On Wednesday, December 7, 2022, Phil Hellmuth and Jason Koon will battle at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas for High Stakes Duel 3 Round 5. The match is for $1,600,000. Poker fans from around the world will be able to watch the match live on PokerGO.
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With a 9-1 record and two High Stakes Duel championship belts in his trophy case, Hellmuth is the man to beat in High Stakes Duel. If he wins this match against Koon, he’ll earn the right to walk away, pocket the prize money, and earn his third High Stakes Duel title. Should Koon defeat Hellmuth, then the competition will climb to Round 6 — where a $3,200,000 match will be played, and Hellmuth will have the first right to a rematch against Koon.
What is High Stakes Duel?
High Stakes Duel is an original series from PokerGO that pits two competitors against one another in the heads-up format. The starting buy-in level for High Stakes Duel is $50,000, and with each new round the stakes double.
Under the current rules of High Stakes Duel, a player can walk away victorious, meaning they win the High Stakes Duel championship belt, by achieving one of two things. First, if a player wins three consecutive matches prior to Round 4, then they can walk away the champion. Second, if a player wins two consecutive matches starting with Round 4, then they can leave as the winner.
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Each round is played at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on a specially designed heads-up poker table. Each round is its own heads-up poker tournament, with escalating blinds based on the event’s structure and an action timer used.
High Stakes Duel was announced in July 2020, with the first-ever High Stakes Duel match taking place on July 30, 2020, between Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari.
Hellmuth’s tremendous High Stakes Duel record
There have been 10 High Stakes Duel matches to date, and Hellmuth has been involved in every single one of them. His record is an outstanding 9-1 in those 10 matches, and he’s already claimed two High Stakes Duel championship belts. Along the way, Hellmuth has wins against Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Nick Wright, Tom Dwan, and Scott Seiver.
In High Stakes Duel 1, Hellmuth faced Antonio Esfandiari and defeated “The Magician” in three straight rounds to win his first High Stakes Duel title belt and $200,000 profit. Keep in mind that Hellmuth profited that $200,000 having put up just $50,000 of his own money.
After Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu was next. Just like he made Esfandiari disappear, Hellmuth grounded “Kid Poker” in three straight rounds of High Stakes Duel 2. This gave Hellmuth his second High Stakes Duel belt and another $200,000 in profit.
Nick Wright, sports media personality and host Fox Sports 1's First Things First, was first up in High Stakes Duel 3, and Hellmuth dispatched of Wright like a freezing cold take. Poker star Tom Dwan jumped into the ring next and became the first player to defeat Hellmuth in a High Stakes Duel round. Hellmuth returned to rematch Dwan and got the victory. Although he was originally scheduled to rematch Hellmuth, Dwan backed out due to a scheduling conflict and in came Scott Seiver.
In High Stakes Duel 3 Round 4, Hellmuth defeated Seiver. This gave Hellmuth his second consecutive win and set him up for a chance to win Round 5 to claim another High Stakes Duel belt. Although Seiver first agreed to rematch Hellmuth in what would become the largest High Stakes Duel match ever, Seiver backed out. Jason Koon tossed his hat into the ring next, which brings the competition to where it is today.
How do Hellmuth and Koon stack up?
The plan was for Hellmuth and Seiver to have a rematch in High Stakes Duel 3 Round 5. Seiver ended up backing out of the competition, which left Hellmuth opponent-less for the $1,600,000 match. The seat opposite Hellmuth was soon filled by high-stake poker professional Jason Koon, who will be competing in his first-ever High Stakes Duel match at the $1,600,000 level.
Although Koon doesn’t have near as many WSOP gold bracelets as Hellmuth does - it’s 16-1 in favor of Hellmuth, with Koon having scooped his first WSOP gold bracelet in 2021 - Koon has won more than $40,000,000 in live poker tournaments to the more than $28,000,000 that Hellmuth has won. Among Koon’s live tournament results are nine cashes for $1,000,000 or more. His largest-ever cash was in 2018 when he won a Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro event for more than $3,500,000. For everything Hellmuth has accomplished in poker, he’s only cashed for $1,000,000 or more on four occasions. Hellmuth’s biggest-ever cash was in the 2012 WSOP Big One for One Drop for more than $2,600,000.
When it comes to open-field poker tournaments as tracked by HendonMob.com, Koon is 19-17 in heads-up play, which equates to a winning percentage of 52.78%. Hellmuth is 47-34 for a winning percentage of 58.02%. Keep in mind that these numbers don’t include Hellmuth’s nine wins and one loss on High Stakes Duel, as High Stakes Duel is not an open-field poker tournament.
At the 2021 WSOP, Koon won the star-studded $25,000 Heads-Up Championship after making his way through a very tough field of competitors. Koon also cashed in the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship at the 2014 WSOP and placed second in the 2012 WSOP $3,000 NL Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Heads-Up event.
Hellmuth won the 2005 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship and has had success in the event in other years. In 2009, he placed fifth. In 2013, Hellmuth finished runner-up. At the 2013 World Series of Poker, Hellmuth placed eighth in the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship.
How to watch High Stakes Duel: Hellmuth vs. Koon
High Stakes Duel 3 Round 5 can be watched live on PokerGO on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). The match takes place at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas and will be broadcast around the world on PokerGO.
PokerGO is available by going to PokerGO.com or by downloading the PokerGO app to your favorite device, including Android phone, Android tablet, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.
PokerGO is a subscription service with monthly, quarterly, and annual plans available. For a limited time, poker fans can sign up for an annual PokerGO subscription using the promo code “TSN2022” to receive $20 off the annual price and get all access for less than $7 per month.