August saw three players win over $1m including Dan Cates, Mikael Thuritz and Kostritsyn.
On the flip side Chun Lei Zhou donated a staggering $2.5 million while Gus Hansen ended up having yet another bad month.
In total six of the largest pots played all year were during the last four weeks.
By Christian Henkel
Cates, Kostritsyn Take it to Next Level
Dan "Jungleman12" Cates and Kostritsyn were in a league of their own last month.
In Russia, Kostritsyn was already considered a poker celebrity when he was in his early 20s. It didn’t come as a big surprise to his fans at home when he won the Aussie Millions Main Event and $1.5m.
Yet neither live tournaments nor No-Limit Hold’em were his favorite games. Instead the mixed tables online are where he prefers to spend his time.
Kostritsyn has one weakness that has repeatedly cost him considerable parts of his bankroll. During very long sessions he tends to lose his nerve and then sometimes makes bad decisions.
The Russian player is now 27 and has proven his talent to survive in high-stakes poker. In August he played consistently well and made a profit of $1.6m.
That doesn’t only make him the best player of the month, but also of the whole year to date.
Right on his heels is Cates, who is having an incredible year but not quite equal to his incredible 2009 when he burst onto the online poker scene.
Both players put more than 30,000 hands into last month. Only one player spent even more time at the tables – Gus Hansen, who played an incredible 56,000 hands in 31 days.
Samrostan and the Highway to Hell
The player formerly known as the Great Dane lost another $1m in August. However, he is not the most favorite prey of sharks like Cates, Kostritsyn and Thuritz.
They like to hunt when Chinese super-whale Chun Lei "samrostan" Zhou is around. Chun had an especially costly month. He paid $2.6m into poker in August and his bankroll has now shrunk by $6m for 2014.
Slowly but surely Chun is closing in on the red zone where only Gus Hansen and Guy Laliberté have spent considerable time.
Biggest Hand of the Month
August was the month of the big hands.
Almost always present: Viktor Isildur1 Blom. He won the largest pot of the month, which was worth $372k. This is how the hand went down.
They were playing at a mixed table and the game was $300/$600 No Limit Hold’em. Dan Cates and Gus Hansen were also present, among others.
Hansen was not going to pay in this hand, however. He folded his hand after Cates had raised to $1,500. Blom 3-bet to $5,400 and Cates called. The first three community cards were:
Our Swedish king of swings carried on with a c-bet of $7,200 and received another call. The turn was the
and Blom fired the second barrel - $18,000. Not enough for Cates this time, who raised it up to a sizeable $48k. Isildur wasn’t backing down but he only made the call. It was a trap, as Cates was soon going to find out. The
on the river didn’t change much. Blom checked and then check-raised Dan Cates’ bet all-in. Cates had to call and another $125k went into the middle.
At showdown Blom showed 6♥ 7♥ for a straight and Cates mucked his hand. A pot of more than $350k went over to Blom’s side of the table making him the winner of the biggest hand of the year, so far.
Leaderboard and Loserboard
Biggest Winners in August
Alexander PostflopAction Kostritsyn, $+1,652,371 Daniel jungleman12 Cates, $+1,565,771 Mikael punting-peddler Thuritz, $+1,288,287 Trueteller, $+818,135 Alexandre Alexonmoon Luneau, $+808,663
Biggest Losers in August:
Chun samrostan Lei Zhou, $-2,643,779 Gus Hansen, $-1,056,085 Julius KagomeKagome Fleischer, $-855,654 Phil OMGClayAiken Galfond, $-807,610 Viktor Isildur1 Blom, $-786,568
Biggest Winners in 2014:
Alexander PostflopAction Kostritsyn: $+2,948,636 Dan jungleman12 Cates: $+2,921,066 Alexandre alexonmoon Luneau: $+1,914,003 Mikael punting-peddler Thuritz: $+1,910,809 Patrik FindaGrind Antonius: $+1,878,333
Biggest Losers in 2014:
Chun samrostan Lei Zhou: $-6,261,775 Gus Hansen: $-4,601,577 Phil Polarizing Ivey: $-2,406,139 Viktor Isildur1 Blom: $-1,678,849 Julius KagomeKagome Fleischer: $-1,337,176
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