UnibetPoker’s Twitch.tv is about to enjoy the talents of Viktor Blom, poker’s most enigmatic and media-shy nose-bleeder.
On May 27, Blom will be playing 10 hours of No Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha at various stakes, ranging from $50 to $400, which will be streamed live on Unibet’s Twitch.TV page between the hours of 11am and 11pm BST.
As well as offering viewers a glimpse into the decision-making processes of a brilliant poker mind, Blom will be fielding questions all day, a tantalizing prospect given that the 24-year-old Swede rarely does interviews.
Even when he was sponsored by PokerStars and then Full Tilt, Blom agreed to just a smattering of interviews, all of which were conducted via email, and revealed little about the man behind the notorious “Isildur1” moniker.
The Rampage
Isildur1’s effect on high-stakes online poker when he burst onto the scene late in 2009 was close to earth-shattering when he toppled the then-incumbent king of online poker, Tom Dwan, aka “durrrr,” from his perch.
Over the course of a few days, and over thousands of hands, Isildur1 tore durrrr apart, first with both players six-tabling at $300/$600NL, then at $500/$1,000. Blom beat Dwan for $5.2 million, and left the online poker world reeling. And no one even knew who he was at the time.
“He’s taken the game to a new level, in the way that Dwan did,” said Patrik Antonius after the takedown. “He’s playing six tables and super-aggressively on all, putting you to huge decisions. He’s so talented and he’s adjusted so much since I first played him.”
Isildur1 was on a rampage, taking on all-comers. At one point, he was multi-tabling Phil Ivey, Antonius, and Dwan all at once, with Dwan on two tables, and Ivey and Antonius on three each. His recklessness, however, was ultimately his downfall, along with PLO, a game at which he was then less adept.
What Goes Up
Losses to Ivey, Antonius, Brian Hastings, and subsequently Cole South, put an end to the most remarkable run in online poker history. By the time it was finished, Isildur1 had participated in every one of the top ten biggest online poker pots of all time, a record that still stands. But South finished it off, managing to win $4.2 million from Isildur1 in just four hours.
In 2011, Isildur1’s identity, which was by then widely known, was officially “revealed” when Viktor Blom signed on with PokerStars.
To this day, the Swede appears to have been unable to curb that reckless instinct of his. He continues to play anybody at the highest stakes possible, and according to the High Stakes DB, is currenty down $4.9 million on Full Tilt.
May 27, then, promises to offer a unique insight into one of the most brilliant, and flawed, players that poker has ever known. Be sure to tune in.
