The Online Railbird Report: Isildur1 Returns to Virtual Felt and “L0ve2playU” Wins Big
With no major live poker tournaments being held this past week, the online high-stakes cash games on PokerStars were in full swing. The biggest winner this week was Dutch pro Joeri “L0ve2playU” van der Sman, who won $535,749 in 9,126 hands across 211 sessions. The other big winners, at least the ones who won more than $300,000 were “5tgb6yhn7” (+$332,695 in 50 sessions/3,700 hands), Theo “Theo J” Jorgensen (+$324,018 in 70 sessions/4,125 hands), and Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates (+$306,290 in 10 sessions/997 hands).
There were some players who had big losses this week, including Ben “Ben86” Tollerene, who dropped $486,876 in 9,345 hands spread across 177 sessions. That was quite a bit more than the player with the next biggest loss, Ignat “0Human0” Liviu, who lost $283,175 in 57 sessions/3,142 hands. Rounding out the top four were Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$222,646 in 288 sessions/23,085 hands) and Gus “broksi” Hansen (-$208,220 in 52 sessions/5,424 hands).
Isildur1 Returns to the Virtual Felt in Monday Action
Although he wasn’t among the big winners and losers, the return of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who was gone for the summer playing in his first World Series of Poker, made headlines this week. Blom put in a short two-hour session during the early morning hours on Monday, but it wasn’t until later in the day that he made waves; in fact, he ended up the day's biggest winner with $187,800 in profit.
In the biggest pot of the day, which occurred at a $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha table, action was five-handed when Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky ($20,000) opened for $400 under the gun. Blom ($37,339), who was next to act, three-bet to $1,500, and Ben “Ben86” Tollerene ($40,243.19) four-bet to $5,100 from the small blind. Sulsky responded with a five-bet to $17,400, Blom called, and Tollerene moved all in. Sulsky called off his remaining $2,600 while Blom did the same with his $19,939.
Showdown
| Blom | J♦4♦6♣7♣ |
| Sulsky | A♠A♥2♠9♥ |
| Tollerene | A♦A♣K♥5♣ |
Both Sulsky and Tollerene held aces, but Blom made a full house when the board ran out 6♦5♦J♥7♥7♦, and the $94,873 pot was sent toward Blom.
Easy Come, Easy Go for Sahamies
Whenever Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies is seated at the $200/$400 PLO games, things are bound to get volatile. That was the case on Tuesday when he won $430,000 in a three-hour session against some of the game’s best.
In the biggest pot of the day, action was three-handed when Ben “Ben86” Tollerene ($95,332.42) opened for $1,200 from the button, Sahamies ($100,056.25) three-bet to $4,000 from the small blind, and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($93,890.30) folded the big blind. Tollerene made the call and then ended up raising to $14,800 after Sahamies bet $6,400 on the K♣J♥7♦ flop. The latter made the call and then check-called a bet on the 3♦ turn before the 5♣ was put out on the river.
Sahamies checked once again, and Tollerene fired out his last $38,537.43. There was a small fortune in the pot, which likely prompted Sahamies to call with just 10♦9♦Q♣K♠ for one pair. It ended up being good enough for the $191,060 pot because Tollerene missed his wrap and was bluffing with air.
From there, things only got worse for Tollerene. In another notable hand, the lineup was the same when Sahamies ($187,475.98) raised to $1,200 from the button only to have Tollerene ($72,107.39) three-bet to $3,800 from the big blind. Sahamies made the call, and then called a bet of $5,200 on the A♠Q♥5♠ flop, before the 10♣ was put out on the turn. Tollerene kept the pressure on with a bet of $14,600. Sahamies called, and the 8♠ peeled off on the river. Tollerene led out for a bet of $38,400, and then called off his remaining $10,107.39 after Sahamies put in a raise. The former showed J♠7♠K♦4♦ for a turned straight, which improved to a jack-high flush on the river, but it was no good because Sahamies hit a king-high flush to take the $144,410 pot.
Sahamies went on to finish as the day’s biggest winner with $403,000 in profit. Tollerene, who was up $1 million on the year in April, was the biggest loser with a $352,000 loss. Unfortunately for him, his summer slide now has him at just plus-$50,000 on the year.
Wednesday Proves to Be PokerStars’ Biggest Day of the Year
We’re now two-thirds of the way done with 2012, but the action only seems to be heating up. That was evidenced on Wednesday when the biggest day of action at PokerStars took place. The $200/$400 PLO and NLHE tables were up and running, and after some intense play, nine players booked six-figure wins; however, nine players posted six-figure losses as well.
The man who topped the winner’s list was Dutch pro Joeri “L0ve2playU” van der Sman, who won $468,000. Most of that, $347,000 to be exact, came in a 150-hand session where he also won the day’s biggest hand. It happened at a five-handed table when “Exclusive” ($40,195) opened for $800 under the gun, “10IsTheYear” ($52,197.08) three-bet to $3,000 from the cutoff, and van der Sman ($69,765) called from the small blind. Tom “tjbentham” Bentham then four-bet to $12,800 from the big blind, “Exclusive” five-bet all-in, “10IsTheYear” six-bet all-in for about $12,000 more, van der Sman committed his stack, and Bentham called off his remaining stack of $27,795.
Showdown
| van der Sman | 7♥6♦4♦5♣ |
| “10IsTheYear” | J♠8♠10♥9♣ |
| “Exclusive” | A♦A♣4♠Q♥ |
| Bentham | A♠A♥6♣K♦ |
He may have had the worst hand when the money went in, but van der Sman improved to the best on the river when the board ran out 10♠4♣7♦10♦5♦ and he was sent the $185,179 pot.
In another notable hand, which was the third biggest of the day, action was heads-up between van der Sman ($285,270.20) and “5tgb6yhn7” ($70,182.96) when the former opened for $1,200 and then called when the latter three-bet to $3,600. “5tgb6yhn7” proceeded to bet $3,200 on the 3♠5♥A♣ flop, van der Sman raised to $8,400, and “5tgb6yhn7” called, leading to the J♥ turn. “5tgb6yhn7” check-called a bet of $23,998, and then check-called off his remaining $34,184.95 with 3♥6♥7♦2♠ on the 3♣ river. Unfortunately for him, van der Sman rolled over Q♥2♣4♦A♦ to lay claim to the $140,365 pot.
Other winners on the day included Theo “Theo J” Jorgensen (+$278,341), Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates (+$249,534) and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$153,008). Speaking of Cates, his big day actually came at the $200/$400 NLHE tables in a 90-minute session against “wilhasha,” who ended up the day’s second-biggest loser with a $226,401 loss, second only to Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies’ $349,364 loss in the PLO game. Other players with losses included “10IsTheYear” (-$224,838), Gus “broksi” Hansen (-$173,125), “patpatman” (-$149,807), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$146,807) and Ignat “0Human0” Liviu (-$127,533).
Cates' ($57,160.90) biggest hands came when “wilhasha” ($57.296.23) raised to $1,000 on the button, “w00ki3z” called, and the flop fell 2♦5♦9♠. Cates proceeded to check-raise “wilhasha’s” $1,198.79 bet up to $3,600, a call was made, and the 2♣ turned. This time Cates check-called a bet of $5,400, and then checked the 7♦ river. “Wilhasha” took the opportunity to bet $14,998.50, and then called when Cates moved all-in for $47,160.90, creating a pot worth $114,320. “Wilhasha” revealed J♦3♦ for a rivered flush, but it was no good against the A♦6♦ flush of Cates.
Biggest Weekly PokerStars Winners/Losers
Week’s biggest winners (7/27-8/1): Joeri “L0ve2playU” van der Sman (+$535,749), “5tgb6yhn7” (+$332,695), Theo “Theo J” Jorgensen (+$324,018), Daniel “w00ki3z” (+$306,290), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$234,403)
Week’s biggest losers: Ben “Ben86” Tollerene (-$486,876), Ignat “0Human0” Liviu (-$283,175), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$222,646), Gus “broksi” Hansen (-$208,220)
Year-to-date winners: “EireAbu” (+$3,431,641), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$2,188,598), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$1,602,129), “bernard-bb” (+$1,441,943), Alex “Kanu7” Millar (+$1,113,813)
Year-to-date losers: “Zypherin” (-$2,840,746), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$1,557,038), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$1,085,588), “1Il|1Il|1il|” (-$759,718), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (-$676,357), “VietRussian” (-$562,061)
*Picture courtesy of nl.pokernews.com.
Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
