In a battle of the blinds, Fabian Quoss bet 6,000 at a 
flop from the small blind. Ashton Griffin raised to 16,500 from the big blind, only to see Quoss re-raise all in for 41,400.
Griffin called with 
, but was outkicked by Quoss' 
. The 
turn and 
river secured the double up for Quoss.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
185,000 | -65,000 |
|
90,000 | 45,000 |
Welcome to our coverage of the 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure! Today the $100,000 Super High Roller event begins. Kristy fills you in on the details.
Dan Shak opened under the gun for 3,500 and received a call from Sam Stein. Action then folded around to Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst and she opted for a three-bet to 9,500. Shak made the call, and then Stein sprung to life with a four-bet to 31,000. Selbst wasted little time in five-betting to 100,000, Shak folded, and Stein called off for 88,500.
Showdown
Selbst: 
Stein: 
"I was afraid of that," Selbst said quietly. Stein had her dominated and he was primed to double, which is exactly what he did after the board ran out 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
285,000 | -85,000 |
|
190,000 | 101,500 |
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Brandon Steven opened to 3,600 in early position, and the action folded to Marc-Andre Ladouceur, who called in the big blind. The dealer fanned 
, Ladouceur led out for a bet, and Steven called.
The turn was the 
, Ladouceur fired 12,600, and Steven tank-called.
The 
completed the board, and Ladouceur emptied the chamber, firing a third and final bullet worth 32,500. Steven tanked for quite some time, then folded.
"Nice hand," he offered.
"Thanks," Ladouceur returned.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
265,000 | 12,000 |
|
185,000 | -15,000 |
Last year this event garned a lot of attention, not only because it attracted 30 players and two re-entries, but because it marked the first live victory for online legend Viktor "Isildur1" Blom.
To give you an idea what that tournament was like, we turn to the event recap courtesy of last year's Live Blog:
Well, you can scratch another name off the list of most talented online players who've never won a live tournament. One year ago, the shadowy online legend named "Isildur1" was revealed to the masses as a young Swede named Viktor Blom, and now, he's standing atop a heap of chips and cash here in the very same room.
After three days of poker played at a very high level, the man known socially as Isildur has climbed to the top of the 30-player field to snag the trophy, the Shamballa bracelet, and the top price of more than one-and-a-quarter million dollars.
When play began at 1:00pm local time, Blom was above average but still in the middle of the eight-player pack. He took care of Mike "Timex" McDonald in seventh place when his ace-jack bested McDonald's king-jack, but he was mostly treading water until the bubble burst with five players remaining.
Once that moment came and the table began to shrink to a more comfortable size for a man of Blom's ilk, he began to take control. He sent Daniel Negreanu packing in fifth place, winning a race with pocket eights against ace-king to reduce the field to four. Next up on Blom's scope was the other Canadian, Jonathan Duhamel, and Blom's 
smashed a flush on the turn of a 
board to send the 2011 WSOP Main Event champ out with three left.
That knockout gave Blom the chip lead, and he and Galen Hall would trade that top spot back and forth for a long while before Blom finally began to gain a foothold. Hours into the three-handed duel, Hall's chips had been whittled down into the danger zone, and Blom went ahead and took care of the remainder. It's hard to fault Hall for shoving with pocket nines and about 30bb, but Blom had a snap-calling hand: 
. A board full of blanks ended Hall's day just two spots shy of PCA immortality. He'll have a shot to defend his 2011 PCA Main Event title beginning tomorrow, and he's already added about a half-million dollars to his 2012 bankroll.
Heads up saw Dan Shak and Blom matched up in a friendly battle that was unfortunately one-sided. Shak won a few small pots, but a few crucial big ones went against him. On the last hand, Blom's top pair held strong against Shak's combo draw with one card to come, and a blank on the river sealed the deal for Isildur.
If you've followed our coverage or been here at Atlantis railing, you've noticed a different Viktor Blom than you were used to this time around. Both in looks — he seems a bit more... grown up this year — and in his playing style, which has evidently matured greatly in the last calendar year. If what they say is true, Blom has the potential to be a tournament stud, and this win today might just be the first step in a long and profitable career on the circuit.
Or not. If the table talk today is any indication, Blom has no intentions of straying far from his bread-and-butter cash games. He'll likely take those seven figures straight in his PokerStars account, and we wouldn't be at all surprised to find him multi-tabling an hour from now.
The PokerStars family is thrilled that their boy has done so well, and Viktor Blom is the toast of Atlantis tonight. He's well deserving of the title he's just claimed, and we'll join the masses in congratulating the once-mythical Isildur1 on his rise to tournament poker fame here in the Bahamas.
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $100,000 | 32 | $3,136,000 |
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viktor “Isildur1” Blom | $1,254,400 | |
| 2 | Dan Shak | $846,700 | |
| 3 | Galen Hall | $470,400 | |
| 4 | Jonathan Duhamel | $313,600 | |
| 5 | Daniel Negreanu | $250,900 |
Picking up the action on an flop, Eugene Katchalov and Bryn Kenney checked to Justin Bonomo who bet 9,000. Both Katchalov and Kenney called to see the turn which was checked around.
When the 
fell on the river, Katchalov bet 14,000. Kenney called, Bonomo folded, and Katchalov tabled .
Kenney took a look at his cards, then slid them to the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
495,000 | 31,000 |
|
263,000 | -12,000 |
|
120,000 | -30,000 |
The 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event champ and Player of the Year, Greg Merson, is in the house. Merson was recently spotted on the rail checking out the action. According to Jeff Gross, the champ won't be playing in this tournament, however.
Regardless, Merson is here in the Bahamas which means he'll be competing in various tournaments throughout the week, including the upcoming $10,000 PCA Main Event.
It costs $100,000 to play but looks just like any other poker tournament. But look closely and you’ll notice a couple of key differences. Find out these differences over on the PokerStars Blog.
Level: 3
Blinds: 800/1,600
Ante: 200
Players are now on their first 15-minute break of the day.
