SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) is a popular online poker tournament. The sponsor of this series is PokerStars. Although it was established relatively recently, i.e. only in 2009, it has already become popular around the world. This popularity is due in no small part to its elaborate format: including a combination of low stakes, medium stakes (10 times low) and high stakes (100 times low)! And it goes without saying that Viktor Blom, known for his brave online poker battles (sometimes maybe a little too brave?), would most certainly find SCOOP a ground fully deserving of his poker skills, and one where he would like to get some more prizes to add to his track record of poker achievements.
The Winner of Two 2012 Events
On May 6-8, 2012, Viktor Blom scooped the prizes at not one but two SCOOP events, taking down #2-M $215 NLHE and #3-H $530+R NLHE 6-max events. That was a bit unexpected, as he was deemed to be primarily a heads-up one chopstick guy. But he did very well in the gigantic field of 8,240 entrants on the Event #2, taking $247,000. Neither did he face any real trouble in the Event #3 with 486 entrants, 740 re-buys and 340 add-ons, pocketing $180,000 prize.
Here is a brief of how the final duel with “Ruxandescu” was played:
Isildur1 8♠9♦
Ruxandescu 6♣5♣
The Board: J♣9♣7♣9♣8♦
Both players were preflop raising, but after Isildur1 flopped a top pair against a nut flush draw, he shoved on that flop, playing his usual style and eventually winning this final table as Ruxanduescu had a straight five to nine, and Isildur1 — a full house, nine full of eights.
The Winner of 2013 Event: A Huge Prize
It was PS SCOOP 2013 high stakes main event (Event #43-H $10,300 NLHE) that Viktor Blom won taking a sizable $1,096,200 first prize. Still 22 years old back then, he faced a very strong field of high stakes pros, including Sergio “zcedrik” Aido (Spain), Mike “munchenHB” Telker (the US), Ravi “govshark2” Raghavan (the US), and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken (the Netherlands), the Dutch Destroyer.
The final table set up promised a very high level of competition as the best players were still there, rather than having been eliminated during the earlier stages:
Seat 1: Amadi_017 — 423,455
Seat 2: Sergio “zcedrik” Aido — 1,299,847
Seat 3: Mike “munchenHB” Telker — 1,629,266
Seat 4: cmontopdeck — 661,773
Seat 5: Noah “Exclusive” Boeken — 2,397,709
Seat 6: leshkaGmBlZ — 375,703
Seat 7: w4ldo — 699,434
Seat 8: Ravi “govshark2” Raghavan — 387,291
Seat 9: Viktor “Isildur1” Blom — 825,522
In the end, Only Boeken and Blom were left, and Boeken had a chip advantage about 3 to 1 (his 6,525,734 to Blom’s 2,174,266) when the two players finally crossed swords in the final duel of the tournament. Boeken was definitely looking for a chance to win his second SCOOP title. But the Swede wanted his 3rd!
The blinds were 17,500/35,000; with Boeken having 186 BBs and Blom 62. Under the circumstances, Blom was playing very cautiously, in a manner not very typical of him: no all-ins, no huge risks! He continued to pursue this wise strategy and added over $1 million to his stack after the first half-hour of the final duel. Thus, Blom managed to gradually fix the chip balance, winning many small pots on the way to a huge pot; this changed the chip situation in his favor, and since then he has never lost his grip!
Isildur1 Q♣10♣
Exclusive K♠5♣
From the button, Exclusive min-raised to 100,000. Isildur1 called, and they saw the flop J♠K♣9♠. Isildur1 checked with his king-high straight, Exclusive bet 130,000 having flopped a pair of kings. Isildur1 check-raised to 342,500. Exclusive shoved for 1,859,359, and Isildur1 rightfully called.
The turn was 9♣ and the river was A♦ to give the victory to Viktor Blom. Boeken took home $803,300, which was just a result he must be quite happy with.
Winning His 4th SCOOP Title in 2018
On May 19, 2018, Viktor Blom won his 4th title on SCOOP. It was SCOOP-41-H: $2,100 HORSE, $200 GTD, where 122 players competed. Viktor took home $59,780 and the title of the winner. Mustafabet from England came 2nd, winning $41,489.
At the beginning of the final heads-up, Isildur1 and Mustafabet were practically equal in chips, but later on, the balance would change dramatically: to almost 30:1 in Mustafabet’s favor. However, Isildur1 managed to take some critical pots and eventually caught his winning streak. Here is how the final two hands at the final table were played:
Pocket Cards:
Mustafabet J♠7♦
Isildur1 7♥7♣
After a short raise-call session, the players saw a flop of 2♦10♥8♥. Isildur1 bet, Mustafabet called, and the 8♦ came for the turn. Isildur1 bet, Mustafabet called again, although his ranges were already very poor at that moment. The Q♣ on the river marked the victory of the Swede. And then came the very last hand they played:
Mustafabet 6♣Q♠
Isildur1 Q♣9♦
Isildur1 bet, Mustafabet called. The 9♠6♠2♥ came for the flop. Mustafabet’s raise was called by Isildur1, and they saw the 9♥ for the turn. Another bet-raise session; and Mustafabet went all-in, as he had two pairs. But the 7♣ on the river gave the victory to Viktor Blom who had three of a kind (nines).
Further SCOOP Prospects of Viktor Blom
Such an extraordinary poker player as Viktor Blom is undoubtedly going to continue making some very interesting appearances on SCOOP. It is obvious that his playing styles have matured over time, as he takes fewer undue risks, while also demonstrating a better ability to develop a reasonable strategy for whichever particular tournament he is participating in. This being so, his tournament future does look very promising!