SuperStar Showdown: Negreanu beats Blom
Last Sunday’s SuperStar Showdown was a devastating blow for Daniel Negreanu after taking on Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom and losing the entire $150k challenge bankroll in only 1,439 hands. But “KidPoker” wasn’t finished with the Swedish high-stakes cash game pro and was willing to put another $150k on the line for a rematch.
The rules for the heads-up match were the same. They were to play 2,500 hands of $50/$100 NLHE over four tables. And for a while, the start of the match drew many similarities to the first encounter. Blom played a dominating first half of the match, winning $120,000 from Negreanu within just 1,300 hands. However, Negreanu managed to mount a massive comeback to finish $26,500 in the red.
Much of Blom's dominance at the start was a result of winning two all-in pots. Blom’s pocket kings held against Negreanu’s A-Q and Blom’s pocket queens held up against Negreanu's K-T on a T-8-6 flop.
As Blom’s winnings surpassed the $40,000 mark, Negreanu picked up A-K and called Blom’s preflop shove. When Blom revealed his cards, he showed A-Q, but as a queen came on the flop and his nemesis raked in the $20,100 pot, Negreanu wrote in the chat box “This is unreal”.
After just 1,279 hands Negreanu was down $119,600 and things were looking grim for KidPoker. His remaining $30,000 was spread over three tables. All that Negreanu could do at this point was hope to double up, which he managed to do after making a better two pair against Blom, raking in a $17,600 pot.
Just past the 1,500-hand mark, Negreanu flopped a straight with 8-9 on a flop of T-7-6 flop, and Blom called with 5-9 for the flush draw and a gut shot. The turn or river were of no help to Blom and he suddenly found his lead cut in half.
After a short break, Negreanu picked up kings and aces and within less than an hour after being down to his last $30k of his challenge bankroll, Negreanu trailed Blom by only $7,800.
The largest pot of the heads-up match occurred at the 1900 hands mark. On a K-K-3 flop, Negreanu check-raised Blom and he made the call. The turn was the 8s and Negreanu decided to barrel. Blom called and the Qd hit the river. Negreanu triple barreled and Blom moved all-in for $34,700. With $17,450 behind, Negreanu was forced into the tank, but eventually decided to look him up with K-J. Negreanu’s trips were no good, as Blom turned a boat with K-8.
Not deterred from losing that hand, Negreanu went on another good run over the next 20 minutes and with 350 hands remaining in the SuperStar Showdown match, Negreanu pulled out to his first lead of the match. With only 38 hands remaining, Negreanu wrote in the chat box.
KidPoker: I was stuck like 120k at one point I think
Isildur1: yeah crazy =)
KidPoker: I broke lots of stuff in my room btw lol
KidPoker: smashed everything
There was only one all-in confrontation during the final hands. Blom three-bet shoved with A-2 on a Q-4-3 flop and Negreanu made the call with A-Q. There was no miracle on the turn or river for Blom to give Negreanu the $20,000 pot.