Jun 20 2011
Isildur1 Crushes Rui Cao in SuperStar Showdown
written by: Will under News Comments: Comments Off
If you want to play in the World Series of Poker, you’d better be at least 21 years old. It was this unfortunate fact that prevented Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom, arguably one of the best heads-up online poker players in the world, from making the trip to Las Vegas for this summer’s festivities.
Fortunately for Blom, a PokerStars sponsored pro, the online scene hasn’t completely dried up for the WSOP. Team Full Tilt pro Rui Cao met up with Blom on PokerStars for the latest installment of the SuperStar Showdown, in which Blom plays heads up against some of the world’s best poker players.
As per the rules of the Showdown, players compete over four tables of NLHE at the $50 / $100 stake level. Whoever runs out of their $150k chip stack (or ends up with a deficit after 2,500 hands) is declared the loser.
Blom was on fire, winning a $20k and $40k pot from Cao within the first 200 hands of the event. After 1,000 hands, Cao’s bankroll was nearly exhausted, but he fought back for the next 250 hands to reclaim some of his money. At this point, Blom and Cao agreed to switch to PLO, a decision that proved devastating for Cao.
Blom virtually hustled Cao, leaving the French poker pro with only one remaining table after only half an hour. Blom scored trip 9s on the river to scoop the last of Cao’s chips.
This marked the first SuperStar Showdown since early April, before Black Friday demolished the online poker community by preventing US players from accessing Full Tilt and PokerStars. Blom has a 7-3 record in the Showdown, with vicotries over Scott Palmer, Eugene Katchalov, Tony G, Daniel Negreanu and Dan Cates. His losses have come from Palmer, Negreanu and Isaac Haxton.
Despite his wins, Blom is still negative by $350k for the year.
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