The Online Railbird Report: Blom Becomes 2013's Biggest Winner; Ivey Week's Big Loser

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Mar 15, 2013 7 min read

You win some; you lose some. That’s what Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene, who was last week’s biggest winner after banking $1,385,130, must have been thinking this week when he lost $478,223 in just 678 hands over 10 sessions on Full Tilt Poker, second only to the week’s biggest online loser, Phil “Polarizing” Ivey, who dropped $815,650 in 1,512 hands across 18 sessions and became the biggest loser of 2013.

On the flip side, another million-dollar winner from last week, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, continued his winning ways by adding an additional $1,781,535 to his bankroll in 7,521 hands spread across 74 sessions. That made him not only the week’s biggest winner by more than three times his next closest competition, Jen “Jeans89” Kyllönen, who won $536,333 in 28 sessions/2,175 hands over on PokerStars and is also the biggest winner thus far in 2013.

Joining Tollerene in the loser’s column was Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$332,716 in 23 sessions/3,551 hands), Gus Hansen (-$189,190 in 71 sessions/6,539 hands) and Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$178,428 in 17 sessions/3,474 hands), just to name a few.

Kostritsyn Finishes as Friday’s Biggest Winner; Ivey Takes Loser’s Title

On Friday, March 8, Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn continued to run well in 2013 by finishing as the day’s biggest winner with a $194,600 win, which came in just three hours at the 8-game mix tables against Gus Hansen. Despite the loss, the FTP Professional bounced back against Phil “Polarizing” Ivey later in the day in just 45 minutes. That made Ivey the day’s biggest loser with $173,300 in losses.

While all eyes were focused on those three competitors, the big pots were taking place at the $100/$200 and $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha tables on PokerStars between Jen “Jeans89” Kyllönen, Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, Ben “Ben86” Tollerene and Vladimir “GVOZDIKA55” Shchemelev. With wins of $182,500 and $180,400, the former two players finished as the day's second- and third-biggest winners, respectively.

In Friday's biggest pot, action was heads up at a $200/$400 table when Sulsky ($101,761) opened for $1,200, Shchemelev ($56,585) called and the flop came down Q♥4♦7♣. Shchemelev checked, Sulsky bet $1,600, and the Russian woke up with a check-raise to $5,600. Sulsky called and then called a bet of $10,000 on the J♠ turn, bringing about the 9♣ on the river. Shchemelev fired out $18,800, and then called off his remaining $20,985 after Sulsky raised to $84,961. Shchemelev turned over A♠10♠7♦7♥ for a set of sevens, but it was no good as Sulsky tabled the 10♦K♠Q♦4♥ to take down the $113,168 pot with a straight.

In another notable hand, action was heads up at a $100/$200 table when Kyllönen ($57,550) opened for $600 and then called when Shchemelev ($103,025.91) three-bet to $1,600. The Russian led out for $1,200 on the A♠6♣A♦ flop, Kyllönen called, and the 7♠ turned. Shchemelev slowed down with a check, but called when Kyllönen bet $3,800. Shchemelev checked for a second time when the 10♣ completed the board on the river, and Kyllönen took the opportunity to bet $10,400. Shchemelev woke up with a check-raise to $34,400 only to fold when Kyllönen moved all in for $50,950. Ship the $82,078 pot to Kyllönen.

Blom Wins $1 Million on Sunday; Tollerene Drops $703K

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom's recent upsurge continued on Sunday, March 10, as he won more than $1 million during a 10-hour session on FTP. After losing his heads-up match to Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier during the PokerStars-versus-Full Tilt Poker challenge in London Sunday morning, Blom hung around the virtual felts to face off against some of the site's top regulars at Omaha hi/lo, 2-7 triple draw, and pot-limit Omaha.

According to HighStakesDB.com, Blom began the day playing a brief session of $1,500/$3,000 2-7 triple draw during which he lost $163,000 in only 308 hands. After taking a short break, Blom returned to the $1,500/$3,000 2-7 triple draw table, dubbed "Enterprise," and won $98,979 in 184 hands. He was playing a table of $2,000/$4,000 Omaha hi/lo at the same time and won just under $200,000 in 356 hands, bringing his daily winnings to around $136,000.

But Blom's biggest conquest of the day came at the $400/$800 pot-limit Omaha tables against Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene. Here are some of the more notable hands from that match:

Hand #1: Blom ($194,858.70) opened for $2,700 and then called when Tollerene ($326,311.20) three-bet to $8,400, bringing about a flop of 6♥4♠A♠. Blom then called a bet of $13,680, the A♦ turned, and Tollerene fired out $35,568 more. The Swede called once again and the 4♣ completed the board on the river. Tollerene kept the pressure on with a big bet of $92,476.80, but ended up folding when Blom moved in for $137,210.70 total. Ship the $300,549 pot to Blom.

Hand #2: Blom ($632,054.90) opened for $2,700 only to have Tollerene ($144,383.10) three-bet to $8,400. Blom then four-bet to $25,500, Tollerene five-bet to $76,800, and the Swede opted to call, bringing about a 8♦8♥10♥ flop. Tollerene wasted little time in moving all in for $67,583.10, and Blom called.

Tollerene: A♦A♣2♦2♥
Blom: J♦Q♥K♥10♠

Tollerene got it in good with aces and eights, but Blom was drawing to both a straight and flush draw. The 3♠ turn was of no consequence, but the J♥ turn was as it gave Blom the flush and $288,766 pot.

Hand #3:

Despite losing more than $700,000 to Blom, Tollerene took his loss in stride, relying on an old cliché to describe his day.

Furthermore, on Thursday, March 14, Blom was back in action and spent 4.5 hours at the Omaha Hi-Lo tables against the likes of Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn, Kyle “KPR16” Ray and Phil “Polarizing” Ivey. Blom walked away a $511,200 winner in the game, while Ivey dropped $489,000, making him the biggest loser on Full Tilt Poker so far this year.

Sulsky Tops Monday’s Leaderboard with $154,000 Win

While action on Sunday was a railbird’s dream, action slowed considerably on Monday, March 11. The day’s biggest winner ended up being Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky, who won $154,100 playing No-Limit 2-7 Draw against Tom “durrrr” Dwan for 279 hands over two hours. That happened just after midnight, which meant action was quite slow for the rest of the day. Even so, a $300/$600 no-limit hold’em game did spring up later in the day that involved Dwan and “Sanlker”. It was there that the two biggest pots of the day took place.

In the largest, Dwan ($227,395.29) opened for $1,600 only to have “Sanlker” ($112,462.64) three-bet to $5,000. Dwan then four-bet to $13,200, “Sanlker” called, and the flop fell A♣Q♦5♣, which both players checked. When the K♣ turned, “Sanlker” led out for $15,840, Dwan called, and the 6♦ river completed the board. “Sanlker” fired again, this time $38,913.59, and again Dwan called. “Sanlker” tabled A♦Q♠ for two pair, and it was good enough to win the $135,907 pot, because Dwan simply mucked.

In the second biggest pot of the day, “Sanlker” ($96,541.50) opened for $1,200 and was met by a three-bet to $3,800 by Dwan ($99,900.69). “Sanlker” called and then put in $5,800 more when Dwan bet the 7♣Q♣4♥ flop. Dwan kept the pressure on with a $15,400 bet on the 5♥ turn, but he couldn’t shake “Sanlker,” who called to see the Q♥ river. Dwan bet again, this time $38,800, and again “Sanlker” called to create a $127,600 pot. Dwan showed A♦A♠ for pocket rockets, but it was no good when “Sanlker” rolled over K♦Q♠ for rivered trips and the win.

Cates & Dwan Finally Square Off; “jungleman12” Takes $9 from “durrrr”

Quite a few tweets have been flying back and forth between Daniel “jungleman12” Cates and Tom “durrrr” Dwan regarding the resumption of their $1,000,000 Challenge, and while it appears that will be back on in the near future, the two took to the felt for an impromptu 247-hand session of $100/$200 no-limit hold’em, which wasn’t a part of the Challenge (which requires stakes of $200/$400).

The match was short, but Dwan let Cates know it would be a short match in the chat box:

• jungleman12: whats up?
• durrrr: gtg soon n jus realized phones dead
• durrrr: dont wanna miss txt sec
• durrrr: dunno if ill b back if so dont hav long
• jungleman12: k

After just 40 minutes of play, Cates walked away a winner with $9 in profit. You read that right: $9. Although the match wasn’t exciting, it brought together two of the game’s most talented players after an extended hiatus.

Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)

Week’s biggest winners (3/7-3/13): Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$1,781,535), Jen “Jeans89” Kyllönen* (+$536,333), “SiiliSuhonen”* (+$374,334), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$275,814), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (+$245,841), “PixKim” (+$213,895)

Week’s biggest losers: Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$815,650), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (-$478,223), Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (-$357,648), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$257,740), “SallyWoo” (-$257,478), “Sanlker” (-$209,018), Gus Hansen (-$189,190), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$187,756)

Year’s biggest winners: Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$3,811,320), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (+$3,275,253), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$1,839,809), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (+$1,797,335), “SallyWoo” (+$1,493,366), “1Il|1Il|1il|”* (+$1,035,007), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (+$997,228), Ronny “ronnyr37617” Kaiser (+$873,763)

Year’s biggest losers: Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$1,884,807), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (-$1,675,374), Gus Hansen (-$1,472,131), “patpatpanda” (-$1,330,885), Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$1,191,393), “punting-peddler” (-$1,099,064), Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar (-$1,009,788), “CRAIN85” (-$925,500), Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies (-$821,040), “Johnbest” (-$793,503)

*Denotes PokerStars

_{Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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• Tags Alexander Kostritsyn Ben Tollerene Full Tilt Poker Online Poker Tom Dwan Viktor Blom Railbird Report
• Related Players Alexander KostritsynTom DwanViktor BlomBen Tollerene