The Online Railbird Report: Blom Drops Nearly a Million; Ivey Rebounds & Much More

May 16, 2014

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

PokerStars' Spring Championship of Online Poker )SCOOP) is nearing an end, and while one of the world’s premiere online poker series could be expected to detract from the cash games, it really hasn’t. In fact, the high-stakes cash games have been going strong all week long, especially on Full Tilt Poker.

This week several players book big wins, but no one more so than Alexander “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn. He banked $547,804 in the black and was the week’s biggest winner after 4,041 hands spread across 37 sessions. Not too far behind was Hac “trex313” Dang, who won $501,848 in 1,918 hands over 13 sessions. Other winners included the recently revealed Chun Lei “samrostan” Zhou (+$447,264 in 23 sessions/4,255 hands), Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau ($446,803 in 21 sessions/2,691 hands), and Phil “Polarizing” Ivey ($338,069 in 45 sessions/6,181 hands).

It was an especially nice score for Ivey, who put in a lot of volume and successfully eased the pain of losing $589,730 the week before.

On the flip side, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom was the week’s biggest loser after dropping $950,010 in 6,564 hands over 49 sessions. Others who finished in the red were Elior “Crazy Elior” Scion (-$$338,270 in 11 sessions/1,533 hands), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$289,326 in 6 sessions/815 hands), “Trueteller” (-$280,190 in 9 sessions/875 hands), and Gus Hansen (-$204,367 in 35 sessions/5,563 hands).

Kostritsyn and Hansen Kick Off the Week with Wins

After winning $159,600 at the $1,500/$3,000 8-game tables on Thursday, May 8, Kostritsyn returned to the virtual felt two days later and won an additional $233,900. Both scores were enough to make him those days’ biggest winner.

The Online Railbird Report: Blom Drops Nearly a Million; Ivey Rebounds & Much More 101 — Kostritsyn

As far as his Saturday action was concerned, more than $200,000 of his winnings came from a single three-hour session, while more than half of it ($107,100 to be exact) came off Hansen. A little later on, Kostritsyn squared off against Ivey at the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables and promptly won $40,000 in just seven hands. Talk about an hourly rate.

As for Hansen, he may have lost to the Russian, but he rebounded against some other players such as Luneau, Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver, and Blom, winning $220,400 in an hour and a half. All told, Hansen ended the day as the second-biggest winner with $113,100 in profit.

It was a Full Moon on Sunday

On Sunday, May 11, Luneau won a hefty $511,500, which was enough to make him far and away the day’s biggest winner. More than $300,000 of that came from the 8-game tables, which came courtesy of a two-hour morning session (good for $104,000) and an evening session (good for $226,000). The rest of his profit came from playing two tables of 2-7 triple draw for over four hours, during which time he won $72,000 and $140,000, respectively.

Here are some other highlights from Sunday’s action:

Zhou was the day’s second-biggest winner after banking $191,700 in six hours of 8-game action. Of that, $117,000 came from approximately 500 hands against players that included “punting-peddler” and Kostritsyn.
”thecortster” won $183,700 playing 2-7 triple draw for an hour.
Hansen won $184,300 playing a combination of 2-7 triple draw and 8-game. Just over $50,000 came from the latter, while the rest came from the former, including a $204,000 win in three and a half hours against the likes of Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker, “punting-peddler,” and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, just to name a few

Ruthenberg and Blom Clean Up

On Monday, May 12, it took Sebastian “taktloss47” Ruthenberg just 129 hands to finish as the days biggest winner with $251,000 in profit, all of which came from the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables. He did so by playing an evening session against players that included Hansen, Ivey, and Kostritsyn — so it wasn't exactly a cake walk of a lineup.

The Online Railbird Report: Blom Drops Nearly a Million; Ivey Rebounds & Much More 102 — Ruthenberg

Kostritsyn dropped $140,000 in the game (more than any other player), but it wasn’t too concerning as he had won $300,000 earlier in the day. He ended up finishing the day with $102,500 in profit.

Speaking of winners, Blom was the second-biggest winner of the day with a $128,200 score. He also managed to win a big pot, which took place during the $300/$600 no-limit hold’em round at an 8-game table.

In the hand, Blom ($128,829) raised to $1,200 under the gun and then called when “punting-peddler” ($92,422.35) three-bet to $4,200 from the small blind. The 2♦4♥4♦ flop saw Blom call a bet of $4,500 from his opponent, and then “punting-peddler” led out for $22,500 on the 10♥ turn. Blom called and the J♥ completed the board on the river. “Punting-peddler” fired once again, this time moving all in for $61,222.35, and Blom wasted little time in making the call. “Punting-peddler” flipped up the A♣Q♣ for a bluff, and Blom rolled over the 7♥5♥ for a runner-runner flush and the $185,442 pot.

That pot was nice, but it wasn’t the biggest of that day. That pot belonged to Zhou. Have a look:

Ivey and Dang Get Things Going

Earlier this week, we told you about Ivey winning more than $500,000 between Monday and Wednesday. Almost all of that ($441,380) came after 835 hands played in six different sessions on Tuesday, which is when he finished as the day’s biggest winner.

It was then that he played a late-morning session at the $1,500/$3,000 8-game tables where faced such opponents as Patrik "FinddaGrind" Antonius, Kostritsyn, Blom, and Zhou for a total of 188 hands and a profit of $235,500. From there, he won another $152,000 playing Blom heads up.

Likewise, Dang managed to win $513,724 during the same time period. According to the PokerNews recap, Dang started the week with a loss for $44,167, but he got back on track on Tuesday by collecting winnings for $346,394 and then added on Wednesday when he closed as the day's biggest winner with a profit of $211,512 after 491 hands.

Here's a look at Dang's results from May 7-14:

Ivey Continues to Roll

On Thursday, May 15, Ivey kept his heater going as he finished the day as the biggest winner with $147,700 in profit. He began the day playing $400/$800 no-limit hold’em, where he managed to avoid a big loss to Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar.

Check out the hand:

From there, Ivey won $49,300 off Zhou and Blom at the $1,500/$3,000 8-game tables, which he followed up with some $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo against Ray. It was there that Ivey made most of his profit.

Week's Biggest Winners/Losers (May 9-15, 2014)

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Alex “PostflopAction” Kostritsyn	$547,804	Viktor “Isildur1” Blom	$950,010
Hac “trex313” Dang	$501,848	Elior “Crazy Elior” Scion	$338,270
Chun Lei “samrostan” Zhou	$447,264	Kyle “KPR16” Ray	$289,326
Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau	$446,803	“Trueteller”	$280,190
Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	$338,069	Gus Hansen	$204,367

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Dan “jungleman12” Cates	$1,355,295	Gus Hansen	$3,147,764
Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau	$1,341,082	Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	$2,146,477
Niki Jedlicka	$1,219,628	Chun Lei “samrostan” Zhou	$1,919,775
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius	$851,411	Viktor “Isildur1” Blom	-$1,650,772
Doug “WGCRider” Polk	$755,773	Elior “Crazy Elior” Scion	-$1,193,383
Christoph “Tight-Man1” Vogelsang	$659,098	Paul “MalACEsia” Phua	-$823,325