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Benny Spindler has been eliminated after his 
failed to outrace Greg Mueller's 
on a 
board. We have no doubt though that the super-aggressive German (who bears a resemblance to the 'emo' emoticon on Skype) will be back for the upcoming EPT in a week or so.
Whilst stragglers from Leicester Square have focused their attentions on TV-friendly faces such as Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey, there's one man who has perhaps caused more of a stir in the poker world of late than anyone, yet wouldn't necessary be familiar to your casual poker fan.
Although known in European circles, Viktor Blom truly rose to fame when he ambushed the nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt Poker under the alias Isildur1, taking on and beating some of the most established and celebrated online pros in the world. Although he later returned his winnings, he had already cemented his legend in the virtual world and quickly collated an almost cult following of fans.
Now tackling the live felt here at the WSOPE, Blom (who, I must add, has yet to truly confirm his identity as Isildur), is braced for even bigger fame as he escalates his stack to the dizzy heights of 132,000, thus placing him in the frame for the chip lead with just over one level to go.
The hand in question involved his neighbour David Weisberger, the two players reaching a multi-way 
flop. The action was checked around to a turn where Weisberger led for 3,000. Blom raised to 10,000, and after a brief pause, Weisberger made the call.
The river came the 
, and after Weisbeger had checked, Blom immediately chucked 40,000 into a circa 25,000 pot, leaving his opponent with a decision for his tournament life.
Weisberger, clearly tortured, squirmed in his seat like a frog in a blender before finally announcing the call and flipping 
onto the felt. Blom, who'd remained stiller than a bottle of Evian water, broke his statuesque pose to reveal 
for the turned straight.
Disappointed, Weisberger rose from his seat as Blom offered a commiserative hand. For a moment, it looked as though Blom was going to say something, but at the last moment he seemed to change his mind and returned to the silence that I've witnessed throughout the whole day.
And on that note, we had a new chip leader, the mysterious, silent assassin of the felt that is Viktor Blom. I don't think I'm the only one who would like to see poker's most exciting enigma go deep.
From early position, Melanie Weisner raised to 1,050. JC Tran called from middle position, another player called from middle position and then Steve Brecher called from the big blind.
The four players saw the flop come down 
and action checked over to Tran. He fired out 2,600 and only Weisner called to see the turn.
After the 
fell on the turn, both players checked and the fell on the river. Weisner checked and Tran checked. Weisner's 
was a loser to Tran's 
.
Tran moved to about 65,000 while Weisner dropped to 15,500.
Sandra Naujoks just played her final hand, moving in for a short 6,850 with 
when Adam Levy had raised in early position to 1,050 and been called by Brian Powell. Levy moved in fast - Powell folded just as fast and he showed which on the flop became monstrous: 
. The house on the turn saw Naujoks standing up and everyone already on the next hand in their minds. Businesslike as ever, she made her exit with minimum fuss.
Anton Wigg just doubled up a little while ago against Eli Elezra and has just now doubled again. He was all in on the flop of 
with the 
against his opponent's 
. The turn was the 
and the river the 
to keep Wigg holding the best hand and moving him to about 40,000 in chips.
Tony Cousineau is up to 65,000 after doubling through off Ludovic Lacay. Cousineau interrupted his fish and chips to move all in for around 20,000 into a board of 
.
Ludovic mulled over his options before making the call with 
. Cousineau tabled and survived a blank turn and river.
He munched on his cod to celebrate.
From under the gun, Brian Powell raised to 1,050. Eric Baldwin reraised from middle position to 2,700 and Powell called. The two have been doing some battling all day long and saw the flop come down 
.
Powell checked and Baldwin fired 4,200. Powell made the call to see the hit the turn. Powell checked again and Baldwin checked behind.
The river was the and after a minute, Powell fired 10,600. Baldwin tanked for some time and began commenting about how Powell has been torturing him all day long. Eventually, Baldwin gave it up and was left with 32,300. Powell increased to 90,000.
JP Kelly, who gets more involved than Paul Scholes at his prime, fired bets of 6,200 and 16,200 on the turn and river of a 
board against Yevgeniy Timoshenko. The latter check-called the turn, but he meekly folded on the river, the stoic expression on his face remaining.
Chris Moorman had 3-bet Paul Zimbler's opening raise from 1,025 to 2,725 only to find William Reynolds in the big blind cold 4-betting to 6,400. Zimbler folded after a little thought but Moorman took a lot longer, and looked for a while as if he would come back over the top. This time though, he believed Reynolds and let the young American take the pot.
We admittedly missed the vast majority of this hand, but it's worth telling you what we know.
We walked up to a turned board showing 
, and there was already about 34,000 chips heaped in the middle of the table. Dan Shak was heads up with Gabriel Alarie, and Alarie had a bet or raise of 11,000 laid out in front of him. It almost surely had to be a raise based on the size of the pot, but either way, Shak was deep in the tank when we walked up.
He had about 48,000 chips left in his stack, and he eventually moved all in for that amount. Alarie hemmed and hawed and cut down his own stack before folding and flashing the 
.
That was a big boost to Shak's stack, and he's put himself in quite good shape with just over 90,000 now.
From early position, EPT Copenhagen winner Anton Wigg raised to 900. Eli Elezra made the call from the cutoff seat and the big blind also called to see a flop of 
.
After the big blind checked the flop, Wigg stayed aggressive and fired 1,700. Elezra raised to 7,225 after checking on Wigg's stack and that knocked the big blind out of the hand. Wigg moved all in for a tiny bit more, 7,350 total, and Elezra called.
Elezra's pair plus flush draw with the 
was up against the for Wigg. The turn brought the to give Wigg a flush draw of his own. The river then completed the board with the to allow Wigg to successfully double up.
