The Online Railbird Report: Viktor Blom Wins Again, Phil Ivey Has a Setback, and More
The Season 10 European Poker Tour London is just about to wrap, and the World Series of Poker Europe is already undereway. With all of the live excitement going on, it’s easy to forget about the online high-stakes action. Fear not though, as this week’s edition of the Online Railbird Report will inform you of everything you need to know.
For instance, you might be interested to know that for the second week in a row Viktor “Isildur1” Blom finished as the week’s biggest earner, winning $630,097 in 9,721 hands over 145 sessions. The next biggest winner — “JayP-AA” — won his $344,494 in 5,074 hands over 62 sessions on PokerStars. Other winners included Gus Hansen (+$241,940 in 73 sessions/7,277 hands), “Carlooo13” (+$240,409 in 49 sessions/4,220 hands) and Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$212,386 in 25 sessions/2,088 hands).
Win or lose, everyone seems to love Phil “Polarizing” Ivey. As fate would have it, Ivey actually lost this week; in fact, he dropped $476,468 in 3,402 hands over 41 sessions to become the week’s biggest loser. Certainly a disappointment after being the biggest winner two weeks ago and losing back the $266,932 he won last week.
Likewise, it was another terrible week for “samrostan,” who lost nearly $500,000 last week. It wasn’t quite so severe this week, but he still dropped $372,928 in 3,779 hands over 44 sessions. Other losers on the week included “SallyWoo” (-$332,744 in 15 sessions/1,442 hands), “kagome kagome” (-$275,565 in 19 sessions/1,198 hands) and “Sanlker” (-$264,021 in 40 sessions/3,740 hands).
Gus Hansen Cleans Up at the FLO8 Tables
On Saturday, Oct. 5, Gus Hansen emerged as the biggest winner of the day with $241,200 in profit, most of which came at the $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo tables. It began in the early morning when he won $57,000 in an hour and a half, and he followed that up by winning $129,000 in just 26 hands later that evening. He also won $50,000 playing 2-7 triple draw and a more modest $5,000 at the $200/$400 CAP pot-limit Omaha tables.
In one hand at PLO, action was four-handed when “no_Ola” ($31,742.50) opened for $900 under the gun only to have Hansen ($30,036) three-bet to $1,400 on the button. “Allah312” ($108,444) then four-bet to $5,500 from the small blind, the big folded, and the other two players called. When the flop came down 7♣9♥J♥, “allah312” capped it with a bet of $10,500 and both “no_Ola” and Hansen called.
“no_Ola”: K♥K♣Q♣10♣
Hansen: 8♣3♣10♦J♦
“allah312”: A♠A♣7♠Q♥
Hansen flopped the nuts and won the $48,398 after the 4♦ turn and 3♠ river failed to help either of his opponents.
Hansen wasn’t the only winner in the FLO8 game as “Carlooo13” and “samrostan” won $153,000 and $109,300, respectively. Of course, where there are winners there are also losers. In that game those were Phil “Polarizing” Ivey and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, with the former finishing as the day’s biggest loser after dropping $285,000.
Blom Hits His Stride
In last week’s edition of the Online Railbird Report, we told you how Viktor “Isildur1” Blom finished as the day’s biggest winner on Tuesday with $280,300 in profit, which he followed up two days later by adding $165,100 to his bankroll. This week, Blom was back at it and in a good way. On Saturday, Oct. 5, Blom won $582,300 playing a variety of games including no limit hold’em, 2-7 triple draw, and fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo. Not too shabby for the man who was facing a massive downswing just a month ago.
in some sick way, down swings are good because they force me to try even harder to outrun them. still sick tho :)
— Viktor Blom (@ViktorBlom)
It was at the $500/$1,000 CAP NLHE tables that Blom took $215,000 from “Sanlker” in three hours. He followed that up with two sessions of 2-7 TD over four hours, winning $107,000 in each. Finally, Blom took nearly $162,000 at the FLO8 tables, of which $62,000 came from a 40-minute heads-up match against “SallyWoo.”
That score put Blom up $1.51 million since the last day of September.
Blom Books a $402,000 Win in Sunday Action
Sunday is usually reserved for tournament action, but this past week it was a proving ground for Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who happened to finish as the day’s biggest winner with $402,200 in profit. The next closest player was Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene, who finished $206,500 in the black.
Once again Blom’s win came from a variety of game. At the 2-7 triple draw tables he won $207,000, the vast majority of which ($176,000 to be exact) came from a 45-minute session against Gus Hansen, “Kagome Kagome,” and Phil “Polarizing” Ivey. Meanwhile, he took $126,000 from “Sanlker” at the $500/$1,000 CAP NLHE tables and $80,000 from Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar at the $400/$800 tables. Here's a look at the two biggest pots of the day, both of which came from the match against Millar.
Hand #1: Blom ($162,544.50) raised to $2,400 on the button and then called when Millar ($142,321) three-bet to $7,500 from the big blind. The 3♠10♠K♣ flop saw Blom call a bet of $6,000. The J♣ came on the turn, and Millar check-called a bet of $16,800. Millar checked for a second time when the 2♥ completed the board on the river and then called off his remaining $112,021 when Blom moved all in. Blom rolled over the K♦10♥ for two pair, and it was good enough to win the $284,642 pot as Millar mucked his hand.
Hand #2: Blom ($287,915) raised to $2,400, Millar ($136,949.50) called, and the flop came down 7♥8♦7♦. Millar proceeded to check-call a bet of $4,000, and then he check-called one of $12,000 on the 4♠ turn. When the A♣ peeled off on the river, Millar checked only to shove all in for $118,549.50 after Blom had bet $52,800. Blom folded and Millar took down the $142,700 pot without a showdown.
While Blom beat both “Sanlker” and Millar, he did drop $57,000 to “RookieNFL,” which put his NLHE winnings on the day at $152,000. Whether or not the high-stakes regular can keep it rolling remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, he didn’t get much going inthe £50,000 Super High Roller at the European Poker Tour London.
Ray Only Six-Figure Winner on Thursday
On Thursday, Kyle “KPR16” Ray finished as the day’s biggest winner with $148,700 in profit. Of that, $126,000 came from a 17-minute, 42-hand session against Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius at the $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi-lo tables. While that game was big, the largest pot actually happened at the eight-game tables where Viktor “Isildur1” Blom took on and ultimately lost to “punting-peddler” over five hours.
Here’s a look at that hand:
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Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)
Week’s Biggest Winners (10/4-10/10): Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$630,097), “JayP-AA”* (+$344,494), Gus Hansen (+$241,940), “Carlooo13” (+$240,409), “PimpyLimpy”* (+$219,260), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$212,386)
Week’s Biggest Losers (10/4-10/10): Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$476,468), “samrostan” (-$372,928), “SallyWoo” (-$332,744), “kagome kagome” (-$275,565), “Sanlker” (-$264,021)
Year’s Biggest Winners: Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (+$3,718,516), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$3,229,062), Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker (+$2,719,582), Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$2,604,790), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (+$2,263,950), Hac “trex313” Dang (+$1,892,720) “Odd_Oddsen”* (+$1,739,870), “no_Ola” (+$1,567,895), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$1,534,108)
Year’s Biggest Losers: Gus Hansen (-$4,102,889), “samrostan” (-$4,046,854), “MalACEsia” (-$3,773,524), Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$2,433,773), “punting-peddler” (-$1,494,552), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (-$1,378,662), “patpatpanda” (-$1,330,885), Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$1,220,399), “davin77” (-$1,022,206), “Johnbest” (-$992,253), Rui Cao (-$974,166)
*Denotes PokerStars
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Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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