The Online Railbird Report: Ivey Crushes, Hansen Slides, and Dwan Readies for Round Two
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As the dog days of summer approach, the action on Full Tilt Poker is heating back up, with fan favorites Phil Ivey, Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan, and Gus Hansen providing railbirds around the world with plenty of entertainment this week in the nosebleed-stakes games. Ivey continued on his profitable August run while Hansen continued his downward spiral, bleeding off another half a million dollars this week.
Dwan��s August heater cools down
August had been kind to Tom Dwan. In the first nine days of August, he racked up close to $1.7 million in earnings, most of it coming from the pot-limit Omaha tables. This Sunday, however, was quite the opposite of the $400,000 day he enjoyed only a week ago. Dwan logged more than 2,000 hands of short-handed $200/$400 NLHE and PLO, shedding $470,000 in the process. His Sunday grind also included a 764-hand PLO match with Scott ��URnotINdanger2�� Palmer in which Dwan lost $236,000.
Dwan was on the losing end of one of the night��s largest pots, which came in at nearly $149,000. Playing six-handed, Dwan opened for $1,200 from under-the-gun, ��Esvedra�� and Palmer flat-calling before David Benefield put in a squeeze raise to $6,620. All three players called, $27,100 already in the pot as the flop came down A?5?5?. Benefield moved all-in for his remaining $9,287, Dwan called, Esvedra folded and Palmer called. When the 3? hit the turn, Dwan shoved for his last $46,995 and Palmer looked him up.
Dwan A?2?4?6? (wheel, re-draw to six-high straight)
Palmer 5?7?8?9? (trip fives, eight-high flush draw)
Benefield 9?J?J?Q? (jack-high flush draw)
Palmer out-drew Dwan on the river, the 7? falling to make him fives full of sevens.
In escrow: ��durrrr�� vs ��jungleman12��
Speaking of Dwan, it looks like we can expect the second installment of the ��durrrr�� Challenge to start within the next few days. According to this chat-box conversation, Daniel ��jungleman12�� Cates put $500,000 in escrow with Phil Ivey, officially accepting the 50,000-hand match with Dwan. Check out their conversation:
durrrr: did u send ivey $$ yet??
jungleman12: not yet
?jungleman12: ill send now
?jungleman12: how soon is soon??
durrrr: read ur phone...
?jungleman12: ah i see
?durrrr: few days at most?
durrrr: did u send yet?
?jungleman12: yeah
?jungleman12: sent?
durrrr: then i can start talking &&%%?
durrrr: since we're booked
?jungleman12: ??
durrrr: and say that its cute u think u'll ever have an edge =)
?jungleman12: lol
?jungleman12: you never seemed like the type?
durrrr: never wanna scare off the fish =)?
durrrr: but if they escrow....?
durrrr: haha ok?
durrrr: lmk if u wanna play if not we'll start in a few days
?durrrr: gl n stuff
?jungleman12: u2
Ivey tops the leaderboard
Whether it was limit hold��em, pot-limit Omaha, 7-Game or even cap no-limit hold��em, Phil Ivey crushed the competition this week, booking $765,000 in earnings. His largest single-session win came at the $2,000/$4,000 limit hold��em tables, where he played a 334-hand heads-up match against��deprimiert,�� finishing nearly $373,000 to the good. Tuesday afternoon he hit up the $300/$600 PLO tables, taking $257,000 from Cole South in 239 hands. Much of that win came from this $146,000 monsterpotten, where South got his money in drawing rather thin.
Playing heads-up, Ivey opened for $2,000 holding A?Q?J?9? and South three-bet to $6,200 with A?Q?10?2?. Ivey called and they saw a Q?7?5? flop, both players hitting top pair. South led out for $8,700 and Ivey called. The turn came the J?, Ivey making top two pair while South picked up a gutshot straight draw. South again led into Ivey, making a pot-sized bet of $30,000. Ivey min-raised to $60,000 and South called all-in for $23,386. The 5? on the river sealed the hand for Ivey, who raked in the $146,571 pot.
Hansen on a steep downswing
While Ivey and Dwan have been enjoying stellar results in August, their wins have often come at Gus Hansen��s expense. As of press time, the Great Dane is stuck more than $1.35 million in August, much of it coming in the $1,500/$3,000 7-Game and $500/$1,000 cap PLO game. Prior to this downswing, Hansen was actually in the black for 2010, but is now close to an $800,000 loser for the year.
Who��s up? Who��s down?
This week��s biggest winners (8/9-8/15): Phil Ivey (+$765,000), Scott ��URnotINdanger2�� Palmer (+$459,000), Cole South (+$344,000)
In the red: NEKOTYAN (-$965,000), Gus Hansen (-$480,000), Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan (-$312,000)
Top earners, 2010 to date: Tom ��durrrr�� Dwan (+$4.37 million), Phil Ivey (+$3.24 million), Daniel ��jungleman12�� Cates (+$2.54 million)
The highest-stakes action on the Internet all unfolds on Full Tilt Poker. Open up an account today and see for yourself.