Mon, 01/24/2011 – 21:39 – PokerPages Staff

Team PokerStars sponsored pro Viktor ‘Isildur1′ Blom and Dan ‘jungleman12′ Cates sat down at the world’s biggest online poker site on Friday for an epic heads up duel.

The nosebleed regulars began their exchange at the $25/$50 tables before moving up to the $50/$100 tables several hours later.

Cates, who was playing under his ‘w00ki3z’ PokerStars alias, was on a small downswing early on but managed to dominate the latter stages to post profits in excess of $40,000.

Cates won a pivotal hand after meeting Blom’s all in call with a second pair. Blom flipped over K-10 high and the 21 year-old took down the $29,698 pot.

The marathon duel prompted several choice words from the duo with the Swedish sensation calling Cates’ style of play a ‘joke’ and commenting that he would ‘play this session until I bust or you quit.’

However, Blom was unable to fulfill that aim as he lost out in a huge coin flip situation at the end of the session.

Cates six bet all-in pre flop with Ac-Ks and Blom completed with Jh-Jd. Cates paired up on the flop and the turn and river drew air. The Maryland native snared the $40,000 pot.

It represents a welcome turn around in fortunes for Cates who was one of Blom’s major victims during his hot streak on Full Tilt Poker during late 2009.

Viktor Blom has struggled to find consistency on PokerStars since joining the illustrious Team PokerStars ranks. The 20 year old was down $100,000 on Saturday, pushing his overall deficit past the $300,000 mark.

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