The Online Railbird Report: Ben Tollerene Closes Gap; “patpatman” Continues to Slide
Full Tilt Poker is scheduled to come back on line in November, but until then, there is still plenty of action to be had on PokerStars; in fact, the race to become the year’s biggest online winner is tighter than ever as Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky and Ben “Ben86” Tollerene are constantly jockeying for position.
Sulsky currently tops the leaderboard, but Tollerene closed the gap a bit this week by winning $155,282. That was a far cry from the $470,209 win that the week’s biggest winner, “Chung ho,” won playing high-stakes fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo last Saturday.
“Patpatman's” downward slide continued and he finished atop the losing column for the second week in a row. If you recall, the mystery man lost a staggering $654,593 last week, and he followed that up by dropping an additional $465,877 this week. Likewise, both “Odd_Oddsen” (-$182,954 in 256 sessions/20,192 hands) and Sulsky (-$182,382 in 63 sessions/3,864 hands) experienced losing weeks.
Tollerene, Kyllönen & Galfond Partake in Friday PLO Action
Ben “Ben86” Tollerene, who is locked in a tight race with Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky to become the biggest online winner of 2012, closed the gap a bit on Friday, Oct. 12, when he booked a $155,000 win playing various stakes of pot-limit Omaha. Most of that profit came at $100/$200 PLO, where he took on Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond, Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett and “Odd_Oddsen.”
In the day’s biggest pot, action was six-handed when Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($23,063) opened for $600 under the gun, Gus “broksi” Hansen ($20,000) three-bet to $2,340 from the hijack, and “patpatman” ($34,034.91) four-bet to $8,060 from the small blind. After the big blind got out of the way, Kyllönen moved all in, Hansen called off, and “patpatman” called to put them both at risk.
| [U]Showdown[/U] |
| Hansen: 4♦5♦Q♣7♣ |
| “patpatman”9♠8♠5♣6♣ |
| Kyllönen: A♦A♠J♦9♥ |
Kyllönen got his money in with aces and improved big time when the Q♥K♣10♦ flop fell, giving him the nuts. Neither the 9♦ turn nor 9♣ river changed a thing, and Kyllönen was pushed the $66,441 pot.
In the next biggest pot of the day, action was five-handed when Galfond ($22,322.40) opened for $446 from the cutoff only to have Trickett ($20,000) three-bet to $1,838 from the button. “Odd_Oddsen” ($37,648.58) then four-bet to $6,260 from the big blind, Galfond called, and Trickett moved all in. “Odd_Oddsen” moved all in over the top, Galfond called off, and the cards were turned over.
| [U]Showdown[/U] |
| Galfond: Q♦Q♠10♦10♠ |
| “Odd_Oddsen”: K♠K♦A♥5♣ |
| Trickett: Q♥8♥J♣7♠ |
The 2♦A♣10♣ flop was gin for Galfond, giving him a set, and the J♦ turn wasn't too threatening. The 2♥ river actually improved Galfond to a full house, which was good enough to win the $64,820 pot. That contributed greatly to his $132,700 profit for the day.
In Tollerene’s biggest win, action was four-handed when Tollerene ($31,898.58) raised to $600 under the gun and was met with a three-bet to $2,260 from “Odd_Oddsen” ($41,273.45) on the button. The blinds got out of the way and then Tollerene made the call before check-calling a bet of $3,400 on the 6♦9♠J♠ flop. When the 7♦ turned, Tollerene took the initiative and led out for $11,775, and then called off his remaining $14,463.57 when “Odd_Oddsen” raised all in.
| [U]Showdown[/U] |
| Tollerene: A♥J♣10♦8♦ |
| “Odd_Oddsen”: 9♥6♥J♦4♦ |
“Odd_Oddsen” had flopped two pair, but Tollerene had turned the nuts. The 7♣ river was of no consequence, and Tollerene was pushed the $64,172 pot.
Trickett Benefits from Sunday Grind
Sunday was a relatively slow day on the virtual felt, expect for Sam “tr1cky7” Trickett that is. The Brit played seven hours of $50/$100 PLO and walked away a $151,400 winner.
In his biggest win, action was six-handed at a $50/$100 PLO table when Trickett ($27,930.75) opened for $300 from the hijack and received calls from “Odd_Oddsen” ($99,041.88) and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($10,035) on the button and big blind respectively. The 8♦3♦8♥ flop saw Kyllönen check, Trickett bet $600, and “Odd_Oddsen” raise to $1,700. Kyllönen folded, Trickett three-bet to $4,700, and “Odd_Oddsen” made the call, bringing the 2♥ on the turn. Both players ended up checking and then Trickett led out for $6,900 on the K♦ river. “Odd_Oddsen” proceeded to put in a raise and Trickett called off his remaining $16,010.75 and tabled 9♦9♠3♣3♠. It was good enough to win the $56,287 pot as “Odd_Oddsen” revealed 10♥10♣J♥6♦.
While that pot was nice, it wasn’t even close to the day’s biggest, which occurred at a $200/$400 PLO table. In that hand, action was heads-up between Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond ($57,397.81) and “patpatman” ($47,696.95) when the former opened for $876 and then called a three-bet to $2,788 from the latter. The K♦Q♦J♠ flop saw Galfond call a bet of $3,153.69 from “patpatman,” and that was followed by the 6♥ on the turn. “Patpatman” led out for $8,800, Galfond raised to $38,441.40, “patpatman” moved all in, and Galfond called the additional $3,313.86. The 7♠ completed the board on the river and “patpatman” rolled over A♦K♠K♣4♦. Unfortunately for him, it was no good as Galfond showed A♣10♠2♠4♣ to take down the $95,392 pot.
Blom Continues to Plug Away on PokerStars
It was recently announced that Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, alongside Tom Dwan, had signed on as a member of “The Professionals” to represent the new Full Tilt Poker when it launches in November, but in the meantime, the Swede is busy sharpening his skills on the PokerStars high-stakes tables.
On Tuesday, Blom played a variety of games including triple draw, fixed-limit Omaha 8 (FLO8), and PLO, and walked away a $208,600 winner. Approximately $166,000 of that came at the FLO8 tables against “FakeLove888” but his biggest pot occurred at the PLO tables as the clock rolled over to Wednesday.
In that hand, Blom ($64,985) was playing $200/$400 PLO against “patpatman” ($73,850.19) when he opened for $1,200 on the button and was met with a three-bet to $2,000 from his opponent. Blom responded with a four-bet to $6,160, “patpatman” five-bet $18,640, Blom called, and the flop came down 8♠Q♣7♣. “Patpatman” led out for $37,438 and then called when Blom moved all in for $46,345 total.
| [U]Showdown[/U] |
| Blom: K♠K♥9♥8♦ |
| “patpatman”: A♥5♥2♠A♦ |
Blom’s kings were behind the aces of “patpatman,” and the 4♥ provided him no help; however, the 9♦ river did as it gave him two pair and the $129,968 pot.
Even though he won that big pot, Blom actually lost the biggest pot of the day. It happened at a three-handed $200/$400 PLO table when Blom ($94,680.25) raised to $1,440 from the small blind and received a call from Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond ($127,322.99) in the big blind. The A♣6♣10♠ flop saw Galfond call a bet of $2,400, and then Blom led out for $6,400 on the J♦ turn. This time Galfond pushed back with a raise to $21,728.90, Blom called, and the 8♣ appeared on the river.
Blom wasted little time in leading out for a pot-sized bet of $51,372.80, and then called off his remaining $17,738.54 after Galfond raised. Blom flipped over Q♦Q♣7♣9♦ for the second-nut flush, but it was no good as Galfond held the K♣10♣3♣3♥ nut flush, to take the $189,436 pot.
“1Il|1Il|1il|” vs. Blom: Who Walks Away the $173,000 Winner?
On Wednesday, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom was back in action and squared off against last week's biggest winner, “1Il|1Il|1il|”, in $200/$400 PLO. Unfortunately for Blom, he lost back much of the money he won on Tuesday as “1Il|1Il|1il|” walked away a $172,700 winner, putting him up over $1.3 million in the last month and a half. Thanks to an earlier winning session, Blom was able to mitigate his losses and ended Wednesday $137,400 in the red.
Here are the dynamic duo’s two biggest pots:
Hand #1: “1Il|1Il|1il|” ($72,482) opened for $880 on the button and then called when Blom ($55,998) three-bet to $2,800, bringing about a flop of Q♣5♥10♣. Blom led out for $4,000, “1Il|1Il|1il|” raised to $13,600, and Blom three-bet to $46,558. Not to be outdone, “1Il|1Il|1il|” four-bet, and Blom called off his remaining $6,640.
Showdown
“1Il|1Il|1il|”: J♣5♣5♠7♠
Blom: K♦Q♥J♥9♣
Blom held a massive wrap, but he was behind “1Il|1Il|1il|'s” flopped set. The Q♦ turn gave “1Il|1Il|1il|” a full house, but Blom tripped up and could still make a bigger boat on the river. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t in the cards as the 8♠ peeled off. With that, “1Il|1Il|1il|” was pushed the $11,994 pot.
Biggest Weekly PokerStars Winners/Losers
Week’s biggest winners (10/12-10/17): “Chung ho” (+$470,209), Vladimir “GVOZDIKA55” Shchemelev (+$289,019), “VietRussian” (+$233,401), “LewisFriend” (+$202,588), “IFiNishfish” (+$177,306), “1Il|1Il|1il|” (+$170,684), Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (+$155,282)
Week’s biggest losers: “patpatman” (-$465,877), Alex “Kanu7” Millar (-$232,703), “limmouse” (-$191,409), “Odd_Oddsen” (-$182,954), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (-$182,382)
Year-to-date winners: Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$2,735,740), Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (+$2,562,605), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$2,347,275), Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond (+$2,331,192), “EireAbu” (+$2,217,559), “bernard-bb” (+$1,732,118)
Year-to-date losers: “Zypherin” (-$3,108,535), “patpatman” (-$2,442,622), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$2,400,395), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$1,174,061), Gus “broksi” Hansen (-$1,085,191), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$1,031,413)
Data, hands and re-player obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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