The Online Railbird Report: Sahamies and Antonius Top the Leaderboard
It’s a big travel week in the poker world. Many of the online game’s heavy hitters flew to London over the weekend for the World Series of Poker-Europe, which kicked off today at the Empire Casino. Tom “durrrr” Dwan is there chasing down his bracelet bet, as is Phil Ivey, who has a few jewelry-based wagers of his own. Holding down the fort at the nosebleed-stakes tables on Full Tilt Poker were Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, who made a vast improvement over his cash-game performances last week, and Patrik Antonius, whose foray into heads-up limit hold’em continued to prove successful.
Sahamies scores $744k PLO win vs. South
Last week at this time, we were examining the carnage from two of Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies’ heads-up PLO matches — one in which he dropped half a million to Cole South and another against Brian Hastings in which he shed $245,000. On Thursday, however, Sahamies was able to reverse those losses. Sahamies and South met for a rematch at the $500/$1,000 PLO tables, and within 1,000 hands, Sahamies pocketed $744,000.
In the session’s largest pot, Sahamies was only a slight favorite when the money went in, but after running it twice, he was able to scoop the entire pot. South opened for a $3,000 raise with Q♣8♣6♣5♦, Sahamies three-bet to $9,000 holding K♣Q♦7♦4♣, and South called. The Q♥7♣5♠ flop brought South top and bottom pair along with an open-ended straight draw while Sahamies hit top two pair. All the money went in on the flop: Sahamies led out for $18,000, South raised to $72,000, Sahamies repotted to $234,000 and South called all-in for $164,479. They decided to run it twice and South’s draws missed on both occasions, the first turn and river falling the A♠ and the J♣ and the second the A♥ and 6♠. Ship the $346,958 monsterpotten to South.
Sahamies ran well again in another near-coinflip situation, earning himself a $270,000 pot. South opened for $3,000 with A♣A♥Q♦5♥, Sahamies raised to $9,000 with 9♣8♠7♥4♠ and South came back with a four-bet to $27,000. Sahamies called and they saw a J♦10♦5♣ flop. Sahamies led out for $54,000 with his straight draw, South shoved for $107,985 with his overpair, and Sahamies made the call. Sahamies made his straight on both runs of the turn and river, hitting the Q♥ on the first turn card and the 9♠ on the second river to snap off South’s aces and take down the pot.
Limit hold’em battle nets Antonius $400k
Over the last two weeks, Patrik Antonius has made “deprimiert” his personal punching bag. The man behind the screen name is Jonas Khan, a German pro who specializes in high-stakes limit hold’em and primarily plays at the $500/$1,000 level and above. After relieving Khan of about $300,000 last week, Antonius continued his assault, earning another $392,000 from a 605-hand heads-up match at a $2,000/$4,000 table.
In one of their largest confrontations, Khan opened for a raise to $4,000 from the button and Antonius three-bet to $6,000 with 6♥7♥. Khan called and they saw a J♠8♥3♣ flop. Antonius bet and Khan called. The turn came the 5♦, Antonius picking up an open-ended straight draw. He fired again and Khan called. The river was the 9♥, making Antonius’ straight. He bet out, Khan raised, Antonius three-bet to $12,000 and Khan called. We’ll never know Khan’s hand (two pair?) as he mucked, Antonius collecting the $48,000 pot.
Benefield banks $181k in cap PLO battle
Sahamies wasn’t exactly thrilled that David Benefield wanted to play $500/$1,000 cap PLO rather than the deep-stacked game but joined Benefield for a 620-hand match. Although the $80,000 capped pots were nowhere near the size of the monsterpottens Sahamies had played a few days earlier against Cole South, the edges in many of the hands were just as small.
One hand in which Benefield had a clear edge came when he opened his A♠A♦8♦2♠ for $2,000. Sahamies three-bet to $6,000 with A♣K♠J♦3♣, and Benefield came back over the top for $18,000. Sahamies called, $36,000 of the $80,000 max already in the pot as the flop came down K♥10♠9♥. Sahamies bet $22,000 and Benefield called. The betting was capped and the cards went on their backs, Benefield spiking a set of aces on the turn when the A♥ fell. The river was the J♥ and the man formerly known as “Raptor” raked in the pot.
And just for fun, here's a little snippet of some vintage Sahamies chat-box blather coming at the end of the match. Stay classy, Helsinki.
Ziigmund: i take your money later if u havent lost those for someone else
Ziigmund: f fish
Ziigmund: biggest fish
Who’s up? Who’s down?
This week’s biggest winners (9/6-9/12): Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies (+$614,000), Patrik Antonius (+$399,000), skjervoy (+$390,000)
In the red: Cole South (-$622,000), Jonas “deprimiert” Khan (-$419,000), O Fortuna PLS (-$343,000)
Top earners, 2010 to date: Phil Ivey (+$3.8 million), Dan “jungleman12” Cates (+$3.65 million), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (+$3.38 million)
OMG I’m so stuck: Brian Townsend (-$2.53 million), Gus Hansen (-$2.47 million), Matatuk (-$1.54 million)
The highest-stakes games on the Internet all unfold on Full Tilt Poker. Open up an account today and see for yourself.
