Five of the Best Swedish Poker Players

Copy link Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Jun 06, 2018 5 min read Last updated Jun 07, 2018

Wednesday, June 6 was the National Day of Sweden, a day spent celebrating Sweden gaining its independence. So what better way to pay homage to this historic day than by looking at five of Sweden's elite poker players?

1) Martin Jacobson

The top choice was an easy one. After all, 888poker Ambassador Martin Jacobson is the only Swede to win the World Series of Poker Main Event, back in 2014 for a cool $10 million.

Jacobson is far from a one-trick pony with $16.6 million in live tournament cashes according to The Hendon Mob, the most among any Swedish player. To put this into perspective, this is almost triple the $5.7 million Chris Bjorin accomplished in three decades of play to place him second among Swedes.

Outside of the WSOP Main Event victory, Jacobson has won two EPT side events and one WPT side event and has amassed a total of 17 cashes of at least $100,000.

Jacobson is also known as a beast online, in particular at PokerStars where he plays under the "M.nosbocaJ" screen name. While the total amount of his online cashes is unknown with his stats blocked on major tracking websites, he has had quite a few big scores.

In May 2014, Jacobson took fourth place in the SCOOP High Main Event for $499,320. Three years later, in May 2017, he won his first ever SCOOP event after shipping the SCOOP-08-H: $530+R NLHE, $300K Gtd for $106,984. To start off this year, Jacobson won the Winter Series Super Tuesday for $129,950.

Martin Jacobson Poker Stats ^{(June, 2018)}

Twitter: @Martin_Jacobson

2) Viktor "Isildur1" Blom

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom might be the most talked about player in the history of online poker every since he came out of nowhere to play the biggest cash game stakes in the world in 2009.

The Swede notoriously lost $1 million right away before rebounding and winning $6 million in profit in just a six-week period. He then lost a lot to Patrik Antonius before losing another $4.2 million to Brian Hastings which involved a bit of controversy including shared hands from his peers.

On Full Tilt alone, Blom has lost $4.7 million, offset by $1.8 million in profit at PokerStars in high stakes cash games.

While there's no doubt that Blom is a force to be reckoned with in cash games despite an overall loss, the Swede has also had success in both online and live tournaments.

Blom has amassed more than $3.8 million in online tournament winnings as tracked by Official Poker Rankings, which remarkably includes four SCOOP titles including one last spring.

He has also won $2.9 million in live tournaments, including two huge wins. He shipped the 2012 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller for $1,254,400. In February 2018, Blom took down the partypoker MILLIONS Germany for €850,000 ($1,048,153).

Viktor Blom Poker Stats ^{(June, 2018)}

Twitter: @viktorblom

3) Niklas "lena900" Åstedt

For the past few years, Niklas Åstedt has been one of the most successful online poker tournament players in the world. Under the screenname "lena900", the Swede is currently ranked number one at PocketFives, a spot he has been very familiar with off and on since March 2016.

Åstedt has amassed $11 million in online tournament cashes, which is sixth most in the world out of players that have opted into PocketFives.

He has won three SCOOP events and the Super Tuesday twice. Most recently, Åstedt outlasted a field of 198 players to win the $10,300 Powerfest #53-SHR: $2M Gtd [Championship Event - PKO] at partypoker for $430,047 for his biggest score to date.

While Åstedt is not very well-known for playing live tournaments, he has accumulated $1.1 million in cashes which include two EPT side event victories and a victory in a PokerStars Championship side event.

Niklas Åstedt Poker Stats ^{(June, 2018)}

4) Simon "C Darwin2" Mattsson

Some of the best online tournament grinders in the world hail from Sweden. Very often, half if not more of the top 10 in the PocketFives Worldwide Rankings come from this Scandinavian country.

Like Åstedt, Simon Mattsson has made a name for himself for consistently being in one of the top spots the past few years under the screen name "C Darwin2". The Swede, who currently has $9.6 million in online tournament cashes, is currently ranked second in the world and has held the top spot in the past.

Mattsson has amassed six different six-figure cashes including two this past March at PokerStars. He first shipped the Turbo Series 70: $5,200 NLHE [8-Max, High Roller], $500K Gtd for $211,740 before later taking down the High Rollers 07: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max], $1M Gtd for $267,407.

The Swede has also made $1.2 million in live poker tournaments. His biggest cash came in August 2017 when he won a PokerStars Championship Barcelona side event for €286,200 ($337,007).

Simon Mattsson Poker Stats ^{(June, 2018)}

5) Michael Tureniec

There are many tremendous live and online poker players in Sweden. However, we gave Michael Tureniec the nod for the fifth spot for the most elite in this Scandinavian country.

Tureniec has amassed $4.2 million in live tournament earnings, third most in Sweden behind Jacobson and Bjorin.

Bjorin could have easily made this list for his longevity of $5.7 million in live tournament cashes including a WSOP bracelet. He is back at it again in Sin City this summer and has already appeared at the final two tables in two separate WSOP PLO8 events.

Tureniec has accomplished more lately, including a recent win in the WPT DeepStacks Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $1,100 side event for $143,324.

The Swede is also just one WPT Main Event win away from winning a live triple crown. In February 2011, he shipped the EPT Copenhagen Main Event for DKr 3,700,000 ($679,244), and he took down the WSOP Little One for the One Drop for $525,520 in July 2016.

Neither of these represented his biggest-ever live poker tournament cash. That came almost a decade ago when he finished in second place in the EPT London Main Event for £525,314 ($961,902).

Michael Tureniec Poker Stats ^{(June, 2018)}

Follow on

• Tags WSOP Brian Hastings Cash Poker Full Tilt Global Poker Index Isildur1 London Martin Jacobson Michael Tureniec Online Poker partypoker Patrik Antonius PokerStars SCOOP Viktor Blom
• Related Tournaments World Series of PokerPokerStars SCOOP
• Related Players Patrik AntoniusMichael TureniecViktor BlomMartin JacobsonBrian HastingsSCOOP