Since the events of Black Friday, PokerStars has slowly emerged as the new home for high stakes players while games on Euro sites like 888poker, iPoker and PartyPoker continue to grow.
Regardless of the many changes to the industry there were still some massive hands that were played and we’ve compiled a list of the biggest hands on PokerStars recorded by our online poker stats section below.
As for the list itself you’ll notice that Finnish aggro-maniac Ilari Sahamies was a beast this year and was personally involved with seven of the top 10 biggest pots. Not a bad year for the pride of Helsinki.
Stay tuned for a look at the 2011 top five biggest winners and losers in online poker later this week.
Note: While our Online Poker Stats section captured the majority of big hands on PokerStars, Full Tilt hands from early 2011 were missing including ones from the big Gus Hansen and XWINK sessions.
1. Ilari FIN (winner) vs. Skjervoy, bernard-bb: $421,821 Pot
This $421k monster had special significance as it was not only the biggest pot played in 2011 but also the biggest pot ever recorded on PokerStars.
The reason it took this long for someone to rake a $400k pot on the site? Full Tilt Poker used to be THE site for high stakes players but since Black Friday the high stakes players have slowly but surely been migrating to PokerStars.
By the time September rolled around the high stakes PLO games were nearing Full Tilt levels when Ilari Sahamies rivered a nut-flush to win this record setting hand against Skjervoy and bernard-bb.
2. takechip (winner) vs. LiangYu: $346,915 Pot
French-Canadian Phil “takechip” D’Auteuil went on a $1 million run near the end of 2011 and this pot was pot was a big part of the reason why.
The only No-Limit Hold’em hand to make the top 10, D’Auteuil had the fortune of picking up A-K in a 6-Max $200/$400 No-Limit Hold’em game and then turning broadway against LiangYu.
LiangYu made the mistake of betting the river hard and was stunned when D’Auteuil ended up showing the nuts. LiangYu has hardly been active in the high stakes games since then while D’Auteuil finished 2011 as one of the most profitable players.
3. Ilari FIN (winner) vs. socutiesf: $307,237 Pot
Ilari Sahamies and Ta-Chih “socutiesf” Geeng had a number of battles this year but this was the biggest one.
Sahamies and Geeng got it all-in pre-flop in $100/$200 PLO with Sahamies holding pocket aces to Geeng’s pocket kings.
Sahamies was also double-suited, however, and he ended up rivering a flush.
4. 1II|1II|1iI| (winner) vs. Fake Love888: $273,030 Pot
Neither 1II|1II|1iI| or Fake Love888 were particularly active in the early stages of 2011 but they played some absolutely massive sessions just as the year drew to a close.
Fake Love888, who is rumored to be online poker stud Patrik Antonius, went into a tailspin in December and his sessions against 1II|1II|1iI| were a big part of the reason why.
In this hand 1II|1II|1iI| rivered a flush against Fake Love888’s straight to drag a massive pot.
5. Ilari FIN (winner) vs. Isildur1: $268,834 Pot
This hand occurred in early fall and is one of several Ilari FIN/Isildur1 hands featured in our top 10 list.
In this one Sahamies flopped a set of kings and that was enough to hold against Isildur1’s various draws.
This was around the time that Sahamies began a multi-million dollar upswing.
6. Ilari FIN (winner) vs. socutiesf: $256,266 Pot
Frequent Ilari Sahamies’ opponent socutiesf got a little unlucky in this one as he had pocket kings against Sahamies pocket aces. The money went in pre-flop and, although the board paired, that did nothing for socutiesf’s hand.
It was around this time that socutiesf started to put in a lot less volume in the high stakes games on PokerStars.
7. Ilari FIN (winner) vs. Isildur1: $251,694 Pot
Railbirds go crazy for Ilari Sahamies and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and with hands like this it’s easy to see why.
Blom gets a big draw in Pot-Limit Omaha but eventually misses on the river. He put a fair amount of pressure on Sahamies but the Finn stuck around with two-pair to win the pot.
8. Isildur1 (winner) vs. Ilari FIN: $247,883 Pot
Yet another massive hand between the Nordic rivals Ilari Sahamies and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom. This time around it was Blom who got the checkmark.
The hand took place in early September with $100/$200 PLO the game of choice.
Flopped top-pair was enough for Isildur1 to take down the Monsterpotten.
9. Isildur1 (winner) vs. Ilari FIN: $240,482 Pot
Viktor “Isildur1” Blom snagged another one from high-flying Ilari Sahamies in this one.
This time Blom won with a bigger two-pair but there’s a very good chance Sahamies would have been able to escape if it wasn’t for the king on the river.
Instead a cool $240k was shipped to the poker prodigy from Sweden.
10. socutiesf (winner) vs. Skjervoy: $238,775 Pot
It wasn’t all bad for socutiesf this year as he was able to drag this sick pot from Andreas “Skjervoy” Torbergsen.
It was a kings vs. aces situation with Torbergsen holding the aces and socutiesf with the kings. Fortunately for socutiesf he managed to spike a set of kings on the river.
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