Isildur1 Will Take on Daniel Negreanu in SuperStar Showdown

 Viktor “Isildur1” Blom has had a great run at the start of his SuperStar Showdown series on PokerStars, jumping out to four straight wins after losing his first match. However, his next challenge might be his toughest yet: a long-form match against legendary Canadian poker pro Daniel Negreanu.

So far, Blom has faced opponents over the course of 2,500 hands spread out over four different tables, typically playing no-limit hold’em (and, occasionally, pot-limit Omaha). The Negreanu match will feature even more action, with two separate sessions of 2,500 hands being played on two consecutive weekends. All hands will be played in no-limit hold’em, with blinds of $50/$100. The winner will be the player who has more money at the end of the second session; the match can end early if one player wins the other player’s entire bankroll for the match.

Blom, a Swedish pro who was best known as an anonymous high-stakes online player named Isildur1 before his identity was revealed earlier this year, is 4-1 so far in the SuperStar Showdown. His first match resulted in the loss of over $41,000 to Isaac Haxton, but since then, Blom has had the best of all of his opponents. A win against Tony G netted Blom over $44,000, and was quickly followed by a $51,000 victory over Dan Cates. His biggest win of all came against Eugene Katchalov, when Isildur1 finished $111,750 ahead.

The closest match of all came against Blom’s least familiar opponent. Attila “DodgyFish72” Gulcsik, a qualifier who won the right to play against Blom in a miniature $5/$10 version of the showdown, battled Blom to the last hand and ended up losing by just $10 – one big blind, which Blom picked up on the final hand of the match.

Daniel Negreanu is well-known by poker fans around the world. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour titles, and is among the leaders in all-time live tournament winnings with over $14 million in career winnings.

The first half of this SuperStar Showdown will take place on March 20, with the finale being held on March 27.