The latest PokerStars Blowout Series event has seen a litany of high rollers turn up to battle for the biggest prizes and it was Joao Vieira who grabbed the victory for a bumper top prize of $123,068.
First to leave the final table was Canadian superpower Timothy Adams. He was dealt king-queen off-suit and called himself all-in when Niklas Astedt pushed on the turn of a board showing a king on the flop and sevens on flop and turn, but Astedt had pocket aces and held through the river to bust his illustrious opponent.
That pot gave Astedt a commanding lead over everyone except ‘milennial’, who had 7.1 million to Astedt’s 7.3 million. It would be Mark Radoja who would bust next, all-in with the same hand that downed Adams, king-queen off-suit and was called by Bert Stevens ace-queen which hit an ace on the flop and the turn to win through the board with ease.
Stevens looked to be pushing back up the leaderboard from a middle-ranking stack, but that was a false dawn, as some time later he went in 5th place, his 3rd-of-pot bet on a double-diamond flop including a three with king-three of diamonds being raised by Vieira. Stevens moved all-in and Vieira called quickly with ace-nine, the nine being in diamonds and the ace mkain gtop pair on that flop. Two dead cards to have the crucial pot to Vieira and confirm Stevens’ exit.
With four players left, these were the chipcounts:
Joao Vieira – 9. 1 million
Niklas Astedt – 6.5 million
‘GangstaZab’ – 4.6 million
‘milennial’ – 4.5 million
A four-bet shove in the very next hand from GangstaZab for what equated to 46 big blinds with pocket sevens was time-bank called by Vieira with pocket tens and the Portuguese player rode out the board to pile up a massive lead three-handed.
With Astedt maintaining his stack and even gaining a little interest over the next 20 minutes or so, ‘milennial’ did no such thing, drifting down to just over 10 big blinds before they moved all-in pre-flop with ace-eight offsuit, called again by Vieira with pocket sevens. No help came the Buglarian’s way and it was Astedt who would take on Vieira for the tile with the latter enjoying a better than 2:1 chip lead heading into the duel.
It was anything but easier for Vieira from that point, however. Astedt has proven himself a fearsome competitor over the last 18 months alone, but his online prowess cannot be overstated, he’s one of if not the best current tournament poker player in the world. Over the majority of the contest, he swung round the stacks to lead by a 6:1 margin, only for Vieira to battle back from nowhere.
A full double-up helped Vieira to victory and it came when his pocket nines survived the call from Astedt with ace-seven, only a seven coming to leave Vieira with the slightest of leads. The staks were close and the blinds were going up. While Astedt would regain a slight lead, he would lose it again, and when Vieira found pocket threes and Astedt ace-queen, it all went into the middle, with almost all the chips on the line. They were flipping for victory, and
While the board of 9-8-K-T-2 (with the nut flush from the turn too for the Swede) flirted with possibilities for Astedt, it handed the tournament to Vieira and a superb six-figure score to boot.
PokerStars Blowout Series Event #36 6-Max NLHE Final Table Results:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Joao Vieira | Portugal | $123,068 |
| 2nd | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | $94,486 |
| 3rd | ‘milennial’ | Bulgaria | $72,542 |
| 4th | ‘GangstaZab’ | Russia | $55,695 |
| 5th | Bert Stevens | United Kingdom | $42,760 |
| 6th | Mark Radoja | Canada | $32,829 |
| 7th | Timothy Adams | Canada | $25,205 |
You can watch a full re-run of the action in the event’s exciting final right here:
