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Viktor Blom set for most expensive European Poker Tournament ever

The most expensive poker tournament in Europe ever will be played in Monte Carlo April 23-25, and one of the players will be 21-year-old Swede Viktor Blom.

Published: 11 April 2012 17:28 CEST

Viktor Blom set for most expensive European Poker Tournament ever

The Grand Final of the European Poker Tour takes place in Monte Carlo April 23-May 1, and one of the events on the schedule is the Super Highroller tournament, with a buy-in of €100,000. This will be the most expensive poker tournament ever in Europe ever, and the starting field will contain several of the most famous high-stakes poker players in the world, including Sweden’s Viktor Blom.

It won’t, however, be Blom’s first Super Highroller event. Back in January of this year he played – and won – the $100,000 Super Highroller event during The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at the Bahamas. Blom defeated American Daniel Shak heads-up and received $1,254,400 in prize money. Playing under the nick name Isildur1, Blom is primarily known as an online player and the victory in the Super Highroller at the Bahamas was his biggest live score by far.

The prize pool in the Monte Carlo might be even richer. 30 players entered the Bahamas tournament, and there is a good chance the Monte Carlo event will see more entrants, as a number of big names already have signed up.

These are some of the stars who will play in the Monte Carlo Super Highroller:

Daniel Negreanu

 Eugene Katchalov

 Jason Mercier  

Scott Seiver

 David Sands  

Dan Shak 

Antanas “Tony G” Guoga

 Artem Litvinov

 Leon Tsoukernik  

Tobias Reinkenmeier

 Viktor Blom  

Masa Kagawa 

Patrick Antonius  

Jason Somerville 

Sorel Mizzi  

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier

 Jonathan Duhamel  

Dan Smith

Check the latest Swedish poker news here.

Article sponsored by Poker Listings.

Suck-outs and failed bluffs

High Stakes Players are the most fascinating to watch for the average amateur player. While you might be sitting at home grinding away at 1c/2c tables, these guys play for money you would never dare to risk (partly because you don’t have it). The highest games running online these days have Blinds of $200/$400.

A single pot can easily amount to the value of a middle class car, and within a week, some players win or lose as much as a house.

The two Germans who fared badly last week are called Tsubasa Manabe and Benny Spindler. Manabe, who plays under the nick Tsubi87, has been a regular online player since 2007. He is sponsored by German poker school PokerStrategy, where he became a Black Member in early 2011.

His family originates from Japan, but he grew up in Bensheim, Hessen, and speaks fluent German. Over his whole career, he has made around $500,000 profit with online poker, but last week that dwindled to a mere $180,000 within only a couple of days. Manabe lost $313,000 and was thus the biggest loser in online poker last week.

A lot better known, mainly because of his formidable success in live poker tournaments, is “Psycho”Benny Spindler. Spindler emerged on the live poker stage with a 3rd place in the $9700 PCA main event 2009, where he reached third place and won over a million dollars.

His nickname is no accident, as he is infamous for his hyper-aggressive, forward playing style.

He went on to make several final tables in large international events, and went on to win the English leg of this year’s EPT season for another $1,2 million. On the whole, he has over three million dollars in live poker winnings.

Online though, where he is better known under his nick toweliestar, nothing seems to go his way this year. Last week alone, he lost $220k playing his favourite game No Limit Hold’em. Over the course of 2012, his losses now amount to more than $700k.

It’s the worst run the German MTT specialist has ever had in his career. Although the presence seems to look bleak for Spindler, if he can’t turn things around online, there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s only two weeks until the World Series of Poker begins, and that means a series of almost 60 live MTTs. More than enough chances for “Psycho”-Benny to make up for his online downswing of the last couple of months.

The World Series of Poker takes place every year in Las Vegas. The main attraction always is the $10.000 main event, but this year it will also feature the Poker Players Championship with $50.000 Byu-in as well as the biggest buy-in tournament ever: “The Big One”, as it’s called, will cost you a cool million to play in. That’s real dollars, not Facebook chips.

Article sponsored by Poker Listings

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