The Online Railbird Report: Polk Great in PLO Action; Thuritz Week's Biggest Winner
The Online Railbird Report, which examines the biggest weekly winners and losers from PokerStars' high-stakes cash games, is back for one of the last installments of the year!
The month kicked off with a highly publicized player-strike from December 1-3 – which you can read more about by clicking here — and while the impact of that strike was debatable, it's fair to say that the high-stakes action during that period was slow; in fact, according to HighStakesDB, daily winners topped the leaderboard with mediocre wins between $10-$30K.
Even so, things picked up and Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz would go on to finish as this week's biggest winner after profiting $318,348 in 2,257 hands over 10 sessions. Likewise, it was a good week for Doug "WCG|Rider" Polk (+$167,546 in 20 sessions/2,473 hands), "JLlama" (+$97,495 in 13 sessions/2,235 hands) and Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby (+$70,309 in 12 sessions/618 hands).
On the flip side, Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn was the week's biggest loser after dropping $214,342 in 2,052 hands over 22 sessions. Others who did not fare well were "TheFish77" (-$118,948 in 3 sessions/826 hands) and Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies (-$104,310 in 28 sessions/1,612 hands).
Sulsky Finishes as Weekend's Biggest Winner; Polk Makes Some PLO Noise
On Saturday, December 5, things seemed to be back to normal post-strike as the $400/$800 8-Game tables were fired up and saw Sulsky take on Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov. In their first session, Sulsky won $74,000 in three hours, but gave $38,000 back in just 40 minutes.
A little while later, they switched tables and Sulsky proceeded to win $39,600 back over the course of 150 minutes, putting him up $75,700 on the day, enough to make him the day's biggest winner.
Another player who won on Saturday was Polk, who finished up a $56,100 winner. The World Series of Poker bracelet winner, who can't seem to find a no-limit hold'em cash game, took to the $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha tables and promptly dropped $40,000 in two hours. Fortunately, he was able to recoup that in a different game against "d2thmfi," who he took for $85,000 between two tables. Here's a look at two hands from that match.
Hand #1: Polk ($10,000) opened for $300 on the button and "d2thmfi" ($15,639.30) three-bet to $900. Polk called, the flop came down K♣6♠5♦, and "d2thmfi" checked. Polk bet $1,150.72, "d2thmfi" called, and the J♠ appeared on the turn. "D2thmfi" checked for a second time, Polk fired out $3,115.57, and "d2thmfi" woke up with a check-raise. Polk called off his remaining $4,833.71 and the cards were turned up.
Polk: K♦K♥10♠5♣
"D2thmfi": K♠Q♠9♠10♣
Polk had flopped top set, but "d2thmfi" held both a wrap and flush draw. The river was run twice, but neither the J♣ on the first nor 2♣ on the second helped "d2thmfi," and he watched the $20,000 pot pushed to Polk.
Hand #2: "d2thmfi" ($10,000) raised to $300 from the button and then called when Polk ($42,656.46) reraised to $900, which brought about a K♦2♣K♠ flop. Polk led out for $500, "d2thmfi" raised to $1,900, and Polk called to see the A♦ turn.
Polk check-called a bet of $2,800 and then check-called when "d2thmfi" bet all in for $4,400 on the Q♠ river. "D2thmfi" had been caught bluffing with the 7♠5♣4♣6♣, while Polk claimed the $20,000 pot with a full house holding the A♠A♥7♣5♦.
Later on, in a 129-hand session of $100/$200 8-Game, Polk managed to book a win against reigning WSOP Player of the Year Mike "gordo16" Gorodinsky on his way to finishing as the biggest winner of the day.
Then, on Sunday, December 6, Polk was back at it when he squared off in a five-and-a-half hour $50/$100 PLO match against "fjutekk," who he took for $104,500 to finish as the day's biggest winner. Thing remained even keeled for the first four hours, but Polk came on strong in the last two hours, which included winning the biggest pot of the day.
It happened when "fjutekk" ($26,834.10) opened for $300 on the button and then called when Polk ($39,683.59) three-bet to $900. When the flop fell 5♠J♣9♠, Polk bet $1,366.48, "fjutekk" called, and the 6♣ appeared on the turn. Polk bet again, this time $4,530.96, and then called when "fjutekk" raised to $18,123.84.
When the 9♦ completed the board on the river, Polk led out for $19,243.27, and "fjutekk" called off his remaining $6,443.78 to create a $53,668.20 pot. "fjutekk" tabled the 6♠7♦8♥2♦ for a straight, but it was no good as Polk held nines full of jacks.
On an interesting side note, HighStakesDB reported the return of Viktor "Isildur1" Blom after a nearly two-week absence from PokerStars. Blom, who had been playing on Microgaming in the interim, managed to win $66,800 playing a mix of $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw and fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo.
Thuritz Takes from Kostritsyn; Sulsky Win's Monday's Biggest Pot
On Monday, December 7, Thuritz won $151,500 off Kostritsyn at four tables of $400/$800 8-Game tables. The duo played morning, noon, and night, but according to HighStakesDB, most of Thuritz's profit — $132,500 over 459 hands– came in the last hour of play.
Meanwhile, Sulsky and Kuznetsov were back at the 8-Game tables for an 8.5-hour session, one that saw Sulsky win a mere $7,800. Barely noteworthy, except for the fact that he won the day's biggest pot of the day during a hand of $100/$200 no-limit hold'em.
It happened when Sulsky ($37,180.14) raised to $520 and then called Kuznetsov's ($50,159.86) three-bet to $2,000, which brought about a 5♥6♥3♦ flop. Kuznetsov bet $3,300, Sulsky called, and the 8♠ appeared on the turn. Kuznetsov checked, Sulsky bet $4,675.08, and Kuznetsov check-raised all in. Sulsky called off his remaining $27,205.06 and suddenly there was a $74,360.28 pot on the line.
Kuznetsov: 9♥9♣
Sulsky: 8♦8♥
Sulsky got lucky to spike a set on the turn, and it held despite the river being run twice, coming the J♦ and 3♣ respectively.
Biggest Winners/Losers from December 2-10
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz | $318,348 |
Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn | $214,342 | |
|
Doug "WCGlRider" Polk | $167,546 |
"TheFish77" | $118,948 | |
|
"JLlama" | $97,495 |
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies | $104,310 | |
|
Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby | $70,309 |
Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion | $79,325 | |
|
Ben "Ben86" Tollerene | $68,899 |
"RaulGonzalez" | $69,609 |
Year's Biggest Winners/Losers
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $3,597,708 |
Phil "RaiseOnce" Ivey | $2,481,266 | |
 "bbvisbadforme" | $965,770 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $1,367,244 | |
|
Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen | $885,754 |
Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $1,250,806 | |
|
Ben "Sauce1234" Sulsky | $743,015 |
Jean-Robert "Jaqueline" Bellande | $995,315 | |
|
Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky | $453,172 |
"Sanlker" | $910,746 | |
|
Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton | $341,519 |
"8superpoker" | $751,674 | |
|
Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz | $286,772 |
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies | $662,362 |
Data, hands, and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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