Poker Blog

Isildur1 VS Daniel Negreanu

The much anticipated matchup between Viktor Blom screen name Isildur1 finally kicked off at 3 pm EST on Sunday afternoon. Both players brought $150,000 to the tables and the two four-tabled $50-$100 NL Hold’em.

Isildur1 wasted no time getting out of the gates. In the first three hands of the match, Blom was all-in twice and came out on top in each hand. The result was $26,150 lead for Blom.

Negreanu tried to keep things close between the two, but by about hand 658, Isildur1 had jumped out to a $61,300 lead. To say that Isildur1 was running well was an understatement. Often, he was behind in hands against Negreanu, and managed to find a way to come out on top. For example, in the following hand, Blom shoved all-in on the flop with just a flush draw. Negrenau had flopped top pair with best kicker and called. The turn came trips for Negreanu, but the river fell a disastrous spade to give Isildur1 a $25,604 pot.

By the time we got to hand 935, Isildur1 had broken the $100k mark and play had degraded down to just three tables. Isildur1 led by $119k at this point. Isildur1 wasn’t winning them all by luck however. In the following hand, Negreanu decided to shove on the flop with an open ended straight draw. Isildur1 had pocket aces and made the easy call. Daniel couldn’t hit his outs, and Isildur1 took another $14k pot.

Play was down to about two tables and things looked to be about over with when Negreanu made a final comeback attempt around hand 1,165. He managed to grow his roll back to enough to force the online poker match back to four tables. Part of his comeback was based on doubling up against Isildur1 after catching quads on the turn. Negreanu had flopped a set of sixes and Isildur1 a flush draw. The turn brought another six and Isildur1 decided that shoving with a flush draw here was a good move. Daniel obviously wasted no time in calling and the rail got a good laugh as Negreanu doubled up with quads.

That was really the last gasp for Negreanu as it was all downhill from that point. Eventually, the match moved down to three tables, then two, and then finally to just a single table. Negreanu was down to his last $11,000 when he decided to gamble with Isildur1. After Blom made it $300, Daniel raised to $1,000. Isildur1 decided then super-shove for $22,903. Daniel thought for a while and finally said “meh” and “let’s gamble I guess.” He then made the call showing Ks-Jc. Isildur1 showed Ac-Kh and Daniel was dominated. The flop fell 10s-7d-Jd to give Negreanu top pair. Of course, as was customary on this day, Isildur1 hit the turn when the Qc. Only a river ace would allow Negreanu to chop the pot. The river fell the 4d and the beat down was over.

The first match between Daniel Negreanu and Viktor Blom ended with Blom busting Daniel in 1,439 hands. After the match, Daniel stated ” That was pretty frustrating. Lost the match in 1439 hands. In 20k + pots he beat me 12-2 and I ran 44k under par in all in pots again.” This is the first challenge that has ended early due to someone busting. Of course, this is not much of a surprise considering that Negreanu has been getting his teeth kicked in recently at the $50-$100 heads-up tables. Perhaps he should have taken his own advice and waited a while longer to play Blom.

This challenge had been originally scheduled to take place over two weekends and for a total of 5,000 hands. It is unclear whether week two will now happen due to Negreanu’s busting. An announcement has not been made regarding the 2nd week as of the time of the posting of this article.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

Ever since Pokerstars announced their SuperStar Showdown Challenge with Vikor Blom screen name Isildur1, players have been clamoring to see him face fellow poker pro and four time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu. Now fans will finally get their wish. Pokerstars announced yesterday that Negreanu will be Blom’s next opponent.

Daniel Negreanu Image

Unlike prior challenges, this event will be held over two days and the two will play 2,500 hands each day. The first day of the challenge will be March 20th. At the end of play on the 20th, their remaining stacks will be carried over to their second round of play on March 27th.

The two players have already decided on the format. The two players will play $50 – $100 NL Hold’em for the duration of the match and will both carry $150,000 to the tables to battle with.

Fans have been wanting this online poker match for some time, and Negreanu had originally said on twoplustwo forums that it may be years before he was ready. Daniel had been practicing for a while by multi-tabling $5 – $10 NL, and it appears that the experience gained there has given him the confidence to take on Isildur1.

However, from the looks of his play in the last couple of days, he may want to reconsider. Just prior to the announcement of the match with Blom, Negreanu was playing heads-up at the $50 – $100 tables with “Sauce123″. He lost $100,000 and claimed via twitter that the loss builds character. Daniel must have felt he needed more character building because later in the evening, he faced the same player against, and again dropped $100,000. Blom has bound to like his chances heading into the match.

Isildur1 is 4-1 in the Superstar Challenge with his only loss coming to Isaac Haxton. He just squeaked by Attila Gulcsik scree name DodgyFish72 a couple of weeks ago by a mere $10. Of course, there are those that claim that Isildur1 was taking it easy on the qualifier. Negreanu may be out to prove something considering that he recently lost the All-Time Money List lead to Seidel. He also may be looking to prove to others that he is as competent as the internet phenom.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

In many sports, when an amateur faces off against a professional, the professional usually mops the floor with the amateur. Many expected the same to be the case in this past Sunday’s Pokerstars SuperStar Showdown challenge between Viktor Blom screenname “Isildur1″ and online qualifier DodgyFish72. DodgyFish72 survived a freeroll event and was given $15,000 to face the internet phenom. While most expected a sound beatdown, DodgyFish72 had other ideas.

The two players decided to four table $5-$10 NL Hold’em and early on, DodgyFish72 had a lead by a couple grand. However, it was not long before Isildur1 went on a streak and by the midway point of the match, Isildur1 lead by $10,768. It looked like this would be an utter route. Then things went a bit sour for Blom.

Blom was steadily leaking chips and slowly letting DodgyFish72 back into the game. The hand that gave him new life was a $5,550 pot that almost went to Blom. Blom called a three-bet pre-flop with K-9 and proceeded to catch trip kings on the flop. DodgyFish72 checked to Blom, who bet out and DodgyFish72 called. When an ace hit the turn, Isildur1 moved all-in with his trips. DodgyFish72 snap-called and showed pocket aces for aces-full and took down the $5,550 pot.

The $5,550 pot seemed to give DodgyFish72 new life as he proceeded to whittle away at Blom’s lead until the two players were dead even going into the final hand of play. On the final hand, DodgyFish72 was in the big blind and Isildur1 shoved for $3,745. Instead of trying to take a chance on beating Isildur1, DodgyFish72 decided to fold.

As such, Isildur1 won by just a single big blind. This was the smallest margin of victory for any of his matches. DodgyFish72 finished the day with $14,990 left of his original $15,000. In a way, you could say that DodgyFish72 walked away the winner in the match.

According to Onlinepoker.net, DodgyFish72 is Hungarian player Attila Gulcsik. Going into the match Sunday, Gulcsik had said “My main goal is to try and play well without making huge mistakes. It is obvious that I am a huge underdog as Viktor has significantly more experience being one of the best in the field of heads-up cash games.”

While the match proved to be a squeaker, many feel that Blom was not taking the game seriously. Some have even said that he let DodgyFish72 back into the match. Whether or not that is so, Blom is now 4-1 in the Challenge matches.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

PokerStars Superstar Showdown challenge 4

The fourth PokerStars Superstar Showdown challenge went down on Sunday as Viktor Blom screen name Isildur1 took on Eugene Katchalov screen name MyRabbiFoo. The two agreed to four-table $50-$100 No-Limit Hold’em for the event.

It wasn’t until around hand 400 that a player would take any type of a solid lead. On a board of Kd-6d-7d-6s, Katchalov moved all-in with Kh-Qh and Blom called with 9h-6h. Katchalov could not catch a king and Isildur1 drug a $20,300 pot. This gave Blom an $11,850.

Katchalov proceeded to erase that lead and managed to take the lead after a pair of 20k pots. He won a $22,000 pot after flopping a set and getting paid off. Then a bit later he cracked a set of threes against Isildur1 when he rivered a flush for a $20,800 pot.

Katchalov’s lead did not last long. A sizable pot went to Isildur1 when Katchalov ran pocket eights into aces. Then the largest pot of the night went down between the two. The board at the river was 2h-3c-Jd-Kh-9h and Katchalov moved all-in against Blom and was called. Katchalov turned over pocket nines for nines-full, but found himself second best when Blom turned over pocket kings for kings-full. Isildur1 drug the $62,500 pot and the match was never even close after that point.

In the end, Isildur1 took $111,750 against Katchalov, making this the most profitable challenge for Isildur1 to date. In the end, this wound up being one of the duller challenge events. Other than the run by Katchalov early on in the event, the match was never really close. Blom is now 3-1 in these challenges with his only loss coming in the inaugural event against Isaac Haxton.

The next SuperStar Showdown will take place on February 27. Isildur1 will take on online qualifier DodgyFish72 in a $5-$10 challenge event. DodgyFish72 won a heads-up freeroll event for the right to face Blom. PokerStars will put up $15,000 for DodgyFish72 to use in the event.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com