The Online Railbird Report: Kyle “KPR16” Ray Biggest Winner of Week; Robl Drops $357K
The past couple of weeks of high-stakes online action have been wild. First, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom made $4,073,070 during the first week of 2013 on Full Tilt Poker, and then he lost $1,173,536 of it back to Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond the following week.
Things calmed down a bit this week as both Blom and Galfond failed to make the huge waves they did earlier this month, perhaps because they’re both attending the NBC National Heads-Up Championship. That did, however, open the door for some other players to jump into the spotlight. Foremost among them was Kyle “KPR16” Ray, who finish as the week’s biggest winner with $929,088 in 1,283 hands spread across seven sessions. The next closest winners were “SallyWoo” (+$259,088 in 1,681 hands) and Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$256,943 in 2,144 hands).
Of course, poker is a zero-sum game, so where there are winners there are always losers. This week, those losers included “Johnbest” (-$506,056 in 6,242 hands), Andrew “good2cu” Robl (-$357,396 in 5,831 hands), Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$314,820 in 1,014 hands) and Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$241,318 in 3,645 hands).
Well I had a lot of money in my online poker accounts yesterday. Today I am left with .04cents.
— Andrew Robl (@Andrew_Robl)
The Professionals Get Busy on Thursday
On Thursday, Jan. 17, Gus Hansen, a member of Full Tilt Poker’s The Professionals, was busy playing $1,000/$2,000 fixed-limit Omaha Hi/Lo and 2-7 Triple Draw and won $560,000 against the likes of “patpatpanda”, Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver and Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn, just to name a few.
Another Professional in action on Thursday was Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who played the same games as Hansen, as well as a little $250/$500 pot-limit Omaha against Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky. While he won $172,200 on the day playing Omaha Hi/Lo and 2-7 Triple Draw, he was a loser against Sulsky. As you might expect, the two high-stakes regulars played the day’s two biggest pots.
In the first, Blom ($75,000) opened for $1,700 on the button and Sulsky ($143,273.75) three-bet to $5,300 from the big blind. Blom called and then bet $5,500 after Sulsky checked the 7♥8♥4♣ flop. Sulsky then sprung to life with a check-raise to $27,300, Blom moved all in for $69,700, and Sulsky called.
Sulsky: 3♠5♠6♣4♦
Blom: A♥J♥4♥4♠
Sulsky had flopped the nuts, but Blom was drawing live to the nut flush. The two agreed to run it twice, but neither the 10♣ and K♣ on the first run nor the 9♦ and A♠ on the second helped Blom. Sulsky won a pot worth $150,000.
In the second biggest pot of the day, similar to the preflop action from the previous hand, Blom ($75,000) opened for $1,700 on the button, Sulsky ($123,772.25) three-bet to $5,300 from the big blind, and Blom called. Sulsky checked the 5♣8♣7♦ flop. Blom took the opportunity to bet $5,500, Sulsky check-raised to $21,500, and Blom moved all in for $69,700. Sulsky called and the cards were turned up:
Sulsky: Q♣7♣Q♦7♥
Blom: A♦2♦9♥6♠
Blom had flopped the nuts, but Sulsky was drawing live, having flopped a set and a flush draw. Once again they ran it twice, and once again both came down in Sulsky’s favor as the 10♣/A♥ on the first run and J♦/K♣ on the second both gave him a flush. Sulsky won another $150,000, and he ended up profiting $126,700 on Thursday.
Kyle “KPR16” Ray Wins $930,000 in Friday Action; Hansen Gives it Back
Gus Hansen had a nice win on Thursday but gave it all back and then some on Friday. He actually started off well, but his free-fall began late in the day against Kyle “KPR16” Ray and Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon playing FLO8. Over 7.5 hours, Hansen dropped a hefty $840,000, with $680,000 of that going to Ray. What’s more, Ray had won $320,000 earlier in the day from Viktor “Isildur1” Blom at the FLO8 tables, and after dropping a little, he finished the day as the biggest winner with $930,000 in profit.
Other winners on Friday were Hendon (+$233,900), “SallyWoo” (+$147,000), Andrew “good2cu” Robl (+$117,200) and Patrik Antonius (+$113,700), who had recently returned to the Full Tilt Poker tables.
Unfortunately, as we’ve said before, HighStakesDB doesn’t capture the FLO8 hand replays as of yet, but they do a great job capturing the results and biggest pots day in and day out. On Friday, that pot took place at the $150/$300 PLO tables:
Kostritsyn Gets the Best of “Johnbest” at $200/$400 PLO
Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn had a great day at the $200/$400 PLO tables on Saturday, winning $535,000 off “Johnbest” throughout the day. They first played a two-and-a-half hour session in the morning, and Kostritsyn walked away a $33,000 winner. Four hours later, “Johnbest” got the best of Kostritsyn when he won $87,000 in a 20-minute session. After another break, the two played for more than three hours and Kostritsyn walked away with $290,000. In the next two sessions against one another, Kostritsyn added $300,000 more to his bankroll and finished the day $535,000 in the black. Needless to say, the two played the biggest pots of the day:
Biggest Pot of the Day: “Johnbest” ($110,038.50) opened for $1,200 on the button, only to have Kostritsyn ($173,662.50) three-bet to $3,600 from the big blind. Not to be outdone, “Johnbest” four-bet $10,800, Kostritsyn called and the flop came down 3♠2♣Q♦. Kostritsyn check-called a bet of $21,600, and then turned right around and led out for $64,800 on the 4♣ turn. “Johnbest” responded by moving all in for $77,638.50, and Kostritsyn called the additional $12,838.50. The 7♦ completed the board on the river, and Kostritsyn’s 7♣J♣2♥8♥ for two pair cracked “Johnbest’s” A♣K♣A♥J♥ to win the $22,077 pot.
Second Biggest Pot of the Day: Kostritsyn ($286,810.50) raised to $1,200 on the button and was met by a three-bet to $3,600 from “Johnbest” ($86,276). Kostritsyn then made it $10,800 to go, “Johnbest” called, and the 8♦9♥A♥ appeared on the flop. “Johnbest” checked, Kostritsyn bet $21,600, and “Johnbest” moved all in for $75,476. Kostritsyn called with 10♥7♥9♠2♠ for a pair of nines with straight and flush draws, while “Johnbest” had 8♠10♦7♣5♥ for a pair of eights with the same open-ended straight draw. The 8♣ turn actually gave “Johnbest” the best hand with trips, and the A♠ river allowed him to take down the $172,552 pot.
Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)
Week’s biggest winners (1/17-1/23): Kyle “KPR16” Ray (+$929,088), “SallyWoo” (+$259,088), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$256,943), “patpatpanda” (+$240,950), Ronny “ronnyr37617” Kaiser (+$229,490)
Week’s biggest losers: “Johnbest” (-$506,056), Andrew “good2cu” Robl (-$357,396), Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$314,820), Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$241,318), “DealMeInFast” (-$231,541), “Poker_KaMI” (-$210,930)
Year’s biggest winners: Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$2,692,119), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (+$1,358,345), “SallyWoo” (+$1,267,005), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$1,113,925), Ronny “ronnyr37617” Kaiser (+$370,550), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (+$346,210)
Year’s biggest losers: Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (-$1,426,426), Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar (-$699,378), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$531,348), “Poker_KaMI” (-$525,601), Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$520,561), “Schoitl” (-$510,318)
*DenotesPokerStars
Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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