The Online Railbird Report: Cates Drops $376,000; Sahamies & Sulsky Win Big
The PokerStars’ 2012 Spring Championship of Online Poker is done and the 2012 World Series of Poker is about to begin. It may one of the most exciting times of the year, but it’s important not to forget about the high-stakes online poker action. Granted, a lot of top pros will give up the familiarity of their grind stations for the hospitality of the Rio, but there are always a slew of players who stay put to take advantage of the softer games.
A couple of players who took advantage of the games this week and made it look easy were Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies and Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, who emerged as the week’s two biggest winners with wins of $424,051 (30 sessions/2,521 hands) and $294,771 (46 sessions/5,135) respectively. They were joined by three other $200,000-plus winners: Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$243,133 in 197 sessions/10,070 hands), Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (+$227,940 in 54 sessions/3,101 hands) and Chris “Genius28” Lee (+$215,919 in 47 sessions/6,678 hands).
On the other end of the spectrum, “Zypherin” continued his losing ways by finishing as the week’s biggest loser, dropping $554,832 in 7,677 hands spread across 26 sessions. A little more surprising was Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates finishing as the second biggest loser after dropping $376,799 from his bankroll in 41 sessions/4,685 hands.
Cates, Sulsky & “patpatman” Battle in $200/$400 NLHE
This past weekend, a game of $200/$400 no-limit hold’em sprung up that saw six $100k-plus pots. The game was started by “patpatman” and soon attracted Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates and Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky.
In one of the more notable hands, action was three-handed when Sulsky ($140,436.60) opened for $1,200 on the button, “patpatman” ($70,414.30) three-bet to $4,000 from the small blind and Cates ($156,891.16) folded the big. Sulsky responded by four-betting $12,000, “patpatman” called and the flop came down 5♦3♥10♥. “Patpatman” proceeded to check-raise all-in for $58,414.30 over Sulsky’s $14,400 bet, and the latter made the call.
Showdown
| “patpatman” | J♣J♥ |
| Sulsky | Q♠Q♥ |
It wasn’t surprising to see both players turn over big pocket pairs, and luckily for Sulsky he was out in front. Neither the 5♠ turn nor K♣ river changed a thing and Sulsky took down the $141,304 pot.
In one of the more entertaining hands, action was heads-up between “patpatman” ($137,460.13) and Cates ($108,904.30) when the former opened for $800 on the button and the latter called. The A♥10♦J♥ flop saw both players check, and they repeated the action on the K♠ turn. When the Q♦ peeled off on the river, putting the nut-straight on the board, Cates checked and “patpatman” moved all-in for $136,660.13. Cates made the call and the two chopped what turned out to be a $217,806 pot.
It was a big game, but it didn’t produce any big winners. In fact, “patpatman” was the biggest, winning $67,000. Sulsky ended up losing $115,000 in the no-limit hold'em game, but thanks to some PLO action his losses on the day were mitigated to $73,000 — still, he was the day’s biggest loser. Meanwhile, Cates profited $46,000 in the no-limit hold'em game but ended up down $15,000 on the day thanks to earlier losses.
Despite the big no-limit game, the day’s biggest winner, “Phisherman36,” made his $78,000 profit playing $25/$50 and $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha.
Sunday is Not Just for Tournaments Anymore
Most online major tournaments take place on Sunday, which tend to slow down the high-stakes online cash games. That wasn’t the case this past Sunday when Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky won $318,000 playing more than 2,600 hands of $50/$100 PLO. That was enough to make him the day’s biggest winner, though Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies wasn’t too far behind with a $236,000 win of his own.
In one of Sulsky’s biggest pots, action was three-handed when “Phisherman36” ($77,899.52) opened for $300 on the button and Sulsky ($70,040.83) three-bet to $1,060 from the small blind. After “patpatman” folded from the big, “Phisherman36” four-bet $3,640, Sulsky five-bet $10,180, a call ensued and the flop fell 4♥2♦2♠. Sulsky led out for $5,800, “Phisherman36” called and the J♥ appeared on the turn. Again Sulsky led out, putting in $16,200, but this time “Phisherman36” opted for a raise, moving all-in for $61,919.51. Sulsky called off his remaining $37,860.83 and the cards were turned up:
Showdown
| Sulsky | A♦A♣10♦8♦ |
| “Phisherman36” | A♥K♥6♦3♦ |
“Phisherman36” turned the nut-flush draw to go along with his gut-shot straight draw but needed to improve on the river if he was going to crack Suslky’s pocket aces. With $140,199 on the line, the 2♣ peeled off on the river and Suslky was pushed the pot.
As mentioned, Sahamies was also in action. In one of his more notable hands, play was six-handed when it folded to “Phisherman36” ($58,104.86) in the cutoff and he opened for $300. From there, Sahamies ($197,982.05) three-bet $1,120 from the small blind and Ignat “0Human0” Liviu ($34,165) four-bet $3,780 from the big. Calls were made, which led to the 3♦2♠9♠ flop, and Sahamies led out for $11,455. Liviu got out of the way and “Phisherman36” settled on a raise to $45,820. Sahamies put in the three-bet and “Phisherman36” called off his remaining $8,504.86.
Showdown
| Sahamies | A♠K♥7♠7♣ |
| “Phisherman36” | J♣9♣8♥3♥ |
“Phisherman36” flopped two pair and was out in front but needed to dodge Sahamies’ flush draw. The 5♣ turn was of no consequence, and neither was the J♦ river, and the $120,065 pot was sent to “Phisherman36.”
Despite winning that hand, “Phisherman36” finished as the day’s biggest loser after dropping $279,000 in just over 4,500 hands. Other losers included Liviu (-$123,000) and Eujong Byun (-$112,000).
Cates Gets Crushed to the Tune of $372,000 on Monday
On Monday, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates squared off in a heads-up match of $50/$100 PLO in which Blom dismantled his opponent to the tune of $295,000. Combined with other losses from throughout the day, Cates finished as the day’s biggest loser, down $372,000.
lost heaps to isildur... big downswing for me. Someone said something about lemons?
— Daniel Cates (@junglemandan)
Had Blom quit for the day, he would have been the biggest winner. Instead, he continued playing against “Phisherman36.” The two started at $50/$100 PLO and eventually moved up to $100/$200, where “Phisherman36” relieved Blom of all his profits. In the end, Blom ended the day $25,000 in the red.
“Phisherman36’s” performance earned him a $208,000 profit on the day, but it was second best to Terje “Terken89” Augdal, who banked $219,000 and finished as the biggest winner. In perhaps one of his more notable hands, which he lost, action was six-handed at a $200/$400 PLO table when Sahamies ($68,522.07) opened for $1,400 from the hijack and Ignat “0Human0” Liviu ($9,022.84) three-bet to $4,800 from the cutoff. After the button got out of the way, Augdal ($47,058.70) responded with a four-bet to $16,200 and Sahamies called. Liviu called off his remaining $9,022.84 and it was off to the 4♦2♠3♥ flop.
Augdal led out for $9,200, Sahamies moved all-in and Augdal called off his remaining $30,858.70. The 10♣ was put out on the turn, followed by the A♠ on the river, and Augdal rolled over K♦K♥9♥7♦ for a pair of kings. Unfortunately for him, Sahamies had flopped the wheel with A♣5♠Q♣9♠ and he laid claim to the $103,535 pot
“Phisherman36” Gets Over the Hump in a Big Way
After Chris “Genius28” Lee won $340,000 on Tuesday, it was “Phisherman36’s” turn to tear it up on Wednesday. He played 2,540 hands in a mix of $50/$100 and $100/$200 PLO and banked $367,000, temporarily bringing his winnings on the year up over $1 million.
“Phisherman36” squared off against players like Lee, Ben “Ben86” Tollerene, Ignat “0Human0” Liviu and “patpatman.” The latter two fared well on the day, winning $142,000 and $197,000 respectively, while the former two dropped $220,000 and $130,000.
Another player in action was Sahamies, who battled “Phisherman36” in a $100/$200 PLO match. The two played less than 300 hands in which time Sahamies dropped $131,000 to “Phisherman36.” In their biggest hand, “Phisherman36” ($67,473) opened for $600 on the button and Sahamies ($57,867) three-bet to $1,800. Not to be outdone, “Phisherman36” four-bet to $5,720 and Sahamies called, bringing about a flop of 7♥2♦4♦.
Sahamies proceeded to check-call a bet of $8,700, and then did the same for a $28,918 bet on the 9♣ turn. On the 2♥ river, Sahamies check-called off his remaining $14,529 with 8♣Q♥J♦9♦, creating a $115,732 pot, which was no good against “Phisherman36’s” Q♦Q♠J♠5♦.
Biggest Weekly PokerStars Winners/Losers
Week’s biggest winners (5/18-5/24): Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (+$424,051), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$294,771), Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$243,133), Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (+$227,940), Chris “Genius28” Lee (+$215,919), Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (+$183,846)
Week’s biggest losers: “Zypherin” (-$554,832), Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates (-$376,799), Gabriel “verve.oasis” Goffi (-$214,065), Ignat “0Human0” Liviu (-$163,030)
Year-to-date winners: Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$1,908,967), “EireAbu” (+$1,763,834), “bernard-bb” (+$1,225,644), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$1,029,005), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$998,052), Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$956,908)
Year-to-date losers: “Zypherin” (-$2,402,782), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$1,274,082), “1Il|1Il|1il|” (-$829,486), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (-$570,732), “VietRussian” (-$562,061)
Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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