The Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey Loses More Than $1.1 Million in Two Weeks

February 27, 2015

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

In last week's Online Railbird Report, we told you how Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies became the first player over $1 million in online winnings for 2015. Sahamies managed to stay above that seven-figure mark this week despite playing a small amount at PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

That said, one man who took advantage of the action on both sites was Isaac Haxton, who won $204,303 and $120,154 on PokerStars and FTP respectively. Either win would have topped the leaderboard, so the combined $324,457 in profit made him far and away the week's biggest winner.

On the flip side, Phil "Polarizing" Ivey finished as the biggest loser for the second week in a row. Last week Ivey dropped $614,348, and this week he followed it up by losing another $506,006 in 7,043 hands over 28 sessions.

No one even came close to losing that much, though "AthaCliath" (-$116,506 in 4 sessions/115 hands) and "Sanlker" (-$111,289) both lost six figures on Full Tilt Poker.

In other big online news, Jason Somerville was named the latest member of Team PokerStars Pro. Read all about that by clicking here.

Kibler-Melby, Haxton and Galfond Book Saturday Wins

On Saturday, Feb. 21, the big action took place on Full Tilt Poker's $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables, which kicked off in the early morning between a number of players including Phil "Polarizing" Ivey, "Trueteller," and Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby. Kibler-Melby got off to a bad start dropping $80,000, but then he went on a heater for the next three and a half hours and won $258,800, which was enough to make him the biggest winner of the day. Also faring well in that match was Sebastian "taktloss47" Ruthenberg, who won $122,300 in 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, some $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha action took place on PokerStars. No one did better there than Ike Haxton, who won $156,600 in 3.5 hours, of which $130,000 came from 154 heads-up hands against Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies. Meanwhile Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond also did well winning $132,800, albeit at the $100/$200 stakes. It was there that he took down the biggest pot of the day.

It happen at a six-max table when "bodamos" ($15,253.28) opened for $700 from the cutoff and "BrigaDatada" three-bet to $2,400 from the button. Galfond ($37,325.29) came along from the small blind, "bodamos" called, and three players took a flop of 8♥8♠7♠. Galfond checked, "bodamos" bet $7,395, and "BrigaDatada" raised all in for $26,115.73. Galfond called, "bodamos" called off, and the cards were turned on their backs.

"bodamos": 10♣9♣7♣K♥
"BrigaDatada": K♣K♠10♥9♥
Galfond: Q♠Q♥7♥8♦

Galfond had flopped a full house, and was well out in front of both his opponents. Neither the A♥ turn nor 10♠ river changed a thing, and Galfond was pushed the $72,484.74 pot.

"Carlooo13" Takes Ivey for $340K at 8-Game Tables

On Sunday, Feb. 22, "Carlooo13" and Phil "Polarizing" Ivey engaged in an 850-hand match at Full Tilt's $1,000/$2,000 8-game tables, during which time "Carlooo13" won nearly $340,000. He'd add a little more to that, ultimately finishing as the day's biggest winner with $347,200.

Ivey actually pulled out to a $100,000 lead in the first 30 minutes, but then the tides turned and everything came up "Carlooo13," who won the day's biggest pot. It happened in a round of $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha when Ivey ($65,779.75) opened for $1,200 and then called after "Carlooo13" ($87,895.75) three-bet to $3,600, which brought about a flop of 10♣5♣6♠.

"Carlooo13" checked, Ivey bet $5,200, and "Carlooo13" woke up with a check-raise to $22,800. Ivey shoved all in for $62,179.75 and "Carlooo13" made the call.

Ivey: K♦7♦8♠10♥
"Carlooo13": A♣3♣A♠5♦

Ivey had flopped top pair with an open-ended straight draw, but he was behind the aces and flush draw of "Carlooo13." The 7♣ turn gave "Carlooo13" the flush, and Ivey needed to boat up to win. That didn't happen though as the 9♣ blanked on the river and "Carlooo13" was pushed the $131,559.50 pot.

Ivey not only lost that pot, he also lost the second-biggest pot of the day, which came in a heads-up match against "HoldemJill9." Check it out:

Ivey may have run bad against "Carlooo13," but he still managed to finish Sunday a modest $54,200 winner. That's because earlier in the day he took $310,000 from Rui Cao at the $1,000/$2,000 8-game tables, before winning $104,600 at the $1,500/$3,000 tables against the aforementioned "HoldemJill9."

Here are some other highlights from Sunday's action as pointed out by HighStakesDB:

Ivey also lost $29,400 playing $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw against "Sanlker," Sebastian "taktloss47" Ruthenberg, and Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby.
Kibler-Melby won $112,700 playing 2-7 triple draw.
Phil "MrSweets28" Galfond won $103,800, making him the only other six-figure winner on Sunday. His win came from eight hours of $50/$100 PLO action against Doug "WCGRider" Polk, who he took on at three different tables.
Alexandre "Alexonmoon" Luneau won $66,900 on Sunday.

Blom Puts in Marathon Session Over 24-Hour Period; Haxton Books a Win

The Online Railbird Report: Phil Ivey Loses More Than .1 Million in Two Weeks 101 — Isaac Haxton

In a 24-hour period surrounding Feb. 24 and 25, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom played for more than 19 hours, during which time he put in over 3,000 hands, on Full Tilt Poker. As is usual with the Swede, he had a rollercoaster of a day, but ultimately finished the day a $189,700 winner, though he was up $400,000 at one point.

After the clock rolled over into Thursday, Feb. 26, Blom fired up the $300/$600 pot-limit Omaha tables against Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton. The duo only played for 50 minutes, but that's all it took for Haxton to relieve Blom of $120,200. That matched produced the two biggest pots of the day.

Hand #1: Haxton ($71,110) raised to $1,800 and then called when Blom ($53,836) three-bet to $5,400. When the flop came down Q♣K♣2♣, Blom bet $4,800, Haxton called, and the 7♥ appeared on the turn. This time Blom check, but still called when Haxton bet $12,900.

When the A♦ completed the board on the river, Blom checked and then called off his last $30,736 after Haxton had bet $46,200. Haxton tabled the [jc8cjg4d] for a flopped flush, and it was good enough to win the $107,672 pot as Blom sent his cards to the muck unseen.

Hand #2:

Rui Cao Finishes as Wednesday's Biggest Winner

On Wednesday, Feb. 25, French pro Rui Cao finished as the day's biggest winner after banking $232,000 at the 2-7 triple draw tables. Most of that came from a 90-minute, 271-hand heads-up match against "Trueteller" at the $1,000/$2,000 tables. Toss in a $52,000 win in 44 minutes against Alexander "PostflopAction" Kostritsyn at the $500/$1,000 2-7 triple draw tables, and it turned out to be a profitable day for Cao.

Likewise, Steven "Zugwat" Silverman won $121,400 off Phil "Polarizing" Ivey after playing $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw for seven hours. Silverman lost a little to officially finish the day as the second-biggest winner with $121,400 in profit.

Biggest Winners/Losers from Feb. 19-26

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Ike Haxton	$204,303	Phil "Polarizing" Ivey	$506,006
Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton	$120,154	"AthaCliath"	$116,506
"ClockWyze"	$114,775	"Sanlker"	$111,289
"flong78"	$109,279	"ajve_xx"	$33,018

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies	$1,006,309	Phil "Polarizing" Ivey	$1,288,207
"JayP-AA"	$743,718	"Sanlker"	$410,546
Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion	$342,822	Viktor "Isildur1" Blom	$365,358
"HeadShotFyoV"	$257,389	"Patriktortonius"	$317,274
"gunning4you"	$244,368	"CoeJassidy"	$255,450
Vladimir "GVOZDIKA55" Shchemelev	$227,801	"AthaCliath"	$127,469