Viktor Blom, known online as “Isildur1,” was nowhere to be found this summer during the 2017 World Series of Poker. That’s because he decided to stay in Europe and focus on what he knows best: high-stakes online cash games.
And on Monday night, it paid off in spades, as he won nearly half-a-million dollars in just a day.
Making Bank
According to HighStakesDB, which tracks the online nosebleed games, Blom kicked things off by winning $155,300 off of “donthnrmepls” after 160 minutes at the $1,000/$2,000 2-7 Triple Draw tables. Winning nearly $1,000 a minute was a pretty decent way to start the day, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing after that.
Blom lost just $3,6000 to Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn at the fixed-limit Omaha 8-or-better tables before taking a two-and-a-half-hour break. When he came back, he engaged in a four-hour heads-up match against “Ravenswood13,” in which it’s estimated Blom lost another $40,000.
Don’t feel bad, though.
Next up was a stint at the $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha tables against Russia’s Timofey “Trueteller” Kuznetsov, who has also been having himself a nice year. It was in this match that Blom, who took his opponent for $80,000, won the biggest pot of the day.
In the hand, Blom ($62,092) raised to $1,360 from the button holding the A♣K♠3♥2♣ and then called when Kuznetsov ($113,144), who held the A♥A♠7♥5♣, three-bet to $4,240. When the flop came down 2♦K♣4♥, Kuznetsov led out for $5,400 and Blom called to see the 2♠ turn.
Kuznetsov slowed down with a check but still called when Blom, who improved to a full house, bet $12,800. When the 9♦ completed the board on the river, Kuznetsov checked again and then paid off Blom after the Swede shoved his last $39,652.
Ship the $124,504 pot to Blom.
After Kuznetsov quit, Blom fired up two $100/$200 PLO tables against “Cobus83” and played at each for nearly three hours. At table Sahlia, Blom won $185,774 in 584 hands, and over at table Thiele II, he banked $182,610 in 748 hands. When the dust settled, “Cobus83” was down $300,000, more than enough to make him the day’s biggest loser.
Meanwhile, tracking shows Blom won $490,000 for the day. That put him up $1.9 million for the year to date (most of it has come in the past two months), and bumped him to $3.4 million in lifetime profits on PokerStars.
Competition Closing In
Earlier this month, CardsChat broke down how Viktor Blom became June’s biggest online winner, but it doesn’t look like he’ll finish with that distinction in July. He ended up giving back some of his winnings in back-to-back losing days on Tuesday and Wednesday.
That balanced him out, to put him at $162,145 (145 sessions/24,840 hands) in the black so far this month, which is four spots down on the monthly leaderboard.
As of July 25, three players sit in front of Blom with “RaúlGonzalez” primed to finish as the month’s biggest winner with $383,515 (65 sessions/10,947) in profit. However, there are still five days of play left in July, and things could certainly swing back in Blom’s favor.
Regardless of what happens in July, Blom still holds a nice lead on the yearly leaderboard, up $1,664,968 (841 sessions/133,089 hands).
His closest competition is Kuznetsov and “BERRI SWEET,” who are up $1,142,012 (474 sessions/38,961 hands) and $891,306 (321 sessions/21,679 hands) respectively.
On the other end of the spectrum, Dani “supernova9” Stern is 2017’s biggest loser, down $777,373 in 10,039 hands over 145 sessions. Not far behind is Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro, who has dropped $734,184 in 21,787 hands in 431 sessions.
