The Online Railbird Report: Grimason is Week's Biggest Winner; “!P0krparty¡” Looks to Catch Up
In recent weeks, the battle for PokerStars’ biggest winner of the year has become a two-man race between Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky and “EireAbu”. The former sits atop the leaderboard with $1,726,448, but Grimason finished this week as the biggest winner, bringing his total to $1,598,915. Even though all eyes have been on these two, the wildcard — “!P0krparty¡” — has been playing a massive amount and could very well become a legitimate contender.
This week, “!P0krparty¡” put in a staggering 30,093 hands over 269 sessions. His $204,764 in profit was good for only fifth on the weekly leaderboard, but his volume was far and away the most and nearly four times as much as his closest competitor. Needless to say, there were some big pots scattered throughout the 30,000 hands, a few of which you can read about below.
In the meantime, you might be interested in who graced the losers' list this week. The dubious honor of being the week’s biggest loser belonged to Ben “Ben86” Tollerene, who dropped $336,031 in 8,226 hands spread across 89 sessions. Following him down the list were “Tsubi87” (-$250,516 in 103 sessions/8,597 hands), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$220,829 in 177 sessions/14,917 hands), Randy “nanonoko” Lew (-$192,339 in 82 sessions/7,331 hands) and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$181,068 in 38 sessions/1,386 hands).
“Phisherman36” Continues to Win
After finishing as last week’s biggest winner, “Phisherman36” began the new week with a $96,000 win on Saturday, which put him up $750,000 on the year. In that win, “Phisherman36” played for about four hours at $25/$50 and $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha.
In his biggest hand, action was four-handed at a $50/$100 table when “Phisherman36” ($15,694) opened for $200 from the button. Ignat “0Human0” Liviu ($17,896.50) then three-bet to $700 from the small blind, “regista8” ($2,230) moved all-in from the big and “Phisherman36” five-bet to $7,590. Liviu made the call and then led out for $9,500 on the 9♣5♠4♣ flop, which inspired “Phisherman36” to call off for $8,104.
Showdown
| Liviu | Q♠10♠J♣6♣ |
| “Phisherman36” | A♠A♥10♥7♦ |
“Phisherman36” was ahead with pocket aces but needed to dodge the flush draw of Liviu. That’s exactly what he did as the turn and river ran out 3♥ and 9♥. After “regista8” mucked, “Phisherman36” was pushed the $33,615 pot.
In another hand, action was heads-up between “Phisherman36” ($12,872.37) and Ben “Ben86” Tollerene ($17,265.99) at a $25/$50 PLO table when the former opened for $150 on the button. From there, Tollerene three-bet to $470, “Phisherman36” four-bet to $1,430, Tollerene five-bet $4,310 and “Phisherman36” called, leading to the 3♦J♠2♦ flop. Tollerene wasted little time in leading out for $8,639.50, and “Phisherman36” called off for $8,562.37.
Showdown
| Tollerene | A♣K♣K♥6♣ |
| “Phisherman36” | A♥A♠J♥6♠ |
It was the all-to-familiar aces-versus-kings situation with “Phisherman36” on top. The J♦ turn improved him to trips while the 4♠ river gave him the $25,744 pot.
Joining “Phisherman36” as a big winner was Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, who banked a $73,000 win in the early morning hours. “!P0krparty¡” and Tollerene finished as the day’s two biggest losers after dropping $76,500 and $74,000 respectively.
Big Party on Monday
“!P0krparty¡” kicked off the week by putting in a long 19-hour session that saw him play more than 9,300 hands, becoming the day’s biggest winner with $145,000 in profit. Most of that came at the $50/$100 PLO tables, where he took on the usual cast of characters. “!P0krparty¡” was up over $300,000 at one point but ended up losing the day’s biggest pot.
Action was five-handed when “!P0krparty¡” ($105,509.89) opened for $300 from the cutoff. “Phisherman36” ($50,313.19) was in the big blind and exercised his option with a three-bet to $1,070, “!P0krparty¡” four-bet to $3,680, “Phisherman36” called and the flop fell 9♥8♥2♠.
“Phisherman36” proceeded to check-raise “!P0krparty¡’s” $4,000 bet up to $13,400, which prompted the latter to three-bet to $47,125. “Phisherman36” called off his remaining $33,233.19, and the cards were turned up:
Showdown
| “!P0krparty¡” | A♥K♥Q♦7♣ |
| “Phisherman36” | A♦J♦9♣8♣ |
“Phisherman36” was in the lead with two pair, but needed to dodge the flush draw of “!P0krparty¡.” The J♣ turn gave the latter more outs to a gut-shot straight, but the K♦ river was not what he needed. With that, “Phisherman36” was pushed the $100,751 pot.
“!P0krparty¡” was the day’s biggest winner but wasn’t the only one adding a decent score to his bankroll. “EireAbu” banked $115,000, while Ignat "0Human0" Liviu and Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond won $99,000 and $91,000 respectively. “Tsubi87” (-$154,000) and Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (-$143,000) were the day’s biggest losers.
Jungleman Dan Books $108,000 Win on Tuesday
Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates has been spotted at the high-stakes tables in recent weeks, even managing a $108,000 win on Tuesday. The vast majority of that, $97,000 to be exact, came from a heads-up $50/$100 PLO match against “mtvdeuem,” who finished the day as the biggest loser with $81,000 in losses.
In the biggest pot of the day, Cates ($51,073.69) opened for $200 and was quickly met with a three-bet to $600 by “mtvdeuem” ($36,792). Cates responded by pushing back to the tune of $1,800, “mtvdeuem” called and the flop ran out 6♥2♠8♥. Cates fired out a bet of $2,000 after “mtvdeuem” checked, only to have his opponent check-raise to $9,598. Cates wasn’t done yet and three-bet to $32,392, “mtvdeuem” moved all-in for just a couple thousand more, and Cates made the call.
Showdown
| “mtvdeuem” | K♦Q♥J♥7♦ |
| Cates | A♥7♥J♦4♦ |
Both players had flopped a flush draw, but Cates’ was best. The 3♥ turn completed the flush, which meant “mtvdeuem” was drawing dead. After the meaningless Q♦ was put out on the river, Cates was pushed the $73,582 pot.
“!P0krparty¡” Crushes for $321,000
On Wednesday, “!P0krparty¡” was back in action and played 5,539 hands of $25/$50 and $50/$100 PLO. Part of that came in a heads-up match against “Phisherman36,” who ended up dropping $284,000. Despite that, “Phisherman36” managed to pick up the biggest pot of the match.
In that hand, “!P0krparty¡” ($48,022.48) opened for $170 on the button and “Phisherman36” ($52,706.08) three-bet to $530. The former proceeded to four-bet $1,610, the latter popped it to $4,850, “!P0krparty¡” six-bet $14,570 and “Phisherman36” made the call, bringing about the J♣Q♥2♥ flop. “Phisherman36” was first to act and led out for $29,159.50, and “!P0krparty¡” moved all-in for $33,452.48. A call ensued and the cards were turned on their back:
Showdown
| “Phisherman36” | A♣K♦Q♠10♦ |
| “!P0krparty¡” | 10♠8♣6♥J♥ |
“Phisherman36” held top pair with a wrap, but needed to dodge some of “!P0krparty¡’s” draws. He did exactly that on the 4♣ turn and 3♣ river, giving him the $96,044 pot.
Despite losing that pot, it was a nice win in the match for “!P0krparty¡,” who later tweeted that it brought his bankroll of to over $700,000:
Biggest Weekly PokerStars Winners/Losers
Week’s biggest winners (5/4-5/10): “EireAbu” (+$298,658), David “Deldar182” Eldar (+$267,394), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$245,604), “LUFCBas” (+$211,840), “!P0krparty¡” (+$204,764)
Week’s biggest losers: Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (-$336,031), “Tsubi87” (-$250,516), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$220,829), Randy “nanonoko” Lew (-$192,339), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$181,068)
Year-to-date winners: Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$1,726,448), “EireAbu” (+$1,598,915), “bernard-bb” (+$1,249,688), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$1,123,713), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$1,029,005)
Year-to-date losers: “Zypherin” (-$1,766,321), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$1,005,043), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$791,402), “1Il|1Il|1il|” (-$760,970), Benny” toweliestar” Spindler (-$706,346), “VietRussian” (-$562,061), “long90110” (-$557,059)
Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
