The Online Railbird Report: "EireAbu" Wins $542,000 to Climb Back Atop Yearly Leaderboard

June 01, 2012

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

The World Series of Poker may be dominating poker headlines, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been plenty of online action in the last week. In fact, a number of high-stakes regulars combined with some Online Railbird Report newbies to create a week of surprises.

Perhaps the most notable was “EireAbu’s” performance. He finished as the week’s biggest winner with $542,432 in profit in 17,640 hands spread across 167 sessions. That put him back atop the PokerStars yearly leaderboard.

Other winners on the week included David “Deldar182” Eldar (+$285,772 in 108 sessions/7,692 hands), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$267,803 in 83 sessions/5,458 hands) and Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby (+$221,805 in 49 sessions/2,961 hands).

At the other end of the spectrum, it was a rough week for “mikki696,” who lost $283,118 in 5,119 hands spread across 98 sessions. He was joined in the loser’s column by Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (-$217,825 in 52 sessions/4,232 hands), “glosik” (-$171,974 in 163 sessions/14,634 hands) and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$168,938 in 110 sessions/5,224 hands).

Sahamies Banks Nearly $300,000 on Thursday

On Thursday, May 24, Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies played 700 hands but managed to win big, banking $294,000. About a sixth of that came in a $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha ring game, while $24,000 more came from a heads-up match against Viktor “Isildur1” Blom. With that said, the lion’s share of Sahamies' profits, $105,000 to be exact, came from playing a $100/$200 PLO game that included Ben “Ben86” Tollerene.

In one of the day's biggest hands, “Phisherman36” ($20,000) opened for $700 from the hijack, and Sahamies ($160,712.34) made the call from the button. After “Ligga” ($19,760) came along from the small blind, Tollerene ($37,461.90) opted for a three-bet to $3,740 from the big. All three of the other players made the call and there was four-way action to the 8♥6♠2♥ flop.

“Ligga” checked, Tollerene fired out $15,195, “Phisherman36” folded, and Sahamies raised to $60,780. After "Ligga" got out of the way, Tollerene called off his remaining $18,526.90 and the cards were turned up:

Showdown

Sahamies	Q♣6♣6♥10♥
Tollerene	A♣A♠10♠8♣

Sahamies flopped a set of sixes and was ahead of Tollerene’s aces. The J♦ turn changed nothing and neither did the 5♠ river, so Sahamies' raked in the $82,559 pot.

Despite losing $112,000 on the day, Tollerene wasn’t the biggest loser. That distinction belonged to “glosik,” who dropped $165,000.

“EireAbu” Back Atop the Yearly Leaderboard

On Sunday, “EireAbu” was back at the $50/$100 PLO tables and played approximately 3,500 hands, winning $125,000 in the process. That pushed him over $2 million in profit for the year, more than any other player on PokerStars.

“EireAbu” may have been the day’s biggest winner, but he wasn’t the only one. “PimpyLimpy” and “bernard-bb” finished with $87,000 and $80,000 respectively, while “patpatman” rounded out the top four with $56,000 in profit.

Speaking of “patpatman," he managed to win one of the day’s biggest post. It happened when action was four-handed and he opened for $300 under the gun. Both the button and small blind folded, then “KRfishONE” ($28,905.79) three-bet to $1,030 from the big. The action didn’t stop there as “patpatman” four-bet to $3,520, “KRfishONE” five-bet to $9,790, “patpatman” six-bet to $33,020 and “KRfishONE” called off his remaining $19,115.79, creating a $57,899 pot.

Showdown

”patpatman”	A♦A♠J♠5♦
“KRfishONE”	8♣7♠5♣6♠

“KRfishONE” was behind and in need of some help, but the Q♠2♣4♥ flop wasn’t too promising. The A♥ turn gave “patpatman” trip aces and the Q♣ river gave him a full house and the win.

"EireAbu" kept momentum rolling on Monday and put in another 3,100 hands, winning $202,000, enough to make him the biggest winner for the second consecutive day. Meanwhile, “patpatman” finished right behind him with a $171,000 win.

Big-Time No-Limit Hold’em Highlights Tuesday’s Action

On Tuesday, a game of $200/$400 no-limit hold’em ran for a short time. It began with “patpatman” and Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky but eventually attracted the likes of “mickan1984,” “Suwalski,” “muha84,” and Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby.

In one of the more notable interactions, action was six-handed and “mickan1984” ($77,284.02) limped under the gun. Kibler-Melby ($53,435) then raised to $1,600 on the button, both blinds folded, and “mickan1984” three-bet to $4,400. Kibler-Melby made the call and then called a bet of $8,595 on the K♦7♠10♦ flop, bringing about the Q♥ on the turn. “Mickan1984” immediately moved all-in for $64,289.01 and Kibler-Melby snap-called off his remaining $40,440.

Showdown

Kibler-Melby	K♣Q♠
“mickan1984”	A♦Q♦

Kibler-Melby turned top two pair but still needed to dodge a bunch of “mickan1984’s” outs. That’s exactly what Kibler-Melby did when the 7♥ blanked on the river, giving him the $107,465 pot.

Thanks in part to that pot, Kibler-Melby ended the day as the biggest winner with $118,000. He was followed closely by “muha84” (+$100,000) and “10IsTheYear” ($91,000), who rounded out the top three. On the flip side, “patpatman’s” winning streak came to an end as he finished as the biggest loser after dropping $203,000. “Suwalski” and “mickan1984” were also in the losing column, dropping $80,000 each.

Biggest Weekly PokerStars Winners/Losers

Week’s biggest winners (5/25-5/31): “EireAbu” (+$542,432), David “Deldar182” Eldar (+$285,772), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$267,803), Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby (+$221,805)

Week’s biggest losers: “mikki696” (-$283,118), Alexey “LuckyGump” Makarov (-$217,825), “glosik” (-$171,974), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$168,938)

Year-to-date winners: “EireAbu” (+$2,265,045), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$1,940,998), “bernard-bb” (+$1,364,437), “Phisherman36” (+$1,229,747), “patpatman” (+$1,088,646), Phil “MrSweets” Galfond (+$1,029,005), Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker (+$998,253), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen (+$997,546), Terje “Terken89” Augdal (+$962,791)

Year-to-date losers: “Zypherin” (-$2,532,782), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$1,443,019), “1Il|1Il|1il|” (-$768,485), Benny “toweliestar” Spindler (-$704,534), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (-$573,851), “VietRussian” (-$562,061)

_{Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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