The Online Railbird Report: Ivey Week's Biggest Loser; Sahamies First Over a Million

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Feb 20, 2015 5 min read

This week, Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies won $220,505 to make him the first player over $1 million in online winnings for 2015. Of course he could did back down next week, but right now he tops the yearly leaderboard with $1,009,801 in profit. Even so, his six-figure score only made him the third-biggest winner this week. That's because a couple of other players were able to take advantage of the high-stakes action on both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

The week's biggest winner was actually "JayP-AA," who won $319,875 in 3,755 hands spread across 47 sessions on PokerStars. Coming in second was Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, who was last week's biggest winner with $347,585. This week, Blom won an additional $231,934 in 2,229 hands over 26 sessions on PokerStars. Meanwhile, last week's biggest loser, "bbvisbadforme," rebounded this week by winning $130,047 in 695 hands over seven sessions.

Speaking of losers, no one did worse this week than Phil "Polarizing" Ivey, who dropped $614,348 in 3,263 hands over 16 sessions. Others who finished in the red were "Sanlker" (-$335,446 in 15 sessions/2,353 hands), "Patriktortonius" (-$267,015 in 7 sessions/1,267 hands), and Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (-$67,212 in 17 sessions/2,711 hands).

Cates Notches Biggest Winner Honor on Both Full Tilt & PokerStars

On Friday, Feb. 13, Dan Cates finished as the day's biggest winner. What's more, he did so finishing as the biggest winner on both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, winning $120,900 and $109,500 respectively.

On Full Tilt, where he plays under the screenname "jungleman12," Cates played a five-hour $1,000/$2,000 8-Game heads-up match against Chun Lei "samrostan" Zhou. The 934-hand match was swingy, but Cates had the last laugh by dominating the last two hours.

In one hand, which took place in the $500/$1,000 limit hold'em round, Cates ($72,146.50) raised to $2,000 on the button and Zhou ($8,730.50) called from the big blind to see a flop of 7?10?4?. Zhou checked, Cates bet $1,000, and Zhou check-raised to $2,000. Cates called and then raised to $4,000 after Zhou had led out for $2,000 on the A? turn. Zhou three-bet all in for $4,730.50 total and Cates called. Zhou tabled the K?7? for a pair of sevens, but it was no good as Cates held a pair of tens with the 10?6?. The 3? river failed to change a thing, and Cates was pushed the $16,730.50 pot.

Over on PokerStars, where Cates plays under "w00kiez.", Cates was at the $400/$800 mixed-game tables and once again took on Zhou, who plays under the screenname "SamRostan." The duo played heads-up for 80 minutes, during which time Cates won $82,300. He added the rest playing against multiple players, but then lost a little playing pot-limit Omaha. All told Cates won $109,500 on PokerStars to bring his daily haul on both sites to $230,400.

Blom Technically Finishes as Valentine's Biggest Winner

On Saturday, Feb. 14, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom finished as the biggest Valentine's Day winner with $215,100 in profit from 568 hands. Most of it came from a $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw match against Cort "thecortster" Kibler-Melby. It started when Blom won $50,000 off Ike Haxton at the $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha tables, and he followed that up by winning $164,600 in a 77-minute, 260-hand midday session against Kibler-Melby.

According to HighStakesDB, Sebastian "taktloss47" Ruthenberg also had a good day at the 2-7 triple draw tables, winning $209,200 from "Sanlker" in for 90 minutes. Toss in his $62,700 win on PokerStars, where he took on both Phil "Polarizing" Ivey and Kibler-Melby, and $46,200 more off "RaulGonzales," well his combined win of $322,300 actually made him the biggest Valentine's Day winner.

The Online Railbird Report: Ivey Week's Biggest Loser; Sahamies First Over a Million 101 — Rui Cao

Things got even better for Ruthenberg on Sunday, which is when he returned to Full Tilt's 2-7 triple draw tables and won an additional $361,000, the vast majority of which came off Ivey and "Sanlker," who lost $219,000 and $82,000 respectively.

Cao vs. Blom in Monday PLO Action

On Monday, Feb. 16, French pro Rui Cao, who has opted out of having his long-term results tracked, was busy playing Viktor "Isildur1" Blom at the $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha tables on Full Tilt. Prior to that, Blom had won $83,600 playing $1,500/$3,000 8-game against "Patriktortonius," but he wouldn't hold on to that profit as he dropped $239,600 to Cao.

The pair played 605 hands across six tables, and the Frenchman emerged victorious on five of them. Here��s a look a look at three notables hands from the match:

Hand #1: Blom ($42,035.50) raised to $600 on the button and Cao ($29,596) called to see a flop of 6?3?J?. Cao checked, Blom bet $1,000, and Cao check-raised to $3,000. Blom made the call and then called a bet of $4,200 from Cao on the 7? turn. When the 8? completed the board on the river, Cao check-called a bet of $15,600 and tabled the 6?6?4?7? for trips. It was good enough to win the $46,800 pot as Blom only held a pair with the J?K?10?4?.

Hand #2: Cao ($26,492) opened for $600 on the button and then called when Blom ($22,398) three-bet to $1,800. The 5?A?Q? flop saw Blom bet $2,600, Cao called, and the K? peeled off on the turn. Blom bet $4,800, Cao called, and the 7? completed the board on the river. Blom moved all in for his last $13,198, and Cao wasted little time in calling. Blom tabled the A?K?J?8? for top two pair, but it was no good as Cao held a set with the Q?Q?8?6?. Ship the $44,796 pot to Cao.

Hand #3:

Hump Day Belongs to "JayP-AA"

On Wednesday, Feb. 18, "JayP-AA" finished as the day's biggest winner after banking $164,900 playing more than 1,400 hands over 6.5 hours at the $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha tables against the likes of Ola "Odd_Oddsen" Amundsgard, "jricardosc," and Jens "Jeans89" Kyll?nen, just to name a few.

In his biggest pot of the session, action was six-handed when "jricardosc" ($20,000) opened for $700 under the gun and "M.O.P." ($12,850.16) called from the button. "JayP-AA" ($42,138.33) came along from the big blind and three players saw a flop of 4?5?A?. "JayP-AA" checked, "jricardosc" bet $1,482.85, and "M.O.P." got out of the way. "JayP-AA" called and then led out for $4,145.19 on the 10? turn. A call was made and then "JayP-AA" bet $13,451.00 on the 2? river. "jricardosc" called, leaving himself just $220.88, and mucked just as soon as "JayP-AA" rolled over the K?J?10?5? to lay claim to the $40,358.24 pot.

Biggest Winners/Losers from Feb. 11-18

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
"JayP-AA"	$319,875	Phil "Polarizing" Ivey	$614,348
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom	$231,934	"Sanlker"	$335,446
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies	$220,505	"Patriktortonius"	$267,015
Dan "jungleman12" Cates	$136,705	Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond	$67,212
"bbvisbadforme"	$130,047	"dutch_maniak"	$49,257

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies	$1,009,801	Phil "Polarizing" Ivey	$782,201
"JayP-AA"	$799,231	Viktor "Isildur1" Blom	$404,391
Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion	$349,390	"Patriktortonius"	$317,274
"gunning4you"	$244,368	"Sanlker"	$299,257