Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (in picture) and Daniel “KidPoker”
Negreanu are both leading brand ambassadors of the online poker
site PokerStars.com. They will start their SuperStar Showdown
Challenge on March 20. The second and final round will be held
on March 27. Online poker gossip has hyped this event to the
status of Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier championship bout.
The rules of the SuperStars Showdown have been agreed upon by Blom and Negreanu. On March 20 the two will play 2,500 hands of No Limit Hold’em across four tables at stakes no lower than $50/$100. Another 2,500 hands of high stakes heads-up action will take place on March 27. Each player will start with a chip stack of $150,000 and this cannot be enhanced any time during the challenge. The winner will be the player who shows a profit at the end of the match, or wins all of his opponent’s bankroll before the scheduled hands are completed.
Blom is an out-and-out online player. Under the alias Isildur1 he is used to multi-tabling at online poker sites. Multi-tabling refers to playing at more than one poker table at the same time. Negreanu is essentially a land casino live tournament player. Though he has been around for ages, he has just started multi-tabling at the online poker site PokerStars.com. He has been practicing multi-tabling with low stakes and not doing badly.
In his blog, Negreanu wrote about is practice sessions saying, “It’s all part of the learning process, and I’m a big believer in going all out against the fastest competition I can find, because then when I play others, the pace will seem comfortable. It’s no different than a baseball player swinging five bats before he goes up to the plate, or a golfer taking some practice swings with a heavy club.” For Negreanu this SuperStars Showdown is not about money. He has been off and on the poker player with the highest life time earnings in live tournaments. It is about competing with the best and coming out tops. Negreanu admires Blom as a poker player and so wants to take him on.