Top 5 EPT Bubble Bursting Hands

KINGS SLAIN, DEUCES REIGN

When you’re seriously short-stacked, and doubt if you will last out the blinds to get to the money, looking down at K♦K♥ is a great feeling! One double-up and you’re very likely to get paid.

This must have been what Eric Sfez (Pictured Right) was thinking at this year’sEPT Monte Carlo Grand Final, the more so when Jason Mercier tabled 2♥2♠ on the pre-flop all-in.

When the board ran out 5♥ 3♠ A♣, Sfez’s heart was in his mouth – any 4 would give Mercier the gutshot he needed to eliminate the Frenchman.

When the turn produced the 2♦ Sfez was now praying for that 4 for a chopped pot! When the 6♠ fell his fate was sealed and everyone else in the room instantly became almost €20,000 richer.

THE RIVER

The pain of bubbling is always intensified when the card which executes you falls on the river, especially when you had no need to be there in the first place!

At the EPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2015, German pro Arne Kern must have been kicking himself when he shoved his A♣K♠ only to see Ambrose Ng looking him up with 10♥ 10♦. With 23BB still to hand, Kern’s attempt to take advantage of the bubble had now put his own tournament life on the line.

When the flop came 3♦ 8♥ K♥ Kern took a commanding lead and he could relax a little, but the 3♥ on the turn suddenly gave Ng 11 outs. Kern’s luck finally ran out when the river brought the 10♣ filling Ng’s house, and pleasing the rest of the short-stacks no end.

CONFUSED AND BEFUDDLED

More often than not, the bubble will pass in regular fashion. Short-stacks will push and get lucky until somebody finally walks into the abyss and doesn’t come out again. Occasionally, very occasionally thankfully, a situation arises which has everyone shaking their heads in confusion and reaching for calculators and rulebooks.

This was the scenario at last year’s EPT Barcelona main event, when pandemonium reigned after 6 players went all-in across 5 different tables at the same time! To confuse matters further, the bubble boy was not destined to leave empty-handed – a Seminole Hard Rock main event ticket worth €5300, plus a custom-made guitar, were up for grabs for the usually unlucky player to miss the money-places.

With matters so unclear, the one hand which really caught the eye saw Farid Chati (Pictured above) turn over K♥ J♥ on an A♥ 2♥ 3♥ 2♠ J♠ board, only to be stunned by Martin Finger’s 4♥ 5♥ for a flopped straight flush!

When the debris had cleared form the 5 tables of all-ins, the maths started. Eventually a sit and go was arranged to decide the Hard Rock ticket and guitar, and Frenchman Randal Flowers walked away with both of these, plus his 5-way share of the smaller money places, for a very tidy bubble sum indeed!

THE INVISIBLE BUBBLE-BOY

If a tree falls in the forest, but nobody is there to see it, do we still get paid? Well, not quite the scenario, but at the EPT Barcelona Main Event back in 2013, the bubble was the most painless you can get for a field of players intent on cashing.

All except for Portuguese player Nuno Da Camara that is, who didn’t show up for play on Day 3! Gradually his stack was whittled away by the blinds, and although some of the players seemed unaware of Camara’s impending bust-out and proceeded to go all-in regardless, no real harm was done.

Eventually all the attention was on an empty chair: several cameras, dozens of players and plenty of officials - on hand to make sure everything was done correctly - watched on as Camara’s final few chips left the arena and the bubble was burst to laughs and cheers. Quite what became of Camara, however, is an unknown story to this very day.

HAMMERED TWICE

When you are down to your last few thousand chips, shoving with any 2 live cards from utg becomes a serious, if not the only, option - ‘first-in vigorish’ as Dan Harrington terms it. Desperate to pick up the blinds and survive just long enough to cash, what you really don’t want to see is 3 callers!

This was Matthew Ashton’s (Pictured right) fate at the EPT London main event in 2013. His utg J♦ 10♠ all-in was called on the button, with the blinds coming along for a cheap ride. Although he hit a flop of 10♦ 7♣ J♣ it wasn’t to be for Ashton as the turn brought the K♦ giving Pasi Sormunen, holding K♠J♠, a better 2 pair.

As if that wasn’t painful enough, the river Q♥ filled Stephen Lacey’s straight, and his bet pulled down a nice pot and ejected Ashton one short of the money in 97th place.