Trash Talking at Online High Stakes

Talking trash while playing poker is certainly not newsworthy in and of itself. It happens all the time and is often included in the repertoire of a number of players.

One such player is Finnish pro Ilari "Ilari FIN" Sahamies, who has a reputation for trash talking - and has stated previously that he's aware that he sometimes goes overboard with some of the comments directed toward his tablemates. Sahamies seemingly did precisely that the other day in a match with Dan "w00ki3z" Cates.

The pair were playing online at PokerStars, battling at the $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha tables. "Ilari FIN" managed to bust Cates, continuing his recent good run at the tables over the last three months that boosted his bankroll by well over $1 million.

The Finn's winning streak caused Cates to post this at 2 + 2 about three weeks ago: "i seriously dont think ive seen someone run hotter in plo ring than ilari. I think hes playing at least decent though, kind of hard to say."

Playing decent, yes. Behaving decent, not so much. Sahamies, who admitted to being "totally drunk," repeatedly referred to Cates as "gay," and typed in the chat box that "wookiez might be guy who doesnt like boy or girl...neutri."

His drunken, homophobic ramblings continued as he pestered Cates to reload. Jungleman waited for a transfer of $100K from Ike Haxton after the PokerStars Team Pro joined the action.

While waiting for the cash, Cates answered Sahamies' insults by stating in multiple posts: "illari youre kind of an idiot - and maybe a scum - but its ok - cus u can win at plo apparently."

When the back and forth exchange between the two pros led to "Ilari FIN" bragging about the number of his female conquests, it prompted Haxton to state: "this is my life" and "these are the people i deal with everyday."