Viktor Blom Leads The Search For Gold
Thursday, 22 January 2015
In the Unibet Golden Cash Game.
George Boeteng bloody loves poker! When Bluff Europe arrive on set at the Unibet Open Golden Cash Game, we were hoping to grab a word with the fan favourite for some of England’s biggest clubs including Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and erm.. Hull City. Oh yeah,Coventry too. Ok, well they weren’t our biggest clubs, but it’s safe to say that the Dutch international is a legend and we’re excited to talk to him before cards up.
The problem is that George apparently can’t wait for the game to start -he needs action now! We find him backstage having a little private game of his own. We ponder whether this game is bigger than the £5/£10 he’s about to sit down into, so we creep around like the fanboys we are to listen in.
‘Right, George at the moment you have two pair which is a really strong hand, but you…’ Oh.
So it turns out Georgie boy doesn’t even know how to play poker. He’s here because he’s a legend. There are a lot of legends here today. I’ve got one of my ideas again…”this time next next year Rodney…” It’s time to call my boss.
‘Michael, can I buy in to this on the company card, there are people currently getting lessons on hand rankings. I’ll need like £2,000”
“Really? ok, fuck it, if it’s that soft and it’s streamed, you can have one £2k buy-in. Make sure you wear a patch - who else is playing”
“Just some random Swedes and Viktor Blom”
“VIKTOR BLOM?”
“Yeah, it’d be great for us - have me on a stream playing against Viktor”
‘Listen carefully Dan, if I see you on a live stream, playing with my money against Viktor Blom, I’m going to come down to Aspers so fast, that by the time the thirty minute delay is finished you’ll already have filled out your application for Jobseekers Allowance.
Ok so failing that we checked with TD John Scanlon whether I could get credit, pretty sure he’s still laughing about the prospect. So Bluff Europe had to settle for a seat in the commentary box. But as many of you who tuned in via the stream on BluffEurope.com, we were not let down.
ACES CRACKED
Viktor Blom vs Arto Loikkanen.
Viktor Blom once took part in a promotion on Full Tilt Poker, where he would play a certain number of hands against a novice who had been staked into the game, If the novice managed to keep any of the money after the certain number of hands, he’d be able to keep whateevr money he had left. At the time we pondered the best way to play against Viktor, who obviously would have a huge edge, especially post flop. The answer we came to was simple...shove pre.
Arto Loikkanen is by no means a novice, but Viktor can get frisky with any two cards in this spot and even if the flop comes 7-5-3. There is a higher than usual chance that Viktor has a piece of this board.
THE HAND
Teddy Sherringham 7s2c
Arto Loikkanen AsKd
Viktor Blom AhAd
Teddy raises to £75
Arto 3bets to £225
Viktor cold 4bets to £650
Teddy folds
Arto 5bets to £1,525
Viktor shoves for £5,295
Arto calls all in.
The board runs out..
Ts8sTcks3s
Arto wins £13,750 with a flush.
KNOW WHEN TO FOLD THEM
Niklas Borg impressed us all with his play during the Golden Cash Game. His low-variance chipping up strategy was paying him a tidy profit. He then ran into one of the lowest-variance spots there is in No Limit Holdem, Aces vs Kings. There is hardly variance in this spot when you have Kings. You lose. You lose a lot.
Who knows why; maybe he didn’t want to risk it all on a hand. Maybe he had a soul read. But some how he found the fold.
THE HAND
Arto Loikkanen AcAh
Niklas Berg KdKs
Arto raises to £75
Niklas 3bets to £250
Arto 4bets to £625
Niklas calls £425
FLOP
4c8c3s
Arto bets £825
Niklas folds