Once the most-feared opponent at the nosebleed stakes online, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is having a renaissance of sorts at the live tables in Vegas. The Swedish phenom is leading the final six in the $100k and looking to finally add a bracelet to his list of achievements.
Yesterday saw Magnus Edengren take down Event #43: $1,500 Mixed (7-Handed) and Jared Kingery scoop gold in Event #44: $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Meanwhile, the mighty Isildur was making waves of his own.
Event #47: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em
Viktor “Isildur” Blom Just as Scary in the Flesh
Blom has already shown his form this summer, taking 3rd place and a $ 951,727 cash in the $50k SHR just last week. Yesterday he finished top of the remaining six players from a field of 112 entries, with $2,838,389 up top for today’s victor.
A busy day saw Danny Tang bubble the paid spots, Alex Foxen last precisely one hand on his late reg. and Ike Haxton fall to Blom at the final table after a pre-flop shove was called by the Swede.
Isaac Haxton: K♠ Q♦
Viktor Blom: K♥ K♦
Flop: J♦ 8♠ 3♣
Turn: 10♦
River: 6♥
Final table Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | |
| 1 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | 27,675,000 | |
| 2 | Chris Hunichen | USA | 16,475,000 | |
| 3 | Chance Kornuth | USA | 8,900,000 | |
| 4 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | 6,475,000 | |
| 5 | Jeremy Ausmus | USA | 6,100,000 | |
| 6 | Justin Saliba | USA | 1,575,000 |
Event #38: $1,500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em
Pedro Neves Bags Monster ‘Monster Stack’ Stack
The Monster Stack has also been whittled down from a field of 8704 to a final table, led by Portugal’s Pedro Neves who fought his way back from just 6BBs to hold a commanding chip lead.
Neves’ comeback was helped by a double elimination along the way after a three-way pre-flop all-in…
Alex Abariotes: 6♣ 6♥
Fausto Valdez: A♥ A♦
Pedro Neves: Q♣ Q♦
Flop: 7♦ 3♥ Q♠
Turn: 5♣
River: 9♦
Also in the mix for the $1,098,220 first-place prize is his compatriot Jose Carlos Brito and Tim Reilly.
Final table Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | |
| 1 | Pedro Neves | Portugal | 172,200,000 | |
| 2 | Aaron Johnson | USA | 101,000,000 | |
| 3 | Brian Roff | USA | 50,800,000 | |
| 4 | Jerry Maher | USA | 29,800,000 | |
| 5 | Tim Reilly | USA | 28,900,000 | |
| 6 | Jose Carlos Brito | Portugal | 27,000,000 | |
| 7 | Guangming Li | USA | 25,500,000 |
Event #45: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship (8-Handed)
Benny Glaser Chases H.O.R.S.E. Trophy
England’s Benny Glaser is looking to stake his claim to all-round poker mastery G.O.A.T status, yesterday seeing him top the chip counts as the $10k H.O.R.S.E. Championship battled down to a final five.
Play ended for the night after Maria Ho, all-in UTG, fell in 6th spot at the hands of Glaser, who was also called down each street by Zolotow…
Maria Ho: A♦ Q♥ 9♦ 3♦
Benny Glaser: A♥ J♣ 4♣ 2♣
Steve Zolotow: 8♥ 7♠ 5♥ 4♠
Flop: 5♣ 6♥ 8♣
Turn: 6♣
River: 7♥
Final table Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | |
| 1 | Benny Glaser | UK | 3,675,000 | |
| 2 | Maksim Pisarenko | Russia | 3,375,000 | |
| 3 | Lawrence Brandt | USA | 1,955,000 | |
| 4 | Steve Zolotow | USA | 1,500,000 | |
| 5 | Mike Leah | Canada | 340,000 |
Event #46: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship
Sammy Farha Hoping for Senior Moment
Day 1b of the over-50s NLH Championship saw WSOP legend Sammy Farha well to the fore, bagging a 4th place stack as Mike Matusow also made it through to day two. Farha’s stack is good enough for 13th overall.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | ||
| 1 | William Elliott | Canada | 530,000 | ||
| 2 | Brent Nelms | USA | 525,000 | ||
| 3 | Carlos Bermudez | USA | 468,000 | ||
| 4 | Rafael Benami | Israel | 438,500 | ||
| 5 | Brett Reichard | Canada | 414,500 | ||
| 6 | Stephen Shaw | USA | 407,000 | ||
| 7 | Steven Cohen | France | 400,500 | ||
| 8 | Lawrence Lazar | USA | 377,000 | ||
| 9 | Derek Ichilcik | Australia | 373,000 | ||
| 10 | Kirk Stowell | USA | 372,000 | ||
Event #48: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (8-Handed)
Prociak Looking for Bracelet number 2
The $1k PLO 8-handed is another that battled its way down to a final, table last night, just 8 players remaining and led by David Prociak.
Prociak’s $1500 Badugi bracelet win was somewhat overshadowed by Scott Seiver’s 6th WSOP gold celebrations but a second win in as many weeks would doubtless get the respect and headlines it deserves.
Final Table Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips | Country | |
| 1 | David Prociak | USA | 14,615,000 | |
| 2 | Christopher Vitch | USA | 13,530,000 | |
| 3 | Thomas Taylor | Canada | 6,100,000 | |
| 4 | Joe Firova | USA | 2,935,000 | |
| 5 | Christopher Frank | Germany | 2,460,000 | |
| 6 | Kharlin Sued | USA | 1,360,000 | |
| 7 | Jay Harwood | Ireland | 1,325,000 | |
| 8 | Ioannis Angelou Konstas | Greece | 1,310,000 |
Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em
Martin Jacobson in the Hunt
The opening day saw 1,252 entries and a prizepool of $3,342,840, with the remaining 187 players already in the money and chasing $523,195 up top.
Ivan Ruban leads the way but there are a number of big names still in this one, including 2014 WSOP Main Event champ Martin Jacobson, as well as highroller specialists Chris Brewer and Punnat Punsri.
Those who fell short of the money include Alex Foxen, Martin Kabrhel, Maria Konnikova and Scott Seiver.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chips | |
| 1 | Ivan Ruban | Russia | 1,476,000 | |
| 2 | David Stamm | USA | 1,165,000 | |
| 3 | John Kenner | USA | 1,089,000 | |
| 4 | Sami Bechahed | USA | 927,000 | |
| 5 | Andjelko Andrejevic | USA | 856,000 | |
| 6 | Marko Grujic | USA | 836,000 | |
| 7 | Simas Karaliunas | Lithuania | 822,000 | |
| 8 | Maximiliano Gallardo | Argentina | 671,000 | |
| 9 | David Kaufmann | Germany | 664,000 | |
| 10 | Erfan Geula | USA | 651,000 |
Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship
Daniel Negreanu Makes Day 2
The opening day of the $10k Razz saw 98 entries shorn down to 54, with Shaun Deeb, Brian Hastings, and James Obst among the day’s fallen.
There was better news for defending cham Jerry Wong, Brain Rast, and Daniel Negreanu, all making it through today two. Eric Rodawig leads with Ren Lin breathing down his neck.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | |
| 1 | Eric Rodawig | USA | 276,500 | |
| 2 | Ren Lin | China | 250,500 | |
| 3 | Arthur Morris | USA | 225,000 | |
| 4 | Brian Yoon | USA | 218,500 | |
| 5 | Carlos Chadha | USA | 207,500 | |
| 6 | Sean Akhavi | USA | 190,500 | |
| 7 | Andrey Zhigalov | Russia | 189,500 | |
| 8 | Robert Massman | USA | 172,500 | |
| 9 | David Funkhouser | USA | 164,000 | |
| 10 | Denis Strebkov | Russia | 159,000 |
Day 24 will see Event #51: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em, Event #52: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Handed) and Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed (7-Handed) all start out.
We’ll bring you all the best of the news and action every day right here at VIP Grinders, so be sure to check in regularly!
- Get the best rakeback deals
- See the best poker promotions
- View the latest poker news
- Get the best No Deposit Poker Bonuses
- Benefit from the biggest poker bonus
- Calculate your rakeback with the rakeback calculator
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org.
