Back in 2008, there were huge cash games running on Full Tilt Poker, and massive pots were played, with a handful of pots totaling more than a million dollars. Players like Isildur1, Durrr, Antonius and Phil Ivey were going back and forth on a regular basis. Reputations were made, bankrolls were destroyed, and any fish who fell into the water was treated like beef chunks in a pool full of sharks.
Well, in the last three years the nosebleed cash scene has dried up a bit, as the effects of UIGEA have slowly trickled upwards and some of the biggest nosebleed donators seem to have found other hobbies. Now with black Friday back in April, and Full Tilt shutting down recently, rail birds have been left fending for high stakes action.
PokerStars seems to have stepped into the light, as the premiere destination to watch nosebleed poker. Last night, mercurial Finnish poker star Illari “Ziigmund” Sahamies won the largest pot ever on PokerStars, $421,826! Ziigmund is best known for trash talking his opponents in the chat, and for going on massive swings of millions of dollars.
In a 2009 Bluff Magazine interview, Ziigmund claimed to have lost over $3 Million over a four year period, as a result of coming home from the bar in the middle of the night, piss drunk, and playing in some of the highest stakes games ever played. Ziigmund is something of a celebrity in Finland and can be seen on Youtube starring in the rap video “Pojat On Poikii”. The video has over 2.5 Million hits on Youtube. Ziigmund’s wild and aggressive personality has drawn him one of the strongest fan bases in all of poker.
Here is the hand history for the biggest cash game poker pot ever played on PokerStars. Ziigmund is playing under the screen name Ilari Fin:
Poker Stars $200/$400 Pot Limit Omaha Hi – 6 players
Skjervøy (BTN): $30208.00
bernard-bb (SB): $195609.00
refaelamit (BB): $32690.00
MrSweets28 (UTG): $49789.00
socutiesf (MP): $22709.00
Ilari FIN (CO): $247909.00
Pre Flop: ($600.00)
2 folds, Ilari FIN raises to $1400, Skjervøy calls $1400, bernard-bb calls $1200, 1 fold
Flop: ($4600.00) Ks 2h 3s (3 players)
bernard-bb checks, Ilari FIN bets $4595, Skjervøy raises to $18380, bernard-bb calls $18380, Ilari FIN calls $13785
Turn: ($59740.00) 9h (3 players)
bernard-bb checks, Ilari FIN checks, Skjervøy bets $10428 all in, bernard-bb raises to $91019, Ilari FIN calls $91019
River: ($252206.00) 3h (3 players – 1 is all in)
bernard-bb bets $84810 all in, Ilari FIN calls $84810
Final Pot: $421826.00
bernard-bb shows Ad 2d As 7s (two pair, Aces and Threes)
Ilari FIN shows Kh 4c Ah 6h (a flush, Ace high)
Ilari FIN wins $330802.00
Ilari FIN wins $91019.00
Nosebleed games are a great way for poker sites to attract casual players to sign up to the site. With American high stakes players finally making the move overseas, expect to see lots of nosebleed action at PokerStars as they continue to introduce these massive $200/$400 and up games.
A few years ago, with the signing of Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, PokerStars seemed to be making a grab for the top site to attract big name nosebleed players and now they’ve done exactly that. Phil Galfond and Daniel Cates have both moved overseas, and with Ilari Sahamies and Isildur1 both running hot lately and building large bankrolls, expect fireworks at the Stars nosebleed tables in the next few months!