Weekly High Stakes Report - Phil Ivey Drops $600k+, ‘thecortster’ Wins Big

It was another action-packed week at the nosebleeds. All the usual suspects took to the tables looking to win big and, perhaps even more than that, to get their daily shot of an adrenaline rush. Unlike the past week, this time around we saw a number of big losers to accompany quite a few big winners.

Monday was certainly the day of ‘Carlooo13.' According to HighStakesDB, all but $1,000 of the Dutch pro’s $280k profit came from his FLO8 sessions against Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom. Although it was somewhat of a seesaw battle, with the Swede seizing the lead at the start of both sessions the two played, it was ‘Carlooo13’ finishing on a high note in both instances. The Dutchman was able to catch a rush at crucial moments, securing a hefty profit for the day.

It wasn’t the end of ‘Isildur1’ losses either. He dropped another $109k to ‘Patriktortonius’ at the 8-game tables. Luckily, Blom was able to win some of that back playing against ‘HoldemJill9’ later in the evening.

Over on PokerStars, Norwegian pro ‘Odd_Oddsen’ had a good day at the $100/$200 PLO tables despite having to battle through a downswing midway through, finishing $135k to the good. It was no easy task, as the competition consisted of the likes of Doug ‘WCGRider’ Polk, Ike Haxton, Ilari Sahamies, and other well-known names.

Although ‘Carlooo13’ continued his winning streak on Tuesday, it wasn’t he who topped the winners’ leaderboard. Instead, Cort ‘thecortster’ Kibler-Melby took the honor, banking a very nice profit of $267k. While the majority of his winnings came from ‘bbvisbadforme,' $26,000 of the total profit came from an earlier encounter with ‘Trueteller.'

As for ‘Carlooo13,' he finished the day up $177,000. He took to the $1k/$2k 8-game tables against ‘Patriktortonius’ and came out on top after some four hours of play. Two other six-figure winners were Ben ‘Ben86’ Tollerene, who also added just shy of $177,000 to his bankroll, and Alex ‘joiso’ Kostritsyn, who finished $105k in the black.

After having a really rough start to the week, Viktor Blom was finally able to catch a break on Wednesday, banking $211k. It was a private affair between ‘Isildur1’ and ‘Patriktortonius,’ who met at the 8-game tables. Thanks to an upswing during the final stages of the match, the Swede was able to secure a hefty profit for the day.

Also grabbing pots was ‘thecortster,' who had nothing to complain about. Coming on the heels of his big win the day before, Kibler-Melby was able to lock another $202k in profit after meeting his favorite opponent, ‘Trueteller,’ at the 2-7 Triple Draw tables.

Friday (the thirteenth) was definitely not a lucky day for some of the high stakes regulars, as Dan Cates made an appearance at both Full Tilt and PokerStars tables. Cates is usually bad news for other players, as he rarely books a losing session, and Friday was no different.

Playing as ‘jungleman12’ at Full Tilt, Cates took on ‘samrostan’ at the 8-game tables and after some five hours of play, he finished with a profit of $121k. Known as ‘w00ki3z’ over on PokerStars, Cates added another $109,500 to his daily profit.

Kibler-Melby continued to win as he added another profitable day to the streak, although this time it was ‘only’ to the tune of $88k.

While many spent Saturday with their ‘better halves,’ this hardly had any effect on the nosebleeds action. Quite a few regulars decided to celebrate Valentine's Day with their true love – high stakes poker action. Lady Luck smiled upon ‘Isildur1’ once again, as he finished at the top of the Valentine's Day winners’ list, banking $215k.

German pro Seb ‘taktloss47’ Ruthenberg spread his action across two sites and was able to come out with a profit on both. While his Full Tilt winnings came from fellow countryman ‘SanIker,’ over on PokerStars he took on Phil ‘RaiseOnce’ Ivey and ‘thecortster,’ wrapping up the day $322k to the good.

HighStakesDB reported one more six-figure winner on Saturday, as ‘HoldemJill9’ made a profit of $151,400.

We finish this week’s report with yesterday’s action. Sunday was dominated by Seb ‘taktloss47’ Ruthenberg, who ended the day up $361k. Although he won a small amount from ‘Isildur1,’ the majority of his score came from playing three-handed against Phil ‘Polarizing’ Ivey and ‘SanIker.'

‘Carlooo13’ was the only other six-figure winner, adding $129k to his cashier, while ‘Trueteller’ finished the day with a profit of $94k.

Winning is easy…

…sometimes, at least. This week saw quite a few big winners, led by Cort ‘thecortster’ Kibler-Melby, who ended the week with a profit of $715,693. He was followed by ‘Carlooo13,' who was able to bank $652k, and the German pro Sebastin ‘taktloss47’ Ruthenberg, who profited $631k playing on both PokerStars and Full Tilt.

‘Smaller’ winners included Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom and Dan ‘jungleman12’ Cates, who profited $274k and $248k respectively across the two sites.

The unfavorable part of the leaderboard was led by Phil ‘Polarizing’ Ivey, who was the biggest loser for the week. Although he made a little profit playing on PokerStars, Ivey finished the week stuck for $624k.

The second biggest loser for the seven-day period was ‘Patriktortonius,' who left $451,000 behind, followed by ‘Trueteller,' who finished $434k in the red.

As for ‘SanIker,' he finished the week down $198k.