As another week of the 2025 World Series of Poker wraps up, it’s time to look back at some of the biggest and most interesting stories once more.
While there are many to choose from, one that stands out is that of Viktor Blom, better known by his online moniker “Isildur1.” The Swede phenom made his claim to fame playing ultra-high stakes cash games online back in a day, but it seems his mind is set on winning a WSOP bracelet in 2025.
Blom has been in the mix in a bunch of events, playing his usual super-aggressive style and making some deep runs. Tournaments may not be Isildur’s bread and butter, but he is certainly a type of player that can achieve anything he sets his mind on.
Nominations for the 2025 Poker Hall of Fame are underway and the discussion about who should get the distinct honor this year has been building up. There are a few clear front-runners and a few “dark horses,” all in contention for just one spot.
Before we dive deeper into some of these stories, here’s a quick overview of the latest bracelet winners since our last recap;
- Event #19: $500 COLOSSUS – Courtenay Williams ($542,540)
- Event #23: $1,500 Badugi – Aloisio Dourado ($138,114)
- Event #24: $1,500 PLO Double Board Bomb Pot – Xixiang Luo ($290,400)
- Event #25: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship – Nick Guagenti ($295,008)
- Event #26: $25,000 High Roller – Chang Lee ($1,949,044)
- Event #27: $1,500 Big O – Igor Zektser ($297,285)
- Event #28: $600 Mixed NLHE/PLO Deepstack – Tyler Brown ($178,126)
- Event #29: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em – Mark Darner ($496,826)
- Event #30: $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship – Nick Schulman ($497,356)
- Event #31: $800 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack – Jonathan Stoeber ($352,610)
- Event #32: $50,000 High Roller – Jason Koon ($1,968,927)
- Event #33: $1,500 Limit Hold’em – Jason Duong ($130,061)
- Event #34: $1,500 Super Turbo Bounty – John Racener ($247,959)
- Event #35: $3,000 Freezeout No Limit Hold’em – Renat Bohdanov ($451,600)
- Event #36: $10,000 PLO Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship – Philip Sternheimer ($763,087)
- Event 38: $100,000 High Roller – Joao Vieira ($2,649,158)
- Event #39: $1,500 HORSE – Andrey Zhigalov ($197,923)
Event #37, $1,500 Monster Stack is still underway. The tournament saw its final starting flight, and the total of 3,217 proceeded to Day 2. There were 9,920 entries, generating a massive prize pool of over $13.1 million.
Colossus Finally in the Books
Event #19: $500 COLOSSUS was one for poker history books. With its cheap admission fee, the tournament attracted an astonishing field of 16,031 entries, resulting in a prize pool of almost $6.7 million.
It was a long and grueling battle, with some 2,300 players finishing in the money and picking up at least something for their efforts.
However, the first prize of well over half the million was the one that players were eying as the field continued to dwindle down to the final table of nine. With $542,540 up top in a $500 event, the situation was hard to put into words.
Eventually, it was Courtenay Williams who managed to outlast the other eight players for a massive payday and his very first WSOP bracelet. To make the victory that much sweeter, Williams managed to bounce back from a short stack, coming into the final day eighth in chips.
The Summer of Viktor Blom?
Those who have been following World Series updates have probably noticed that the name of Victor “Isildur1” Blom came up a lot. Apparently, the Swede decided to put his grinding gear on this summer and play in as many events as possible to secure his first bracelet.
What’s interesting is that Viktor has been all over the place. He’s not sticking to his usual PLO and No Limit Hold’em. Instead, the Swede is taking on all sorts of mixed game events, and, so far, it’s been working pretty well for him.
After making two final table appearances early on, Blom came very close to winning a WSOP gold in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship. He was stopped just short, losing the heads-up skirmish to Ian Johns.
It’s safe to assume we’ll be seeing a lot more of “Isildur” this summer, making some noise and putting other players in tough spots. Things change, but Blom’s fearless approach to poker remains constant, making him a tough opponent even in variants that he may not necessarily have a huge amount of experience in.
Who Gets the Poker Hall of Fame Honors?
Last week, the World Series of Poker opened the process for 2025 Poker Hall of Fame nominations. As always, this started some interesting discussions among the general public and current Hall of Fame members on who should be inducted this year.
There are many deserving players out there but there is also just one spot. The most likely candidates right now include Nick Schulman, who won his seventh WSOP bracelet just a few days ago, and Scott Seiver.
Both players have achieved tremendous success in poker and it seems that their peers, including the likes of Daniel Negreanu and Jeremy Ausmus, a crusher and potential candidate in his own right, agree.
Other names that have been thrown around are Matt Savage, for his enormous contributions to poker from the other side of the felt, and Ted Forrest. Forrest ticks a lot of boxes, but he hasn’t had many notable results lately, which likely hinders his chances.
Tightly Packed Player of the Year Race
With about third of the series in the books, the Player of the Year battle is becoming very tight. At the time of writing this article, it is Benny Glaser leading the way, thanks to his string of great results, sitting with 2,053 points.
However, both Nick Schulman and Scott Bohlman aren’t far behind, with 1,843 and 1,827 points respectively, which means that the situation at the top can change at any moment.
Ryan Hoenig and Ap Garza are sitting in fourth and fifth, both with over 1,600 points, so they’re well within the shooting distance as well. There is a lot more action ahead so it’s way too early to make any predictions, except that it looks like this might be one of the tightest POY races we’ve seen lately, with the winner uncertain until the very end.
