When he first arrived on the high stakes poker scene, Viktor Blom’s identity was unknown to the poker world. Through his online alias ‘Isildur1’, however, Blom quickly became the most mysterious and engrossing poker player in the world – thanks not only to his anonymity, but also to the highly volatile play style he employed and his willingness to challenge the toughest opponents he could find.
Born September 26, 1990 in Gothenburg, Sweden, Blom was introduced to poker in his teens by his older brother. Over the next few years, he honed his aggressive style, turning small deposits into hundreds of thousands of dollars – only to bust his bankroll and repeat the cycle again and again.
In 2009, Blom created an account on Full Tilt Poker under the screen name ‘Isildur1’ and immediately threw himself into high stakes heads-up matches against legends of the game – including Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, and Patrik Antonius – in both pot-limit Omaha and no-limit hold’em formats. After running up massive profits in these matches, Blom's volatile bankroll management caught up with him and the downswing that followed has become the stuff of legend – and serious controversy.
In December of the same year, he lost more than $4M to Brian Hastings – in a single day. Later, Hastings was found to have partnered with Brian Townsend and Cole South to form a database of thousands of Blom's hand histories, in direct violation of Full Tilt Poker's terms of service.
After the incident, Blom retreated for a period of time. In 2010, PokerStars announced that it had signed 'Isildur1' as a site ambassador and went on to reveal his true identity to the world at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
Historically, Blom is best known for his skills in the cash game arena, but he has proven his tournament chops on numerous occasions. In 2024, after a hiatus of several years, Blom returned to the fold with a strong performance at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas – proving himself still a force to be reckoned with.
