The Online Railbird Report: Galfond Wins $692,000, Hansen is Midweek's Biggest Loser
The midweek was full of online action on both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond emerged as the biggest winner of the midweek with $692,355 in profit, far ahead of the his closest competition. Meanwhile, Gus Hansen had an uncharacteristically bad couple of days and was the biggest loser, dropping $496,337. All this while a milestone hand was dealt on the world’s largest online poker site.
PokerStars Deals 60 Billionth Hand
On Tuesday, PokerStars celebrated a milestone. The online poker giant dealt its 60 billionth hand. It occurred at a six-max $5/$10 fixed limit hold'em table. With more than 200,000 players online, action was paused at the “Isa II” table so spectators could find and watch the action. Once things were set, the hand played out and ultimately ended with “Pogo650” holding Q♥3♣ on a 2♥K♠3♥6♦9♦ board. His lowly pair of threes was enough to win the $147 pot, which was doubled as part of the promotion.
In addition to the pot, Pogo650 was awarded $60,000 and a bonus based on his VPPs. By the end, he had secured a total of $102,090. According to the PokerStars Blog, Pogo650 said, "I'm possibly the biggest luckbox alive over the last week or so. Two losing sessions ended in milestone hands. I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself now."
While Pogo650 was the big winner, everyone at the table was awarded cash based on their VPPs. “MeisterHahn” banked the lowest with $11,040 while the other four players in the hand pocketed $21,045. Next up? The 70 billionth hand!
Galfond on a Tear
On Tuesday, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond squared off against Gus Hansen, Van "Sirens" Marcus and Scott “URnotINdanger2” Palmer. When Galfond finally logged off, he had won $584,754 in 2,195 hands.
One of those hands, which was played on Full Tilt at a $300/$600 pot-limit Omaha table against Hansen, began when the "Great Dane" ($49,196.50) raised to $1,800 on the button and Galfond ($64,798) reraised to $5,400 in the big blind. Hansen made the call and the two watched the flop fall 8♣8♠5♠. At this point, Galfond bet $4,800, Hansen raised to $9,600, Galfond called, and the 7♦ was put out on the turn. With $30,000 in the pot, Galfond checked, Hansen bet pot, and Galfond moved all-in for $49,798. Hansen called off his last $4,196.50 and the cards were turn up.
Hansen: 6♣4♣10♥4♥
Galfond: 6♦8♥9♠10♦
Galfond was ahead with a bigger straight and held trips to boot. The river was run twice but neither the A♦ on the first run nor the K♥ on the second helped Hansen, and Galfond scooped the entire pot, worth $98,393.
In another hand between the two, this time at the $500/$1,000 PLO tables, Galfond ($139,493.50) raised to $2,000 on the button and Hansen ($77,892.50) called behind. The flop came down 2♥K♠10♣ and Hansen led out for $4,000. Galfond responded by raising to $13,000, Hansen reraised to $43,000, Galfond made it $146,000, and Hansen called off his remaining $32,892.50.
Hansen: K♣5♠2♠7♦
Galfond: 10♠3♠10♥3♣
Hansen had flopped top and bottom pair but was far behind Galfond’s set of tens. The 5♥ and Q♣ on the first run was no help to Hansen and neither was the 7♣ and 6♦ on the second. Galfond’s hand held and he took down the $168,785 pot.
While the above hands were played at the PLO tables, Galfond put some time in at the 2-7 draw games, as well, a game that has treated him particularly well as of late; in fact, in the month of March, Galfond has won more than $1.67 million dollars in the draw games. That makes him the top earner for that variation, leaving others like David Oppenheim ($653,070) and Abe “EazyPeazy” Mosseri ($487,098) in the dust.
Who is “Bamboo100”?
Whenever a name pops up on the high-stakes table that we don’t recognize, it certainly catches our attention. That is exactly what happened on Thursday when a player known as "Bamboo100" booked a $143,000 win in 457 hands. He did so at the $100/$200 six-handed PLO tables on PokerStars, a site where he has less than 1,000 hands in stakes of $50/$100 or higher prior to March.
In one of Bamboo100’s biggest hands, action folded to "Ben86" ($20,000) in the cutoff who put in a raise to $600, which Bamboo100 called on the button and which “kimokh” did, as well, in the big blind. When the flop fell 9♠A♦8♥, action checked to Bamboo100 and he fired out $1,895. Kimokh then check-raised to $4,400, Ben86 folded, and Bamboo100 called, leading to the 6♠ on the turn.
Once again kimokh checked and Bamboo100 bet $10,695. Kimokh proceeded to move all-in for $28,356, Bamboo100 called, and the 10♣ spiked on the river. Kimokh flipped A♣2♦5♣A♠ for trip aces but was behind Bamboo100’s Q♥10♠7♥J♣ straight. With that, he was able to take down a pot worth $67,412.
Who could this mystery player be? According to HighStakesDB.com, Bamboo100 may just be British businessman Paul Maxfield, who is quite the successful tournament player with over $2 million winnings. Only time will tell if this rumor proves to be true.
Who's Up? Who's Down?
Week’s biggest winners (3/29-3/31): Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (+$692,355), *Bamboo100 (+$162,970), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$162,441), “smokeyumyum” (+$150,032), “bixiu” (+$128,986)
Week’s biggest losers: Gus Hansen (-$496,337), Matt Hawrilenko (-$219,844), Abe “EazyPeazy” Mosseri (-$208,641), Van Marcus (-$169,406)
Year-to-date winners: Gus Hansen (+$4,097,298), Daniel “jungleman12” Cates (+$1,959,267) *Gavin "gavz101" Cochrane ($1,800,648), Matt Hawrilenko (+$1,385,018), Phil Ivey (+$1,186,529), Abe "EazyPeazy" Mosseri (+$1,050,028)
Year-to-date losers: Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$1,960,596), “kagome kagome” (-$1,659,354), “fishosaurusREX” (-$1,417,689), “UarePileous” (-$977,926), “cadillac1944” (-$939,626)
*on PokerStars
*data obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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