2010 December 29, Chad Holloway

In 2009, the online poker world was rocked by the appearance of a mysterious Swedish player known only as “Isildur1.” This unknown player was aggressive, prone to bet big, and wasn’t afraid to take on the likes of Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, and Patrik Antonius on the high-stakes tables of Full Tilt Poker. Million-dollar swings were practically occurring on a daily basis as 2010 rolled around, leading up to what would be an up-and-down year for Isildur1.

Isildur1 entered 2010 at the tail end of an epic downswing. In late November of 2009 he lost $4.1 million in a single week, dropping him to $1.2 million in the red. This was especially surprising considering the Swede had once sat with $7 million in profit. However, between Dec. 6 and 7, 2009, he managed to recoup $3.5 million from various opponents. Just when it looked like he was back on track, he dropped $4.2 million to Brian Hastings the next night. A few days later, Isildur1 was bust.

In February of this year, Isildur1 made another appearance at the high-stakes tables and beat Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo for $567,515, the latter’s largest single-day loss ever. It didn’t stop there, though. Over 30 hours, Isildur1 managed to win $1,187,406! In true Isildur1 manner, the money didn’t last long.

In April, Isildur1 was rumored to be making an appearance at the PartyPoker Big Game IV. As a matter of fact, Tony G was going to stake him, and it was said to be a certainty that Isildur1 would be playing the live event. Just a day before the game, however, Isildur1 backed out. According to Tony G’s blog, Isildur1 sent him a text message canceling: “Sry for not coming, take care bud.”

“I was going to fly Isildur1 and three of his friends to London and everything was all set,” Tony G explained. “He mentioned that he didn’t think that the stakes were big enough but we had agreed to make the game much bigger when he came in!”

Not only was the G upset, offering his famous “On your bike!” to the Swede, the poker world was extremely disappointed, as well. After all, many people thought they might finally learn the identity of the mystery man. It wouldn’t be until the end of 2010 when Isildur1 would jump back on the poker radar.

In what could be the most shocking poker announcements of all time, PokerStars announced in December that Isildur1 had become the latest Team PokerStars Pro. The announcement was especially surprising because Isildur1 was a staple of the Full Tilt Poker tables. Nonetheless, Isildur1 was clearly excited about the change of virtual tables, saying, “I chose to join PokerStars because it’s the biggest site and it will be an exciting challenge. It means a great deal to be playing in a team alongside players such as Daniel Negreanu, Dario Minieri, and Johnny Lodden. My goals now are to improve my live game for some upcoming events, continue to focus on heads-up no-limit Hold’em, but also try to develop my pot-limit Omaha game.”

In addition, Isildur1′s arrival marked the beginning of the SuperStar Showdown – a series of high-stakes heads-up matches at PokerStars. The SuperStar Showdown consists of a single session of 2,500 hands at stakes of $50/$100 or higher. On December 19, Isildur1 faced off in the inaugural match against Isaac “philivey2694″ Haxton. Unfortunately things didn’t go so well for the Team PokerStars Pro as he dropped $41,701.

“It’s not every day that a player like Isildur1 comes along. If you look up the definition of the term ‘phenom’ you’ll see a picture of his face! When he is playing, the poker world takes notice. Hate to overuse the poker term ‘sick’ but Isildur’s no-limit hold’em game is just that – sick! Few people step up to the plate against him, but the ones who have, universally have respect for his raw talent,” Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu has said of his newest teammate.

Indeed, in 2011 the world will get the chance to see just how sick Isildur1 is on PokerStars! The big question is: Will we finally learn the identity of the mystery man known only as Isildur1?

There is still time to play in our final $15,000 Sunday Million Freeroll on PokerStars in the current series, but hurry as you have to qualify this month. In addition, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

2010 December 23, Elaine Chaivarlis

With as cold as it is outside and everything and everyone going into hibernation, we figured we’d better do the same thing. It’s the last Nightly Turbo of the year, but don’t get discouraged, we’re putting up the top ten stories of the year starting tomorrow to refresh your memory. We’d like to thank you for reading and coming back day after day. We do this all for you — really. Enough of that, we don’t want you so teary eyed that you start thinking the four of spades is the ace of clubs. What’s perfect is that we’re leaving you with a photo of a pretty lady who knows how to win, the nominees of the World Poker Tour Magazine awards, and more. See you next year, same time, same place!

In Case You Missed It

Is the continuation bet in your arsenal of poker tricks? It should be, and PartyPoker pro Bodo Sbrzesny tells you why in our latest strategy article.

Every week, Lynn Gilmartin makes us jealous with her photos and stories from her trips — and this week is no different. Check out Around the World with Lynn for a sneak peek at season four of the PokerStars.net Latin American Poker Tour.

Were you railing the PokerStars 1/4 Million last night, but had to go to sleep and didn’t get to see the winner? We’ve got the results of that and more of the week’s tournaments in the Midweek Briefing.

Do you listen to the Matt & Matt Show every week but want to know more about the guys behind the show? Well, here’s your chance. Read Getting to Know Matt Parvis and Matt Brown of the Matt & Matt Show to find out more.

Felicidades!

Last woman standing at the 2009 World Series of Poker, 888 ambassador Leo Margets took down the Full Tilt Poker Masters Series at the Grand Casino in Barcelona last week. She took home €100,000 for the win in which she beat beat 31 of Spain’s best players who had qualified for the event.

The tournament was a three-day event that covered a range of poker disciplines including deepstack, shootout, and turbo tournaments.

Check out the press release for more.

WPT Magazine Awards

World Poker Tour Magazine is holding a reader’s choice award (which is a little different from Bluff Magazine’s — the one Gloria Balding is nominated in – go vote). So, the categories are Favorite British Player, Best International Player, Best Poker Personality, Best Online Player, Best UK Cardroom, Best International Cardroom, Best Online Room, Best Online Forum, Moment of 2010, and Outstanding Contribution to Poker.

We’d go through the nominees, but that would make this way too long. Voting is currently open and will remain open through February 1, 2011, with the results being announced in the March issue of World Poker Tour Magazine.

Go vote at WPTMag.co.uk.

Reserve Not Met

Last week in the Nightly Turbo, we told you about 1991 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Brad Daugherty who was selling his bracelet on eBay. Well, that auction has ended, and if there was a lucky buyer, we’d tell you who it was. The undisclosed reserve on the bracelet was not met; therefore, the last bidder, who was going to shell out $30,100 for the 14k gold bracelet won’t be doing so.

Raise it Up

Some of the biggest online gambling companies in the world are headquartered in Gibraltar. It sounds random when you think about it, but a one percent gaming tax up to a maximum €500,000 charge is quite the incentive. However, all that will change come January 2011.

With the new year comes a corporation tax hike of 10 percent. Gibraltar is trying to keep its tax regime in line with EU regulations on fair competition. Some companies on the island are currently paying the 10 percent tax, but some of the companies that have been on the island longer are paying the lower tax rate.

“We’ve known about this for some time, and we’ve factored it in,” Partygaming spokesperson John Shepherd said. “The tax is still going to be very low.” He also doesn’t think the tax hike would deter other companies from setting up operations in Gibraltar.

The Telegraph has more.

Happy Holidays!

And because there’s nothing like a good light show….

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Just a minimum deposit is required of new players to qualify for our final $2,770 Freeroll of 2010 with Poker770 next week.