Idol or just gambler?

I've read lately a text from Viktor Blom (Isildur) about his poker beginnings and it got me thinking.,
Long story short: At one point he had around 2k$ on his account and he decided to play 300$ SNGs, and after he won a few, he moved up on to the 500$ (like, wtf??), took some bad beats and went busto in the end of that night.
Then he tought about it for weeks, again and again, and then decided to give it one last shot (with the same tactics) and he managed to succed.

Many players today idolize him (and similar players like Dwan,Hansen,Sahamies..), but for me what he did was just pure gamble and luck.
Okay, today we can say that he is one of the most skilled players out there, but what if he busted that other time? How many potenitally great players busted their poker careers playing like that and remanied unknown?

I remember when I started playing on PS; I grinded my way from NL2,NL5 to NL10. I played for months on NL2 and NL5 until I finally made nice profit playing and when I considered I cracked them I decided to move up the stakes.
For me, true pro worth admiring is some who grinded his way up from the lowest stakes;
not someone who took a gambles like this thinking: '' I'll take another 1k and it's my final shot''

People see what they want to see, for every Blom there are countless players who piss it away with bad decisions & bad play, then blame rigged poker. Most don't want to dream about slow, steady & smart. Boring, maybe, but effective.

Poker involves gambling... Idk if this should be seen as a huge gamble or simply having confidence in his ability to play the game

It's wise to learn from others' mistakes.

An idol to gamblers.

I agree with the OP in that he dived in at the deep end & that if things had gone differently the poker world could have missed out on an extremely gifted player. I've seen Viktor Blom play, quite closely in fact and I can assure you he is a very talented player...

I think he just took a shot - all or nothing,that time. Either he wins big and make a big bankroll or lose all.... well its not suck a risk assuming that nowadays ppl dont make much risks in their whole life especially....they just live and die.
"“Don't fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.” Bruce Lee

My opinion: risk anytime you can,but with kind of insurance....

Who risks, wins
by Derek Delboy Troter

with these bankroll management he is going to lose all the money no matter how well he plays. poker isnt a game of pure skill and on a bad streak he is going to lose all the money he made. thats just pure gambling and taking shots like that will lead to bust all his bankroll in the long run.

theRaven68 said:

Who risks, wins
by Derek Delboy Troter

Click to expand...

+1
I think it was " 'e who dares, Wins"
"This time next year, Rodney, we'll be millionaires"
Bonjour!

no matter how skilled somebody is, if he doesn't has a good brm, he will go broke sooner or later. i also went broke 2 times, because i started to play on higher levels after a few winnings. after a bigger win in a freeroll i limitied the buy-ins myself through "responsible gambling" and i'm beating the micro stakes slowly but constant..

I do not think that was a fluke nothing else, it's a great online poker player, according to those who know him has a great insight into the game, and I believe that helps a lot.

he s idol for dreamer with gambling mind. he is pure gambler n love to gamble.. he got no brm cos he doesnt care of going bust.

I agree with you, he is just a gambler, bad banrollmangement.
but it all went good so lucky for him, if i do something like that i guess i will have to try it more than 10 times.I am a poor gambler...

he is just a good player

wanting to do too much too soon can give results .. but this much can be short his look because that will surely achieve this system is the same that can not hold a bank

pain_pain_go_away said:

+1
I think it was " 'e who dares, Wins"
"This time next year, Rodney, we'll be millionaires"
Bonjour!

Click to expand...

maybe isuldur followed the times and times of delboy make a million then piss it away lol

Fortune favors the bold

I like Blom.
He's a hold 'em monster and decided to take shots at the highest PLO games when he was still learning the game himself. That's why he dropped down so low against other top PLO players; because he didn't fully understand the game.

From what I read by Phil Galfond, he says that Blom's PLO game has improved so much that now he considers Blom 1 of 3 people he feels he no longer has the edge over. Galfond also says that's how Blom approaches poker; he's willing to take shots at different games he doesn't fully understand and either come up big or lose big as a huge underdog, but will pick up the game quickly on the fly.

As far as Blom, he doesn't care if he wins or loses money. It's just money, it doesn't mean much to him. He enjoys learning how to dominate the game. This was evident in Galfond's blog about Blom when he said he was playing nosebleed PLO live with him (I think during a wsop) and Blom had rivered a full house and folded to a bet. It wasn't after the chips were being shipped to the other player that Blom noticed he had the best hand. When Galfond asked Blom about, Blom said it wasn't the first time he's folded the best hand on the river. He just acts fast and with his first instinct that sometimes he doesn't notice these things. That's how he played online and that's how he plays live-sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes it does. When asked about losing all that money, Blom said "it's just money" and doesn't worry about it.

I think a player like that; one that doesn't question their instinct and isn't affect by the amount they win/lose, is very scary. Especially for someone like Blom who picks up games really quickly. Blom is still young and is still learning games other than NLHE and PLO, but he definitely is one of the better players out there. I think his willingness to take risk huge risk shows otherwise. I think if he were to slow his game down a bit, but still play just as well, he'd be a huge force.

Good player has experience, that is why he can win in situation, when everybody lose!

He's a beast, and he was prepared to be really aggressive in a time when people didn't do that as much. The thing is, your also right. If you take 2k$ and start playing 300$ sit n gos you can make like 50K in a couple days, but chances are you'll just bust. Obviously he ran super good.

He is an awesome player when he is in the zone but he can't handle a downswing at all and he then proceeds to tilt at the same time as a downswing