The Online Railbird Report: The Return of "martonas," the Fall of Benyamine
After a quiet spell, the high-stakes online cash games roared back into action this week. All the regulars made appearances �� including Ashton ��theASHMAN103�� Griffin, Ilari ��Ziigmund�� Sahamies, andTom ��durrrr�� Dwan �� as game catalyst ��martonas�� made his first appearance at the Full Tilt Poker tables since late August when his bankroll��s meteoric rise ended with an even more severe collapse. It was a rough week for David Benyamine and a banner one for POKERBLUFFS, who continued to employ a hit-and-run strategy to success on his way to over $645,000 in winnings.
��Martonas�� returns, brings his swing set with him
After a month-long hiatus from the high-stakes online action, Swedish mystery man ��martonas�� returned to the fray this week. His first order of business was taking on Cole South at $300/$600 no-limit hold��em in which martonas managed to bank nearly $230,000 from the Full Tilt pro after a 1,000-hand session. Next he hit up Di ��Urindanger�� Dang for a four-table heads-up match and came away with a $290,000 win. Although more than half-a-million dollars in earnings for the day might prompt some players to book the win and quit, martonas kept right on rolling, taking on feared short-handed no-limit hold��em specialist (and onetime 2 Months, 2 Million guest star) Aaron ��aejones�� Jones, once Dang logged out for the evening. Martonas didn��t fare as well against Jones, sustaining a $420,000 loss.
Time to quit now, martonas? No way! Martonas made like Emeril Lagasse and kicked it up a notch, trading in the $300/$600 tables for the wilds of the $500/$1,000 level, where Dwan, Patrik Antonius and ��kingsofcards�� sat in to take shots at their favorite Swede. With everyone playing over $100,000 deep, $200,000+ pots were inevitable, the first coming when martonas and kingsofcards got their stacks in the middle preflop with martonas holding pocket kings against pocket jacks. The cowboys held, yielding martonas a $284,000 pot; however, he lost most of that coin right back to kingsofcards only a short time later in a $237,000 hand.
In the $237K hand, martonas opened for $3,000 from the button, kingsofcards three-bet to $9,000, and martonas pushed the action even further, four-betting to $22,500. Kingsofcards smooth-called, and the pot swelled to $45,000 before the 8?4?2? flop came down. Kingsofcards checked to martonas who bet $15,600, just over a third of the pot. Kingsofcards called and they went to the turn where the 9? fell. Kingsofcards checked again, martonas moved all-in for $129,590, and kingsofcards snap-called for his remaining $80,000 and change, turning over A?A?. Martonas had been firing with air until he unfortunately turned top pair with 9?6?. The river blanked out with the 8?, and kingsofcards raked in $236,814.
All in all, martonas ended that heavy day of action with a $154,000 loss after grinding out over 3,700 hands.
Mon dieu! Benyamine drops $757,000 in less than 24 hours
On most days, it��s great to be David Benyamine. The man has a multimillion dollar bankroll, a fianc�� as beautiful as she is whip-smart, and a wicked cool French accent. This, however, was not one of those days, as everyone��s favorite Frenchman sustained some stinging losses at both no-limit hold��em and pot-limit Omaha. Benyamine took on Sahamies at a little heads-up pot-limit Omaha but endured a brutal session, losing over $570,000 as Sahamies picked up the vast majority of large pots in their match. After that loss, Benyamine headed over to the $500/$1,000 no-limit hold��em tables where martonas was sitting in along with Sahamies and Griffin. Benyamine didn��t fare any better there, bleeding away another $185,000.
In the no-limit hold��em part of his evening, two of the largest pots Benyamine lost came when he found himself on the wrong end of a coin flip. His A?K? couldn��t improve against Dwan��s pocket tens in a $92,000 pot, and then things got worse against kingsofcards who snatched away this $193,000 monsterpotten.
Kingsofcards opened for $3,000, Di ��Urindanger�� Dang flat-called, and Benyamine put the squeeze on, three-bettting to $15,000 straight. Kingsofcards wasn��t about to give up his hand, however, shoving for over $174,000. The move chased away Dang, but Benyamine made the call for the nearly $80,000 he had behind, his A?K? up against kingsofcards�� two black queens. No help for Benyamine on the board, which ran out 8?8?2?J?8?, kingsofcards earning the $193,523 pot.
Hand of the Week: River soul-read yields Antonius $496,000 pot
Playing three-handed $500/$1,000 no-limit hold��em, kingsofcards opened for $2,400 from the button and Antonius made it $8,200 to go from the small blind. POKERBLUFFS folded the big blind and kingsofcards made the call. Antonius led out for $12,000 on the J?6?4? flop and kingsofcards flat-called. Antonius checked the 2? on the turn, leading kingsofcards to fire out $28,200. Antonius came over the top for $126,000, likely hoping to end the hand right there, but kingsofcards made the call. The river was the J? and Antonius checked. Kingsofcards moved all-in for his remaining $213,177 and after quite a dwell, Antonius made what could be considered the hero call of the year, putting in his remaining $101,000 and change with K?10? for only king-high. His read turned out to be dead-on as kingsofcards was bluffing with a busted gutshot straight draw and an inferior flush draw with 5?8?. Antonius�� keen read earned him the pot worth over $496,000.
Who's Up? Who's Down?
This week's biggest winners (9/28-10/4): Richard Ashby (+$930,000), POKERBLUFFS (+$646,000), Tom "durrrr" Dwan (+$585,000)
In the red: David Oppenheim (-$647,000), kingsofcards (-$605,000), Gus Hansen (-$572,000)
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