A little over six weeks ago, we reported that we had heard rumors from a Swedish poker player’s blog that “a famous Swedish High Stakes player” had signed a sponsorship deal with “a well known poker site.” Isildur1 was of course the first name that sprung to everyone’s mind, and speculation ran wild about whether this would be the unveiling of his identity and which poker room had grabbed the online poker star. In an announcement today, PokerStars revealed that they are that very room, making Isildur1 the newest member of Team PokerStars.
Despite – or perhaps as a result of – so little being known about Isildur1’s true identity, he has shot to instant celebrity status over the last two years, making the handle a household name for poker fans everywhere. The Swedish player came out of nowhere to appear at the biggest games on Full Tilt in 2009 where he was willing to play against any player at any stakes and promptly ran up an amazing amount of money only to lose it all just as quickly, and then come back some time later to do it all again.
Throughout his epic runs and disastrous downswings Isildur1 was playing against literally the best in the world, often at different games and sometimes at the same time. He became perhaps the most famous for his multi-tabling heads-up matches against internet poker superstar Tom “durrrr” Dwan, in which the mysterious Swedish player took seven figure scores, before turning around and dropping this money to a number of other top high stakes pros. In the times when he’s not playing, and is presumably licking his wounds and sharpening his skill set, we don’t hear much from Isildur1, but that is all set to change.
While there was a lot of speculation that Bovada would be the site to sign the online poker enigma, since that is where his brief but greatly exciting appearances have taken place until now, we now know that is not the case. Instead it is PokerStars, the largest online poker room out there, who have made Isildur1 an offer he can’t refuse. He says he’s excited about joining PokerStars, and that he plans to “continue to focus on heads-up Hold’em, but also try to develop [his] Pot Limit Omaha game”.
Many have wondered if Isildur1 would lose some of his appeal when his identity was revealed and the mystery surrounding the screenname removed, and that is a question that will have to go unanswered, at least for now, as PokerStars has decided to continue the secrecy. When the announcement was made earlier today it was accompanied by a photo of a blank face in a PokerStars hoodie, and indeed a lot of his Team PokerStars Pro Bio pushes the mysterious angle of the Team’s newest member.
This may be set to change, however, as Isildur1 has confirmed he will be attending “some upcoming events” and there are rumors circulating that his identity will finally be revealed at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January next year. Whether anything will come of this or it’s just a tall tale to keep pulling the fans along, we don’t know. There can be no doubt that Isildur1 makes a great addition to Team PokerStars, and that both the site and the player will be very happy with the partnership. The railbirds should also be ecstatic, as they are now guaranteed more regular appearances by the awesome young online player over the months to come.