Railbird Report: Loeliger & Kanit Ship PokerStars High Rollers

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Mar 30, 2018 6 min read

Switzerland's Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger is well known for his cash game prowess, especially online where he is leading the 2018 leaderboard with $568,908 in profit at PokerStars and $1,199,489 in total profit since bursting onto the scene in 2016.

This past week, Loeliger proved he is far from a one-trick pony with big success in the High Roller online tournament series at PokerStars.

Though not particularly known as a tournament crusher with just three live cashes in 2015 and 2016 for a total of $85,404, Loeliger has shown some success in tournaments with one of his live cashes being a win in the UKIPT London High Roller for £55,650 ($79,271) to go along with some scores in online tournaments.

On March 23, Loeliger took second place in the PokerStars High Rollers Event #13: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] $1M Gtd for $143,131 ($108,131 prize + $35,000 bounty).

Two days later, on March 25, Loeliger was at it again in the High Rollers Event #25: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo], $400K Gtd. Instead of getting second place, he played his way to the win to collect the $106,645 top prize in just over 2 1/2 hours.

This is not all Loeliger accomplished in his big week as he was also the week's biggest online cash game winner after booking $93,554 in profit over the course of seven sessions and 254 hands from March 22-28.

Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit, who has the most live cashes in his country with $10.7 million according to The Hendon Mob to go along with $4.9 million according to PocketFives, had a very nice score himself.

He was the star of the PokerStars High Rollers Event #13: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] $1M Gtd show. While Loeliger finished second, Kanit won the event for a huge payday of $326,839 ($139,183 prize + $187,656 bounty).

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

Big names were involved in the three biggest pots during March 22-28 including Loeliger, Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, and Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro. Loeliger and Kuznetsov were, as usual, battling it out in nosebleed no-limit hold'em cash games while Blom and Kelopuro were going at each other in pot-limit Omaha.

1) Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger wins a $137,380 Pot (343 Big Blinds) from Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov (March 27)
^{($200/$400 NLHE 6-Max)}

The biggest hand of the week took place in heads-up play and began with Kuznetsov raising the button to $1,100 before he called a three-bet for $4,200 from Loeliger.

Loeliger led out for $2,009 on the 5♣J♦A♠ rainbow flop and got a call from Kuznetsov. Loeliger then led out again, this time for $7,444 after the A♣ paired the board on the turn and Kuznetsov called.

The 9♦ completed the board on the river and Loeliger fired out a bet of $18,007. Kuznetsov jammed for $55,037 with a bluff holding Q♣7♣ and lost his stack after Loeliger called with A♥Q♦.

2) Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro wins a $80,800 Pot (202 Big Blinds) from Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (March 26)
^{($200/$400 PLO 6-Max)}

Kelopuro and Blom were battling it out in heads-up play in an epic 5 1/2 hour marathon on March 26. Blom had a huge early lead of around $130,000 while the duo was playing $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha.

However, they decided to push the stakes higher by three-tabling heads-up at $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha. It was there that Kelopuro was able to rally and turned his huge deficit into over $49,000 in profit by the time the session was over.

In the second biggest hand of the week, with stakes at $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha, Kelopuro raised to $1,200 preflop before he called a three-bet to $3,600 from Blom.

Blom led for $4,800 on the A♠2♥J♠ flop before he called a raise to $21,597 from Kelopuro. Blom then jammed for $15,203 after the 3♦ appeared on the turn and got a call from Kelopuro who had his stack covered.

The duo decided to run it twice with Kelopuro in a huge lead and Blom needing any ace or a non-spaded four to save his hand. The entire $80,800 pot was shipped to Kelopuro after the 8♦ completed the board on the first river and the 8♣ completed the board on the second river.

3) Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro wins a $66,317 Pot (166 Big Blinds) from Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (March 26)
^{($200/$400 PLO 6-Max)}

A few minutes after the last hand on the same table, Kelopuro once again got the best of Blom. The action began the same with Kelopuro raising to $1,200 before he called a three-bet to $3,600 from Blom.

Blom led out for $4,800 on the 3♦2♣8♥ rainbow flop and got a call from Kelopuro. Blom fired out again, this time for $16,797 after the 9♥ appeared on the turn. Kelopuro raised enough to put Blom all in for his remaining stack of $7,962 after he called.

Blom was once again a big underdog after all the money was in and the duo agreed to run it twice. Kelopuro shipped the third biggest non-chopped pot of the week worth $66,317 after Blom ran blanks with the 9♦ appearing on the first river followed by the 4♦ on the second river.

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

The 2018 Leaderboard

Loeliger extended his lead on the 2018 leaderboard while James "JayP-AA" Park remained in second place with no volume and Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn remained third with light volume.

"ImagineKing" added to his losses and once again has a solid hold on the biggest loss of the year. Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz with a strong week was able to climb out of the bottom three with Blom losing big in heads-up play and taking his spot in second to last on the leaderboard.

Meanwhile, Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion didn't play a hand last week and has remained in third to last on the yearly leaderboard in back-to-back weeks.

The above top winning and losing players in online poker for 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 high-stakes action, send an email with your username to [email protected].

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• Tags Railbird Report PokerStars Sami Kelopuro Online Poker Mustapha Kanit Isildur1 Alexander Kostritsyn Omaha
• Related Players Alexander KostritsynViktor BlomMustapha KanitSami Kelopuro