The Online Railbird Report: Sahamies Wins $1,000,000 in a Week

August 26, 2011

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Since Black Friday, we haven’t seen the $500,000 to $1,000,000 swings that we had grown accustomed to at the high-stakes tables. Here we are, four months later, and it seems as though things may be returning to normal, with the exception that the high-stakes action has found a new home on PokerStars. Why do we say this? First, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom seems to be back to his swingy ways, and second, Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies has become our first post-Black Friday million-dollar winner.

Needless to say, Sahamies was the week’s big winner after earning $1,078,700 in 5,080 hands spread across 55 sessions. Add to the equation that Sahamies won $300,000 last week, and it seems the Finn is on quite the heater. As we’ll discuss below, a great deal of Sahamies’ profit came courtesy of Blom, whose M.O. has been to win at the six-max tables only to lose it to Sahamies.

While Sahamies’ big win eclipsed the competition, a few other notables had solid weeks including Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond (+$333,449 in 6,892 hands), Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (+$217,603 in 3,082 hands), and Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen (+$202,846 in 3,110 hands).

On the flip side, Theo “Theo J” Jorgensen was the week’s biggest loser having dropped $279,093 in 27 sessions comprised of 2,025 hands. He was followed by “Zypherin” (-$236,675 in 5,511 hands), Niki “RealAndyBeal” Jedlicka (-$172,241 in 3,176 hands), and Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (-$132,500 in 6,670 hands).

Sahamies Dismantles Blom

In the past few days, Ilari Sahamies has been on a tear. He was down nearly $800,000 on the year just last month and now finds himself $600,000 in the black. Coming off a big win last week, he used that momentum to win over $750,000 in a 48-hour period. Most of that came early Thursday morning when he took $482,000 from Viktor Blom.

Before losing it all to Sahamies, Blom managed a huge comeback at the six-max tables by winning $500,000. He overcame an early $200,000 deficit, which came courtesy of "1-ronnyr3" ($400,000), “Toweliestar” ($164,000), and Niki “RealAndyBeal” Jedlicka ($90,000). Regrettably for Blom, he couldn’t hold onto it after he decided to play Sahamies heads up at the $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha tables.

Surprisingly, Blom managed to win the two biggest pots of the match even though he went on to lose a small fortune. In one of those hands, Blom ($120,242) raised to $600 on the button only to have Sahamies ($181,380) exercise his option in the big blind with a reraise to $1,800. Blom responded with a four-bet to $5,400, Sahamies five-bet to $16,200, Blom called, and the flop fell 2♣Q♣6♥.

Blom proceeded to call a bet of $32,398 from Sahamies before the A♠ spiked on the turn. Sahamies led out for $97,194, Blom called off for $71,644, and the K♥ was put out on the river. Sahamies flipped over K♦Q♦10♠9♠ for kings and queens, but it was no good against the A♥2♦4♦3♥ two pair of Blom sending the $240,484 pot to the Swede.

The other big hand that went Blom’s ($97,352) way began when Sahamies ($427,751) was on the button and raised to $600. Blom then three-bet to $1,800, Sahamies pushed back by making it $5,400, Blom called, and the 7♣4♣8♦ fell on the flop. Blom checked, Sahamies bet $6,000, and Isildur1 woke up with a check-raise to $28,798. Sahamies simply made it $97,192 to go, and Blom called off his remaining $63,154.

Showdown
Blom: K♠10♠9♦6♠
Sahamies: 10♥9♣8♠7♠

Sahamies had flopped top two pair, but needed to sweat Blom's multiple straight draws. The K♥ turn changed nothing, but the 10♣ on the river completed the straight pushing the $194,704 pot Blom’s way.

Obviously, not all the pots went Blom’s way. In the biggest hand that Sahamies ($82,394) won, Blom ($219,236) raised to $600 on the button and Sahamies three-bet to $1,800. Ever the aggressor, Blom four-bet to $5,400 and was quickly put to the test when Sahamies five-bet to $16,200. Blom made the call and then bet $32,398 after his opponent checked the 7♠4♦3♦ flop. Sahamies wasted little time in moving all-in for $66,194, Blom called, and the cards were turned up.

Showdown
Sahamies: A♠A♥Q♣4♥
Blom: A♣Q♥3♥5♦

Sahamies’ aces were good when the money went in, and stayed that way as the 9♥ hit the turn followed but the 8♥ on the river. Even though he lost the two biggest pots of the match, Sahamies managed to snag this $164,788 pot, which helped put him over the $1 million mark for the week.

“takechip” Lives Up to his Namesake

On Thursday, Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil played a combination of $50/$100 PLO at the six-max and heads-up tables, intertwined with a little no-limit hold’em, ultimately winning $226,000 in seven hours of play. While D’Auteuil managed to win $35,000 off Blom and Sahamies, the majority of his winnings came against Ben "Ben86" Tollerene.

One of the biggest hands they played, came at a five-handed NLHE table when action folded to D’Auteuil ($30,945) on the button. He put in a raise to $250, Tollerene ($39,851) called from the small blind, and the flop came down 10♠3♠7♣. Tollerene wasted little time leading out for $1,600, D’Auteuil called, and the Q♦ appeared on the turn.

Again D’Auteuil called a bet from Tollerene, this time $4,850, and the 6♣ hit the river. Tollerene opted to move all-in for $33,351 and D’Auteuil quickly called off for $24,245. Tollerene showed 10♥10♣ for a flopped set, but it was no good against the turned set of D’Auteuil who was holding Q♣Q♥. He raked in their biggest pot ($61,890) of the day.

In another hand, the two were playing $50/$100 heads-up NLHE and Tollerene ($24,063.50) raised to $250 on the button. D’Auteuil ($25,400) responded with a three-bet to $900, Tollerene called and the flop fell 9♣3♣8♥. D’Auteuil checked, Tollerene bet $1,300, D’Auteuil check-raised to $3,900 and D’Auteuil made the call.

When the A♥ turned, D’Auteuil fired out $5,300, Tollerene called, and the 3♥ was put out on the river. D’Auteuil moved all-in for $15,300 and Tollerene called off for $13,963.50 with A♣8♠. Unfortunately for him, it was no good against D'Auteuil's A♦9♦ and Tollerene watched the $48,127 pot pushed to his opponent.

Who's Up? Who's Down?

Week’s biggest winners (8/19-8/25): Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (+$1,078,700), Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond ($333,449), Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (+$217,603), Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen (+$202,846)

Week’s biggest losers: Theo “Theo J” Jorgensen (-$279,093), Zypherin (-$236,675), Niki “RealAndyBeal” Jedlicka (-$172,241), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (-$132,500)

Year-to-date winners: *Gus Hansen (+$3,941,000), *Daniel “jungleman12” Cates (+$1,952,000), *Alexey “NoPasaran” Makarov (+$1,875,000), Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen ($1,621,000), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (+$1,449,000), *Matt Hawrilenko (+$1,440,000), *bixiu (+$1,406,000), Rui "PepperoniF" Cao (+$1,367,000), *Phil Ivey (+$1,336,000)

Year-to-date losers: *Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$2,474,000), *Eugene “fishosaurusREX” Yanayt (-$1,399,000), *kagome kagome (-$1,377,000), *cadillac1944 (-$1,336,000), *Esvedra (-$1,182,000), *UarePileous (-$837,000)

Biggest weekly winners/losers all on PokerStars

*Reflects Full Tilt Poker profit/loss

_{*data obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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