The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen's Disastrous Year Continues

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Sep 12, 2014 7 min read

The 2014 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is currently taking place on PokerStars, but that hasn’t stopped the high-stakes cash games from spreading on both that site and Full Tilt Poker.

In last week’s Online Railbird Report, we told you how Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius finished as the week’s biggest winner with $745,346 in profit. This week Antonius followed that up with a $371,840 in 3,476 hands over 25 sessions. It was a nice week for the Finn, but three other players booked bigger wins.

German pro “Sanlker” took home the biggest winner honors after banking $685,203 in 6,480 hands over 90 sessions on Full Tilt Poker, while Rui “PepperoniF” Cao was PokerStars’ biggest winner after profiting $447,434 in 4,215 hands over 52 sessions (he dropped $312,010 on Full Tilt, so his win wasn’t as impressive as it seems). Sitting third on the leaderboard was Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who lost $510,793 last week but rebounded a bit by winning $381,249 in 8,013 hands over 78 sessions.

In last week’s Online Railbird Report we also told you about Gus Hansen, who was the biggest loser after dropping $500,623. Well, it was another bad week for Hansen, who lost $751,486 in 10,223 hands over 142 sessions. Hansen was already 2014’s biggest loser, and his latest loss put him down $5,522,853, which is more than twice as much as the $2,034,348 of the second-biggest loser, Phil “Polarizing” Ivey. Speaking of Ivey, he managed a decent win this week by profiting $218,192 in 3,663 hands over 40 sessions.

Ivey Banks $656,800 in Friday Action

On Friday, Sept. 5, Phil “Polarizing” Ivey finished as the biggest winner of the day with a robust $656,800 in profit. More than half of that — $365,000 to be exact — came from a two-hour session at the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables against Gus Hansen and “Sanlker,” while the rest came from 350 hands at the 8-Game table against the likes of Chun Lei “samrostan” Zhou, Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius, Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn, and Dan “jungleman12” Cates.

Kostritsyn and Cates were involved in the day’s biggest pot. It happened in a round of $300/$600 no-limit hold’em when action was four-handed. Cates ($178,226) opened for $1,500 from the button and then called when Kostritsyn ($73,198.50) three-bet to $5,300. When the flop fell 4♥5♠2♠, Kostritsyn bet $5,600, Cates called, and the 10♦ appeared on the turn.

Kostritsyn bet again, this time $17,000, and Cates called to see the Q♥ river. Kostritsyn shoved all in for his last $45,298.50, and Cates snap-called to create a pot of $146,997. Kostritsyn tabled the J♥J♣, but it was no good as Cates had flopped a wheel with the A♥3♥.

Here’s another big hand from that match, which saw a big flip between Cates and Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz:

Cates Elaborates on “Durrrr Challenge”; Thuritz Explains WCOOP Disqualification

The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen's Disastrous Year Continues 101 — Dan \"jungleman12\" Cates

We usually report the high-stakes action here in the Online Railbird Report, but every once in a while some interesting table talk is worth reporting. That was the case when Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz and Dan “jungleman12” Cates sat down together. Usually table talk is centered around the players seated, but in this case the two dished on Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and WCOOP.

Regarding Dwan, Cates elaborated on the incomplete “Durrrr Challenge.” Back in 2010, Cates laid $500,000 to Dwan’s $1.5 million that he could win the open challenge. For those who may have forgotten about said challenge, here’s how Dwan originally issued it:

“Four tables, minimum of $200/$400, and I'll put up $1.5 million to their $500,000. We play 50,000 hands minimum and if they end up a dollar after rake they keep the side money or whatever. So basically, if you and I played and you won a dollar, you would get my $1.5 million and if I won a dollar I would win your $500,000. So I'm giving a million dollars free if anyone thinks they can do it."

Anyway, Cates is up $$1,251,059 after 19,335 hands of the 50,000-hand challenge, and now he feels he is getting scammed. Here is the chat box conversation he had with Thuritz:

punting-peddler: jungle not whining so much today when ur up 3.5 buyins
jungleman12: not up
punting-peddler: aha then im really surprised
punting-peddler: ah i guess i havnt won a pot yet against u
jungleman12: its easy to whine against you specifically
jungleman12: since ur endless luckbox ofc
punting-peddler: ur the one with the blessed account not me
jungleman12: blessed funny
jungleman12: 3m hands and i win
jungleman12: must be blessed
jungleman12: featured pro scams me
jungleman12: must be blessed
punting-peddler: yeye whatever
punting-peddler: what?
punting-peddler: who scamed u
jungleman12: tom
punting-peddler: aha i see
punting-peddler: im sure he will pay u
jungleman12: big scam
jungleman12: yeah ok
jungleman12: as soon as he finishes his angle
punting-peddler: but indeed takjing a long time
jungleman12: he doesnt have to play if its not completed
jungleman12: according to him
jungleman12: ask him
punting-peddler: lol
punting-peddler: quite a joke to say that from him
jungleman12: moment i owe him though
jungleman12: oh wheres my money??? he says
punting-peddler: well i really hope he finishes it
punting-peddler: pretty ridic not to complete
jungleman12: yes

Since Cates opened up to Thuritz, he decided to do the same and tell the story about the time he won the 2007 WCOOP Main Event for $1.2 million and was subsequently disqualified for multi-accounting, which he claims he didn’t do. Here’s that exchange:

The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen's Disastrous Year Continues 102 — Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz

punting-peddler: i had a big bad beat
punting-peddler: i won the wcoop 2007
punting-peddler: didnt get paid for 1.2m
punting-peddler: and i didnt multi account
jungleman12: ???
punting-peddler: TheV0id
punting-peddler: was my acc
punting-peddler: my backers sisters account because he wanted to play on his own
punting-peddler: that why i played on this account that had never played one hand before
punting-peddler: i won and got disqualified in 2 weeks proccess
punting-peddler: they paid all the other ITM guys the money
jungleman12: oh
jungleman12: ul
jungleman12: id be on rage tilt
punting-peddler: i wasnt too happy
punting-peddler: lol
punting-peddler: but then i won quite a bit so it was fine lol
punting-peddler: but still i think pokerstars decision was way too over the top
jungleman12: yeah for sure

“Sanlker” and Rio “PepperoniF” Cao Win on Saturday

On Saturday, Sept. 6, “Sanlker” was the day’s biggest winner after winning $197,900 playing 2-7 triple draw on Full Tilt Poker against players like “Kagome Kagome,” “Trueteller,” and Phil “Polarizing” Ivey, just to name a few.

Meanwhile over on PokerStars, Rui “PepperoniF” Cao put in some time playing $500/$1,000 2-7 triple draw and both $50/$100 and $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha where he won $118,000 and $59,800 respectively. Cao won his three biggest pots playing $100/$200 PLO, and here they are.

Hand #1: Action was heads-up when Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky ($27,200.45) opened for $600 from the button only to have Cao ($39,828.97) three-bet to $1,800 from the big blind. Sulsky called, both players checked the A♠4♥8♥ flop, and the 10♣ appeared on the turn. Cao checked, Sulsky bet $2,798, and Cao check-raised to $7,800. Sulsky called and then called off his remaining $17,600.45 when Cao bet $19,198 on the 2♣ river. Sulsky tabled the 6♣5♦4♣10♥ for two pair, but it was no good as Cao held a bigger two pair with the A♣10♠J♣3♦. Ship the $54,400.90 pot to Cao.

Hand #2: The game and players were the same when Cao ($39,043.91) opened for $400 and then called when Sulsky ($21,796) three-bet to $1,200. Cao then called bets of $1,390.84 and $4,477.57 on the 2♣3♦9♦ flop and A♠ turn respectively before Sulsky bet all in for $14,134.82 on the K♥ river. Cao called with the 3♥3♣8♥7♥ for a flopped set, and it was good enough to win the $42,406.46 pot as Sulsky only had two pair with the A♦9♥5♥J♦.

Hand #3:

Kibler-Melby Wins $784,800 on Sunday

On Sunday, Sept. 7, the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables were going strong and one man who took advantage was Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby, who won $784,800 in 2,579 hands over 17 hours of play. According to HighStakesDB, Kibler-Melby was even after 11 hours of play, but caught a heater in the evening as he notched six-figure wins at four different tables.

Here are some other highlights from Sunday’s action as reported by HighStakesDB:

Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau who $372,300 in 1,174 hands of 2-7 triple draw.
Rui “PepperoniF” Cao once again won on PokerStars, winning $100,700 playing 2-7 triple draw and PLO.
Viktor “Isildur1” Blom lost $180,000 to “Carlooo13” playing $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi/low. Carlooo13 went on to win $208,800 on the day, which made him the day’s third-biggest winner.

Sunday was kind to Kibler-Melby, but so was Monday, which is when he won an additional $380,700 playing a heads-up match against “Trueteller” that took 3.5 hours. That score was nice, but it wasn’t enough to make Kibler-Melby the day’s biggest winner as “Follow The Hawk” captured that honor with $581,700 in profit playing 998 hands of 2-7 triple draw.

Biggest Winners/Losers from Sept. 4-11

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
“Sanlker”	$685,203	Gus Hansen	$751,486
Rui “PepperoniF” Cao	$447,434	Rui Cao	$312,010
Viktor “Isildur1” Blom	$381,249	“bbvisbadforme”	$238,213
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius	$371,840	Dan “jungleman12” Cates	$176,786
Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	$218,192	Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz	$159,824

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Dan “jungleman12” Cates	$2,679,713	Gus Hansen	$5,522,853
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius	$2,313,781	Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	$2,034,348
Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz	$1,957,242	Viktor “Isildur1” Blom	$1,310,928
Doug “WCGRider” Polk	$754,099	Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion	$1,135,936
Christoph “Tight-Man1” Vogelsang	$663,477	Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond	$,1082,089
Niki Jedlicka	$624,921	Paul “MalACEsia” Phua	$823,325
Ike “luvtheWNBA” Haxton	$582,932	Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky	$665,133