February 03 2012, Chad Holloway

In the last week, the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship concluded in Melbourne, Australia, and essentially dominated the poker headlines. Add to that a lull in Viktor “Isildur1” Blom activity, who if you recall was responsible for a great deal of action the week before, and it made for a relatively quiet week on the virtual felt – except for a hacking situation involving Daniel Negreanu.

With that said, there was still enough action to keep the railbirds interested. In fact, the biggest winners of the week were all familiar names. The biggest winner over the past seven days was Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, who banked $255,090 in 19 sessions of 2,935 hands. Rounding out the top four were Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil ($245,823 in 59 sessions/8,254 hands), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($211,791 in 170 sessions/14,000 hands), and Ville Wahlbeck ($209,391 in 19 sessions/2,103 hands).

Eunjong Byun was the week’s biggest loser after dropping $253,926 in 29 sessions of 4,677 hands. Benny “Toweliestar” Spindler (-$195,619 in 19 sessions/2,530 hands), nasud 11 (-$190,077 in 125 sessions/12,641 hands), and Zypherin (-$170,568 in 8 sessions/2,557 hands) round out the top four losers.

K_O_S_T_Y_A Tops a Subdued Friday

The most notable action last Friday concerned a heads-up $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha match between “nasud 11” and the Russian pro “K_O_S_T_Y_A.” The two played on eight tables and in the end, K_O_S_T_Y_A won $109,000, which made him the day’s biggest winner.

In their biggest hand of the day, K_O_S_T_Y_A ($35,248.15) opened for $300 on the button and nasud 11 ($64,502.44) three-bet to $900 from the big blind. K_O_S_T_Y_A made the call and watched as nasud 11 fired out $1,079.70 on the flop. K_O_S_T_Y_A responded by raising to $3,000, nasud 11 called, and the appeared on the turn.

At this point, nasud 11 checked, K_O_S_T_Y_A bet $6,100, nasud 11 check-raised to $26,099.50, and K_O_S_T_Y_A moved all-in for $31,348.15. Nasud 11 called the additional $5,248.64 and the cards were turned up.

Showdown

Both players had turned a full house, but K_O_S_T_Y_A’s kings full of tens were best. The river was of no consequence and K_O_S_T_Y_A took down the $70,496.30 pot.

In the other big hand between the two, K_O_S_T_Y_A ($36,064.30) opened for $300, nasud 11 ($28,288.50) called, and the two saw a flop of . Nasud 11 checked, K_O_S_T_Y_A bet $500, nasud 11 check-raised to $1,779.59, and K_O_S_T_Y_A called, bringing about the turn. Nasud 11 led out for $3,326.94, K_O_S_T_Y_A raised to $14,139.54, and nasud 11 moved all-in for $26,208.90. K_O_S_T_Y_A called the additional $12,069.35 and the cards were turned up.

Showdown

Nasud 11 had flopped top set, but K_O_S_T_Y_A had turned a straight to take the lead. The former needed the board to pair on the river, but it was not in the cards as the appeared. K_O_S_T_Y_A took the $56,577 pot.

Even though he lost big in the aforementioned hand, nasud 11 managed to beat Terje “Terken89” Augdal in a heads-up match to finish in the black; consequently, Augdal was the day’s biggest loser as he dropped $226,000 throughout the day.

Kyllönen vs. “nasud 11” in Weekend Rumble

The mysterious “nasud 11” was back in action on Saturday as he took on Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen in some $50/$100 PLO matches. When the dust settled, Kyllönen was the day’s biggest loser, dropping $113,600, while nasud 11 finished as the day’s big winner with $96,000. Their match took place throughout Saturday and into the early morning hours of Sunday.

As the weekend wore on, Kyllönen managed to fight back and got revenge on nasud 11 by winning $161,500 on Sunday. Most of that came in a four-hour session comprised of 850 hands. There were two big hands in the match.

Hand #1: Kyllönen ($135,687.04) was on the button and opened for $300, which nasud 11 ($33,148.75) three-bet to $800 from the big blind. Not to be outdone, Kyllönen four-bet $2,400, nasud 11 called, and the flop came down . Nasud 11 proceeded to check-call a bet of $3,100 before checking the turn. Kyllönen kept the pressure on with a $7,800 bet, but this time nasud 11 moved all-in for $27,648.75, which Kyllönen called.

Showdown

Both players had flopped trip aces with a king kicker, but the spiked on the river to give Kyllönen a winning full house and the $66,297.50 pot.

Hand #2: Kyllönen ($38,082.75) opened for $300, nasud 11 ($30,908.04) exercised his option in the big blind with a raise to $900, and Kyllönen made the call, leading to the flop. Nasud 11 wasted little time in firing out $1,079.70, Kyllönen raised to $4,700, nasud 11 three-bet $15,899.50, and Kyllönen moved all-in for $37,182.75. Nasud 11 called off his remaining $14,108.54 and the cards were turned on their back:

Showdown

Kyllönen had flopped two pair to crack nasud 11′s aces. He did not relinquish the lead as the appeared on the turn followed by the on the river and was shipped the $61,816.09 pot.

Negreanu’s PokerStars Account Hacked

There were some interesting games on Monday and Tuesday involving Daniel “KidPoker” Negreanu at the $50/$100 and $100/$200 no-limit hold’em tables. On Monday, “wobbly_au” was the day’s biggest winner after profiting $138,000, some of which came from Negreanu.

In the biggest hand of the day, which happened at a six-handed table, wobbly_au ($53,979.90) was under the gun and opened for $400, which cleared the field all the way around to Negreanu ($116,598.69) in the big blind. He made the call and then checked the flop. Wobbly_au took the opportunity to bet $700, Negreanu check-raised to $2,100, wobbly_au three-bet $3,500, Negreanu four-bet $12,100, wobbly_au five-bet $21,200, and Negreanu moved all-in. Wobbly_au called off his remaining $32,379.90 and discovered his had Negreanu’s drawing dead. The and were run out on the turn and river, as wobbly_au was pushed the $108,009.80 pot.

In another hand, action was four-handed when “sat1337en” ($6,695) opened for $400 under the gun and Negreanu ($50,070) three-bet to $1,200 from the button. Wobbly_au ($40,128) then exercised his option in the small blind with a four-bet to $3,200, sat1337en folded, and Negreanu made the call, leading to a flop of .

After his opponent checked, Negreanu bet $3,800, wobbly_au called, and the peeled off on the turn. Again wobbly_au check-called a bet, this time $11,000, and the was put out on the river. Wobbly_au checked for a third time, and Negreanu shoved all -n. Wobbly_au quickly called off his remaining $22,128 and revealed , which bested Negreanu’s .

Surprisingly, Negreanu ended up as the day’s biggest loser on Monday, dropping $98,000, though he got about $50,000 back in the early morning hours of Tuesday. This is where things got interesting.

According to reports, Negreanu’s PokerStars and email accounts had been hacked, meaning it was not him playing in the hands mentioned above. Negreanu explained on Twitter:

Negreanu also posted the following on TwoPlusTwo:

“I was on an airplane home while this guy was joyriding my Stars account. He hacked my email and I got that back, still figuring out what happened. When I have all the details I’ll share when it makes sense to. Some of you NVGtards really thought that was me??? Man HSP has really done wonders for my image ”

According to HighStakesDB, the unknown hacker played over 400 hands under Negreanu’s account and lost more than $46,000. The hacking incident is currently under investigation by PokerStars.

Biggest weekly winners/losers all on PokerStars

Week’s biggest winners (1/27-2/2): Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$255,090), Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (+$245,823), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($211,791), Ville Wahlbeck (+$209,391)

Week’s biggest losers: Eunjong Byun (-$253,926), Benny “Toweliestar” Spindler (-$195,619), nasud 11 (-$190,077), Zypherin (-$170,568), Rafi “refaelamit” Amit (-$164,085)

Year-to-date winners: patpatman (+$916,534), Jens “Jeans89” Kyllönen ($745,211), Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$671,148), Niklas “ragen70” Heineckerragen (+$608,130), bernard-bb (+$544,615), Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil (+$437,377), Davin “mTw-DaviN” Georgi (+$349,939)

Year-to-date losers: Phil “MrSweets28” Galfond (-$663,653), GVOZDIKA55 (-$499,607), long90110 (-$369,936), VietRussian (-$354,355), Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (-$350,537)

Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com

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January 10 2012, Rich Ryan

Last year at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, we “learned” that Isildur1 was Viktor Blom. This year, he won over a million dollars in the first tournament of the 2012 PCA. We think that’s a good place to start this week’s Five Thoughts.

1. Isildur1 binks over $1.25 million

Viktor Blom didn’t arrive in the Bahamas until the day of the $100,000 Super High Roller, and when he entered the special high-stakes room, he was sporting a new haircut and a bathing suit. He was very quiet, save for a few small conversations at the table, but also very deadly, eliminating Philipp Gruissem, Bryn Kenney, and Matt Glantz. Blom finished Day 1 second in chips with more than three times the starting stack.

Blom struggled out of the gate on Day 2, losing almost half his stack in the third level of play, but he never went on tilt or started spewing. Blom’s low point on the day was 550,000, but after busting David “Doc” Sands, Sam Stein, and winning a key pot off of Galen Hall, he bagged over 1.2 million chips, and was in the middle of the pack going to the final table.

On the third and final day, Blom recorded the second knockout, eliminating Michael “Timex” McDonald but didn’t move much until the bubble burst. That’s when the boomswitch was turned on, and Blom eliminated all four of his opponents.

Blom won a race against Daniel Negreanu, made the nut flush against Jonathan Duhamel’s flopped top pair, crushed Hall’s pocket nines with pocket aces, and faded Dan Shak’s flush and straight draws on the turn to win the tournament. Blom ran white hot at the final table but would’ve never reached the final eight if he hadn’t played so marvelously during the first two days.

Blom’s performance was legendary – it almost broke NVG on TwoPlusTwo – and we hope to see him more on this year’s circuit. We also can’t wait to see how juicy the high-stakes action is going to get on PokerStars.

2. Close, but no cigar

Galen Hall finished third in the Super High Roller. Third. Third! So close!

If you’re blankly staring at your computer screen, confused as to why we’re so upset that Hall finished third, then you haven’t read my 12 Predictions for 2012.

The first prediction was that Galen Hall would win the Super High Roller – and the 2011 PCA Main Event champion damn near did, finishing in third place for $470,400. At one point on Day 2, Hall looked like a dog to survive let alone make a run, but during the last level of play, he won two huge hands against Isaac Haxton.

In the first hand, Hall turned a flush, and after both players checked the turn, he led out for 257,000 into a pot of 220,000. Haxton called and mucked upon seeing Hall’s flush. A few hands later, Hall opened to 35,000 on the button, Haxton three-bet to 85,000 from the small blind, and Hall moved all-in for effectively 580,000. Haxton snap-called with , which dominated Hall’s . There was a jack on the flop, however, and after the turn and river bricked, Haxton was eliminated and Hall ascended into the chip lead to end the day.

Day 3 started off great for Hall. He eliminated Humberto Brenes to start the day and Scott Seiver on the bubble, but once the players reached the money it all came crashing down. Hall’s stack began to sink, and once he was three-handed against Blom and Shak, it plummeted. Eventually he three-bet jammed with two black nines, but was dominated by Blom’s aces. Blom held, and Hall was out in third place.

Congratulations are in order for Hall for running so deep, and for giving me a good sweat. I was ready to drop the mic and walk off stage.

3. Randy “nanonoko” Lew isn’t human

On Sunday, while Day 1b of the PCA Main Event was taking place right behind him, Randy “nanonoko” Lew sat in the Imperial Ballroom here at the Atlantis and played 23,493 hands of online poker in eight hours, setting a new Guinness World Record.

It was insane.

Lew didn’t leave the chair once to eat, relieve himself, stretch, or fume after a bad beat. No. He sat there in silence for eight hours and ground his face off.

The result? A profit of $7.65 – bling blang blaow!

Throughout the day, Team PokerStars Online manager Dustin Iannotti would inform Lew of his progress, and Lew would either mutter a short response or simply nod his head. Lew’s peak profit was a couple hundred dollars, and his nadir was $1,200. At that point, he fired up some higher-stakes tables and erased the deficit.

Finally, when the eight hours were up, Lew got up out of his chair, stretched his arms above his head, and wiped his tired eyes. His eight-hour poker hibernation was over.

For most people, it takes years to compile 23,493 hands of poker, and even high-volume grinders would take weeks or months to do what Lew did in one day. The legendary “nanonoko” looked fine the next day too, and finished Day 2 of the PCA Main Event with 146,500 chips.

4. Jaka Jaka Jaka

“It’s weird getting it in good.”

That’s what Faraz Jaka said on Day 2 of the PCA Main Event after eliminating yet another player. In this particular hand, Jaka called an all-in with after an opponent three-bet jammed with . This was no more than five minutes after a short-stacked player on the button open-shoved with , and Jaka woke up with two queens in the small blind.

Jaka started Day 2 with 129,500 chips, peaked at 1.2 million, and ended the day with 902,500. He applied relentless pressure, ran well, built a castle of chips, and provided some of the best tweets of the day.

One of our favorites was:

The man they call “The Toilet” entered Day 3 with almost 350,000 more chips than his closest competitor (Christian Folescu, 555,500), and will look to added to his crazy, wild stacks.

5. More Jaka

Ironically, before going on his insane run, Jaka told our own Sarah Grant that good cards make him nervous.

What makes you nervous?

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