Online poker is exciting in itself, from the tournaments with million dollar guarantees to series like FTOPS and WCOOP, and from high stakes games involving players like Daniel Negreanu to the challenge matches taking place between Tom Dwan and Patrik Antonius. There is always action, even when it's made by the players themselves. But when Isildur1 made his way to the high stakes tables of Full Tilt Poker in November 2009, railbirds came from far and wide to watch these cash games that involved the biggest pots in the history of online poker.

Isildur1, whose real name remains unknown at his own insistence, hails from Sweden and appeared to have the bankroll to challenge players at the high-limit tables on Full Tilt. The first match that drew attention from the fans and poker media found Dwan as the challenger on the $500-$1,000 no-limit hold 'em cash table. Heads-up was the format-no one else was willing to take their shots at Isildur1 just yet-and the unknown player took Dwan for more than $1.2 million on the first day and $600,000 on the next. Reports noted that Dwan lost another $1.2 million over the next two days as well, which made Isildur1 even bigger news. He was now the mystery player who took approximately $3 million from the well-respected Dwan.

Soon thereafter other players took their shots at Isildur1. Antonius played several pot-limit Omaha sessions with him, and when all was said and done, Antonius came out ahead. And in the process, the two competitors set record after record for the biggest pots ever played online. The biggest was a pot-limit Omaha hand that started with a 5c-4s-2h flop. Antonius moved all-in with Ah-3s-Ks-Kh, and Isildur1 called all-in with 6d-7d-8h-9s. The 5h turn card and 9c river card allowed Antonius' hand to stand, which garnered him the pot worth $1,356,946.50.

Others who sat down with Isildur1 included David Benyamine, Phil Ivey, Phil Galfond, Ilari Sahamies, and Brian Townsend. Most of them lost, as only Benyamine and Townsend chalked up wins.

When and where Isildur1 will surface remains to be seen, though there has been plenty of speculation as to his identity. Most specifically, Shaun Deeb and Tony G asserted, without hesitation, that the online moniker belonged to Victor Blom, though others-including Blom himself-have disputed that fact. Barry Greenstein had only this to say: "He's not a publically known player at this time, but he has done very well in big heads-up games on European sites. He just started playing on American sites ... I have a feeling you will start hearing about [him] in live games and tournaments once he gets a little older, since he likes to play poker all the time."

Since the big games in November, a situation came to light in which Brian Townsend and his fellow CardRunners partners Cole South and Brian Hastings shared data in order to help Hastings defeat Isildur1 in an epic overnight match that nearly broke the enigmatic Swede. This will be examined more thoroughly in the next column. But the emergence of such information prompted Isildur1 to cease playing the high stakes games for the time being, and he has not been back to Full Tilt with the exception of a small number of hands played against Dwan in December, according to his interview with PokerNews. However, he has yet to make a significant deposit since his multi-million dollar loss to the CardRunners players.

There is no doubt that the identity of Isildur1 will be discovered at some point, and his skills against the some of the best players in the world on the Full Tilt tables show that he is no fly-by-night player. He is certainly a contender in online poker, and if he ever chooses to go public or play in live tournaments, this player will certainly be the talk of the poker industry.

Jennifer Newell is a compulsive writer. In addition to Poker Player Newspaper, she writes for numerous publications and blogs at Pokerati.com as California Jen. In her little bit of spare time, she plays poker, too. Contact her at jen3351@msn.com.