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The general consensus is that the worst place to go out of a tournament is on the bubble. After all, you’ve put in your time, survived the majority of the field getting eliminated and to not get a payoff after all that hard work is incredibly frustrating. Still, ask Ted Forrest right now if he’d like a shot at the bubble and he’d probably take it.
Forrest, who won his seat in the WPT World Championship via victory at the Bay 101 Shooting Star, had to be feeling confident coming in. His first hand went off without a hitch and on hand #2 he found himself staring at aces. Aces second hand of the second biggest tournament of the year. It doesn’t get much better than that.
After the action folded to Ted on the cutoff, he raised only to have the rest of the table fold to Harlis Stabler on the big blind. Stabler made the call on the strength of his pocket queens, and the flop came K-8-7.
Stabler, looking to test the waters and enjoying the benefits of the T50,000-deep starting stacks, opted to bet out for T3,000. He grabbed three T10,000 chips and tossed them into the pot, only realizing he’d grabbed the wrong chips after they got into the middle. His reaction indicated it was a mistake. Forrest considered the evidence, decided he was ahead and moved all-in.
It’s hard to blame Stabler for calling. It was a horrible play, but he was still rocking in the wake of his massive error. As if there was no going back, he put the rest of his chips in the middle revealed his queens. He was dead to rights until a third lady hit on the river.
Forrest was beside himself. He was heard bemoaning his fate to no one in particular as he left the Bellagio’s Fontana Lounge faster than a Somalian chicken runs for survival. For Stabler, the queen made all the difference; he finished the day with T96,975, roughly the same amount as the pot.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
