The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom Profits $4 Million in Eight Days
Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky had a superb year in 2012 finishing as the year’s biggest online winner. Gus Hansen, who was online poker’s biggest winner in 2011, had the opposite experience, finishing as the year’s biggest loser after dropping a combined $4,297,985 between PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. Last week, we covered the high-stakes action through Dec. 31, so this week we're catching you up with the action that’s taken place thus far in 2013.
One man, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, has dominated the action. The Swede opted to skip the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas, meaning he had to forgo a title defense attempt in the $100,000 Super High Roller, but it proved a wise decision as the top prize in that tournament was just over $2 million. That may seem like a lot, but not compared to the $4,073,070 Blom made during the first week of 2013. That implausible win came across 11,338 hands in which Blom won an average of $359.24 per hand.
Blom’s performance, which is talked about extensively below, is the highlight of the week, but a few other big winners, including Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$668,888 in 4,409 hands), Erik “Erik1223” Sagstrom (+$405,354 in 4,060 hands) and “Follow The Hawk” (+$324,298 in 2,957 hands) on FTP. Meanwhile, “noobmare” (+$172,158 in 2,169 hands) and “ImWithSumo” (+$159,374 in 73 sessions/3,767 hands) finished as the week’s biggest winners on PokerStars.
On the flip side of things, Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon dropped $729,074 (3,327 hands) in the first week of 2013 to become the biggest loser. He was followed by Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (-$632,201 in 2,694 hands), “SallyWoo” (-$527,756 in 1,116 hands), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$407,918 in 2,454 hands), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (-$379,179 in 1,920 hands), and recent 2013 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller champ Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$354,455 in 2,859 hands).
Blom Kicks Off New Year With $564,500 Win; Adds $696,400 Days Later
Viktor “Isildur1” Blom wasted little time jumping out to the early lead in 2013 as he won a healthy $564,500 on New Year’s Day. He did so playing a mix of 2-7 triple draw and fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo (FLO8), which have both been spreading regularly on Full Tilt Poker since the site's relaunch.
Blom’s big win came courtesy of one man—Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn—who dropped over $400,000 playing 2-7 and $165,500 in FLO8. Blom and Kostritsyn played four tables of 2-7 ranging from $500/$1,000 to $1,500/$3,000, as well as a single table of FLO8. Needless to say, things went Blom’s way during the four-hour session.
Blom also managed to win $74,000 from last week’s biggest winner, “SallyWoo," and an additional $106,000 from Kyle “KPR16” Ray, all coming from the FLO8 tables. Those wins were later negated as he lost back $106,000 of it playing 2-7 Triple Draw to Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau, who finished the day as the second biggest winner with $177,600 in profit.
As if Blom’s start to the year wasn’t enough, he returned to the tables two days later and added $696,400 to his bankroll—giving him $1,144,000 million in winnings in the first three days of 2013. It happened at the 2-7 Triple Draw tables against Scott "mastrblastr" Seiver, who had taken the Swede for $117,000 the day before.
The two battled once again, but this time it was Blom doing the damage as he won more than $392,000 from Seiver in approximately 500 hands, which took just 3.5 hours to play. It was a rare loss for Seiver, who had run quite well at Full Tilt Poker’s 2-7 triple draw tables up until that point.
From there, Blom visited the FLO8 tables and took on “SallyWoo," who had been doing well himself on FTP. That didn’t discourage Blom from taking $275,000 from his opponent in just 257 hands—more than $1,000 profit per hand.
Blom Closes in on $2 Million in Profit
The first week of 2013 truly belonged to Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who shot up to just under $2 million in profit in just four days. Amazingly, Blom didn’t have his biggest day until Jan. 4 when he banked $715,600, putting him ahead $1.86 million on the year with nearly a million from 2-7 triple draw and approximately $915,000 from FLO8.
Blom started off Jan. 4 by winning $36,800 at the $200/$400 CAP PLO tables but followed up by dropping $150,000 in 82 hands of FLO8 against Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn. Undiscouraged, Blom proceeded to win $300,000 from Kostritsyn in a four-hour, 800-hand session later in the day.
That was just the start of Blom’s day. Here is a look at his other action from Jan. 4:
- Lost $32,000 playing FLO8 again 2012’s biggest online poker winner, Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky.
- Won $42,000 from “SallyWoo” in a 15-minute session of FLO8.
- Took $180,000 from Sebastien “Seb86” Sabic at the $1,500/$3,000 2-7 Triple Draw Tables in approximately 200 hands over 90 minutes.
- Played 858 hands of $2,000/$4,000 FLO8 over nearly six-hour heads-up match against Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon and won $341,800.
Unfortunately, high-stakes tracking siteHighStakesDB, doesn’t currently catalogue 2-7 and FLO8 hands, so we aren't able to report Blom's biggest hand of the day. But HighStakesDB did manage to capture the biggest tracked hand, which occurred on a $25/$50 PLO table at Full Tilt Poker involving Brian “sbrugby” Townsend.
In the hand, Townsend ($17,961.25) was playing heads up against “AceHasslehoff” ($17,008.75), opened for $150 and received a call from Townsend. The 9♣J♠10♥ flop saw Townsend lead out for $250, “AceHasslehoff” raise to $800 and Townsend three-bet to $1,950. “AceHasslehoff” called and then bet $2,400 when Townsend checked the 2♥ turn. Townsend responded with a check-raise to $6,250, “AceHasslehoff” moved all in for $14,908.75 and Townsend called, creating a pot worth $34,017. The 6♥ completed the board on the river, and Townsend tabled K♠Q♥10♠4♣ for a straight, which bested the A♠Q♦Q♣5♦ of “AceHasslehoff”.
Even When Blom Loses, He Wins
Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn got some revenge on Saturday by taking $300,000 from Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, but the Swede still finished as the day’s second-biggest winner with $239,800 in profit. He did so by taking $160,000 from “Kagome Kagome” playing 2-7 triple draw, and nearly $90,000 from Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon at the FLO8 tables.
The day’s biggest pot took place at a six-handed table of $200/$400 CAP PLO on FTP when “Schoitl” ($31,440.50) opened for $900 from the cutoff and Rob “Vaga_Lion” Akery ($15,120) called from the small blind. “1Mastermind” ($15,077) then three-bet to $3,600 from the big blind, both his opponents called, and three players watched the flop come down 5♦6♣K♠. Akery checked, “1Mastermind” bet $10,800, and “Schoitl” capped it at $12,400. Akery called off for $11,520, “1Mastermind” committed his last $677, and suddenly there was a $45,314 pot on the line.
“1Mastermind”: A♥A♣8♦2♦
Akery: A♠5♠K♣4♦
“Schoitl”: K♦3♦Q♣2♣
Akery had the best hand with his flopped two pair. The 10♥ turn wasn’t much of a sweat, and Akery’s two pair held up when the J♠ hit river. Akery went on to finish as the day’s fourth-biggest winner with $57,400 in profit.
Blom Wins $1.33 Million in One Day
Way back in December of 2009, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom lost $4.2 million playing heads-up PLO against Brian Hastings. That loss put him in the red on FTP, but after three dry years, Blom is finally back in the black. A $344,000 win on Jan. 6 helped get him there; he booked a $210,000 profit in 2-7 Triple Draw during a three-hour session against Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau, and an additional $93,000 from “SallyWoo” at the FLO8 tables.
Two days later, Blom returned to the tables and won an astounding $1,356,296 in a single day. The majority those winnings came from Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. Blom began the day by relieving Galfond of $317,000 in just over an hour playing $250/$500 PLO, and then took an additional $132,000 from Galfond at the 2-7 triple draw tables.
A little later in the day, Blom fired up some $400/$800 PLO and took on Sulsky. The two played in epic 459-hand match that produced 17 six-figure pots. By the time he was finished , Blom had taken $743,000 from Sulsky—giving himself over $4 million in profit in the first eight days of the year!
Here’s a look at the biggest hands from that match:
Hand #1: In what would be the biggest hand on FTP post-Black Friday, Blom ($359,269) opened for $2,700 on the button only to have Sulsky ($214,242.50) three-bet to $8,400 from the big blind. Blom called, the flop fell 8♥A♦10♣, and Sulsky proceeded to check-call a bet of $8,800. When the 2♥ turned, Sulsky check-called another bet, this time for $26,400, and the 6♥ completed the board on the river. This time Sulsky took initiative and led out for $68,500 and then called off his remaining $102,142.50 after Blom raised to $293,000, creating a pot worth $428,485! Blom then rolled over A♥7♥8♣7♣ for the nuts, and Sulsky mucked.
Hand #2: In the second biggest pot of the match, Sulsky ($152,179.50) opened for $2,700 and then called when Blom ($261,642) three-bet to $8,400. The Swede kept the pressure on with a bet of $12,800 on the 9♦3♥K♦ flop, but Sulsky decided it wasn’t enough and raised to $34,400. Not to be outdone, Blom three-bet to $120,300, Sulsky moved all in, and Blom called the additional $23,479.50.
Sulsky: K♣10♣9♥7♣
Blom: A♦10♦Q♦J♣
Blom had a big straight draw along with the nut-flush draw and needed to improve because Sulsky had flopped two pair. The 7♥ turn gave Blom another straight opportunity, but the 2♣ river was a complete blank. The $304,359 pot was shipped over to Sulsky.
Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)
Year’s biggest winners (1/1-1/8): Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$4,073,070), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$668,888), Erik “Erik1223” Sagstrom (+$405,354), “Follow The Hawk” (+$324,298), “noobmare”* (+$172,158), “ImWithSumo”* (+$159,374)
Year’s biggest losers: Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (-$729,074), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (-$632,201), “SallyWoo” (-$527,756), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$407,918), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (-$379,179), Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$354,455), “1Mastermind” (-$343,987), “Schoitl” (-$297,288)
*DenotesPokerStars
Data, hands and re-player obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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