Swedish online poker pro Isildur1 is a relative newcomer to the industry. He took the high-stakes Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em worlds by storm in November of 2009, squaring off heads-up against players like World Series of Poker (WSOP) November Nine member Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Durrrr Challenge participant Patrik Antonius. He has challenged the very best that the Full Tilt Poker stable has to offer, as many of his opponents are sponsored pros of the world’s second largest online poker site.
Isildur1 jumped out to a sizable profit over his opponents. His hyper-aggressiveness was somewhat similar to Dwan’s, constantly putting foes at tough decisions for much of their stack. By the first week of November, Isildur1 was up $1 million according to Poker Table Ratings and crossed the $2 million threshold shortly thereafter. On November 15th, 2009, Isildur1 had raked in more than $5 million from his opponents. Most of his success had come at the expense of Dwan.
On November 21st, Antonius took down a record-setting $1.3 million pot against Isildur1. Two days later, Ivey was the victim of a $1.1 million haul by the Swede. Then, the bottom dropped out. By December 1st, 2009, Isildur1 was $1.7 million in the hole, a nearly $7 million real money swing at the tables on Full Tilt Poker.
Who is Isildur1?
The debate has raged on in the online poker community as to the true identity of Isildur1. The Swede’s true identity may never be known due to complicated tax laws in the Scandinavian nation, but early speculation was that Robert “Gulkines” Flink was the mystery man.
On PocketFives.com, Frank “Frank1The1Tank” Calo sourced CardLovers.com and posted, “Fwiw, I have received intelligence by some very credible sources (who shall be kept completely private) who said pretty confidently who isildur1 is. So I give you the knowledge I have (with like 99% certainy but not quite 100% yet) that it is Robert Flink aka Gulkines. No this is not a level or me having fun or w/e. I can say with like 100% certainty that it isn’t viktor blom either fwiw.”
Others such as poker bad boy Tony G pointed to Viktor “blom30” Blom, a young Swedish pro. However, he has denied being the high-stakes newcomer, telling Bluff Europe, “I am not the one you are looking for. Keep searching.” In a chat that popped up on November 30th, Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies addressed Isildur1 by name as “Viktor,” but was not corrected. Other rumors have pointed to Todd Brunson, who is American.
Effects on High-Stakes Poker
Isildur1’s arrival sparked a renaissance of high-stakes poker on Full Tilt, with regulars flocking to the site to watch the matches unfold. With millions of dollars swapping hands daily, sites like Poker Table Ratings and High Stakes DB have seen their traffic explode as poker fans review hands and seek stats on each player. It’s unmatched action and all happening on a USA-friendly site.
Viktor Blom did not deny the Isisdur1 username to Bluff Europe. Turns out there were two young men with similar names in Viktor’s home town; the one Bluff Europe spoke with was named Victor Blom and not Viktor Blom.
we may never know who he is for sure. if i were him i would not come out till i was back on top. then he comes out as the top player istead of looking like an idiot. he must be thinking to himself: “if i come out now, all this crazy play was for nothing.” you can see by his pokertableratings page that he is changing his gameplay a bit. probably he doesnt want to lose too much,if he can accumulate a decent stack again he will likely go crazy again in hopes he can get back on top. my sentiment is that this is the best time for him to come out…
i hate full tilt, there so corrupt
most high stakes full tilt players h ave each others action, lol like a common ghuy really has a shot \
It has to be Matt Damon… I am 98 % sure