It\’s no secret I\’ve been nosing around in Full Tilt\’s business lately. They are the ones who, after all, practically built the poker world as we currently know it — and helped create an industry that so many of us rely on for food. But considering what these good people potentially face and how it could impact us all, I couldn\’t help but start cashing in favors for information from some of the highest ranking, super-reliable people I know.
Alas … still haven\’t gotten the details I\’m seeking about Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey\’s meeting with Barack Obama in February — what did they say? what did he say? — but perhaps as a consolation prize, my source told me he had one piece of info that he/she could confirm with \”100 percent\” certainty.
OK, I\’m listening …
\”Viktor Blom is Isildur.\”
Oh, that\’s it? I mean thanks.
\”Yes. 100 percent.\”
He\’s not under investigation or anything, is he? Got a DWI maybe, or how \’bout an illicit rendezvous with Guy Laliberte and the Swedish women\’s curling team … that would all be good for traffic.
\”Nope. Just playing high-stakes no-limit hold\’em and PLO.\”
Everybody\’s been saying for a couple months that it was a given Viktor Blom and Isildur1 were one in the same. Seemed plausible enough, but I didn\’t really know, and I\’m pretty sure 95 percent of the people saying as much didn\’t really know either — they were just repeating what they heard from someone else who said they heard from someone else who said they knew.
I didn\’t really care, because I actually liked him better as a mystery man. And figuring how easy it is for misinformation and spin to spread through the poker internet, I was willing to bet against Isildur1 being Viktor Blom if you gave me 3:1 odds. But no longer. I personally now believe 98.9 99.8 percent that Isildur\’s alterego could run into trouble with Swedish tax authorities has a listing in the Hendon Mob database.
Sorry it took so long for me to come around … maybe I was just in denial because I really was hoping to see the mystery continue for years to come: