Isildur1 duels again

03/10/2010

The still-unidentified Swedish high stakes poker phenom Isildur1 has been making himself known on the nosebleed tables at Full Tilt again over the past week, grinding away on the lower stakes to build bankroll and then moving up to take on the big boys.

Over the last weekend the never-say-die Swede built up around $530 000 of poker steam against top players like Ilari Sahamies, who he punished heavily in $300/$600 and $500/$1 000 Pot-Limit Omaha.

He then took on Justin Bonomo in an 800 hand session of $200/$400 NLHE, but took an almost $190 000 loss before moving on to challenge two old enemies responsible for some of his biggest losses - Cardrunner pros Cole South and Brian Hastings. Taking on the duo heads up simultaneously, Isildur1 took $334 000 off South. However, his old nemesis Hastings was not so easily defeated, emerging the winner after 224 hands of $300/$600 PLO that saw him take home $330 000.

InfoPowa readers will recall that last year it was Hastings who took down Isildur1 bigtime, posting a record $4.2 million session win on the Swede. Hastings appeared to have a reprise of that situation in mind as he challenged Isildur1 to a higher level of action on the $500/$1 000 PLO tables. Always up for a challenge, the feisty Swede agreed, starting a 468 hand session that confirmed Hastings' dominance with a further $219 000 profit, bringing his rewards for the day to $542 000.

Still keen to play with his rivals, Isildur1 then took on South again heads up on the $100/$200 PLO tables for 565 hands, moving up to 344 hands of $200/$400 POL. In the first session South went down $222 000, but managed to recover $78 000 in the second before calling it quits.

Overall, Monday's session was a good one for Isildur1, enabling him to add another $572 746 to his bankroll, and pushing him over the one million dollar mark in profits for this year.

MarketPulse independent stats show the following players as the big winners as at March 8: Tom Dwan (+$1.7 million), Isildur1 (+$1.05 million), Alexander Kostritsyn (+$507 000)

Still struggling are Patrik Antonius ( down $1.2 million) and Cole South (down $966 000)

Top earners, 2010 to date are Alexander Kostritsyn (+$3.03 million), Cole South (+$2.54 million), and Tom Dwan (+$2.42 million)