The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom & Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar Win Big

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Sep 06, 2013 6 min read Last updated Oct 31, 2016

Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar & Viktor "Isildur1" Blom

Season 10 of the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour kicked off in Barcelona last weekend, and attracted some big names to the festival including Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies, “Odd_Oddsen” and Ignat “0Human0” Liviu. Even so, the high-stakes online cash games were going strong as players like Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar fueled the action.

Millar finished as the week’s biggest winner after banking $1,257,962 in 3,346 hands over 41 session. The next biggest winner was “Denoking” (+$716,679 in 6 sessions/1,797 hands), and Blom was close behind with $694,379 in profit from 14,013 hands over 141 sessions. Other winners this week included Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$394,856 in 14 sessions/1,211 hands), Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$334,949 in 33 sessions/2,803 hands) and Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$315,199 in 10 sessions/699 hands).

As far as the weekly losers are concerned, “SallyWoo” was the biggest after dropping $1,090,924 in 2,020 hands over a dozen sessions, while “MalACEsia” wasn’t far behind after losing $925,537 in 1,304 hands over eight sessions. Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond also lost fairly big, losing $485,580 in 5,434 hands over 30 sessions.

“Sanlker” Banks $320K in $400/$800 NLHE Action on Friday

On Friday, Aug. 30, German pro and no-limit hold’em specialist “Sanlker” was busy plying his trade at the $400/$800 no-limit hold’em tables. It was there that he took on “Trueteller” and “MalACEsia” for 90 minutes and walked away a $320,000 winner. The majority of that — $225,000 to be exact — came from “MalACEsia,” while $94,600 came off “Trueteller.” Not surprisingly, “Sanlker” took down the two biggest pots of the day.

Hand #1: Action was three-handed when “MalACEsia” ($74,089) folded the button, “Trueteller” ($99,584) raised to $2,850 from the small blind and “Sanlker” ($186,304) called from the big. When the flop came down 7?5?10?, “Trueteller” led out for $4,120.50 and then called when “Sanlker” raised to $11,000. “Trueteller” then check-called $14,075 on the J? before checking a second time when the 9? completed the board on the river.

“Sanlker” fired out $33,000 and “Trueteller” made a quick call. “Sanlker” rolled over the A?8? for the nuts, and “Trueteller” simply mucked. Ship the $122,299 pot to “Sanlker.”

Hand #2: Action was heads up in this hand with “Sanlker” ($349,434.50) opening the action for $1,800 from the small blind. “MalACEsia” ($52,776) three-bet to $6,200, “Sanlker” popped it to $14,900 and “MalACEsia” shoved. “Sanlker” made the call and the cards were turned up.

“MalACEsia”: K?Q?
“Sanlker”: A?Q?

According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, “Sanlker” was a 73.56% favorite while “MalACEsia” would come from behind 25.29% of the time. The 5?5?7? flop was as dry as could be, and that dropped “MalACEsia’s” chance to 12.12%. The 8? turn knocked it down even further to 6.82%, meaning he needed a king on the river to steal the $105,552 pot. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t in the cards as the 3? peeled off on the river.

Blom Moves Down in Stakes as Big Games Grind to a Halt on Sunday

The $400/$800 NLHE games have been thriving on Full Tilt Poker, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday as those tabled failed to open. Possible explanations are that players preferred the Sunday Major tournaments and that the EPT Barcelona attracted some nosebleed regulars. Due to his recent downswing, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom actually dropped down in stakes and was seen playing $25/$50 pot-limit Omaha and $500/$1,000 fixed-limit Omaha Hi/Lo (FLO8).

On such a slow day, it took just $86,800 in profit to top the daily leader board—an honor that belonged to Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau, who won against Gus Hansen and “kagome kagome” at the $1,500/$3,000 2-7 Triple Draw tables. Hansen finished as the day’s biggest loser, down $54,000.

As for the biggest pot of the day, that was a modest $83,800 pot over on PokerStars. Have a look:

Blom and Millar Revitalize the Action

Things may have been slow on Sunday, but it appeared to be more of an anomaly than anything. That’s because on Monday the $400/$800 NLHE tables were going as strong as ever thanks to Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.

Millar actually finished as the day’s biggest winner with $569,400 in profit after playing for nine hours at three tables. Surprisingly he wasn’t squaring off against his Swedish rival; instead, he was seated with players like “MalACEsia,” “Denoking” and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond.

In his biggest win, Millar ($171,429.10) was playing three-handed against “MalACEsia” ($290,940.25) and Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky ($383,736,09). Millar opened the action with a raise to $2,000 from the button and was immediately met by a three-bet to $7,200 by “MalACEsia.” Sulsky folded, Millar called and the flop fell 3?8?A?. “MalACEsia” led out for $9,200, Millar raised to $21,200 and “MalACEsia” three-bet it to $34,400. Millar made the call and then called off when “MalACEsia” shoved the 6? turn.

“MalACEsia”: 9?7?
Millar: 8?6?

“MalACEsia” had turned an open-ended straight flush draw, and he needed to hit it to overcome Millar’s turned two pair. The K? river was a dud for “MalACEsia” and he watched the juicy $343,807 pot pushed to his opponent.

As far as Blom was concerned, he halted his downswing a bit thanks to a $362,100 win mostly at the 2-7 Triple Draw tables, though $68,000 of that came off Gus Hansen at the FLO8 tables.

The Online Railbird Report: Viktor "Isildur1" Blom & Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar Win Big 101 — Ben \"Sauce1234\" Sulsky

Another winner was the aforementioned Sulsky, who won $247,800 playing NLHE. It was during that time he took down the day’s biggest pot. It happened at a five-handed table when Sulsky ($196,205) opened for $2,400 from the cutoff and Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton ($306,583.90) called from the button. Both blinds folded, the flop came down 6?8?4? and Sulsky check-called a bet of $4,000, bringing about the A? on the turn.

Sulsky check-called another bet, this time $22,000, and then checked for a third time when the 3? completed the board on the river. Haxton took the opportunity to bet $47,200 and Sulsky woke up with an all-in check-raise to $167,805. Haxton called to create a $394,057 pot but mucked when Sulsky rolled over the K?8? for a flush.

“Denoking” vs. “Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond

On Tuesday, Sept. 3, the big action was at the $300/$600 NLHE tables in a four-hour heads-up match between “Denoking” and “Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. The two started off playing a single table, and just when it looked like Galfond would run away with it after being up $180,000, “Denoking” fought back. Eventually a second table was added, but it did not discourage “Denoking,” who continued to steamroll Galfond. When all was said and done, Galfond was down $534,000 ($316,000 at one table and $217,000 at the other).

Meanwhile, “Denoking” finished as the day’s biggest winner with $620,000 thanks to an $83,000 win earlier in the day. Other winners on Tuesday were Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau ($229,500), Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar ($214,300) and Kyle “KPR16” Ray ($206,100).

Blom Back to His Million Dollar Ways

Winning and losing a million seems to be the M.O. of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom. That was the case again this week as he happened to win a million on Wednesday. The Swede’s big win started in the early morning hours with a $50,000 win against Kyle “Kpr16” Ray at the FLO8 tables and $203,000 from “SallyWoo” playing $500/$1,000 CAP PLO.

Later in the evening, Blom and “SallyWoo” were back at it. In a little over three hours, Blom took another $343,000 from his opponent. Not content to give up, “SallyWoo” returned around midnight to give it another go. A short 28 minute later, “SallyWoo” was out another $170,000. All told he dropped $716,000 to Blom on Wednesday.

Around the same time, Ray returned to the FLO8 tables hoping to exact a little revenge, but his plans were derailed when Blom destroyed him for $136,000 in 13 minutes. Blom also added wins of $75,000 and $40,700 at the 2-7 Triple Draw and $500/$1,000 CAP NLHE games respectively.

It was in the hold'em game that Blom battled Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton. There were plenty of capped pots such as this one:

Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)

Week’s Biggest Winners (8/30-9/5): Alex “IReadYrSoul” Millar (+$1,257,962), “Denoking” (+$716,679), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$694,379), Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$394,856), Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton (+$334,949), Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky (+$315,199), Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau (+$270,739), “Sanlker (+$172,610)

Week’s Biggest Losers (8/30-9/5): “SallyWoo” (-$1,090,924), “MalACEsia” (-$925,537), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (-$485,580), “KidPoker705” (-$462,431), Sebastien “Seb86” Sabic (-$316,138), Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (-$300,156)

Year’s Biggest Winners: Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon (+$3,313,385), Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene (+$2,896,433), Alexander “PostFlopAction” Kostritsyn (+$2,730,954), Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (+$2,681,930), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (+$2,574,671), “Rhje” (+$2,477,440), Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker (+$2,357,699), Hac “trex313” Dang (+$1,645,086), “Odd_Oddsen”* (+$1,498,686)

Year’s Biggest Losers: “MalACEsia” (-$3,773,524), Gus Hansen (-$3,710,091), “samrostan” (-$3,389,771), Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (-$2,980,086), “punting-peddler” (-$1,528,136), “patpatpanda” (-$1,330,885), Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver (-$1,220,399), Rui Cao (-$959,453)

*Denotes PokerStars