The partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany Main Event reached a dramatic conclusion with the 27-year-old Swedish online poker legend Viktor Blom beating over a thousand entries to take the title.
The beggars that make a living sitting outside of the King’s Casino in Rozvadov need to shift gears after the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany bade a fond farewell this weekend.
The 1,022 entrant field for the €5,300 buy-in MILLIONS Main Event confirms that unless there is an America’s Cardroom (ACR) style PR disaster, John Duthie and the gang have reached their goal of being the #1 live tournament operator in Europe.
It was another magnificent success for the online card room, and with each success comes more and more support. PokerStars, who don’t have to play catch up too often, will have to flog the back of saints if they are to get back into this race.
Organisers of live tournaments want the foot traffic. They want to secure the guarantee. But they also secretly want a David or a Goliath to lift the trophy and in Germany they got a David.
At 27-years of age, Viktor Blom is already a legend after his fearless take on anyone attitude saw his nickname of Isildur1 becoming the most talked about unknown identity in world poker. And now we know he has what it takes to plough through a 1k+ field.
How do you get an action junkie like Blom to sit next to people with body odour problems for days on end?
You dangle a million dollar prize at the end of the carrot.
Blom defeated the Moldovan, Pavel Plesuv, in heads-up action after the pair agreed to split the prize pool evenly down the middle (€750,000 each) leaving €100,000 to play for.
Plesuv had a 9:1 chip lead within no time, but Blom never panicked, clawed it back and finished the tournament hero-calling with K6o on a board of KdQh9hAd5h after the man from Moldova had moved all-in after check-calling two previous streets.
It’s Blom’s second most significant score of his live career after winning $1,254,000 in the 2012 $100,000 Super High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
A shout out must go to partypoker ambassador, Joao Simao. The Brazilian finished fourth, but also finished second and fourth in the two €25k High Rollers and finished 29/406 in the Warm Up for close to $800,000.
Final Table Results
1. Viktor Blom – €850,000*
2. Pavel Plesuv – €750,000*
3. Rickie Silcock – €400,000
4. Joao Simao – €280,000
5. Radoslaw Wesierski – €200,000
6. Ondrej Drozd – €140,000
7. Aristeidis Moschonas – €100,000
8. Niko Wieland – €70,000
•Denotes a HU deal.
Other notables that lasted longer than a giraffe’s neck were the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event runner-up Gianluca Speranza (10th), the Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1 Adrian Mateos (12th) and multiple WPT Alpha8 winner Philipp Gruissem (28th).
The Best of the Rest
The Germans were the most prosperous nation in the German MILLIONS event, as you would expect, with the action taking place on the border. Johannes Becker defeated 45-entrants to win the €320,050 first prize in the €1m GTD €25k High Roller. 888Poker ambassador Dominik Nitsche defeated 120 entrants to win the €300,000 first prize in the €1m GTD €10k High Roller.
Blom’s old sparring partner, Patrik Antonius, emerged from a pack of 51 entrants to earn a €425,000 crust in the first €1m GTD, €25k High Roller. Michael Zhang took the €800,000 first prize after beating 47 entrants in the €1m GTD €50k Super High Roller, and Ivaylo Sivinov overcame 976 entrants to win the €143,000 first prize in the €1m GTD MILLIONS Open.
