Anyone who has followed the live or online poker circuit knows the name Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom. The Swedish poker pro is renowned for his high-stakes action, resulting in some of the heaviest, multi-million chip swings the industry has ever known. Since his unceremonious departure from the Full Tilt pro team in October, speculations of a new sponsorship have been tossed around, now aimed at a UK online poker room as he’s announced his intention to play the cash games at the Unibet Open in London.
Slated for November 27-30, the Unibet Open will take place at Aspers Casino in London as tournament officials prepare to celebrate the 30th edition of the UK poker festival. It hasn’t been confirmed whether or not Viktor Blom was actually approached in any contractual way to appear at the Unibet Open’s cash game tables, but a recent tweet by the Swede certainly points the finger in that direction.
“In Macau right now,” posted Blom on November 14th, “but planning to play the @unibet cash game before @unibetopen at Aspers in London end of November. Looks fun!”
Blom has never been one to post random comments on his Twitter account, @ViktorBlom, but rather reserves such publications for promotional needs. In fact, the last time Blom personally typed a tweet was on July 11th, when he promoted the personal assistant services of London-based Hero Call during EPT Barcelona. Since then, his infrequent messages have all been re-tweets, also of a promotional nature.
When you put two and two together, it all boils down to just two possibilities. The Swedish poker pro has either become bored enough to post his future whereabouts without practical reason, or a Unibet Poker sponsorship is in the works.
Further supporting the rumors, although Unibet Poker has offered no official announcement of a sponsorship, representatives did take the time to include Viktor Blom (with first billing, no less) in its own Twitter post regarding the upcoming cash games at the UK poker event. “Poker greats @ViktorBlom @CrocMonsieur and @SenseiChanning will play in our golden cash game at @Unibet Open London!”
Unibet has been working diligently to increase brand recognition since leaving MPN (formerly Microgaming Poker Network) in April of this year, integrating a new, proprietary software platform and solo network. The venture has been remarkably successful thus far as Unibet has managed to jump up to the 21st position on PokerScout’s global online poker traffic reports with an average of 450 concurrent cash game players. What better way to advance that growth than contracting a globally recognized live and online poker pro like Viktor Blom?
Isildur1 has been grinding the virtual felt since 2008, when his nosebleed action and anonymity drew the eyes of the media. As the story goes, Blom turned a $2,000 deposit into $1.4 million bankroll by September of 2009, going on multiple, 7-figure swings along the way. Blom’s identity wasn’t unveiled until January of 2011 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure; a necessary emergence as the Swede signed his first sponsorship deal with PokerStars. Blom then parted ways with PokerStars in August of 2012, followed by a new deal with Full Tilt Poker where he entertained ambassadorship with Gus Hansen as ‘The Professionals’. Both European poker pros were released from Full Tilt last month.