No one did better playing online cash games in 2017 than “BERRI SWEET.” He finished as the year’s biggest winner with more than $1.7 million in earnings. But now it’s a new year and a new race, and after one month, Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane has jumped out to an early lead after winning $348,234 online in January.
Big Pots, Bigger Winners
The first month of 2018 was kind to “gavz101” who hails from the UK. He stayed bust at PokerStars’ high-stakes pot-limit Omaha tables and also dabbled in the $400/$800 8-Game mix. All told, “gavz101” played 18,713 hands spread across 241 sessions, many of which came against Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.
However, it was against the aforementioned “BERRI SWEET” that “gavz101” played the biggest pot of the money. It actually happened at a four-handed table of $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha and began when “gavz101” ($42,949.18) raised to $1,400 from the button. “BERRI SWEET” ($61,928.27) popped it to $4,600 from the small blind, Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky folded from the big, and “gavz101” called to see the K♥4♣6♠ flop.
“BERRI SWEET” led out for $28,795 and “gavz101” called off for $28,749.18 holding the A♥A♠3♠3♥ to create an $86,298 pot. “BERRI SWEET” then revealed his 8♣7♣9♠7♠ and the two agreed to run it twice. The 7♦ turn and 6♥ river on the first gave “BERRI SWEET” half the pot with a full house, but the 2♥ turn and 2♠ on the second gave “gavz101” the other half. Chop it up!
The biggest outright win of the month went to Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger, who won $90,240 in January in 7,575 hands over 135 sessions. The hand took place at a full $200/$400 NLHE 6-Max table when Jordi “prot0” Urlings ($49,801.48) raised to $880 from the cutoff and “Danneville” ($40,000) three-bet to $3,800 from the small blind with the Q♦Q♥.
Loeliger ($56,738.54) then looked down at the A♦A♠ in the big and four-bet to $8,400. Urlings folded, “Danneville” moved all in, and Loeliger called. They ran it twice, but neither the 9♠6♦2♣K♥J♠ on the first run nor 6♠5♥J♥A♥A♣ on the second helped “Danneville.” Ship the $80,880 pot to Loeliger.
January 2018 Biggest Winners
1 Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (241 sessions/18,713 hands) $348,234
2 “donthnrmepls” (17 sessions, 2,515 hands) $192,809
3 “JayP-AA” (100 sessions, 12,664 hands) $185,527
4 Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves (133 sessions/8,134 hands) $166,212
5 Konstantin “BongBob” Bücherl (100 sessions/5,066 hands) $156,058
6 Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn (30 sessions/3,807 hands) $125,588
7 “Maahone” (51 sessions/7,490 hands) $121,495
8 Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger (135 sessions/7,575 hands) $90,240
9 “limitless” (166 sessions/8,780 hands) $84,884
10 “WRUUUUM” (94 sessions/5,918 hands) $65,860
Off to Bad Start
On the other end of the spectrum, no one did worse in January than “ImagineKing,” who lost $365,632 in 14,349 hands spread across 165 sessions. That worked out to an average loss of $25.48 per hand. If you recall, “ImagineKing” was the fifth-biggest loser of 2017.
It was also a bad month for Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion, who lost $210,636 in just 2,044 hands over 18 sessions. That means he averaged a loss of $103.05 per hand, which was on par with what the high-paid workers in the U.S. make per hour (anesthesiologists earn an average of $111.94/hour).
Similarly, it’s right there with the hourly average rate for general surgeons ($110.84) and gynecologists ($104.21) – though Sion lost it per hand!
To put it another way, Sion lost 15 percent of the $1,395,767 he won for taking down last summer’s 2017 World Series of Poker Event #62: $50,000 Poker Players Championship.
January 2018 Biggest Losers
1 “ImagineKing” (165 sessions/14,349 hands) $365,632
2 Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion (18 sessions/2,044 hands) $210,636
3 Viktor “Isildur1” Blom (69 sessions/7,820 hands) $198,117
4 “lynx4334” (10 sessions/956 hands) $178,930
5 Mikael “ChaoRen160” Thuritz (45 sessions/11,402 hands) $122,095
6 “moshmachine” (14 sessions/2,284 hands) $102,017
7 “Nolez7” (30 sessions/1,297 hands) $91,138
8 Carlo “Ravenswood13” van Ravenswoud (17 sessions/1,800 hands) $79,218
9 Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (37 sessions/4,253 hands) $75,957
10 Jordi “prot0” Urlings (32 sessions/1,431 hands) $74,094
