Viktor Blom Stages Huge Comeback to Win partypoker MILLIONS Germany
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To say the Viktor Blom has long been the darling of the online poker world would be a bit of understatement. Whether it was playing the nosebleed stakes games on Full Tilt Poker back in the day or winning the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker in 2013, Blom has always found a way to capture the attention. On Sunday night in Rozvadov, the Swedish powerhouse added a second live win to his resume, coming back from a nearly 9-1 heads-up chip deficit to win the partypoker MILLIONS Germany Main Event for €1,000,000 ($1,048,153 US).
Blom started the final table third in chips, but went right to work at changing that. On just the eighth hand of the night, Niko Wieland moved all in for 49,400,000 and Blom reshoved from the small blind. Rickie Silcock folded his big blind and Wieland got the bad news after tabling and seeing Blom show
. The board ran out
to send Wieland out in eighth place.
It took nearly 90 minutes before another player was sent home. Aristeidis Moschonas raised to 7,000,000 from the button and then called after Ondrej Drozd raised to 20,000,000. Drozd then beat 16,000,000 after the flop before Moschonas moved all in fro 83,600,000. Drozd called and turned over
while Moschonas was behind with just
. The
turn was enough to eliminate Moschanas in seventh. The meaningless river was the
.
It was yet another 90-minute wait for another elimination and this one again involved Drozd, but he was on the other end of the outcome. From UTG, Drozd moved all in for 106,500,00. Pavel Plesuv was the next player to act and he re-shoved for 362,000,000, forcing the rest of the table to fold. Drozd showed but saw Plesuv table
. The
flop offered very little help for Drozd and the
turn and
river made his sixth place elimination official.
Radoslaw Wesierski started the final table with the shortest stack but managed to ladder his way up to the final five players before meeting his demise. Action folded to Rickie Silcock in the small blind and he moved all in for 91,000,000. Wesierski called all in from the big blind and showed while Silcock held
. The
flop gave Silcock a flush draw. The
turn was no help but the
river filled that flish and sent Wesierski out in fifth.
Four-handed play lasted 90 minutes before Blom picked up another elimination. From the button, Blom made it 21,000,000 and Brazilian Joao Simao, a former #1-ranked online player in the world, defended his big blind. After the flop, Simao moved all in for 31,500,000 and Blom called. Simao turned over
while Blom showed
. The
turn was no help for Simao and neither was the
river, to send him out in fourth place.
Plesuv and Silcock clashed just 30 minutes later to get the tournament to heads-up. Plesuv called from the button, Blom folded the small blind and Silcock checked his option. After the flop Silcock checked, Plesuv bet 10,000,000 and Silcock called. Both players checked the
turn. Action heated up after the
river. Silcock bet 35,000,000 and Plesuv moved all in, forcing Silcock to a decision for his tournament life. He called and showed
for trip fours but Plesuv showed
for the wheel to take down the pot.
When heads-up play began, Plesuv had just over 55% of the chips in play. Over the first 10 hands of play between the two, Plesuv extended that lead to 86%. From that point on though, Blom navigated his way to even the chip counts before finally taking the lead for good.
After 79 hands of battling, Blom raised to 35,000,000 and Plesuv called. The flop got Plesuv to check-call Blom’s 45,000,000 bet. The turn was the
and Plesuv check-called Blom’s bet of 105,000,000. The river was the
and Plesuv moved all in and after taking some time to consider his options, Blom called and showed
for second pair. Plesuv couldn’t beat it though, turning over
for third pair to give Blom his first live tournament win since 2012.
The €5,300 buy-in event, held at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, drew 1,022 entries for a total prize pool of €5,110,000, just squeaking past the €5,000,000 guarantee.
Final Table Payouts
- Viktor Blom – €1,000,000
- Pavel Plesuv – €600,000
- Rickie Silcock – €400,000
- Joao Simao – €280,000
- Radoslaw Wesierski – €200,000
- Ondrej Drozd – €140,000
- Aristeidis Moschonas – €100,000
- Niko Wieland – €70,000