The Online Railbird Report: Sahamies Rides the High-Stakes Roller Coaster
While most of the poker world has turned its attention to thePokerStars.net North American Poker Tour and theLA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino, the action online has still been fierce. Mystery man "Isildur1" has been in action this week, losing about $300k. There were no wild million-dollar pots; Isildur1 lost most of that money playing Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond. It was Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies who was the center of most of the action this week, though. He started the week strong with a nice win off of Brian Hastings but then on Wednesday lost just about all of his winnings to Cole South.
Ziigmund Gets Some of That "Isildur1" Money
While most of the online poker community was grinding out the record-breaking PokerStars Sunday Million and the Full Tilt Online Poker Series Main Event, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies was reaching into the pockets of Brian Hastings in an attempt to get some of that $4 million Hastings took from "Isildur1" in December. The biggest hand of the session saw a preflop raising war that ended up with about $56,000 in the middle from each player. The flop was J♠5♣7♠, and Hastings led out for $113,400, leaving himself only about $40,000 or so behind. Sahamies raised enough to put Hastings all-in and Hastings made the call. Hastings was ahead with A♣J♦A♥10♦ but Sahamies had a ton of outs holding K♠7♦6♠3♦. The 3♥ turn was one of those outs for Sahamies and Hastings would not catch up thanks to the 9♦ on the river.
That pot was worth over $400,000 and while there was quite a bit of back-and-forth during the short session, which lasted less than 500 hands, Sahamies was able to book a $720,000 win.
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
It's as if the sentiment of the classic line was meant for online poker players. Riding a pretty good week, Sahamies faced off Wednesday night against South, another member of the CardRunners family. The two played $300/$600 pot-limit Omaha and in under 500 hands South won close to $800,000.
While PLO is usually a game of a big made-hand racing against a big draw on the flop, sometimes the most exciting plays in poker is the one looking up another's bluff with nothing but heart. In one particular hand, South opened to $1,800 and Sahamies three-bet $5,600, prompting a call from South. The two players saw Q♦5♠J♦ hit the flop and South called a $10,800 bet from Sahamies. When the 4♥ hit on the turn, South again called a pot-sized bet from Sahamies, this time for $32,400. When the 4♣ came on the river, Sahamies did not take his foot off the gas and fired a third pot-sized bullet, essentially putting South all-in. Somehow, South saw through Sahamies and made the call with J♥10♦8♦2♠, which was good against Sahamies' A♥5♥2♦K♦, earning him the $234,000 pot.
In another $200k+ pot, South raised to $1,800 and Sahamies reraised and made it $5,400 straight. South called, and both players saw a J♦4♣10♥ flop. Sahamies led out for $10,800 and was raised by South who made it $43,200 to go. Sahamies stuck the rest of his stack in, and South made the call.
South: 9♣Q♥K♥8♣
Sahamies: K♠Q♠7♥8♠
Both players essentially had the same hand, but South had the edge with backdoor flush outs and a nine in his hand, which meant a king would also give him the win. The 5♣ on the turn helped South even more, turning that backdoor flush possibility into a more likely scenario. In the end, however, South would not need it because the K♦ hit on the river and his king-high straight was good enough to earn him the $216,599 pot.
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