Viktor Blom Confirmed as Isildur1
On Saturday, PokerStarsconfirmed that the identity of Isildur1 was indeed Viktor Blom (pictured). The 14-month saga over the identity of the mystery Swede finally came to an end during the 2011 running of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), whose $10,000 price tag Main Event kicked off today with the first of two starting days. The announcement made waves throughout the poker community despite the fact that Blom has been the leading candidate for quite some time.
**Discuss: Viktor Blom Confirmed as Isildur1**
Earlier this afternoon, PokerStars officials distributed a press release breaking major news regarding Isildur1: “Team PokerStars Pro Isildur1’s identity will be revealed today at 7:00pm at the PCA. The legendary online phenom will be playing fellow Team Pro Bertrand ElkY Grospellier (pictured)in a 100-hand $25/$50 heads-up match. Each player will bring $10,000 to the table. The match will take place in the tournament area.” Blom was not part of the Day 1A Main Event field, but instead made waves in the heads-up battle.
Following Blom’s match with Grospellier, the man known as Isildur1 will battle against PocketFives.com member OU THE NICK, who hails from Germany. PokerStars is staking OU THE NICK with $10,000 for a separate 100-hand live heads-up match with Isildur1 after the German defeated a field of over 400 to earn the honor. OU THE NICK made waves in 2010 by finishing among the top 150 in the PokerStars TLB and final tabling the Sunday Warm-Up in October for $40,000.
Recently, Blom changed his Facebook profile page to say that his employer was PokerStars and he had been a member of its Team Pro since December. PokerStars announced the arrival of Blom during the same month, which added even more fuel to the fire. Blom has over 550 Facebook friends, including fellow PokerStars pros Victor Ramdin and Liv Boeree.
Blom burst onto the high-stakes scene at Full Tilt Poker at the end of 2009, facing off against established pros like Tom durrrr Dwan and Phil Ivey. In December, Brian Hastings (pictured) took him for over $4 million in a single day, which led to the following comments from the CardRunners pro to ESPN: “Honestly, I give most of the credit to Brian Townsend here. He analyzed a database of heads-up hands that Isildur1 had played and constructed ranges of what Isildur1 was doing in certain spots.” As a result, Townsend had his Red Pro status suspended for one month and then left CardRunners.
Blom has faced off against Isaac Haxton and PartyPokerpro Tony G in two SuperStar Showdowns. The man behind the Isildur1 mask split the series after defeating Tony G and losing to Haxton. The next full-scale online installment on the SuperStar Showdown has not yet been announced. Each match has consisted of 2,500 hands of Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em at $50/$100 stakes, with each player buying in for $150,000.
Blom played in the $100,000 buy-in PCA Super High Roller Event, but failed to survive Day 1. He ran into the trip nines of PocketFives.com member and former World Poker Tour champ Vivek Psyduck Rajkumar (pictured) to spell his demise. Blom had arrived in the Bahamas five hours behind schedule after flights from London to New York to Miami to Nassau. His baggage had apparently been misplaced during the marathon travel day, leading to an even greater headache for the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro.
In November 2009, Isildur1 dropped a pot worth $1.3 million to Full Tilt Poker pro Patrik Antonius in Pot Limit Omaha, the largest in online poker history. One day later, he scooped the second largest pot in online poker history, worth $1.1 million, at the expense of Ivey.
Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest on this developing story. Visit PokerStarsor check out the Poker Discussion forum thread for more information.
