'Isildur1 is Viktor Blom' says Luke 'FullFlush' Schwartz

Since he burst onto the high stakes poker scene in late 2009 Isildur1 has been the most talked-about figure in all of poker. His penchant for relentless high stakes action against the world's best - Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Tom 'durrrr' Dwan et al - have thrilled millions of railbirds watching on Full Tilt Poker.

However, perhaps the main reason that Isildur1 has proved to be such an attraction is because nobody is quite sure who the enigma really is. At various times, rumours have abound that the hyper-aggressive gambler is Todd Brunson, Jonas Danielsson or even former Celtic star Henrik Larsson. The main name on everybody's lips though has been Viktor Blom, a 19-year-old Swede who has run amok on Euro sites over the past few years.

PokerPlayer.co.uk spoke to his good friend and fellow high stakes star Luke 'FullFlush' Schwartz to find out once and for all if Blom is indeed the man behind the mysterious Isildur1 handle - and why he keeps coming back for more against the world's best.

Is Isildur1 Viktor Blom?

Luke Schwartz: Yes, yes, yes. He's probably one of the best - if not the best - no-limit heads-up player in the world but he can still go broke every single time he opens the laptop. He's younger than me, he's 19 so that’s going to happen to him for a few years. I've matured as a player and I'm not really looking to have the hugest swings at the moment.

If he's so good why does he keep losing such huge sums of money?

Luke Schwartz: He's only ever got a maximum of 20 buy-ins for any game he's playing and [because] he doesn’t ever quit he can't book a win. That's a massive problem some players have. Isildur can play a 48-hour session, be up $5m at one point, but then in the last two hours it's all gonna go. He's obviously got degenerate problems like that but hes also got a big heart for the game, likes to gamble and he's very, very good.


Read Part Two: Luke Schwartz Analyses durrrr vs Phil Ivey on High Stakes Poker

Luke Schwartz was in London to promote the upcoming Scottish Poker Open, a £2,500 tournament taking place in August. You can find out all the details at www.scotlandspokeropen.com.