Chad Holloway
While the much-loved Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is in full swing over on PokerStars, the high-stakes cash games have been going strong all week long over on Full Tilt Poker. Two big names emerged as the biggest winners of the week in Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau and Dan "jungleman12" Cates, who won $390,067 and $232,614 respectively. Not bad for a week's work.
However, the more intriguing story this week was the list of losers. The top five were comprised of some of online poker’s biggest names, including the recently revealed Paul “MalACEsia” Phua, who was the biggest loser with $603,392 in losses in 1,310 hands over six sessions. Likewise, Phil “Polarizing” Ivey, who lost over $113,000 last week, dropped a hefty $589,730 in 5,917 hands across 61 sessions.
Rounding out the top five losers were Gus Hansen (-$358,287 in 36 sessions/3,634 hands), Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond (-$275,918 in 16 sessions/1,446 hands), and Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius (-$221,814 in 53 sessions/2,904 hands).
“Denoking” and “Trueteller” Six-Figure Winners in Saturday Action
On Saturday, May 3, the $400/$800 no-limit hold’em game was going strong on Full Tilt Poker, and it was there that “Denoking” and “Trueteller” walked away $191,300 and $173,900 winners respectively. The duo played for a bit over three hours against Paul “MalACEsia” Phua and “proudlikeagoat,” both of who finished as six-figure losers.
At those stakes there were bound to be some big pots. Here’s a look at the two biggest.
Hand #1: Phua ($185,913) opened for $1,600 under the gun only to have “proudlikeagoat” ($104,360.85) three-bet to $5,600 from the button. “Denoking” ($163,844.10) then four-bet to $13,800 from the big blind, Phua folded, and “proudlikeagoat” five-bet to $25,600. “Denoking” called and then led out for $11,800 when the flop came down 
. “Proudlikeagoat” called, the 
appeared on the turn, and “Denoking” fired out $18,400. Once again “proudlikeagoat” called, and the 
completed the board on the river.
“Denoking” moved all in and “proudlikeagoat” wasted little time in calling off his remaining $48,560.85. “Denoking” tabled the 
for a flush, and it was good enough to win the $210,722 pot as “proudlikeagoat” mucked his hand.
Hand #2: Phua ($173,113) raised to $1,600 from the hijack and was met by a three-bet to $4,800 from “Trueteller” ($235,891.85) in the cutoff. The button and both blinds folded, Phua called, and the flop fell 
, which went check-check. Phua then led out for $7,200 on the 
turn, “Trueteller” called, and the 
river double paired the board. Phua bet $19,600 and then called when “Trueteller” raised to $51,800. “Trueteller” tabled the 
for a bigger two pair, and it was good as Phua mucked. Ship the $128,800 pot to “Trueteller.”
Ray Takes Ivey for $173,000 Playing FLO8
On Sunday, May 4, Kyle “KPR16” Ray and Phil “Polarizing” Ivey played two separate sessions of $2,000/$4,000 fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo (FLO8). In the first match, which happened in the early afternoon and lasts 145 minutes, Ivey looked as if he was going to run away with things as he jumped out to a $130,000 lead within the first 30 minutes, but he ended up giving it all back plus an additional $105,800.
A couple of hours later, they were back at it, but Ivey’s luck didn’t change as he dropped an additional $67,000 to Ray in just 30 minutes.
Hansen Goes Wild on Cinco de Mayo
On Monday, May 5, Full Tilt Poker Professional Gus Hansen walked away as the day’s biggest winner with $341,400 in profit off the 2-7 triple draw tables. Most of that, $201,400 to be exact, came from a 100-minute session against players like Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Hac “trex313” Dang, and Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker, just to name a few.
“SallyWoo” was another big winner on Monday, banking $221,500 off Viktor “Isildur1” Blom at the $500/$1,000 CAP pot-limit Omaha tables. Speaking of Blom, he also lost $177,000 to Kyle “cottonseed1” Hendon at the FLO8 table, but still managed to finish in the black up $208,700 thanks to winning $334,000 from Kyle “KPR16” Ray and an additional $158,000 at the $300/$600 no-limit hold’em tables, which is where the day’s two biggest pots played out. Have a look.
Hand #1: “Trueteller” ($131,341) raised to $1,200 from the button and “Call_911” ($77,232) popped it to $4,800 from the small blind. “Trueteller” proceeded to four-bet to $11,100 and then called when “Call_911” shoved all in.
“Trueteller”: 
“Call_911”: 
The two agreed to run it twice, and “Trueteller’s” tens held on the first after the board ran out a dry 
. It looked like it was going to be a chop pot after the 
flop on the second run paired “Call_911,” but that wasn’t the case. The 
turn was meaningless, but the river wasn’t. “Trueteller” hit trips and scooped the entire $155,062 pot.
Hand #2:
Luneau Wins $201,000 in Wednesday 2-7 Triple Draw Action
Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau finished as the week’s biggest winner, due in no small part to his $201,000 win at the $2,000/$4,000 triple draw tables on Wednesday. You might think he accumulated that after a long steady grind, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, he played two tables against the likes of Phil “Polarizing” Ivey, Gus Hansen, and Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius and won $120,000 and $59,000 respectively in just 20 minutes.
Here are some other highlights from Wednesday’s action:
- Viktor “Isildur1” Blom lost $100,000 to Ivey playing 8-Game, but got it all back and then some when the duo switched games. It was then that Blom won $90,000 playing FLO8 and $84,600 playing 2-7 triple draw.
- ”thecortster” won $108,900 at the 2-7 triple draw tables.
- Kyle “KPR16” Ray won $96,000 off Ivey in just 36 hands of FLO8.
Bonus Hand of the Week
On Tuesday, May 6, “Call_911” won $223,700 playing $300/$600 no-limit hold’em, which is where the day’s biggest pot went down. Have a look at the $171,300 monster.
Week's Biggest Winners/Losers (May 1 thru May 8)
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alex “Alexonmoon” Luneau | $390,067 |
Paul “MalACEsia” Phua | $603,392 | |
|
Dan "jungleman12" Cates | $232,614 |
Phil “Polarizing” Ivey | $589,730 | |
 “EireAbu” | $159,624 |
Gus Hansen | $358,287 | |
|
“ajve_xx” | $126,269 |
Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond | $275,918 | |
|
“BedoliFE” | $112,905 |
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius | $221,814 |
Year's Biggest Winners/Losers
| Winners | Profit | Losers | Loss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dan "jungleman12" Cates | $1,344,416 |
Gus Hansen | $2,943,397 | |
|
Niki Jedlicka | $1,219,628 |
Phil "Polarizing" Ivey | $2,484,546 | |
|
Patrik “FinddaGrind” Antonius | $1,008,671 |
Chun Lei "samrostan" Zhou | $2,367,039 | |
|
Alex "Alexonmoon" Luneau | $894,278 |
Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion | $855,113 | |
|
Doug "WCGRider" Polk | $760,028 |
Paul “MalACEsia” Phua | $823,325 | |
|
Christoph "Tight-Man1" Vogelsang | $673,978 |
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | $700,762 |
Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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