Who Is Isildur1? We Know Now

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

In the film JFK, when pressed about who was behind the conspiracy to kill President Kennedy in Dallas, a character (played by Joe Pesci) rambles on with a now famous statement...

"It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma...."

For while, the online poker pro named Isludir1 was considered a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma and then deep fried and drenched in chocolate. When Isildur1 splashed onto the high-stakes scene in late 2009, the poker community grew curious about the true identity of the Scandi. The word on the street was that he was a Swedish 20-something name Viktor Blom. And as it goes, the word on the street is usually right.

As the world speculated on his identity, he took on some of the biggest sharks in poker. He won millions, then lost it. When he'd go busto, he'd reload, and take another shot, only yo go busto again. In the meantime, he became fodder for poker scribes who were trying to determine his true identity. I wrote a couple of pieces on Isildur1, both on Tao and freelance, where I tried to narrow down his identity.

One of my favorite pieces included a (faux) interview titled Through a Glass Darkly: The Search for Isildur1, where I conducted with Isildur1 after I made a journey all the way to Sweden to chat about his enigmatic personality.

Here's a sample...

"It's political. I'm an anarchist and I thrive on chaos. The best way to disrupt society is to implode the entire financial system. I want to win money from capitalist American pigs and Eurotrash elite to bankrupt them and bring them to their knees. You have to understand something. I'm Swedish. I didn't pick that. I was born into it. I blame my parents who spawned me against my will. That's why I dropped out of school when I was ten years old to become a poker pro."

I also wrote an Isildu1 identity piece for PokerNews in 2009, and in that Op-Ed, I suggested ten potential identities of Isildur1... Sasquatch from Jack Link's Beef Jerky, Darvin Moon, Ben Affleck, Random 12-Year Old, Tony Parker, Osama Bin Laden, Martonas, the Ghost of Stu Ungar, a bot, and IKEA owner.

Last month, Isildur1 signed with PokerStars and he was scheduled to be appear at the PCA. Now that the 2011 PCA is off and running, Isildur1's identity was officially revealed to be... Viktor Blom.

Read Otis' astute report from the PCA titled... Finding Isdilur1: Viktor Blom Cops to His Secret Identity.

Viktor Blom. Enigma wrapped in a riddle.