It has been a fairly lively 2013 on the high-stakes poker scene. Largely crushing his competition in the first two weeks of the new year has been Viktor Isildur1Blom (pictured), but on Saturday night and Sunday, Phil OMGClayAikenGalfond was king of the castle, taking Blom for over $1 million in Pot Limit Omaha. Full Tilt Poker, where Blom is a sponsored pro, has served as ground zero for the nosebleed games.

Three tables of $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha were spread for Galfond and Blom and after just 200 hands, the latter was out in front by $400,000. It seemed, albeit for a fleeting moment, that Blom’s hot streak would continue, but then reality set in. An article found on HighStakesDB painted a picture of the rather abrupt momentum shift: “The tide turned almost as quickly, however, as by the 500-hand mark, the lead had already been eroded and when Isildur1 left the tables after 517 hands, he was actually a $76,000 loser.”

Blom sat out and the two ultimately migrated to three $300/$600 PLO tables with run it twice in full effect. The status quo continued despite the change in setting, however, as over the next 200 hands, Blom shed another $415,000. Then, the Swedish native sat out on all three tables once more. The third session between Galfond and Blom on Saturday night into Sunday morning saw Blom go up by $270,000 before eventually losing $28,000.

One more session that lasted around 400 hands saw Galfond profit another $370,000 for a total of $1.08 million over 1,973 hands. According to HighStakesDB, four pots exceeded $200,000 and Galfond laid claim to the three largest ones. You can see why he fared so well.

In the largest pot played between Galfond (pictured) and Blom over the 2,000 hands, after a raising war pre-flop, the first three cards came 3-3-3. Galfond checked, Blom fired out a bet of $11,400, and Galfond called to create a $55,400 pot. The turn was the Kd, putting two diamonds out there, and Galfond once again checked. Blom continued to be the aggressor, pushing out a bet of $25,200, and Galfond raised to $63,900. Blom just called and the final card was the 5h.

On the river, Galfond, first to act, moved all-in for just over $40,000 and Blom looked him up. Galfond was the first to show and flipped up Kc-Jc-7c-Ks for kings-full and Blom mucked. That pot was worth a healthy $263,600 and Galfond also scooped pots of $226,800 and $220,500.

Blom is on a hiatus from live poker until the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which kicks off this month from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The Full Tilt pro could only lament over Twitter, “Playing against Seb86 right now. The wounds of the last session against Galfond still hurt.”

Galfond posted a few hands from his $300/$600 session against Blom on the RunItOnce forum and explained Blom’s perception of his play: “Viktor has caught/seen me slow play and be very tricky in a number of hands. He’s also caught me bluff-raising river in a huge pot, but in general, views my river raises as mostly big hands, I believe.”

At one point, Blom was up over $5.5 million in 2013 after profiting $1.1 million three days into the year. In a thread on PocketFives, posters discussed Blom’s run for the ages, which has included a considerable amount of success against Sauce1234 (pictured): “Amazing how Isildur builds pots and wins without showdown and the number of crying calls when he does go to showdown. Sauce is a ridiculous player and he just looks confused even after three days of playing and the ability to go back and review sessions.” Read a recent recap of Blom’s domination.

What is your reaction to the nosebleed-stakes games that have been unfolding at Full Tilt? Have you been watching? Comment here and let us know.

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