While there are certainly recent events that have been increasingly important to both players and fans alike (cough, cough, World Series of Poker), those looking for a break from all the Las Vegas hoopla and headlines were certainly tuned in to the intense online battle between Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom and Rui “PepperoniF” Cao. Fortunately enough for Blom, the challenge’s two-month-long hiatus paid off big dividends, as he busted Cao for just over $150,000.
Blom and Cao, both players who have mostly omitted themselves from the action at this year’s World Series of Poker (Blom because he’s underage), took part in the 2,500-hand battle that has to finish with either player losing a sum of $150,000, or by completing the total number of required hands. While both players have seen busier days on the online felt due to the debacle that was Black Friday, neither player seemed to display much unfamiliarity with heads-up No-Limit Hold’em or Pot-Limit Omaha.
Deciding to split their focus between the two games for the duration of the contest, Blom jumped to an early lead when he dominated the Pot-Limit Omaha sessions. The first all-in pot didn’t take very long at all, as Blom managed to get it in with two-pair, against a smaller two-pair of Cao’s. Cao actually turned a better two-pair to take the lead, however, Blom also had a flush draw that completed on the river and allowed him to scoop the first $20,000 pot.
It also helps to run good, as Blom managed to hit a runner-runner straight with 
against Cao’s 
on a 
flop. Somewhat standard, the stacks quickly went in the middle, only for the 
and 
to fall on both the turn and river to send the five-figure pot to Blom. Cao couldn’t really get things going early, and it only took 431 hands for Blom to jump out to a $59,800 lead.
It didn’t take very long for that lead to ballon either, as Blom later flopped two straights in PLO, one against Cao’s set of sixes, and another against Cao’s nut flush draw + open-ended straight draw. The latter hand fell when Blom four-bet with 
, and Cao made the call with 
. The flop was monstrous, 
, bringing flush draws for both players, a flopped straight for Blom and a two-way straight-draw for Cao. Despite all of Cao’s outs however, he missed all of them and shipped Blom the $67,700 pot. Cao was noticeably deflated after this point, as the deficit soared to nearly $100K at the hands of Isildur1.
Cao made several attempts to get back into the contest, but he failed miserably when it counted most. He was, at one point, whittled down to only two NLHE tables, however he managed to grind his challenge bankroll back up to the $40,000 needed to maintain four tables simultaneously.
Blom was able to finish off the Frenchman during their last PLO session however, as the final hand saw Blom flop a set of fives, only to improve to a higher set on the river which sealed Cao’s fate. In just 2,257 hands, Blom managed to bust the Full Tilt Poker pro for $150,002.
In even gloomier news for Cao, he has been a frequent participator in the high-stakes cash games that continue to run in Macau, and hasn’t had much success. In a recent blog post, he references $800,000 that he coughed up to fellow Full Tilt Poker professional Patrik Antonius, and also comments on how Antonius is no longer allowed to play in the games. Allegedly because of Antonius’ tight play, he was excluded from invitation to the private sessions.
Wealthy Chinese businessmen continue to be the game’s biggest draw, along with other well-known poker players Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey.
Regardless of Cao’s recent downfall in terms of his Superstar Showdown results, he’s still up $1.5 million at the online cash games in 2011.
Blom has been very successful so far in his Superstar Showdown challenges, with a record of 7-3, and those losses only came in Blom’s very first challenge, and two rematches between Scott “urnotindangr” Palmer and Daniel Negreanu. Although Cao ended his session prematurely, the aforementioned Negreanu still holds the record for the shortest amount of hands played thus far. The Team PokerStars pro relinquished his entire $150,000 challenge bankroll in just 1,439 hands during their first meeting.
After a total of ten contests, Blom has acquired a healthy $500K in earnings, making the comparison between Full Tilt Poker’s Durrrr Challenge and the Superstar Showdown very feasible. Although no new opponent has been named yet, we can only hope to witness heightened action at the virtual felt for Blom. We could certainly all use the online excitement.
