Viktor Blom Blasts Way to WSOP Event #45 Chip Lead

Swedish star Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom hit a one-outer to top the leaderboard after Day 3 of the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship at the World Series of Poker.

The 21-year-old online sensation bagged up with 1,262,000 chips to top the event #45 standings in Las Vegas, just ahead of California’s David Oppenheim (1,165,000), after notching a late and dramatic double-up against the extremely unlucky Joe Cassidy.

Day 3 saw five more levels played out as Blom moved into pole position from the 26 survivors to collect the $1,451,527 top prize, gold bracelet and David ‘Chip’ Reese Trophy from this eight-game format tournament at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

Swede Gets Mighty Lucky

But the London-based Swede needed a massive slice of luck just to remain in contention, never mind in the actual event! Blom could be accused of robbing Vegas-based Cassidy of a huge pot – more than one million – with his one-outer during a Pot-Limit Omaha hand

Cassidy acted first on a 10♠ 9♥ 5♣ flop, checking to Blom, who fired in a 38,000 bet. But Cassidy then raised it to 138,000 and Blom called to see the A♦ hit on the turn. Cassidy made a pot-sized bet of 485,000, with Blom calling all-in. Blom showed A♥ 9♦ 9♠ 2♥ for trip nines, only to see Cassidy table A♠ Q♦ 10♣ 10♦ for a set of tens.

Blom was left with just one card to save his tournament life – and that 9♣ duly arrived on the river to give him quads. The excited Swede leapt from his chair while a deflated Cassidy also exploded out of his seat as Gothenburg’s Blom moved up to 1,210,000 in chips while crushing his opponent’s stack to just 50,000.

Joe Cassidy Stunned By One-Outer

A stunned Cassidy – with his hands clamped on his head – could only repeat: Oh my God! Oh my God! as he tried to take it what had just happened, while a thrilled Blom walked to the next table to reach between David Oppenheim and Phil Hellmuth to give Luke Schwartz a heartfelt high five.

Blom exclaimed: One-outer, baby! as Londoner Schwartz allowed a smile to cross his face while congratulating the new chip leader.

Cassidy – who was pacing around the table – did, however, manage to battle back somewhat, even though it was late in the day, to bag up in 24th place on 141,000 chips.

Mizrachi Brothers Back For More

Meanwhile, Florida’s Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi will also be returning today in 13th place on 632,000 and will be joined by his brother Robert (21st on 252,000) as they strive to emulate their 2010 performances when both made the same final table at the WSOP. In fact, Michael won this event for $1,559,046 while Robert took fifth place for $341,429, so they do have a lot to live up to.

Also returning from Day 3’s 62 starters will be the likes of Daniel Alaei (third on 1,058,000), David ‘ODB’ Baker (fourth on 1,025,000), Stephen Chidwick (seventh on 874,000), Bruno Fitoussi (eighth on 861,000), start-of-day chip leader Andy Bloch (10th on 667,000), John Monnette (14th on 586,000), Schwartz (16th on 506,000), Phil Ivey (18th on 397,000), John Juanda (19th on 397,000), Brett Richey (20th on 256,000), Jeff Lisandro (22nd on 204,000) and Phil Hellmuth (26th on 28,000).

No Back-To-Back Wins for Brian Rast

However, more than a few notable pros failed to survive the third day, including the likes of defending champ Brian Rast, Doyle Brunson, Matt Hawrilenko, Chad Brown, Michael Binger, John D’Agostino, Barry Greenstein, Dan Shak, Huck Seed, Ali Eslami, Patrik Antonius, Alexander Kravchenko, Matt Glantz, Greg Mueller, Jason Mercier, David Benyamine, Scott Clements, Justin Smith and Brian Hastings.

Just 16 places will be paid – earning a minimum of $91,549 – so expect some early fireworks today as the money bubble looms large.

WSOP 2012 Event #45 Day 3 Top 10

1. Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom (Sweden) – 1,262,000
2. David Oppenheim (USA) – 1,165,000
3. Daniel Alaei (USA) – 1,058,000
4. David ‘ODB’ Baker (USA) – 1,025,000
5. John Hennigan (USA) – 992,000
6. Bill Chen (USA) – 984,000
7. Stephen Chidwick (UK) – 874,000
8. Bruno Fitoussi (France) – 861,000
9. Chris Klodnicki (USA) – 859,000
10. Andy Bloch (USA) – 667,000