The Online Railbird Report: The Professionals Dominate with $1.5M Wins
When it came to the high-stakes online action on Full Tilt Poker this week, The Professionals dominated. We’re talking of course about FTP’s Gus Hansen and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who won $1,772,993 and $1,599,428 respectively.
Hansen’s win came in just 4,381 hands over 28 sessions while Blom’s was spread out over 11,775 hands and 91 sessions. Other winners on FTP, albeit at about a fifth of The Professionals' total, were “Trueteller” (+$394,574), Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (+$389,958) and “samrostan” (+$132,570).
On the flip side, there were quite a few big losers including Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (-$738,337), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$720,254 in 23 sessions/4,471 hands), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$623,649 in 20 sessions/1,332 hands), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (-$593,069 in 17 sessions/1,018 hands) and Hac “trex313” Dang (-$410,240 in 7 sessions/293 hands).
Blom Banks $800K in Friday Action
On the night of Friday, May 10, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom was busy battling Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene at the $500/$1,000 CAP pot-limit Omaha tables over on Full Tilt Poker, something the dynamic duo are prone to do. The two played for 2.5 hours before they were joined by the likes of Hac “trex313” Dang, “samrostan”, Phil “Polarizing” Ivey and Tom “durrrr” Dwan.
Blom was the biggest winner in the match as he added more than $700,000 to his bankroll. Of that Dang and Dwan contributed approximately $200,000 apiece, while Ivey donated $100,000. Since it was a cap game, there were obviously plenty of $80,000 or so pots. Here are a few of them.
Hand #1: Action was fourhanded when Dang ($38,500) opened for $2,250 from the cutoff and Ivey ($38,500) defended from the big blind. Ivey checked the 10♥J♣9♣ flop, Dang bet $3,000, and Ivey woke up with a check-raise to $9,000. Dang responded with a three-bet to $15,000, Ivey moved all in for $36,250 and Dang called.
Dang: 5♣8♣J♦9♥
Ivey: K♥Q♣10♣4♦
Dang had flopped two pair with a flush draw, but it was no good as Ivey had the nuts. Neither the 2♠ turn nor K♠ river hit Dang, and he watched the $77,498 pot pushed to Ivey.
Hand #2: Action was three handed when Blom ($418,910.50) opened for $3,500 on the button and Dwan ($55,748) three-bet to $11,500 from the small blind. Tollerene ($45,999) then folded from the big, Blom called and the flop fell K♦A♣10♥. Dwan led out for $8,000, Blom called and the 7♣ turned. Again Dwan led out, this time for $20,500, and again Blom called to cap the pot.
Dwan: K♠K♣Q♠6♥
Blom: Q♣10♠J♠8♦
Dwan flopped trip kings, but he needed the board to pair on the river as Blom had flopped Broadway. Unfortunately for Dwan, the 4♠ blanked and Blom took down the $80,999 pot.
Hand #3: Action was once again three handed when Dwan ($152,436) opened for $3,500 on the button, Blom ($104,993) three-bet to $11,500 from the small blind and “samrostan” ($43,997) folded the big. The 9♦5♦6♥ flop saw Blom lead out for $14,000 and Dwan raise to $28,500 to cap the pot. Blom made the call and the cards were turned up.
Dwan: 3♣5♥Q♣Q♦
Blom: J♠10♠9♥2♥
Dwan’s queens were good when the money went in, but the J♥ turn managed to give Blom two pair. The 7♦ river was of no consequence and the young Swede was awarded the $80,999 pot.
Blom Brings Two-Day Total to $1.5 Million
As if Friday’s win wasn’t big enough, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom returned to action on Saturday and added $808,000 more to his winnings. It happened at the $500/$1,000 CAP PLO tables and included the likes of Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene, Hac “trex313” Dang, “samrostan”, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Ronny “ronnyr37617” Kaiser and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond.
Blom began by taking six figures from Tollerene, and then extended that to $474,000 after Dwan sat down. A few more players joined the table and that’s when things really heated up. While Blom finished as the big winner with $808,000, both “samrostan” and Galfond managed decent wins with $138,800 and $120,100 respectively. Meanwhile, Tollerene finished as the biggest loser with a $611,000 loss with Dwan next on the list after dropping $349,000.
Here are the two biggest pots of the day, both of which went to Galfond:
Hand #1: Action was fourhanded when “samrostan” ($181,080) opened for $3,500 under the gun, Dwan ($110,342) three-bet to $12,000 from the button and Galfond ($127,458) called from the small blind. Blom ($80,833.50) then four-bet to $40,000 to cap it, “samrostan” folded and the other two players called to create a $123,498 pot.
Galfond: 6♠8♠10♣7♣
Blom: A♥Q♥10♠4♠
Dwan: J♠J♥A♠2♥
Dwan was technically out in front with pocket jacks, but the 9♣5♠2♣ flop made things interesting as Galfond flopped a flush draw. The J♦ turn actually strengthened Dwan’s position, but the 3♣ river demolished it as Galfond hit his flush.
Hand #2:
Gus Hansen Wins $1.57 million in 19-hour Session
In a special edition of The Railbird earlier this week, we highlighted Gus Hansen’s huge $1.57 million win in a 19-hour session playing fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo, also known as FLO8, on Full Tilt Poker. It happened on Tuesday on through to early Wednesday morning.
It began when he took $61,000 from Kyle “KPR16” Ray at the FLO8 tables then added $182,000 after taking on Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn at 2-7 triple draw. All three opponents proceeded to join Hansen at the FLO8 tables before Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon, “samrostan” and “SallyWoo” all made appearances. Aside from Hansen, only Hendon would leave with a profit, winning $200,000 in 243 hands during two hours of play.
Meanwhile, Blom ended up finishing Tuesday as the biggest loser after dropping $627,533 in 2,138 hands over 18 sessions, while Ray, who was up $400,000 at one point, ended up losing $722,000 to Hansen and finished the day a $405,504 loser.
Blom Rebounds to Win Another $991,700
Thursday, May 16 was shaping up to be a bad day for Viktor “Isildur1” Blom as he dropped six figures to “SallyWoo” and Kyle “KPR16” Ray playing $2,000/$4,000 FLO8; however, lady luck soon smiled upon him. It began when he recouped his losses and won $177,000 more playing Ray and Patrik “FinndaGrind” Antonius.
From there he moved to the $500/$1,000 CAP PLO and proceeded to play three six-max tables that included Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Sam “S3 TRX” Trickett, Jens “Ingenious89” Kyllönen and of course his nemesis Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene. It could have been a hell of a game, but it was short lived as none of the players put in more than an hour. In fact, it took Trickett less than 100 hands to lose $134,000.
Eventually it was just Blom and Galfond remaining and the two played for nearly four hours, and in the last hour of that the Swede drove his profit from $170,000 up to $814,000! Galfond eventually left $741,000 in the red while Blom logged off a $991,700 winner.
Since it was a CAP game there were plenty of maxed pots. Here are a couple of them.
Hand #1: Action was fourhanded when Phil “Polarizing” Ivey ($41,500) opened for $3,000 under the gun and was immediately met by a three-bet to $10,500 by Blom ($40,000) on the button. When action reached Tollerene ($267,924) in the big blind he opted to cap it with a four-bet to $35,000. Ivey got out of the way and Blom made the call.
Tollerene: K♠4♠A♦3♦
Blom: A♠J♠10♣9♣
Both players held an ace, but that was the only card they had in common. The 2♣2♥8♠ flop wasn’t particularly interesting, but the 10♠ turn was good for Blom as it paired his ten and gave him the nut-flush draw. As it turned out the pair of tens was good enough as the 6♥ blanked on the river. Ship the $83,498 pot to Blom.
Hand #2:
Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)
Week’s biggest winners (5/10-5/16): Gus Hansen (+$1,772,993), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$1,599,428), “Trueteller” (+$394,574), Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (+$389,958), “HC_68”* (+$192,776), “FaKeOrReal”* (+$179,234)
Week’s biggest losers: Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (-$738,337), Kyle “KPR16” Ray (-$720,254), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (-$689,152), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (-$623,649), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (-$593,069), Hac “trex313” Dang (-$410,240), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky* (-$314,672)
Year’s biggest winners: Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$4,515,400), Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (+$2,622,616), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (+$2,478,957), Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$1,842,645), Tom “durrrr” Dwan (+$1,485,275), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (+$1,431,510), “Odd_Oddsen”* (+$1,228,025), “SallyWoo” (+$1,104,716), “1Il|1Il|1il|”* (+$1,028,648), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$845,708), “kagome kagome” (+$794,994), Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton (+$690,415)
Year’s biggest losers: Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$2,297,409), Gus Hansen (-$1,351,463), “patpatpanda” (-$1,330,885), “samrostan” (-$1,271,931), Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$1,220,399), “punting-peddler” (-$1,099,064), Hac “trex313” Dang (-$1,069,211), Kyle “KPR16” Fray (-$932,238)
*Denotes PokerStars
Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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