A night of big losers

10/15/2009

Midweek saw a mass turnout of big name poker players on the high stakes cash game tables at Full Tilt Poker, but according to the independent poker stats site MarketPulse, few of them escaped unscathed.

The list of big losers speaks for itself:

Brian Hastings - down $115 000
Phil Ivey - down $150 000
Cole South - down $249 000
Chau Giang - down $268 000
Nizot Skizared - down $157 000
Sirens - down $124 000.

Although not on the 'big loser' leaderboard, Allen Cunningham and David Oppenheim also dropped considerable sums of money in the session.

There had to be some winners to soak up all those losses, of course, and these were headed by Tom Dwan, who took home over $650 000, mainly playing mixed 7-Game and Omaha. Gus Hansen must have been relieved to end the session up $100 000, and Richard Ashby took home a similar amount.

Also showing a profit, albeit relatively small, were Patrik Antonius, John Juanda, Justin Smith, and David Benyamine.

Adding sparkle to the evening was a $30 000-a-pop multiple flip series featuring Phil Galfond (undeterred by recent losses) and Rob Akery. The flip involves each player wagering an agreed amount pre-flop, giving a fifty percent chance of winning - rather like a complicated coin flip. In their entertaining clash, the two bet on a total of 26 flips, with $60 000 riding on each.

Galfond was the overall winner, taking 17 of the flips, which gave him a useful payday of $270 000. Clearly buoyed by his success, he went on to other games and ended the night up $334 000!