Who is Isildur1? Is he a former iPoker Network whiz who has taken the USA-facing Full Tilt Poker by storm? Is he an up and coming online superstar? Who is this masked man? Whoever he is, Isildur1 has taken the online poker world by storm and recently dropped the largest pot in online poker history at the hands of Patrik Antonius. The PocketFives.com community has been buzzing about the sudden surge in action in high-stakes play on Full Tilt, creating threads daily about Isildur1, Antonius, Tom “durrrr” Dwan. Let’s take a look at some of the action.In the richest pot in online poker history, which took place at a $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha table, Antonius put in a check-raise to $21,000 after a flop of 5-7-Q with two hearts holding A-Q-9-6 with two hearts of his own. Isildur1 called to see the ace of diamonds hit the turn and the Swede put in a raise to $192,000 holding A-K-Q-10 for aces-up, the same hand that Antonius held. Antonius promptly shoved for $367,000 and Isildur1 made the call. The river was the eight of diamonds, making the final board 5-7-Q-A-8 and shipping a colossal $878,000 to Antonius with a straight for the largest pot in online poker history.
According to Poker Table Ratings, whose President told PocketFives.com that his site has seen an explosion in traffic ever since Isildur1 emerged onto the scene, Isildur1 posted his best day ever on November 11th, boosting his bankroll by $1.4 million. Five days later, his net worth went the other way, as he dropped nearly $1.6 million on the virtual felts.
He’s played against some of the high-stakes world’s best. According to Poker Table Ratings, Isildur1 is up $2.9 million on Dwan (pictured at left) alone. Others whom Isildur1 has gotten the better of include Haseeb Qureshi (+$452,000), David Benyamine (+$297,000), UgotaBanana (+$293,000), Cole South (+$201,000), Phil Ivey (+$140,000), Observer84 (+$110,000), jungleman12 (+$46,000), I Win Flips (+$45,000), and Spirit Rock (+$43,000). The $2.9 million taken from Dwan is nearly double the sum of the other eight players combined.On the flip side, and mostly due to dropping the largest pot that the online poker world has ever seen, Antonius remains Isildur1’s biggest nemesis. In fact, the Full Tilt Poker pro has cost Isildur1 nearly $1.4 million singlehandedly. Others who have gotten the best of the unknown newcomer include trex313 (-$144,000), Brian Hastings (-$130,000), Ziigmund (-$128,000), Brian Townsend (-$36,000), KObyTAPOUT (-$34,000), OMGClayAiken (-$34,000), Niki Jedlicka (-$30,000), EskaborReturns (-$25,000), and Richard Ashby (-$22,000).
Threads developing on PocketFives.com question when Isildur1’s luck would run out, if ever. Online poker community member zander chimed in, “This guy runs absurd. Patrik just overshipped 140k on the turn and he called with 3rd pair and a flush draw and binked the nuts on the river with only 10k behind, started hand with 200bbs.” Other massive pots have seen Isildur1 defeat Dwan’s A-K with A-A for $694,000 and the newcomer losing with aces against Dwan’s 8-2 for $570,000. Throngs of observers have taken to the tables to watch the action unfold.
Dwan is in the midst of hosting the first ever live Million Dollar Challenge in London, facing Sammy George, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies (pictured at right), and Marcelo “luckexpress” Marigliano in $500/$1,000 Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em. Each challenger must buy in for $500,000 and compete in heads-up matches against Dwan. No player can leave the table unless they go broke or 500 hands are completed. Leading up to today’s opening round against George, Dwan issued a challenge to Isildur1 to participate. However, the Swede did not respond.Dwan asserted in a press release distributed by Matchroom Sport, "We have had some tough games over the last few days and the action just keeps on coming. I hope [Isildur1] can make it to London for the challenge so we can play some high-stakes live games as well." Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond commented in his blog, “I've read a bit about theories on who he is and the way he got to where he's at right now. Seems like no one is positive about him or his back-story, at least publicly. No, I don't have any more info than you guys do.”
Check out one of the livelier Poker Discussion threads about Isildur1.
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