The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom is Back
If you’ve been following the high-stakes action over the last three months, you may have noticed that Viktor “Isildur1” Blom has been absent. The Team PokerStars Pro was on an unexplained hiatus, but returned on Friday, Dec. 9 with a $25/$50 pot-limit Omaha match against "VietRussian." While that was exciting news in itself, Blom didn’t stop there. Over the next few days, the Swede went on a tear, then lost some — an all-too-familiar roller-coaster ride.
Nonetheless, Blom ended up the week’s biggest winner after profiting $586,366 in 21,612 hands across 204 sessions. While that was certainly a good week of work, it is less than half of what he was up at one point. Not too far behind Blom was Ronny “1-onnyr3” Kaiser, who player 4,659 hands during 86 sessions and won $489,006.
VietRussian was the week’s biggest loser after dropping $492,722 in 69 sessions of 8,950 hands. Right behind him was a familiar player more accustomed to being in the winner’s column, Phil “MrSweets” Galfond, who dropped $486,798 in 46 sessions of 4,987 hands.
Here’s a look at Blom’s journey throughout the week, and how the two biggest losers got in that position.
Blom’s Return Marred by $120,000 Loss
While it was exciting to see Viktor "Isildur1" Blom back at the virtual felt, we’re sure he was less than pleased with his results when he became the day’s biggest loser on Friday, Dec. 9. As it turned out, the Swede dropped $120,000 playing PLO against the likes of VietRussian and Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane.
Not to be discouraged, Blom returned the following day and quickly erased Friday’s losses, even notching $69,000 in profit over 5,200 hands. In one hand, Blom ($33,242) was playing five-handed $50/$100 PLO when Davin “mTw-DaviN” Georgi ($28,470.54) opened for $300 from the cutoff, Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro ($8,235.45) three-bet to $900 from the button, and Blom called from the small blind. Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($10,000) then exercised his option in the big with a four-bet to $4,000, Georgi five-bet to $14,200, and Kelopuro called off. Blom came along for the ride, Kyllönen called off, and the flop came down 7♥K♥10♦.
Blom was first to act and wasted little time in moving all-in, prompting Georgi to call off his remaining $14,270.54.
Showdown
Georgi: A♠A♦K♦5♦
Kelopuro: J♣10♠9♠2♣
Kyllönen: A♣K♣J♥5♥
Blom: A♥8♥9♣6♠
Blom had flopped the nut-flush draw but failed to complete it as the 7♠ was put out on the turn followed by the 9♦ on the river. Lucky for him, though, he had hit a ten-high straight to take down the $75,195 pot.
Blom Books $620,000 Win on Saturday
After a rough start to his return, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom righted the ship on Friday night and carried his momentum into Saturday, scoring a huge $620,000 payday after playing 7,000 hands of $100/$200 PLO over 12 hours. Blom faced off against some of the game’s best, defeating everyone. Among the day’s losers were "Fake Love888" (rumored to be Patrik Antonius), Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond, Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen, and VietRussian, with the latter becoming the day’s biggest loser after dropping $241,000.
In what would be the biggest pot of the day, the aforementioned VietRussian ($106,951) was playing heads-up against Blom ($146,004) and opened for $600 from the button. Blom responded with a three-bet to $1,800, VietRussian four-bet to $5,400, Blom six-bet to $16,200, and VietRussian made the call, leading to the 10♠A♣7♥ flop. Blom quickly fired out $25,000, only to have VietRussian move all-in for $90,751. Blom made the call and suddenly $213,900 was on the line.
Showdown
VietRussian: 9♥10♦8♠7♠
Blom: A♦K♣Q♠J♣
VietRussian had flopped two pair and was out in front against Blom’s pair of aces. The 2♦ turn was of no consequence, but the Q♦ river delivered a straight for Blom, and the win.
In another hand between the two, Blom ($74,754) raised to $600 on the button and VietRussian ($178,207) called, bringing about the 5♦7♥K♠ flop. VietRussian checked, Blom bet $1,000, and VietRussian check-raised to $3,200. Not to be outdone, Blom three-bet to $10,798, VietRussian called, and the J♦ peeled off on the turn. Again VietRussian checked, Blom bet $22,794, and VietRussian check-raised to $76,131. Blom called off his remaining $40,562 and the cards were turned up:
Showdown
VietRussian: 7♣7♦2♥2♣
Blom: J♠3♠2♠K♥
Blom had turned top two pair but was way behind the flop set of VietRussian. Unfortunately for the latter, the day belonged to Blom, whose hand was no different as the J♥ spiked on the river to give him a winning full house and the $149,506 pot. With that, Blom was up nearly $1 million for the year on PokerStars.
Blom Adds Nearly a Million on Sunday
Just when it seemed as though things couldn’t go any better, Blom returned to the tables on Sunday and dominated the $100/$200 heads-up PLO tables, winning $952,000 and bringing his weekend total to $1.5 million! He destroyed Brian “aba20” Townsend to the tune of $180,000, and then dismantled Fake Love888 for $113,000. From there, he took Phil “MrSweets” Galfond for $136,000, which is where the following hand occurred (one that Galfond actually managed to win):
Galfond ($52,996) opened for $600 on the button, Blom ($74,778) called from the big blind, and the flop fell 10♥7♦7♣, prompting Blom to check. Galfond took the opportunity to bet $900, Blom raised to $2,800, Galfond called, and the 8♦ was put out on the turn. Blom bet $5,400, Galfond raised to $16,800, Blom called, and the 10♣ appeared on the river. This time Blom reverted to checking, Galfond bet $32,400, Blom raised, and Galfond called off his remaining $396. Blom rolled over 7♥7♠4♥A♠ for quad sevens, but amazingly it was no good against the 10♦10♠5♥4♣ rivered quads of Galfond, who was more than happy to rake in the $105,990 pot. Unfortunately, Galfond would be the day’s biggest loser, dropping $421,000.
In the biggest pot of the day, Blom ($74,570) opened for $600, Galfond ($73,476) called, and the flop came down 8♦6♣A♦. Galfond checked, Blom fired out $1,000, and Galfond check-raised to $3,400. Blom made the call and then proceeded to call Galfond’s bet of $6,800 on the K♠ turn. When the J♣ hit the river, Galfond checked, Blom bet $21,598, and Galfond moved all-in for $62,676. Blom made the call and revealed A♥8♠10♦10♥ for aces and eights, which was good against Galfond’s 4♣5♥7♦Q♦, for a $146,952 pot.
Blom’s huge win gave him $1.88 million in profit on the year and put him third on the PokerStars 2011 leaderboard behind Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies and Rafi “refaelamit” Amit. In fact, Blom was just one good score away from passing Sahamies’ leading $2.2 million.
Blom Falls Back to Earth & Drops $774K on Monday
On Monday, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom was back in action and looking to continue his incredible run. Unfortunately for him, variance swung the other way and he dropped $774,000 playing seven hours of $100/$200 and $200/$400 PLO. Seven different players managed to win six figures off the Swede, including four who profited $200,000; however, the biggest benefactor was Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen, who banked $470,000.
Kyllönen may have been the day’s biggest winner, but “long90110” wasn’t far behind with $344,000 in profit. What’s more, long90110 won the two biggest pots of the day. In one, Blom ($145,832) was playing $200/$400 PLO when he raised to $1,360 on the button and was met with a three-bet to $4,240 by long90110 ($105,572). Blom proceeded to four-bet to $12,880, long90110 five-bet $38,800, Blom called, and the flop ran out 10♠J♠4♦. Long90110 immediately moved all-in for $66,772 and Blom made the call.
Showdown
long90110: K♦K♥A♠2♠
Blom: 9♥8♦7♦3♥
Blom had flopped a straight draw while long90110 held pocket kings and the nut-flush draw. The 8♠ completed the flush and left Blom drawing dead. After the K♣ was put out on the river for good measure, long90110 was pushed the $211,144 pot.
In the other hand, five players were playing $200/$400 PLO when long90110 ($190,616) opened for $1,200 under the gun. Benny “Toweliestar” Spindler ($105,670) was next to act and raised to $3,000, which cleared the field all the way back to the original raiser. Long90110 made the call and then lead out for $5,400 on the 8♣8♠4♣ flop. Spindler made the call, the 3♣ hit the turn, and long90110 checked to Spindler, who fired out $10,400. Long90110 woke up with a check-raise to $36,800, Spindler called, and the K♣ was put out on the river.
Long90110 quickly bet $91,395 and Spindler called off for $60,470, showing A♣9♣A♠9♥ for the nut flush. Unfortunately for him, long90110 turned over 8♥4♦2♥10♦ for the flopped full house and the $211,860 win.
Although he wasn’t involved in the last hand, and even with his big loss, Blom is still up approximately $700,000 since returning to the tables last week.
Who's Up? Who's Down?
Week’s biggest winners (12/9-12/15): Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$586,366), Ronny “1-ronnyr3” Kaiser (+$489.006), Kanu7 (+$332,522), Terje “Terken89” Augdal ($331,909), Ville Wahlbeck (+$319,636)
Week’s biggest losers: VietRussian (-$492,722), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (-$486,798), Axelf82 (-$341,897)
Year-to-date winners: *Gus Hansen (+$3,941,000), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (+$2,445,000), Rafi “refaelamit” Amit (+$1,898,000), *Daniel “jungleman12” Cates (+$1,952,000), *Alexey “NoPasaran” Makarov (+$1,875,000), *Matt Hawrilenko (+$1,440,000), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$1,425,000)
Year-to-date losers: *Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$2,474,000), *Eugene “fishosaurusREX” Yanayt (-$1,399,000), *kagome kagome (-$1,377,000), *cadillac1944 (-$1,336,000), *Esvedra (-$1,182,000), Richard “nutsinho” Lyndaker (-$1,038,000)
Biggest weekly winners/losers all on PokerStars
*Reflects Full Tilt Poker profit/loss
Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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