'thecortster' scores $560K in 6.5 hours

High stakes online cash games thriving in November, despite the absence of Blom and Hansen.

The online nosebleeds may have slowed down substantially in October - likely because Gus Hansen and Viktor Blom were both absentees - but so far in November the action has been fast and furious, with millions of dollars exchanging hands over the last few days.

Phil 'Polarizing' Ivey has finally strung together a few good sessions, and Jean Robert-Bellande seems to have put his weight-loss bet winnings to good use - boasting a $55K profit - but by far the biggest winner so far this month is Cort 'thecortster' Kibler-Melby, who finds himself up an incredible $560K.

That entire sum was earned in roughly 6.5 hours playing $2K/$4K 2-7 Triple Draw against Alex 'Alexonmoon' Luneau, who is now down a nauseating $355K in November.

Luneau - who managed two top-ten finishes and three cashes at this year's WSOP - had been up almost $500K himself earlier in the week, but it's back to the drawing board for the French pro after this latest patch of negative variance.

Kostritsyn loses momentum

Phil Ivey's aforementioned is largely down to him coming out on top in an epic 13 hour battle at the $1K/$2K 8-game tables with October's biggest winner Alexander Kostritsyn, who is struggling to replicate last month's success.

The Russian has dropped around $130K in total this week, and roughly $110K of that was shipped to Ivey - who would be up a lot more if he hadn't lost a staggering $86K to Kyle 'KPR16' Ray in just 19 hands of Fixed Limit Omaha Hi-Lo.

Ray is the month's second biggest winner so far, behind only Kibler-Melby, who is the only player boasting a six-figure profit:

*Rankings as of yesterday

Are you surprised the games have picked up? Do you think we'll ever see Hansen at the nosebleeds again? Will Blom return? Let us know your thoughts below.