The Online Railbird Report: Dan Cates Primed to Finish as 2014's Biggest Winner

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Dec 19, 2014 5 min read

Welcome to the final Online Railbird Report of 2014!

Next week we’ll be on a holiday break, which means we won’t return until Friday, Jan. 2. That piece will highlight the biggest winners and losers of the year, and unless something dramatic unfolds over the next two weeks, it looks like Dan “jungleman12” Cates will take down top honors while Gus Hansen, who is down more than $5.4 million, will be the biggest loser by a more than 2-1 margin over Phil “Polarizing” Ivey, who is down $2.5 million.

Cates actually sits atop the 2014 leaderboard with over $2.8 million in winnings on Full Tilt Poker; however, that doesn’t take into account the $631,288 he’s won on PokerStars under the “w00ki3z.” moniker. That puts him up over $3.4 million this year, and the only player with a realistic shot of catching him is Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz, who is up just shy of $2.5 million. Unfortunately, neither of them put in much volume this week, so it doesn’t look like they’re too eager to contend for the title.

That said, there was still plenty of action on both Full Tilt and PokerStars over the past seven days. “bbvisbadforme” was the week’s biggest winner with $403,196 in 831 hands over six sessions on FTP, which is also where Kyle “KPR16” Ray won $291,652 in 389 hands over three sessions. Likewise, last week’s biggest winner, Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby, won $174,780 on FTP, though he did lose $123,315 playing on PokerStars, so it balanced out. Speaking of PokerStars, Ivey was that site’s biggest winner banking $209,633 in 2,644 hands over 21 sessions under the “RaiseOnce” screenname.

On the other end of the spectrum, “kagome kagome” was the week’s biggest loser after dropping $352,343 in 1,247 hands over 13 sessions on FTP. Not far behind was Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau (-$305,940 in 8 sessions/526 hands), while Eugene “fishosaurusREX” Yanayt was the third-biggest loser dropping $174,686 in 4,561 hands over 26 sessions. On PokerStars, “JesusLebtNOT” was the biggest loser having lost $155,456 in 1,145 hands over eight sessions.

“bbvisbadforme” the Weekend’s Only Six-Figure Winner

On Saturday, Dec. 13, “bbvisbadforme” finished as the day’s biggest winner with $223,900 in profit, which came from the 2-7 triple draw tables. In fact, most of it came over three hours in a match against “kagome kagome” and Ivey. The triumvirate began playing in the morning, and “bbvisbadforme” actually got off to a horrendous start dropping $90,000 in the first 30 minutes.

Ivey was the beneficiary up $122,000, but within an hour “bbvisbadforme” hit a $300,000 heater. Ivey lost his lead and ended up $93,000 in the red, while “kagome kagome” was the game’s biggest loser dropping $105,000.

A day later, “bbvisbadforme” was back at it against Ivey and Kibler-Melby, and it took him just 16 minutes to win another $97,000. According to HighStakesDB, “bbvisbadforme” was the weekend’s only six-figure winner; in fact, the only other big winners were Chun Lei “SamRostan” Zhou, who won $79,400 playing $400/$800 mixed games on PokerStars; and Luke “__FullFlush1__” Schwartz, who won $65,800 in two hours off Eugene “fishosaurusREX” Yanayt at the $300/$600 2-7 triple draw tables.

“Isildur1” Makes an Appearance at the 2-7 Triple Draw Tables

The Online Railbird Report: Dan Cates Primed to Finish as 2014's Biggest Winner 101 — Viktor "Isildur1" Blom

You don’t see much of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom these days, especially since the Swede and Full Tilt Poker parted ways back in October. Still, on Monday, Dec. 15 he was spotted at the 2-7 triple draw tables, which is where he won $204,000.

Blom kicked things off by taking on Kibler-Melby in a nearly five-hour match at the $500/$1,000 stakes. Blom was down $90,000 at one point, but battled back to finish as a small winner with $19,300 in profit. From there, he faced off against “bbvisbadforme” and won $24,700 in 80 minutes, and then an hour later he was battling “Sanlker.” In two hours he relived the German of $22,700,and then the duo upped the stakes by switching to the $1,000/$2,000 tables. That proved to be a big mistake for “Sanlker,” who dropped another $111,500 in two hours. Compounding the issue, “Sanlker” agreed to head to the $1,500/$3,000 tables where he lost $57,000 in 10 minutes.

Because the last match didn’t start until the servers switched over, Blom ended up finishing Monday with $148,000, which was more than enough to make him the day’s biggest winner. In fact, the next closest was “Zugwat,” who won $72,100, nearly all of which came from Eugene “fishosaurusREX” Yanayt at the $200/$400 2-7 triple draw tables.

Ray, Ivey and Kibler-Melby All Notch $200K+ Wins in Tuesday Action

Whenever Viktor “Isildur1” Blom makes an appearance, the games are sure to heat up. That was the case on Tuesday when the 2-7 triple draw and fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo (FLO8) tables were in full swing. Here are some highlights from Tuesday’s action:

Kyle “KPR16” Ray finished as the day’s biggest winner with $291,700 in profit, all of which came from the $2,000/$4,000 FLO8 tables against Blom.
Blom lost big at the FLO8 tables, but he didn’t do too bad elsewhere. Granted, he lost $70,000 to “Carlooo13” in just 14 minutes, but he did win $200,000 at the 2-7 triple draw tables from “Sanlker,” “kagome kagome,” and Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau.
Phil “Polarizing” Ivey won a hefty $253,800 off “Carlooo13” in three hours of $2,000/$4,000 FLO8.
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby won $207,900 from a single hour of play at the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables. His victim was the aforementioned Luneau.

The Ivey Train Gets Rolling

On Wednesday, Dec. 17, Ivey was spotted on PokerStars, which is where he plays under “RaiseOnce.” It was a good day for the poker pro, who finished as the day’s biggest winner banking $135,400 in eight hours playing $400/$800 8-Game and $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw.

It was a four-hour, 457-hand session in the latter game that saw Ivey do the most damage, winning $145,000 against the likes of “RaulGonzales,” “Trueteller,” and “JesusLebtNOT.” However, Ivey did lose $56,000 to “Carlooo13” playing $2,000/$4,000 FLO8 on Full Tilt, so his daily haul wasn’t quite as big as it seemed.

On Thursday, Ivey was back at the $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw tables and won $48,000 from “RaulGonzales,” and then, in the early Friday morning hours, Ivey was spotted on FTP playing under his moniker “Polarizing.” That’s where he won $126,900 from Kyle “KPR16” Ray in just 90 minutes of $2,000/$4,000 FLO8.

Here’s a look at a notable hand from Ivey’s match against “RaulGonzales”:

Biggest Winners/Losers from Dec. 12-18

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
“bbvisbadforme”	$403,196	“kagome kagome”	$352,343
Kyle “KPR16” Ray	$291,652	Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau	$305,940
Phil “RaiseOnce” Ivey	$209,633	Eugene “fishosaurusREX” Yanayt	$174,686
Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby	$174,780	“JesusLebtNOT”	$155,456
“kardioloq”	$132,745	“Sanlker”	$150,068

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Dan “jungleman12” Cates	$2,806,158	Gus Hansen	$5,466,295
Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz	$2,493,723	Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	$2,541,057
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius	$1,704,154	Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion	$1,222,910
Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton	$1,277,272	Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond	$1,082,089
Doug “WCGRider” Polk	$1,077,969	Paul “MalACEsia” Phua	$823,325
“EireAbu”	$829,923	Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky	$687,215
Christoph “Tight-Man1” Vogelsang	$675,651	“tyme2gamb0l111”	$445,351
Dan “w00ki3z.” Cates	$631,288	Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar	$398,377