Maltese Storms Delay Blom-Haxton Match

by Mario Alfonsi  |  Published on Mar 13, 2012  |  Updated on Mar 13, 2012

If you logged into PokerStars on Sunday afternoon hoping to see whether Viktor “Isildur1” Blom could gain some measure of revenge against Isaac Haxton, you may have gotten a partial answer. But after just under 700 hands were completed, Haxton was forced to abandon the match due to unstable internet conditions, causing the remainder of the match to be delayed until Tuesday evening.The long awaited rematch between Blom and Haxton began as scheduled on Sunday on PokerStars. Haxton was the only player who had defeated Blom in a completed match during the SuperStar Showdown series, that coming in the first ever match held. Since then, Blom has defeated nine successive opponents, ranging from some of the world’s top professionals to amateurs who won a chance to take on the nosebleed-stakes cash pro.This time around, the stakes were doubled to $100/$200 no-limit hold’em, and Blom got off to a quick start. Just over an hour into the match, Blom held a lead of nearly $100,000 over his opponent – almost one-third of the $300,000 stake both he and Haxton were required to risk during the four-table match.That’s when the match suddenly came to a halt. Haxton began to experience issues with his internet connection – problems that were not able to be quickly resolved. When Haxton could not reliably reconnect, the match was halted.It became apparent that Haxton’s connectivity issues were related to storms that hit Malta two days before the match. Haxton is now residing in Malta, and the severe thunderstorms did significant damage to the island nation. Not only were internet connections disrupted, but many homes were destroyed, and at least one person was killed.However, Haxton and Blom are now scheduled to resume their match on Tuesday, and all accounts say that Haxton should not have further issues connecting to PokerStars to play the remainder of the match. When the match resumes, Blom will hold a lead of $99,886, with 692 of the scheduled 2,500 hands completed.