The Online Railbird Report: Sahamies Falls Out of Top Spot and Verbally Berates Cates
For most of 2015, Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies sat atop the yearly leaderboard as online poker's biggest winner. He was up over $1 million at one point, but since then he's slipped back down to $882,841 in winning, which has allowed "JayP-AA" to take over the top spot.
It was likely a frustrating turn of events for Sahamies, who acted a bit by drunkenly berating Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates earlier today. You can read more about that below. In the meantime, let's take a look at the biggest online winners and losers in the last week of action on Full Tilt and PokerStars.
While Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, drove the action last week, they were nowhere to be found this week. Instead, it was Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz who finished as the week's biggest winner with $247,647 in profit from 7,095 hands over 47 sessions. Also winning on PokerStars was "flong78" (+$125,771), though he lost $40,000 on Full Tilt.
Speaking of that site, Jean-Robert Bellande was their biggest winner with $121,457 in profit from 2,061 hands over 15 sessions, while Prahlad "Spirit Rock" Friedman was the week's biggest loser after dropping $134,686 in 8,750 hands over 26 sessions on Full Tilt.
Kostritsyn Finishes as Friday's Biggest Winner
On Friday, March 27, Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn finished as the day's biggest winner after profiting $110,400 on PokerStars, which is where he played for 12 straight hours. Nearly half of that came from 651 hands over nine hours at $400/$800 8-game against players like Chun Lei "SamRostan" Zhou, Patrik "Fake Love888" Antonius, and Sahamies, just to name a few. Sahamies ended up winning $83,000 playing 8-game, and added to that with $25,000 and $2,800 wins in 2-7 triple draw and fixed-limit hold'em, respectively.
In other Friday news, HighStakesDB reported that Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby won $98,500 playing 2-7 triple draw on Full Tilt, most of which came from heads-up play against Blom. Meanwhile, Thuritz won $64,100 playing a mix of 8-game, pot-limit Omaha, and triple draw.
In one of his more notable hands, which took place at a $50/$100 PLO table, Thuritz ($27,169.86) raised to $300, "steamraise" ($17,035) called, and the flop came down J♠5♣2♦. After a check, Thuritz bet $400 and then called when "steamraise" check-raised to $1,518.40. When the 5♦ appeared on the turn, "steamraise" bet $2,362.62, Thuritz called, and the A♣ completed the board on the river. "Steamraise" bet $6,688.03 and Thuritz made a quick call. "Steamraise" tabled the J♣6♣9♥3♥ for jacks and fives, but it was no good as Thuritz tabled the 8♦6♥4♦5♠ for trip fives. Ship the $21,738.10 pot to Thuritz.
Thuritz Keeps the Ball Rolling on Monday; Sulsky and "Juri Nikulin" Book Wins
On Monday, March 30, Thuritz was back at it by winning $109,900 at the $400/$800 8-game tables, which was enough to make him the day's biggest winner. Thuritz's win came after six-tabling for eight hours, during which time he played against such players as Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion and George Danzer.
On the same day, Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky played heads-up against "Educa-p0ker" at three tables of $50/$100 no-limit hold'em on PokerStars. He managed to win $54,400 over the course of two hours to finish as the day's second-biggest winner.
In their biggest pot, Sulsky ($16,753.83) opened for $271 only to have "Educa-p0ker" ($19,710.26) three-bet to $1,000. Not to be outdone, Sulsky four-bet to $2,472.18, "Educa-p0ker" called, and the flop came down A♣10♠7♦. "Educa-p0ker" check-called a bet of $1,473.49, and then check-called one of $2,929.10 on the 8♣ turn. When the J♦ completed the board on the river, "Educa-p0ker" checked for a third time, but still called when Sulsky shoved for his last $9,879.06. "Educa-p0ker" tabled the A♠K♥ for top pair, but he watched the $33,507.66 pot pushed to Sulsky, who had flopped a set with the 10♥10♦.
In other Monday news, "Juri Nikulin" was the biggest winner on Full Tilt after winning $53,700, most of which came off "Slick Eli" at the $50/$100 no-limit hold'em tables. Here's a look at a couple hands from that match.
Hand #1: "SlickEli" ($13,746) raised to $400 from the button and was met by a three-bet to $1,700 from "Juri Nikulin" ($15,391). "SlickEli" responded by four-bet shoving for $13,746 and "Juri Nikulin" made the call.
"SlickEli": 2♠2♣
"Juri Nikulin": J♥J♦
"SlickEli" was dominated, and he failed to catch as the board ran out a dry 5♥9♣4♥8♦9♠. Ship the $27,492 pot to "Juri Nikulin."
Hand #2:
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Tollerene Closes Out March with $77,000 Win on Full Tilt
On Tuesday, March 31, Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene finished as Full Tilt's biggest winner with $77,000 in profit from 438 hands. Surprisingly, the win didn't come from his usual pot-limit Omaha exploits, but rather off Friedman at the $50/$100 no-limit hold'em tables. The duo only played a single table, and everything seemed to go Tollerene's way, which included winning the day's biggest pot.
It happened when Tollerene ($47,727) opened for $250 on the button and Friedman ($40,236) raised to $1,000. Tollerene made the call and then called a bet of $2,000 on the K♠2♠7♦ flop. When the 4♦ appeared on the turn, Friedman bet $6,000, Tollerene called, and the A♦ completed the board on the river. Friedman bet again, this time $18,000, and then called off his last $13,236 after Tollerene moved all in. Tollerene rolled over the K♦6♦ for flopped top pair which turned into the nut runner-runner flush, and Friedman mucked while watching the $80,472 pot pushed to his opponent.
A Drunken Ilari Sahamies Talks Trash to Daniel Cates
In the early morning hours of Friday, April 3, Sahamies and Cates played a little $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha, and during that time some contentious table talk took place, Sahamies, who admitted he was drunk, fueled most of it. Below is a sample of what was said, but you can view the entire exchange on TwoPlusTwo:
Ilari Fin: wookiez semi gay
…
w00ki3z.: illari semi idiot
Ilari Fin: wookiez
Ilari Fin: u r f gay
Ilari Fin: that’s it
w00ki3z.: lol
w00ki3z.: clearly
Ilari Fin: ike is cool
…
Ilari Fin: im totally drunk
Ilari Fin: wookiez might be guy who doesn't like boy or girl…neutri
…
w00ki3z.: you still owe me that 1K grimm for a while ago
Ilari Fin: wookiez f u
w00ki3z.: at 5001k
Ilari Fin: i don't owe u any
w00ki3z.: yes you do
w00ki3z.: owe me button at 5001k
Ilari Fin: u owe me your life
Ilari Fin: g ay
…
Ilari Fin: wookiez…u r g ay and its ok
w00ki3z.: illari youre kind of an idiot
Ilari Fin: we r fine with that
w00ki3z.: and maybe a scum
…
w00ki3z.: i have gf genius
Ilari Fin: u have none
Biggest Winners/Losers from March 26 – April 1
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz | $247,647 |
 Prahlad "Spirit Rock" Friedman | $134,686 | |
|
"flong78" | $125,771 |
"SlickEli" | $53,759 | |
|
"Jean-Robert B" | $121,457 |
"flong78" | $40,000 | |
|
"spaise411" | $92,118 |
"bonuuz929" | $28,431 | |
|
"NoelHayes" | $84,144 |
"Sanlker" | $25,612 | |
|
Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky | $80602 |
"darrenelias" | $23,056 |
Year's Biggest Winners/Losers
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
"JayP-AA" | $912,490 |
Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $1,513,973 | |
|
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies | $882,841 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $614,135 | |
|
"bbvisbadforme" | $837,097 |
Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond | $476,279 | |
|
Mikael "punting-peddler" Thuritz | $340,922 |
"Sanlker" | $423,042 | |
|
Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion | $311,825 |
"Patriktortonius" | $317,274 | |
|
Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky | $262,981 |
"CoeJassidy" | $255,450 |
Data, hands, and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
