Nik Airball has accepted Matt Berkey’s challenge to a much anticipated $200/$400 Heads-Up Grudge match, which will be played over an entired month and has no maximum buy-in!
Berkey, I formally accept your offer to play $200/400(400) $100k min, every day at 4pm for a month in Vegas. I will come next week to begin our match. @helloitslynne can act as an arbitrator for exact terms. pic.twitter.com/L9XVonD7Fu
— Nik Airball (@nikairball) March 26, 2023
Matt Berkey and Nik Airball Set Terms for High Stakes Heads-Up Battle
Terms for a match vs @nikairball are set.
$200/400(400)
$100k min, no max
3 sessions (Sat, Sun, Mon) ea week, 6.5 hrs/session
Match will last 100 hrs
Either player can quit down 1mm+
10k penalty for missed session or quitting early.
Venue yet to be finalizedI’ll keep a…
— Matt Berkey (@berkey11) March 26, 2023
The terms are as serious as any of the recent heads-up matches we have seen in recent years. Each player must sit with at least $100K to play three times per week and the only way out early is to lose more than $1 million. All that’s left to decide upon is the venue.
Whether it was just to play to the crowd, or not, Nik Airball doubled down on his previous criticism of Matt Berkey and called his rival a “fraud” and a losing player. Pretty much the biggest insult you can face in the poker world.
Is All the Criticism of Matt Berkey Justified?
There’s no doubt that Matt Berkey has come under fire from all quarters over the last few days, but is it all justified?
Matt Berkey has been called a scammer and had the quality of his game called into question. Neither point with any evidence.
Patrick Leonard was quick to jump to Berkey’s defence, calling the abuse “disgusting” and pointing out that not really wanting to play such a challenge is not shameful in anyway. He added that most of the heroes in the poker world don’t even have the bankroll to take on such a challenge.
Poker community turning on Berkey is disgusting imo. He coaches Americans to play 2/5 cash, why should he be laughed at for not wanting to play heads up (a format he’s never coached) 1000x (literally) the stakes? If you’re surprised he’s not bankrolled to play 500kHUNL then I’m…
— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) March 23, 2023
Sadly, it doesn’t look like we’re going to get any kind of live stream for this grudge match, only post-session updates as it all happens. But for 100+ hours of promised action, there will certainly be plenty to talk about.
If it all goes well for Matt Berkey, could we see him use his profits to take on Doug Polk? The Upswing Poker founder tweeted the other day that if the match offer was open to everybody, he will fly over and “personally end you.”
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