UK, and he banked £480K or approximately $610K USD for winning the Main Event. American pro and WSOP bracelet winner Billy Kopp locked up a third-career ring when he shipped 2023 WSOP Circuit Harrah's Cherokee Main Event in North Carolina for $376,154.

Tuesday August 15, 2023 at 12:13 am
2023 WSOP Paradise releases schedule

The WSOP released an official schedule of events for the inaugural WSOP Paradise at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The WSOP Paradise kicks off on December 3 and final event begins on December 14 with 15 bracelets events up for grabs. There's two online events and cards go in the air for the Main Event on December 9. The $25K GGMillion$ High Rollers Championship is slated for December 5.

Tuesday July 18, 2023 at 1:46 am
Breaking News
Dan Weinman wins 2023 WSOP Main Event for $12.1 million

The 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event finally played down from 10,043 entrants to the last player standing in Las Vegas. Atlanta-based pro Daniel Weinman is the 2023 WSOP Main Event champion and he earned a first-place payday worth $12.1 million. He also snagged a second-career bracelet. Americans finished 1-2-3 in this year's Main Event. Steven Jones was the runner up and he won $6.5 million for second place. Adam Walton won $4 million for a third-place finish.

Saturday July 15, 2023 at 10:46 pm
2023 WSOP: Adam Walton leads Main Event Final Table

The 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas reached a final table with nine players remaining in the hunt for $12.1 million and the coveted special bracelet. Adam Walton from Los Angeles leads the final table with 143.8M in chips. Also still alive are Americans Steven Jones and Dan Weinman, Toby Lewis and Dean Hutchison from the UK, Germany's Jan-Peter Jachtmann, Ukraine's Ruslan Prydryk, Juan Maceiras from Spain, and Daniel Holzner from Italy. The final table resumes on Sunday.

Tuesday July 11, 2023 at 2:35 pm
2023 WSOP Day 4 Update: Ryan Tosoc leads final 441

Day 4 of the 2023 WSOP Main Event saw the money bubble burst early on Monday and when they concluded the action, only 441 players survived and were left in the hunt. American pro Ryan Tosoc bagged the chip lead with 5.12M and two other players had stacks over 5M including Mitch Halverson and India's Aditya Systla. Also, John Racener is currently in the Top 10 in chips with 3.7M.

Free tournaments and added prizes

The Club Poker organizes freerolls and special tournaments with added prizes.
To qualify for free, register on our poker partners websites:

Tournaments Club Poker
6-MAX
$2.20
Big Poker League
tomorrow at 8:04 pm
$125 added