Railbird Report: Loeliger & Kanit Ship PokerStars High Rollers

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Mar 30, 2018 6 min read

Switzerland's Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger is well known for his cash game prowess, especially online where he is leading the 2018 leaderboard with $568,908 in profit at PokerStars and $1,199,489 in total profit since bursting onto the scene in 2016.

This past week, Loeliger proved he is far from a one-trick pony with big success in the High Roller online tournament series at PokerStars.

Though not particularly known as a tournament crusher with just three live cashes in 2015 and 2016 for a total of $85,404, Loeliger has shown some success in tournaments with one of his live cashes being a win in the UKIPT London High Roller for £55,650 ($79,271) to go along with some scores in online tournaments.

On March 23, Loeliger took second place in the PokerStars High Rollers Event #13: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] $1M Gtd for $143,131 ($108,131 prize + $35,000 bounty).

Two days later, on March 25, Loeliger was at it again in the High Rollers Event #25: $1,050 NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo], $400K Gtd. Instead of getting second place, he played his way to the win to collect the $106,645 top prize in just over 2 1/2 hours.

This is not all Loeliger accomplished in his big week as he was also the week's biggest online cash game winner after booking $93,554 in profit over the course of seven sessions and 254 hands from March 22-28.

Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit, who has the most live cashes in his country with $10.7 million according to The Hendon Mob to go along with $4.9 million according to PocketFives, had a very nice score himself.

He was the star of the PokerStars High Rollers Event #13: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] $1M Gtd show. While Loeliger finished second, Kanit won the event for a huge payday of $326,839 ($139,183 prize + $187,656 bounty).

Catching Up on High Stakes Action: Three Biggest Pots of The Week

Big names were involved in the three biggest pots during March 22-28 including Loeliger, Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, and Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro. Loeliger and Kuznetsov were, as usual, battling it out in nosebleed no-limit hold'em cash games while Blom and Kelopuro were going at each other in pot-limit Omaha.

1) Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger wins a $137,380 Pot (343 Big Blinds) from Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov (March 27)
^{($200/$400 NLHE 6-Max)}

The biggest hand of the week took place in heads-up play and began with Kuznetsov raising the button to $1,100 before he called a three-bet for $4,200 from Loeliger.

Loeliger led out for $2,009 on the 5♣J♦A♠ rainbow flop and got a call from Kuznetsov. Loeliger then led out again, this time for $7,444 after the A♣ paired the board on the turn and Kuznetsov called.

The 9♦ completed the board on the river and Loeliger fired out a bet of $18,007. Kuznetsov jammed for $55,037 with a bluff holding Q♣7♣ and lost his stack after Loeliger called with A♥Q♦.

2) Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro wins a $80,800 Pot (202 Big Blinds) from Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (March 26)
^{($200/$400 PLO 6-Max)}

Kelopuro and Blom were battling it out in heads-up play in an epic 5 1/2 hour marathon on March 26. Blom had a huge early lead of around $130,000 while the duo was playing $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha.

However, they decided to push the stakes higher by three-tabling heads-up at $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha. It was there that Kelopuro was able to rally and turned his huge deficit into over $49,000 in profit by the time the session was over.

In the second biggest hand of the week, with stakes at $200/$400 pot-limit Omaha, Kelopuro raised to $1,200 preflop before he called a three-bet to $3,600 from Blom.

Blom led for $4,800 on the A♠2♥J♠ flop before he called a raise to $21,597 from Kelopuro. Blom then jammed for $15,203 after the 3♦ appeared on the turn and got a call from Kelopuro who had his stack covered.

The duo decided to run it twice with Kelopuro in a huge lead and Blom needing any ace or a non-spaded four to save his hand. The entire $80,800 pot was shipped to Kelopuro after the 8♦ completed the board on the first river and the 8♣ completed the board on the second river.

3) Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro wins a $66,317 Pot (166 Big Blinds) from Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (March 26)
^{($200/$400 PLO 6-Max)}

A few minutes after the last hand on the same table, Kelopuro once again got the best of Blom. The action began the same with Kelopuro raising to $1,200 before he called a three-bet to $3,600 from Blom.

Blom led out for $4,800 on the 3♦2♣8♥ rainbow flop and got a call from Kelopuro. Blom fired out again, this time for $16,797 after the 9♥ appeared on the turn. Kelopuro raised enough to put Blom all in for his remaining stack of $7,962 after he called.

Blom was once again a big underdog after all the money was in and the duo agreed to run it twice. Kelopuro shipped the third biggest non-chopped pot of the week worth $66,317 after Blom ran blanks with the 9♦ appearing on the first river followed by the 4♦ on the second river.

This Week's Online High-Stakes Biggest Winners and Losers

The 2018 Leaderboard

Loeliger extended his lead on the 2018 leaderboard while James "JayP-AA" Park remained in second place with no volume and Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn remained third with light volume.

"ImagineKing" added to his losses and once again has a solid hold on the biggest loss of the year. Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz with a strong week was able to climb out of the bottom three with Blom losing big in heads-up play and taking his spot in second to last on the leaderboard.

Meanwhile, Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion didn't play a hand last week and has remained in third to last on the yearly leaderboard in back-to-back weeks.

The above top winning and losing players in online poker for 2018 only takes PokerStars accounts into consideration. All public data courtesy of . If you want to opt out of being listed in this PokerNews update on high-stakes action, send an email with your username to [email protected].

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• Tags Railbird Report PokerStars Sami Kelopuro Online Poker Mustapha Kanit Isildur1 Alexander Kostritsyn Omaha
• Related Players Alexander KostritsynViktor BlomMustapha KanitSami Kelopuro