The Online Railbird Report: Winners & Losers of the Summer's High-Stakes Action

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Jul 25, 2014 5 min read

The Online Railbird Report has been on hiatus since May 23 to make way for the 2014 World Series of Poker, but now that the November Nine has been established, it’s time to turn our attention back to the high-stakes cash games on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

In this edition of the Online Railbird Report, we’ll take a look back at all the action that took place during the summer. If you recall, when we left you last Dan "jungleman12" Cates was 2014’s biggest winner with $1,355,295 in profit, while Gus Hansen was at the opposite end of the spectrum sitting as the biggest loser after losing $3,860,874.

Two months later, not much has changed. Cates still leads with the same amount, meaning he didn't play online during the summer months. And Hansen is still the biggest loser, albeit with $3,545,491 in losses, meaning he won a bit to mitigate what he'd dropped before.

So who made the biggest moves from May 23 through July 23?

No one did better during that time period than Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who skipped the WSOP this year. The Swede won $567,862 in 68,343 hands over 679 sessions. Others who did well on Full Tilt Poker were Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau (+$336,706 in 44 sessions/6,137 hands) and Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$227,658 in 78 sessions/3,791 hands), both of whom took a break from the online grind to attend the poker festivities in Las Vegas.

Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, who was absent from the WSOP, also did well pulling in $208,324 in 5,810 hands over 57 sessions. Over on PokerStars, no one did better than Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, who banked $278,629 in 8,138 hands over 47 sessions; however, he lost $481,134 on Full Tilt Poker, so he's actually down for the summer. Coming in second on PokerStars was “EireAbu,” who won $161,604 in 3,418 hands over 38 sessions.

Here are some highlights from the last two months of online high-stakes action.

“Denoking” Wins Three Biggest Pots Playing $300/$600 No-Limit Hold’em

The three biggest online pots from the summer all came from the Full Tilt Poker $300/$600 no-limit hold’em tables, and amazingly “Denoking” took down all three. Here’s a look at each.

Hand #1: In what turned out to be the summer’s biggest pot — and the third biggest pot of the year thus far — “Denoking” ($257,840.25) was playing a heads-up match against “Sanlker” ($231,987.85) when the former opened for $1,800 on the button. “Sanlker” proceeded to three-bet to $5,400, “Denoking” called, and the flop came down Q♣4♦8♣.

“Sanlker” continued for $5,400, “Denoking” raised to $16,900, and after a call was made the 10♥ appeared on the turn. “Sanlker” check-called a bet of $56,400, and then check-called another of $59,000 on the J♥ river. “Denoking” tabled 4♥4♠ for a flopped set, and it was good enough to win the $275,400 pot as “Sanlker” sent his cards to the muck.

Hand #2: In the same game, “Denoking” ($262,725.75) raised to $1,800 on the button and “Sanlker” ($132,598) called to see a flop of 10♣J♠8♣. “Sanlker” check-called a bet of $3,600 and then checked for a second time on the J♦ turn. “Denoking” took the opportunity to bet $13,900, and then called when “Sanlker” check-raised to $36,000.

When the A♥ completed the board on the river, “Sanlker” fired out $91,198 and “Denoking” made a quick call. “Sanlker” showed J♣8♦ for a full house, but it was no good as “Denoking” had rivered a bigger one with A♦J♥ to win the $265,196 pot.

Hand #3: Finally, this $240,000 monster came from another heads-up match between “Denoking” and “Sanlker” on June 23. Have a look at the replay:

What About Isildur1?

“Denoking” won plenty of big pots during the summer, but little good it did him as he basically broke even since May 23. But what about the biggest winner during that time? Did Viktor “Isildur1” Blom win any big pots? You bet he did!

The Online Railbird Report: Winners & Losers of the Summer's High-Stakes Action 101 — Viktor \"Isildur1\" Blom

The biggest came on May 26 in the no-limit hold’em round of a $300/$600 mixed game. Action was five-handed when Gus Hansen ($88,120.85) opened for $2,100 under the gun and Blom ($109,296.50) called from the cutoff. The button and blinds all folded, and it was heads-up action to the 8♥10♦7♣ flop.

Hansen checked, Blom bet $3,600, and Hansen called, which brought about the 4♠ on the turn. Hansen check-called another bet, this time $10,800, and the K♣ completed the board on the river. Hansen checked for a third time, and Blom bet $45,000. Hansen then check-raised all in for $71,620.85 total, and Blom called.

Hansen tabled K♦10♠ for two pair, but it was no good as Blom revealed 7♥7♠ to claim the $177,141.70 pot.

“AthaCliath” Makes a Splash in Wednesday Action

In more recent action, mystery player “AthaCliath” who first appeared on Full Tilt Poker back in January finished as the third-biggest winner on Wednesday with $38,916 in profit from 1,237 hands over six sessions. Not a huge score, but one of the hands he won was a big one — in fact, it was the 15th-largest thus far this year.

It happen in the pot-limit Omaha round of a four-handed $300/$600 mixed game when “punting-peddler” ($116,472) raised to $1,800 from the cutoff and “AthaCliath” three-bet to $4,200 from the button. The blinds both folded, “punting-peddler” called, and the flop fell 3♣10♥3♦. “Punting-peddler” check-called a bet of $3,400, and then checked for a second time on the 2♠ turn.

“AthaCliath” bet $11,300, “punting-peddler” check-raised to $36,600, and “AthaCliath” called to see the 7♦ peel off on the river. “Punting-peddler” moved all in for $72,272, and “AthaCliath” snap-called. “Punting-peddler” showed the 5♣4♦A♦5♥ for fives and threes after a missed straight draw, but it wouldn’t have mattered had he hit it as “AthaCliath” flopped a full house with 10♠J♥7♠10♣. Ship the $233,844 to “AthaCliath.”

Biggest Winners/Losers from May 23 – July 23, 2014

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Viktor “Isildur1” Blom	$567,862	Chun Lei “samrostan” Zhou	-$710,885
Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau	$336,706	Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky	-$481,134
Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky	$278,629	“Sanlker”	-$434,440
Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton	$227,658	“BedoliFE”	-$185,806
Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies	$208,324	“Patriktortonius”	-$177,293
“AthaCliath”	$201,158	Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	-$168,651
“EireAbu”	$161,604	“RagingHeart”	-$145,222

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Dan “jungleman12” Cates	$1,355,295	Gus Hansen	-$3,545,491
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius	$1,183,736	Chun Lei “samrostan” Zhou	-$2,873,828
Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau	$1,1173,742	Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	-$1,815,817
Niki Jedlicka	$1,105,214	Viktor “Isildur1” Blom	-$1,315,871
Doug “WCGRider” Polk	$755,773	“Sanlker”	-$1,125,999
Christoph “Tight-Man1” Vogelsang	$649,240	Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion	-$1,035,721