The Online Railbird Report: Seiver, Sulsky & “EireAbu” Off to Hot Start in 2015
Welcome to the first Online Railbird Report of 2015. The previous year wrapped up with Dan "jungleman12" Cates capturing the "Biggest Online Winner of the Year" honor, at least among those who hadn't opted out of tracking, with $3,427,039 in winnings between Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. Cates followed in the footsteps Niklas "ragen70" Heinecker and Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky as the biggest winners of 2013 and 2012, respectively.
Speaking of opting out, HighStakesDB reported that 11 of the top 20 high-stakes winners from 2014 had opted out of tracking, something I've vented about in a past op-ed.
Anyway, Gus Hansen finished as online poker's biggest loser for the second year in a row, losing $5,864,263. A year before, he lost a hefty $8,461,472, and in 2012 he was online poker's second-biggest loser dropping $3,204,472, which was just behind "Zypherin's" $3,552,742.
You can read about the exploits of both Cates and Hansen, as well as have a look at 2014's biggest pot, in our year-end recap.
A new year here, and that means it's time for the leaderboards to reset. We're barely a week into January, so things are still in their infancy. That said, there was plenty of action over the past week, so let's get to it.
New Year's Day Nosebleed Action on PokerStars
Most of 2014's high-stakes action took place on Full Tilt Poker, but on the first day of 2015 the action was found over at PokerStars. That's where the 2-7 triple draw and 8-game tables spread featuring "Trueteller" and "RaulGonzales," the latter being better known as German pro "Sanlker."
According to HighStakesDB, RaulGonzales got started by winning $81,300 in a 315-hand early morning session of $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw against the likes of Phil "RaiseOnce" Ivey, Rami "arbianight" Boukai, and Cort "thecortseter" Kibler-Melby. Later in the afternoon, he followed it up by winning $17,500 more from Ivey. Toss in another late night win, and RaulGonzales ended up winning $136,200, enough to make him the day's biggest winner.
Not far behind with $128,500 in profit was the aforementioned "Trueteller," who won $118,300 playing in that same early morning 2-7 triple draw game. The rest came before that when he took $11,000 off Kibler-Melby and Ivey.
PokerStars Continues to Host Big Games on Second Day of New Year
On Friday, Jan. 2, PokerStars was once again the place to be for high-stakes action. No one did better on that day than Scott "gunning4you" Seiver, who finished as the day's biggest winner after banking $154,700 in two sessions at the $400/$800 8-game tables.
In the first, Seiver played at five tables for 3.5 hours in the early morning and won $80,000 playing against top competition including Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz, Alex "joiso" Kostritsyn, and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, just to name a few. In the late evening, Seiver booked a $74,000 win, with $71,200 of that coming from 156 hands against Kostritsyn and Vladimir "GVOZDIKA55" Shchemelev.
It was also on Friday that "AckmaJin" was busy at the $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha tables where he won $147,700 in 140 minutes. Here's a look at three of his more notable pots.
Hand #1: At a six-handed table, "ImagineKing" ($17,697.82) raised to $400 under the gun and AckmaJin ($10,487.66) called from the button. "EireAbu" then three-bet to $1,940 from the big blind, both his opponents called, and the three players saw a flop of 7♠2♥6♦.
EireAbu led out for $6,155, ImagineKing raised all in for $15,757.82, and AckmaJin called off for $8,547.66. EireAbu called to create a side pot, and the J♥ was put out on the turn followed by the 10♦ on the river. AckmaJin tabled the 6♥2♦J♦A♦ for two pair, which was enough to win the $31,797.98 main pot. Meanwhile, EireAbu showed the Q♠Q♣A♠10♠ for queens, and it was good for the side as ImagineKing sent his cards to the muck unseen.
Hand #2: With four players seated at the table, ImagineKing ($21,663.34) opened for $400 under the gun and "DonkPredator" ($22,488.33) three-bet to $1,560 from the small blind. AckmaJin proceeded to four-bet to $5,240, ImagineKing folded, and DonkPredator five-bet to $16,280. AckmaJin five-bet all in for a bit more and DonkPredator called to create a pot of $40,480.
AckmaJin: A♣Q♣Q♥10♦
DonkPredator: A♠A♥10♠J♦
The 8♦Q♠K♦ flop gave AckmaJin the lead with trip queens, but both players turned a Broadway straight when the J♠ peeled off. The 4♦ blanked on the river, and the pot was chopped up.
Hand #3:
"EireAbu" Cleans Up on PokerStars
"EireAbu," who was 2014's biggest winner on PokerStars with more than $838,000 in winnings, was down $171,000 heading into Monday's action, but he righted the ship with a $238,000 win at the pot-limit Omaha tables, easily making him the day's biggest winner.
EireAbu put in 3,503 hands between PLO and 2-7 triple draw, but all of his winnings came from 50 minutes at the $200/$400 PLO table. It took him a mere 132 hands to relieve Ola "Odd_Oddsen" Amundsgard of $202,000, with the rest coming from Illari "Illari FIN" Sahamies and Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen.
In his biggest pot, EireAbu ($109,592.23) was playing heads up against Amundsgard ($145,022.58) when the latter opened for $1,360 from the button. EireAbu responded with a three-bet to $4,240, Amundsgard called, and the flop came down 6♣4♠8♣. EireAbu bet $6,000, Amundsgard called, and the 7♠ appeared on the turn.
EireAbu slowed down with a check, but still called when Amundsgard bet $15,891.26. Both players ended up checking the 6♦ river, and it was a good thing for the Norwegian as EireAbu tabled the 7♥7♣10♥8♥ for a full house. Ship the $52,422.52 pot to EireAbu.
How Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky Got His Money
On Tuesday, Jan. 6, Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky finished as the day's biggest winner with $170,600 in profit. Nearly all of the 1,109 hands he played came at the 8-game tables, but he did play 37 hands of $100/$200 no-limit hold'em against "Trueteller," a side game that netted him $28,000. Here's a look at a couple notables hands from that match.
Hand #1: Sulsky ($20,021.20) opened for $600 on the button and was met by a three-bet to $2,200 from Trueteller ($32,118.80). Sulsky responded with a four-bet to $4,680, Trueteller called and the flop came down 7♦4♦4♠. Trueteller check-called a bet of $2,679 and then check-called one of $3,029.60 on the 9♥ turn.
When the A♦ completed the board on the river, Trueteller sprung to life by betting big, but he couldn't have picked a worse time as Sulsky snap-called off his last $9,632.60 holding the A♣A♥ for a full house. Trueteller showed the 7♠6♠ and watched the $40,042.40 pot pushed to his opponent.
Hand #2:
Biggest Winners/Losers from Jan. 1-7
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 "EireAbu" | $210,679 |
 Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $63,219 | |
|
Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky | $129,382 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $42,372 | |
|
Scott "gunning4you" Seiver | $121,608 |
"silvasilva88" | $14,960 | |
|
"aba20" | $78,013 |
"legends2009" | $13,248 | |
|
"kardioloq" | $76,758 |
"cumicon" | $13,220 |
Year's Biggest Winners/Losers
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
"EireAbu" | $210,679 |
Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $63,219 | |
|
Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky | $129,382 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $42,372 | |
|
Scott "gunning4you" Seiver | $121,608 |
"silvasilva88" | $14,960 | |
|
"aba20" | $78,013 |
"legends2009" | $13,248 | |
|
"kardioloq" | $76,758 |
"cumicon" | $13,220 |
Data, hands, and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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