Isildur1 crashes and burns

03/12/2010

Railbirds fascinated by the recent $2 million comeback of the enigmatic online poker phenom Isildur1 (see previous InfoPowa reports) watched him crash and burn in a spectacular losing session this week

According to MarketPulse numbers, over 9 261 hands in a single session the still unidentified high stakes player went down $1.8 million, almost wiping out his earlier successes this year.

With a bulging backroll, the Swede characteristically started the session at the high end of the nosebleed tables, playing 952 hands heads up against Cole South on the $500/$1 000 PLO tables at Full Tilt. After initially losing over $300 000 to the Cardrunners pro, Isildur1 came right, ending the heads up $557 896 ahead.

He then clashed with another skilled high stakes player with whom he has been regularly tangling this week - Justin Bonomo - who took $101 000 off his Swedish opponent in slightly more than 300 hands of $200/$400 NLHE. Bonomo's success was shortlived, however - he lost $622 648 back to the Swede only hours later.

Isildur1 then faced the mercurial ace Tom Dwan, who in 888 hands of $300/$600 PLO took the Swede down to the tune of $1 021 995, almost wiping out Isildur1's earlier gains in the session. The big win pushed Dwan to the front of the top earners list with $3.3 million profit in 2010 so far.

The massive hit did not appear to discourage Isildur1, because he went on to challenge Phil Galfond over 1 482 hands, where he was successful but only to the tune of $57 000. Still unsatiated, the duo then agreed to move up to the $300/$600 PLO tables for the next 2 182 hands, which saw Isildur1 lose another $254 000.

The heads up then became even more extreme, changing to the $500/$1 000 tables where Galfond took the Swede apart in a stressful and exciting 2 064 hands that knocked Isildur1 back a shocking $1.6 million. In the session 8 pots were worth over $300 000 each, with the largest at $416 000.

The disastrous session saw Isildur1 down overall by a stunning $1.8 million on the night.