The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom & Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar Win Big
Season 10 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour kicked off in Barcelona last weekend, and attracted some big names to the festival including Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies, “Odd_Oddsen” and Ignat “0Human0” Liviu. Even so, the high-stakes online cash games were going strong as players like Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar fueled the action.
Millar finished as the week’s biggest winner after banking $1,257,962 in 3,346 hands over 41 session. The next biggest winner was “Denoking” (+$716,679 in 6 sessions/1,797 hands), and Blom was close behind with $694,379 in profit from 14,013 hands over 141 sessions. Other winners this week included Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$394,856 in 14 sessions/1,211 hands), Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$334,949 in 33 sessions/2,803 hands) and Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$315,199 in 10 sessions/699 hands).
As far as the weekly losers are concerned, “SallyWoo” was the biggest after dropping $1,090,924 in 2,020 hands over a dozen sessions, while “MalACEsia” wasn’t far behind after losing $925,537 in 1,304 hands over eight sessions. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond also lost fairly big, losing $485,580 in 5,434 hands over 30 sessions.
“Sanlker” Banks $320K in $400/$800 NLHE Action on Friday
On Friday, Aug. 30, German pro and no-limit hold’em specialist “Sanlker” was busy plying his trade at the $400/$800 no-limit hold’em tables. It was there that he took on “Trueteller” and “MalACEsia” for 90 minutes and walked away a $320,000 winner. The majority of that — $225,000 to be exact — came from “MalACEsia,” while $94,600 came off “Trueteller.” Not surprisingly, “Sanlker” took down the two biggest pots of the day.
Hand #1: Action was three-handed when “MalACEsia” ($74,089) folded the button, “Trueteller” ($99,584) raised to $2,850 from the small blind and “Sanlker” ($186,304) called from the big. When the flop came down 7♥5♣10♥, “Trueteller” led out for $4,120.50 and then called when “Sanlker” raised to $11,000. “Trueteller” then check-called $14,075 on the J♥ before checking a second time when the 9♠ completed the board on the river.
“Sanlker” fired out $33,000 and “Trueteller” made a quick call. “Sanlker” rolled over the A♥8♥ for the nuts, and “Trueteller” simply mucked. Ship the $122,299 pot to “Sanlker.”
Hand #2: Action was heads up in this hand with “Sanlker” ($349,434.50) opening the action for $1,800 from the small blind. “MalACEsia” ($52,776) three-bet to $6,200, “Sanlker” popped it to $14,900 and “MalACEsia” shoved. “Sanlker” made the call and the cards were turned up.
“MalACEsia”: K♦Q♠
“Sanlker”: A♣Q♦
According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, “Sanlker” was a 73.56% favorite while “MalACEsia” would come from behind 25.29% of the time. The 5♥5♠7♦ flop was as dry as could be, and that dropped “MalACEsia’s” chance to 12.12%. The 8♦ turn knocked it down even further to 6.82%, meaning he needed a king on the river to steal the $105,552 pot. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t in the cards as the 3♣ peeled off on the river.
Blom Moves Down in Stakes as Big Games Grind to a Halt on Sunday
The $400/$800 NLHE games have been thriving on Full Tilt Poker, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday as those tabled failed to open. Possible explanations are that players preferred the Sunday Major tournaments and that the EPT Barcelona attracted some nosebleed regulars. Due to his recent downswing, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom actually dropped down in stakes and was seen playing $25/$50 pot-limit Omaha and $500/$1,000 fixed-limit Omaha Hi/Lo (FLO8).
On such a slow day, it took just $86,800 in profit to top the daily leader board—an honor that belonged to Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau, who won against Gus Hansen and “kagome kagome” at the $1,500/$3,000 2-7 Triple Draw tables. Hansen finished as the day’s biggest loser, down $54,000.
As for the biggest pot of the day, that was a modest $83,800 pot over on PokerStars. Have a look:
Blom and Millar Revitalize the Action
Things may have been slow on Sunday, but it appeared to be more of an anomaly than anything. That’s because on Monday the $400/$800 NLHE tables were going as strong as ever thanks to Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.
Millar actually finished as the day’s biggest winner with $569,400 in profit after playing for nine hours at three tables. Surprisingly he wasn’t squaring off against his Swedish rival; instead, he was seated with players like “MalACEsia,” “Denoking” and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond.
In his biggest win, Millar ($171,429.10) was playing three-handed against “MalACEsia” ($290,940.25) and Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky ($383,736,09). Millar opened the action with a raise to $2,000 from the button and was immediately met by a three-bet to $7,200 by “MalACEsia.” Sulsky folded, Millar called and the flop fell 3♠8♣A♦. “MalACEsia” led out for $9,200, Millar raised to $21,200 and “MalACEsia” three-bet it to $34,400. Millar made the call and then called off when “MalACEsia” shoved the 6♣ turn.
“MalACEsia”: 9♣7♣
Millar: 8♦6♦
“MalACEsia” had turned an open-ended straight flush draw, and he needed to hit it to overcome Millar’s turned two pair. The K♥ river was a dud for “MalACEsia” and he watched the juicy $343,807 pot pushed to his opponent.
As far as Blom was concerned, he halted his downswing a bit thanks to a $362,100 win mostly at the 2-7 Triple Draw tables, though $68,000 of that came off Gus Hansen at the FLO8 tables.
Another winner was the aforementioned Sulsky, who won $247,800 playing NLHE. It was during that time he took down the day’s biggest pot. It happened at a five-handed table when Sulsky ($196,205) opened for $2,400 from the cutoff and Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton ($306,583.90) called from the button. Both blinds folded, the flop came down 6♥8♠4♥ and Sulsky check-called a bet of $4,000, bringing about the A♦ on the turn.
Sulsky check-called another bet, this time $22,000, and then checked for a third time when the 3♥ completed the board on the river. Haxton took the opportunity to bet $47,200 and Sulsky woke up with an all-in check-raise to $167,805. Haxton called to create a $394,057 pot but mucked when Sulsky rolled over the K♥8♥ for a flush.
“Denoking” vs. “Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
On Tuesday, Sept. 3, the big action was at the $300/$600 NLHE tables in a four-hour heads-up match between “Denoking” and “Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. The two started off playing a single table, and just when it looked like Galfond would run away with it after being up $180,000, “Denoking” fought back. Eventually a second table was added, but it did not discourage “Denoking,” who continued to steamroll Galfond. When all was said and done, Galfond was down $534,000 ($316,000 at one table and $217,000 at the other).
Meanwhile, “Denoking” finished as the day’s biggest winner with $620,000 thanks to an $83,000 win earlier in the day. Other winners on Tuesday were Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau ($229,500), Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar ($214,300) and Kyle “KPR16” Ray ($206,100).
Blom Back to His Million Dollar Ways
Winning and losing a million seems to be the M.O. of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom. That was the case again this week as he happened to win a million on Wednesday. The Swede’s big win started in the early morning hours with a $50,000 win against Kyle “Kpr16” Ray at the FLO8 tables and $203,000 from “SallyWoo” playing $500/$1,000 CAP PLO.
Later in the evening, Blom and “SallyWoo” were back at it. In a little over three hours, Blom took another $343,000 from his opponent. Not content to give up, “SallyWoo” returned around midnight to give it another go. A short 28 minute later, “SallyWoo” was out another $170,000. All told he dropped $716,000 to Blom on Wednesday.
Around the same time, Ray returned to the FLO8 tables hoping to exact a little revenge, but his plans were derailed when Blom destroyed him for $136,000 in 13 minutes. Blom also added wins of $75,000 and $40,700 at the 2-7 Triple Draw and $500/$1,000 CAP NLHE games respectively.
It was in the hold'em game that Blom battled Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton. There were plenty of capped pots such as this one:
Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)
Week’s Biggest Winners (8/30-9/5): Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar (+$1,257,962), “Denoking” (+$716,679), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$694,379), Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$394,856), Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$334,949), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$315,199), Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau (+$270,739), “Sanlker (+$172,610)
Week’s Biggest Losers (8/30-9/5): “SallyWoo” (-$1,090,924), “MalACEsia” (-$925,537), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (-$485,580), “KidPoker705” (-$462,431), Sebastien “Seb86” Sabic (-$316,138), Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (-$300,156)
Year’s Biggest Winners: Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (+$3,313,385), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$2,896,433), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (+$2,730,954), Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$2,681,930), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$2,574,671), “Rhje” (+$2,477,440), Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker (+$2,357,699), Hac “trex313” Dang (+$1,645,086), “Odd_Oddsen”* (+$1,498,686)
Year’s Biggest Losers: “MalACEsia” (-$3,773,524), Gus Hansen (-$3,710,091), “samrostan” (-$3,389,771), Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$2,980,086), “punting-peddler” (-$1,528,136), “patpatpanda” (-$1,330,885), Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$1,220,399), Rui Cao (-$959,453)
*Denotes PokerStars
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Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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In this Series
- 1 The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen Suffers $1.4 Million Downswing to Close 2012
- 2 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Profits $4 Million in Eight Days
- 3 The Online Railbird Report: Galfond & Blom Experience Million-Dollar Swings
- 4 The Online Railbird Report: Kyle “KPR16” Ray Biggest Winner of Week; Robl Drops $357K
- 5 The Online Railbird Report: Alex Kostritsyn Wins $1.2 Million; Gus Hansen Drops $376K
- 6 The Online Railbird Report: Shchemelev Wins $406K; Blom Week's Biggest Loser & Much More
- 7 The Online Railbird Report: Dwan Wins Over $2 Million in Six Days
- 8 The Online Railbird Report: Antonius Extends Lead Against Cao in $1 Million Challenge
- 9 The Online Railbird Report: Kostritsyn Wins $1.1 Million, Ivey Up & More
- 10 The Online Railbird Report: Ben Tollerene and Viktor Blom Win $1 Million in 48 Hours
- 11 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Becomes 2013's Biggest Winner; Ivey Week's Big Loser
- 12 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Over $4 Million for 2013; Huge Week for Hendon
- 13 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Drops $661,949 in Slow Week; $100K PLO Showdown?
- 14 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Wins $1.7 Million from Tollerene in Just Six Hours
- 15 The Online Railbird Report: Tollerene & Haxton Win Big; Blom Drops $1,474,629
- 16 The Online Railbird Report: The Professionals Duke it Out on FTP
- 17 The Online Railbird Report: “jama-dharma” Takes Blom for $786,971 in Limit Hold’em
- 18 The Online Railbird Report: Dwan and Sulsky Win $1M+; Blom's Massive Swings Continue
- 19 The Online Railbird Report: The Professionals Dominate with $1.5M Wins
- 20 The Online Railbird Report: Tollerene & Dang Win $1.4M & $1.2M, Respectively
- 21 The Return of the Online Railbird Report: Six Weeks of High-Stakes Action
- 22 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Takes a $1.4 Million Hit
- 23 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom No Longer the Year's Biggest Winner
- 24 The Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey Is Week's Biggest Loser, Durrrr Challenge & More
- 25 The Online Railbird Report: "Rhje" Wins Over a Million, Blom/Hansen to Ireland & More
- 26 The Online Railbird Report: Tollerene Week's Biggest Winner; Haxton Drops a Million
- 27 The Online Railbird Report: Heinecker Up $2 Million, Millar Crushes Blom in 10 Minutes
- 28 The Online Railbird Report: Somebody Better “Call_911” as Blom Drops a Million
- 29 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom & Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar Win Big
- 30 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Loses $1.3 Million; Haxton Week's Biggest Winner
- 31 The Online Railbird Report: Heinecker Week's Biggest Winner; Polk vs. Sulsky Update
- 32 The Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey Week's Biggest Winner; Polk vs. Sulsky Update
- 33 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Gets Back on Track; Polk Continues to Dominate Sulsky
- 34 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor Blom Wins Again, Phil Ivey Has a Setback, and More
- 35 The Online Railbird Report: "SallyWoo" Week's Biggest Winner; Tollerene Leads in 2013
- 36 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor Blom Up $2 Million
- 37 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Wins $1.3 Million in a Day; Hansen's Fall Continues
- 38 Online Railbird Report: Heinecker Tops Yearly Leader Board; Hansen Loses $1.2 Million
- 39 The Online Railbird Report: Rui Cao Week's Biggest Winner; Heinecker Continues to Roll
- 40 The Online Railbird Report: Heinecker Biggest Winner for Third Week in a Row
- 41 The Online Railbird Report: Heinecker, Blom & Hansen Experience Million-Dollar Swings
- 42 The Online Railbird Report: Antonius & Heinecker Fly High; Cates Fires Off in Chat
- 43 The Online Railbird Report: “samrostan” Wins $912,000; Galfond Drops $620,000
- 44 The Online Railbird Report: "mikki696" Jumps Out to Early Lead in 2014
- 45 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Wins $800K in Three Days
- 46 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Fuels Action on Way to Top of 2014 Leaderboard
- 47 The Online Railbird Report: Kyle "KPR16" Ray Rebounds; Viktor Blom Wins Again
- 48 The Online Railbird Report: Blom and Polk Continue to Battle Online at Aussie Millions
- 49 The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Returns to Top of Weekly Leaderboard
- 50 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Week's Biggest Loser Upon Return to Nosebleeds
- 51 The Online Railbird Report: Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Cleans Up on PokerStars
- 52 The Online Railbird Report: Rare Winning Week for Hansen; Tollerene Extends 2014 Lead
- 53 The Online Railbird Report: Dan Cates Wins $1.18 Million; Tollerene Opts Out
- 54 The Online Railbird Report: Galfond and Cates Lose $1.1 Million Each; Blom Capitalizes
- 55 The Online Railbird Report: Hansen Loses a Million; Amundsgard & Cates Finish on Top
- 56 The Online Railbird Report: Phil "Polarizing" Ivey Drops $945K; Galfond Wins & More
- 57 The Online Railbird Report: Niki Jedlicka Wins $1.1 Million in Return to Full Tilt Poker
- 58 The Online Railbird Report: "Trueteller," Jedlicka, & Antonius Win Big; Ivey Does Not
- 59 The Online Railbird Report: Antonius Week's Biggest Winner, Ivey Loses Again & More
- 60 The Online Railbird Report: Antonius Wins Again, Two Mystery Players Revealed & More
- 61 The Online Railbird Report: Ivey, Galfond, and Hansen All Grace the Loser's List
- 62 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Drops Nearly a Million; Ivey Rebounds & Much More
- 63 The Online Railbird Report: Kostritsyn Wins Big, Hansen Punts, and Dwan Eats Crawfish
- 64 The Online Railbird Report: Winners & Losers of the Summer's High-Stakes Action
- 65 The Online Railbird Report: "Sanlker" Steamrolls His Way to Massive $1.4 Million Win
- 66 The Online Railbird Report: Alex Luneau Wins $1.1 Million; Viktor Blom Drops $976K
- 67 The Online Railbird Report: Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz Biggest Winner with $491K
- 68 The Online Railbird Report: Ruthenberg and Blom Win Big; Hansen's Bad Year Continues
- 69 The Online Railbird Report: Antonius, Cates and Thuritz Pulling Away on 2014 Leaderboard
- 70 The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen's Disastrous Year Continues
- 71 The Online Railbird Report: Ike Haxton Wins Big; Doug Polk & "Denoking" Feud, and More
- 72 The Online Railbird Report: Polk & "Denoking" Keep Things Interesting During Slow Week
- 73 The Online Railbird Report: Heinecker Returns with a $275,000 Win
- 74 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Drives Action While Kostritsyn Wins On PokerStars
- 75 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Continues to Drive Action; Kostritsyn Big Winner
- 76 The Online Railbird Report: Blom Week's Biggest Winner Despite Losing Sponsorship
- 77 The Online Railbird Report: What's Happened to the High-Stakes Online Action?
- 78 The Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey Second-Biggest Winner with $472,000 Win
- 79 The Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey Follows Up Last Week's Big Win by Dropping $357K
- 80 The Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey Rebounds with $387,000 Win and More
- 81 The Online Railbird Report: Sanlker and Kibler-Melby Battle; Ivey Wins, and More
- 82 The Online Railbird Report: Kibler-Melby Wins Big, Ivey vs. Thuritz, and More
- 83 The Online Railbird Report: Dan Cates Primed to Finish as 2014's Biggest Winner