The Online Railbird Report: Two Players Cross $1 Million Mark in Yearly Winnings

February 17, 2012

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

The online high-stakes action picked up a little this week. “Patpatman” and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen became the first two players to cross the $1 million mark in yearly winnings with $1,023,489 and $1,000,637, respectively. Last week, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Sander “Berndsen12” Berndsen dominated the poker headlines, but this week saw a different cast of characters.

For instance, Rafi “refaelamit” Amit finished as the week’s biggest winner, banking $376,504 in profit over 8,522 hands. Likewise, Kyllönen finished fourth on the weekly-winner’s list by winning $162,951 in 13,092 hands. “0Human0” won $220,834 over 6,014 hands and “masoren” pocketed $210,999 in 3,284 hands putting them in second and third, respectively.

It was a bad week for Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies because he became the week’s biggest loser after dropping $385,766 through 5,824 hands. A little further behind, “long90110” (-$238,386 in 4,419 hands), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$153,656 in 22,742 hands), and “altiFC” (-$147,352 in 1,253 hands) rounded out the top three.

Andrew “Kanu7” Millar Friday’s Biggest Winner

On Friday, Englishman Andrew “Kanu7” Millar was busy playing heads-up, eventually winning $100,000 and topping the day’s leaderboard. Millar, a no-limit hold’em specialist, was busy playing stakes from $25/$50 to $100/$200. It was at the latter stakes that he won $70,000 off of “altiFC” in just over two hours.

It was during that match that the two biggest pots of the day developed. In the first, Millar ($35,297) opened for $500 on the button and altiFC ($38,872) exercised his option in the big blind with a three-bet to $2,400. Millar made the call and then watched as altiFC fired out $2,800 on the 4♦10♠K♥ flop.

Millar called and both players checked the 3♥ turn. When the 6♥ appeared on the river, altiFC led out for $7,200, Millar raised to $26,000, and altiFC made the call. Millar rolled over 6♠4♠ for two pair — good enough to take down the $63,478 pot.

In the other big hand between the two, altiFC ($29,092) raised to $400 on the button only to have Millar ($77,308) three-bet to $1,500. After a call, the flop fell 6♦7♦9♠ and Millar led out for $2,200, which altiFC quickly raised to $5,400. Millar made the call before check-calling a bet of $7,400 on the A♦ turn. When the 2♣ peeled off on the river, Millar checked, altiFC moved all-in for $14,792, and Millar made the call with 8♣8♦. AltiFC then revealed 7♥6♣ for two pair and raked in the $58,184 pot.

The remainder of Millar’s winnings came against Ike “philivey2694” Haxton; however, Haxton managed some success against altiFC, who was the day’s biggest loser after dropping $152,000.

Slow Action on Saturday

Usually the weekend is characterized by high-stakes poker action, but this past Saturday was abnormally slow. There wasn’t a single six-figure winner, and only three players managed to clear $50,000 in profit. The man who ended up topping the leaderboard with $85,000 was Ronny “1-ronnyr3” Kaiser, who played $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha.

In his most notable hand, Kaiser {$42,533.25) was playing five handed when Frederick "H@££INGGOL" Halling ($25,006) opened under the gun for $300. Kaiser was next to act, and put in a three-bet to $1,150, which cleared the field all the way back to Halling, who made the call. When the flop came down 9♣2♦4♥, Halling checked, Kaiser bet $1,700, and Halling came alive with a check-raise to $6,650. Kaiser made the call and then called Halling’s bet of $6,450 on the 9♠ turn.

When the 2♥ was put out on the river, Halling check-called off his remaining $10,756 with A♠A♥7♠Q♣, which was no good against the 8♥10♠9♥6♠ of Kaiser, who raked in the $50,162 pot.

Kaiser is a regular at the high-stakes games, but was off to a rough start in 2012. It appears he has righted the ship, going from $330,000 in the hole to more than $100,000 in profit.

Action Rebounds

The games may have been slow on Saturday, but they picked up in the following days with games of $100/$200 PLO constantly running. On Monday, “doncarignano” played for over three hours at various stakes, but it was at the aforementioned tables that he played 440 hands and won $128,000. Joining him at the tables were Ronny “1-ronnyr3” Kaiser, Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies, Rafi “refaelamit” Amit, and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen.

In one hand, doncarignano ($36,240) was under the gun and opened for $400, which Kyllönen ($19,575) and Sahamies ($66,050) called from the cutoff and small blind, respectively. When the 10♥7♦9♦ appeared on the flop, Sahamies checked, doncarignano bet $1,000, and Kyllönen folded. Sahamies then check-raised to $4,595, doncarignano called, and the 3♠ was put out on the turn. Sahamies led out for $10,785, doncarignano moved all-in for $31,245, and Sahamies made the call.

Showdown

doncarignano	J♣J♠Q♠8♥
Kyllönen	K♣J♥8♠7♥

Both players had flopped the straight, but each had a redraw to a higher straight. Much to Kyllönen’s dismay, the K♥ spiked on the river to give doncarignano the bigger straight and the $73,080 pot.

In another notable hand for doncarignano, action folded to Sahamies ($81,696) on the button and he raised to $940. “0Human0” ($19,760) made the call from the small blind, as did doncarignano ($124,085) in the big blind. Action checked to Sahamies on the 3♥8♠6♣ flop and he fired out $3,055, which pushed 0Human0 out of the hand. Never one to back down, doncarignano responded with a check-raise to $10,600, Sahamies called, and the 5♠ hit the turn.

Both players proceeded to check, and then doncarignano checked the J♦ river. Sahamies opted to bet $24,255 and doncarignano made the call. Sahamies showed 5♣5♥9♥9♠ for a set of fives, but it was no good against doncarignano’s A♣10♥8♥8♣ for a set of eights. The $72,530-pot was sent to doncarignano.

While both of those pots were juicy, they weren’t even the biggest of the day.

Biggest Pot of the Day: Amit ($22,740) opened for $600 on the button, Kaiser ($100,015) three-bet to $2,240 from the small blind, and Sahamies ($76,940) four-bet to $7,560 from the big blind. Amit decided to get out of the way, Kaiser made the call, and they were heads-up to the 5♥3♣2♠ flop, which both players checked.

Kaiser then led out for $15,955 on the 6♣ turn, Sahamies called, and the 9♥ peeled off on the river. Again Kaiser bet, this time $26,200, and Sahamies called. Kaiser exposed 6♦4♦5♠7♦ for a seven-high straight, which was good enough for the $100,265 pot.

Second Biggest Pot of the Day: Kaiser ($57,381.25) raised to $600 under the gun and Sahamies ($48,838), who was next to act, three-bet to $2,340. After the rest of the field got out of the way, Kaiser four-bet $8,160, Sahamies called, and the flop fell 6♥10♣2♠. Kaiser proceeded to bet $11,200, Sahamies moved all-in for $40,678, and Kaiser made the call.

Showdown

Kaiser	A♥A♠Q♥3♣
Sahamies	10♥9♣4♣6♠

Sahamies had flopped top-two pair to pull ahead of Kaiser’s aces, though the 7♥ turn did provide the latter with a flush draw. The A♦ river did not fill Kaiser’s flush draw, but it did give him a set of aces, which was good enough to snatch the $97,976 pot away from Sahamies, who went on to be the day’s biggest loser with $194,000 in losses.

Biggest weekly winners/losers all on PokerStars

Week’s biggest winners (2/10-2/16): Rafi “refaelamit” Amit (+$376,504), 0Human0 (+$220,834), masoren (+$210,999), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$162,951), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (+$162,256), bernard-bb (+$158,004)

Week’s biggest losers: Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$385,766), long90110 (-$238,386), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$153,656), altiFC (-$147,352)

Year-to-date winners: patpatman (+$1,023,489), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($1,000,637), bernard-bb (+$863,089), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$748,186), ), Niklas “ragen70” Heineckerragen (+$591,024), BiatchPeople (+$444,437), Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (+$419,119)

Year-to-date losers: Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond (-$663,653), long90110 (-$608,322), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$521,329), Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies (-$507,769), GVOZDIKA55 (-$478,177), VietRussian (-$422,811),

_{Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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