The Online Railbird Report: Big Swings for Viktor "Isildur1" Blom
With two and a half months of 2012 in the books, the year's major high-stakes players have begun to emerge. And while Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen pulled out to an early lead in the year-to-date leaderboard, a couple of bad weeks brought him down from the stratosphere.
Kyllönen continued to slide this past week as he dropped $303,468 over 6,866 hands. That was bad, but two players had worse weeks: Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$359,236 in 2,966 hands) and Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (-$344,146 in 5,695 hands).
Meanwhile, “EireAbu” was the week’s biggest winner with $401,848 in profit won in 20,115 hands. Not far behind was Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond (+$398,984 in 10,867 hands), followed by Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$331,682 in 7,299 hands).
Despite the winners and losers, the big story of the week was Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who started off by winning big, only to lose it all back as the week wore on.
Big Action on Sunday
On Sunday, Blom took on Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton in the SuperStar Showdown. However, when that event was unexpectedly postponed, the Swede had to seek action elsewhere. Lucky for him, it wasn’t hard to find.
In over 4,000 hands of $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha, Blom banked $522,000 in profit (despite being up $850,000 at one point). Surprisingly, Blom’s win came by wining numerous small pots, a style of play we haven't seen much from the aggressive Swede. In fact, Blom didn’t even win a top-10 pot of the day. With that said, he did lose the biggest pot of the day, which makes his big win all the more impressive.
In the biggest pot of the day, action was six-handed when Blom ($85,787.39) opened for $800 from the cutoff only to have “ChaoRen160” ($89,045) three-bet to $2,940 from the button. Both blinds got out of the way, and Blom four-bet $10,160. “ChaoRen160” called, and the flop came down Q♣J♠6♥. At this point, Blom led out for $19,255, “ChaoRen160” raised to $77,020 and Blom called off his remaining $56,372.40.
Showdown
| “ChaoRen160” | A♥4♥J♦J♣ |
| Blom | K♥J♥10♦9♠ |
Blom had flopped a massive wrap but was behind “ChaoRen160’s” set of jacks. Unfortunately for Blom, the 6♣ paired the board and left him drawing dead. The meaningless 8♠ was put out on the river as “ChaoRen160” raked in the $172,030 pot.
Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond and Rafi “refaelamit” Amit both had a decent Sunday, winning $185,000 and $362,000, respectively. Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies was the biggest loser of the day after dropping $338,000 in less than 500 hands. Not far behind was Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen, who lost a gut-wrenching $311,000.
In Galfond’s ($82,710.60) biggest hand, action was six-handed when he opened for $833.60 from the hijack. Amit ($72,128.19) was next to act and made the call, and then Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky ($20,000) three-bet to $3,874from the small blind. Galfond responded with a four-bet to $13,830, Amit called, and Sulsky moved all in for $20,000 total.
After both Galfond and Amit called, the flop came down Q♥9♣9♠ and the Galfond led out for $7,600. Amit pushed back to the tune of $27,800, Galfond moved all in, and Amit called off his remaining $24,328.20. The 10♣ was put out on the turn, followed by the 5♥ on the river, and Galfond rolled over K♣J♣K♥3♥ for a king-high straight. It was good enough to win the $164,671 pot because both Sulsky and Amit mucked.
Blom Biggest Winner Two Days in a Row
On Monday, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom followed up his $522K win by adding $270K to his bankroll in just 889 hands, good enough to make him the day’s biggest winner for the second day in a row.
In the Swede’s biggest pot of the day, action was four-handed at a $100/$200 PLO table when Blom ($186,511) opened for $800 on the button. After the small blind folded, Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil ($58,080) three-bet to $2,660 from the big blind, Blom four-bet $9,040, and the flop fell 10♥2♥K♠ after D’Auteuil called.
D’Auteuil checked, Blom bet $16,735, and D’Auteuil wasted little time in moving all in for $49,040. Blom made the call and the cards were turned up:
Showdown
| D’Auteuil | 2♦5♦A♥4♥ |
| Blom | K♥J♥J♦8♦ |
Blom had flopped top pair with a flush draw, while D’Auteuil held a pair of deuces with a superior flush draw. The 9♦ turn was of no consequence and the K♦ river improved Blom's hand to trips, good enough to win the $116,335 pot.
Despite his win, Blom managed to lose the biggest pot of the day, much like he did on Sunday. In that hand, Blom ($102,659) was playing heads up against “RaiseOnce” ($116,881) when the latter opened for $600. Never one to back down, Blom three-bet to $1,880, “RaiseOnce” called, and the 5♦3♣3♥ was run out on the flop.
Blom led out for $2,000, “RaiseOnce” raised to $8,000, Blom called, and the 6♥ peeled off on the turn. Blom elected to check-call a bet of $16,000, bringing the K♥ on river. Blom checked again and “RaiseOnce" bet $42,000. This time, Blom shoved all in for $76,779, and “RaiseOnce” made the call. Blom rolled over 3♠J♠Q♦6♦ for threes full of sixes, but it was no good against the 5♣5♥3♦4♣ full house of “RaiseOnce,” who raked in a pot worth $205,316.
Joining Blom atop Monday’s leaderboard were Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (+$140,000) and “RaiseOnce" (+$123,000). “ChaoRen160” was the day’s biggest loser after handing over $224K, while D’Auteuil was the second biggest loser with a $130K loss.
Blom’s Luck Comes Crashing Down
On Tuesday, Blom returned to the tables to finish his SuperStar Showdown with Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton. Much to Blom’s dismay, he blew a $100K lead and ended up losing the match. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Blom decided to play $100/$200 heads-up NLHE and PLO, losing $200,000 at each variation and bringing his losses for the day to $506K!
While playing NLHE, Blom squared off against Andrew “Kanu7” Millar, who happens to be his next opponent for the SuperStar Showdown this Sunday. The duo played around 1,500 hands, and Millar took the Swede to town. In their biggest pot, which ended up being the second largest of the day, Millar ($98,030.64) opened for $500, Blom ($49,320) three-bet to $1,800, Millar called, and the flop came down 2♠6♦10♥.
Blom was first and led out for $2,200, Millar called, and the A♣ turned. Blom fired again, this time $5,600, but Millar opted to push back, making it $14,500 to go. Blom called the additional $8,900 and then check-called off for $30,820 on the 3♠ river. Millar rolled over A♦2♣ for two pair, which bested Blom’s A♥J♦ to give Millar a $98,638 pot.
As it happened, Blom wasn’t involved in the biggest hand of the day, which occurred at a three-handed game of $100/$200 PLO. It began when Terje “Terken89” Augdal ($64,780.09) opened for $456, Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil ($54,372.09) three-bet to $1,588 and Augdal called, leading to a 2♦4♦2♣ flop. D’Auteuil led out for $2,200, Augdal raised to $5,800, and D’Auteuil called.
When the 7♠ was put out on the turn, D’Auteuil check-called a bet of $11,876 before checking the Q♠ river. Terken took the opportunity to fire out a big bet, prompting D’Auteuil to call off his $35,108.09 stack. Augdal rolled over 10♥J♣7♣2♠ for a full house, which was good enough to win the $108,879 pot as D’Auteuil simply mucked.
Augdal finished as the day’s biggest winner with $346K in profit. Blom was the day’s biggest loser, though he was followed by Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$166,000), Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (-$128,000) and D’Auteuil (-$116,000).
Hump Day Action
Wednesday saw some uncharacteristic midweek action. Several online pros mixed it up, with Sander “Berndsen12” Berndsen topping the leaderboard with $382K in profit, putting him $160K in the black for the year.
While fortune favored Berndsen, it frowned upon Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who added to Tuesday’s woes with a $121K loss. Likewise, Terje “Terken89” Augdal (-$80,000), Andrew “Kanu7” Millar (-$75,000) and Rafi “refaelamit” Amit (-$52,000) all joined the loser’s list.
In one of the day’s more notable hands, action was three-handed at a $200/$400 PLO table when Berndsen ($96,125.25) raised to $800 on the button only to have Amit ($37,086.50) three-bet $2,400 from the big blind. Berndsen called, the flop came out 8♣Q♦3♦, and Amit led out for $3,200. Berndsen responded with a raise to $9,200, Amit three-bet to $32,595, Berndsen four-bet to $65,190, and Amit called off his remaining $2,091.50.
Showdown
| Berndsen | Q♥10♣9♠8♠ |
| Amit | A♦A♠K♠10♦ |
Berndsen managed to crack his opponent’s aces by flopping two pair, but needed to dodge the nut-flush draw. The 8♥ was no help to Amit, and neither was the 5♣ river, meaning the $74,368 pot was pushed over to Berndsen.
Biggest weekly winners/losers all on PokerStars
Week’s biggest winners (3/9-3/15): “EireAbu” ($401,848), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$398,984), Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$331,682), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$260,310), “RaiseOnce” (+$207,512), Andrew “Kanu7” Millar (+$170,970)
Week’s biggest losers: Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$359,236), Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (-$344,146), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (-$303,468), Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (-$262,093)
Year-to-date winners: Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$1,190,593), “bernard-bb” (+$1,049,931), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$787,506), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$732,303), “patpatman” (+$685,623), “MaiseE” (+$647,479)
Year-to-date losers: “long90110” (-$930,455), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$883,756), “Zypherin” (-$591,313), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$441,668)
Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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