Blom Eats Pepperoni For Breakfast

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 21 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Back in December 2010, Rui "PepperoniF" Cao made it very clear that he wanted to take on Viktor Blom in his so-called SuperStar Showdown, a heads-up battle where Blom and an opponent sit down at four cash game tables with stakes of $50/$100 and play until 2,500 hands have been completed or someone has lost $150,000.

Cao made the request after Blom had lost to Isaac Haxton in the inaugural challenge but for reasons unknown the pair never got around to playing each other. However, that all changed on Sunday night when Cao and Blom sat down at two tables of No Limit Hold'em and two Pot Limit Omaha tables, both with blinds of $50/$100.

Blom's opponent was born in China but moved to Paris, France when he was just seven years old and is widely regarded as one of the best PLO players in the modern game, which is one of the reasons Blom would only play him across two tables of PLO and stipulated the pair also mix in some Hold'em into their session. The fact that Cao is a PLO specialist and the game is seen as Blom's weakest makes (he is down almost $900,000 at $25/$50 alone!) it all the more ironic that it was during the PLO elements of the challenge that Blom wiped the floor with Cao!

Within the first minute there was an all-in on Table 4, a PLO table. Blom looked down at Jc7d6c4d and decided it was good enough to raise to $300 with. Cao responded by three-betting to $900 with his KhQh9c4c and Blom elected to call. The Jd-9d-4s flop hit both players hard and Cao lead out with a $1,000 bet, Blom made it $3,400 and then called as Cao raised all in for a total of $9,100. Blom's two pair (jacks and fours) were ahead of Cao's two pair (nines and fours) but the enigmatic Swede fell behind as the Ks on the turn improved Cao to a higher two pair. But in true "Isildur1" style the river was the 8d, which completed Blom's diamond flush and the $20,000 found its way into Blom's stack.

A short time later and Blom won what turned out to be the largest pot of the night, topping the scales at $67,700! Blom got the action started by raising to $300, Cao made it $900 to play but instead of calling like in previous hands Blom bumped up the action and raised to $2,700, a bet Cao called. The flop came down 7c-8c-5s and with $5,400 already in the pot Cao bet $3,500 and Blom made the call. The Qs landed on the turn and Cao fired again, this time $12,400. Blom then raised to $49,600, enough to put Cao in and he called, turning over AcQdTc9h for top pair, an open-ended straight draw and the nut flush draw, whilst Blom revealed KcJh9c6h for a flopped straight. The 7d was the river card, somehow missing Cao and the $67,700 pot was all Blom's.

Nothing Cao did seemed to work and although he did stage a comeback at one stage Blom was just too much for him to handle and it was no real surprise when Cao became only the second player to lose his entire $150,000 bankroll to Blom, the first being Daniel Negreanu back on 20th March. At least Cao managed to last 2,257 hands before going broke, unlike Negreanu who imploded in just 1,439 hands of the allocated 2,500. The final hand saw Cao raise to $300, Blom re-raise to $900 and Cao call. On a flop reading 7s-5d-2d Blom bet $1,300 and Cao made the call. The arrival of the Jh on the turn was met with a bet of $2,850, a raise all in of $11,988 from Cao and a call from Blom, who turned over 9s9c5c5s for a set of fives, much better than the KcJs8s7h of Cao who had two pair. The 9h on the river gave Blom a higher set and the outright victory.

Blom has now won $501,671 from his ten games, having won eight of them so far. His only defeats have some at the hands of Isaac Haxton ($41,701) and the rematch with Negreanu ($26,500) though he has struggled when playing for reduced stakes against online qualifiers. Nobody knows who will take on Blom in his SuperStar Challenge but whoever it is needs to be ready and willing to donate $150,000 to the Swede as he seems unstoppable at the moment, particularly in his own challenge.

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