What would we do without Viktor Blom?

Since Gus Hansen vanished from the high-stakes online scene a couple of weeks ago it’s Isildur1 who’s been mainly responsible for the high-stakes action online.

Blom was involved in all of the Top 10 biggest pots in October so far, and he’s also involved in our Hand of the Week this week.

His opponent: Fellow Swede Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz.

Isildur1 Fires All the Way Down

Our Hand of the Week is a PLO hand that plays out between Isildur1 and Thuritz at a mixed-game table where these two were playing heads-up.

The blinds were $300/$600 and effective stacks about 101 BB.

Thuritz: Picks the wrong time to shove.

Thuritz is on the button (also the small blind) and just completes. Blom raises to $1,800 and Thuritz calls again. There’s now $3,600 in the pot as they go to the flop of

Blom bets another $3,000 and Thuritz makes the call. The pot has now grown to $9,600. The turn is the  

Now Blom bets $8,400 and gets another call. The pot is up to $26,400 and the effective stacks are at $47,400.

After the   on the river Blom fires a pot size bet of $26,400. Thuritz pushes his $47,400.

Blom calls and shows         for a full house. Thuritz shows        

for a flush.

Blom wins a $121,200 pot.

Hand Analysis

We’re watching two of the most aggressive players in the high-stakes poker scene. Thuritz holds a marginal hand.

He just calls, limiting his range significantly as he would have raised most of his hands in position.

Viktor Blom has a pretty good hand, however, so he wants to play for more money. On the flop Blom hits two pair while Thuritz is drawing to a ten-high flush.

A flop like this fits Blom’s range pretty well. Considering he raised pre-flop he has a lot of aces in his range.

Thuritz’s limp-call looks like low cards or maybe a middle pair. This is why Thuritz should also not semi-bluff here as he can’t really represent anything but a draw.

But the 9♣ on the turn is a real action card. It completes several straight and flush draws.

Blom Wouldn’t Be Blom Without Bet Here

Now Blom wouldn’t be Blom if he wouldn’t bet again here. When there is a scare card on the board, Blom is there to represent the connected hand.

Thuritz has actually found his flush and now makes an interesting decision. He could raise pot here and put Blom to the test.

Apparently Thuritz is looking for more. He’s preparing the big move on the river. He might also think that Blom would fold to a raise if he holds a weaker hand than him.

The 8♦ on the river changes things again. Blom can now be almost sure to have the best hand so a pot size bet seems quite natural.

It’ss remarkable that Thuritz sticks with his plan und pushes all-in. Blom gets 5-1 pot odds, which means that he would have to call with everything except a complete bluff.

So the question is, which hands that are worse but still decent could Blom have taken this line with?

With a pair on the board, and considering that Thuritz only holds the fourth-best flush, most players would probably just call here and save $21,000.

Thuritz gets unwelcome surprise.

But it seems like Thuritz thought Blom’s range would have more weaker hands good enough to call with than better hands like higher flushes and full houses.

His decision to push is questionable as even in a heads-up match you should probably wait for a better hand to risk it all.

Conclusion

Viktor Isildur1 Blom makes a full house in heads-up play and gets maximum value.

His opponent Mikael Thuritz sees potential for additional profit on the river, but then wakes up to a nasty surprise.