The Online Railbird Report: Hansen Gets Back on Track, XWINK Action, and More
The midweek saw plenty of high-stakes action take place on Full Tilt Poker. Gus Hansen got back on track after a horrendous Monday by building some momentum on the pot-limit Omaha tables. Meanwhile, the “XWINK” saga briefly continued on Thursday when he battled Andreas "skjervoy" Torbergsen on the $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha tables. Check out the highlights.
Hansen Hits His Stride
On Monday, Hansen played a session of $1500/$3000 2-7 triple draw heads-up on Full Tilt Poker against "O Fortuna PLS". Hansen, who has been on fire in 2011, didn’t fare so well, dropping around $560,000 in 1,100 hands. Luckily, Hansen was able to recoup some of those losses on Tuesday at the $500/$1000 PLO tables where he won $260,000, 88 percent of which came from Cole South.
Hansen took that momentum into Wednesday when he faced off against some PLO regulars. Over 36 hours, Hansen was up $520,000 while others were left in his dust. In fact, some heavy hitters, including Scott "URnotINdanger2" Palmer (-$150,000), Rami "Arbianight" Boukai (-$240,000), and Torbergsen (-$140,000) all wound up losers in the same period.
Small Flush for Hansen Gets It Done
In one of Hansen’s biggest hands, Torbergsen ($210,980) raised to $2,000 on the button and Hansen reraised to $6,000 from the big blind. Torbergsen made the call and the two watched the flop fall 2♠A♦9♦, which inspired Hansen to check-call a bet of $7,000. When the 8♦ hit the turn, Hansen checked-called Torbergsen’s $15,000 bet and the K♥ peeled off on the river.
Once again Hansen opted for a check, which opened the door for another Torbergsen bet, which he made to the tune of $44,500. Hansen made the call and Torbergsen rolled over Q♥3♣J♦2♥ for just a pair of deuces. Hansen revealed his 7♦5♦3♦8♣ flush and took down the pot worth $145,000.
Torbergsen’s Aces Hold
Not all things went Hansen’s way in his match with Torbergsen. In another hand, Hansen ($62,496) was on the button and raised to $3,000 only to have Torbergsen ($237,493) reraise to $9,000. The raising war didn’t stop there as Hansen made it $27,000, Torbergsen popped it to $81,000, and Hansen called off his remaining $35,496.
Hansen: 7♣K♦A♥Q♥
Torbergsen: A♦3♦A♠K♣
The entire board was run twice with the first coming 8♦J♥7♠6♥10♣ followed by the Q♠2♠J♦4♥2♥ on the second. Torbergsen’s aces held on both runs to scoop the entire $124,991 pot.
Hansen Gets the Last Laugh
Hansen ($53,877.50) wasn’t done there. Not long after, he raised to $3,000 on the button and then called Torbergsen’s ($146,112) reraise to $9,000. When the flop came down 4♣3♦5♦, Torbergsen checked, Hansen bet $8,000, and Torbergsen check-raised to $16,000. Hansen went ahead and made it $24,000, Torbergsen fired out $106,000, and Hansen called off his remaining $21,377.50.
Torbergsen: A♠6♣K♥2♠
Hansen: J♦8♦7♦6♠
Both players had flopped a straight, but Hansen’s was bigger with a flush draw to boot. The turn and river were both run twice, but neither the 8♠ and 10♠ on the first run nor the 3♣ and 7♠ on the second, changed a thing, giving Hansen the $123,755 pot.
Torbergsen’s Bad Run Continues Against XWINK
On Thursday, XWINK was back in action against Torbergsen. In one of their more notable hands, XWINK ($46,395) raised to $800 on the button and Torbergsen ($104,703) called from the big blind. When the 3♥A♠J♠ was put out on the flop, Torbergsen checked, XWINK bet $1,200, Torbergsen check-raised to $4,000, XWINK reraised to $13,600, Torbergsen four-bet to $46,400, and XWINK called off for a total of $45,595.
Torbergsen: J♥9♠10♣3♠
XWINK: J♦4♦4♠J♣
There was $92,790 in the pot, and XWINK was ahead with his set, but Torbergsen had flush-draw hopes. As usual, the turn and river were run twice with the first bringing the 10♦ and K♥. XWINK’s set held up to ensure half the pot, which was followed by the other half being pushed his way when the 5♣ and 3♦ appeared on the second run.
Who's Up? Who's Down?
Week’s biggest winners (3/15-3/17): “NoPasaran” (+$211,215), “EazyPeazy” (+$185,332), “bixiu” (+$156,901), Justin “Boosted J” Smith (+$79,429), *“LuckyGump” (+$78,894)
Week’s biggest losers: “O Fortuna PLS” (-$298,010), “zivziv isr” (-$167,600), *Rafael “refaelamit” Amit (-$97,258), *“genua_st” (-$93,636)
Year-to-date winners: Gus Hansen (+$2,927,997), Matt Hawrilenko (+$1,821,917), Daniel “jungleman12” Cates (+$1,729,858), *Gavin "gavz101" Cochrane ($1,603,173), NoPasaran (+$1,302,743), Phil Ivey (+$1,083,483)
Year-to-date losers: “kagome kagome” (-$1,802,182), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$1,295,635), “fishosaurusREX (-$1,089,317), UarePileous (-$977,926), cadillac1944 (-$939,626)
*on PokerStars
*data obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
