The Online Railbird Report: Sahamies and South Lead the Pack
Slowly but surely, the nosebleed-stakes action is picking up again as regulars like Cole South, Brian Townsend, and Tom “durrrr” Dwan dip their toes back in the waters at $300/$600 pot-limit Omaha. This week saw a significant uptick in the number of six-figure pots, one monsterpotten even topping $600,000, a feat not seen since the “Isildur1” days. Dwan continued his long grind back to the top of the cash game heap while Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies led the week in profits, scooping up over $884,000.
Dwan Dominates at $100/$200 PLO
Dwan has certainly taken his licks at the online tables as of late, but on Sunday night, he booked a six-figure win, pulling in over $145,000 after a more than 500-hand session of pot-limit Omaha. Dwan spent most of the evening playing six-handed $100/$200 PLO with Townsend, South, Di “Urindanger” Dang, Ashton “theASHMAN103” Griffin and an unknown French player called “matatuk.” Dwan and Griffin were the big winners in that particular game, raking in $155,000 and $156,000 respectively. South dropped $109,000 but the night’s “Filet-o-Fish” title belonged to matatuk, who shed over $200,000.
After finishing up at $100/$200, Dwan popped over to a $500/$1,000 cap PLO table and played 37 hands, losing $10,000 before quitting for the night.
The night’s largest pot was a 720 big blind behemoth at the $100/$200 tables. Townsend opened for $880 from under-the-gun and the action folded to Dwan who three-bet to $3,120 from the button. Matatuk flat-called from the big blind and Townsend called as well. Matatuk and Townsend checked the K♦9♣6♥ flop over to Dwan who bet $7,200. Matatuk folded, but Townsend came in with a raise to $31,240. Dwan moved all-in for $67,576 and Townsend called, having flopped a wrap draw with A♥10♥8♣7♥. Dwan had top two pair with K♣9♠7♣5♦, the turn and river blanking with the 4♥ and the 3♣ to give him the $144,642 pot.
Pot of the Week — South Scoops up $600K
This week, railbirds saw South take down the largest online pot recorded since "Isildur1" left the high-stakes scene. Playing five-handed $300/$600 pot-limit Omaha, South opened for $1,800 from under-the-gun and was met with a reraise to $6,800 from Sahamies, the player on his immediate left. Richard Ashby flat-called the three-bet from the button, only to have Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro move all-in for $25,298 from the small blind. Rafi "howisitfeellike" Amit folded his big blind, South called the four-bet, and the action moved back on Sahamies, who repotted to $107,892. The raise shook Ashby, who mucked his hand, but South made the call and the pot grew to $248,982.
The flop came down 10♠5♣2♥ and South immediately made a pot-sized bet that set Sahamies all-in for his remaining $176,600. "Ziigmund" made the call and unsurprisingly turned up pocket aces. South held top pair while Kelopuro missed entirely.
Sahamies: A♠A♣K♠7♦
South: 10♥8♦7♥6♦
Kelopuro: A♦K♥6♥5♦
South proceeded to turn two pair and river a full house, the 8♣ and 8♠ falling to snap off Sahamies' aces, South earning the $601,882 pot.
Short Sessions Yield Huge Profits for Sahamies
Despite finding himself on the losing end of the biggest pot played in 2010, Sahamies still managed to earn close to a million dollars this week. He didn’t put in much volume — 1,812 hands spread out over 60 sessions — but the Finn stacked up $884,330 in winnings, much of it from the PLO tables.
On a per-hand basis, Sahamies’ most profitable session was a hit-and-run appearance at $300/$600 PLO where he sat with South and “rezzydezzy1” for all of five hands. Sahamies claimed rezzydezzy1’s entire stack on the third hand of play before adjourning to a heads-up table with South, $77,000 of profit already in his account. South and Sahamies battled it out for 50 minutes, Sahamies picking up another $66,000 to bring his total for the hour to $143,000.
Sahamies was back in action on Friday, and both South and rezzydezzy1 rejoined him at the $300/$600 PLO tables. It only took Sahamies 251 hands to book a $202,000 win, much of that coming from being on the winning hand of the session’s two largest pots.
Playing three-handed, Sahamies opened for $2,400 from the button, South folded the small blind, and rezzydezzy1 three-bet to $4,200 from the big blind. Sahamies called and they saw a Q♣J♣6♥ flop. Both players checked and the 2♥ peeled off on the turn. Rezzydezzy1 bet $3,600, Sahamies raised to $19,800, rezzydezzy1 moved all in for his remaining $71,564 and Sahamies made the call, having him covered. As the cards went on their backs, rezzydezzy1 got the bad news; his A♠A♥10♦7♥ was snapped off by Sahamies, who flopped top two pair with Q♥10♥6♠2♠. Only an ace, a jack, or a heart could help rezzydezzy1, but he didn’t get there, the 5♠ falling on the river to send the $144,927 pot over to Sahamies.
The largest pot of the night came in at nearly $239,000. South opened for $1,800 from the button and ignited a preflop raising war, Sahamies reraising to $5,400, South four-betting to $16,200, Sahamies coming back over the top for $48,600 and South making the call. The rest of their chips went in on theJ♦8♦3♥ flop, Sahamies moving all-in for $70,800 and South making the call.
South: K♥Q♠J♥6♠
Sahamies: A♣K♣Q♣10♥
South hit top pair while Sahamies all but missed, flopping only a gut shot straight draw. Sahamies hit his gin card on the turn, however, the 9♠ falling out of the clear blue sky to make him a queen-high straight. The river was the J♠ and thanks to the poker gods, Sahamies raked in $238,800
Who's Up? Who's Down?
This week's biggest winners (1/18-1/24): Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies (+$884,000), David Oppenheim (+ $786,000), Di "Urindanger" Dang (+$587,000), Cole South (+$513,000), Gus Hansen (+$447,000)
In the red: "PixKim" (-$669,000), Richard Ashby (-$639,000), Tom "durrrr" Dwan (-$510,000), Brian Hastings (-$482,000), "Vaga_Lion" (-$398,000)
Top high-stakes earners, 2010 to date: Gus Hansen (+$1,253,000), Di "Urindanger" Dang (+$1,013,000), Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies (+$988,000)
The highest-stakes action on the internet all unfolds on Full Tilt Poker. Open an account today and see for yourself.
