Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey's Catastrophic Year to Make Him 2015's Biggest Loser
Welcome to a special edition of the Online Railbird Report, which will be the last on offer for 2015. In this edition of the ORR – which examines the biggest weekly winners and losers from PokerStars' high-stakes cash games — we'll fill you in on who looks to finish as the year's biggest winner and loser, as well as recap the online action from Dec. 11-20.
Unless something drastic happens in the next 10 days – and by drastic we means the biggest games and swings we've seen since Black Friday – then Viktor "Isildur1" Blom is going to finish as the biggest online winner of the year. He currently sits atop the leaderboard with $3,499,382 in winnings on PokerStars, which came in 249,267 hands over 1,790 sessions. The next closest is "bbvisbadforme," who is up $965,770.
However, it's important to note Blom is down $1,367,244 on Full Tilt, though even taking that into account he is still well ahead in the race… and we're not even counting his recent tear on the Microgaming Network (which isn't tracked in the Online Railbird Report).
On the flip side, Phil Ivey is far and away 2015's biggest loser down $2,481,266 (126,026 hands/622 sessions) and $1,250,806 (32,737 hands/175 sessions) on PokerStars and Full Tilt respectively. It was another disastrous year for Ivey, who lost more than $2.3 million in 2014, second only to Gus Hansen (who was for all intents and purposes absent from the virtual felt this year).
PokerNews will bring you an overall 2015 recap in the New Year.
Meanwhile, let's take a look at some online action from Dec. 11-20. The biggest winner from that period was "Cobus83," who won a modest $152,264 in 691 hands over five sessions. Coming in second was Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier, who was playing while at the European Poker Tour Prague and managed to win $84,305 in 631 hands spread across 10 sessions.
As for losers, no one did worse than Jean-Robert "Jaqueline" Bellande, who lost $143,799 in 817 hands over 10 sessions, though Blom wasn't too far behind dropping $98,326 in 5,909 hands over 47 sessions.
"Cobus83" Wins More Than $3,000 a Minute!
On Friday, Dec. 11, "Cobus83" took to the $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha tabled for a heads-up match against "TILTMENOT." According to HighStakesDB, the two only played for 27 minutes, but "Cobus83" managed to win $89,200 over 180 hands, which came out to more than $3,000 a minute!
Here's a look at three big hands from the match.
Hand #1: In the biggest pot of the day, "TILTMENOT" ($15,859.59) opened for $300 from the button and "Cobus83" ($65,668.76) called to see an 8♣K♥9♠ flop, which they both checked. When the 9♥ appeared on the turn, "Cobus83" led out for $376.75, "TILTMENOT" raised to $1,550, and "Cobus83" three-bet to $5,557.86.
"TILTMENOT" made the call and then called off his remaining $10,348.57 after "Cobus83" bet big on the 6♣ river. "TILTMENOT" revealed the 8♥8♦J♥3♠ for eights full, but it was no good as "Cobus83" held nines full with the 9♦K♠A♦2♣. Ship the $31,995.92 pot to "Cobus83."
Hand #2: "TILTMENOT" ($12,045.78) opened for $300 and then called when "Cobus83" ($77,466.57) three-bet to $894. When the flop fell 6♦8♥K♠, "Cobus83" led out for $1,125.18, "TILTMENOT" called, and the 5♣ appeared on the turn.
"Cobus83" check-called a bet of $2,766.57, and then checked the 8♦ river. "TILTMENOT" moved all in for $7,260.03, and "Cobus83" snap-called to create a $24,091.56 pot. "TILTMENOT" tabled the 5♠5♥4♥10♦ for fives full, but once again it was no good as "Cobus83" held the K♦K♣3♠3♣ for kings full.
Hand #3: "TILTMENOT" ($11,712.71) opened for $300, "Cobus83" ($61,885.64) called, and the flop fell 6♠6♥Q♥. "Cobus83" checked, "TILTMENOT" bet $448.50, and "Cobus83" check-raised to $1,390.35. "TILTMENOT" called and then called a bet of $2,466.45 on the 3♣ turn.
When the 2♦ completed the board on the river, "Cobus83" bet $8,228.48 and "TILTMENOT" called off his remaining $7,555.91 to create a $23,325.42 pot. "TILTMENOT" revealed the A♥A♦5♦7♦ for aces and sixes, but it was no good as "Cobus83" had flopped quads with the 6♦6♣3♠J♥.
Alex Luneau Finishes as Monday's Biggest Winner
On Monday, Dec. 14, Alex "BiatchPeople" Luneau finished as the day's biggest winner after profiting $99,000 in 8.5 hours at the $400/$800 Mixed-Game tables, According to HighStakesDB, nearly all of his profit — $97,200 to be exact – came from 585 hands at table Nestor II against a laundry list of stiff competition including Mercier, reigning World Series of Poker Player of the Year Mike "gordo16" Gorodinsky, and Ilkka "Bernard-bb" Koskinen, just to name a few.
Meanwhile, "Ravenswood13" finished as the second-biggest winner up $85,000 playing $400/$800 8-Game against reigning EPT Player of the Year Dzmitry "Colisea" Urbanovich.
Alex "Kanu7" Millar Parts Ways with PokerStars Team Online
Last week, Alex "Kanu7" Millar sent out a pair of tweets revealing that he was resigning from PokerStars Team Online after the company's controversial changes to its VIP program.
I’d like to apologise to the players for my complete failure to be able to help in any way with the recent pokerstars VIP changes (1/2)
— Alex Millar (@Kanupoker)
With @RealKidPoker eventually failing as well I no longer feel I can represent the company and I have now left Team Pro Online (2/2)
— Alex Millar (@Kanupoker)
Biggest Winners/Losers from December 11-20
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 "Cobus83" | $152,264 |
Jean-Robert "Jaqueline" Bellande | $143,799 | |
|
Jason Mercier | $84,305 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $98,326 | |
|
"spaise411" | $72,018 |
"TILTMENOT" | $89,525 | |
|
"kabydf" | $64,785 |
Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates | $80,936 |
Year's Biggest Winners/Losers
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $3,499,382 |
Phil "RaiseOnce" Ivey | $2,481,266 | |
 "bbvisbadforme" | $965,770 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $1,367,244 | |
|
Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen | $873,527 |
Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $1,250,806 | |
|
Ben "Sauce1234" Sulsky | $743,015 |
Jean-Robert "Jaqueline" Bellande | $1,139,115 | |
|
Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky | $409,969 |
"Sanlker" | $910,746 | |
|
Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton | $341,519 |
"8superpoker" | $751,674 | |
|
Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz | $286,772 |
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies | $618,194 |
Data, hands, and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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