The third and final heads-up battle between Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari took place last night on Poker Central’s PokerGO streaming service and after eight levels of top quality action, it was The Poker Brat who emerged as a 3-0 winner, taking home $400,000 after winning three in a row against one of his oldest frenemies.

Hellmuth taking on Esfandiari has been the perfect way to start the new series High Stakes Duel on PokerGO, and with less original poker content around than normal due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Poker Central should take a bow for the series. The concept is very simple; both players put up an amount, which starts at $50,000 in Series 1, before that amount doubles with each rematch. If a player wants to quite either while behind or ahead then another poker player can step into the hot seat and take up the challenge.

Hellmuth had gone 2-0 for the first two bouts with Antonio Esfandiari, known as ‘The Magician’ since he used to be part of the Magic Circle. It was Hellmuth who played tricks with his opponent across the first two rounds of the High Stakes Duel, however, and he was going into the match with a lot of confidence. As we found out in the ‘Weigh-In’, hosted by Nick Schulman, it was perhaps Esfandiari who was feeling the pressure. 

“You win the first two and it’s huge,” Esfandiari said in the pre-match show which acts as the ‘trash-talk’ section of the heavyweight bout. “If I win the third one, I’m actually up more money. I used to care about the glory. These days, I care way more about the money.”