The Online Railbird Report: "JayP-AA" Opts Out, Blom Up $355K, and Nosebleed Overhaul
Move over "JayP-AA". In last week's Online Railbird Report, we reported that he had taken over the top spot on the 2015 yearly leaderboard. Well, in the last week, "JayP-AA" has opted out of long-term tracking, which means that by default "bbvisbadforme" now sits atop the leaderboard with $851,103 in profit.
In other high-stakes news on both PokerStars and Full Tilt, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom ended up being the week's biggest winner after banking $355,382 in 1,107 hands over 11 sessions on the latter site. Likewise, Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene won $115,584 in 306 hands over three sessions on FTP, enough to make him the week's second-biggest winner.
Over on PokerStars, "Educa-p0ker" finished as that site's biggest winner (+$98,152 in 9 sessions/1,099 hands), while Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby won $83,979 in 168 hands over five sessions. However, Kibler-Melby was actually the week's biggest overall loser as he dropped a hefty $436,718 in 1,093 hands over six sessions on Full Tilt.
Other big losers included "megabanny" (-$229,074 in 12 sessions/2,981 hands) on PokerStars, and Prahlad "Spirit Rock" Friedman (-$148,949 in 16 sessions/6,561 hands) on Full Tilt.
Full Tilt Poker Overhauls the Nosebleeds
High-stakes regular Doug "WCGRider" Polk made an interesting observation earlier in the week:
As if finding a high-stakes game wasn't tough enough, @FullTiltPoker just got rid of all high stakes except for 25/50 and 250/500. WTF
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker)
Sure enough, Full Tilt made some major changes to their ring games, which you can read all about by clicking here.
As for the nosebleeds, the biggest change was the one Polk pointed out. With only two big-bet games available, it meant a bunch of stakes were removed including $50/$100, $75/$150, $100/$200, $200/$400, $300/$600, and $400/$800. Likewise, the high-stakes limit games were affected as the $2,000/$4,000 tables were done away with leaving $1,000/$2,000 as the highest offering. With the next stakes being offered a mediocre $50/$100, it meant the $500/$1,000, $300/$600, $200/$400, and $100/$200 stakes were all removed.
Shyam Markus, Full Tilt Poker Room Manager, explained the reasoning behind it on TwoPlusTwo.
"Basically, looking at the past few months, we had some nosebleed players, and then everyone else," said Markus. "There was very little action happening in the 'lower nosebleeds' in the grand scheme of things. This major ring-game cleanup was designed to mostly offer the games that were still being played (or, in some cases, consolidate some players into the same games to make the remaining games more active)."
He went on to add, "So a common thing to see when looking at the site activity was some amount of $10/$20, and then a huge drop off until the highest nosebleeds where the action picked up a bit again. Nobody was 'climbing the ladder.' So what we did was finish up the standard offering one level above where there was still decent action (in many cases, this meant $25/$50) so that if higher games naturally started up again, they'd be available. And then a big jump for the current nosebleed players to keep playing their games.
"If the new highest regular levels start getting action, I'm sure we'll add one level higher than that to see if it keeps going," Markus concluded. "Until then, we're going to see how this offering plays out."
Things Finally Go Right for Ivey; Sanlker Books a Win
It's been a rough year for Phil "Polarizing" Ivey, but on Sunday, April 12, things went right for the 10-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner. That is when he sat down at a $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw table to take on Kibler-Melby in some heads-up action. The two played more than 150 hands in an hour's time, with Ivey winning $200,000. At that point, "Sanlker" joined to make it three-way action for the next 18 minutes, during which time the German pro won $45,900 and Ivey slipped down to $185,900, still enough to make him the day.
Speaking of "Sanlker," he finished as the day's second-biggest winner with $107,100. The rest of his profit came from a 75-minute match against Friedman at the $100/$200 2-7 triple draw tables.
Finally, "bambooeater" finished as PokerStars' biggest winner with $74,700 in profit, all but $2,000 of which came from a three-hour heads-up match against "megabanny" at the $50/$100 no-limit hold'em tables. In the biggest hand of the match — which was also the biggest of the day — "bambooeater" pulled in a $54,087.20 pot with a heart flush against the two pair of "megabanny."
PokerStars is getting closer to returning to the United States with a New Jersey launch. Read all about it by clicking here.
Big Day for Both Blom and Tollerene
On Monday, April 13, Blom returned to the high-stakes table with a bang by winning $255,800 playing both 2-7 triple draw and 8-game on Full Tilt. The Swede played during the early morning hours and kicked things off by winning $73,500 in just 126 hands against Ivey at the $1,500/$3,000 8-Game tables.
From there, Blom switched to the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables to take on Kibler-Melby, who he skinned for $160,000 in just 30 minutes. Blom proceeded to lose $36,000 to Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz, and then once again sat down with Ivey, who he relieved of an additional $105,000 in 101 hands. Ivey won back $43,500 later in the night, but even so it was a profitable day for Blom.
In other Monday news, Tollerene finished as the day's second-biggest winner after winning $115,600 at the $100/$200 no-limit hold'em tables against Friedman. It was in that match that Tollerene won the biggest pot of the day.
It happened when Tollerene ($78,569.50) opened for $500 on the button and Friedman ($44,199) three-bet to $1,800. Tollerene called, the flop came down 8♣3♦2♠, and Friedman led out for $2,400. Tollerene called, and then called a bet of $7,200 on the 9♥ turn. When the 6♣ completed the board on the river, Friedman shoved all in for $32,799 and Tollerene snap-called with the 5♠4♠ for a straight. It was good as Friedman showed the K♣Q♦ for a bluff and then watched the $88,398 pushed to his opponent.
Biggest Winners/Losers from April 10-15
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $355,382 |
Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby | $436,718 | |
|
Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene | $115,584 |
 "megabanny" | $229,074 | |
|
"Educa-p0ker" | $98,152 |
Prahlad "Spirit Rock" Friedman | $148,949 | |
|
NoelHayes | $95,242 |
Chun Lei "SamRostan" Zhou | $134,881 | |
|
Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby | $83,979 |
Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz | $104,218 |
Year's Biggest Winners/Losers
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
"bbvisbadforme" | $851,103 |
Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $1,560,347 | |
|
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies | $617,654 |
Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond | $437,428 | |
|
Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz | $376,267 |
"Sanlker" | $433,226 | |
|
Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion | $367,743 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $317,787 | |
|
"gunning4you" | $244,368 |
"Patriktortonius" | $317,274 |
Data, hands, and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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