Isildur Batters another in the Superstar Showdown

July 6, 2011, Posted by Pokerfarm

Being Norwegian no doubt has many perks. You awaken each morning to a sky of breathtaking color and clarity and hike to work through crisp, yielding snow, climbing over rugged mountains past lakes shining like crystal, their unbroken surface reflecting the pale fire of the distant, scattered, regal sun. On the way home, perhaps you stop off for a drink- a Ringnes or Hansa - in a handsome bar with roaring log fire, flirting a little with a young blonde who beams with health and good humour. You meander home with a contended glow from the beer and the company, perhaps catching the faintest flicker of the aurora on the northern horizon before falling into bed and descending into contended sleep (can you tell I’ve never been to Norway?)

If you’re Terje “Terken89” Augdal, however, your day would consist of losing resoundingly - hopelessly - to Viktor “Isildur1” Blom in the latest Pokerstars SuperStar Showdown, saying goodbye to $150k in a mere 1562 hands of NLHE and PLO, running worse than a three-legged reindeer over those rugged mountains I was blathering on about, and generally being sour on life.

After winning the first coinflip for $10k in NLHE, things went rapidly down-fjord for the 22-year-old pro. He was run over by a combination of Blom’s aggression and enduring luck. As with many past Showdowns, it was PLO where the bulk of the money changed hands, and Isildur was running extremely well, winning a large majority of flips and 60/40s (because, after all, in PLO you’re never worse than a 60/40, am I right?) Augdal put up an admirable amount of resistance, at one point calling down with ace-high on a connected board in NHLE to scoop the pot, but such moments were few and far between.

The biggest hand of the match came in PLO, with Augdal five-betting aces preflop vs. Blom’s double-suited wrap. With just over a pot-sized bet left behind on the flop, Terken89 jammed pot and was raised by Isildur1. Augdal quickly discovered that Blom had (par for the course) flopped the nut straight with redraws, and Terken89 lost the $56k pot. There followed a crushing series of cards where Augdal couldn’t win a hand no matter how good his equity. In the face of terrible luck, he dialed back his aggression and Isildur1 responded by ramping it up. Terje’s luck finally began to shift a little with the Norwegian player managing to win a couple of large pots, but it was short lived. By the 1400 hand mark, Blom has regained his momentum, and the match finally fizzled out with a NLHE coinflip that Isildur1 took down.

Augdal is not the most well known high-stakes pro, but he’s been a nosebleed regular since 2007. He got started sharing an account with a mystery backer on the European network Microgaming (formerly Prima). Tracking sites have him as more or less break-even on PokerStars since 2007, suggesting the bulk of his winnings have been on other sites (unless he’s a high-stakes bonus whore.) He may not be an internet celebrity or make appearances on High Stakes Poker, but he’s a proven high-stakes player, and at least now people know who he is. He’s “that guy that got steamrolled by Isildur1”.