Isildur1
Encyclopedia
Viktor Blom is a Swedish high stakes online poker
player, best known as Isildur1. His rise to fame drew considerable audience around the poker
world in late 2009, taking part in all ten of the largest pots in online poker history. In December 2010, it was announced that then-anonymous Isildur1 had joined Team PokerStars Pro. Blom's online identity was revealed by PokerStars on January 8, 2011 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
, Phil Ivey
, Brian Townsend
, Cole South
, and Patrik Antonius
at stakes as high as $500/$1000. He reached a career peak on November 15 with total winnings of $5 million. By mid December, however, he was down $2 million net, including an approximately $4 million loss to Brian Hastings
on December 8, when the two played heads-up $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for five hours. With a few brief exceptions, Isildur1 did not appear on Full Tilt between his collapse in mid-December and his return in February 2010.
According to Full Tilt's insider interview with Patrik Antonius, Isildur1 had a bankroll of approximately $2000 in January 2009. He built his bankroll to $1.4 million and began playing on Full Tilt in September. He first played Haseeb Qureshi, a high stakes regular, at the $100/$200 stakes. After 24 hours Isildur1 won almost $500,000. He disappeared and then resurfaced a month later and played Brian Townsend
, Patrik Antonius, and Cole South at the $200/$400 to $500/$1000 tables and suffered a million dollar loss. A columnist on HighStakesDB, a website that monitors and tracks high stakes activity online, suggested that Isildur1 was overly aggressive, which could cost him playing against elite competition. Isildur1, however, answered critics by winning approximately $2 million back from Townsend and South during the last week of October 2009.
With a profit of $1M on Full Tilt, Isildur1 waited at six heads-up $500/$1000 No Limit Hold'em tables for any challenger willing to play for such stakes. His first opponent was Tom Dwan who is widely regarded as one of the top online heads-up players. They played six tables simultaneously with over a million dollars in play for one week. By the end of the week, Isildur1 had gone on the largest run in the history of online poker, winning approximately $5 million from Dwan, prompting Dwan to issue a live challenge to play Isildur1 at the Full Tilt Poker Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge. He then challenged Antonius to a rematch the following day and won $1.6 million from him on November 15 and peaked with $5.98 million in earnings on Full Tilt.
Recently, he partnered with online poker site PokerStars
and launched a four-table of heads-up cash game No Limit Hold'Em and Pot Limit Omaha "Superstar Showdown" challenge to anyone who is willing to play at stakes no lower than $50/$100 for 2,500 hands, similar to Tom Dwan
's Durrrr Million dollar challenge.
Antonius then challenged Isildur1 to a rematch in Omaha, a game in which Isildur1 admitted he lacked experience. Isildur1 lost $3 million to Antonius after playing for only one day, which at the time, was the largest single day gain and loss in the history of online poker. This record was broken a month later when Isildur1 played Brian Hastings. The following day they played a rematch in Omaha where Isildur1 won $2 million back from Antonius.
His winnings hovered at the $2 million mark until December 8, 2009 when he played Brian Hastings for five hours. Hastings managed to win $4.2 million from Isildur1, making it the largest gain and loss in a single day in the history of online poker to date.
It was discovered afterward that Hastings, Townsend, and Cole South shared information about Isildur1's play over 30,000 hands. They engaged in activity which Full Tilt defined as "accessing or compiling information on other players beyond that which the user has personally observed through his or her own game play" after Townsend admitted to acquiring hands of Isildur1's play through Hastings which he spoke of during an interview with ESPN
. As a result, Townsend lost some of his privileges as a sponsored Full Tilt player (his "red pro status") for 30 days.
Blom's play on Full Tilt Poker between September 2009 and October 2010 at stakes of 50/100 and above resulted in a loss of $2,630,230.
appeared on Finnish radio show Radio Rock Korporaatio, saying, “He’s playing 9 tables at once against Patrik [Antonius], [Phil] Ivey, and durrrr [Tom Dwan] – the guy must be missing a chromosome.” Also that day, the Full Tilt Academy released a video in which Patrik Antonius discussed Isildur1 with Phil Gordon. Antonius, who won the largest online pot ever ($1.4 million) against Isildur1, called him “extremely dangerous” because he constantly puts his opponents to difficult decisions. Antonius further opined that the mysterious Swede would return.
The rise and fall of Isildur1 was on nearly every Top Stories of 2009 list, including those of Cardplayer, PokerNews.com, PokerNewsDaily.com, and pokerlistings.com.
On December 22, 2009, PokerNews.com published an interview with Isildur1 about his loss to Brian Hastings, but Isildur1 again refused to reveal his identity.
Online poker
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker players worldwide...
player, best known as Isildur1. His rise to fame drew considerable audience around the poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
world in late 2009, taking part in all ten of the largest pots in online poker history. In December 2010, it was announced that then-anonymous Isildur1 had joined Team PokerStars Pro. Blom's online identity was revealed by PokerStars on January 8, 2011 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Career
Isildur1 first appeared at Full Tilt Poker on September 16, 2009, and remained largely unnoticed until November when he began playing well known professionals such as Tom DwanTom Dwan
Thomas Dwan Jr. is an American professional poker player who regularly plays online in the highest-stakes No-Limit Texas hold 'em and Pot-Limit Omaha games, primarily on Full Tilt Poker, where he plays under the screen name "durrrr"...
, Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey
Phillip Dennis "Phil" Ivey Jr. is an American professional poker player who has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets, one World Poker Tour title and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables...
, Brian Townsend
Brian Townsend
Brian Townsend is an American professional poker player currently residing in Santa Barbara, California.-Biography:Townsend is largely known for his success playing no limit hold 'em and pot-limit omaha at Full Tilt Poker, playing under the nickname 'sbrugby.' He is the former co-owner and lead...
, Cole South
Cole South
Cole South is a 24 year-old professional poker player, author, and entrepreneur from Washington, DC. South is best known for his play online, though he has also made television appearances on Poker After Dark in season 5 of the show....
, and Patrik Antonius
Patrik Antonius
Patrik Antonius is a Finnish professional poker player, former tennis player and coach, and model from Vantaa, Finland. He currently resides in Monte Carlo...
at stakes as high as $500/$1000. He reached a career peak on November 15 with total winnings of $5 million. By mid December, however, he was down $2 million net, including an approximately $4 million loss to Brian Hastings
Brian Hastings (poker player)
Brian Hastings of Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania is an American competitive poker player best known for his profitable sessions against the Swede, Isildur1.- Poker career :...
on December 8, when the two played heads-up $500/$1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for five hours. With a few brief exceptions, Isildur1 did not appear on Full Tilt between his collapse in mid-December and his return in February 2010.
According to Full Tilt's insider interview with Patrik Antonius, Isildur1 had a bankroll of approximately $2000 in January 2009. He built his bankroll to $1.4 million and began playing on Full Tilt in September. He first played Haseeb Qureshi, a high stakes regular, at the $100/$200 stakes. After 24 hours Isildur1 won almost $500,000. He disappeared and then resurfaced a month later and played Brian Townsend
Brian Townsend
Brian Townsend is an American professional poker player currently residing in Santa Barbara, California.-Biography:Townsend is largely known for his success playing no limit hold 'em and pot-limit omaha at Full Tilt Poker, playing under the nickname 'sbrugby.' He is the former co-owner and lead...
, Patrik Antonius, and Cole South at the $200/$400 to $500/$1000 tables and suffered a million dollar loss. A columnist on HighStakesDB, a website that monitors and tracks high stakes activity online, suggested that Isildur1 was overly aggressive, which could cost him playing against elite competition. Isildur1, however, answered critics by winning approximately $2 million back from Townsend and South during the last week of October 2009.
With a profit of $1M on Full Tilt, Isildur1 waited at six heads-up $500/$1000 No Limit Hold'em tables for any challenger willing to play for such stakes. His first opponent was Tom Dwan who is widely regarded as one of the top online heads-up players. They played six tables simultaneously with over a million dollars in play for one week. By the end of the week, Isildur1 had gone on the largest run in the history of online poker, winning approximately $5 million from Dwan, prompting Dwan to issue a live challenge to play Isildur1 at the Full Tilt Poker Durrrr Million Dollar Challenge. He then challenged Antonius to a rematch the following day and won $1.6 million from him on November 15 and peaked with $5.98 million in earnings on Full Tilt.
Recently, he partnered with online poker site PokerStars
PokerStars
PokerStars is the largest online poker cardroom in the world. PokerStars' satellite tournaments produced the 2003 World Series of Poker champion, Chris Moneymaker. 1983 champion Tom McEvoy, 2005 champion Joe Hachem, 2009 champion Joe Cada and 2010 champion Jonathan Duhamel and others also represent...
and launched a four-table of heads-up cash game No Limit Hold'Em and Pot Limit Omaha "Superstar Showdown" challenge to anyone who is willing to play at stakes no lower than $50/$100 for 2,500 hands, similar to Tom Dwan
Tom Dwan
Thomas Dwan Jr. is an American professional poker player who regularly plays online in the highest-stakes No-Limit Texas hold 'em and Pot-Limit Omaha games, primarily on Full Tilt Poker, where he plays under the screen name "durrrr"...
's Durrrr Million dollar challenge.
Losses
Isildur1 challenged Phil Ivey, widely regarded as one of the best all-round players in the world, to play three tables heads-up no-limit Hold’em at $500/$1000 stakes. After a week of play Isildur1 incurred a $3.2 million loss to Ivey and stated in a subsequent interview that Ivey was the toughest opponent he ever played.Antonius then challenged Isildur1 to a rematch in Omaha, a game in which Isildur1 admitted he lacked experience. Isildur1 lost $3 million to Antonius after playing for only one day, which at the time, was the largest single day gain and loss in the history of online poker. This record was broken a month later when Isildur1 played Brian Hastings. The following day they played a rematch in Omaha where Isildur1 won $2 million back from Antonius.
His winnings hovered at the $2 million mark until December 8, 2009 when he played Brian Hastings for five hours. Hastings managed to win $4.2 million from Isildur1, making it the largest gain and loss in a single day in the history of online poker to date.
It was discovered afterward that Hastings, Townsend, and Cole South shared information about Isildur1's play over 30,000 hands. They engaged in activity which Full Tilt defined as "accessing or compiling information on other players beyond that which the user has personally observed through his or her own game play" after Townsend admitted to acquiring hands of Isildur1's play through Hastings which he spoke of during an interview with ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. As a result, Townsend lost some of his privileges as a sponsored Full Tilt player (his "red pro status") for 30 days.
Blom's play on Full Tilt Poker between September 2009 and October 2010 at stakes of 50/100 and above resulted in a loss of $2,630,230.
Reaction
A number of Isildur1’s regular opponents commented on him in the media buzz surrounding his collapse. On December 11, Ilari SahamiesIlari Sahamies
Ilari Sahamies , also known as Ziigmund, is a Finnish professional poker player. He specializes in high stakes pot-limit Omaha cash games. Sahamies is known for his trashtalk at the poker table, usually aimed towards his fellow pros, which has led to an online following...
appeared on Finnish radio show Radio Rock Korporaatio, saying, “He’s playing 9 tables at once against Patrik [Antonius], [Phil] Ivey, and durrrr [Tom Dwan] – the guy must be missing a chromosome.” Also that day, the Full Tilt Academy released a video in which Patrik Antonius discussed Isildur1 with Phil Gordon. Antonius, who won the largest online pot ever ($1.4 million) against Isildur1, called him “extremely dangerous” because he constantly puts his opponents to difficult decisions. Antonius further opined that the mysterious Swede would return.
The rise and fall of Isildur1 was on nearly every Top Stories of 2009 list, including those of Cardplayer, PokerNews.com, PokerNewsDaily.com, and pokerlistings.com.
On December 22, 2009, PokerNews.com published an interview with Isildur1 about his loss to Brian Hastings, but Isildur1 again refused to reveal his identity.