Railbird Report: "BERRI SWEET" Becomes Biggest 2017 High-Stakes Winner

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Jan 05, 2018 5 min read

2017 is done and dusted and the scores have been tallied. "BERRI SWEET" and Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov were locked in a fierce battle throughout the year to claim the top spot, but a late slump by Kuznetsov gave "BERRI SWEET" one of his tastiest victories yet. The high staker recorded a profit of $1,769,395 at the PokerStars high-stakes cash tables, while Kuznetsov finished the year with $1,454,838 in winnings. "BERRI SWEET"s monster 1.7M year puts him at $2,330,314 in winnings lifetime.

"BERRI SWEET" follows in the footsteps of Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn, who was last year's biggest winner with $1,466,568. Kostritsyn wasn't able to follow up on his stellar 2016 and finished 2017 with $457,729 in the red. 2015's top money winner Viktor "Isildur1" Blom ($3,497,527 in 2015) had another one of his fabled rollercoaster years and eventually finished $645,327 in the black, after surpassing the $1M mark earlier this year.

On the other side, Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro posted the biggest loss of the year and ended $1,277,737 in the red. However, the Finnish pro posted in his blog (found here, in Finnish) that he actually was a big winner in 2017. According to Kelopuro, he made $580,000 in profit in 2017, with a massive $800,000 in winnings on partypoker standing out. Kelopuro also noted that the cash games on PokerStars went great up until 50/100, but that he lost a ton on the bigger ones, skewing the results as posted here.

The 2017 Leaderboard

Behind "BERRI SWEET" and Kuznetsov, it was Carlo "Ravenswood13" van Ravenswoud who claimed the bronze medal at the end of the year. The Dutchman residing in Malta had a stellar year at the high stakes tables and won $814,543. "ActionFreak" ($790,920) and Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger ($650,695) rounded out the top 5. The aforementioned Blom ($645,327) finished in 6th place, before Jordi "prot0" Urlings ($624,265), "RaúlGonzalez ($574,768), "Mongano" ($438,392) and "donthrnmepls" ($389,426).

"8superpoker" won't remember 2017 as fondly, as he posted the second biggest loss behind Kelopuro. "8superpoker" finished $826,554 in the red, followed by Dani "supernova9" Stern (-$777,373), who announced his retirement from poker, "ImagineKing" (-$525,044) and Bill "GASTRADER" Perkins (-$517,020). Kostritsyn, 2016's biggest winner, posted the 6th biggest loss in 2017 with -$457,729. Dan "W00ki3z." Cates, better known as "Jungleman", dropped $362,952 at the highest stakes online in 2017.

Catching Up on High Stakes Action: Three Biggest Pots of The Week

On New Year's Eve, Ben "Ben86" Tollerene and Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov locked horns at the 100/200 PLO 6-Max Tables, resulting in three of the biggest pots of the week.

1) Ben "Ben86" Tollerene wins an $89,929 Pot (450 Big Blinds) from Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov
^{($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)}

Kuznetsov raised to $680 first to act, Tollerene three-bet to $2,120 and Kuznetsov called. On the 2♥J♦2♦ flop, Tollerene bet $950, Kuznetsov raised to $4,400 and Tollerene called. The turn was the K♣ and Tollerene check-called a bet of $8,800 from Kuznetsov.

The river brought the 4♣ and Tollerene checked. Kuznetsov ripped it for $29,565, nearly equal to the size of the pot, and Tollerene called with K♥J♠10♥10♦ for top two pair, kings and jacks. Kuznetsov was caught bluffing with A♥Q♥3♣3♦ and was forced to reload.

2)Ben "Ben86" Tollerene wins a $38,425 Pot (191 Big Blinds) from Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov
^{($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)}

Another three-bet pot to $2,120, this time with Tollerene in position. On the 8♠6♦2♣ flop, Kuznetsov check-called $2,159 from Tollerene. The turn brought the Q♣ and Kuznetsov lead out for $8,634, leaving himself with $6,220 behind. Tollerene stuck the rest in and Kuznetsov called.

Although players agreed to run it twice, it didn't matter as Kuznetsov was drawing dead despite holding two pair and a flush draw. Tollerene had the hand locked up with a set of eights, a higher flush draw and a queen in his hand. The meaningless rivers were the 2♠ and the 5♦ to send the $38,425 pot to Tollerene.

3) Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov wins three-quarters of a $34,679 Pot (173 Big Blinds) from Ben "Ben86" Tollerene
^{($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)}

Another three-bet pot with Tollerene in position brought a Q♦8♥7♠ flop. Kuznetsov bet $4,317 and Tollerene called, which left the latter with $10,823 behind. On the 5♠ turn, Kuznetsov bet enough to put Tollerene all in and the American called it off.

This time, Kuznetsov held a big lead, as Tollerene could only chop the pot if he hit one of the straight cards. On the first of two rivers, the 9♣, both players hit a straight to chop. The 8♦ on the second river gave Kuznetsov three-quarters of the pot and left Tollerene with $8,649.

This Week's Online High-Stakes Biggest Winners and Losers

A new year provides a new opportunity, and it's Ben "Ben86" Tollerene who's claimed the early frontrunner spot after his winning session on New Year's Eve. Vice versa, his opponent Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov posted the biggest loss of the week.

The above top winning and losing players in online poker for 2017 and 2018 only takes PokerStars accounts into consideration. All public data courtesy of HighStakesDB.com. If you want to opt out of being listed in this PokerNews update on the high-stakes action, send an email with your username to [email protected].

_{The Stars Group is a majority shareholder in iBus Media}

A former professional poker player with a background in sports marketing and journalism. Yori has been a part of PokerNews since 2016 and manages the content team.

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• Tags Alexander Kostritsyn Isildur1 BERRI SWEET Sami Kelopuro Timofey Kuznetsov Trueteller
• Related Players Alexander KostritsynViktor BlomSami KelopuroTimofey KuznetsovTrueteller