WSOP roundup: Online poker legend denied 1st career bracelet

After bursting onto the high-roller scene in 2009, the phenom went heads-up with some of the world’s best players. But the identity of the player behind the account remained anonymous, adding to the intrigue.

It wasn’t until 2011 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure when Sweden’s Viktor Blom was revealed as the young prodigy responsible for many of the largest pots in online poker history. Since then, Blom continued to come and go, with his best results coming in live tournaments in Europe or online.

But Blom is back at the World Series of Poker and knocking on the door of his first career bracelet, which are awarded for tournament victories. He finished third in the $100,000 buy-in High Roller No-limit Hold’em event on Thursday for more than $1.3 million.

That result came on the heels of his third-place finish in the $50,000 buy-in High Roller No-limit Hold’em Eight-handed event Sunday for $951,727.

Winning a bracelet is “actually my one goal in poker,” Blom told PokerGO in a rare interview.

Blom cashed in three events at last year’s WSOP and has made the money in four events this summer. In addition to his pair of third-place finishes, Blom was fourth in the $1,500 buy-in Dealers Choice Six-handed ($41,237) and 14th in the $10,000 buy-in Pot-limit Omaha High-Low Eight or Better Championship ($28,891).

He sits ninth in the WSOP Player of the Year standings.

Chris Hunichen, another online poker legend, captured his first career bracelet in the $100,000 High Roller event and took home $2.8 million. He topped six-time WSOP winner Jeremy Ausmus in front of a rowdy rail at Horseshoe Las Vegas.

Hunichen moved into second place in the race for Player of the Year behind Scott Seiver.

“No one’s ever due in poker, but I feel like I was due,” Hunichen told WSOP.com. “And I’ve been in this position a couple times, got unlucky, a couple seconds. It was my time.”

Fountain of youth

The $1,000 buy-in Seniors No-limit Hold’em Championship continued Friday with 208 of the nearly 8,000 entrants remaining. Among them was 94-year-old Samuel Kobrinsky of Salinas, California, the oldest participant to cash in this year’s event, according to WSOP.com.

Before the money bubble burst Thursday, tournament supervisor Charlie Ciresi walked the floor requesting players sit down when their age was called. Kobrinsky was the last player standing and was then asked how he stays so clear at his age.

“I owe it all to Jack Daniel’s,” Kobrinsky said to loud applause from the remaining players.

Kobrinsky finished 97th for $6,565.

The final table of the tournament is scheduled for Sunday. Two-time WSOP winner Mark Seif was among the chip leaders on Friday, as was former major leaguer Jim Traber, who works as a sports radio personality in Oklahoma City.

Greg Raymer, the 2004 WSOP Main Event champion, also was sitting on a big chip stack Friday afternoon.

WSOP winner dies

Poker pro Matthew Parry, who cashed in three WSOP events this summer to go with a victory at the Wynn Summer Classic, died June 15 in Las Vegas, according to a Facebook post from his family. The cause of death was not revealed.

Parry was from Fairport, New York, and his WSOP bio notes he was a former scholastic national chess champion. Last year, Parry won the WSOP $3,000 buy-in Pot-limit Omaha Six-Handed tournament for a career-best $480,122.

He finished 11th in the WSOP $1,500 buy-in Pot-limit Omaha, then won the Wynn’s $2,200 Pot-limit Omaha tournament two days later on June 7 for $106,645.

Parry had more than $1.9 million in career live tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.