2011 January 07, Rich Ryan

Over the past year and a half Isildur1 has captivated the poker community with his overly aggressive play and mesmerizing swings in the highest cash games online. His most intriguing characteristic isn’t his combativeness or his disregard for money; however, it’s his anonymity. The mystery is about to be solved though, because Isildur1 is going to be unveiled in the coming days down at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. While all signs point toward Viktor Blom, there is a small chance that the masked ninja has one more trick up his sleeve. If somehow the unknown player is not Blom, the poker world should brace itself for a bombshell that would send players, fans and media members into a complete frenzy.

The following is a dream list of potential Isildur1′s whose impact – if they were introduced as the masked man – would be unfathomable. Undeniably there is little chance any of these people are actually Isildur1, but we can dream can’t we?

1. Phil Hellmuth

Just imagine his entrance if Phil Hellmuth was indeed Isildur1. Imagine the Poker Brat dressed as Poseidon, holding a trident, riding a Pegasus and parading dozens of mermaids down the hallways of the Atlantis en route to the tournament area. Believable, right? Let’s be honest though, Hellmuth is far too nitty to be the face behind an online maniac such as Isildur1, he’s already rumored to be “#1_Lucky_One” and he’s clearly not spending copious amounts of time grinding high stakes in Sweden. Still, considering his recent split with UB and a potential deal with PokerStars, this isn’t impossible. There’s still hope for the most epic entrance of all time!

2. Kirk Morrison

Kirk Morrison is very talented, fairly aggressive and tends to fall off the face of the Earth from time to time – so why can’t he be the mysterious Isildur1? During the 2010 World Series of Poker our own Kristy Arnett talked with Morrison about his most recent disappearance and he said that he’s still, “fighting off some demons.” Perhaps he’s referring to punting over $2 million in online nosebleeds? Unfortunately Morrison spends his time between Los Angeles and New Zealand, not Sweden, and he’ll probably be in no-man’s-land during the PCA rather than in the Bahamas.

3. Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad is the founder of IKEA, a multinational retail company, and the only Swede to make this list. The entrepreneur is the 11th-wealthiest person in the world, worth over $23 billion, which gives him plenty of buy-ins to spew around with. The only drawback concerning Kamprad is that he’s 84 years old, and at that age, turning on a computer is difficult let alone multitabling high-stakes cash games on the Internet. Still IKEA and PokerStars could be entering an epic joint venture, and in terms of geography Kamprad is the most likely person on this list to be Isildur1.

4. LeBron James

In the beginning of Drake’s Forever video, LeBron James is playing heads-up on PokerStars under the handle “RealLebron.” Quick searches on both Official Poker Rankings and Poker Table Ratings show that this handle is inactive, however, so why can’t King James be playing under Isildur1? If he plays poker it wouldn’t be a surpise; gambling and the NBA aren’t mutually exclusive. Just last season, Gilbert Arenas pulled a gun on a teammate in the Washington Wizards locker room for not paying a gambling debt and was suspended for the remainder of the season. LeBron earns over $40 million a year from his salary and endorsements, so like Kamprad, dusting off a few buy-ins wouldn’t be a big deal. LeBron lives in the U.S., however, and playing more than 82 basketball games a season limits the amount of time he can grind online. James famously “took his talents to South Beach” this past summer to play for the Miami Heat, so now let’s see if he goes a bit further and takes his talents to the Atlantis.

5. Tupac Shakur

Conspiracies concerning Tupac Shakur’s shooting on September 7, 1996, are debated endlessly, and some people strongly believe he is alive and well. He is officially listed as deceased, though, and Forbes recognizes him as one of the top earning dead celebrities estimating that his estate is worth about $15 million. If the king of West Coast hip-hop is actually alive, however, then there’s a minute chance he escaped to Sweden where he could remain hidden. Now, after almost two decades of lying low, Pac believes it’s time to return to the Western world and resurface not only as a famed rap artist but also as one of the most entertaining poker players in the world. This suggestion is a bit far-fetched, but if Tupac really is Isildur1, then, like his song says, he’ll have “All Eyez on Him.”

[i]Who do you think is Isildur1? Send us a Tweet or a message on Facebook letting us know.