In a scene reminiscent of the final showdown in the movie Rounders (you know the one where Mike McDermott and Teddy KGB square-off in a winner-take-all match) yesterday at PokerStars Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Isaac Haxton began their own winner-take-all heads-up No Limit Holdem match, but unlike the $30,000 buy-in from the movie, the two high-stakes pros both put $500,000 on the line.

The two players have some history with one another, having played two Superstar Showdown matches against one another, as well as Blom peppering Haxton a little verbal tirade after losing the first Superstar Showdown challenge match to Haxton –to his credit Haxton had nothing but nice things to say about Blom.

The new match will see the two play four-hours per day (beginning yesterday) until one of the players is felted. Like the Superstar Showdown matches the matches will be played across four separate heads-up tables, but unlike the typical SS matches, the $1,000,000 freezeout is being played at stakes of $200/$400.

The opening salvo on Saturday went to Blom, who after 1,901 hands closed the first day of the match with a $198,438 lead over Haxton. So, the two will once again sit down on Sunday to continue the match with Blom having a total combined stack of $698,438 and Haxton’s initial $500,000 buy-in reduced to $301,562.

After an hour Haxton found himself up over $40,000 according to the PokerStars blog, and soon thereafter he extended his lead to over $80,000 in what would be an up-and-down second hour of the match. After falling behind by over $80,000 Blom then made a comeback, squaring the match back-up, before once again falling behind by $40,000. Blom took control of the match during the third hour, going up by $100,000, and maintained his advantage throughout the fourth hour, ending the first session nearly $200,000 to the good.

The good news for Haxton (if there can be any good news after a $200,000 loss) is he is not in unfamiliar territory against Blom, considering he overcame a near $100,000 deficit after roughly 700 hands when the two last met in a Superstar Showdown: Over the final 1,800 hands Haxton erased the deficit and won the match be squeaking out a $5,000 profit.

Anyone interested in watching the two high-stakes players clash on Sunday can watch the match in real-time at PokerStars. If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past five years and have never downloaded the PokerStars software you can sign-up for the site through our PokerStars link.

Yesterday’s railbirds included some high-stakes players, including Will Molson and Haxton’s Malta roommate Justin Bonomo, so you’ll have some very good company on the rail!

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Tags: Blom, Bom, Buy Movie, Final Showdown, Freezeout, high Stakes, Isaac Haxton, Lead, Match, Mike Mcdermott, Nice Things, Play Four, Pokerstars Blog, Ss, Stack, Superstar, Teddy Kgb, Territo, Tirade

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 1st, 2012 at 8:48 am and is filed under High Stakes Poker News, Poker Room News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Isildur1 starts fast in PokerStars $1 mil Freezeout”

1. Harry Smith says:

   September 12, 2012 at 8:56 am

   If you’re from the US and can not play at PokerStars, how do you watch this matchup?

   Thank you.