This past Sunday, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom took on another challenger in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown, the eighth challenger in nine competitions. This installment was against PokerStars player “Mastermixus” from Poland, who qualified online.
This match was a lower stakes version of the standard SuperStar Showdown. The regular stakes are $50/$100 at a minimum, but the rest of the rules were essentially the same for this scaled down version. The competition lasts exactly 2,500 hands, unless someone loses all their money, and is spread across four heads-up tables, at least two of which must be No Limit Hold’em.
The winner of the Showdown is the player who has the most money at the end, whether that means simply coming out ahead or completely stacking the other person. Unlike with Tom Dwan’s Durrrr Challenge, there is no additional prize for winning and anyone may challenge Blom to a Showdown.
In the case of Mastermixus, there was actually a potential bonus prize, but only if either he or Blom stacked the other. If this happened, PokerStars would have awarded the winner an additional $10,000. Mastermixus was the second online qualifier to take on Blom in the Showdown.
Mastermixus started well, winning the first all-in pot with bottom two pair versus just a king-high from Blom. And while Blom returned the favor when his aces trumped the amateur’s jacks, Mastermixus came right back, sucking out with A-J versus A-K to take an early $1,140 lead.
But there were plenty of hands left and Blom was undeterred. After 400 hands, he had a $1,710 lead. After that, things went downhill for Mastermixus. First, he was felted at one table when he tried bluffing on multiple streets only to see Blom river a flush. Then, five hands later, they were all-in again on a flop of 8-5-4, Blom with 8-7 for top pair and a gutshot straight draw and Mastermixus with A-A for an overpair. Blom hit another eight on the river, which allowed him to grab the $2,500 pot.
Likely flustered and needing to gather himself, Mastermixus asked for a five-minute break. From then on, he went into a bit of a shell, content to let Blom pick away at his blinds while only really stepping on the gas with big hands. As reported on the PokerStars Blog, during a 30-minute stretch on one table, Blom won 21 consecutive hands and 51 of 60. At other times, he took 24 of 30 pots and 90 of 100.
Despite seemingly being run over by Blom, Mastermixus hung in there, winning hands when the pots were large. At one point, he won three consecutive all-ins to give him a healthy $3,705 lead after 1,458 hands.
The momentum then started swinging back and forth. Blom almost completely made up the gap within just a couple hundred hands when he was rivered in a $4,350 pot. As Blom was splitting a stack to reload at that table, the chips went all-in at another table with the flop reading 5-4-2 with two diamonds. Mastermixus had flopped the wheel, while Blom had J-3 of diamonds, giving him an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw. Blom caught the flush on the river, giving him the $6,230 pot and his first lead in quite some time.
With about 100 hands left, Mastermixus basically shut it down and Blom went on to win $1,279. Mastermixus was able to keep the remainder of his Showdown bankroll, $13,721, as a consolation prize.
The previous online qualifier, Attila Gulcsik, played Blom to a virtual standstill, with Blom winning just $5 after 2,500 hands.
Through nine SuperStar Showdowns, Blom has a 7-2 record and boasts a total Showdown profit of over $350,000.
