The $1 million SuperStar Showdown match between Viktor "Isildur1" Blom and Isaac "ike" Haxton got off to a terrific start yesterday afternoon, as Blom took an early lead of almost $200,000.

The match is a special edition of the popular heads-up series, played with significantly higher stakes and a winnner-takes-all format.

Normally, the SuperStar Showdown meetings are played with a fixed hand limit, and with both players bringing $150,000 to the tables.

However, for this special edition battle, both Blom and Haxton have taken $500,000 with them and agreed to play on until one has busted the other completely.

The match's first leg was scheduled to be played on Saturday at 18:00 CET, and saw "Isildur1" take an early lead, following four hours of intense action on four tables of $200/$400 Heads-Up No Limit Hold'em.

The Swede managed to take home a couple of significant pots, including the biggest of the day worth $143,128, as his came out on top of Haxton's on a board.

Haxton also took his fair share of the pots, and among other things won a $103,616 coinflip holding pocket fives against Blom's .

Haxton, however, couldn't prevent Blom to take over the lead with a total of $198,438 once the four hours had passed by and the two had reached 1,901 hands.

The American pro will now have to face the task of fighting his way back into the duel, as the action returns to PokerStars today, once again at 18:00 CET.

The challenger will know how it feels to climb such a mountain, as he dug himself out of a major hole the last time the two met in the SuperStar Showdown series in order to finish with a minor $5,000 profit.

The win wasn't big, but enough for Haxton to beat Blom - an achievement he has already reached twice as the only player in the series so far.