The Online Railbird Report: Blom Becomes 2013's Biggest Winner; Ivey Week's Big Loser

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Mar 15, 2013 7 min read

You win some; you lose some. That��s what Ben ��Bttech86�� Tollerene, who was last week��s biggest winner after banking $1,385,130, must have been thinking this week when he lost $478,223 in just 678 hands over 10 sessions on Full Tilt Poker, second only to the week��s biggest online loser, Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey, who dropped $815,650 in 1,512 hands across 18 sessions and became the biggest loser of 2013.

On the flip side, another million-dollar winner from last week, Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom, continued his winning ways by adding an additional $1,781,535 to his bankroll in 7,521 hands spread across 74 sessions. That made him not only the week��s biggest winner by more than three times his next closest competition, Jen ��Jeans89�� Kyll?nen, who won $536,333 in 28 sessions/2,175 hands over on PokerStars and is also the biggest winner thus far in 2013.

Joining Tollerene in the loser��s column was Kyle ��KPR16�� Ray (-$332,716 in 23 sessions/3,551 hands), Gus Hansen (-$189,190 in 71 sessions/6,539 hands) and Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan (-$178,428 in 17 sessions/3,474 hands), just to name a few.

Kostritsyn Finishes as Friday��s Biggest Winner; Ivey Takes Loser��s Title

On Friday, March 8, Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn continued to run well in 2013 by finishing as the day��s biggest winner with a $194,600 win, which came in just three hours at the 8-game mix tables against Gus Hansen. Despite the loss, the FTP Professional bounced back against Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey later in the day in just 45 minutes. That made Ivey the day��s biggest loser with $173,300 in losses.

While all eyes were focused on those three competitors, the big pots were taking place at the $100/$200 and $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha tables on PokerStars between Jen ��Jeans89�� Kyll?nen, Ben ��Sauce123�� Sulsky, Ben ��Ben86�� Tollerene and Vladimir ��GVOZDIKA55�� Shchemelev. With wins of $182,500 and $180,400, the former two players finished as the day's second- and third-biggest winners, respectively.

In Friday's biggest pot, action was heads up at a $200/$400 table when Sulsky ($101,761) opened for $1,200, Shchemelev ($56,585) called and the flop came down Q?4?7?. Shchemelev checked, Sulsky bet $1,600, and the Russian woke up with a check-raise to $5,600. Sulsky called and then called a bet of $10,000 on the J? turn, bringing about the 9? on the river. Shchemelev fired out $18,800, and then called off his remaining $20,985 after Sulsky raised to $84,961. Shchemelev turned over A?10?7?7? for a set of sevens, but it was no good as Sulsky tabled the 10?K?Q?4? to take down the $113,168 pot with a straight.

In another notable hand, action was heads up at a $100/$200 table when Kyll?nen ($57,550) opened for $600 and then called when Shchemelev ($103,025.91) three-bet to $1,600. The Russian led out for $1,200 on the A?6?A? flop, Kyll?nen called, and the 7? turned. Shchemelev slowed down with a check, but called when Kyll?nen bet $3,800. Shchemelev checked for a second time when the 10? completed the board on the river, and Kyll?nen took the opportunity to bet $10,400. Shchemelev woke up with a check-raise to $34,400 only to fold when Kyll?nen moved all in for $50,950. Ship the $82,078 pot to Kyll?nen.

Blom Wins $1 Million on Sunday; Tollerene Drops $703K

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom's recent upsurge continued on Sunday, March 10, as he won more than $1 million during a 10-hour session on FTP. After losing his heads-up match to Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier during the PokerStars-versus-Full Tilt Poker challenge in London Sunday morning, Blom hung around the virtual felts to face off against some of the site's top regulars at Omaha hi/lo, 2-7 triple draw, and pot-limit Omaha.

According to HighStakesDB.com, Blom began the day playing a brief session of $1,500/$3,000 2-7 triple draw during which he lost $163,000 in only 308 hands. After taking a short break, Blom returned to the $1,500/$3,000 2-7 triple draw table, dubbed "Enterprise," and won $98,979 in 184 hands. He was playing a table of $2,000/$4,000 Omaha hi/lo at the same time and won just under $200,000 in 356 hands, bringing his daily winnings to around $136,000.

But Blom's biggest conquest of the day came at the $400/$800 pot-limit Omaha tables against Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene. Here are some of the more notable hands from that match:

Hand #1: Blom ($194,858.70) opened for $2,700 and then called when Tollerene ($326,311.20) three-bet to $8,400, bringing about a flop of 6?4?A?. Blom then called a bet of $13,680, the A? turned, and Tollerene fired out $35,568 more. The Swede called once again and the 4? completed the board on the river. Tollerene kept the pressure on with a big bet of $92,476.80, but ended up folding when Blom moved in for $137,210.70 total. Ship the $300,549 pot to Blom.

Hand #2: Blom ($632,054.90) opened for $2,700 only to have Tollerene ($144,383.10) three-bet to $8,400. Blom then four-bet to $25,500, Tollerene five-bet to $76,800, and the Swede opted to call, bringing about a 8?8?10? flop. Tollerene wasted little time in moving all in for $67,583.10, and Blom called.

Tollerene: A?A?2?2?
Blom: J?Q?K?10?

Tollerene got it in good with aces and eights, but Blom was drawing to both a straight and flush draw. The 3? turn was of no consequence, but the J? turn was as it gave Blom the flush and $288,766 pot.

Hand #3:

Despite losing more than $700,000 to Blom, Tollerene took his loss in stride, relying on an old clich�� to describe his day.

Furthermore, on Thursday, March 14, Blom was back in action and spent 4.5 hours at the Omaha Hi-Lo tables against the likes of Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn, Kyle ��KPR16�� Ray and Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey. Blom walked away a $511,200 winner in the game, while Ivey dropped $489,000, making him the biggest loser on Full Tilt Poker so far this year.

Sulsky Tops Monday��s Leaderboard with $154,000 Win

While action on Sunday was a railbird��s dream, action slowed considerably on Monday, March 11. The day��s biggest winner ended up being Ben ��Sauce1234�� Sulsky, who won $154,100 playing No-Limit 2-7 Draw against Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan for 279 hands over two hours. That happened just after midnight, which meant action was quite slow for the rest of the day. Even so, a $300/$600 no-limit hold��em game did spring up later in the day that involved Dwan and ��Sanlker��. It was there that the two biggest pots of the day took place.

In the largest, Dwan ($227,395.29) opened for $1,600 only to have ��Sanlker�� ($112,462.64) three-bet to $5,000. Dwan then four-bet to $13,200, ��Sanlker�� called, and the flop fell A?Q?5?, which both players checked. When the K? turned, ��Sanlker�� led out for $15,840, Dwan called, and the 6? river completed the board. ��Sanlker�� fired again, this time $38,913.59, and again Dwan called. ��Sanlker�� tabled A?Q? for two pair, and it was good enough to win the $135,907 pot, because Dwan simply mucked.

In the second biggest pot of the day, ��Sanlker�� ($96,541.50) opened for $1,200 and was met by a three-bet to $3,800 by Dwan ($99,900.69). ��Sanlker�� called and then put in $5,800 more when Dwan bet the 7?Q?4? flop. Dwan kept the pressure on with a $15,400 bet on the 5? turn, but he couldn��t shake ��Sanlker,�� who called to see the Q? river. Dwan bet again, this time $38,800, and again ��Sanlker�� called to create a $127,600 pot. Dwan showed A?A? for pocket rockets, but it was no good when ��Sanlker�� rolled over K?Q? for rivered trips and the win.

Cates & Dwan Finally Square Off; ��jungleman12�� Takes $9 from ��durrrr��

Quite a few tweets have been flying back and forth between Daniel ��jungleman12�� Cates and Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan regarding the resumption of their $1,000,000 Challenge, and while it appears that will be back on in the near future, the two took to the felt for an impromptu 247-hand session of $100/$200 no-limit hold��em, which wasn��t a part of the Challenge (which requires stakes of $200/$400).

The match was short, but Dwan let Cates know it would be a short match in the chat box:

• jungleman12: whats up?
• durrrr: gtg soon n jus realized phones dead
• durrrr: dont wanna miss txt sec
• durrrr: dunno if ill b back if so dont hav long
• jungleman12: k

After just 40 minutes of play, Cates walked away a winner with $9 in profit. You read that right: $9. Although the match wasn��t exciting, it brought together two of the game��s most talented players after an extended hiatus.

Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)

Week��s biggest winners (3/7-3/13): Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom (+$1,781,535), Jen ��Jeans89�� Kyll?nen* (+$536,333), ��SiiliSuhonen��* (+$374,334), Ben ��Sauce1234�� Sulsky (+$275,814), Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn (+$245,841), ��PixKim�� (+$213,895)

Week��s biggest losers: Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey (-$815,650), Ben ��Bttech86�� Tollerene (-$478,223), Kyle ��cottonseed1�� Hendon (-$357,648), Kyle ��KPR16�� Ray (-$257,740), ��SallyWoo�� (-$257,478), ��Sanlker�� (-$209,018), Gus Hansen (-$189,190), Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan (-$187,756)

Year��s biggest winners: Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom (+$3,811,320), Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn (+$3,275,253), Ben ��Bttech86�� Tollerene (+$1,839,809), Phil ��OMGClayAiken�� Galfond (+$1,797,335), ��SallyWoo�� (+$1,493,366), ��1Il|1Il|1il|��* (+$1,035,007), Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan (+$997,228), Ronny ��ronnyr37617�� Kaiser (+$873,763)

Year��s biggest losers: Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey (-$1,884,807), Ben ��Sauce1234�� Sulsky (-$1,675,374), Gus Hansen (-$1,472,131), ��patpatpanda�� (-$1,330,885), Scott ��mastrblastr�� Seiver (-$1,191,393), ��punting-peddler�� (-$1,099,064), Alex ��IReadYrSoul�� Millar (-$1,009,788), ��CRAIN85�� (-$925,500), Ilari ��Ziigmund�� Sahamies (-$821,040), ��Johnbest�� (-$793,503)

*Denotes PokerStars

_{Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

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• Tags Alexander Kostritsyn Ben Tollerene Full Tilt Poker Online Poker Tom Dwan Viktor Blom Railbird Report
• Related Players Alexander KostritsynTom DwanViktor BlomBen Tollerene