The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen's Disastrous Year Continues

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Sep 12, 2014 7 min read

The 2014 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is currently taking place on PokerStars, but that hasn��t stopped the high-stakes cash games from spreading on both that site and Full Tilt Poker.

In last week��s Online Railbird Report, we told you how Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius finished as the week��s biggest winner with $745,346 in profit. This week Antonius followed that up with a $371,840 in 3,476 hands over 25 sessions. It was a nice week for the Finn, but three other players booked bigger wins.

German pro ��Sanlker�� took home the biggest winner honors after banking $685,203 in 6,480 hands over 90 sessions on Full Tilt Poker, while Rui ��PepperoniF�� Cao was PokerStars�� biggest winner after profiting $447,434 in 4,215 hands over 52 sessions (he dropped $312,010 on Full Tilt, so his win wasn��t as impressive as it seems). Sitting third on the leaderboard was Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom, who lost $510,793 last week but rebounded a bit by winning $381,249 in 8,013 hands over 78 sessions.

In last week��s Online Railbird Report we also told you about Gus Hansen, who was the biggest loser after dropping $500,623. Well, it was another bad week for Hansen, who lost $751,486 in 10,223 hands over 142 sessions. Hansen was already 2014��s biggest loser, and his latest loss put him down $5,522,853, which is more than twice as much as the $2,034,348 of the second-biggest loser, Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey. Speaking of Ivey, he managed a decent win this week by profiting $218,192 in 3,663 hands over 40 sessions.

Ivey Banks $656,800 in Friday Action

On Friday, Sept. 5, Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey finished as the biggest winner of the day with a robust $656,800 in profit. More than half of that �� $365,000 to be exact �� came from a two-hour session at the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables against Gus Hansen and ��Sanlker,�� while the rest came from 350 hands at the 8-Game table against the likes of Chun Lei ��samrostan�� Zhou, Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius, Alexander ��PostflopAction�� Kostritsyn, and Dan ��jungleman12�� Cates.

Kostritsyn and Cates were involved in the day��s biggest pot. It happened in a round of $300/$600 no-limit hold��em when action was four-handed. Cates ($178,226) opened for $1,500 from the button and then called when Kostritsyn ($73,198.50) three-bet to $5,300. When the flop fell 4?5?2?, Kostritsyn bet $5,600, Cates called, and the 10? appeared on the turn.

Kostritsyn bet again, this time $17,000, and Cates called to see the Q? river. Kostritsyn shoved all in for his last $45,298.50, and Cates snap-called to create a pot of $146,997. Kostritsyn tabled the J?J?, but it was no good as Cates had flopped a wheel with the A?3?.

Here��s another big hand from that match, which saw a big flip between Cates and Mikael ��punting-peddler�� Thuritz:

Cates Elaborates on ��Durrrr Challenge��; Thuritz Explains WCOOP Disqualification

The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen's Disastrous Year Continues 101 — Dan \"jungleman12\" Cates

We usually report the high-stakes action here in the Online Railbird Report, but every once in a while some interesting table talk is worth reporting. That was the case when Mikael ��punting-peddler�� Thuritz and Dan ��jungleman12�� Cates sat down together. Usually table talk is centered around the players seated, but in this case the two dished on Tom ��Durrrr�� Dwan and WCOOP.

Regarding Dwan, Cates elaborated on the incomplete ��Durrrr Challenge.�� Back in 2010, Cates laid $500,000 to Dwan��s $1.5 million that he could win the open challenge. For those who may have forgotten about said challenge, here��s how Dwan originally issued it:

��Four tables, minimum of $200/$400, and I'll put up $1.5 million to their $500,000. We play 50,000 hands minimum and if they end up a dollar after rake they keep the side money or whatever. So basically, if you and I played and you won a dollar, you would get my $1.5 million and if I won a dollar I would win your $500,000. So I'm giving a million dollars free if anyone thinks they can do it."

Anyway, Cates is up $$1,251,059 after 19,335 hands of the 50,000-hand challenge, and now he feels he is getting scammed. Here is the chat box conversation he had with Thuritz:

punting-peddler: jungle not whining so much today when ur up 3.5 buyins
jungleman12: not up
punting-peddler: aha then im really surprised
punting-peddler: ah i guess i havnt won a pot yet against u
jungleman12: its easy to whine against you specifically
jungleman12: since ur endless luckbox ofc
punting-peddler: ur the one with the blessed account not me
jungleman12: blessed funny
jungleman12: 3m hands and i win
jungleman12: must be blessed
jungleman12: featured pro scams me
jungleman12: must be blessed
punting-peddler: yeye whatever
punting-peddler: what?
punting-peddler: who scamed u
jungleman12: tom
punting-peddler: aha i see
punting-peddler: im sure he will pay u
jungleman12: big scam
jungleman12: yeah ok
jungleman12: as soon as he finishes his angle
punting-peddler: but indeed takjing a long time
jungleman12: he doesnt have to play if its not completed
jungleman12: according to him
jungleman12: ask him
punting-peddler: lol
punting-peddler: quite a joke to say that from him
jungleman12: moment i owe him though
jungleman12: oh wheres my money??? he says
punting-peddler: well i really hope he finishes it
punting-peddler: pretty ridic not to complete
jungleman12: yes

Since Cates opened up to Thuritz, he decided to do the same and tell the story about the time he won the 2007 WCOOP Main Event for $1.2 million and was subsequently disqualified for multi-accounting, which he claims he didn��t do. Here��s that exchange:

The Online Railbird Report: Gus Hansen's Disastrous Year Continues 102 — Mikael ��punting-peddler�� Thuritz

punting-peddler: i had a big bad beat
punting-peddler: i won the wcoop 2007
punting-peddler: didnt get paid for 1.2m
punting-peddler: and i didnt multi account
jungleman12: ???
punting-peddler: TheV0id
punting-peddler: was my acc
punting-peddler: my backers sisters account because he wanted to play on his own
punting-peddler: that why i played on this account that had never played one hand before
punting-peddler: i won and got disqualified in 2 weeks proccess
punting-peddler: they paid all the other ITM guys the money
jungleman12: oh
jungleman12: ul
jungleman12: id be on rage tilt
punting-peddler: i wasnt too happy
punting-peddler: lol
punting-peddler: but then i won quite a bit so it was fine lol
punting-peddler: but still i think pokerstars decision was way too over the top
jungleman12: yeah for sure

��Sanlker�� and Rio ��PepperoniF�� Cao Win on Saturday

On Saturday, Sept. 6, ��Sanlker�� was the day��s biggest winner after winning $197,900 playing 2-7 triple draw on Full Tilt Poker against players like ��Kagome Kagome,�� ��Trueteller,�� and Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey, just to name a few.

Meanwhile over on PokerStars, Rui ��PepperoniF�� Cao put in some time playing $500/$1,000 2-7 triple draw and both $50/$100 and $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha where he won $118,000 and $59,800 respectively. Cao won his three biggest pots playing $100/$200 PLO, and here they are.

Hand #1: Action was heads-up when Ben ��Sauce123�� Sulsky ($27,200.45) opened for $600 from the button only to have Cao ($39,828.97) three-bet to $1,800 from the big blind. Sulsky called, both players checked the A?4?8? flop, and the 10? appeared on the turn. Cao checked, Sulsky bet $2,798, and Cao check-raised to $7,800. Sulsky called and then called off his remaining $17,600.45 when Cao bet $19,198 on the 2? river. Sulsky tabled the 6?5?4?10? for two pair, but it was no good as Cao held a bigger two pair with the A?10?J?3?. Ship the $54,400.90 pot to Cao.

Hand #2: The game and players were the same when Cao ($39,043.91) opened for $400 and then called when Sulsky ($21,796) three-bet to $1,200. Cao then called bets of $1,390.84 and $4,477.57 on the 2?3?9? flop and A? turn respectively before Sulsky bet all in for $14,134.82 on the K? river. Cao called with the 3?3?8?7? for a flopped set, and it was good enough to win the $42,406.46 pot as Sulsky only had two pair with the A?9?5?J?.

Hand #3:

Kibler-Melby Wins $784,800 on Sunday

On Sunday, Sept. 7, the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables were going strong and one man who took advantage was Cort ��thecortster�� Kibler-Melby, who won $784,800 in 2,579 hands over 17 hours of play. According to HighStakesDB, Kibler-Melby was even after 11 hours of play, but caught a heater in the evening as he notched six-figure wins at four different tables.

Here are some other highlights from Sunday��s action as reported by HighStakesDB:

Alex ��Alexonmoon�� Luneau who $372,300 in 1,174 hands of 2-7 triple draw.
Rui ��PepperoniF�� Cao once again won on PokerStars, winning $100,700 playing 2-7 triple draw and PLO.
Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom lost $180,000 to ��Carlooo13�� playing $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi/low. Carlooo13 went on to win $208,800 on the day, which made him the day��s third-biggest winner.

Sunday was kind to Kibler-Melby, but so was Monday, which is when he won an additional $380,700 playing a heads-up match against ��Trueteller�� that took 3.5 hours. That score was nice, but it wasn��t enough to make Kibler-Melby the day��s biggest winner as ��Follow The Hawk�� captured that honor with $581,700 in profit playing 998 hands of 2-7 triple draw.

Biggest Winners/Losers from Sept. 4-11

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
��Sanlker��	$685,203	Gus Hansen	$751,486
Rui ��PepperoniF�� Cao	$447,434	Rui Cao	$312,010
Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom	$381,249	��bbvisbadforme��	$238,213
Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius	$371,840	Dan ��jungleman12�� Cates	$176,786
Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey	$218,192	Mikael ��punting-peddler�� Thuritz	$159,824

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Dan ��jungleman12�� Cates	$2,679,713	Gus Hansen	$5,522,853
Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius	$2,313,781	Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey	$2,034,348
Mikael ��punting-peddler�� Thuritz	$1,957,242	Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom	$1,310,928
Doug ��WCGRider�� Polk	$754,099	Elior ��Crazy Elior�� Sion	$1,135,936
Christoph ��Tight-Man1�� Vogelsang	$663,477	Phil ��OMGClayAiken�� Galfond	$,1082,089
Niki Jedlicka	$624,921	Paul ��MalACEsia�� Phua	$823,325
Ike ��luvtheWNBA�� Haxton	$582,932	Ben ��Sauce1234�� Sulsky	$665,133