PokerTableRatings

Patpatman Heats Up vs Ilari Fin, Ville Wahlbeck

Newcomers to the highstakes online poker scene are always fun to watch, and yesterday seemed to be the coming out party for patpatman.

Playing primarily $100/$200 6-max PLO and $50/$100 6-max PLO, patpatman has seen his overall earnings eclipse the $500k mark since arriving on PokerStars just a month ago (where he also won the biggest hold'em pot in January). Yesterday's sessions yielded some great results for the newcomer, highlighted by these six figure pots:

1. Patpatman rivers quads as his As-Kc-3d-Ad holds vs. Ilari Fin and Ville Wahlbeck
2. Patpatman flops a set, and turns quads this time to get 3 streets of value.
3. All it takes is two pair as patpatman gets some more off of Ilari Sahamies.
4. LuckyGump flops a set to crack aces and turns a boat to fade the flush draw.
5. Heads up with Ilari FIN, patpatman flops two pair and cracks aces for another big pot

After all was said, the big winner was patpatman who ended this session +$298,968.45, but ended up negative on another session to end the evening up $166k on the night. Alexey 'LuckyGump' Makarov also had a good evening, finishing out his long grind with ...

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Ilari Sahamies and Garfield25 Clash Again

Three of the highstakes regulars from last week's action that generated pots of $266k and $196k were at it again Wednesday on PokerStars, but the high-stakes action only lasted a few hundred hands, with two of the three finishing the day with six-figure swings.

Garfield25, the online screen name for Canadian Peter Chan, was the big winner of the matches, besting Ilari 'Ilari Fin' Sahamies in a short $200/400 HU PLO match.  Fake Love888 (rumored to be Patrik Antonius) also joined the games briefly, logging 96 hands and winning about $8,000. Here are some of the biggest hands from the session:

1. Garfield25 hits a favorable flop and fades Ilari's draws in the biggest pot of the match.


2. Here's what drawing to one out in a $79k pot is like.


3. The river helps Garfield just a little more than Ilari in this $77k pot.


4. Ilari Fin gets bullied out of a sizable pot on the river.


5. Ilari somehow fades a straight flush during his bad run.

As you can see, Garfield25 was the recipient of some pretty favorable cards. His good luck helped him net over $155k for his efforts in just over 350 hands, while ...

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Socutiesf vs Ilari, Galfond & Hastings Win Big

It has been a hectic start to the week at the PokerStars PLO tables. The swings have been massive and the games are going on around the clock with numerous regs battling daily at the $50/100 and $100/200 levels. Although Isildur1 has not been around to partake in the festivities, other big names such as 'MrSweets28' Galfond, Brian '$tinger 88' Hastings, and Ilari 'Ilari FIN' Sahamies have been busy at the highstakes tables recently.

Galfond and Hastings are on fire since Monday, taking home $226,000 and $273,000 respectively. The same cannot be said for Ilari, however, who also started hot but fizzled when he ran into relative newcomer to the nosebleeds, 'socutiesf', in a brief yet bloody $200/400 PLO battle. This match was literally the difference in these players' results during the last 48 hours. The encounter only lasted 42 minutes and 225 hands, but after it was all said and done, Ilari was relieved of over $270,000 from the Taiwanese challenger.

Here are some of the bigger hands from the match:

Ilari Fin plays his top set a little too perfectly.

Another whopping pot for socutiesf against Ilari Fin.

Ilari collects the biggest ...

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Ilari Wins Biggest Pot Ever on a Historic Day at PokerStars

The law of compounding is a funny thing. It rings true not just in a financial sense, but also in an emotional sense as it applies to the game of poker, as all the big swings at $100/200 finally seemed like they brought out the gamble in the high-stakes players the past 48 hours. Tuesday and Wednesday were chalked full of insane action, bringing some round-the-clock action to PokerStars as well as some more monstrous swings.

The thousands of hands logged in the past two days translated into a lot of greenbacks for two players in particular, those being Ilari 'Ilari Fin' Sahamies and Phil 'MrSweets28' Galfond. The former was the biggest winner of the period, adding to his recent gains by another $420k, while Galfond continues to run well since his move to Vancouver, taking home a whopping $343k in 2,455 hands. Contributing to Ilari's massive day were some of the biggest pots in PokerStars history, one $421,821 pot being the largest ever played at the long-standing site. I'll let the hands do the talking…

1. Ilari Fin scoops the biggest pot in PokerStars history.
2. …And the second biggest pot in Stars history.
3. Ilari scoops ...
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Ilari Fin Stays Hot, Banks 240k

Another day, another 240k? That's the current mantra of high-stakes PLO regular Ilari 'Ilari FIN' Sahamies, who hustled the $100/200 Omaha tables last night for nearly a quarter-million dollars in under 1,400 hands. It was a well-deserved day of poker for the Fin, who had quite an impressive run, especially since he was crippled by a $148,000 6-outer at the hands of Swiss pro Ronny '1-ronnyr3' Kaiser during the middle of his session.

Instead of lashing out and going on a classic 'Ziigmund' rant/tilt, Ilari put his head down and simply grinded out the rest of the day. He called it a night well before the clock struck midnight (EST) and ended with a nice chunk of change.

Other regs weren't so lucky. Leggo Poker coach Richard 'Nutsinho' Lyndaker, who has been an active PLO participant in the past few days, was the big loser on the day, redistributing over $166,000 to the community in his relatively short session of 1,272 hands. Viktor 'Isildur1' was also a substantial loser and gave back 73k, while refaelamit rebounded with a $126,300 win.  Here are some of the biggest hands from an active day ...

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Isildur1 Wins 750k from Ilari Fin in an Epic PLO Match

It has been quite an exciting week of high-stakes sessions at PokerStars to say the least. We have already seen some intense action, enormous swings, and a million-dollar run from Ronny '1-ronnyr3' Kaiser leading up to the weekend, as the $100/200 PLO games have been reallocating player's bankrolls at a frenzied pace.

As the week became the weekend, we also witnessed the end of a great run by Ilari 'Ilari Fin' Sahamies. The Finnish phenom had an incredible start to the week, winning over a million dollars in a 32-hour period and torching almost every opponent unfortunate enough to challenge him. How much difference a day makes...

It seemed as if all the action from Friday had finally petered out when Viktor' Isildur1' Blom and Ilari sat down to engage in some $100/200 HU PLO early Saturday morning. It was clear at this point, however, that the action had just started to heat up. Over the next three hours, Isildur1 hit an amazing run of cards and relieved Ilari of more than $750,000 in only 1,002 hands. Although Ilari was the equity leader in more crucial pots, his opponent consistently came from behind, winning 7 ...

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Ilari Fin, Isildur1 Highlight Massive Swings on Stars

It's been an amazing week at PokerStars so far, as the PLO games have been a pleasure to watch in the past few days. The stakes have been as consistently high as we've seen in some time, with big names like Isildur1, Ilari Fin, refaelamit, 1-ronnyr3, jeans89 and RealAndyBeal battling it out at the $100/200 levels for hours in recent sessions.

The matches have been quite diverse, featuring some riveting heads-up play between 1-ronnyr3, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom and Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies (Ziigmund on FT), as well as some interesting short-handed games.

Here are some of the biggest hands from the carnage:

1. Isildur1 gets a free shot at a 210k pot against Ilari Fin.


2. Isildur1 hits a miracle on the river for a massive takedown.


3. 1-ronnyr3 gets caught trying to pull a fast one in a 135k pot.


4. Ilari Fin loses the biggest pot of his PS career to Blom's nuts.


5. RefaelAmit picks off a bluff against 1-ronnyr3 in a curious pot.


6. Ilari Fin and Isildur1 get it all-in HU on the flop with a couple of monsters.


7. There can be two flushes, but only one winner…

When there are big winners, it generally means there ...

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Halozination Has a Career Day, Wins $160k

The week of July 11th began with a bang, as railbirds were treated to some high-flying action at the PokerStars tables. With games running as high as $100/200, there were bound to be some monstrous swings. High-stakes regular and hold-em specialist Halozination was apparently ready to capitalize.

Halozination began the session in the waning hours of July 10th (EST) by pummeling Breckster79, taking over $35,000 from the high-stakes newbie in a one-sided 82-hand battle. Amazingly enough, Halo was up $31,125 after just five hands in the $50/100 NLHE affair. The match was extremely short-lived and ended with Breckster79 enduring the biggest loss of his PokerStars career.

Although Breckster was done after his crushing defeat, Halozination kept the gambling going by taking his talents to the $100/200 NLHE tables. His decision turned out to be a great one. After battling some stiff competition from Zypherin and altiFC, Halo's 679-hand effort was handsomely rewarded, netting him $120,505 in only a little over three and a half hours at $100/200.

Here are some of the key hands from his best session to date at PokerStars:

Halozination flops trips and baits his opponent for the day ...

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Isildur1 and Sauce123 Clash at the PLO Tables

Premier matches have been few and far between since Black Friday. It seems that all of the scandals and uncertainty of online poker have shifted most of the attention from the players to the poker sites themselves. Alas, a great match took place at PokerStars yesterday, with two heavyweights battling at the high-stakes tables once again. Monday's contest featured Viktor Blom ('Isildur1') and Ben Sulsky ('Sauce123') butting heads at the $25/50 PLO tables, but, as is the case with many of Isildur1's encounters, the match was played with a mandatory three-bet. This effectively raises the blinds to $150/$450 and results in some major gambling, especially when the players begin raising after the mandatory three-bet.

Since the blinds were so monstrous, it only took 926 hands for the damage to be done. Sauce123 walked away with losses totaling over $181,000 in just a little over three and a half hours. Here are the biggest hands from the match:

Sauce123 spikes a straight on the turn and fades a flush on the river.

Ever seen a 6-bet flop?

Sauce123 check-raises all-in on the flop with a monster draw.

Two flushes, one winner…

Isildur1 wins his biggest pot ...

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PepperoniF Grills Isildur1 for Over $200k

PokerStars was abuzz on Wednesday, with usual suspect Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom generating a substantial amount of PLO action in the morning as well as night. Unfortunately, his day was a tale of two sessions which were night and day, yielding radically different results to say the least.

The first was a solid session of $25/50 PLO that saw the Swede taking home almost $172,000 in 3,564 hands. The second was a short shellacking at the hands of Rui 'PepperoniF' Cao, who bested the swinger by an astounding $201,448 in only 1,026 hands.


Two-pair on the flop holds for PepperoniF in the biggest pot of the day.

Isildur1 wins a 52k pot with... what?

An aggressive push by Blom doesn't work out in the end.

Both players all-in pre-flop for a monstrous pot.

PepperoniF finds himself in a favorable spot.

$817,843 of Cao's $991,249 in profits have come directly from Blom. With 82.5% of his profits at PokerStars coming from just one opponent, it would lead one to believe that he may be targeting Isildur1. He has played him rather sparingly compared to other challengers in recent months, and it seems ...

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