The Online Railbird Report: Sanlker and Kibler-Melby Battle; Ivey Wins, and More

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Dec 05, 2014 6 min read Last updated Dec 06, 2014

The Online Railbird Report took a one-week break to observe the Thanksgiving holiday in the States, but now it’s back recapping two weeks worth of online high-stakes action on both Full Tilt and PokerStars.

The biggest winner from Nov. 21-Dec. 4 was “Sanlker,” who won $593,527 in 7,243 hands over 31 sessions on Full Tilt Poker. Other winners on the site included “AthaCliath” (+$225,359 in 47 sessions/5,129 hands) and Phil “Polarizing” Ivey (+$199,755 in 20 sessions/5,139 hands). In our last Online Railbird Report, we talked about how Ivey was driving the high-stakes action, but he was actually offline during the holidays.

On the other end of the spectrum, “J B E Z 2 E Z” was the biggest loser over the past two weeks, dropping $267,049 in 1,839 hands over seven sessions. Likewise, Dani “Ansky451” Stern (-$169,526 in 10 sessions/893 hands) and Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (-$147,473 in 5 sessions/1,332 hands) also posted losses.

In other news, PokerStars celebrated its historic Billionth Tournament, which attracted 34,081 players and shattered the $2 million guarantee by creating a prize pool of $3,408,100, not to mention an additional $200,000 in cash and prizes awarded at random during the first two hours of the tournament. In the end, Uruguay’s “kofi89” defeated Germany’s “kaveh001” in heads-up play to win the $329,586 first-place prize. You can read more about that event by clicking here.

“Denoking” vs. Tollerene in $200/$400 NLHE Action

On Friday, Nov. 21, “Denoking” and Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene squared off at the $200/$400 no-limit hold’em tables for the better part of seven hours. It was a rare venture outside the pot-limit Omaha realm for Tollerene, but it paid dividends as he took his Swedish opponent for $570,700.

Even though Tollerene won the match, "Denoking" was able to snag the day’s biggest pot. It happened when "Denoking" ($222,041.75) raised to $1,200 on the button and then called when Tollerene ($63,208.65) three-bet to $3,800. Tollerene continued for $3,800 on the 3?4?10? flop, "Denoking" called, and the 5? appeared on the turn.

Tollerene slowed down with a check, but he still called when "Denoking" bet $5,600. When the J? completed the board on the river, Tollerene checked and then called off his last $50,008.65 after "Denoking" moved all in. "Denoking" rolled over the 4?4? for a set, and it was good enough to win the $126,417 pot as Tollerene sent his cards to the muck unseen.

“Sanlker” Begins to Build; Big Pot for Ivey

On Saturday, Nov. 22, “Denoking” exacted revenge on Tollerene by winning $397,100 at the $200/$400 no-limit hold’em tables, but he was not the only big winner. That’s because Germany’s “Sanlker” banked $379,600 after playing $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw for 13 hours.

It began when he took $175,000 from Cort “thecortster” Kibler-Melby in just 134 hands over an hour, and then won $76,900 more after taking on Ivey and “Trueteller” for four hours. He went on to win $127,800 more off various opponents to make him the day’s second biggest winner.

Speaking of Ivey, he finished as the day’s third-biggest winner after profiting $291,500, though he did lose the day’s biggest pot playing 8-game against “HoldemJill9.” Have a look:

Hansen Returns to Virtual Felt; Mixes It Up at 2-7 Triple Draw Tables

Earlier this week, PokerNews reported the return of Gus Hansen, thus far 2014’s biggest online loser, to the virtual felt. The “Great Dane” had been absent since September, but he got right back into the swing of things by sitting down at the 2-7 triple draw tables at the end of November.

The Online Railbird Report: Sanlker and Kibler-Melby Battle; Ivey Wins, and More 101 — Gus Hansen

According to Jason Glatzer: “Hansen lost $132,000 playing 2-7 triple draw and 8-game mix the first four days of his return from Nov. 24-27. Unwilling to give up and eager cut his losses, Hansen started to rebound just about when the clock turned to midnight against the likes of ‘Sanlker,’ ‘Trueteller,’ and Patrik ‘FinddaGrind’ Antonius. On Nov. 28, Hansen won back all he lost and then some, bringing his five-day win total to $56,560.”

For more on Hansen’s return, check out PokerNews’ dedicated article.

“Sanlker” and Kibler-Melby Drive the Action

“Sanlker,” the German pro, actually lost $126,000 to Kibler-Melby playing 2-7 triple on Saturday, Nov. 29, but a day later he was back and promptly won $289,900 playing at the $2,000/$4,000 stakes.

It came over two sessions, with the first being against Kibler-Melby. Within 30 minutes, "Sanlker" had erased the previous day’s losses and actually turned a profit. All told, "Sanlker" won $198,000 in the match. Later that evening, "Sanlker" was back, though this time he faced off against Sebastian “taktloss47” Ruthenberg for 2.5 hours. "Sanlker" pulled out to a $190,000 lead at one point, but Ruthenberg mounted a little comeback and ended a $91,900 loser.

On the first day of December, the dynamic duo was back at it, and wouldn’t you know it, the pendulum swung back in Kibler-Melby’s favor as he won $324,900. However, his momentum was short lived as the two returned the following day and "Sanlker" won $290,000. It seems these two have established a friendly rivalry over the past couple weeks and only time will tell how long it’ll continue. Rest assured we’ll keep an eye on it for future editions of the Online Railbird Report.

On a side note, “Ravenswood13” finished Dec. 1 as PokerStars biggest winner after banking $96,000 playing $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha for 128 hands over an hour. It was there he took on the likes of Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky and Ilari “Ilari FIN” Sahamies, who lost $60,000 and $36,000, respectively. It was during this time the biggest pot of the day took place.

It began when "Ravenswood13" ($68,896.06) opened for $700 on the button and Sahamies ($37,194.64) called from the small blind. Sulsky ($37,194.64) came along from the big and three players saw a flop of 5?A?Q?. Two checks saw "Ravenswood13" continue for $1,717.90, Sahamies folded, and Sulsky check-raised to $5,000. "Ravenswood13" called and then called a bet of $8,200 on the K? turn.

When the 8? completed the board on the river, Sulsky checked and then called off his last $23,294.64 after "Ravenswood13" moved all in. Sulsky tabled the Q?J?7?9? for the second-nut flush, but it was no good as "Ravenswood13" held the nuts with the A?2?A?J?. Ship the $75,089.28 pot to "Ravenswood13."

Ivey Returns from Thanksgiving Break

Ivey, who was driving the action prior to the American holiday, wasn't in action the past two weeks, but he logged back online on Thursday, Dec. 4 for some $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw action. It was there that he won $138,000, most of which ($113,000 in 255 hands to be exact) came from two hours of play against “Sanlker” and Kibler-Melby.

Here are some other notes from Thursday’s action:

Sanlker and Kibler-Melby played for four hours, and the latter pulled out to a $330,000 lead. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t hold onto it as Sanlker stormed back to near even, and Kibler-Melby had to settle for a $63,000 win.
”KingSp00K” won $125,900 off “AthaCliath” in nearly 1,700 hands at the $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha tables on Full Tilt.
Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene and “bajskorven” played 4.5 hours of $200/$400 no-limit hold’em. Tollerene managed to win $204,700 in 932 hands. Below is Tollerene’s biggest pot of the day.

Biggest Winners/Losers from Nov. 21-Dec. 4

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
“Sanlker”	$593,527	“J B E Z 2 E Z”	$267,049
“AthaCliath”	$225,359	Dani “Ansky451” Stern	$169,526
Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	$199,755	Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius	$147,473
“lb6121”	$159,110	“458854”	$110,639
“KingSp00k”	$141,033	Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion	$51,625

Year's Biggest Winners/Losers

Winners	Profit	Losers	Loss
Dan “jungleman12” Cates	$2,806,158	Gus Hansen	$5,466,295
Mikael “punting-peddler” Thuritz	$2,333,556	Phil “Polarizing” Ivey	$1,767,483
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius	$1,505,073	Viktor “Isildur1” Blom	$1,395,340
Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton	$1,277,272	Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion	$1,224,213
Doug “WCGRider” Polk	$1,077,969	Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond	$1,082,089
“EireAbu”	$911,035	Paul “MalACEsia” Phua	$823,325
Christoph “Tight-Man1” Vogelsang	$676,493	Ben “Sauce1234” Sulsky	$641,378