The Online Railbird Report: Sahamies Wins Biggest PokerStars Pot
For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been reporting on the huge cash games on PokerStars involving primarily Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies, both of whom were involved in some $1,000,000 swings. With the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) kicking off this week, one might expect the high-stakes cash games to take a back seat to the tournament action, however, nothing could have been farther from the truth.
Both Blom and Sahamies were busy grinding cash, and high-stakes regulars Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen, Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond, Rafi “refaelamit” Amit, Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings, and Niki “RealAndyBeal” Jedlicka joined in on the action as well. Needless to say, it was a busy week.
When the dust settled, Sahamies had managed to recoup some of his losses from last week, by becoming the week’s biggest winner with $545,124 in profit, which he earned in 7,319 hands spread across 80 sessions. Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen came third on the list with $248,123 in 86 sessions comprised of 7,785 hands, and Galfond was right behind with $181,425 won over 7,401 hands in 76 sessions.
On the flip side of things, Torbergsen had a terrible week and dropped $491,610 in 5,480 hands over 78 sessions. That loss of nearly half-a-million dollars dropped him right out of the year’s top ten biggest winners, a list where he was ranked in second. Joining Torbergsen as a big loser was Blom, who dropped $439,235 in 2,776 hands over 29 sessions. Both players dropped well over $400,000, while the next biggest loser on the list lost a little less than $200,000.
Sahamies Wins $421,000 Pot on PokerStars
While Full Tilt Poker used to be the home of high-stakes games with monster pots, PokerStars now holds the distinction as the place to go for action. This was evidenced on Wednesday when Sahamies won the largest pot ever played on PokerStars, worth a healthy $421,826. The hand occurred when six players were playing $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha and action folded to Sahamies ($247,909) in the cutoff. He promptly raised to $1,400, Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen ($30,208) called on the button, and “bernard-bb” ($195,609) followed suit in the small blind.
The K♠2♥3♠ flop saw "bernard-bb" check, Sahamies bet $4,595, Torbergsen raise to $18,380, and the former two make the call. Action checked to Torbergsen on the 9♥ turn, and he wasted little time in moving all-in for his last $10,428, which "bernard-bb" quickly check-raised to $91,019. Not only did Sahamies make the call, he matched "bernard-bb’s" $84,810 bet on the 3♥ river.
Showdown
bernard-bb: A♦2♦A♠7♠
Sahamies: K♥A♥6♥4♣
Torbergsen: Did not show
Whether or not he intended a bluff, "bernard-bb’s" aces and threes were no match for Sahamies ace-high flush. Just like that, Sahamies raked in the $421,826 pot and made PokerStars history. For those interested, the three pre-flop folders in the hand were “socutiesf” ($22,709), Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond ($49,789), and Rafi “refaelamit” Amit ($32,690).
As if that wasn’t enough, Sahamies also won the second-largest pot ever tracked on PokerStars. It was the same game, but by this time Amit had made his exit, leaving the action five handed. Torbergsen ($83,126) was first to act and opened for $1,000, "socutiesf" raised to $3,400 from the small blind, Sahamies called from the big, and Torbergsen repopped it to $21,400. Both of his opponents made the call and there was three-way action to the 9♣A♠8♣ flop. A check by "socutiesf" allowed Sahamies to fire out $40,795, but he was quickly met with an all-in raise to $68,526 by Torbergsen. "Socutiesf" responded by moving all-in over the top for $165,669, Sahamies called off his remaining $44,593, and the cards were turned up.
Showdown
Socutiesf: Q♥A♣J♣10♣
Sahamies: 7♦6♦10♠8♦
Torbergsen: K♣K♥A♦3♥
Sahamies was behind but held a massive straight draw. Meanwhile, "socutiesf" held an open-ended straight flush draw, while Torbergsen had a pair of aces with a king kicker. It was anyone’s pot headed to the turn, which brought the 5♠. Sahamies hit his straight to take the lead and proceeded to dodge the river when the 3♦ harmlessly peeled off. Another massive pot, this time $283,102, was sent Sahamies’ way.
More Hands from $200/$400 PLO
Even though the aforementioned game lasted approximately 10 hours, neither Viktor “Isildur1” Blom nor Brian “$tinger 88” Hastings made an appearance. Nonetheless, there were plenty of big names to go around. In one hand, Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond ($197,093) was playing Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen ($143,580) heads up and raised to $1,200 on the button. Torbergsen responded by reraising to $3,600, Galfond called, and the flop fell 6♣Q♠5♥, prompting Torbergsen to lead out for $3,200. Galfond then raised to $12,600, Torbergsen made it $35,200 to go, and Galfond shoved for $125,398. Torbergsen called the additional $90,198 and then shoved his last $14,582 on the K♦ turn. Galfond made the call and the cards were turned up.
Showdown
Galfond: 7♥2♥6♦6♥
Torbergsen: 8♣7♠4♣9♠
Galfond had flopped a set of sixes but was up against the massive wrap of Torbergsen. Fortunately for Galfond, the harmless 2♠ blanked on the river and he took down the $287,160 pot. He went on to book a $370,000 win in the game.
Obviously things weren’t going Torbergsen’s way for much of the day, and that trend continued in the following hand. In four-handed action, "socutiesf" ($119,090) raised to $1,200 under the gun and Torbergsen ($284,470), who was next to act on the button, three-bet to $4,200. Action folded back to "socutiesf" who decided to four-bet to $14,400, Torbergsen five-bet $44,400, "socutiesf" called, and the flop fell 8♥J♣Q♠. "Socutiesf" immediately moved all-in for $74,690, Torbergsen called, and their hands were revealed.
Showdown
socutiesf: J♥K♥Q♣K♠
Torbergsen: A♣A♥4♥2♥
It was another preflop aces-vs.-kings situation, but "socutiesf" managed to crack the aces with a flopped two pair. The 3♦ turn changed nothing, while the K♦ river improved "socutiesf" to a set, which was more than enough to take down the $238,780 pot. The hand added to Torbergsen’s woes, and he dropped nearly $650,000 throughout the day, ultimately contributing to his biggest-loser status.
On the flip side, things couldn’t go any better for Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies. When action was three-handed, Sahamies ($134,920) raised to $1,400 on the button only to have "socutiesf" ($125,834) three-bet to $4,600 from the small blind. Torbergsen ($113,786) called from the big, Sahamies four-bet to $19,800, "socutiesf" five-bet $59,800, Torbergsen folded, and Sahamies moved all-in. "Socutiesf" called off his remaining $66,034, and suddenly there was a $256,266 pot on the line.
Showdown
socutiesf: A♥Q♦K♦K♣
Sahamies: A♣A♠K♠3♣
It wasn’t too surprising to see an aces-vs.-kings situation, and luckily, Sahamies held the better hand. The board ran out an uneventful 4♦3♥8♣8♥5♦, and Sahamies took down yet another monster pot, bringing his profit in the game to a half million dollars.
Who's Up? Who's Down?
Week’s biggest winners (9/2-9/8): Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (+$545,124), socutiesf (+$387,429), Jens "Jeans89" Kyllönen (+$248,123), Phil “MrSweets28” Glafond (+$181,425)
Week’s biggest losers: Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen (-$491,610), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$439,235), Rafi “refaelamit” Amit (-$192,139), Niki “RealAndyBeal” Jedlicka (-$176,774), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (-$165,414)
Year-to-date winners: *Gus Hansen (+$3,941,000), *Daniel “jungleman12” Cates (+$1,952,000), *Alexey “NoPasaran” Makarov (+$1,875,000), Andreas “Skjervøy” Torbergsen ($1,492,000), *Matt Hawrilenko (+$1,440,000), Rui "PepperoniF" Cao (+$1,438,000), *bixiu (+$1,406,000), *Phil Ivey (+$1,336,000), *Patrik Antonius (+$1,157,000)
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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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
