Viktor Blom Confirms Identity as Isildur1

The identity of Isildur1 is no longer poker’s worst kept secret. In a reveal that surprised nobody, it was revealed Saturday at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that Swedish poker pro Viktor Blom is indeed Isildur1, the high-stakes cash game player who has won and lost millions of dollars playing at the nosebleed stakes on Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.

In a post on the PokerStars Blog, Blom revealed much about himself and his decision not to reveal himself as the player behind the legendary name. For the most part, Blom simply appeared not to desire the attention that would come with outing himself.

"There was no reason for me to talk to the media," he said.

His rise in poker circles is now a story known by most players in the online poker world, though just how fast his success came may surprise even some of his biggest fans.

“I deposited $2,000,” Blom said, “and within three weeks I had two million.”

The decision to go public was tied closely to his decision to sign a sponsorship deal with PokerStars. In order to finish the deal with the world’s largest poker room, Blom had to agree to publically acknowledge himself as the true Isildur1, ending the pseudo-anonymity he had enjoyed up until this point.

However, the reveal did not come as much of a surprise. While it might not have been a shock to find out that someone else had been Isildur1, Blom was by far the #1 suspect. Through a process of elimination, many players had become convinced that he had to be the man behind Isildur1, and even those that weren’t completely convinced acknowledged that the circumstantial evidence all pointed in Blom’s direction.

When asked for advice for new players, Blom gave some rather common advice, before realizing that it sounded less than genuine coming from him.

“Start slow,” he said, before adding “I didn’t do that.”