The Online Railbird Report: Antonius & Heinecker Fly High; Cates Fires Off in Chat

Chad Holloway PR & Media Manager

Dec 13, 2013 5 min read

Whenever PokerStars holds a live event, it seems the online cash games slow down. Given the European Poker Tour Prague kicked off this week �� which you can follow in our live reporting section �� it��s no surprise things were relatively slow on the virtual felt.

Continuing his success, Niklas "ragen70" Heinecker, who is the year��s biggest winner, added to his yearly total, but his streak of finishing as the week��s biggest winner came to an end. That said, he did win $270,324 in just 866 hands over eight sessions. Two players actually did better than that in ��samrostan�� (+$358,238 in 20 sessions/3,550 hands) and Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius (+$287,401 in 12 sessions/926 hands).

The week��s biggest loser was Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn, who dropped $323,870 in 4,941 hands over 64 sessions on Full Tilt Poker. Likewise, Daniel ��w00ki3z�� Cates was the biggest loser on PokerStars after dropping $301,420 in 9,323 hands over 27 sessions. Other losers included Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom (-$222,575 in 62 sessions/4,415 hands), Rui Cao (-$177,314 in 7 sessions/1,625 hands), and Phil ��OMGClayAiken�� Galfond (-$166,370 in 14 sessions/2,444 hands).

On a side note, check out my recent Op-Ed titled The Problems of Opting Out from Online Tracking, which examines the recent trend of high-stakes players (i.e. Kyle ��cottonseed1�� Hendon) deciding not to have their long-term results displayed �� which of course has influenced the Online Railbird Report.

Galfond Saturday��s Only Six-Figure Winner

On Saturday, December 7, Phil ��OMGClayAiken�� Galfond finished as the only six-figure winner thanks to a $158,500 win against Rui Cao in a $1,000/$2,000 2-7 triple draw match that lasted 11 hours. The two hovered around even for the vast majority of the match, but around nine hours in Galfond started to pull out to a big lead. Cao battled back, and then Galfond caught fire in the last hour of the match.

The Online Railbird Report: Antonius & Heinecker Fly High; Cates Fires Off in Chat 101 — Phil \"OMGClayAiken\" Galfond

In other 2-7 triple draw news, Eugene ��fishosaurusREX�� Yanayt won $79,600 playing 2,708 hands at the $200/$400 limits, which took more than 15 hours; meanwhile, Gus Hansen banked $60,000 in just 36 hands against Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn at the $1,000/$2,000 level.

As far as the biggest pots are concerned, they occurred over at PokerStars at the $100/$200 no-limit hold��em tables in a heads-up match between ��wilhasha�� and ��donthnrmepls.�� Here��s a look at Saturday��s two biggest hands:

Hand #1: ��Wilhasha�� ($71,955) opened for $600 and was met by a three-bet to $1,800 by ��donthnrmepls�� ($64,696). ��Wilhasha�� pushed back with a four-bet to $5,600, ��donthnrmepls�� called, and the flop came down 6?J?5?. After both players checked, the 3? appeared on the turn and ��donthnrmepls�� check-called a bet of $12,800. When the Q? completed the board on the river, ��donthnrmepls�� checked for a third time and snap-called off for $46,296 after ��wilhasha�� moved all in. ��Wilhasha�� tabled the J?3? for two pair, but it was not good enough to win the $129,390 pot as ��donthnrmepls�� held a flush with the Q?10?.

Hand #2: ��Wilhasha�� ($76,458.50) raised to $600 and then called when ��donthnrmepls�� ($50,596) three-bet to $1,800, which led to a 4?2?3? flop. ��Donthnrmepls�� led out for $1,799 and then called a raise to $5,900 by ��wilhasha.�� Donthnrmepls�� then check-called a bet of $9,200 on the 9? turn before checking the A? river. ��Wilhasha�� took the opportunity to move all in, and ��donthnrmepls�� wasted little time in calling off for $33,696. ��Wilhasha�� tabled the 10?7? for complete air, and ��donthnrmepls�� took down the $101,190 pot with the 5?4? for a wheel.

Cates Gets Irritated

On Sunday, December 8, ��bajskorven87�� finished as the day��s biggest winner with $108,000 in profit, which came courtesy of a five-hour, three-table heads-up match against Daniel ��w00ki3z�� Cates. The duo played more than 2,100 hands, and ��bajskorven87�� was out in front the entire time. Cates became frustrated toward the end of the match, which showed in the following chat box exchange:

The Online Railbird Report: Antonius & Heinecker Fly High; Cates Fires Off in Chat 102 — Daniel ��w00ki3z�� Cates

bajskorven87: can u reload?
w00ki3z.: die
w00ki3z.: need to make a transfer
bajskorven87: u sitting at PLO?
w00ki3z.: go f yourself
w00ki3z.: hope you die seriously
w00ki3z.: llucky piece of ****
w00ki3z.: insane how lucky you are
bajskorven87: broke piece of ****

Cates eventually logged out a $130,000 winner, though he was able to mitigate that a bit over on Full Tilt Poker, where he won $41,500 playing $25/$50 pot-limit Omaha against Ben ��Sauce1234�� Sulsky.

Antonius & Heinecker Emerge as Monday��s Biggest Winners

On Monday, Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius profited $275,400 to finish as the day��s biggest winner. Most of that ($226,000 to be exact) came from a nearly two-hour, 212-hand heads-up match against Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn at the $2,000/$4,000 2-7 triple draw tables.

Likewise, the year��s biggest online winner, Niklas ��ragen70�� Heinecker, scored big at the 2-7 triple draw tables, winning $180,400 in two hours against the likes of ��Kagome Kagome�� and Phil ��OMGClayAiken�� Galfond, the latter finishing as the day��s biggest loser with a $262,000 loss.

8-Game Highlights Tuesday Action; ��Samrostan�� Wins Big

The 8-Game tables ran for several hours on Tuesday, December 10 and included ��samrostan,�� Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius, Rui Cao, Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom, and Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn.

About three hours into the match, ��samrostan�� was up $50,000 and then hit a heater that saw him vault to a $450,000 winner! ��Samrostan�� lost a little back and ended up finishing up $385,700, due in no small part to the day��s biggest pot:

The Russian vs. The Swede

On Thursday, 8-Game was spread once again as Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom and Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn squared off against one another. The two players for approximately 90 minutes, and during that time Blom slowly chipped up to a $30,000 lead. Unfortunately for him, the day��s biggest pot went to Kostritsyn and wiped out his profit.

The hand happened in $300/$600 PLO and when Kostritsyn ($65,399.50) opened for $18,000 and then called when Blom ($122,494.60) three-bet to $5,400. The flop fell 9?3?5?, Blom bet $7,200, and Kostritsyn called. After the K? turned, Kostritsyn called a bet of $15,600 and then moved all in for $37,199.50 when Blom checked the 5? river.

The Swede made the call, but mucked when Kostritsyn rolled over the 8?3?2?4? for a flush. Ship the $130,799 pot to the Russian.

Biggest Winners/Losers (Full Tilt Poker)

Week's Biggest Winners (12/06-12/11): ��samrostan�� (+$358,238), Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius (+$287,401), Niklas "ragen70" Heinecker (+$270,324), ��Crazy Elior��* (+$173,239), ��donthnrmepls�� (+$172,929)

Week's Biggest Losers (12/06-12/11): Alexander ��PostFlopAction�� Kostritsyn (-$323,870), Daniel ��w00ki3z�� Cates* (-$301,420), Viktor ��Isildur1�� Blom (-$222,575), Rui Cao (-$177,314), Phil ��OMGClayAiken�� Galfond (-$166,370)

Year's Biggest Winners: Niklas "ragen70" Heinecker (+$6,192,380), Ben "Bttech86" Tollerene (+$3,007,955), Alex "IReadYrSoul" Millar (+$2,007,052), Hac "trex313" Dang (+$1,886,417), "no_Ola" (+$1,868,146), Patrik "FinddaGrind" Antonius (+$1,764,977), "Odd_Oddsen"* (+$1,731,737)

Year's Biggest Losers: Gus Hansen (-$8,534,786), "samrostan" (-$4,051,689), "MalACEsia" (-$3,773,524), Phil "Polarizing" Ivey (-$2,433,773), "punting-peddler" (-$1,649,306), Ben "Sauce1234" Sulsky (-$1,473,088), "patpatpanda" (-$1,330,885), Scott "mastrblastr" Seiver (-$1,220,399), "davin77" (-$1,037,057), Rui Cao (-$1,031,550), "Johnbest" (-$992,253)

_{*Denotes PokerStars}