Weekly High Stakes Report – Gus Upswings, Ivey Loses

Continuing where we left off last week, action subsided somewhat at the highest of the high stakes in the online poker universe. However, it seems that not everybody is that much into the whole holiday spirit thing, and there was a decent amount of action at the tables.

Last Monday was, without a doubt, marked by Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom, who finished the day with a profit of $332,500, according to HighStakesDB. While this amount is very respectable, it could have been much higher. Blom was up well over $900k playing ‘Carlooo13’ at the $2k/$4k FLO8 tables. However, ‘Carlooo13’ turned the tables on the Swedish phenom during the last hour of play and managed to recoup a bulk of his losses before Blom decided to call it a day.

‘Trueteller’ was the only other six-figure winner of the day, banking more than $113k. The majority of his wins came from matches against ‘dagunman’ over at PokerStars.

If Blom was the star on Monday, Cort ‘thecortster’ Kibler-Melby got to claim that title for Tuesday, as he took a profit of $281k from his formidable opponents who, on this particular occasion, could not find the right answers against the American pro.

It was a nine-hour session that saw the likes of Phil ‘RaiseOnce’ Ivey, ‘RaulGonzales’ and others square off at the $1k/$2k 2-7 TD tables at PokerStars. Although things started off rather swingy for ‘thecortster,’ he was able to find the right direction, finishing with a well-deserved profit when all was said and done. The only other big winner in Tuesday's games was ‘CuteIsWhatIaim4,’ who earned $94.4k.

Christmas Eve saw a little miracle as Rafi ‘rafaelamit’ Amit made his return to the PokerStars nosebleed tables. It wasn’t his first session as of late, but it was the first one worth a mention, as he walked away with $171k.

The majority of his winnings came from the mixed game tables, where he faced the likes of Alex ‘joiso’ Kostritsyn, Alex ‘BlatchPeople’ Luneau, ‘EireAbu’ and others. Some $45k of Amit's gains came from the $100/$200 PLO tables, where ‘SamRostan’ and ‘AckmaJin’ were seated.

‘Carlooo13’ took second place on the winners’ list for the day, as he walked away with a bankroll that was bigger by $131k. His winnings came exclusively from a very long session against Phil ‘Polarizing’ Ivey. The two played FLO8 for seven hours straight, booking 1.2k hands in that period.

Although the pros may not be all that concerned with the holidays, Christmas Day saw no significant action. The day after, however, the pros were back at it with a familiar tune – taking money from Gus Hansen.

The Great Dane sat Alex ‘Alexonmoon’ Luneau at the $2k/$4k 2-7 TD tables and after some four hours of play, the French pro was up $205k. The other two winners for the day were ‘cuffme,’ with $118k profit, and ‘supernova9,’ who was $90k to the good. Both played at PokerStars.

Despite a rough start, Hansen was back in full force the next day and was able to pull a huge comeback, switching from the 2-7 Triple Draw tables to FLO8, a game in which he has way more experience. Helped by some luck as well, the Danish pro went on an upswing that saw him add $528,000 to his online bankroll. The winning session allowed Hansen to more than make up for his losses against the Frenchman, who was no match for Gus in his game of choice.

The only other six-figure winner was ‘AckmaJin,’ who banked $122k and some change over on PokerStars. He was able to outclass the tough competition at the PLO tables that featured the likes of Ike Haxton and Ilari ‘Ilari FIN’ Sahamies.

Who Gets Christmas Presents?

Cort ‘thecortster’ Kibler–Melby was able to run away with a big profit for the past week, earning $336,000 and some change.

Gus Hansen also finished with a decent profit to the tune of $258k, thanks to a great run over the weekend playing a game that he's more familiar with.

As is the case, for someone to win, some have to lose, and in the case of Gus Hansen, it was the French pro Alex ‘Alexonmoon’ Luneau who left money behind, ending up stuck slightly in excess of $370k. That loss was a bit softened by his winnings on PokerStars of around $40k.

It was a tough week for Phil Ivey that saw arguably the world's best poker player dump money on two Amaya poker sites. Between his accounts on Full Tilt and PokerStars (‘Polarizing’ and ‘RaiseOnce’), he ended up losing nearly $420k for the past seven-day period.

Others, like ‘Trueteller’ and ‘AckmaJin,’ ended the week with a decent profit, but not in six-figure territory. The same was true for Viktor Blom.