Poker Blog

Viktor Blom, aka Isildur1, is known across the poker world for his epic swings in high stake poker games. His $5 Million win in real money poker against Tom Dwan, followed by his loss of around $4.5 Million to Brian Hasting a couple of years ago highlighted his monumental swings.
In a recent interview with Bluff Europe, he talked about his rise and his downfall in 2009. He told Bluff Europe that he played marathon session with Dwan that lasted up to 18 hours at a time. He also stated that he felt that he was in the zone and could take on anyone in the world. That is one reason he chose to multi-table Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius at the same time.

Viktor Blom was then asked about his downfall. He first response was Pot-Limit Omaha and then he mentioned that he was not in the best physical shape and was not eating healthy. His final accusations, which have been subsequently removed from Bluff Europe’s interview dealt with what he felt was collusion on the part of Cole South and Brian Hastings.

“And yes, the collusion. I think they were angle-shooting, and cowards. One time I remember playing Cole South in a 300-600 game and I was so tilted that I was 3-betting every hand. And he was up and suddenly he quits! I said, “wtf?” He says sorry, he has to go. I thought to myself wtf is he doing? Then, seconds later, Hastings sits down (laughs). They were probably sitting next to each other! Then he beat me for $4.5 million.

In one session at 500-1000, running 3,2 mill over EV, I’d call a raise on the turn with a wrap and **** miss so many times in pots over 200k. It was so sick, and in the end he was keep typing in the chat when I was tilt and he ran like god, that he had to quit, I mean why quit a session like that, so sick of it. Maybe plan was Townsend or South was gonna play again?”

Other than data mining hand histories on the site, no other collusion has been proven thus far in regards to the incident with Hastings, South, and Isildur1. Hastings had his red pro status suspended due to the data mining incident.
Chances are that Isildur1’s first answer of Pot-Limit Omaha had more to do with his loss than any data mining done by players. It has been proven regularly that Blom is a virtual fish in the game, at least among high stakes players.
Blom is currently a PokerStars Team Pro and has regularly been featured in Superstar Showdown Challenges where he will play all challengers for $150,000 spread across four tables of either $50-$100 PL Omaha or $50-$100 NL Hold’em. Some smaller $5-$10 challenges have been held for online qualifiers.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

Last week, Scott Palmer screen name urnotindangr won $5,425 in the first of two rounds against Viktor Blom screen name isildur1 in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown Challenge. The two came back on Sunday to play another 2,500 and determine the winner of the match.

It did not take long before Blom jumped out to the lead. He quickly took a $21,000 lead and Palmer could not seem to win a decent pot against the internet phenom. Blom continued to dominated early on and by the time the match reached the 1,000 hand mark, Isildur1 was up $70,000. He managed to win 7 out of 9 all-in situations early on and there didn’t appear to be any way that Palmer could stop him.

As the match marched on, Isildur1 continued to take pot after pot. It didn’t matter whether he had the cards or not, he seemed to find a way to get there. With about 200 hands left in the match, Isildur1 had moved up to a $95,500 lead. This lead came off of the strength of a huge $47,000 pot.

Isildur1 three-bet pre-flop to $1,100 and urnotindangr made the call to see a flop of 8d-Qh-Ad. Blom bet out $1,300 and was called. The turn fell the Qc and then the fireworks commenced. Blom bet out $3,150 and was raised to $8,000 straight by Palmer. Blom then raised to $12,850 and was called. The river then fell the 2h and Blom moved all-in for $8,250. Palmer made the call and showed Qd-Jc for trip queen. Isildur1 then revealed Ah-Qs for a turned full house. This cooler for Palmer sent the $47,000 pot to Blom.

Palmer was able to narrow Blom’s lead to $60,407 with about 79 hands left, but he was able to get no closer. Blom would finish round 2 up $66,607 and would take the match with a profit of $61,182 after 5,000 hands.

Blom is now 6-2 in SuperStar Showdown Matches. Isildur1’s next opponent will be Mastermixus. He won Sunday’s SuperStar Showdown Qualifier and will receive $15,000 to play in a $5-$10 Showdown Challenge. The date of the challenge has not been officially released.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

Viktor Blom in another 2 part match up

April 3rd was another SuperStar Showdown on PokerStars. Viktor Blom screen name isildur1 was challenged by Scott Palmer screen name urnotindangr. Palmer is a high stakes player with some previous experience in competition against Blom. Due to the uniqueness of this event, like the last, it is being played over 2 weekends and 5000 hands. In a brief four hours, Scott Palmer came out of round one, up barely more than 5 thousand dollars.
Keeping in mind that all SuperStar Showdowns are played in a four table, heads up, 2500 hand match up playing either NL Hold’em and or pot limit Omaha (players choice), it’s clear why this event is drawing attention. The players this week will return next to compete in the same setup with the same bankroll they ended with. The way this match up has played out, it’s clear that Isildur1 has a nearly equal competitor in Palmer.
The whole match was played with huge swings in both directions, and at no time did either player seem unreachable. When the pair reached 2500 hands, Palmer had squeaked ahead with a mere 5425 dollars. The vast majority of the pots won in part one of this competition were far more than the final win amount.
Now, after splitting a similar competition with Daniel Negreanu last week, will he split this competition with Daniel Palmer? Or will we see Palmer sweep the PokerStars Pro at his own game?

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com

Daniel Negreanu Makes Epic Comeback to Win Vs Isildur1 in Superstar Showdown

Last weekend, Daniel Negreanu dropped $150,000 to Viktor Blom in the PokerStars Superstar Showdown. The match did not even go 1,500 hands and Negreanu vowed to come back with a fresh $150,000 to take another crack at Isildur1. The rematch between the two kicked off on Sunday afternoon on Pokerstars.

Daniel had made it very public that he planned to practice all week on Pokerstars in anticipation of the matchup with Blom. Early on in the match, it looked like that Negreanu’s hard work was going to be for naught as Isildur1 took the early lead. Blom was running hot against Negreanu and steadily built that lead until he was up over $110,000 at around the 1,500 hand mark.

Many fans were beginning to question whether Negreanu should even be in this matchup as the match moved down to just three tables. This looked to be a repeat of last week until Daniel started going on a bit of a run. In the series of around 158 hand, that all changed as Negreanu put on a massive run. He cut the deficit from $110,000 to just a mere $7,800. Most of this was done on the combination of big poker hands and a bit of good fortune. For example, a huge pot between the two players saw Daniel flop two pair with 7-8, and Isildur1 flop the nut straight. Unfortunately for Blom, Daniel caught a full house on the turn and when Blom shoved, Daniel stacked him.

Isildur1 hung onto his lead until about 348 hands left when Negreanu was sitting with over a $9,100 lead. Negreanu was indeed running well, but it was clear at this point that Isildur1 was pressing. For example, Isildur1 shoved pre-flop in a pot against Negreanu with A-Q after Negreanu four-bet. Negreanu called with queens and the hand held.

Isildur1 was able to retake the lead with about 258 hands left, but that lead went back to Negreanu in a huge set over set hand. The flop had both a ten and a four on it when Isildur1 decided to move all-in with his flopped set of fours. Daniel made the easy call after flopping a set of tens. The case four did not hit the board and Daniel looked in control.

With about 14 hands left to play, Negreanu had an $8,800 lead. The railbird were clamoring for Negreanu to fold to a win. Negreanu even said that he could do, but he would not. Daniel stayed true to his word as he got involved in a couple of all-in pots at the end and managed to win them both with pocket aces and pocket queens.

The final hand total for the match was 2,502 and Daniel Negreanu made a fantastic comeback to win the rematch by $26,500. This loss drops Isildur1 to 5-2 in the Superstar Showdown Challenge. His only other loss was in the very first match against Isaac Haxton. Between the two challenges, Isildur1 is up $123,500 over Negreanu.

The next matchup for this challenge was announced at the conclusion of the match. Next Sunday, Scott Palmer screen name urnotindanger will take on Isildur1 over a two week period and a total of 5,000 hands. The matchup between these two should be a hard fought one as Palmer is looking to avenge some recent losses online.

Play Online Poker

Subscribe to PokerBloggs.com