The Online Railbird Report: Welcome Back Cadillac
By no means has action been slow at the Full Tilt Poker high-stakes cash-game tables in recent weeks, but the return of a familiar face certainly spiced things up the last few days.
Out of action during the month of March, "cadillac1944" returned to the virtual felt in April with hopes of gaining back some of the $939,000 in losses he has suffered so far in 2011. How did the first attempt go? Not very well. Scott "URnotINdanger2" Palmer was the big beneficiary of cadillac1944's misfortune over the last few days.
Cadillac's Struggles
At a six-max $300/$600 pot-limit Omaha table, railbirds were treated to the first $300,000+ pot of the month. The action kicked off with a Tom "durrrr" Dwan raise to $1,600 from under the gun. Next to act, cadillac1944 three-bet to $3,950. Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond called from the cutoff, "LokoIsBack" called on the button, and "FinnishNightmre" kicked it in from the small blind. Palmer four-bet from the big blind to $22,250, forcing Dwan to get out of the way. The others all called, though, and a Q♣10♠3♠ flop fell. Palmer fired $91,500 and received plenty of action. Cadillac1944 called all-in for $28,431, Galfond raised to $183,000, LokoIsBack called all in for just $766, and Palmer called all-in for another $32,000. Got all that? Good, now let's see what they all had.
Palmer: A♥A♦Q♦Q♥ - (top set) - 63.07%
cadillac1944:K♥K♦10♣7♦ - (overpair of kings, middle pair) - .38%
Galfond: K♣K♠9♠7♥ - (overpair of kings, flush draw, straight draw) - 35.61%
LokoIsBack: J♣J♦5♥5♦ - (pair of jacks or fives) - .38%
Palmer was in best position to win the huge pot, needing to avoid Galfond's flush and straight outs. The 6♣ hit the turn, giving Galfond a few extra outs with another straight draw. However, the river 9♣ river did not complete anything for Galfond, meaning the massive $369,000 pot was clinched for Palmer.
Despite losing that pot, Galfond managed to secure a massive pot of his own. This table was five-handed at the time and the action started with cadillac1944 limping under the gun. LokoIsBack called from the cutoff, but Galfond made it $3,000 to go on the button. Dwan gave up his small blind, Palmer defended his big, and the two limpers came along to see flop come down Q♥5♥4♠.
Palmer was first to act and he checked with cadillac1944 taking control of the action with a $12,800 bet. LokoIsBack called, as did Galfond and Palmer. The K♠ popped off on the turn and Palmer checked again. Cadillac1944 bet $64,000, LokoIsBack called all-in for $30,896, and then Galfond stuck in a raise all-in for $170,000. Palmer, the big stack at the table, opted to lay it down, but cadillac1944 called all-in for another $38,000 or so, creating a pot worth roughly $298,000. The hands?
Galfond: K♦K♥9♥9♣ - (top set, king-high flush draw) - 72.22%
cadillac1944: A♣Q♠10♥6♥ - (second pair, Broadway draw, inferior flush draw) - 8.33%
LokoIsBack: A♥J♥9♦5♣ - (Broadway draw, nut flush draw) - 19.44%
With many hearts accounted for and two of the Broadway cards in the players' hands, Galfond was in a nice spot to win the hand. The river brought a safe 3♦, clinching the nearly $300,000 pot for Galfond.
Who's Up? Who's Down?
Week’s biggest winners (4/1-4/4): Scott "URnotINdanger2" Palmer (+$535,000), FinnishNightmre (+$315,000), "bixiu" (+$276,000), Jared "harrington25" Bleznick (+$242,000), Patrik Antonius (+$214,000)
Week’s biggest losers: Gus Hansen (-$612,000), David Oppenheim (-$340,000), "cadillac1944" (-$258,000), "Daneinzer" (-$256,000), Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (-$154,000)
Year-to-date winners: Gus Hansen (+$3,484,000), Daniel "jungleman12" Cates (+$1,940,000), *Gavin "gavz101" Cochrane (+$1,916,000), Matt Hawrilenko (+$1,502,000), Phil Ivey (+$1,223,000)
Year-to-date losers: Tom "durrrr" Dwan (-$2,045,000), "kagome kagome" (-$1,619,000), "fishosaurusREX" (-$1,409,000), "cadillac1944" (-$1,198,000), "UarePileous" (-$977,000)
*on PokerStars
*data obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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