real name of Isildur1

November 17th, 2009

Will the real Isildur1 please stand up!

Isildur1 has everyone and anyone in the poker world speculating (and confirming) his identity. This Swedish masked marvel has recently taken online poker by storm through a number of high profile matches against Tom “Durrrr” Dwan on the Full Tilt Poker tables. He appeared just a few short months ago and has dominated over the past few weeks. He’s played over 84,000 hands and has taken the pros for over $3.5M to date. As of now, he is, in fact, taking over the high stakes online poker world.

A post from Barry Greenstein in the Pokerroad forums on November 12th stated, “He (Isildur1) is not a publically known player at this time, but he has done very well in big head-up games on European sites. He just started playing on American sites…I have a feeling you will start hearing about in live games and tournaments once he gets a little older, since he likes to play poker all the time.” He also adds the mystery may have something to do with avoiding steep taxes on poker earnings in Sweden.

Since his arrival there have been many rumors surrounding his identity and his authenticity. There’s been contemplation he’s a cheater and/or a hacker. Some say he’s working for the site to run off the big winners. Others think Isildur1 is just another screen name for an already established pro. As far as his identity, it’s been rumored that he’s anyone from the legendary Doyle Brunson to Carloina Kluft, a Swedish Olympian. However, the most promising of many theories seems to be that of Viktor Blom.

Viktor Blom, reportedly 19 years old, started on the circuit as Blom90 where he had a great run in late 2008/early 2009 on iPoker where he put in about $2K and ended up with over a $1.5M. Then turned around and lost it all after a 4-5 week run. He was a very aggressive player who played his way to high stakes tables very quickly. Does any of this sound familiar??? In addition, it has been reported that Jesper Hougaard aka ‘Kipster’ has confirmed Isildur1 is Viktor Blom and Viktor is a neighbor of high stakes online player, Martonas.

Fortunately, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan has invited Isildur1 to play the live Full Tilt Durrrr Million Dollar challenge scheduled to take place November 17th-18th in London. With any luck at all, Isildur1 will accept this challenge, show his true identity and finally put all these rumors to rest.