The first month of 2016 is in the books, and in January one player separated himself from the rest of the high-stakes cash-game competition. That player was Spain's Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano.

Just about all of the high-stakes action tracked on HighStakesDB so far this year took place on the world's largest real-money online poker room, PokerStars. Artinano racked up an impressive $833,747 in winnings over the course of 80 sessions and 18,126 hands. This not only represents the highest win total on the HighStakesDB January Leaderboard, but also was the most hands played out of any of the top 30 winning or losing players.

On the face of things, it would appear that Artinano's big win total came from pure volume. To some extent this is true, but he banked almost half of these winnings during four hours of play on the $200/$400 no-limit hold'em tables on Jan. 27 against former PokerStars Team Pro Alex "Kanu7" Millar and Russia's Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov.

As we reported in the Online Railbird Report last week, Artinano won from his opponents a combined $383,800. His huge win was propelled by the fact that he won four out of five six-digit pots, which includes the biggest two pots.

In the biggest hand of the session, Millar ($40,200) folded from the button, setting up blind-on-blind action with the remaining two players holding quality hands. From the small blind, Kuznetsov ($118,166) raised the action to $1,400 with the . Artinano, ($97,808.25) with the , opted to three-bet the pot to $4,600, and Kuznetsov called.

Both players flopped top pair on the flop of , with Artinano holding the better kicker. Kuznetsov check-called a bet of $11,034, and the turn came the , improving Artinano's hand to top two-pair and leaving Kuznetsov drawing dead. Kuznetsov once again check-called, this time to the tune of $25,010.40.

On the river came the , which improved neither player's hand. After Kuznetsov checked for a third time, Artinano shoved all in for his remaining $57,163.85. Artinano was awarded with a huge $195,616.50 pot after his opponent called the shove.

The only two other players to record six-digit high-stakes ring-game win totals in January, according to HighStakeDB, were "Cobus83" banking $300,509 in 4,844 hands over 48 sessions and Ben "sauce123" Sulsky netting $227,927 over 9,367 over 87 sessions.

Top 10 Biggest Winners on PokerStars in January

Place	Name	Sessions	Hands	Profit
1	Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano	80	18,126	$833,747
2	Cobus83	48	4,844	$300,509
3	Ben "sauce123" Sulsky	87	9,367	$227,927
4	Daniel "dougiedan678" McAulay	13	2,527	$98,260
5	bazzzzzzz	3	369	$87,377
6	Dani "supernova9" Stern	23	2,327	$78,595
7	calvin7v	29	2,149	$65,302
8	Jean-Robert "Jaqueline" Bellande	12	990	$58,924
9	kkopghy	22	2,171	$53,670
10	Andrey "Anjeyyy“ Novak	2	297	$37,674

Prior to the start of this year, Alex "Kanu7" Millar raked in over $3.2 million in profits on PokerStars. This year, however, hasn't started as well for the English poker player, as he lost $720,955 over 14,448 hands during 96 sessions in January.

Kanu's losses are by far the largest among all players tracked by HighStakesDB, however, four other players also recorded six-digit loss totals during the month, including "Aron0621" (-$160,594), Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (-$119,481), "SHARMOOTA" (-$118,140), and "TILTMENOT" (-$106,887).

Although Blom appears on the leaderboard, the 2015 top high-stakes ring-game winner with more than $2 million in profit has been, for the most part, noticeably absent from ring games on PokerStars, playing just 829 hands over nine sessions. Blom recorded a few sessions in the beginning of the month, then took a break in play on PokerStars. To the delight of his fans, he returned to action yesterday to take part in both the Turbo Championship of Online Poker Main Event and recorded 449 hands on the mixed-game tables where he lost a modest $3,889.

Last year's biggest loser, Phil "RaiseOnce" Ivey, has yet to play any hands on the virtual felt, choosing instead to focus on live action during the beginning of the year in the Philippines and Australia.

Top 10 Biggest Losers on PokerStars in January

Place	Name	Sessions	Hands	Profit
1	Alex "Kanu7" Millar	96	14,448	$720,955
2	Aron0621	68	4,334	$160,594
3	Viktor "Isildur1" Blom	9	829	$119,481
4	SHARMOOTA	17	2,863	$118,140
5	TILTMENOT	24	4,975	$106,887
6	Andrew “ClockWyze” Pantling	26	3,854	$98,047
7	Brian "tsarrast" Rast	7	1,009	$93,987
8	candela2005	27	1,245	$84,407
9	alepoker	34	2,740	$65,998
10	Niklas "Lena900" Astedt	9	531	$65,710

_{Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com}

_{*Lead photo courtesy of globalpokerindex.com.}

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