Viktor Blom Eliminated in 16th Place (£33,285)
We may never know the rest of the Viktor Blom story.
With the action folded around to the blinds, Brian Powell raised to 36,000, and Viktor Blom moved all in for about 210,000 total. Powell quickly called, and the young Swede was at risk for his tournament life for the first time today. It was a flip:
Powell:
Blom:
A crowd of people gathered around the table to watch the result of this showdown, many of them certain they were staring at the mythical "Isildur1".
The dealer burned a card and ran the flop: . Neither player, nor anyone in attendance, really reacted to the flop that pulled Powell into a big lead, Blom now drawing dead to an eight.
The turn was a miss for him, however, and the river was certainly no eight either. Unable to win his final race of the day, Blom has been eliminated after a days-long run at or near the top of the leaderboard.
For purely speculative reasons, everyone here was rooting for Phil Ivey and Viktor Blom to both make the final table here today. Ivey beat him out the door, and Blom has managed to make it all the way to 16th place before making his exit. It's his first live cash result on record. And if it's true what they say, the £33,000 he'll collect today will only pay for a few big blinds upon his return to the nosebleeds. If it's true...
Blom was whisked away to the interview booth where, true to form, he declined to speak. The production crew insisted, but Blom fought back, essentially telling them he 'didn't want to talk about it.' The crew asked him to simply say that on camera, as any tidbit of an interview would be viral gold. Blom simply walked off, though, relegated to the rail with 15 players left.