The Online Railbird Report: Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond Week's Biggest Loser
Thus far in 2015, Phil Ivey and Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies have driven much of the online action, so with the former being MIA and the latter at the European Poker Tour Malta, it's no surprise to see things slow down a bit on both Full Tilt and PokerStars.
Still, there are other superstars in the online realm such as Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, both of who stepped up to fill the void. Unfortunately they weren't rewarded for it; in fact, they were the two biggest losers of the week down $232,782 (2 sessions/977 hands) and $35,295 (25 sessions/4,938 hands), respectively.
While that dynamic duo faltered, three players booked solid wins this week. "Bbvisbadforme" topped the weekly leaderboard with $169,528 in profit, which came from 269 hands over two sessions, while Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz sat second with $89,473 from 986 hands over five sessions. Meanwhile, "NoelHayes" was PokerStars winner after profiting $71,086 after 3,635 hands in 22 sessions.
Double Dipping on Full Tilt and PokerStars for Blom
On Friday, March 20, Blom topped the daily leaderboard — twice! That's because he was the biggest winner on both Full Tilt and PokerStars winning $116,900 and $111,700, respectively. Interestingly, he punished the same victim on both sites, that being "Carlooo13" on FTP and "Ravenswood13" on PokerStars.
According to HighStakesDB, Blom began with a four-and-a-half hour session at the $1,500/$3,000 8-game tables on Full Tilt. The Swede was up more than $300,000 at one point, but only ended that particular session a $91,900 winner after "Carlooo13" mounted a late comeback. From there, the two jumped to the $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo tables where Blom won $25,000 in just 18 hands.
On PokerStars, Blom won $85,500 from "Ravenswood13" in 90 minutes at the $400/$800 table. Before that, he won $65,900 from "kkhoghy" at the $500/$1,000 2-7 triple draw tables, but lost $37,000 to Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn playing 8-game. Speaking of Kostritsyn, he was the day's third-biggest winner with $37,000 in profit.
Blom actually played some hefty pots against "Carlooo13" during the $300/$600 pot-limit Omaha rounds. Here's a look at the biggest three:
Hand #1: Blom ($237,646.75) opened for $1,800 on the button and was met by a three-bet to $5,400 from "Carlooo13" ($152,158.75). Blom responded with a four-bet to $16,200, "Carlooo13" called, and the flop came down 7♥9♦K♦.
"Carlooo13" checked, Blom bet $32,400, and "Carlooo13" woke up with a check-raise to $129,600. Blom then moved all in and "Carlooo13" called off the $6,300 or so he had remaining.
"Carlooo13": K♣J♣10♥9♥
Blom: 5♣6♣7♦4♦
Blom flopped bottom pair with a flush draw, while "Carlooo13" had top two with a double gutter. The two agreed to run it twice, and the 9♠ turn and 2♣ on the first run gave "Carlooo13" half the $304,317.50 pot with a full house. Luckily for Blom, he got the other half when the 3♦ turn and Q♣ river on the second run gave him a flush. Chop it up.
Hand #2: Blom ($265,005.50) raised to $1,800 and then called when "Carlooo13" ($108,300.25) three-bet to $5,400, which brought about a flop of 9♦7♠3♣. "Carlooo13" check-called a bet of $7,200 and then checked for a second time on the J♠ turn. Blom bet $18,600, "Carlooo13" check-raised to $81,000, and Blom moved all in. "Carlooo13" only had $14,700.25 behind and wasted little time in calling it off.
Blom: K♠2♠7♦3♥
"Carlooo13": 10♥7♥8♠4♠
The river was run twice, and came out the 10♣ and 5♠ respectively. The first gave "Carlooo13" half the pot with a straight, and the latter gave Blom a winning flush. With that, the $216,600.50 pot was chopped.
Hand #3:
"bbvisbadforme" Comes Out in Saturday Action
On Saturday, March 21, there was plenty of action to be had at the virtual felt, though no one did better than German pro "bbvisbadforme," who won $158,900 playing 2-7 triple draw on Full Tilt. In fact, it came in just 79 hands at the $2,000/$4,000 stakes against Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby, a feat that took just 40 minutes.
Another winner on Full Tilt in Saturday action was Blom, who began his day playing "Carlooo13" at the $1,500/$3,000 8-game tables. Blom pulled out to a $200,000 lead, then hit a downswing and was a $130K loser. After 90 minutes of play, Blom ended the match down $99,000, but they weren't done yet as they upped the stakes to $2,000/$4,000 FLO8.
Blom proceeded to win $203,800 in 100 minutes or play, which he then used to take on Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene, who has opted out of having his long-term results tracked, at the $300/$600 and $500/$1,000 pot-limit Omaha tables. Tollerene won $49,000 in the match, which meant Blom ended up winning $55,900 for the day on FTP. That would normally be good news for the Swede, except he lost $82,300 to Tollerene at the $200/$400 PLO tables on PokerStars.
Here's a look at two of Tollerene's more notable hands, both of which took place at the $500/$1,000 CAP tables on FTP:
Hand #1: Tollerene ($45,999) raised to $3,000 and then called when Blom ($59,992) three-bet to $9,000. When the flop came down 4♣10♦5♣, Blom bet $18,000 and called when Tollerene capped the pot with a raise to $31,000.
Tollerene: J♠7♦5♦4♥
Blom: A♠3♠K♣8♣
Tollerene had flopped two pair, but Blom was drawing to a flush. The two agreed to run it twice, but neither the Q♦/10♥ on the first run nor the A♥/9♠ on the second helped the Swede, which meant Tollerene scooped the $80,000 pot.
Hand #2: Tollerene ($40,000) opened for $3,000, Blom raised to $9,000, and Tollerene called to see the 2♥9♦A♠ flop. Blom bet $10,000, Tollerene capped it with a raise to $31,000, and Blom called to create another $80,000 pot.
Tollerene: Q♦6♦10♣9♠
Blom: A♥K♣J♣5♣
Tollerene had flopped middle pair, but it was behind Blom's top pair. Again it was run twice, and Tollerene failed to improve on the first when the 3♣ blanked on the turn followed by the 4♦ on the river. Fortunately for him, the 4♠/10♥ on the second delivered him two pair and half the pot.
"NoelHayes" Finishes as Tuesday's Biggest Winner
"NoelHayes" isn't a name we see in the Online Railbird Report often, but his performance on Tuesday warranted a positive mention. That is when he played over 1,500 hands of 2-7 triple draw and 8-game on PokerStars, and ended a $131,100 winner, enough to top the daily leaderboard.
"NoelHayes" took on a long list of nosebleed regulars including Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond, Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz, and Chun Lei "SamRostan" Zhou, just to name a few. Another winner in that particular came was Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn, who won $88,800 in roughly 1,100 hands on PokerStars.
Likewise, "Trueteller" won $61,800 on the day thanks to a $114,100 win from Galfond at the $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw table. "Trueteller" was down $130,000 at one point on Tuesday, but his comeback allowed him to take the No. 3 spot on the daily leaderboard.
Biggest Winners/Losers from March 19-25
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 "bbvisbadforme" | $169,528 |
Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond | $232,782 | |
|
Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz | $89,473 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $35,295 | |
 "NoelHayes" | $71,086 |
"buriedatsea" | $19,867 | |
|
Prahlad "Spirit Rock" Friedman | $67,636 |
"UA_3530" | $12,616 |
Year's Biggest Winners/Losers
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies | $907,564 |
Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $1,513,973 | |
|
"JayP-AA" | $874,992 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $604,007 | |
|
"bbvisbadforme" | $828,132 |
Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond | $471,670 | |
|
Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion | $369,477 |
"Sanlker" | $397,430 | |
|
Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz | $263,644 |
"Patriktortonius" | $317,274 |
Data, hands, and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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