Viktor Blom is simply never too far from the headlines. A year ago he was the big buzz around the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) as he finally made the big reveal that he was Isildur1, ending a 16-month tenure as the anonymous wildcard of the online poker world. A year later he’s hauling in one of the biggest scores of the event, a $1.25MM 1st place finish in the 32-man Super High Roller event.
These days there are few who don’t already know Blom’s story. His burst onto Full Tilt Poker’s scene in late 2009 by winning $4.5MM off the then-red-hot Tom Dwan in less than a month only to lose it all and a few million extra over the next few months was one of the biggest online poker story lines of that year. Over the course of those tumultuous 3 months, he was involved in the ten biggest hands in online poker history, including losing the first $1MM+ pot only to win a 7-figure pot of his own two days later.
His haul at the PCA caps a year of rebuilding his image and his bankroll from the rollercoaster that left him over $2.5MM in the hole. He spent 2011 as a member of Team PokerStars, a year he ended in the black. Three days in the Bahamas, though, netted him more than double what he made at the tables that whole year.
This win is good news for the poker community at large as the poker economy always gets to celebrate along with Blom. A score that big for someone who always has so much money on the tables and whose swings are so big, has a ripple effect large enough to reach just about everyone in the poker world.
More good news comes from the PCA Main Event, which is winding down to 24 players. Over a thousand players registered for the $10,000 buy-in event, demonstrating that tournament poker is still alive and well.