Ossi ‘Monarch’ Ketola stepped into the poker spotlight over the last few months in a series of streamed, record-setting heads-up poker matches. The Finnish player drew significant controversy during that period of time because of a series of social media posts with racial slurs.
In recent days, Ketola’s X account was suspended, along with the accounts of two of his businesses.
Across a Twitch stream and on Ketola’s Discord server, he announced the bans to his community. Along with his personal account, the X accounts of Duel, the crypto-based gambling site, and CSGOEmpire, Ketola’s original breakout business based on gambling skins in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, were all suspended.
While it’s unclear what action caused the suspension, Ketola classified the suspension as an “attack.” Ketola’s implication is that the root cause was related to rival platforms or entities in the gambling space.
Ketola claimed, “we are at war” with other crypto casinos, referring to Duel’s recent 100% RTP (percentage of prizes returned to player) as an inciting element.
A Whirlwind Moment In Poker
Back in August, Ketola entered the poker consciousness because of a daylong battle with Dan Cates. Over six matches, Ketola dropped four out of six matches and lost an estimated $14 million.
Ketola went on to battle Alex Foxen, Wiktor Malinowski, Kayhan Mokri, Elias Talvitie, and Bjorn Li, in a series of escalating matches. Across August and September, in 27 total matches, Ketola lost around $21 million.
Along the way, Ketola set the record for the largest televised pot in poker history, and then broke it again shortly thereafter.
Each match and the attention it garnered drove significant attention to Ketola and his platforms. Now, Ketola finds himself in a battle to regain access to his social media accounts, three significant drivers of traffic to his platforms.
