One week after splitting a pair of heads-up matches with Daniel Negreanu in the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom faced off against one of online poker’s brightest young stars on Sunday. 20-year-old Scott “URnotINdangr” Palmer challenged the talented Swede to four tables of $50/$100 No Limit Hold’em and came out on top after 2,500 hands, walking away with $5,425 in profit.
The two players had a lot of history going into the match, playing more than 35,000 hands against one another on PokerStars and another 42,000 on Full Tilt Poker according to PokerTableRatings.com. Palmer, who plays as “URnotINdanger2” on Full Tilt, entered the match on a gigantic downswing after dropping close to $1.5 million across the two major sites in 2011. But, that didn’t scare him into backing down on the big stage on Sunday.
The match started out well for Palmer, who held a lead of $13,200 after 101 hands. Much of that came from the first all-in of the match. In that hand, Palmer 5bet shoved his $10,000 stack pre-flop with pocket eights and Blom called instantly with a pair of queens. But, Palmer hit an eight on the turn to give him a set and a pot of nearly $20,000.
Palmer’s lead increased to more than $50,000 after a couple hundred hands, but Blom made a huge comeback with the help of a generous river card to even things out. Blom opened the button to $300, Palmer re-raised to $1,100, and Blom put in a 4bet to $2,400. Palmer called and the two saw a flop of Jc-4d-3d.
Palmer checked, Blom bet $2,500, and Palmer quickly min-raised to $5,000. Blom shoved and Palmer called off his remaining $8,600 with 4c-3c, which had Blom’s Qd-Qs in bad shape. However, the Qh on the river gave the Swede a set and a pot worth $32,100.
Blom built a sizeable lead as the matched progressed, pulling in front by more than $50,000 after 1,500 hands. Then, with around 100 hands to go, Palmer regained control by winning the biggest pot of the match. Blom raised his button to $300 and Palmer called to see a flop of 5c-2h-2d. Palmer checked to Blom, who led out for $500. Palmer called and the 7d fell on the turn.
Again, Palmer checked to Blom, who bet $1,400. Palmer called again and the 4d on the river completed the board. Palmer checked for a third time and Blom took another stab with a $2,850 bet. This time, Palmer check-raised to $8,600 and Blom responded by moving all-in. Palmer instantly called and showed pocket fives for a flopped full house and Blom revealed Ts-8d for nothing but a failed bluff. The $58,850 pot pushed Palmer back into the lead by $5,000.
The lead changed hands a few more times in the closing minutes, but Palmer was able to secure the small victory over Blom, who was 4-2 in his previous Superstar Showdown matches. Blom lost his first match to Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton for $41,701, but ran off consecutive wins against Antanas “Tony G” Guoga (+$44,280), Dan “w00ki3z” Cates (+$51,196), Eugene Katchalov (+$111,750), and Daniel Negreanu ($150,000) before losing the rematch to Negreanu last week by $26,500.
Blom and Palmer closed their match with a short exchange in the chat box:
Isildur1: gg
urnotindangr: gg very fun match thinking not so fun with swings
Isildur1: yep
Isildur1: cu next friday
urnotindangr: cu gl
Palmer joked about his slight victory over Blom on Twitter afterward, saying, “Just won the 1st superstar showdown vs Isildur, Dominated with a whopping $5,500 win! Definitely need to read just a little bit but played well.”
The two players will resume their match next Sunday, April 10 at 3:00pm ET on PokerStars. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the results.
