In somewhat of a déjà vu scenario, Daniel Negreanu is playing $2,000/$4,000 live with the likes of Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius and Gus Hansen are back playing online. It's just like the high-stakes world hasn't changed in 10 years.
Now, on top of all that, Erik "Erik123" Sagström may be back on the tables, playing in Bobby's Room and winning a "High Roller" WSOP Circuit event in Vegas.
Poker Bosses
Viktor "Isildur1" Blom is a phenom. The role of biggest winner goes to someone else, but Blom remains to be what it is all about. When he plays, and he plays a lot, railbirds line as much as cheer him on. Blom doesn't do lots of interviews, but that just strengthens the mystery surrounding his persona.
Before Blom, it was Tom "durrrr" Dwan who had the most important share of fans. Once "durrrr" logged in, people came running to catch a glimpse of the action. He was seen because the best player for quite a while and signed a take care of Full Tilt Poker at his prime, welcomed because the greatest player alive.
Before Dwan, you had Brian "sbrugby" Townsend, or "aba20" as he was known on PokerStars. Townsend could do no wrong for his fans, or even the risk to speak to him was seen because the highlight of a few people's day. Townsend ruled the game.
Before Townsend, you had Prahlad "Zweig/Prefontaine/Spirit Rock" Friedman and Johnny "bad ip" Lodden. They ruled online and put fear of their opponents' eyes. They battled it out on a mess of skins, so it was hard to maintain track of scores sometimes, but everyone knew they were the top bosses on the time.
Sagström, the primary Online Poker Phenom
But before the Friedman/Lodden era, it was Erik Sagström ruling the net tables. Referred to as "Erik123," "The Salmon" and "The King of Ding" online, he was the primary true internet poker phenom and, most likely, the primary player to clear one million dollars.
Before the times of tracking software and tracking sites, you needed to depend on firsthand accounts of the action and players talking about their profits themselves. Luckily for us, players then were so much less hesitant to speak about the ins-and-outs of the sport. And on top of that, there weren't as many players playing high stakes on a typical basis.
Sagström was widely recognized because the best player and the stories about his bankroll greater than once said $10 million plus.
Sagström played on Ladbrokes, Betfair and Prima (now Microgaming/MPN), where most of the action was back within the days. This was when the market was still competitive, PokerStars wasn't yet the strong leader it's today and entire Tilt Poker didn't even exist yet.
The man from Linköping, Sweden, started playing online poker at an especially young age, finding Paradise Poker on one in all his scrolls online. But even before the times of Paradise poker, Sagström played poker via IRC, poker purely text based and without graphics.
He had found something he was good at, so he quit school after one term in his second year of highschool to pursue poker. While that may hardly be called a sensible decision in today's poker climate, back then all of it worked out for Sagström. He climbed the stakes like no other and was playing the largest games within months of starting his online adventure.
PokerChamps
In 2004, he got at the board of a website called PokerChamps. Tony G and Gus Hansen were other board members of the location. In 2005, while still a component owner of PokerChamps, Sagström played his first-ever World Series of Poker. While he had only recently turned 21, he was already a legend and was hailed within the gamble capital of the arena like he was the promised one:
Already hinted at within the interview, the location was later sold to Betfair in 2005 for 100 million Danish kroner (approximately $15 million/€13 million).
The Monte Carlo Millions
After a successful 80-player tournament in 2004, the Monte Carlo Millions was back in 2005 with a $25,000 buy in (up from $14,000 the year before) and seats for 120 players. The $3,000,000 prize pool had a guaranteed $1,000,000 for first and only the most productive of the most productive were capable of buy in. Notably, there has been one seat on the final table reserved for the winner of a "second chance" tournament that every one players that had busted out of the principle Event could partake in.
Erik Sagström, young but already notorious within the poker world, was some of the players to compete. He was referred to as the most productive online poker player on the time, competing in a field of live pros like Phil Hellmuth, Ivey, Negreanu and Tony G.
He did well, though he would eventually exit at the final table bubble. While not shown at the broadcast, Sagström had aces against the ace-queen of Ivey to move out in 10th place ($35,000). Ivey would finally end up winning, playing one of the famous hands within the history of poker against Paul Jackson heads up. MOST OF THE episodes of the broadcast, including some hands with Sagström, can still be found online.
Beauty and The Beast: The $600,000 Limit Hold'em Showdown Versus Liz Lieu
In 2006, Sagström was playing $200/$400 online against Liz Lieu, where the latter was losing badly. Sagström took the simpler a part of her stack and, to literally add insult to injury, called her a fish within the chat box.
While the mockery were in Swedish, Lieu understood quite well and challenged Sagström to a live heads-up match. Sagström happily agreed.
The two met on the WPT Five-Diamond Classic within the Bellagio and set the terms: Three matches worth $200,000 each and limit hold'em $2,000/$4,000 and not using a blind increase. Lieu pitched the theory to the Venetian Poker site and so they happily agreed to facilitate the match to get some good publicity for his or her poker room.
Lieu arrange a photograph shoot previous to the match, but Sagström didn't take place. They set another date and time for the photo shoot, but once again, Sagström didn't appear. It could develop into all mind games, because on match day, Sagström did show up, able to battle.
Even though the stacks were relatively shallow, the matches took quite a while to complete. In fact, the primary match took so long, they called it quits at nighttime and continued day after today. Sagström was leading with $245,000 to Lieu's $155,000.
The next day, the 2 started with a fresh new match and would go away the primary match for later. Lieu came out swinging and quickly took a large lead within the match. She finished it when she got it in with an open-ended straight draw and flush draw against Sagström's top pair. A heart at the turn left Sagström drawing dead and Lieu leading 1-0.
(photo credit: CardPlayer)
The two of them continued their first match and Sagström won that one, hitting a queen to make the next straight against Lieu's flopped straight within the last hand of play. Halftime score: 1-1.
The third and final match was attended by numerous railbirds. With two big tournaments happening in Vegas on the same time, fans swarmed the Venetian Poker site for the overall match up between Liz Lieu and Erik Sagstrom.
Lieu applied pressure and at last won the third match.
The general consensus was that Lieu had played well, but had gotten lucky a few times. Lieu defeating Sagström didn't lead to a dethroned Sagström. In an interview in regards to the match against Liz Lieu a pair months later, Sagström put the sport in perspective:
[...]I lost about 50 big blinds, that is nothing. Compare it with online, where you'll be able to lose three 400 big blinds on the same time, it puts the sport in some perspective. On this more or less game, the flow of the cards has a perfect impact, so it's impossible to figure out who's best. Honestly, it was a slightly pathetic game, but Liz was playing reasonably well [...]
Disappearance
Sagström was on top of the poker world, but quietly faded to the background. He was never in it for the eye and show; he was in it for the money. So when new players came up able to take the role of online poker phenom, Sagström increasingly stayed clear of the cameras and tournaments, and instead desirous about cash games.
In 2007, Sagström had his own poker skin on the BOSS Network (later International Poker Network (IPN), now discontinued) for some time, but that never took off and it disappeared quietly along side the remainder of the network.
On top of playing poker live, he found sports betting, wagering fortunes at the NFL. He quickly became a large name on the earth of sports betting, finding edges through analysis of endless databases of stats and wagering money at a plethora of web sites and subsidiaries.
But while other players have taken a definitive leave from the game, Sagström never really went away entirely. He continued to play every now and then, dividing his time between live ring games and betting sports. In 2009, he made a surprise return to the arena Series, finishing 3rd within the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. ($522,393).
In 2011 he was back again, playing the $25,000 heads up, the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship and the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. He finished 13th within the latter, banking $31,719.
Sagström played on Full Tilt Poker as "Erik1223" initially. The account is down $88,289 over 114,258 hands in step with HighStakesDB. He also played as "DIN FRU," making his first appearance in November of 2008 and playing his last hands back in April 2011. In 2013, he made a small comeback online, but just for 500 hands or so. Overall, the account is up $570,650. He played as "Erik123" on PokerStars, however the only time the account was picked up by HSDB was within the first few months of 2013. He's down $161,782 over 21,215 hands.
Return of a Legend
This year, he played the $50,000 Players Championship on the 2016 WSOP, ending Day 1 fifth in chips, but busting out on Day 2. He did profit the $10,000 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (19th for $15,182).
Sagström then won the $5,200 High Roller throughout the WSOP Circuit event in Planet Hollywood in Vegas initially of the month ($65,000). Speaking to WSOP.com, he mentioned initially not planning on playing the event:
"I wasn't planning on playing much, but once you're here, you get sucked in. Life is crazy, and the degenerate that I am, I play always now."
Besides playing $5,000 buy-in 26-player fields in Planet Hollywood, Sagström is back within the big game in Bobby's Room where he plays an 11-variants mixed game with a cap of 20 bets. It seems that Sagström is back to poker, as he told WSOP.com, and intends to play more:
"I'm playing a large number of poker tournaments everywhere in the U.S. actually. I played on the Bike a couple of days ago after which I played here. I WILL travel and i am going to play a large number of poker tournaments. I WILL BE around."
Erik Sagström won the $5,300 High Roller at Planet Hollywood September, 2016
Sources:
- Erik Sagström interview Gutshot WSOP 2005 (youtube, uploaded in 2010)
- Liz Lieu takes on Erik Sagstrom on the Venetian (CardPlayer.com, May 6, 2006)
- pokerplayer365.com interview Liz Lieu (pokerplayer365.com, August 1, 2007)
- Erik Sagström "HU-matchen mot Liz Lieu var patetisk" (pokerspel.org, June 25, 2007)
- Where is Erik (Erik123) Sagstrom this days? (twoplustwo, December 23, 2008)
- Interview Tony G WSOP 2009 (poker.se, 2009)
- Pokerlandet documentary (youtube, uploaded in 2010)
- Erik Sagstrom Wins Planet Hollywood High Roller (WSOP.com, September 6, 2016)
- Erik Sagström Wikipedia profile (WikiPedia.org, September 15, 2016)
This Week's Biggest Pots Online
There was various action this week, with most of it coming from the PLO tables. Greater than once, it was multi-way action and the largest pot would finally end up being a three-way all in.
1) "bajskorven87" and "Aron0621" Win in a $145,525-Pot (363 big blinds) versus Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano($200/$400 PLO 5-Handed)
click for replay
From the cutoff, Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano made it $1,800 to head. "Aron0621" called from the small blind before big blind "bajskorven87" squeezed to $7,600.
Artinano got the four-bet in, making it $25,000.
"Aron0621" now pushed all in for $64,985 and "bajskorven87" called all in for $14,755. Artinano called to place both players at risk.
The board ran out 
, giving "bajskorven87" the primary pot with a flush. The much larger side pot went to "Aron0621" along with his set of kings.
2) "Ravenswood13" Wins a $139,800-Pot (350 big blinds) versus Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano($200/$400 PLO 5-Handed)
click for replay
Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano opened the button for $1,800 and "Ravenswood13," a Dutch player living in Malta, three-bet to $6,200 from the small blind. The massive blind gave up and Artinano called.
The flop came 
and "Ravenswood13" fired $7,200 into the $13,600 pot. Artinano called.
"Ravenswood13" bet $14,400 into the $28,000 pot at the 
turn and moved all in for effectively $41,500 into the $56,800 pot at the 
river.
Artinano called both times together with his 
for the turn second (and third) nuts. Unfortunately for him, "Ravenswood13" showed 
for the nuts.
3) "BERRI SWEET" Wins a $101,377-Pot (507 big blinds) versus "WRUUUM"($100/$200 PLO 4-Handed)
click for replay
"WRUUUM" opened the button for $860 and "BERRI SWEET" within the small blind three-bet to $2,940. Dani Stern folded his big blind and "WRUUUM" made the decision to grow the pot to $6,400.
"BERRI SWEET" checked on 
and called as "WRUUUM" bet $3,117.50.
With the pot now at $12,635, the 
hit the turn and "BERRI SWEET" checked again. "WRUUUM" bet $10,100.70 and "BERRI SWEET" called.
The 
completed the board and "BERRI SWEET" checked for the third time. "WRUUUM" bet $16,335.70 into the $32,836.40 pot and "BERRI SWEET" check-raised all in. "WRUUUM" called for $34,269.99 total.
"BERRI SWEET" showed 
for a rivered full house, "WRUUUM" mucked his 
for the flopped straight.
There was various Pot-Limit Omaha action this week with $50/$100, $100/$200 and $200/$400 running. The highest winners and losers this week all participated within the big PLO games.
| Winning Players | |||||
| 1 | BERRI SWEET | 2,078 | +$212,307 | - | - |
| 2 | Ravenswood13 | 3,898 | +$135,282 | - | - |
| 3 | Grazvis1 | 102 | +$132,452 | +$104,404 | +$115,325 |
| 4 | bajskorven87 | 817 | +$123,336 | - | - |
| 5 | Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz | 1,765 | +$85,782 | +$271,691 | +$1,132,239 |
| 6 | RaúlGonzalez | 597 | +$72,240 | - | - |
| 7 | Isaac "philivey2694" Haxton | 675 | +$67,221 | +$721,912 | +$932,463 |
| 8 | Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn | 3261 | +$53,576 | - | - |
| 9 | Eric "thechips55" Wasserson | 4,130 | +$41,822 | +$46,655 | +$46,655 |
| 10 | Hector "TUTI88" Álvarez | 289 | +$37,355 | +$32,532 | +$32,532 |
| Losing Players | |||||
| 1 | Sean "Nolez7" Winter | 1,481 | -$143,405 | -$193,460 | -$193,460 |
| 2 | WRUUUUM | 1,797 | -$114,452 | - | - |
| 3 | Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano | 472 | -$103,810 | $574,639 | +$995,627 |
| 4 | David "Bullitos" van der Weele | 1,115 | -$93,611 | - | - |
| 5 | Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion | 3,455 | -$83,565 | - | - |
| 6 | Daniel "DANMERRRRRRR" Merraz | 351 | -$63,056 | - | - |
| 7 | Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | 2,479 | -$59,695 | -$722,322 | +$1,278,638 |
| 8 | antoha1998 | 351 | -$59,045 | - | - |
| 9 | Ben "Ben86" Tollerene | 401 | -$58,606 | - | - |
| 10 | Dani "supernova9" Stern | 1,994 | -$52,012 | $163,369 | -$271,091 |
The 2016 Leaderboard
Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky remains the most important winner of the year of all of the players that haven't opted out with HighStakesDB. Isaac "philivey2694" Haxton and Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano swapped places this week after the latter lost a bit of and Haxton won some.
Compared to last week, not much has changed within the losing players department. All three lost somewhat bit, however the order remains the same.
| Winning players | |||||||
| 1 | Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky | 67,520 | +$1,032,798 | +$15.29 | +$5,070,001 | ↓ | 8-game |
| 2 | Isaac "philivey2694" Haxton | 15,351 | +$721,912 | +$47.02 | +$932,463 | ↑ | PLO |
| 2 | Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano | 28,960 | +$574,639 | +$19.84 | +$995,627 | ↓ | NLHM |
| Losing players | |||||||
| 1 | Viktor "Isildur1" Blom | 140,749 | -$722,322 | -$5.13 | +$1,278,638 | ↓ | 8-game |
| 2 | "bodamos" | 9,977 | -$652,522 | -$65.40 | -$1,979,643 | ↓ | 8-Game |
| 3 | Alex "Kanu7" Millar | 25,034 | -$608,176 | -$24.29 | +$2,652,415 | ↓ | NLHM |
The above top three biggest winners and losers in online poker for 2016 and the highest 10 biggest winners and losers online for the last week only include PokerStars accounts that haven't opted out with HighStakesDB.com.
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