Viktor “Isildur1” Blom Grinding High Stakes at Phenom Poker

Famed online poker player Viktor “Isildur1” Blom has been really putting in the volume at Phenom Poker. His results have been a roller coaster of ups and downs with six-figure sessions not uncommon. Blom’s performance at the high-stakes tables on Phenom is reminiscent of the old days of “Rail Heaven” at Full Tilt Poker.

Viktor’s Run at Phenom Poker

Viktor Blom became an ambassador for Phenom Poker in April 2025, and he did not wait long before jumping into the games. First appearing at the site on April 28, under the same “Isildur1” screenname that he had earlier made infamous, Viktor played some $5/$10 6 Card PLO/8 where he lost his $1,000 buyin.

This initial session was unfortunately a portent of things to come, and Blom steadily lost over the next year. Though he moved up to $300/$600, $1,000/$2,000 and even higher stakes as new tables appeared at Phenom Poker, he kept donating his cash to opponents with little to show for it. By April 9, 2026, Viktor had recorded no less than $3 million in losses.

Blom’s efforts were not confined to Omaha and Hold’em tables. Instead, he seemed to appreciate Phenom Poker’s many mixed games, such as:

• Standard Mix: (Big O capped, Badugi, Badeucy 2 – 7, Stud/8, Dramaha 2 – 7, PLO capped, Badacey A – 5, LO8, 2 – 7 TDL, Razz)
• Fun Mix: (A – 5 Triple Draw, 2 – 7 Razz, LO8, Badeucy 2 – 7, Badugi, 2-7 TDL, Stud/8)
• Circus Mix: (Badeucy 2 – 7, Double Board Omaha, Dramaha High, Stud/8, Badacey A – 5, Badugi, Dramaha 2 – 7, Stud/8 no qualifier)
• 8-Game: (2 – 7 TDL, NLHE capped, 7 Card Stud, LO8, Razz, PLO capped, LHE, Stud/8)

Blom also dabbled quite a bit in 2 – 7 Triple Draw Low and Limit Omaha/8 games.

On April 9, something seemed to change for the Swede, and he embarked on a massive heater that saw him win in excess of $4 million by April 29. He continued playing mostly mixed games, sometimes dabbling in 5 Card PLO, 2 – 7 Triple Draw Low, and Limit O/8. On one memorable session on April 15, Viktor joined a $2,000/$4,000 table of 8-game with $40,000 and had to rebuy for an additional $120,000. However, over the course of a more than three hours long session, Viktor won an astounding $463,095.

This success was short-lived though. Blom entered a breakeven stretch lasting until May 8 and then he rapidly went into a tailspin, losing about $3.5 million from then through May 21.

Viktor Blom’s Phenom Poker Results as of May 27, 2026

Overall, from the time Blom opened his Phenom Poker account until the present day, he has a net loss of $2,573,257.66. His most frequently played types of game along with his results are:

As we can see, two of Viktor’s favorite games, 8-Game and PLO, are also the ones wherein he recorded the largest losses. Meanwhile, he seemed to do well in Limit non-mixed games, like Triple Draw Lowball and Omaha-8. Perhaps Blom can improve his results and become a real terror at the tables if he focuses on just a few game formats rather than trying to play everything under the sun.

More About Viktor Blom

Born in 1990 in Sweden, Viktor Blom first appeared on the poker scene at Full Tilt playing in some of the biggest games around. Initially anonymous and known only by his screenname “Isildur1,” he, in September 2009, commenced playing against the likes of Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Cole South, and Brian Townsend. Within a couple months, “Isildur1” booked winnings of nearly $6 million at stakes up to $500/$1,000.

As impressive as his wins were, they were not the most noteworthy thing about “Isildur1’s” play. Rather, it was his aggressive, relentless style that was wilder than anything the online community had ever seen before. Three-barrel bluffs, call-downs with nothing more than a high card, and dangerous raises all-in with thin holdings were commonplace.

Unfortunately for “Isuldur1,” he proceeded to lose back all his winnings and then some over the next few months. In a controversial match on Dec. 8, 2009 against Brian Hastings, “Isildur1” lost more than $4 million. However, the game was widely alleged to have been unfair because Hastings, Cole South, and Brian Townsend supposedly combined their hand history databases on their mystery opponent, who was still anonymous at this time, and together contrived strategies to beat him.

Viktor Blom When He was a Team PokerStars Pro

Be that as it may, Blom took a break from the high-stakes tables for close to a year. He signed as a PokerStars Team Pro in December 2010 and revealed the next month that he was the man behind the “Isildur1” moniker.

Since that time, Viktor has strung together a few notable runs, including a time from April 2011 to October 2012 when he won more than $2 million before losing $3+ million and another stretch between August 2014 and July 2017 when he won $5 million, dropped $2 million of it, and then rallied back to regain the $2 million he had lost.

Though known mostly for his online cash game play, Blom has also notched some pretty respectable live tournament results, including victories in the 2012 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 NLHE High Roller event ($1,254,400) and the 2018 partypoker MILLIONS €5,300 Main Event in Rozvadov, Germany (€850,000). His largest-ever cash, however, came in the 2024 WSOP Event #47: $100,000 NLHE High Roller where Viktor finished third for $1,311,091. Altogether, Blom has amassed more than $7.6 million in offline tourney earnings.

About Phenom Poker

Phenom Poker launched in October 2024 as the creation of poker player and entrepreneur Matt Valeo. It’s different from most online poker sites in that it records every transaction to the Polygon blockchain, and it denominates its tables in USDT on this same blockchain. There’s also a proprietary crypto-currency, PHNM, and holders of it receive rakeback and other rewards on an ongoing basis.

Phenom Poker is remarkable for a number of reasons. The one that strikes any player as soon as he or she opens the lobby is the wide variety of poker variants available for play. There’s a fair amount of traffic in NL Hold’em and several PLO variants, as is the case at most every poker room, but users also enjoy mixed games, like 8-game, HORSE, HEROS, and more.

Another way that Phenom Poker has made a name for itself is by attracting well-known poker pros to represent the site. Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is just one of them. He counts among his colleagues at Phenom Poker such luminaries as Daniel “Jungleman” Cates, Huck Seed, Brian Rast, and Phil Laak. It’s an all-star cast any way you look at it, which testifies to the seriousness and viability of Phenom Poker going forward.

Some of the Members of the Phenom Poker Team

Online High-Stakes Beckons

Though Phenom Poker is notable for the vertiginous stakes that it offers, traffic is a bit light especially for more reasonably sized games. Yet, there are places for online poker at both high and normal stakes with much larger player volumes. Perhaps the best of them is ACR Poker, which spreads games as low as $0.01/$0.02 and as high as $200/$400, which should suffice for most of our readers.

When you use our exclusive ACR Poker no deposit bonus code PRB10FREE, you’ll get $10 to check out the games absolutely free. Then you can deposit your own money and receive a 100% up to $2,000 bonus. Click below to sign up:

For more information on this cardroom, head over to this comprehensive ACR Poker review. You may also be interested in ACR’s sister sites although they lack the $10 free bankroll offer and a few of ACR’s high-stakes tables: Black Chip Poker, Ya Poker (non-US). For other US-friendly internet poker destinations, consult this list of top-rated online poker rooms for Americans.

May 27, 2026 – by Max Golden, Editor-in-Chief