Posts Tagged ‘Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies’
Sick lineup for <i>Poker After Dark</i> cash game
Players will find themselves confronted with $200/$400 blinds and a $100 ante to start, which should help produce a number of awe-inspiring monster pots.
This marks the second year that NBC has aired two weeks of cash game episodes on Poker After Dark.
Just like last year, players will draw for seats, but then redraw half-way through the game to give viewers a different table dynamic.
This is the first year that Finnish cash-game maniac Ziigmund will be making an appearance. Sahamies is renowned for his Pot-Limit Omaha skills, relentless aggression and some of the best trash talk on the Internet.
Unfortunately, he hasn't exactly lit the world of TV cash-game poker on fire. Earlier this year he appeared on GSN's High Stakes Poker, but was fairly quiet, allowing durrrr to steal the show by winning hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Dwan could very well duplicate that effort on Poker After Dark, but it will be tough as the other players at the table are likely no strangers to poker fans.
Ivey is on the biggest heater of his life after winning two 2009 WSOP bracelets over the summer and a seat at the Main Event final table.
Antonius is having a banner year online with nearly $4 million in profits and he'll look to keep that streak going on the live tables.
Meanwhile, Elezra has as much gamble as anyone and will be doing his best to get all of his chips in the middle.
Finally, Lederer brings a lifetime of cash game experience to the table and the man they call the "Professor" will be surely looking to school some of the young upstarts in the game.
The program begins airing on NBC tonight (Sept. 7) and can be seen for five consecutive nights in the late night time slot of 2:05 a.m.
There is also special director's cut episode to air at 1 a.m. Saturday. The show can be seen in the same time slot next week as well.
Check your local listings for more information.
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Tags: 2009, 5, After Dark, durrrr, Eli Elezra, gamble, high stakes, High Stakes Poker, Howard Lederer, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, Mania, NBC, Omaha, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Poker After Dark, Pro, skill, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, usa, WSOP
They’re back! Millions bet as PLO action blows up
A staggering 95 out of the top 100 pots over the past 24 hours were worth over $100k, and the other five pots were less than $2k short of six digits.
It was the nine-handed $300/$600 PLO table "This is nuts" which saw most of the action, and every seat was filled allowing for some rarely seen full ring PLO action.
Perhaps even more startling was the absence of poker god Phil Ivey. Even with millions of dollars changing hands during the night, Ivey failed to make an appearance.
Although it's not possible to confirm individual results at this time, it appears Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond lost close to $1 million on the night.
Not only did he come up on the losing end of three pots worth over $300k, he lost the largest pot of the night to Sahamies worth over $555k.
When the nine-handed table broke, Tom "durrrr" Dwan and Sahamies took to playing $500/$1,000 PLO heads-up until the early hours of the morning. Mostly thanks to a $426k pot, it appears as if Ziigmund came out of the heads-up session with a profit.
Although Dwan spent the entire night at the tables, he seemed to have lost just as many pots as he won.
Take a look at the three largest pots below, or you can watch them all by clicking through to our MarketPulse section.
Flop a set, chunk, hold - Easy game.
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Tags: 5, David Benyamine, durrrr, Galfond, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, Tom "durrrr" Dwan
More stars added to Caesars Cup rosters
Set for London's Casino at the Empire Friday Sept. 25 at 10 a.m., the Caesars Cup is unique Ryder Cup-style poker tournament pitting teams from both sides of the Atlantic against each other.
Negreanu and Obrestad have been tasked with assembling eight-person rosters for the made-for-television event that will air on ESPN-branded channels as part of its 2009 WSOPE coverage.
The structure will feature heads-up and two-man doubles matches, with single points awarded for each match.
The first two matches match will be doubles and include alternate betting with one player per side playing pre-flop and on the turn and the other playing the flop and the river.
The next two matches will be doubles with the players alternating every two hands.
After the doubles matches conclude, the format will move on to heads-up if a clear winner has not yet been decided.
Before today's announcement, the Americas roster already included Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth and John Juanda while Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri and Bertrand Grospellier made up the European team.
The European team will include a Betfair Poker qualifier and the final roster spots are expected be announced prior to the event.
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durrrr stuns martonas with $585,952 pot
Last night it was time for martonas to battle current nosebleed stakes sheriff durrrr and the result was an epic No-Limit Hold'em heads-up match.
The pair played for approximately three hours at $500/$1,000 setting the stage for one of the biggest pots of the year so far.
At about 9 a.m. ET this morning, durrrr was dealt K
K
while martonas found T T in the hole. The two got into a massive raising war pre-flop before martonas finally slowed down and called a $60,400 durrrr bet.
The flop came a relatively dry 8 4 3 and durrrr simply shoved for $221,376. martonas called and was left drawing extremely slim with even his backdoor flush draw outs blocked.
The turn came 9
and the river finished with the 5 to secure durrrr the $585,952 pot.
Durrr has won all three of the biggest pots recorded by MarketPulse in the last 365 days. He lost the fourth biggest against Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies while Niki Jedlicka took down the fifth biggest.
The session was far from over following the massive pot, however, and about one hour later martonas would have his revenge.
This time he had K
K and Dwan had a less than perfect starting hand holding J 8.
The flop came K 3 3, giving martonas a full house and ending any chance Dwan had of winning the pot.
But even that didn't stop the online phenom from firing on all three streets, including a massive all-in bluff for $228,793 on the river.
martonas snap-called and showed his kings to scoop the $450,781 pot.
martonas was up by $234,000 for the session as railbirds continued to debate his/her true identity.
Dwan was pounded by martonas but still managed to grind out a $110,000 profit for his session thanks to the action on a few other tables.
Urindanger and Patrik Antonius both had bad sessions with Urindanger losing $468,000 and Antonius taking a $142,000 hit.
Check below to see some of the martonas/durrrr hands in the PokerListings' video player.
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Tags: 5, Dang, durrrr, Gus Hansen, HB, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, martonas, no-limit, nosebleed, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, Sweden, Tom "durrrr" Dwan
Urindanger wins $322k pot from Phil Ivey, Ziigmund
The game was $300/$600 Pot-Limit Omaha and, as is usually the case with PLO, several epic pots were shipped.
In the biggest hand of the session Ivey had aces in the hole, Ziigmund hit two pair on the flop and Dang flopped a set of kings. Ivey shoved on the flop for his last $63k, Dang re-shoved and Ziigmund called.
The turn and river were bricks and Dang won the pot, which tipped the scales at $322,803. Good enough to be the biggest pot of the day.
If you take a look at our MarketPulse top 100 pots you'll notice that Ivey also dropped a $214k pot to David Benyamine, but he also won two pots worth nearly $200k.
It's not known exactly what Ivey finished the session with but it's likely he's still up for the year considering he had already profited $2 million online. Of course there's also that whole 2009 WSOP Main Event final table in November.
As a side note for all the durrr-fans out there, Tom Dwan finished yesterday up nearly half a million, which is always good for stimulating some action at the highest stakes.
Check below for a couple key Ivey hands and one Dwan hand at the bottom in the PokerListings hand replayer.
No durrrr Challenge but close enough
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The Gus Hansen looting
Combined, these four players took Hansen for nearly $700k at the $200/$400 PLO tables.
Hansen managed to keep his losses below the million dollar mark by winning the largest, and the third largest pots of the night, both against Sahamies.
The largest pot saw $171k get in the middle on the turn after Sahamies chose to slowplay his flopped trips. Unfortunately for Sahamies, his flopped trip fives (which became a full house on the river) were drawing nearly dead to Hansen's flopped full house: kings over fives.
Some of the other highlights of the night include Hansen calling all in with bottom pair and a gutshot, hitting his second pair to crack Sahamies' Kings, and theASHMAN103 watching his two pair hold against Hansen's one pair with the flush draw.
You can watch these hands below, or head to our MarketPulse section to see all the largest hands of the session.
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durrrr rules mega session on Full Tilt
The session started with a table that featured Gus Hansen, Dwan, Di "Urindanger" Dang, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Brian Townsend, Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond, Rafi "howisitfeellike" Amit and Jani "KObyTAPOUT" Vilmunen, but players like David Benyamine, Richard Ashby, Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro, Chau Giang and John Juanda all made appearances as well.
At one point the action was so heavy there were nine tables of $200/$400 going with about 1,000 fans on the rail.
The session was particularly notable because close friends Dwan, Galfond and Dang showed no reluctance to go after each other. At one point Dwan was even playing Dang three-handed.
With that much high-stakes PLO going on, it was only a matter of time before someone raked a monster pot and that honor went to Hansen, who managed to drag a pot worth nearly half a million dollars at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Hansen had the fortune of hitting the nut-flush on an 8 7 4 5 K board after Dwan shoved all-in on the turn with two-pair and a flush draw. Juanda also made the call with a set and a gut-shot straight draw.
In the end, Hansen raked $459,846, one of the top 10 biggest online hands of the year so far.
Somewhat surprisingly, Hansen is rumored to have finished the game as only a small winner, while Dwan was said to be up nearly $800,000, thanks in large part to a couple of $300,000 pots.
First Dwan flopped a set of kings and then proceeded to backdoor a king-high flush for the win. A little later he cracked Galfond's set of kings with a rivered king-high flush.
Dwan, Amit and Ashby were said to be the big winners while KObyTAPOUT, Benyamine and Kostritsyn sustained the biggest losses.
It's anybody's guess how long these epic high-stakes games will continue, but in the meantime you can check out how the action went down for yourself in the PokerListings hand replayer below:
Replay this hand at www.pokerlistings.com
Can you say durrrr!
More from durrrr.
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Tags: 15, 5, 540, Brian Townsend, Dang, David Benyamine, durrrr, full tilt poker, Galfond, Gus Hansen, HB, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, Omaha, player, Poker, Pro, Rome, Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro, Tom "durrrr" Dwan
The amazing, fantastic, durrrr
At that point, most of the hate-durrrrs were crying "Busto!" and "just another flash in the pan!"
After a short winning streak, it looked as if Dwan would pull out of his nose dive, only to plummet deeper. At his lowest point, and just 5 months into the year, Dwan had almost reached $4 million in losses.
Partially thanks to his latest session, all of that has turned around.
The last day of June saw Dwan sitting against two of the most feared online poker players in the world:
- Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies at $500/$1,000 PLO
- Phil Ivey at $500/$1,000 HA (Half Omaha, half Hold'em)
After some sick calls, and sicker-sized pots, Dwan came out of the PLO session up $700,000. The amounts of the session's top five pots alone add up to over $2 million wagered.
Ivey fared better than Sahamies, only losing $90k to Dwan at the mixed game.
With his latest win in tow, Dwan is now showing an overall profit of over $1.5 million for the year, with no signs of slowing down.
Here are the three largest pots of the session:
The largest pot of the session.
Replay any of the day's largest pots at will on our MarketPulse page.
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Euro edge? Ziigmund and durrrr talk PLO
"It's a more complex game than No Limit Hold'em," explained Tom "durrrr" Dwan, the American poster boy for nosebleed stakes online.
"There's more gambling and more variance and that makes it more enjoyable."
While the poker boom in North America was in full swing over the past few years and millions were flocking to No Limit Hold'em, European card rooms continued to spread PLO regularly for the core of players on the other side of the pond.
As a result, Finn Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, who frequents the same high-stakes online tables as Dwan, trading pots that often reach up to an astounding $600,000, says Europeans have always had the experience edge in the game.
"I think the average European player is definitely better than the average American," he said. "But they're getting better."
Dwan agrees.
"[Europeans] did have an edge a few years ago, but right now it's just a slight edge." Dwan said.
"Finnish players, and maybe Europeans as a whole, might still have a slight edge in experience, but Canadians and Americans are closing the gap."
Among the masses, PLO has always had a reputation as a game with more swings than No-Limit Hold'em.
However, Dwan said that may be a misconception.
"It's really not as swingy as most people think," he explained. "When played correctly, Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em can be twice as swingy. The problem is most people don't play correctly.
"There are still people who don't play Heads-Up No Limit Hold'em as aggressively as they should, but even inexperienced players know they need to be aggressive in PLO."
Sahamies says that's part of what makes the game so attractive to high-stakes players.
"The game is more fun," he said. "There's definitely more action."
While Dwan has played very few events at the 2009 WSOP thus far, he and another Finn, Patrik Antonius, have met on the virtual felt for a couple of durrrr Challenge sessions, including a 15-hour marathon that saw Dwan take a more than $700k overall lead.
The challenge consists of Dwan putting up $1.5 million to any challenger's $500,000, four-tabling PLO or No Limit Hold'em heads-up with minimum $200/$400 stakes over 50,000 hands.
Should any challenger be up when the 50,000 hands are through, Dwan will be out the $1.5 million. Of course, should Dwan end up ahead, he gets the challenger's $500,000.
Antonius was the first to accept the challenge and chose PLO.
"It's really up to whoever plays me as to what we'll play," Dwan said. "Patrick chose PLO and I think Phil Ivey will be next. I'm not sure whether he'll choose No Limit Hold'em or PLO. Whatever he wants is fine with me."
While Dwan claims he has no preference, he definitely feels it might be easier to find an edge in PLO, even against the best players on the planet.
"There's just so many more situations one has to deal with in PLO," he said. "It's easier for players to come to bad conclusions and it's easier for a player to think they're actually winning money when they aren't."
Day 2 of the $10k Pot Limit Omaha World Championship rolls on Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. PT and both Dwan and Sahamies hold healthy stacks.
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Tags: 15, 2009, 5, canadian, durrrr, EUR, Europe, european, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, no-limit, North America, nosebleed, Omaha, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, World Championship, WSOP
durrrr Challenge: Dwan digs a deeper hole
In the durrrr Challenge session, Antonius increased his lead by beating Dwan out of just under $35k. The two players made bets worth over $7.6 million during the 700 hand session, bringing the total amount wagered to a staggering $91 million.
The largest pot of the session came on a flop of 9 4 J. Dwan's 10 J 4 K was good for top pair and an inside straight draw, but was a dog to Antonius's flopped top two with J 7 A 9. The turn brought the K giving Dwan a higher two pair and the money went in.
Antonius missed hitting an ace or a nine on the river and Dawn took down the $153,226 pot.
Aside from the $32,706 durrrr Challenge loss, Dwan was also involved in some massive heads-up pots with Ziigmund, Ivey and Hansen.
He couldn't miss against Ivey, beating him out of over $500k before they called it quits, and Dwan's run-good continued against Hansen at first.
He held a significant lead against the Great Dane for some time until the tide turned and Hansen made an impressive comeback, finishing the session up $350k.
Dwan then finished the night by playing some sick $3,000/$9,000 PLO against Ziigmund.
In the hour-long session, the two players managed to play six pots worth over $300k, each taking three a piece.
The largest pot saw a whopping $462,514 shipped to Ziigmund after he flopped the nut straight against durrrr's three-pair. It appeared the two broke even on the session.
durrrr Challenge by the numbers:
- 91,001,705.50: Total amount wagered in the challenge
- 9,500,000: Cost of a 2006 Learjet 60 SE
- 520,000: Total prize-pool for the 1982 WSOP Main Event
- 424,631: Amount Antonius is ahead
- 32,706: Amount durrrr lost in the latest session
- 14,249: Hands played
- 4.554: Average pot size
- 184: Number of hours played
Related Articles:
- durrrr Challenge: Dwan good for $100k
- durrrr Challenge: Antonius solidifies lead
- Antonius dishes on the durrrr Challenge
- durrrr Challenge: Antonius crushes for 140k
- durrrr Challenge: Swing swonging along
- durrrr Challenge: Over 10,000 hands played
- durrrr Challenge: The 2,000 hand session
- durrrr Challenge: Dwan makes a small profit
- durrrr Challenge: Dwan implodes against Antonius
- durrrr Challenge: Dwan gaining momentum
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Tags: 15, 5, durrrr, Gus Hansen, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, king, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, player, Poker, Pro, WSOP
Tom “durrrr” Dwan back on the wagon
Playing one heads-up $500/$1,000 PLO match against Gus Hansen, one $300/$600 NLH against Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro and some heads-up $300/$600 PLO against Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Dwan managed to make back over $800k early this morning.
The largest pot of his session was also one of the last. It was worth over $265,000 and came against Ziigmund.
Dwan managed to play six pots worth over $100,000 in the session, winning five of them. In fact, the only plus $100k pot he lost came when he misssed an open-ender against LarsLuzak's pocket aces.
With this latest win, and the regained confidence that comes with it, no one would be surprised to see the next chapter of the durrrr challenge play out in the near future and Dwan start to close the gap against Patrik Antonius.
Here are some of the largest pots from Dwan's latest session:
The river hit Dwan's everything
All in pre-flop is somewhat rare in PLO
Sometimes betting bottom pair works out
The good old suck/re-suck. For quads
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Daniel Negreanu Rebuys Again on High Stakes Poker
Two weeks removed from going broke when his pocket jacks ran into David Benyamine's quad fours, Daniel Negreanu was forced to rebuy once again this week on GSN's “High Stakes Poker.” This time, his gamble against Eli Elezra did not pay off, and the Team PokerStars Pro member saw his luck in the ring game continue to slide.
This was the fifth episode of the new season of High Stakes Poker, which airs on GSN at 9:00pm ET on Sundays. Last week's show featured Tom “durrrr” Dwan's aces cracked by Barry Greenstein's J-9 when Greenstein turned two pair. The hand sparked the catch phrase, “Math is idiotic,” which is now a staple of the show. Greenstein opened this week's episode with wins in two smaller pots, one against 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate and one against both Negreanu and Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies.
Several massive pots occurred in this week's episode. In the first, Negreanu raised to $3,000 with 9-10 of clubs and was called by Dwan, who had 8-7. Elezra made it $11,000 holding pocket aces and both of his opponents called. The flop came Q-2-4 with two clubs and Elezra bet out $17,000. High Stakes Poker Host Gabe Kaplan noted, “A small bet. He's hoping someone has a big queen and would raise him.”
Holding a flush draw, Negreanu raised to $44,100, Dwan got out of the way, Elezra made it $119,100, and Negreanu shoved for $226,300. Elezra called, saying, “I hope you're on a draw.” Sure enough, Negreanu was. The combatants agreed to run the board twice, meaning in order to scoop the entire pot, a player must win both boards. The first came the five of diamonds and six of spades, a win for Elezra. The second board ran out the three of spades and jack of spades, giving Elezra the massive $487,100 pot. Negreanu promptly reloaded.
Elezra turned up the aggression with his newfound chips. In one hand, he raised to $4,500 with A-9 of diamonds. Eastgate raised to $20,000 with pocket queens, and Doyle Brunson quickly folded pocket tens. On the latter move, Kaplan commented, “I don't understand that.” Sahamies called the raise with pocket fours and Elezra also called. The flop came K-2-7 with two diamonds and Elezra bet $55,000. Kaplan noted, “That's a pretty big bet. I think Peter is savvy enough to realize that when Eli had aces, he bet half the size of the pot.” Eastgate called and the turn came a non-diamond three. The action went check-check and the river was a non-diamond jack. Both Elezra and Eastgate checked and the reigning WSOP Main Event Champion took down the $174,100 pot.
Greenstein and Elezra locked horns in a hand that saw four-way action to a flop of J-K-A with two diamonds. Greenstein, who was the hand's initial pre-flop raiser, led out for $7,000 with 6-5 of diamonds, Elezra made it $19,000 with A-2, and the action folded back to Greenstein, who called. The turn came a non-diamond eight. Greenstein checked and Elezra bet $45,000. Kaplan remarked, “I don't know what Eli is putting Barry on, but I know one thing: Eli wants Barry to fold his hand right here.” Instead of laying down his draw, Greenstein fired back and raised to $200,000, prompting a quick fold from Elezra.
Dwan continued being active at the table. In a hand that occurred early on in the show, Negreanu raised to $5,600 with K-Q, Dwan called with A-J, and Elezra called holding 3-2 suited. The flop came 8-2-J, giving Dwan top pair, top kicker. He led out for $13,200, Elezra folded, and Negreanu made the smooth call with king high. The turn came a four, Dwan bet $34,200, and Negreanu waved the white flag and folded. On the $74,400 hand, Kaplan commented, “Dwan confuses everybody. He gets them to play hands that they wouldn't otherwise play.”
Next week's episode promises to have the poker world buzzing. The preview reveals, “Barry Greenstein and Tom Dwan have battled all season long. Next week, they will lock up in what will be one of the most talked about hands in High Stakes Poker history.” Check out High Stakes Poker on Sundays at 9:00pm ET on GSN.
Tags: 2008, 5, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Daniel Negreanu Rebuys, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, durrrr, Eli Elezra, Gabe Kaplan, gamble, high stakes, High Stakes Poker, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, kicker, king, member, newfound chips, Peter Eastgate, player, Poker, pokerstars, Pro, queen, Stakes Poker Host Gabe Kaplan, Team PokerStars Pro, Tom Dwan, USD, WSOP
Ilari Sahamies dates Miss Million finalist - check out the pics!
Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies is well known for his skills at the pokertables - now he has shown he also has skill with the ladies.
Ilari has recently been signed up by PowerPoker to promote their rapidly growing new pokerroom. Join Ilari at his own playground thru Highstakesnews to get the 33% rakeback and 500$ first deposit bonus. Simply use this PowerPoker download link and afterwards send an e-mail to: highstakesnews@gmail.com.
The identity of Ziigmunds girlfriend was just published in a Finnish magazine. Hanna-Leena Turpeinen works as a TV-competition hostess and was the former Miss Million-runner up:
Miss Million finalists - Hanna-Leena in the middle:
Source: Pokerista.fi
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Ilari Sahamies dates Miss Million finalist - check out the pics!
Tags: 2009, 5, cent, Hanna-Leena Turpeinen, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Ilari Sahamies, ladies, Poker, Poker.com, Pro, runner, skill, TV-competition hostess, USD