Poker has really become an international phenomenon since the Moneymaker boom and youngsters all around the world have taken a real interest in the game. None have done so more than the Scandinavians, with players from Sweden really paving the way for others and showing immense skills and talent for the game.

Are you a young Swede looking to join the game and follow in the path of the likes of Viktor Blom and Martin Jacobson? If so, make sure you keep reading as this article will tell you all you need to know about the best Swedish poker players, how they made their fame and fortune and how you could potentially do the same.

We take a look at the top Swedish poker players from both a professional and personal point of view. Our interest is in both how these amazing Swedes made their money at the tables and how they live away from it, so keep going and find out more about what makes a true poker champion.

• Swedish poker players are dominating the online tournament poker scene
• Viktor Blom, a Swedish player, took the world by storm in 2009
• Numerous young Swedish professionals are making it onto the big stage every year

1. Martin Jacobson

Born: 1987
Nickname: M.nosbocaJ
Live Tournament Cashes: $16.866.100
Specialty: Poker Tournaments

The WSOP Main Event in 2014 features a massive field and one would expect that the eventual winner would be one of the countless recreational players or professionals with minor prior success, simply because so many such players were playing the event.

However, when things were settled, it was Martin Jacobson of Sweden, a proven poker pro with years of experience on the international tournament circuit who took home the coveted bracelet and $10.000.000 in cold hard cash.

Unlike many Main Event winners who have never had much in terms of results before their win, Jacobson was already a massively successful poker professional at this point. He started his career in 2008 and had multiple close calls at tournaments like the 2008 EPT Budapest, 2009 WPT Venice, 2010 EPT Vilamoura and the 2011 EPT Berlin, coming close to a major title each time.

At the time of his 2014 Main Event win, Martin was already a well-established name with a massive rail rooting for him at the final table. As you would expect from such a poker monster, he just kept on grinding the tournament circuit and has made many other significant results since.

Martin also plays online poker tournaments under the nickname M.nosbocaJ and has been extremely successful in them as well. The same year he won the Main Event, he went on to place 4^th in the SCOOP Main Event for nearly half a million dollars. In 2017, Jacobson won his first SCOOP title.

In 2017, Martin joined up with 888 Poker, one of the biggest brands in the industry and became a part of their team. This way, the champion decided to give back to poker and become an ambassador for the game and so far he has done well as he is well liked by pro and amateur players alike who enjoy coming out to events to play with this extremely successful and kind poker player.

• WSOP Main Event champion in 2014
• Has had a successful career before and after his major win
• Final tabled the SCOOP Main Even in 2014
• Became a brand ambassador for 888 Poker in 2017

2. Viktor “Isildur1” Blom

Born: 1990
Nickname: Isildur1
Live Tournament Cashes: $2.897.797
Specialty: PLO Cash Games

The story of Viktor Blom is a well-known one and one that has put his name on the list of the best Swedish poker players forever. Blom started playing poker at a fragile age of 14 with his friends and his brother. Initially, the buyins were low and the games were just for fun, but he showed an amazing talent for the game and it was quickly clear that there was more to the young Swede than met the eye.

According to reports, Viktor started playing online poker before he was of legal age on accounts made by others for him. His first several attempts at building a big online bankroll failed but not before he actually managed to reach some pretty high stakes, losing to regulars in heads up games at the high levels who simply outmatched him with their experience and skills.

When he was 17, Blom apparently made over $1.7 Million playing at iPoker, which is when other heads up players stopped playing him and he was forced to move. Now of legal age and an established heads up professional, Viktor sought new challenges at Full Tilt Poker, where all the toughest pros were plying their trade.

In 2009, Blom started playing at Full Tilt Poker, but the identity behind the nickname Isildur1 was not known to anyone, and no one really cared as he initially didn’t play that high. This all changed quite soon as he took on the likes of Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan in heads up and ring games with blinds as high as $500/$1000 and took part in all 10 of the biggest online poker pots of all time.

The online poker world went crazy for Isildur1. He was playing ultra-aggressive and multi-tabling against the best in the world and he was actually beating them. Isildur1 won several million dollars before finally getting stopped by Brian Hastings, a top pro who had apparently prepared for the match by sharing hands with Cole South and Brian Townsend, two of the other professionals who had played Isildur1.

The three made up a strategy to confront the young Swede and in a single day, Hastings won $4.2 Million from him. When all was said and done for him at Full Tilt Poker, Blom had lost over $2.5 Million. In 2010, Blom joined Team PokerStars and his identity was later unveiled to the world.

The pro started playing at both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker and continued battling the best in the world at nosebleed stakes. While his results since have been mixed, this is largely due to Blom’s inability to table select and desire to always compete against the very best, no matter how good they are.

Blom has also had mixed results in tournament poker, winning a WCOOP event in 2017 and a number of SCOOP events in 2012 and 2013, one of them being the SCOOP Main Event in 2013, good for over a million dollars. While he is definitely not a tournament professional, his live tournament earnings now reach over $2.8 Million.

Overall speaking, Viktor Blom made his way to the list of the best Swedish poker players by taking on the best and often beating them at their own game. The mystery that surrounded the name Isildur1 for several years and the extreme courage the Swede showed will put him in the poker history books forever.

• Started playing poker when he was just 14 years old
• Made over $1.7 Million at iPoker before he was 18
• Took on the best in the world at heads up games at Full Tilt Poker
• Took part in all of the biggest online poker pots

3. Chris Bjorin

Born: Unknown
Nickname: Unknown
Live Tournament Cashes: $5.744.000
Specialty: Poker Tournaments

While many poker professionals do their best to be in the spotlight and get seen by potential sponsors, Chris Bjorin has always been a player who kept away from unnecessary attention. Part of the “old guard”, Chris was playing poker tournaments before many of the current champions were even born, getting his first recorded cash back in 1989, when poker was still not as popular as it is today.

Over all these years, Chris managed to amass a total of just under $6 Million in tournament winnings, which is currently good for second place on Sweden’s all-time money list. He has won two WSOP bracelets to date, one coming in a 1997 $1.500 PLO Event and the other in a 2000 $3.000 NLH Event.

If there is one thing we can relate Bjorin to it is consistency and humbleness. Despite being one of the best poker players in Sweden, he has always kept away from the cameras, refusing interviews and making sure not to play too many televised poker tournaments.

In fact, little is known about this humble Swede other than the fact that his poker skills rank up there with the very best of them. Bjorin tends to play in the relatively lower buyin tournaments on the major circuit and is a regular at the WSOP, where he plays many events regardless of the buyin.

It would take way too long to list out all the relevant results he has recorded over his 40 year career, but the one thing that is clear is that Chris is a true pro who never shies away from action but doesn’t believe in publicity and fame for poker players.

• A successful poker pro with a 40 year long career
• 2 time WSOP bracelet winner
• Known to avoid cameras and reporters as much as he can

4. Michael Tureniec

Born: 1985
Nickname: Skammes
Live Tournament Cashes: $4.358.000
Specialty: Poker Tournaments

Michael Tureniec is easily one of the best Swedish poker players you will ever hear of and yet he is not a name often spoken in the poker media. Over his career, this Swede has accumulated just under $4.5 Million in tournament winnings, his biggest cash coming at the 2008 EPT London where he won almost a million dollars for coming second place.

Despite being worth less money, his biggest poker achievement is probably his Little One for One Drop win in 2016 which saw him beat a massive field and walk away with more than half a million dollars in an event in which the buyin was just $1.111.

Aside from these events, Michael has cashed for millions of dollars in other tournaments and has overall proven to be a very skilled and talented player.

He has spent over a decade plying his trade and has earned a place on the list of best Swedish poker players for his results, even though he may not be as popular as some other countrymen. He currently sits third on the all-time money list for Swedish players but may very well improve this standing in the coming years.

• A successful tournament professional with a low profile
• Won the 2016 Little One for One Drop for over $500.000
• Second place finisher at the 2008 EPT London Main Event

5. Niklas Astedt

Born: 1990
Nickname: lena900
Live Tournament Cashes: $1.100.000
Specialty: Online Poker Tournaments

While the vast majority of poker tournament players have made their name playing live tournaments, Niklas Astedt is one of a small number of players whose online tournament results far outweigh those of his live tournament cashes.

This amazing tournament professional has won only $1.1 Million playing live tournaments, but his online tournament scores rise to over $14 Million and are constantly increasing as he continues to grind them day in and day out.

His online tournament poker results are numerous but few of the most impressive ones include his three SCOOP titles, his win at the $10.300 Powerfest and his Super Tuesday triumph. Other than these, Astedt has made countless other big buyin and big field final tables and top three finishes, making lena900 one of the most recognizable names on the online poker circuit.

Niklas has made only limited appearances in live tournaments and has had moderate success. However, those who understand tournament poker are never thrilled to see this young Swedish poker player sitting at their table and Astedt truly deserves a place on this list of top Swedish poker players for his impressive online resume alone.

• One of the most recognizable names on the online tournament poker scene
• Holds three SCOOP titles and many other online poker tournament titles
• Won an impressive $14.000.000 in online poker tournaments

6. Simon Mattsson

Born: 1993
Nickname: C Darwin2
Live Tournament Cashes: $1.200.000
Specialty: Online Poker Tournaments

Having amassed nearly $10.000.000 in online poker tournament winnings, Simon Mattsson ranks as one of the most successful online poker players of all time. Not only is he one of the top Swedish poker players but he also ranks as one of the best in the world and his name is one spoken with fear among the online tournament specialists.

Simon is a true grinder, as his millions have not come as a streak of luck or a one time thing. He has been a consistent winner for years and has only won six figures on six occasions. Two of those scores came at PokerStars, his favorite poker site, but many other scores across various poker networks have made him a force to be reckoned with.

Aside from his online success as C Darwin2, Simon has also managed to amass a limited but respectable $1.2 Million in live tournament winnings, his biggest live cash being one at the PokerStars Championship Barcelona side event for $337.000.

Simon has also been seen at the online cash game tables on occasion, but not very often. His online tournament winnings continue to grow by the day as he continues to relentlessly grind out any poker tournament worth a mention and with great success.

• One of the top online tournament players in the world
• Won almost $10.000.000 in online poker tournaments
• Made occasional appearances in live poker tournaments with some success