It’s true that Viktor Blom is not the world’s richest poker player. In fact, he’s currently number 555 in the All-Time Money List. So, why is he on our list of people who got rich from poker?

Because he could easily get much, much richer in the near future. It’s not just because he’s still a young player at the age of 29, it’s also because of his poker playing style.

This guy loves playing risky, often winning and losing millions in a matter of only a couple of hands.

Speaking of changes in the All-Time Money List, check out the video above to see what Pro Poker Player, Jonas Gjelstad, thinks of the current rankings.

CLIMBING UP THE ALL-TIME MONEY LIST

At the moment, Viktor Bloom is 555th in Hendon Mob’s All-Time Money List. Some interesting facts about his live tournament escapades include the following:

• Bloom won about €35,000 at the 2010 WSOP when he was only 19.
• In 2012, he won his first live poker tournament, cashing in about €1.2M.
• His total live earnings are somewhere in the ballpark of €2.5M as of 2020.
• Blom is currently 7th on the Sweden All-Time Money List.
• His best ranking on the All-Time Money List was 444th place.

As of May 2020, he’s played only one live tournament this year. It was back in February in Dublin, where he won first place at the Unibet Battle Royale, walking out with €1,500.

That’s not a lot of money, to be honest. So, why did we lump him together with the other poker greats?

Because this guy has made millions playing poker on the internet!

ISILDUR1 – THE MONIKER ALL ONLINE POKER PLAYERS KNOW AND FEAR

Viktor Blom was in his mid-teens when he started playing poker on the internet. That’s when he discovered his talent for playing Texas Hold’em.

After building up his bankroll against his fellow Swedes, he decided to move a step further. His next choice was PartyPoker, a website where online poker players from all around the world play against each other.

Blom’s first deposit was just above $2,000. Only two days later, he had 100 times more money in his online account.

From PartyPoker he moved to iPoker, where he earned more than $1.5M in just two weeks. His next destination was Full Tilt Poker, where he decided to register under the nickname of Ilsidur1.

According to the data found on Full Tilt Poker, Ilsidur1 registered his account on September 16, 2009. His first online game on this platform was a $100/$200 game against high-stakes veteran Haseeb Qureshi.

It didn’t take long for him to get a reputation as an aggressive online player who feared no one. Just a few months after Ilsidur1 was born, the nickname became synonymous with high-stakes online poker games.

Obviously, his style of play garnered a lot of attention, both from the media and professional poker players. As a result, Ilsidur1 got invited to play $500/$1000 games against such heavyweights as Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, Brian Townsend, Brian Hastings, and others.

CHALLENGING POKER LEGENDS TO ONLINE DUELS

From September 16 to November 15, 2009, Ilsidur1 played against some of the biggest poker players of all time. In fact, he took part in each of the 10 biggest pots in online poke history by that time.

Sometimes he lost big, but most of the time he was the one with the winning hands. As a result, at one point, he had total winnings of $5.98M.

His losses, however, are much more memorable than his wins. Why? Because they were nothing short of spectacular!

One of the most memorable moments of his early days at Full Tilt Poker was when he challenged Phil Ivey to play $500/$1000 heads-up no-limit Hold’em at three tables.

If you’ve read our article on Phil Ivey, you know this is a guy you shouldn’t mess with. However, the 20-year-old Swede was confident he had what it took to take down the king.

As it turned out, he was overly confident after all. After one week of play, Blom earned himself a $3.2M deficit.

A similar thing happened when he played against Patrik Antonius, whom we also discussed in a separate article.

Islidur1 managed to beat Antonius at Texas Hold’em, but ended up losing over $3M playing Omaha. At that point, it was the biggest loss in the history of online poker. He did, however, win back $2M a few weeks later.

Those heavy defeats certainly didn’t discourage him. Ilsidur1 kept on playing and building up his bankroll.

BIGGEST LOSS IN HISTORY OF ONLINE POKER

His $3M loss to Antonius was the record-holder for only a month. It was broken in December, 2009. Once again, Blom was the man in the spotlight. This time, he lost $4.2M.

The historic game took place on December 8, 2009, when Bloom went toe-to-toe with Brian Hastings. The battle raged for five straight hours before Ilsidur1 decided it was time to give up.

His $4.2M loss still stands as the biggest loss in the history of online poker. Still, not everyone believes Hastings won the battle fair and square.

It was later revealed that Hastings had teamed up with two other Bloom’s rivals, namely Townsend and South. They shared information about Ilsidur1’s style of play, and collected over more than 30,000 hands. With that sort of info in his possession, Hastings had a big advantage over his opponent.

As per the rules of Full Tilt Poker, that’s an activity that’s not permitted. However, Hastings didn’t have to hand over the winnings to Blom. Instead, the only repercussion he received for his actions was the suspension of his Full Tilt ‘red pro status’ for 30 days.

Those big wins and even bigger losses have made Ilsidur1 a real superstar in the world of poker. One of the consequences was catching the eye of big online poker companies, which started inviting him to all sorts of big-money tournaments.

Three years after suffering the record-breaking loss, he went on to win $1.25M at the PCA $100,000 Super High Roller. A year later, Blom won $1.09M at the $10,300 NL Hold'em Main Event.

His most recent major success was winning €850k at the PartyPoker Millions Germany Main Event.

How to go from a winning poker player to a profitable sports bettor, read here.

Check out the other articles in our 10 People Who Got Rich from Poker series on:

• Article 1: Daniel Negreanu, the most famous poker play of all time
• Article 2: Phil Ivey cheated his way to a $10 million win
• Article 3: Phil “POKER BRAT” Hellmuth, the biggest trash talker in poker
• Article 4: Fedor Holz, a multimillionaire by 23
• Article 5: Patrik Antonius, winning the biggest ever online pot & nearly becoming a tennis pro
• Article 6: Gus Hansen, the great Dane who went on a $20.7M losing streak!
• Article 7: Doug Polk, a poker pensioner at 31 who now plays warcraft full-time
• Article 8: Chris Ferguson, the Jesus of Poker who turned full antichrist
• Article 9: Justin Bonomo, the Romeo with many Juliets
• Article 10: Mike Matusow, a former prisoner and Trump-worshipping poker legend
• Article 12: Bryn Kenney, the richest man in poker
• Article 13: Jonas Gjelstad, leaving school early and moving to Thailand to become a professional poker player