2015 in Review: Ivey is online poker's biggest loser
Another crazy year at the online felt saw two of the game's biggest names at opposite ends of the profit rankings.
Phil Ivey's reputation as the best overall player in poker is starting to come into question, after his third big losing year in a row at the online felt.
Last year his PokerStars account was down $2,481,266 and his Full Tilt account down $1,250,806, making him the biggest tracked loser of 2015 to the tune of $3,732,072.
It wasn't all bad for Ivey in 2015, he started the year off well winning the $250,000 Super High Roller at the Aussie Millions for the third time in his career for $2,205,000. This was his only tournament cash of 2015.
While he still boasts the biggest winning poker account in poker history (his pre-Black Friday Full Tilt account is up $19,242,744 since 2007), this is the third year in a row he has lost a seven-figure sum at the online felt. The absence of huge online loser Gus Hansen in 2015 has shone a light on the severity of Ivey's online shortfalls.
Blom on top after roller coaster year
If there is one thing which is guaranteed in an end-of-year round-up at the nosebleeds, it is that Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom will be among the biggest winners or losers.
His PokerStars account was up $3,497,527 this year, and his Full Tilt account was down $1,367,244 to give him an overall profit of $2,130,283, making him the biggest tracked winner of the year by quite a margin.
As is customary with Blom, his graph was up and down like a rollercoaster, as he was frequently the biggest winner or biggest loser of each calendar month. Many of these months saw him either win or lose seven-figures, which is almost unheard of these days online.
All change at the High Stakes
Perhaps one of the main reasons why Ivey was the biggest loser of 2015, and why there wasn't many seven-figure winners and losers compared to previous years, was because Gus Hansen was absent from the nosebleed games for almost the entire year. Whether he has finally seen sense, ran out of money, or is playing a new account, it looks like the Great Dane will remain elusive online.
2015 also saw a big change in the online games when, in July, Full Tilt removed all their nosebleed and heads-up games. This effectively moved them all to PokerStars and in doing so, saw an iconic piece of online poker history die, as in the heyday of poker, Full Tilt hosted the biggest ever games and biggest ever pots ever seen online.
Biggest winners and losers in 2015
All these results are, as always, based on the players who have chosen to remain tracked by HighStakesDB.com.
TOP WINNERS
TOP LOSERS
Can Ivey turn it around in 2016? Let us know in the comments.
